Aihua's Scrambled Eggs

Expo 2010 Shanghai - Area B

2010-06-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

I'll be focusing on Area B of the Expo 2010 Shanghai in this post, so this will be like a photo-logue. Enjoy!

There are only a small number of country pavilions in this area which are mainly from the South East Asia. Other pavilions include the United Nations Pavilion, International Red Cross Pavilion etc.

Thailand Pavilion.

Australia Pavilion. It's a huge building, and the line is very long.

Singapore Pavilion.

Philippines Pavilion.

Wonderful live performances.

Malaysia Pavilion.

A lot of visitors are curious about Malaysia. The response at the pavilion is fantastic. It took me almost half an hour just to get in.

A stage for Malaysian performances.

They brought a lot of artwork from our National Art Gallery to be showcased in the World Expo.

Genting Highlands. The great Chinese people attraction.

I didn't know we have great golf courses. SanYa in China, yes; but Malaysia? If you like being roasted alive under the hot Malaysian sun, then by all means, be my guest.

A speaker giving a talk about Sarawak.

Can you see our Twin Towers hidden behind? I didn't even notice it when I was there. Very unpatriotic of me.

Mustn't forget our world famous bak kut teh.

And our national pride, the tongkat ali.

Gloves, yes. Do you know about condoms too?

Malaysian food!

For the benefit of those who cannot read Chinese:
Malaysian Gourmet Specialty
1. Nasi Lemak RMB 40
2. Chicken Bak Kut Teh RMB 40
3. Curry Laksa Mee RMB 40
4. Nyonya Curry Chicken Rice RMB 40
5. is missing?!
6. Special Chicken Chop RMB 25
7. Penang Rojak, Fruit Salad RMB 20
8. Ipoh White Coffee RMB 25
9. Teh Tarik RMB 25
Selamat Datang! (Welcome!)

Talk about gourmet price. If I were to order all of the above in Malaysia, it would only cost me RM 40, with change!

New Zealand Pavilion.

The cave troll from The Lord of the Rings! My life is (almost) complete!
(Weta Workshop from New Zealand are the special effects studio responsible for movies such as The Lord of the Rings, King Kong, Van Helsing etc.)

Cambodia Pavilion.

Replicas of the Angkor Wat.

Replicas from the Khmer period.

Indonesia Pavilion.

Their performance stage.

Admiral Cheng Ho.

Indonesian puppets for their puppet show.

The walls of Borobudur.

Brunei Pavilion.

I only took half a day to finish visiting the pavilions in Area B. The rest of the day was spent in Area C, which will come up in the next few posts. That area is huge!

Expo 2010 Shanghai - Area A

2010-05-30T07:10:00.000-07:00

I'll be focusing on Area A of the Expo 2010 Shanghai in this post, so this will be like a photo-logue. Enjoy!

Area A mainly houses the pavilions of countries from the Middle East.

For small countries, they are gathered in one building, like this Asian Pavilion 1 and 3.

(Asian Pavilion 1: Maldives, East Timor, Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh, Tajikistan, Mongolia.
Asian Pavilion 2: Yemen, Bahrain, Palestine, Jordan, Afghanistan, Syria.
Asian Pavilion 3: Laos, Myanmar, Iraq.)

An overview of a small chunk of Area A.

Qatar Pavilion.

Oman Pavilion.

Morocco Pavilion.

Turkmenistan Pavilion.

United Arab Emirates (UAE) Pavilion.

Israel Pavilion. Only a handful of people are admitted into the pavilion to watch a movie about its country and how the people are harnessing new ways to obtain cleaner and better energy. It has a 360 degree screen on the wall and a smaller screen in front of the visitors, each displaying different images.

Sri Lanka Pavilion.

Pakistan Pavilion.

Saudi Pavilion. It's huge even from afar. I saw on TV that it has an enormous 3D screening room that provides a breath-taking experience. The rooftop garden is a must-see as well, making the pavilion a major attraction.

India Pavilion.

Nepal Pavilion.

I don't know where the money would go, but people kept offering their money.

Taiwan Pavilion. The glowing sphere is actually a movie screen. The pavilion is a major hit with the Chinese.

Jordan Pavilion.

Jordan sand art. Colorful sands are inserted into glass bottles, producing amazing images.

Afghanistan Pavilion.

Syria Pavilion.

Palestine Pavilion.

Bahrain Pavilion.

The pearl diver of Bahrain.

South Korea Pavilion. The line is fricking long. Great design though.

Laos Pavilion.

Iraq Pavilion.

Vietnam Pavilion.

Uzbekistan Pavilion.

Kazakhstan Pavilion.

Japan Pavilion. Even when nearing 10 pm, it would still take an hour and half to go inside. That's how popular this pavilion is.

Bangladesh Pavilion.

Kyrgyzstan Pavilion.

Timor Leste (East Timor) Pavilion.

Maldives Pavilion.

Yep, that's all there is to it. And also an information counter that was out of view.

Mongolia Pavilion.

North Korea Pavilion.

Iran Pavilion.

Their famous Persian carpets.

I walked round Area A until it was almost 10 pm. It's a shame that most of the less popular pavilions were closed early because of lack of visitors. I wish I had more time to visit all of them.

Expo 2010 Shanghai

2010-05-22T10:16:00.000-07:00

First of all, discard all prior knowledge that you possess of the Expo 2010 Shanghai. Namely, the things you read about in those circulating emails of the World Expo TRIAL RUN. It's a trial run, for goodness's sake. The REAL thing, however, is definitely worth the visit.

In writing this blog, I hope to share my experience with you guys, who are anxious to go or are still undecided. This will be a synopsis-like post, and I hope to share the pictures of each pavilion in later posts.

All right, so what should you know about the Expo 2010 Shanghai?

1. The official website: http://en.expo2010.cn/
Basic info on the World Expo can be found here.

2. Transportation: http://expo.shanghaidaily.com/transport.asp
For convenience's sake, I took the expo taxis. The expo taxis are the only taxis allowed near the expo entrances. There is no extra charge for taking expo taxis compared to other common taxis. You can go anywhere with these expo taxis, and not necessarily to the expo grounds. In fact, the expo taxis are newer, more spacious, and the drivers are specially selected from each taxi company, thus they can speak better English and are perhaps more well-mannered (just a casual remark from people living in Shanghai).

Cheaper alternatives would be buses and MRT.

The Chinese government, in preparing for this event, has increased the number of public transportation in Shanghai. The best part is, in line with the theme of "Better City, Better Life" of Expo 2010, the transportations produce low CO2 compared with normal vehicles. The air is certainly cleaner than when I visited two years ago, as a result.

There are even buses in the expo grounds. It's a thoughtful amenity, as the grounds are so big, walking on foot would prove to be a Herculean task.

3. Security
Every visitor to the Expo is required to undergo security checks prior to entering the grounds. That means using your common-sense and not bring anything deemed dangerous. Liquid is also strictly forbidden, with the exception of small amounts of liquid medicine.
4. Water
Because liquid is prohibited, I always bring half a bottle of water and finish it before the checks. Finding a water station inside the Expo is very easy so I would only refill my bottle halfway to ease on the weight-load on my shoulder.

5. Food
There are plenty of restaurants in the Expo, ranging from well-known eateries (KFC, Ajisen Ramen, Bi Feng Tang etc) to special ones (I had Uruguay beef and African food). Prices range from very cheap (bread, bun, biscuits sold at stalls) to high (fine cuisine from around the world, which can be found in a lot of the pavilions).

Of course, you could always bring your own food (just not drinks), but really, this is your chance of eating weird food from places you've perhaps never even heard of. Why give the chance up? My doner kebab (Turkish), beef with rice and potatoes (Uruguay), abalone with stewed rice (African) and sausage with potatoes (Belgian) are interesting. They may not be all tasty, but they are an experience in their own.

6. Toilets
No worries at all. There's one around every corner. They are kept pretty clean as well.

7. Visitors
Around 95% of the visitors come from China itself. From what I observed, a lot of them are travel groups from inland China. That is why the people tend to be less refined. They cut queues, talk loudly in public, and have a 'kiasu' attitude (fear of losing) for anything that is free. They also take baths once every few days. They are a force to be reckon with, even the seniors. I've been pushed around by old ladies a few times to know I should stay away from them. Of course, to be fair, you have to understand they are who they are because of the Cultural Revolution. To have lived through those ten dark years is a feat itself. I salute them, but I make sure I stay out of their way as well.

Of course, not everyone behaves that way. People from around the world have come to visit the Expo, and it is a fun experience talking with them. I've talked with people from America, Canada, Niger, Turkey and a whole lot of people working in their respective countries' pavilion, and it is always nice to learn something about their country.

What I find interesting is the way their eyes lit up the moment I talk to them in English. I suppose being a Chinese and looking like a Chinese, they expect me to converse with them in Mandarin, just like the 95% of visitors do. It did feel weird watching Chinese talking to Westerners using Mandarin, because we are so used to switching to English in their presence. Right now, not everyone is fluent in English, but things are changing. Children are learning the language from a very young age in school. In ten years time, China will overtake India as the country with the most English speaking population. Imagine that.

As I was saying, they were surprised I can talk in fluent English, with none of the Chinese accent as well. Many asked where I was from (I'd make a great ambassador), and wanted to learn more about Malaysia. Go on, make their day. Surprise them with a language other than Mandarin.

8. Best time to visit
Just an opinion, but I think May (fast ending), September and October would be the best time to visit. Summer holiday is from June until August, which I'd imagine there'd be a lot more people then. Plus, summertime in Shanghai can get pretty hot, reaching 40 degrees celsius. You wouldn't want to be stuck in a queue under this kind of temperature.

If you can forgo the Chinese Pavilion, then the best time to go would be after noon. The sun is less unforgiving, and the people tend to thin out during the evening. By night time, the weather would be perfect, the lights would be on, and the people are far fewer which means less chance of getting stuck in a queue. The official closing time of the Expo is twelve midnight, but smaller pavilions would be closed near ten o'clock. Make good use of the time, visit the major pavilions instead. Popular pavilions would still be crowded at night, unfortunately. The Japan Pavilion had a one and half hour waiting time even when it was approaching ten o'clock. I couldn't get to visit it, and I'm still disappointed.

NEVER visit during the weekends. This is akin to committing suicide. You'll probably suffocate from the sea of people and/or drive yourself insane from waiting in never-ending queues.

9. Reservation machines
A few of the popular pavilions have reservation machines just outside. You have to use your expo ticket to use it. You'll receive a reservation ticket, stating the time you should visit the pavilion. No more queues!
10. Rest
There are plenty of seats around the expo, along with plenty of shades.

11. Basic tips

Bring an empty water bottle to fill up in the Expo. You never know how long the queue is going to take.
Although the weather report is quite accurate, always bring an umbrella with you. The shops in the Expo do sell them, though I'm not sure about the price. Sunglasses and hats are good accessories too.
Queue time depends on the way the pavilions are designed. For instance, the Denmark Pavilion had a very long line, but it was constantly moving, so in the end it only took me around fifteen minutes to reach the inside. The Israel Pavilion had a shorter line compared to Denmark's, but at one time it could only contain a set number of visitors so it took me more than half an hour just to get inside.
With the first introduction of the Expo Passport in Expo 67 held in Montreal, Canada, it has been a hot-selling item in the Expo grounds. What you can do is, the first time you enter the Expo, look for the special shops selling Expo merchandise. The passports are sold for 30 RMB each. The fun part with this passport is, most pavilions have their own stamp that you can stamp in your passport. It definitely feels like you've visited all those countries in your passport.

Singapore

2010-05-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

Date: 30/4/10 - 4/5/10

A lot of people have told me that Singapore is a boring place to stay. How boring, I ask? It's a small country, they told me. There's not much to see and do.

A senior enjoying a game of croquet in a park.

They're probably right, if we're talking about living there for a long period of time. But then again, Singapore is a hub of excitement, with many concerts by international artistes and various world-class exhibitions held throughout the year. If I were living there, I would have my schedule fully-packed month after month.

Singapore is not boring. You just have to know the right places to be.

As a matter of fact, the last time I've visited the country was years ago, when I was still in primary school, if I am not mistaken. The only things I can remember from that trip was sitting on a tram, peering my eyes into darkness in Night Safari Park; visiting Sentosa Island; and having pigeon soup. I was young, I had no idea what the country was like. It was only after more than ten years that I visited the country once more, to fully comprehend the conflicting enigma that is Singapore.

Singapore. The country that is so small, you can't even see it on a world map, lies beyond a small river from us. Oh right, it's technically a strait. But the size would have fooled me. Travelling from the Malaysian Customs, across a short bridge, and reaching the Singapore customs was faster than I anticipated, and we (I was travelling with a friend of mine) were lucky we missed the peak period, which is essentially when people travel between both countries after work (mostly Malaysian returning from Singapore). I hear the jam could take hours.

Travelling by Aeroline. Ticket price may varied. Ours was RM 150 for a round trip.

I think I'll start off with Singapore food, because that was what greeted us first after we reached the country. Fellow Malaysians have also told me, Singapore food tastes far inferior to Malaysian food. I think they're being a bit judgmental, because to me, the tastiness of the food is proportional to the price. I've had hawker fare, ranging from $ 2.50 to $ 5.50, which truly tastes terrible if compared to our food here; I've also had middle-range food, which is food from franchised- or chained-stores, which definitely tastes better than the food served from the restaurants with the same name here; and I've had food from high-end restaurants, which tastes absolutely delicious. From what I've discovered, the ingredients are fresher, especially seafood. However, I still don't understand why hawker food tastes that boring. You'd think they would taste better since they're using better ingredients. My only guess is that they make dull sauces.

Singapore definitely has a well-thought out transport route. I love how the whole city is connected whether by MRT or bus, and every attraction is easily accessible. The fare is paid via an EZY-link card, which is basically like our Touch-n-go card or Hong Kong's Octopus Card. A new system is set to fully run by July, where the fare is determined by the distance travelled. We thought it was a wonderful system, until a Singaporean lady happened to rant about the ways the company had cheated them by overcharging each trip without people's notice.

The same can't be said about Singapore drivers. Sure, they don't have to deal with traffic jams like we do here, but the high price of buying and maintaining a car, and a general lack of parking space is the main reason why people who drive a car in Singapore is most likely rich people, as is the same with Hongkies.

People drive nice cars here. Oh look, lots of greenery.

Urban development in Singapore, on the other hand, is wonderful. The government has allocated adequate land for community buildings and parks, and while the country is small, there are still a lot of green parts around. I like to tell people that every picture I take of the country, there would be at least a tree in it. I'm guessing Singapore is a wonderful place to be for architects, with all the weird and wonderful-looking buildings sprouting up especially in the city centre. I was fortunate enough to have a friend that is like a little brother to me leading me around parts of the city, while explaining the history and stories of the buildings. He led me through Clarke Quay, which was a historic site and now a famous tourist spot, and right through the CBD of Singapore, with its modern skyscrapers dotting the skyline, and then to Bugis Street, which is like Malaysia's Petaling Street, selling cheap, imitative bags and other clothing articles. Thanks Ke Yang!

The weird and wonderful Helix Bridge of Marina Bay.

The CBD of Singapore.

The Esplanade Theatres.

Clarke Quay.

The weird and wonderful statues along Clarke Quay.

The Gateway by world-renowned architect I.M.Pei.

It's actually an optical illusion.

An apartment with rooftop garden.

What I find interesting about Singapore is that they tend to install air-conditioning in almost every building. To think, Petaling Street is literally a street, with people breathing in poisonous fumes from cars that zoom past by mere centimetres. It was not until recently that our government thought to install rooftops and reroute the traffic in the area for the convenience of tourists. Bugis Street, however, is more like a huge building, with air-conditioning blasting off on full-power, and the only traffic is made up of people. To me, it felt more like a low-range shopping complex.

I must mention their hawker food centre. It's nothing like what we have here, namely shops with stalls. It's more like a food court, with air-conditioning. And with bland food. But if your wallet feels light, it's an option. At least they serve clean food.

Talking about urban development, I find Orchard Road an interesting concept. It's basically a long stretch of road with more than ten (and the number is still growing) shopping complexes on both sides. I may be missing something here, but I found myself thinking, what is the fricking reason to have a dozen identical shopping malls placed next to each other? Orchard Road is the place to shop for high-range merchandises, but I cannot fathom the reason for having several Louis Vuitton (or any other brand-name) stores separated with only a few hundred metres apart. Anyone?

Underpasses can be found almost anywhere.

I'm neither rich nor a shopaholic, so the walk along the road was a bit boring. Granted, there were a few stores that piqued my interest very much, and I wish they would consider opening a store here in Malaysia soon. When can we see a Muji store here soon, pretty please?

I also visited the National Library of Singapore. My architect-to-be friend mentioned that the trend now is towards green buildings, and the library building is one such fascinating example. It has automated blinds, greenery outside of the building, and a few other energy-saving features, and which is why it was conferred the platinum Green Mark Award in 2005. The building itself is impressive, with many floors of books available for reading. The lower ground floor alone would have taken me years to finish reading all the magazines, newspapers and comic books (this is the part where I squeal with delight). I find myself ranting to my friend, this is how a national library should be! Easily accessible, with more books than you could ever wish for in a lifetime that you can borrow and read. The National Library of Malaysia is located in an obscure part of KL, where some folks don't even know the exact location. It's actually situated right beside the National Art Gallery and Istana Budaya, the national theatre. But then again, if the urban development ministry folks arranged for them to be located outside of bus routes, I can't imagine how that would promote healthy reading habits and love of culture for our citizens.

Let me digress for a while. Let's say the average worker's salary is $ 2000 a month. The average food costs $ 10. The average clothing is priced at $ 20. Children's book sells for $ 30. For a Malaysian, the average salary is RM 2000 a month. The average food costs RM 20. The average clothing is priced at RM 40. Children's book sells for RM 60. And my favorite comparison would be a MacBook Pro. A Singaporean need only a month and a half's pay to get one, whereas a Malaysian needs to earn three months's worth of pay to buy the same laptop. It's crazy how Malaysians have to pay a higher cost of living.

But then again, a lady we met during our bus ride home was pretty disgruntled by her government. Singaporeans are required to pay a very high income tax rate, and the lady also complaint about high school fees, $300-$400 a month (not sure what kind of school she was referring to though). She also said something about children not safe at night and needs to be home by 9pm, which me and my friend couldn't help but raise an eyebrow as the general safety of Malaysia is so much worse. We couldn't even feel safe during the day, in our house.

People will never be contend. We would always want to have better things.

Let's talk about lighter things. I had a lot of fun in Singapore Zoo. It's so nice that the zoo is almost covered in greenery. Not only is it a great shade from the sun, it helped too during our visit because it rained. The leaves created a canopy so we didn't need to hold our umbrella the whole time. My friend commented that the animals are bigger in Perth Zoo, but for me it was a terrific zoo, mostly because of the abundant of greenery and that they kept the animals in an open area as opposed to a cage. Of course, a moat is a moat and an island is an island, but it's far better than being cooped up in metal bars.

What's not to love about Singapore? It's vibrant, it's modern, and it's exciting. People who have lived there for years may disagree with me, but I wouldn't mind visiting it again soon.

Ipoh

2010-03-12T07:20:00.000-08:00

Date: 27 Feb 2010
Place: Ipoh

7:00 am Had a bit of trouble waking up since I slept at two in morning (stupid me doing last minute research on the town). But what irked me most was losing a contact lens in the toilet (and it hasn't been found yet).

3 (No, I only have two eyes) pieces of contact lenses: RM 21

8:20 am This is supposed to read "8:00 am". Stupid contact lens. On our way to Ipoh!

Ipoh Selatan toll fee: RM 26.50
Petrol: RM 60

10:45 am Took us long enough to finally reach Ipoh town centre. After a not-too-long-not-too-short search, we stumbled upon Nam Heong Kopitiam (南香), one of the oldest kopitiams in the area. What better way to start the morning (of course, you could argue it's near noon...) with a cup of Ipoh White Coffee (yes, it warrants the caps lock).
To put it simply:
White Coffee (1 hot, 1 iced), good. Personally liked the iced one better. RM 2.70

Hor Fun, okay, me and Myen both thought. I liked the soup. RM 3.50

Penang Char Kuey Teow, wonderful! RM 3.50

Dim Sum (fried yam), okay. As we say in chinese, Myen's arse itched, so he ordered one. For a small thing, the price can kill. RM 1.40
Whole day parking ticket RM 4.00

11:15 am So here's a heart-lifting story, proof that there are still good Samaritans among us. Earlier when I got off the car, I heard a 'thud' coming from inside the car. I tried to look for the cause but found nothing, and I blissfully walked away. Then at Nam Heong, I found my camera missing. A RM 1500 camera, missing. Thinking it might still be in the car, I stayed at my seat, and the photos above were taken with my phone camera.

Later when we went back to the car, we still couldn't find it. Then two Indian guys came upon us and asked if we were missing something. They teased me a bit, and finally, to my relieved, revealed that one of them saw the camera on the ground and kept it safely for me. He promptly returned it to me, and waved goodbye to us.

Imagine that happening in Kuala Lumpur.

Much later I got the Indian a small token of appreciation, and returned to the shop to give it to him. He was blushing and all (so was I!) and it was really just a very amazing incident to brighten up the rest of the day.

But I digress.

12 noon Do you know I love temples? I do. And I love it when they're all in a row for me in Ipoh. At least 4 in a row! LingSen Tong (灵仙岩）...

SamPoh Tong (三宝洞）...
NanTien Tong (南天洞)...

and a Tibetan Temple.

The three Chinese temples are built into the limestone mountains, and they're very old and very cool (temperature and the architecture-wise) inside.

Let me show you what I mean!

Enter NanTien Tong and you'll come to some stone stairs. They lead out to the great outdoors, and another set of incredibly steep stairs.
Reach the top and you'll see a large cavern, which houses another set of stairs.
Climb the stairs, and I have no idea where it leads to, since the wooden stairs are creaky and wobbly and the place so dark that timid ol' me didn't have the guts to continue on. The whole place felt like old mine shafts that could crumble anytime.
Returning back to the gates, we saw the other tenants living in the same area. There are signs warning tourists not to feed the monkeys.
At Sam Poh Tong, there is an amazing tunnel...
...leading to this beautiful closed-in area that is just like the place of the gods in old Chinese folklore （仙境）. This is just awesome. However, the building is not open for tourists.
The tortoises here grow to large sizes.

This building is located near the toilets outside.
It was hot. The sun was scorching, and we didn't have a water bottle on us. A coconut juice stall just beside the road is like nectar, only it's not. It's not sweet, and it's a total rip-off. RM 1.30

1:30 pm I got hungry, much to Myen's astonishment. I have strong gastric juice. He whined about Yong Tau Fu located on Jalan King, and we had hell of a time looking for it. Actually the search was fun, even when we were running around on streets that all seemed the same. It was truly through pure luck that we stumbled upon the right place. I kid you not. One minute we were wondering where we were, the next minute the street post ahead of us sounded familiar...We laughed so hard to recognize that we finally found the place.

忠记鱼旦, one of the stalls under these big trees, had the longest queue. Is it really that good?

Turned out, it was only so-so. Okay, the meat in the Yong Tau Fus did taste good, and Myen says the Yau Char Kwai is really good, but it's not that memorable. Over-hyped? Perhaps. But the long queue tells another story, I guess. RM6.30
This mixed fruit blended ice, on the other hand, is delicious! It's choked full of fruits (watermelon, mango, dragonfruit, jackfruit, pineapple, papaya , lychee and a slice of lemon) and it's cool! And sweet, of lychee flavour! Quite expensive, but we loved it! RM 3.50
3:00 pm Just beside Jalan King is Jalan Queen (we saw a Jalan Prince nearby as well) which we found the muah chee (glutinous cake with blended peanuts) stall we read online, Hong Kee (芳记）. True to the review, it was sweet but not too much, and the best part is it doesn't stick to my teeth! I hate the muah chees sold here in KL. They tend to stick to every part of my mouth. And the peanut! They were fragrant and fine! A bit expensive, but totally worth the enjoyment. RM 2.00

3:10 pm Heading back to town centre to look for the kind Indian proved to be a hard search. Took us a while but in the end we found him and gave him the small trinket we bought for him. Later we stopped for a box of salted chicken (盐火局鸡） RM 16.00 and some pomelos (2 medium 2 small) （柚子）, RM 27.00.

Funny thing about the chicken is, you don't even have to get off your car. From afar, one the shop assistants locked eyes with Myen, and lifted a hand and showed one or four fingers at intervals. As I'm often slow in understanding, Myen was the first to show one finger to the guy. I didn't even understand what was happening. The guy promptly ran back to the shop and grabbed a box of the chicken and then ran over. All we need to do was roll down the window and gave him the money. Now this is what we call service!

I've always loved the chicken. Everytime we come to Ipoh, we would buy at least a box. My most favorite memory is buying a box to eat in the cool air of Cameron Highlands (only an hour's drive away).

4:30 pm It's true about what they say of the water in Ipoh making the food there tasty. No one comes to Ipoh and not have a taste of taufu fah or soya bean drink. This is the most famous stall of them all.

It may not look flashy, but the kind uncle here has been working for as long as I can remember, and his taufu fah and soya drink is terrific! I like his black bean taufu fah better, as I think the sweetness is more subdued, but only the original soy bean version is available that day. I opted for a soya drink while Myen clamoured for the cendol. ABC and cendol were new on the menu, maybe because he hired a Malay kakak to help out at the stall. Last I was there, it was run by his son. The kakak said his sons left for Kuala Lumpur to work.

Cendol, Myen says is the best he has ever had. I don't know much, but I do know he likes cendols very much and has had enough bowls of them to give out this comment. He says the ice is very fine, and the taste is superb.

I still like the soya bean drink. I'm not a good food reviewer so I'll just say it's refreshing and good and a total waste if you missed it. Total RM 2.60

The cute tauke and kakak of the soya bean stall.
5:00 pm I would have loved to visit Kellie's Castle just 20 minutes away before going home. But it was getting late, so here's hoping for another visit to Ipoh soon. I still haven't had chee cheong fun and dim sum that Ipoh is also famous for.

Ipoh Selatan toll fee: RM 26.50

I suck at maths, so I'm not gonna add up the total. Suffice to say it's a very reasonable budget for a one day trip that is both exciting and satisfying.

Hong Kong - Day 5

2010-02-01T01:24:00.000-08:00

Date: 31 Aug 2009
Place: Hong Kong

8:30 am Last day at Hong Kong, and I didn't want to waste it by sleeping in. So come early morning, after buying myself a bread for breakfast, I visited the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens (香港动植物公园) which was really just around the corner from where we were staying.

On my way I saw these dogs playing together. The two humans were Filipino maids. The rich people even have maids to take care of their dogs, heh, go figure.

The park itself is pretty serene. It's full of trees (what else) and the best part is it's kept really clean and beautiful. No wonder I see lots of seniors jogging and practising taichi here. The air is what you would have expected from a well-maintained park, even though it is situated just beside a road, but you would never have notice it. Well, actually the road runs THROUGH the park, essentially dividing the park into two sections. Visitors can go between the park sections via a short tunnel that goes directly under the road.

The park is also a wonderful place for parents to bring their children to on nice weekends.

This is a botanical and zoological garden, so there are many kinds of species of trees and animals here. The trees are all lush and growing strong, while the animals are kept healthy. You'll know because they will be all active and jumping around in their cages, making all sorts of noises. They will NEVER shut up. My poor ears.

The garden is divided into sections, generally mammals, reptiles, birds and herbs. There is also a fountain. This garden exists since the English occupation, so it retains influences from the English.

The trees have tags on them so it's like an outdoor Science class.

The aviaries.

The animal cages.

The statue of King George VI, the father of the current Queen Elizabeth II.

An exhibition centre located in the garden. It showcases several mounted animals such as...

...this beautiful leopard, which was once a prized animal in the zoological park;...

...animal skeletons...

and other scientific...stuff. Had a lot of those in high school.

This sign was found inside the park, and thereafter I've found them elsewhere in Central. I'm really curious about this. Why do they need to register slopes? Anyone?

This slope is the road that divides the garden into two. The steepness scares me.

10 am Who goes to Hong Kong and not visit the Hills (太平山)? It's very near to our hotel too (we have the best location). After merely five minutes of a cab ride + stopping for red lights + traffic jam, we got to the tram station that will get us to the top of the hill.

And the first person to greet us is Big Brother Jackie Chan. Why, hello there!

Oh. It's just a wax mannequin from Madame Tussoud's Wax Museum, which incidentally is at the top of the hill.

While waiting for the tram, I took a look at the exhibited items put on display. This caught my eye.

Gah. I want it.

Here comes the tram, which is a two-compartment tram. Sit by the right side if you want the best view.

What intrigued me most is that you can get off the tram at stations like this. I thought the tram ride is a non-stop ride to the top. It isn't.

And we've reached the tram station at the top of the hill! Let me tell you, it was blazing hot down at sea level, but up there, even when the sun was shining at its brightest, it was refreshingly cool with the breeze blowing in your face. No wonder back in the old days, the rich people loved to travel up there just to escape the heat, like how the rich people in Malaya used to travel to Fraser's Hill or Cameron Highlands.

You can find several shops at the tram station. Most are branded items which are too expensive for my poor wallet, but I had fun window shopping.

This awesome-looking structure is part of EA Games setup at the station. They provide free game-testing for a lot of its titles, but sadly it was closed on the day I visited. I trust my boyfriend would have a helluva time here.

A few attractions on the peak includes Ripley's Believe It Or Not!, and of course Madame Tussoud's Wax Museum. We're only allowed to take photos if we paid for the tickets, but I got away with two photos before one of the workers told me so. Joy!

We paid extra for our tickets to get to the real peak. Those guys really know how to pinch our hard-earned money.

At the top of the station is a small gallery of pictures and a brief history of the peak tram and the hill.

The view from the top. This is the part of Hong Kong which is the most prosperous and famous.

The view on the other side.

In celebrating 100 years of the peak tram, there is a remodeled (I believe) tram from the old days on exhibition. I think it's beautiful.

This is yet another beautiful exhibition/advertisement from Hong Kong local brand, G.O.D. (住好D). Hongkies are known for their quirky creativeness, and the brand supports the adage. These are actually a couple of large rectangular-shaped boxes that have old Hong Kong buildings and double-deckers printed on them. The result is an eye-catching optical illusion that promotes a series of its merchandise successfully.

I happen to own a bag of another series of the brand. This series is a play on the classified ads of a newspaper, using seemingly obscene words as headlines but if you read further, they are all innocent ads. I love the concept!

Just a few meters away from the station is the entrance to Lion Pavilion, Victoria Peak (太平山狮子亭).

The pavilion itself. Apparently there are a few other Lion Pavilion in different areas of Hong Kong.

A view of the tram tracks and the pavilion from atop.

12 pm We took a cab back down to the hotel. The ride down was surprisingly fast, compared to the slow tram ride. After a hectic washing and tidying up (we checked with the hotel earlier for a short extension), we checked out of the hotel.

We allocated a lot of hours for shopping at Tung Chung Yat Tung Shopping Centre (東涌逸東商場), a shopping venue comprising of outlets of a lot of brands. This means you can buy a lot of goods (mostly clothing) at slashed prices. Even though the items are last-seasoned in Hong Kong (the reason why they're so cheap), ironically they've not even reached the shores of Malaysia. I remember seeing a few articles at outlet stores there, which I would later find in stores in Malaysia brandished as new stock, months later. Feels kinda cheated when you think about it. No wonder our country is always so slow, fashion-wise.

A few brands found in DongChung: Esprit, Body Shop, Nike, Sketchers...

The shopping centre is a must-go venue for tourists to Hong Kong, and you should arrange it as the last place you should visit as it is very near the airport. Just buy and buy while making sure it all fits in your luggage and head for home! Shopping has never been this liberating.

A quick dinner at the food court, and it was time to say good bye. Our flight was scheduled at 9, although it was delayed for a short while. On board the plane, the pilot wished us Malaysians a warm welcome home, and a Happy Merdeka Day to our beloved country.

Footnote: It took a while for my system to get used to the laid back lifestyle of our country, although I'm still complaining about slow escalator rides here in Malaysia. All in all, I still miss the hectic lifestyle of vibrant Hong Kong. I haven't really experienced the Kowloon lifestyle yet, and I have yet to visit Hong Kong Disneyland and Hong Kong Ocean Park, not to mention the many quaint islands dotting the main island. That said, I will certainly be back. It beckons me.

Christmas Trees 2009

2010-01-24T06:32:00.000-08:00

I am OBSESSED with Christmas trees, it seems.

And so I present to you, the Christmas trees of Kinta Valley shopping malls, 2009!

My favorite trees of the bunch, Pavilion. The guys at Pavilion really do know how to splurge.

They do not cease to amaze, every year.

Suria KLCC went for a gingerbread house look. The colors are inviting, and I bet the kids were thrilled. Goodbye, mouldy old tree (see last few years' photos), good riddance.

1 Utama's decoration reminds me a little of Pavilion's.

A small tree from Marks & Spencer in 1 Utama.

Genting Highland is beautiful! Thanks to Yaya who gave me the photos.

Totally loving The Curve's decorations. There were a few huge trees, and a gazebo in the middle with a string quartet performing live. Absolutely beautiful.

Sunway Pyramid.

Ikano Power Centre went for an underwater theme, as weird as it was for me. The kids enjoyed it, nonetheless.

Times Square's tree was not too shabby.

I managed to get a photo of it naked too (read: undecorated. I'm not dirty).

Sungei Wang. Oh look, moving decorative geese. Yay for the unharmonious setting.

Lot 10 does individual trees, every year.

And Low Yat does its giant tree outdoors, every year.

Wangsa Walk (the new shopping mall in Wangsa Maju). I hear there's a much bigger tree outdoors, but I didn't see it.

Aaand that's all folks, hope you enjoyed it.

Introducing - Once

2010-01-15T06:42:00.000-08:00

This was the first song that I caught when I changed the TV channel to Star Movies. Didn't think too much about it when I just left it on.

As the movie continued, I was shown a powerful story of love between two people, which was more beautiful than most sugar-coated Hollywood romance movie churned out these few years.

The other strong point of the movie was its music, which was soulful and spoke to me deeply. Days later I'm still listening to the songs I fell in love with.

I could make this blog into a movie review, but I don't want to. Hey, there's always IMDB.com if you're really interested. Suffice to say this movie gem from Ireland (which gave us U2, The Cranberries, The Script...) left me with watery eyes and I never stopped thinking bout it since then.

Ending this with my favorite song of the movie:

Hong Kong - Day 4

2009-11-13T23:12:00.000-08:00

Date: 30 Aug 2009
Place: Hong Kong

10 am. Having watched countless times on TV how the Hongkies always eat their Siew Mai (a kind of Dim Sum) at 7-11, where they put the packages in the microwave and just ate there with soy sauce and everything, I kept telling everyone I know I must try this when I go to Hong Kong.

The good thing about 7-11 is they are EVERYWHERE.

Man, this 带子肠粉 (Scallop in a starchy skin-like thing made of rice powder) is so tasty, it's just like what I had in Ipoh (you should know Ipoh 肠粉 is like the best there is!)

Well, mayb I exaggerated a bit, but the secret I think, is in the soy sauce. The packaged soy sauce is very tasty, and I can't remember where else that has this good tasting soy sauce, except a few Japanese sushi restaurants.

After breakfast, we went up to bro's apartment to pass time, since they have plans to have Dim Sum in Kowloon later in the afternoon.

What can I say, I was bored. End result?

Hehe, just to spite people because my dad, bro and sis-in-law loves me :D

By 1 pm my whole family took the MTR and reached Kowloon very soon after. You can see the ocean from here.

The restaurant is called 好彩, and is located in a shopping center. As with any other Hong Kong buildings, the air-cond was on full blast. My mom and I almost froze to death in Hong Kong during summer.

We had the pleasure of dining with bro's friends in Hong Kong, together with some of the man's friends from Singapore. The company was nice, and the food was great. The Dim Sum variety is of course greater than what we have here, as Hong Kong is famous for the delicacy.

3 pm. After the scrumptious lunch, we took the taxi and headed to 旺角　(Mongkok). There is a street there, that is famous for the flower shops, called 花墟道　(Flower Market Road).

The sign says 'apple tree'.

Lotus flowers.

No idea what this is.

Just up ahead from the Flower Market Road, is the Bird Garden...

...which is a closed-in garden for bird-lovers to gather and show-off or sell their birds and other goods. I think it's due to the avian flu scare that had the Hong Kong government walling the area in.

A lot of singing birds can be found here, but as it was nearing dusk, I'd imagine the number had more or less dwindled.

Even the sparrows joined in the fun. Well, for the food, mainly. I used to have birds as pets, and the sparrows, pesky little things, they used to swoop down for the dropped bird seeds too, just like this.

Well, that's that. Off we go to an air-conditioned place. Beautiful poster by the way.

And to think Kowloon District used to be the dirtiest district in old Hong Kong, in every aspect. Now, while it isn't the cleanest, it certainly is better than the early days.

5 pm. Our next destination: Royal Plaza Shopping Complex (太子购物中心).

With an exorbitant parking fee too. Not to worry, the only people driving cars in Hong Kong are rich people, they can afford it.

We walked a while in the shopping mall, and had a short tea break. After all were rested, we set out for the famous 女人街 (Ladies Street) .

You don't know how many times I've tried to take a photo of the Hong Kong police (警察叔叔,你好!). Mood: ecstatic!

Hong Kong police patrols the street from day till night (on shifts, of course), and they do it on foot, in pairs or teams (we see it all the time on TV). I've met with them on many streets. I just lacked the guts to take a picture of them up-close. This is the safest distance I could managed without embarassing myself. But of course, friends have told me they wouldn't mind taking a picture or two with tourists.

The (in)famous Ladies Street sells stuff that can be found in our pasar malam -- a lot of fake bags and watches and trinkets and such.

But this...Uncle Polis will tangkap oh (novelty underwear with a bird's head jutting out and acting as a pouch for you-know-what).

Another street that looks just like any other Hong Kong street, the night streets of Mong Kok. Walking through it now, it's a bit hard to imagine it was once a street crawling with Hong Kong triad members and people of other shady professions.

There are two things to look for in this picture.
1. The big advertisement at the top.
- Hongkies are really serious with their tuition classes.
- There are even TVB series about tuition teachers.
- Their teachers have cool-sounding names.
- They are really SERIOUS about it.

2. The police team in the center of the photo.
- They are just too cool.
- Out on their night-shift patrol, perhaps?
- Hong Kong policemen have the toughest job. Just look at the crowd.

I couldn't stop giggling. My mom too. Makes me wanna have some watercress (西洋菜) right there and then!

7 pm. Still remember the IFC? The tallest building in Hong Kong?

It's also home to several upscale shops and restaurants. My bro took us to have wantan mee in 正斗, and boy was it good! I guess this is how good wantan mee tastes like: clear, savoury stock soup with springy mee and fresh shrimp wantans. The restaurant is jam-packed with customers, with the service brisk and people flowing constantly. It's difficult to leisurely enjoy the meal, when there are still a lot of customers starving outside. But, hell, it's good.

10 pm. Let me end this day with a picture of my nephew, chewing on his flower toy. Good night, and sleep tight!

Hong Kong - Day 3

2009-10-05T06:38:00.000-07:00

Date: 29 Aug 2009
Place: Hong Kong

I wake up early in the morning and see this, while on our way to my bro's apartment. I love Hongkie humor.

10 am, breakfast time at a nearby coffee shop called 新口味茶餐厅. This is what Hongkies normally have for breakfast at those famous 茶餐厅 (coffee shops). They are usually breakfast sets which include bread, ham, eggs and drinks of either milk tea or lemon tea. My breakfast set G consists of an extra bowl of 公仔面 (instant noodles), which in my opinion, was not bad at all. Breakfast sets normally cost HKD 20.

Baby was still in dreamland, so my brother alone came down from his apartment to take us on a sight-seeing/shopping tour to Central.

11 am. My bro's place is very near this spectacular outdoor elevator. I had gone up and down this particular strip countless times during my stay, and boy, was it a tiring work-out! My bro's apartment is located on expensive ground, where only the rich people and/or expats live (if you hadn't noticed yet, my bro's the latter). Welcome to the famous 半山区 :)

This outdoor elevator is spectacular because:
1. It's 800m long, and is the longest outdoor elevator in the world. It would take 20 minutes to go from one end to the other.
2. It connects 半山(Mid Levels) to 中环(Central). There are many stops along the way where you can step out and visit the shops or do whatever. It is a means of transport, one that greatly provides convenience to the people living on the steep slopes. And truly, I am not kidding when I say the slopes are insanely steep. I could feel my hamstrings pulling when I'm climbing the streets (and where there's no stairs). It's safe to say that most roads in that area have a slope of 30-45 degrees.

Seriously, everywhere I turn, there's a 7-11/ Sasa/ Manning ('Guardian' for fellow Malaysians. I have no idea why they have different names in Hong Kong when they're the same chain)/ Watson's/ Maxim (美心 bakery, it's huge in Hong Kong)/ 惠康 (a chain mart). It's like they are fillers for rows of shops. But then again, they do make shopping in Hong Kong a helluva easy time.

My bro says this is an old police station building. It's been abandoned for many years now, which is pretty unusual as Hong Kong land is so expensive.

As soon as you step out of the Central MTR station (notice the asterisk * sign at the top right corner), you will step into a street almost untouched by time. Apparently, this is the only street left in Central where old stalls still stand.

Seriously, this guy is the last of his profession in Central (or so my bro tells me).

Hong Kong's public transport system is so efficient that most people need not buy a car (or couldn't afford to buy one :-/). Here we have the 小巴 (16-seater bus), the double decker, and the tram, which I can't believe is still running in this century. I guess I've been living under a rock for a very long time. I'm pretty sure there's a photo of a taxi cab somewhere in my photo folder, but I'm too lazy to wade through.

My bro took my parents and I on a walk from his apartment down to Central, which is a pretty long walk, but too interesting to be tired from. We walked past many attractions which I'm sure many people have seen from TVB series.

This is the 汇丰总行大厦(HSBC Building)...

...which is located in the 皇后像广场 (Statue Square). You know, the place where a lot of Filipino maids hang out on Sundays. We see it all the time in Hong Kong series. That day's a Saturday. Check out the few Filipinos hanging out in the background. My sis-in-law said they went there on a Sunday once, and it felt like they got transported to the Philipines unknowingly. It was surreal.

And also the 立法会大楼（Legislative Council Building) has been standing here, since 1912. See the goddess of justice in the bottom right corner? That is so fricking cool!

And so are these -- rows of perfectly undamaged phone booths dotting the streets (an unusual and very rare sight in Malaysia--stress is on undamaged). Got the impression they were sound-proof from Hong Kong series, but turns out I could still hear my mom laughing at me when she found out I had snuck inside one of them, just for the experience.

This is a favorite scene of mine too -- Hong Kong newspaper stand! Nice and neat and offers 18-SX in the open too.

It's amazing how the Hongkies find ways to work around problems, namely the lack of land to build upon, and lo and behold! here comes a triangular-shaped building.

It's GREEN!!

Hong Kong's own Starbucks chain -- Pacific Coffee Company. My bro says their business is pretty good.

Demon Dog! Not. I accidentally had the flash on when I took the picture. Sorry about that, lil' doggie. I wish I could bring my pets out shopping in Malaysia :-/. Have I mention how cute the dogs are in Hong Kong? Every one of them (at least, every one that I saw there) was healthy and happy. Big dogs such as this retriever are pretty rare. They prefer smaller breeds because of lack of house space.

Going back home. Enjoying the view up the escalator.

Remember the mosque near my bro's house? This is it from up close. There are more Muslims around the area, naturally. In fact, the mid-levels are where most foreigners are staying, so it's not really surprising.

A great name to go with the street :)

Back home, we're preparing to celebrate Zen-E's birthday! Yes, he's already 1 year old! He hates the hat though :)

With a few hours to spare, I've decided to ditch my parents (:p) and went on a hike on my own. I had no idea how packed Hong Kong was until I discovered a lot of tourist attractions within walking distance.

For instance, Victoria Prison is just minutes of walking from Central. Built in 1841, I heard it's currently deserted, having relocated to somewhere else. This is the side door where released inmates step back into the real world.

Pretty ominous looking building.

Stumbled upon a local wet market. People were frantic with preparing dinner, I guess. I don't think our Malaysian wet market opens till late afternoon (it was 4 pm).

See the stairs? This is yet another famous street called Pottinger Street (砵甸乍街，also called石板街by the locals). It's a long flight of stone steps with stalls on both sides selling a lot of street merchandise. I was standing at the middle part with a road dividing the street apart.

This is the other section of the road. It was a short street, but interesting nonetheless because of different varieties of trinkets sold there. Anything from buttons to goods from mainland China.

In the year 1996, the Hong Kong government set up a Sun Yat-Sen history trail along places that the founding father of China visited and made history in. Though the old buildings were demolished to make way for new development, the signposts serve to remind us of his contributions. There is a Sun Yat-Sen Museum, but sadly I did not have the time to visit it.

Do you know how big a Hong Kong typical park is? It's this big. Serious. I was standing at one end and took a picture of the whole park. That's how big they usually are. A few trees, two bench and a children's slide and they call it a park.

Small though they may be, they are clean and undamaged (compare this to our Malaysian playgrounds).

Hollywood Road (好莱坞道), also known as Antiques Street (古董街）. This is where people come to buy, what else, antiques. I've noticed a few art galleries along the street too. It's pretty quiet when I was there, probably 'cause it gives off a 'regal and expensive' sorta vibe.

Just beside Hollywood Road is the old 文武庙(Man Mou Temple). It's one of the oldest and most well-known temple in Hong Kong. 文 (Literacy) refers to 文昌帝君 (Emperor Wen Chang), who symbolises success and position; 武 (Martial) refers to 关圣武帝, who symbolises honor and wealth.

It's well-maintained, even if it's already a few hundred years old. The moment I stepped into the temple, I find myself surrounded by the smoke from hundreds of burning incense and joss-sticks in the temple. I couldn't take a picture in the building itself, as they have rules for that. But imagine if you will, a closed-in building with nary a light and countless joss-sticks smoking up the place (it's a very popular temple with the devotees). Everything in the temple just screams "History!"

When I did step out of the temple, I found myself covered in ashes from the burnt hanging incense dotting the ceiling. Incredible place. I wouldn't mind returning again in the future, just to have a good look at the historic carvings and maybe have my fortune told (it was near closing time when I got there).

Ugh, staircases and staircases everywhere! I could practically feel my muscles growing as I had my little walk around the area. This picture here is just one of them.

I reached home at 6:30 pm, as promised, and we all got ready for dinner.

We celebrated Zen-E's one-year-old birthday in an upscale restaurant in Causeway Bay (铜锣湾）called 翠园．Delicious food and very chinese people environment (you know, the talking, the babies screaming, the clink-clanking of utensils, the clashes of mahjong tiles...oh the last one is only commonplace in Hong Kong. I wish I could join in too).

We had Peking Duck (first time I ever had one), crab fried rice, abalone with duck's feet etc. The food is good, albeit very pricey. It's lucky to have a brother who would pay for everything (muahaha).

Zen-E eyeing his cake intently. He might not know what it's for but I bet he thinks it's tempting to poke a finger into it. Happy Birthday, lil' nephew!

9 pm, we finished dinner and had a walk around Causeway Bay. Downtowns in Hong Kong all look the same eventually -- all brightly-lit and squeezing with people. This picture here is a guy break-dancing. Apparently they were promoting their dance school.

I had a get-together with Say Tar planned that night. So just 15 minutes later I ditched my family (don't I just love the word!) and went on the MTR for the first time, on my own. It was so easy with the Octopus Card (Touch 'n Go sorta card), I had no trouble following the crowds and reaching my destiny at all (and I get lost easily). The PA system announces the next station, while LED lights show up on the map panel, and indicate which side of the door will open.

What's interesting about MTR and its passenger is the efficiency everything runs on. People just seem to walk faster, the escalator moves faster, and the trains are on schedule. I'm in awe. This is how a public transport system is supposed to work, take the cue, fellow Malaysians (who are working in the field).

9:30 pm, I met up with Say Tar. We were on our way to a good pub for our night out at Lan Kwai Fong when we bump into a crowd of people singing Michael Jackson songs as a memorial service to the man. RIP, Michael.

The area is dotted with rows and rows of pubs, with loud music and enticing lights welcoming us. With much deliberation, this is the bar we finally settled on, la Dolce Vita 97. Pretty decent pub, with a non-stop flow of patrons.

When we were in Lan Kwai Fong, it was like we were NOT in Hong Kong anymore. Most of the patrons (drunk or not) happened to be foreigners. Most were even friendly enough to cheer with us on the streets. If you're hoping to meet with Hong Kong stars, this is NOT the place to be at. Wait, let me rephrase that. Do NOT hope to casually meet with stars in Lan Kwai Fong, 'cause they're most probably partying in private pubs which are hidden from the eyes of us unworthy folks OR at that two new hip places in Kowloon (棉登径 & 诺士佛台), which is like a second Lan Kwai Fong, only with more Hongkies.

After our drinks, we took a walk around the area, partly to find the MTR (on Say Tar's part) and partly to 'bump' into celebrities (on my part). I was pleasantly surprised to reached this building, which I passed by several times on taxi. Called The Hong Kong Fringe Club (艺穗会）, it was built in 1913 as a cold storage for dairy products. That was a time before fridges were common household appliance. Nowadays it hosts art exhibition and small stage performances.

It was nearing midnight, and as we walked away from Lan Kwai Fong area, the people got sparser, but unlike here in Malaysia, we felt completely safe. Crime rate is very low here, thanks to the diligence of the Hong Kong police. After parting ways at the outdoor escalator, I walked back up the slopes (with the help of the escalator someways too, of course), and was amused to think that the only thing that had me worrying there and then were ghosts (it was the seventh lunar month) and not robbers.

After a nice shower and an hour of Hong Kong TV, it was goodnight Hong Kong, day three.

Hong Kong - Day 2

2009-09-06T04:41:00.000-07:00

Date: 28.8.09
Place: Macau, later Hong Kong

I never knew what time the sun rose in Macau. I had my eye mask on.

Anyway, I woke up at 8:30 am, and later we had a lovely breakfast buffet at the hotel at 9:30 am. As the sun was too hot for baby to go out, my brother, sister-in-law and baby rested in their room while my parents and I set out for other historic buildings around Macau.

11:00 am, when the sun is terrifically hot and high in the sky, we set out in a taxi to the famous A-Ma Temple (妈阁庙).

A few hundred years ago, the fishermen of the island built a temple for the deity 妈祖. During the mid-16th century,the Portuguese set foot on the island near the temple. They asked the name of the island, but the locals thought there were asking for the name of the temple, and so they answered A-Ma-Gau. Later on A-Ma-Gau turned to Macau, and that was how the island got its name.

The temple is one of the oldest temple of the island, and locals and visitors alike flock to the temple to pay their respects.

The temple is built on a slope. This is the highest part of the temple building, where Guan Yin Ma overlooks the sea.

Lots of writings on stones are found around the temple. They were done by various scholars, some famous, from a very long time ago.

This is the largest stone carving of the temple, found at the topmost part.

Just across the temple is Maritime Museum, one of the world's best museums devoted to all things maritime. This was also the site where the Portuguese first landed.

One of the few post-office thingy in Macau. It's actually a postbox and a stamps vending machine. Just toss the required amount in and voila! you get your stamps.

I have no idea what this building is. But I like the color and the architecture.

The tiny square where the temple and the museum is. Again, the pavement is beautiful. The Macau government has put in a lot of thought for every nook and cranny of the island.

The souvenir store with the best business on the island. They even roped in the famous gourmet Cai Lan (蔡澜）as spokesperson.

I do not understand their obsession with salted fish. It seems every souvenir shop sells them.

We are on a mission to seek out the famous Largo do Lilau (亚婆井前地）, where the first Portuguese settlements were built. There is a well there, that the Portuguese locals once said that one sip will make you remember Macau always; either you will get married and settle down, or even if you're far away, you would always return here.

As you see, it's located inside a residential area, and the place lacked obvious post signs pointing us to the right location. But we trudged on bravely, because if we got lost, there's always a taxi to drive us back, with an exchange of money, of course.

Along the way is the 港务局大楼. Built in 1874, this building was originally a barrack for police officers from India stationed in Macau. Currently it serves as the port authority office.

This is the house of a famous thinker Zheng Guan-Ying (郑观应）, known as 郑家大屋. Its architecture is a beautiful display of East and West combination. Sadly, it was closed for renovation the day I went. The window was all I could take a photo of.

Take a guess on what this is.

After almost half an hour of walking up slopes under the smothering heat, we found a signpost pointing us back to a construction site we passed by a few minutes ago. Turns out, this is THE Largo do Lilau. And this is where the well was supposed to be. Good grief! We were sent on a wild goose chase!

Seriously, if you were to walk by a place like this, would you have any idea it's supposed to be a historic site?

It was 1 pm when we finish our treasure hunting, and we couldn't wait to jump into an air-conditioned taxi to drive us back to our hotel.

The Macau Tower. You can bungy jump from the top. Have fun, 'cause I won't be joining you. This picture was taken from the taxi. I am pretty darn good with a camera :p

圣母小教堂on top of 西望洋山.

Cybernetic Fountain? Don't think so, really...Wonder what it really is.

It only took a few minutes to reach our hotel. By then we were joined by Bro and his family for lunch. Baby's criteria: air-cond. Hence the eaterie right across the street (滋味满屋) fitted the bill.

Macau's famous dish, 猪扒包 (pork chop in a bun). Crispy on the outside, succulent on the inside. Man, don't I sound like an ad.

3 pm. What is Macau famous (or infamous, depending on your POV)? The casinos, of course! This isn't the biggest on the island, but it's pretty darn grand in my opinion.

Ceiling of the 永利 building, the twelve chinese zodiacs.

And on the floor, the twelve horoscopes.

The high-end shopping lane inside the building.

My brother, sister-in-law and I went into the casino. It's pretty huge, and of course really grand. Main colours consist of red and gold. I saw baccarat, poker (which was full of people), blackjack and slots. Not much in variety, but hey, it's grand. I'd give them five stars for their lavishness. Too bad photography isn't allowed in casinos.

Never assume the tourists in cheap clothes and worn shoes are small fries with only a few hundreds to chuck down the drain. The casinos main customers are those from the mainland, while having terrible dress sense (or they're just modest), are terribly rich in moolah and only too happy to donate them all. Employees are well-versed in Mandarin.

My most memorable game in the casino is a large LCD screen on the wall, where a virtual dealer deals out virtual cards (I think it was a blackjack game), and asks patrons, in Mandarin, to place their wager. It's all very interesting, but just another gimmick to pull patrons in. The fact that they're playing a virtual blackjack game simply means they're giving up what little percentage of chance of winning the game, compare to a game where real humans deal cards out without reshuffling them every game.

The streets of Macau, where neon lights and signboards fight for view.

4:30 pm, tired and beaten, we caught the ferry back to Hong Kong. We reached at 5:30 pm, but immigration took a lot of time that by the time we were done, it was 6:15 pm. The scorching heat of summer even caught on to baby, as he showed up on the infra-red camera as having a fever. He was detained for a few minutes, which kinda worried us all. His fever was 38.9 degree Celsius, But the health worker said it was nothing serious and pretty soon we were given the permission to leave, after reminding us to take him to a doctor if the fever persisted.

His fever pretty much subsided at night.

Took the cab at 6:30 pm, reached home at 7 pm, after heavy traffic jam. Hong Kong is so darn small.

8 pm, went for dinner at a nearby restaurant 聚宝轩. The most memorable dishes are melon soup and barbecued pigeon (烧BB乳鸽）. Very nice and pretty expensive too. Oh the joy of spending money on a vacation (better yet when the money's not mine).

9 pm, finally checked-in to Bishop Lei International Hotel on Robinson Road, which is only a five-minute walk from my bro's service apartment.

The breathtaking view from my Hong Kong suite (sweet) room. I get the living room all by myself. Insert evil laugh here.

And that's that for day 2. Goodnight Hong Kong.

Hong Kong - Day 1

2009-09-02T07:33:00.000-07:00

Date: 27/8/09
Destination: HONG KONG!! Er, Macau first...

Our journey started on the wee hours of 3:30 am. Had to get to the airport by 5. Flight was on 7 am, via Air Asia Airlines, from LCCT.

Thanks to H1N1, we're all wearing masks (though we know it's totally useless).

A carpet of clouds.

Reached Hong Kong International Airport （香港赤腊角国际机场）early (gasp! Didn't even know such a thing could happen) at 10:30am. Such a big airport, with lots of shops, and with great facilities. The people working there are a responsible lot, it's no wonder the airport is named one of the best in the world.

Thermal cameras are set up at every check point to make sure no one with a fever can enter without a body check-up. Tourists are required to fill in health forms (which quickly became a hassle for me as we entered Hong Kong -> Macau -> Hong Kong, try filling in the same thing 3 times = =)

Oh, and what I love about the country is they have hand sanitizers almost EVERYWHERE, where you can sanitize your hands in prevention of H1N1. Gosh I forgot to take photos of the dispensers.

The legendary Hong Kong cabs. They're roomy and comfortable, but the fare is very expensive.

Tsing Ma Bridge 青马大桥 (frankly, I don't know the exact English name of the places I'm mentioning here, but pretend that I do, because I'm too lazy to check them up on Google). This bridge connects the airport to Hong Kong Island.

I...sorta forgot the name of this building. But when it's finished, it's supposedly the tallest building in Hong Kong, and the whole of Asia too (I think...).

解放军驻港大厦

Nearing Central 中环, and the road goes up and up a lot of slopes. This is the famous area of 半山, where only very rich Hong Kong people and expatriates live. Can you imagine me walking these slopes everyday? Seriously. I think I've grown some muscles.

Crashing in on my brother's house. This is my cutest nephew, Von Zen-E!

1:00 pm, 1st meal in Hong Kong, take-out (外卖). And no, it was terrible, and the price was too high.

Currently the tallest building in Hong Kong, IFC (IFC国际金融中心二期). More on this later.

The reason why the street my brother lives on is called Mosque street (摩罗庙街, I think I got this right).

2:30 pm, leaving for Macau.

Just a darn small office :)

Hong Kong-Macau Ferry (港澳码头) , ferry ride every 15 minutes, 1 hour travel time, and pretty darn expensive. (Don't ask me about the price of stuffs, 'cause my brother pays for almost EVERYTHING :p I'm a lucky bastard, I know)

As we were leaving Hong Kong to Macau, another country, we needed to go through immigrations (and later on fill in those blasted health forms again).

3.45 pm. The inside of the ferry, pretty darn comfortable, and I had a nice nap.

5:00 pm. Bloody hell, every big hotel has got their own shuttle bus!

渔人码头, sorta like a theme park cum shopping mall in Macau. Didn't get to visit. I heard that's a volcano that will erupt.

Macau's buildings are mostly high-rise, like Hong Kong. We stayed at Holiday Inn, which is in the town center.

6:30 pm, visiting Macau. As it was summertime, the weather was very warm. There were no wind and the air was drier than Malaysia, which made it a very uncomfortable weather indeed.

As is the same with Hong Kong, Macau town center is packed with high-rising buildings. There are many buses and taxis on the streets of Macau, whereas cars are few (and often expensive) and the people drive big hogs and vespas, no kapchais.

I love the walkways of Macau.

Macau street posts.

I saw these notices everywhere in Hong Kong and Macau. But seriously, everything in Macau is in Portuguese and Chinese. Where's the English?

仁慈堂大楼，a very old building from the mid-18th century, the office opened the first western-style hospital in China.

玫瑰堂, one of many old church buildings in Macau.

Macau street view.

大三巴牌坊，the ruins that remained of the 圣保禄教堂 after a terrible fire. Its chinese-western style is one of its kind in all of the catholic churches in the world.

Soler can be found in a lot of ads here.

Macau's small, small post office.

The famous Senate Square (Largo Senado, 议事亭前地), also called 喷水池 by the locals, famous with its wave-like pavement that was created by Portuguese experts in a traditional style found in many parts of Southern Europe.

8:00 pm, dinner time. I saw a lot of people burning incense and hell money and offering food along the streets. Not much different from here in Malaysia. I wanted to take photos of them, but mom superstitiously said no. We don't want our 'friends' following us home now, do we?

A vintage baby chair in a chinese restaurant.

Our dinner, a typical chinese fare. The lala was a bit rubbery in texture, the sotong tasted really good, the sesame chicken and jellyfish smelled and tasted too much of sesame, the kangkung is strangely cooked in a claypot, and there was a pot of tofu while the baby had a plate of steamed tofu (he only had a mouthful). The food was okay, though I won't say it was delicious. There's a better restaurant near my house in KL. And it is much cheaper.

Typical of chinese restaurants, live fish, crabs and shrimp, even frogs are found outside the shop for people to choose and cook fresh.

I am disappointed with not getting to eat Portuguese-Chinese delicacies in Macau, but I will return someday.

9:30 pm, we couldn't get a taxi. Turns out it was shift change time. The restaurant owner used his own MPV to drive us back to our hotel, what great after service!

Had fun with the TV in our hotel room. A lot of English channel are provided, and I've even managed to find an 18-SX movie channel (NC-17 rated for non-Malaysians :) ), but of course it costs money, and I'm not that desperate :p

This concludes my first day in Macau :)

Free Programs

2009-02-13T04:35:00.000-08:00

Compiled from The Star Intech, these are various programs that are free and available to download from the net.

Office suite
OpenOffice
www.openoffice.org
Contains Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw and Base.
Writer: word processor
Calc: spreadsheet program
Impress: Constructing presentations
Draw: Photo editor
Base: used to manipulate and monitor a database

Antivirus
AVG
www.avg.com
Best free antivirus around.

Multimedia players
Winamp
www.winamp.com
Plays music, videos, stream radio transmissions and organize pictures, an all-round multimedia hub that can even be used to sync your iPod.

VLC Media Player
www.videolan.org
A player that can play just about any media file.

Encryption tool
Flexcrypt Free
www.flexcrypt.com
Protect text, e-mail messages, files and instant messengers.

Password manager
Efficient Password Manager
www.efficientpasswordmanager.com
Keep track of passwords for applications and online sites, software registration codes and more. Random password generator available. You only need to remember one password.

Photo editing
Softwares to rival Photoshop

PhotoScape
www.photoscape.org

Paint.NET
www.getpaint.net

GIMP
www.gimp.org

Sticky notes
Hott Notes
www.hottnotes.com

GPS
EasyGPS
www.easygps.com

Recover Files
Recover Files
www.undeleteunerase.com
Recover files removed from Recycle Bin, network drive, Flash drives and portable drives via a DOS prompt or Windows Explorer.

File zip
7-Zip
www.7-zip.org
Zips and unzips 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, RAR, CAB, ISO, ARJ and many more formats. And also encrypt files.

P2P clients
uTorrent
www.utorrent.com
For all your torrent download needs.

Web Browser
Firefox
www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
Too many good points to list down. Just use it.

Google Chrome
www.google.com/chrome

Opera 9.6
www.opera.com/browser

Operating System
Ubuntu
www.ubuntu.com

My Kampung

2009-01-29T21:51:00.000-08:00

I love my kampung. It's a very small kampung located near Kuala Lipis, Pahang called Bukit Betong. It's so small and shrouded in trees, that people can have a hard time looking for it, and that makes it even more charming, sort of like fairy tale villages of the fairy folks.

A small route leads into my kampung from the main road. Everywhere you look, huge trees of many years surround the area and the few remaining houses. At some point we will reach a bridge of many years. Probably built around the British times with red bricks that you hardly can find nowadays, the bridge is part of the railroad which leads towards my kampung house.

Through a small dusty yellow road, my house is located at the very end. It's a very big papan (wood-plank) double-storey house which is also the kampung's grocery store. Right beside the house is a store house which, in the old days, is where they store the rubber collected from a rubber plantation somewhere outside the kampung, owned by my grandfather. When I was very small, I used to hate going near the store because it stinks to high heaven there. Rubber tends to give out stinky cat dung smell.

Being the only kedai runcit (grocery store) in the area, our house sells a lot of everything. Food, tidbits, rice, rope, underwear (haha), umbrellas, nails, bolts and screws, medicine behind a huge glass cupboard, the kind of shop you would only see in history books and very old kampungs. The racks are very old, made of wood and painted over, and the sweets and candies in plastic tubes with red-colored lids. The cookies are in a big metal box, and the rice in their plastic bags all stacked neatly on top of each other according to their brand. My uncle even uses an abacus and old-style scales.

I remembered the shop being huge, the racks being high and the rice bags a perfect place to climb up and sit upon to either watch the people flow (there were a lot more people back then) or talk to a bird my 2nd uncle on my father's side caught. That bird could speak, "Apa mau tauke?", "Niao guo, niao guo, niao niao niao niao~" (which I was told, is the Hakka dialect for the bird species), and a variety of bird calls.

Nowadays the shop seemed smaller, the racks shorter than me and the rice bags fewer than before. The people flow were a lot less too since most people have moved away. The bird died too.

When we were still kids, we used to open the plasticware as we like and took as much candy as we like. And the ice-cream too! My mother used to tell me not to take too much, as my uncle still need to run his shop too. We are a huge family with a lot of kids, and if everyone took just one ice-cream...

This area, I heard, was where they used to serve people drinks. Like those kopitiams. My grandpa and uncles are so multi-faceted businessmen haha.

This area is the washing basin. The drinks are prepared here. What interests me is the basin. A totally flat basin haha. Turn on the tap too big and you could get yourself wet.

This is where there used to be a mommy dog and a daddy dog. I didn't dare get close to the daddy dog, but the mommy dog is very docile. One time she had over 10 puppies! I couldn't count the exact numbers because they were squirming and shoving in a little box, trying to secure a nipple for themselves. So I picked them out one by one out of the box, and left them crawling on the cold concrete floor (yes, I admit it was cruel of me, but being a kid, how would I know back then). They yipped for their mommy, and after about 5 or 6 of them crawling about, the mommy dog finally couldn't stand it and jumped out of the box, carrying her little ones one by one back into the box, as I continued taking them out one by one. In the end, I gave up. I could only conclude it was more than 10 puppies.

This is where the bathroom is. We used to have to boil water to take a bath here. And there was a small drain from the bathroom leading to the outside of the house too. Funny thing is, when I was still a kid, I used to come here to pee instead of the proper toilet at the back, at which reason I will show later. Just imagine my pee pee flowing through the house drain, in open air.

Oh look, the kitchen! With old-fashioned stoves! With firewood! But nowadays we use gas. Faster and cleaner. I used to hate having meals here. I prefer to eat outside at the grocery store. And another reason for no liking here is...

The toilet/ chicken barn is just near the kitchen. That's right. I hate the toilet here too, which is why I pee in the bathroom as opposed to the proper toilet here. Been here once. Imagine doing your business while the smell of chickens and their poo mixed with yours come attacking your every senses. And the non-stop clucking of the chickens! It's enough to give you a headache. Though I had a quite fun time here once. Tried to catch some chicks but mama hen got them all under her wings and puffed herself up against me. Beware the hen peck of death!

Now though, the chickens were removed to the front of the house outside, because they say snakes will come at night time and killed some of the chickens. Which left a cleaner toilet, and made my mom scared of going there ^^

This is the 2nd storey of my house. It used to house a lot of my family members as they watch chinese new year movies on the small, old television here at night time. I, on the other hand, prefer to romp around the grocery store by myself. I was kind of an awkward little kid, and still am, prefering to spend time with myself. There are a lot of small rooms on the 2nd floor. My bedroom had 2 mattresses, a desk and a mirror on the wall. The lighting was a blue bulb in the middle of the room, which throws an eerie light as we turn it on as a night lamp.

There is a huge river just beside my house. To reach it, we have to go down a slope first. It was fun back then because the women of the family would, at meal times, all gather on this huge raft made of bamboo and wash the vegetables and the chicken innards here. The river was fast flowing, so they wouldn't let us swim in it. Not that I want to. It was murky yellow. But my dad learnt to swim here. I guess it was slower in the old times.

I saw old photos of the river flooding up to the 2nd floor of my house. Imagine that! It would be like 3 floors high of murky water washing over the tiny village.

Just in front of my house is an uphill slope to where the tracks are. The train still goes through my village in the afternoon. Recently I went back and noticed it came at 2pm sharp, 3pm sharp, and a few minutes before 4pm. The tracks go over the river through this cool-looking bridge. My dad says this is another historical architecture that is rarely seen elsewhere too. I remember going on to the bridge as a kid, which an older cousin leading the way, but I don't remember crossing the river. It's a very wide river.

There used to be goats and chickens running free around the village. Not anymore. My uncle still keeps dogs though. Adorable creatures that shake their tails whenever I come near.

Somewhere up the road, is a house where an old lady used to live when I was a kid. We went over to her house which is overgrown with weeds higher than me to catch red dragonflies. One of my cousin tied a dragonfly by the tail with a weed, but later I think its tail broke because of it.

We used to have firecrackers on Chinese New Year. Villagers of other races love to watch the firecrackers too. The older cousins would get to light the long firecrackers hanging outside the house. We smaller kids were taken a safe distance away to stand and watch, with fingers in our ears. It was fun watching the firecrackers go pop, especially the last one which tends to be the loudest. After it was over, the ground would be completely covered with red paper and the awful smell would linger for some time.

It was a fun place to be, but only for 1 or 2 days because I'm a city person. I guess everyone else thinks so too, because we don't balik kampung (go back to our village) anymore. Everyone except my 2nd uncle and his wife has moved out to the big city.

中国游记 - 杭州和南京

2009-01-27T00:58:00.000-08:00

不可思议！这篇离上一篇游记足足有半年！我太夸张了！

写到两个星期的旅程的第四天。一早9:00 am，出发到西湖又一著名景点—长桥。长桥并不长，还短得很，不到五分钟就能从桥头走至桥尾。据说桥原先1000米长，但由于湖水淤塞，湖面变小，桥也就变短了。这里是梁山伯与祝英台十八里相送的位置。梁祝是由于你送我到桥头，我送你回到桥尾，总共送了十八次，久久不肯分离，才将总路程拉至十八里。情意深长，也是长桥名字的来源之一。

长桥不长亦是杭州三怪之一；其余二怪是断桥不断，孤山不孤。现今长桥附近开辟了一个公园，是游客和当地人热爱参观的地点之一。其实现在的长桥看起来非常新，其实是因为长桥也是经过重建的。

这个有幸遗留下的长桥区块也称双投桥。史载南宋淳熙年间，钱塘书生王宣教和少女陶师儿欲自由恋爱，为陶母所阻。八月中秋之夜，双双投入桥下而死。后人为纪念这对忠贞不渝的恋人，将此桥称为双投桥。因此，长桥是著名的情人桥呵！

早上10:30，抵达杭州宝树堂。宝树堂在中国是老字号，还曾是清代御医。中国冒牌中医师到处行骗已经是普通得不能再普通的事了，造成中医几千年来的美名在外国人甚至是华人的眼中，成了一个骗局。为了维护中医的声誉，中国政府特命宝树堂公开接待外来游客，向他们介绍华人真正了不起的医学知识。

杭州环境真的是非常好，因此这里建设了许多的疗养院。途中我们就经过了好多的退伍军人的疗养院。中国的福利不错的，呵呵。当然，导游也不是傻的。他们带得我们到来，目的就是要我们购买它的产品啊。不过宝树堂和同仁堂等都是非常著名的药堂，因此大家都不手软，能买的就买！为了游说大家购买他们的白药膏（专治各类皮肤疾病、烫伤及伤口），经理还不惜用自己的手背贴上一个烧得通红的铁炉，再快速的擦上药膏。他烫伤的那瞬间，大家都看到铁炉冒烟了，经理痛得直蹦跳。团友还真可爱，心疼地告诉他不用示范了，我买就是了。可怜一个经理还得翻起衣袖卖艺！不过，过一下他将手给大家看，还真的没事，只是还红红的，但一个水泡也没有。他一再提醒，前提是要非常快将药膏敷上，否则擦多少也没效。

12:00 午饭。有乌龙茶鸡、金针花、酸辣鱼等。

1:00 开车往南京，5:00 才抵达。我们先到了中山陵去参观。中山陵是中华民国国父孙中山的陵墓。这里很大很大，而且很多很多的绿树。我用图片带大家走一趟。

这叫博爱坊，是孙中山手书的“博爱”两个字。看到远处的陵墓吗？还有好长的路走呢。

一路上都有大树陪伴。

终于爬过一小部分的阶梯后，来到陵门处。门额上是孙中山的手迹“天下为公”。看看那屋瓦，是用青色的琉璃瓦做成的，青色指苍天，因此青色琉璃瓦有“天下为公”的意思。

这是碑亭，里面有一块约9米高的碑石，“刻着由当时国民政府主席、行政院长、国民党内四大书法家之一谭延闿(另三位是于右任、胡汉民和吴稚晖 ) 手书的“中华民国十八年六月一日　中国国民党葬总理孙先生于此”（孙中山当年以袁世凯保证清帝退位为条件，答应荐袁以自代，辞去临时大总统，由袁世凯就任中华民国首任大总统，所以是以国民党总理的名义下葬）的鎏金大字。字为颜体。1928年葬事筹备处认为先生思想和业绩非文字所能要概括，故决定不用碑文。” （百度百科）

国民党党徽！相信在中国其他地方很难找到这个党徽了。

看吧！我8年前来过这里已经被吓傻了。现在我还是要登上最高层！共有392阶，每一阶代表了100万人（当时的人口）。

到顶了！这里是祭堂，有3道拱门，门额上刻着“民族，民权，民生”，代表着孙中山提出的三民主义。门楣上刻有孙中山手书“天地正气”四个字。

堂中有孙中山大理石坐像，高4.6米，是由世界名雕刻家保罗•朗特斯基在法国巴黎用意大利白色大理石雕刻的。“像座东西四周有反映中山先生革命事迹的浮雕。祭堂的东西护壁大理石刻着中山先生手书的遗著《建国大纲》全文，穹顶上绘有巨幅国民党党徽。”（百度百科）（本人拍照拍漏了 = =）

在石像后面是一道大门，里边有个孙中山汉白玉卧像灵柩。孙中山遗体就安葬在此卧像之下5米之处。游客只能俯瞰卧像，不能及手触摸。

从顶处往下看，台阶都不见了，只剩下平台。这是设计师精心的设计，代表孙中山提倡的“人人平等”。共有8个台阶。远处就是南京市。天气好时还可以看到秦淮河。这座山叫紫金山，据说有很多古墓都在这里，还没被人发现，例如元朝皇帝朱元璋的陵墓，传说位于此地。为什么大家选择在这里盖陵墓？因为这里风水称为“龙脉”，前有罩，后有靠，后代子孙能享福。

阶梯半路有一对奉安纪念铜鼎，是1929年民国上海特别市政府敬献的大型仿古铜器物。高1.5米，直径1.3米。鼎壁有“奉安大典”篆字。这西边的大鼎身上有2个大洞，是1937年12月侵华日军攻击南京时，想把陵墓给轰炸，但是炮弹不够远程，结果只能在鼎身穿2个洞，陵墓没事。一个洞你应该看到啦，那个亮点就是了，第二个洞在鼎身底部，照片有点难看到。

6:30 到一家南京出名的豪华餐厅吃晚餐。这餐厅非常大，装潢非常奢侈，共4层楼，到处都是南京人最喜欢的玉雕。厕所竟然非常舒适，有漂亮的沙发供人休息，每一间厕所还有电视看 = = 导游说，还真的曾经有游客留恋于厕所，忘了上巴士！好吃的东西又南京名产盐水鸭（就是浸过盐水的冷鸭子，本人酷爱吃）、菜汤等。

8:00 check-in了豪华酒店之后（很多老外爱住这里），一出来转角就是有名的夫子庙夜市了。以前我对这里夜市很感兴趣，因为很像本地的pasar malam, 卖的是很多的便宜的货物，可以在这里扫手信。但是8年后的今天，夫子庙夜市完全不一样了。多了很多的商店，很多还是连锁店，到处都有的牌子，而且不便宜 = =。气氛全没了！这里灯光很亮。再走到秦淮河的对面就是至圣先师孔子的庙（全中国有不少的孔庙），很夜了，而且入场费不便宜，所以我们两次都没有进去参观。秦淮河还可以乘船游河。人潮直到深夜都不散，虽然我很有精力，但是父母阿姨累垮了，所以10:00 左右就回酒店了。

夫子庙

秦淮河

Christmas Tree 2008

2009-01-24T20:45:00.000-08:00

As of last year, I will try to take photos of Christmas trees in every department store I can find! This was taken over a period of a month or so. Our last trip didn't quite work out as by lunch time we were already exhausted :p

Midvalley:
Quite an elaborate display. But I have a feeling that last year's was better. They threw in elves and a real Santa Claus! This year's was just some trees and some decorations.

Low Yat:
This was taken outside of the Low Yat building.

And this was inside Low Yat.

Sungai Wang:
Weird display. Never quite liked Sungai Wang's display before.

Times Square:
This is big. With lots of bulbs and even Santa's sleigh on it!

Lot 10:
No center display. Just trees here and there.

Starhill:
I heard last year they used real snow! I didn't get to see it though, and this year's display were not yet set up at the time I visited it. Only some trees as preparation.

Pavilion:
The famous cake-inspired Christmas tree. I thought last year's was more beautiful. This just looks sad.

Tang's center display took up the space that last year's beautiful Pavilion tree once stood. There's a small tree made entirely out of paper curls in a very obscure corner here. Great innovative.

Pavilion's other smaller trees. Personally I like these better than the gigantic one outside.

The Curve:
Didn't see last year's display. But I'm impressed by this year's.

Elves bigger than me!

Busy, busy elves.

I don't think those are real bushes.

Reindeers made of twigs outside the shopping mall.

Ikano:
I love this tree! It's so different! I think it was made of plastic boards. A fresh design.

Sunway Pyramid:

KLCC:
I missed last year, thinking it looked the same every year. A moulding giant tree. But this year they finally decided to spruce it up! Thanks to Teng for the pictures.

Mr Gingerbread man says hi.

Alpha Angle Jaya Jusco:
A small but nicely decorated tree, nonetheless.

Introducing - Charlotte Martin

2009-01-18T03:56:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Xuan, I came to know Charlotte Martin. And now I absolutely love the woman. Stunningly amazing vocals, hauntingly beautiful piano work, and lyrics that read like poetry.

On Your Shore

A favorite of mine.

Beautiful Life

Hear it for her crystal clear voice and simple but engaging piano accompaniment.

Stromata

I thought this video was...weird. I think she prefers live performances rather than to a camera.

I am on a search for her CDs. If anyone sees anything, tell me ok?

Food

2009-01-02T07:00:00.000-08:00

What is it with food? We eat to sustain ourselves, while making ourselves happy and/or miserable. Too little food leads to malnutrition but it makes some anorexic people happy. Too much glorious food on the other hand, leads to obesity, but you can't deny the satisfaction brought on after a sumptuous meal.

And when you do find delicious good food, you daydream about it all the time. You wish you could have that Ikea meatballs like, RIGHT NOW. Or that heavenly seafood spaghetti that Myen's father served up a few christmases ago.

The trip to China last year (2008) was a wonderful experience. You have to believe me when I say the food is scrumptious! I'm not sure if it's the water or the product, but the Chinese can cook up a real storm. Malaysia is a food paradise too, that one is sure as hell. We have various herbs and spices that had the British, Dutch, Portugese and Cheng Ho coming back for more. Our food is a culinary mix of cultural fusion, which makes us especially tasty (cue the "Malaysia Truly Asia" song here.)

I digress. Talking about Chinese food, which I AM going to cover in my China trip travel blog (which is taking forever to finish...), I came across two restaurants in Shanghai - Ding Tai Feng from Taiwan and Ajisen Ramen from Japan. Their food is absolutely an eater's paradise! Yes, it was THAT good.

Back home to motherland, I have spent several moments reminiscing the tasty morsels. The wonderful rich broth of Ajisen Ramen, and the juicy, tender Shanghai xiao long paus. I did not take pictures of both and am now slapping myself for it (never was a food photographer, me).

Guess what, Ding Tai Feng opened a new restaurant in the Gardens. I guess my incessant rambling about how good it was finally convinced my gang to celebrate Myen's birthday there.

There were a lot of people, that was promising. I guess everyone heard of the famous Shanghai xiao long paus that Ding Tai Feng was famed for. Obviously I was very excited about revisiting the good times in Shanghai. But then, the menu was...different. A few dishes were replaced. The tastes were changed.

More importantly, the Shanghai xiao long pau tastes different! I cried, I sobbed, I wept, I whimpered, but it doesn't help the fact that Malaysian Ding Tai Feng has smaller, less juicy and less tasty xiao long pau. The other noodle dishes my gang had were significantly smaller and tastes like any other noodle house in KL, but with a higher price. Oh, how I grieved!

Regrettably (or not), we did not take pictures of the food as, honestly, it wasn't quite worth it.

Then there was Ajisen Ramen in Shanghai. Priced at RM 16 a big bowl (filled to the brim with delicious meat chunks, mushroom and whatever), it was totally a steal! And don't get me started on the rich broth, which I managed to almost finish if not for my already expanded-beyond-its-girth stomach. How I missed Ajisen back in Malaysia!

Lo and behold! Ajisen decided to open in Sunway Pyramid! It was by chance that Myen and I, browsing through the mall directory, saw the shop high up on the list, and lunch was decided.

Once again, my loyalty was tested. The menu was totally different, again. The price, higher than I would appreciate. There were a lot of choices, but not much to interest me. I blame the terribly designed menu. When I finally made my mind to have the RM 20 something Peking duck ramen, I could feel my wallet writhing in pain. It wasn't as if I had other yummy choices, but would you rather pay RM 10 for a bowl of noodles and a pitiful amount of veggies instead? The only picture to interest me were the duck. So.

The cruelty! The noodle tasted of alkaline, and the soup wasn't rich! If it weren't for the chilli and the duck, I couldn't have stomached the bowl of thing (I cannot stand the taste of alkaline)! And the price I paid certainly added salt to my wounds.

Oh please, Sakae Sushi has better chicken katsudon.

My painfully expensive and NOT delicious Peking Duck ramen.

Alas, this must be why our government encourages us to eat local food, for foreign gourmet - all right, chain stores - that once reached our shores, are heanvenly no more.

Say hello to char kuey teow and asam laksa again!

Hide and Seek

2008-12-16T08:30:00.000-08:00

Just the cutest thing. I woke up on a nice Sunday morning, preparing to drive to work, when mom told me about the kittens sleeping on my car tyre. Yeap, you read that right. Two little kitties were snugly asleep ON my front left tyre. Kittens are notorious for being found just about anywhere, but somewhere between the car and the tyre is a first to me.

Apparently dad also woke up to see them nice and cozy on his car tyre, but with their heads sticking out, which if caught on camera, would be even cuter. He shooed them away, parked my car outside, and drove off. Turns out they came back :)

Their mom even came to call them home once. I think they did reluctantly follow their mom, only to come back later. XD What funny kitties.

So next time, not only do you have to check under your cars, but also your tyres, because you never know where those little buggers will turn up :)

Just As Some Small Amusement...

2008-12-04T03:52:00.000-08:00

...I googled myself. "Von Ai Hua". My Facebook profile came up first.

Oh, blimey. I'm famous! I'm on Google!

*ahem* Ok...so I found out a whole TON of people named Ai Hua on the web too. But I'm the most unique one, what with my exquisite family name of Von ;)

Oh wait, it seemed like my name came up a lot on German (just a hunch) websites too. Well not my exact full name, but simply "ai hua" here and "von" there. I think "von" means something like "of" or something...

Somehow, I feel damn exotic. I think I can pass off as a German if I feel like it XD

Footnote:
My colleague's brother entered her name for fun too. It turned out her exact name is the name of a concept street somewhere on Earth @@ Wonder if it's been built already.

Introducing - Aqualung

2008-12-04T03:30:00.000-08:00

My current favorite artist, somewhere beside Radiohead and Coldplay :)

Brighter Than Sunshine

Strange & Beautiful

Read on Wikipedia that "Strange & Beautiful" was used in a Volkswagen Beetle ad. Good choice!

Spot Me Fun!!

2008-12-04T03:15:00.000-08:00

You know what, after the smile in the sky blog, I just thought how funny it is that I have another 2 pictures where the main subjects are so small, I have to magnify them at least 10 times to see.

Have fun figuring out where the main subjects can be found XD

My camera phone (K770i) does a pretty good job of capturing details:

And they are two doves...the quality has been compromised. A lot.

XD

(No. 1 is pretty easy, it's in the middle, that little black spot. No. 2 is just darn hellish. They are found just below the right-most white bags)

I Saw a Smile in the Sky

2008-12-04T02:59:00.000-08:00

What luck! I caught a smile up in the sky, thought it cute, and just wanted to take a picture. Myen stopped his car just for me to shoot a nice picture.

Who knew, as soon as I got home, mom talked about a phenomenon that only happens once every 25 years, and it was exactly that night!

Enlarge the picture size to n times...

...and Voila!

The left eye is Venus, the right eye is Jupiter, and the smile is naturally the moon :)

Burberry!!!

2008-10-27T04:29:00.000-07:00

Hehehe, I'm feeling giddy today, and it's not 'cause I've been sick from Friday night. Yesterday I went into a real Burberry outlet, for real. If you know me well, you should know that I'm a HUGE fan of Burberry, though I have no real reasons why. Maybe it's the iconic checkers that had me.

I only went in 'cause I have two friends of mine from college with me, and one of their boyfriend works there as a temp in the Pavilion outlet (you know, a part-timer as we call it here). Without those boost of faith, I wouldn't have dreamt of going in that holy place (ok, so I'm getting a bit overly-enthusiased).

The smell of leather attacked our sense of smell as the doors were pushed open. Friendly smiles from the employees reassured me that I'm not too out-of-place in this high couture place. Anyways, my target is a Burberry trenchcoat (hey, that's what Burberry's famous for). I need to know the price of one.

The good stuff is on the second floor. I walked up the stairs with my friends following me not really close behind (they're not as excited as I am. They're the normal ones). Lo and behold! there hung the glorious trenchcoats! Heading straight towards a beige-colored, magnificent-looking one, I ran my fingers across the soft silky texture. So this is what sweetness feels like. I pulled the price tag out and squinted for the numbers but embarassingly couldn't really locate them, haha. I didn't want to look too obvious checking out the price so I asked my friend to spell it out for me. "I see a 1...0...5...4...5." Great. My dream is worth at least 10k. That would amount to...I don't know...half a year of bread crumbs and no shopping trips ever?

And to think the most expensive merchandise in the shop is worth RM 24,000. Bloody hell. I wish I was born with a silver spoon. I hope I don't sound too shallow by saying that :P I could buy all the Burberries I ever wanted.

Reasoning

2008-10-20T07:28:00.000-07:00

Have you heard of the saying, that for good luck's sake, you should never tell people your dream? I'm going to do the opposite right now. I'm going to tell you a dream I had during my nap.

Apparently this dream had me so perplexed that it got me dazed for a few moments. I have dreamt of people chasing me, monsters ravaging the cities and a few other worthy of an Oscar best script award. No matter how weird the story would seem, it would still be logical. At least it would seem so to me.

In this illogical dream, my colleague, who in real life doesn't drive and has no car, was driving me home from work in her car. Being too busy on the phone talking to my hardly intelligible mother (probably 'cause she has the flu), we past my house a few roads ahead. Figuring it would be easier for me to just walk back, I said goodbye and got dropped off beside an apartment garden.

Surprised to see something like a monorail station, I walked up the stairs and found it was only some shops built up high on a bridge. Suddenly remembering my mom mentioned about buying something on the phone while in the car, which despite her efforts to scream into my ears what it was, I still couldn't understand. I got to a platform with some chairs and decided I need to call her back and ask what it really was that I should buy.

As I put my bag on the chair and dug for my handphone, somewhere a bus stops and strange enough, me on the platform felt the motion and was pushed far away from where I was standing. Just like how it is when the bus stops suddenly and there wasn't time to grab hold of a pole. In fact, I was pushed so far, I dropped down in the middle of the road. Lucky there weren't any cars then! Then remembering my bag and my precious handphone left unguarded on the chair, I race ahead of two guys and then, I woke up.

This got me thinking. Why the heck am I so bothered by this dream? Perhaps it was a prophetic dream? I then went Freud on it. I couldn't hear my mom properly, I tried to call her back but was pushed back and had to run a long way back. Does that mean, due to miscommunication, I'm going to be pushed away from my goal and had to work hard to get back at it?

Oh screw it. It's not like I have to give a reason to everything. Learnt that from a famous French director, Francois Ozon. We humans have tried to give reason to everything. Not content to it just being a fireball in the sky, the Greeks created the god Apollo, riding his fiery chariot across the sky. To rationalise the fear, some people believe that bad things happen to good people because of the bad deeds they did in their past lives, karma. Not just happy about a free apple falling from the sky, Newton went on to discover gravity. Wait. That last one was a GOOD thing. Oh well.

Maybe I should be content to just think of it as random thoughts produced by my stimulated brain cells while the rest of my consciousness is asleep. Or I could indulge myself into thinking I have sixth sense after all.

I am so contradicting, I scare myself = =

Websites to pass time on the internet

2008-10-05T03:49:00.000-07:00

Extensive list that I will keep on adding and updating.

Games
1. Friv
http://www.friv.com/
A site jam-packed with flash games to play to your heart's content.

2. 1980 Games
http://www.1980-games.com/us/
Games from the 1980, such as Super Mario Brothers 3, Donkey Kong, Mega Man etc.

3. Eyemaze
http://www.eyezmaze.com/
Another flash games website consisting games made mostly by a Japanese game designer known as ON.

Videos and Pictures
1. I Can Has Cheezburger?
http://icanhascheezburger.com/
A laugh-out-loud site with cat pictures and hilarious captions in broken English.
An alternative dog site would be I Has a Hot Dog!
www.ihasahotdog.com

2. Crunchyroll
www.crunchyroll.com
There's youtube, and there's Crunchyroll. The difference is I can find a lot more anime in Crunchyroll, plus play games on the website.

Manga and Novels
1. Kuku DongMan
http://comic.kukudm.com/
Manga for your heart's content! Chinese translation. Careful not to click on the links as some are baaaaaad. Just click on the mangas and you'll be fine.

2. FanFiction
www.fanfiction.net
The ultimate website for fanfics (fiction wrote by fans). I contributed a few stories of my own there as well XD

3. Everything2
www.everything2.com
The name says it all. A mind-boggling website full of articles of EVERYTHING. Well, almost. From poetry to fiction to serious discussions; from serious titles ("Religion") to the funny ("Bathing Cats in the Toilet"). What I like most is to get to the end of the article, then have a whole list of other related topics to choose from. I would pick the most interesting title and go from there. It's a bit like lottery. Either you hit something hilarious or something as dry as cardboard. But it's the adventure that counts!

Windows Fix

2008-10-04T23:45:00.000-07:00

Safe Mode

If Windows fails to load, restart the computer and just after the Bios finishes loading, keep pressing the F8 key until the Windows Advanced Options menu appears. Use the arrow keys to select Last Known Good Configuration. If Windows starts up properly, remove any programs you installed or undo any changes you made recently.

If it still won't start properly, reboot and go back to the Advanced Options menu again and choose Safe Mode. In Safe Mode, Windows will automatically skip loading programs and hardware components which in 99% of the cases should make it start.

System Restore

Next, if you have installed a program that has made your computer unstable, the best way to recover is to use System Restore. System will not delete your data files such as Word and Excel documents, e-mail messages, browser history and such. However, it will remove the programs that were installed at the time the restore point was created.

It's in Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore. Select Restore My Computer To An Earlier Time. Click Next and follow the on-screen prompts to select a restore point. At the end your computer will auto reboot to complete the process.

Windows Repair

If even that doesn't solve the problem, your last resort is the Windows XP CD which has a very useful tool called Recovery Console. First insert the Windows XP CD and reboot the computer. When you come to the Welcome to the Setup menu, hit R to start up the Recovery Console and press the corresponding number to select the operating system (usually 1 if you only have a single operating system) you wish to repair. At this point you will be expected to enter the administrator password.

The partition boot sector and the master boot record are essential for Windows to boot. If they become damaged by virus or configuration changes, Windows won't start up. To fix it, type "fixboot" and press Enter and wait for the process to complete before you restart the system. This will help you write a new partition boot sector and overwrite the existing one.

If you suspect the master boot record is also damaged then you can also fix it through another command, "Fixmbr". If you only have one drive, type "Fixmbr\Device\HardDisk0". Hard Disk zero.

Reinstall Windows

If all fails, then you have no choice but to reinstall a fresh copy.Reinstall Windows back to the original folder should solve your problem but you will lose some settings and some programs may have to be reinstalled to work properly. However, all your personal data should remain untouched.

Just insert the Windows CD and repeat the process above to get to the SEtup screen. Press Enter to initiate Windows Setup and agree to the licence by pressing F8. Setup will detect an existing copy of Windows installed on your hard disk. Install a fresh copy of Windows to the same directory by pressing the Escape button.

Bad Start

If Windows crashes after you log on, then chances are a program that is automatically starting with the operating system is unstable. As soon as you type in your username and password, and hit Enter, hold down the Shift key. This should prevent programs from starting automatically and hopefully not crash Windows. The next thing to do is to find out which program is creating the problem and fix it.

Compiled from The Star, InTech, 29 April 2008

Hardware Fix

2008-10-04T22:02:00.000-07:00

This is another of those computer-related articles that I read about, summarized, put up and edit from time to time. I shall name this article, "Hardware Fix" (pretty self-explanatory XD)

If the computer fails to start up normally and makes beeping sounds, then there is hardware problem. This website lists down the beeps and the explanation.
http://www.computerhope.com/beep.htm
If it's memory or graphics card related, try removing them and then putting them back as they tend to become loose over time.

If there's no beep, then it's time for some detective work. If possible, find a working computer to swap the components and find out which is working and which is not. Remember to make sure you are free from static by grounding yourself.

1st scenario: You push the power button and nothing happens. No sound from the speakers, no fans spinning and nothing appears on the monitor.
1. Make sure the power cable is not loose and the fuse in the plug hasn't fried. (Surprisingly a lot of people tend to forget this step :P)
2. Make sure the power outlet is working by plugging something else to it.
3. Listen closely to the hard disk. If there's no spinning, chances are the power supply or motherboard is dead.
Borrow a power supply from a friend to check if this solves the problem.
4. If it doesn't, then the motherboard is probably not channelling the required power to the other hardware components.
If the computer is new, have it sent to the computer shop to fix it. If it's several years old, it's time for a new computer, whoo-hoo!

2nd scenario: The power supply is ok, fans are spinning, LEDs have lighted up or you hear your hard disk spinning but nothing appears on the monitor.
1. The graphics card, video cable or monitor has gone kaput.
Take out the graphics card then put it back again. It may have become loose.
2. Borrow a monitor and try again. If there's still nothing on the screen, then chances are the graphics card is dead. Check the monitor status light. Green or blue means the monitor is receiving signal from the video card and it is sufficiently powered. Orange means the monitor is on standby mode because it is unable to receive video signal. This should only happen when the computer is off.
3. If the monitor is powered on (check all cables and make sure the power button is on) and there is no status light, the monitor is dead. Just to be sure, try connecting the monitor to a different power outlet and switch it on to see if it goes into standby mode.

3rd scenario: The monitor is working but the image is garbled.
1. It's either a faulty graphics card or RAM.
If you have two sticks of RAM, remove one and restart. If it works, and you want to be really sure, restart again with only the other RAM (the one you took out earlier).
2. If it still doesn't work, then it's probably the graphics card.

4th scenario: The monitor is working, the Bios routine is running, but the computer still won't start.
1. Probably the hard disk has crashed. Or it could be due to software problem, which I will post in the article.

On a relevant topic, if you tweaked with the Bios and killed your computer, reset the settings again by pressing the appropriate key when the computer starts up, then choosing the default factory setting.

If you fubared it (Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition - I love this word) that you can't even get into the Bios screen, it's time to perform some surgery.

First check from the manual to see if your motherboard comes with a special jumper setting that you can change or a button you can push to cause the Bios to reset automatically. If not, follow the next steps.

Turn off the computer and remove the power cable from the wall outlet. Remember to ground yourself to remove static. Open the PC case and locate the rechargeable battery on the motherboard, which is usually about the size of a 20 sen coin. Remove the battery carefully. Wait for an hour or so for the board to loose all trace of the Bios setting. Replace the battery and the case cover and power the computer up. The Bios setting would have automatically reset to the default setting.

Compiled from The Star, InTech, 29 April 2008

Introducing - shoppingNsales

2008-09-22T21:41:00.000-07:00

This is crazy. A website totally dedicated to shopping sales:

"shoppingNsales will bring you the current sales, best deals, shopping bargains and warehouse sales in Klang Valley, Malaysia.

We are dedicated to find the best bargain, to hunt down the greatest deal, source all warehouse sales events and place it up here for all of you.

Malaysia is a fantastic Shopping Destination, and we hope that with all our effort put in, you will enjoy the shoppingNsales Blog. And like all good things, please don’t keep it to yourself, do share it with everyone. :) "

So the "about us" on the website tells me.

This is not good for me. My eyes light up every time I see a "Sales" poster and I lose all control of my legs. Ask Myen. He had to literally drag me away from every shop during the Mega Sales Season.

And then I found this website!! Totally unhealthy for my purse and my sanity XD I find myself jotting down every sales I want to go in my little organiser, planning ahead every month and thinking up victims I can drag down with me.

Well, shopping IS fun. Indulge me ;)

shoppingNsales

3-3 Illustration Exhibition

2008-09-20T01:41:00.000-07:00

Oh man, I'm behind schedule for, like, 8 months XD

This is the exhibition of our class, 51st batch of Dasein Academy of Art, 3rd year 3rd batch of the year 2007 (I totally forgot how to address our class properly = =). Our theme was "忆 " (memories), sort of like a stroll down memory lane, the 3 years of our college lives connected with our younger selves. Anyway it was our graduating exhibition, a showcase of our work from the 3 years in college.

The preparation:
A gruelling week of work ><

The exhibition:
This was what greeted everyone on their way into the main exhibition. A play on light and shadow by Ah Lee Sing Ling.

Please forgive stupid me in the picture. Proceed to admire our work.

Ah Lee with his tree depicting the polluted state of our world.

Leong Mei Lee with her fashion design. Made totally out of paper and plastic.

A corner was given to another class for their work. (8 months...I totally forgot which class =.= I'm so sorry)

A closer look:

The rest of our exhibition:

The gang (minus a Kelvin that was sick on that day =.=):
From the back: Me, Mei Lee, Kevin
Front: Evyan, Ah Lee

For those of you who came, thank you very much! For those of you who couldn't come, I'm so sorry you couldn't make it T T

Introducing - The Book Design Review

2008-09-20T01:22:00.000-07:00

Found two fantastic websites on book cover designs. You know how it is when you walk by a stack of books and found yourself inexplicably drawn to a particular book just because its cover shouts out at you.

Book cover design is a huge task. More often than not a book sales because its cover attracts buyers. What makes a book cover design a great book cover design? I don't think I can explain. Hopefully by looking at a lot of great designs, I'll sub-consciously absorb whatever mastery there is and abracadra, alakazam - design my own better-than-mediocre book covers. Wahaha.

Wouldn't hurt to browse around in your free time, even if you're not in the designing field :)
The Book Design Review
Book Covers

Lilith

2008-09-03T10:20:00.000-07:00

Before Eve, there was Lilith.

God created Adam and Lilith from the earth, and therefore were considered equals. Adam, with his man ego, demanded that Lilith be underneath him during intercourse. Lilith, enraged, cursed and flew away.

Adam complained to God, "The woman you gave me has run away!" Immediately God sent three of his angels - Senoy, Sansenoy and Semangelof - after Lilith. They found her beside the Red Sea, where she became a lover to demons, producing many demon children every day.

When told to return to Adam, Lilith refused. As punishment, a hundred of her children will die every day. In return, Lilith took revenge by harming newborn infants of the children of Adam. "I shall have dominion over baby boys for eight days after his birth, and dominion over baby girls for twenty days after her birth. However, if I see your names (the three angels) or your forms in an amulet, I will have no power over the infant."

And thus was Lilith brought down generations after generations, as a seducer of men, a symbol of lust, and the killer of children; the lover of demons, producer of chaos, and the mother of all demons.

The above was from a Jewish myth. The widely accepted version of the Bible does not include the tale. However, people have argued that Lilith was hinted early on in the Bible. Genesis 1:27 does state "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." This would not be Eve, as Eve was made out of the rib of Adam later on.

Personally, I am intrigued by this female called Lilith. Giving the old societies that look upon men as dominant and superior, a female like Lilith would have been frowned upon. A docile and less threatening female like Eve would have been prefered instead.

Take away the mythology parts of the legend, namely the demons, the angels and such, and you would be left with a story about a woman running away from her dominant husband with a huge ego, refusing to be treated as inferior. The mythology parts may have been added in as to demonize the attributes of woman that the big-headed males of that time thought undesirable.

Fast forward to the 19th century, where the feminist movement started to make waves. The women demanded equality, something that Lilith demanded from Adam in the first place. If there are people who take offense that I'm comparing them with Lilith the demoness, as she is widely known, I apologize. I, however, would rather like to think of her as the First Woman, the woman that we should have been but was cut down and shaped as Eve.

I found an article in which the writer tweaked the story of Adam, Lilith and Eve a bit. Couldn't find the website back but here's how it goes: Eve managed to climb over the gates of Eden to explore a bit, where she found Lilith waiting for her. The two woman chatted and influenced each other in their own ways, which left Adam puzzled over the changes he found in his usually docile Eve. A bit like Eve getting educated on feminism by Lilith.

As I was reading up as much as I could on Lilith, I also found this wonderful quote by an Armenian writer, Avetik Isahakyan: "But though Adam's lips said Eve, his soul always echoed Lilith." I guess that's why men always tend to stray.

Hello Baby!

2008-09-01T20:44:00.000-07:00

On 29 August 2008, the world welcomes the coming of my little nephew, the first grandson in the family.

His arrival came as a surprise to all of us as he is 2 weeks early. Scared the wits out of my family and especially his mama (my sister-in-law) XD. His papa (my brother) wasted no time in booking the next flight home as soon as he got the news.

This little guy will grow up to be a very lucky guy and a great time manager. Why? Because if he were to come 2 days late, his mama would be in Segamat, Johor, far far away from his designated hospital; come 1 day late, his mama's obstetrician would have gone on holiday; come 15 minutes late, there would be only me left in the house to drive her to the hospital (my parents would have left for their morning walks), which, as some of you may already know, is not really the best choice as a driver (plus I don't even know the way xd)

Anyway, this darling has arrived safely, and his mama is also recuperating well. His name is 温轩毅 and I thought I heard his papa saying his English name will be Joshua. Joshua is Hebrew in origin, and its meaning is "Jehovah is salvation". Baby is NOT Christian, but what the heck, the name sounds nice, I'll take it XD

Baby is an awful lot like his papa for now. He has beautiful black hair, long sideburns, and sleeps through the day just like his papa = =. He emits a high pitch sound in protest everytime we try to wake him up for his feeding, just like his papa growls whenever I try to wake him up from his sleep = = But baby has his mama's cute small mouth. I just hope he will have his mama's eyes too, big and beautiful. His papa's eyes are so small, so sepet (slanted) = = (I do wonder at times if he can see as much as we bigger eyes can XD)

Baby shares the same birthdate as Michael Jackson and Nicholas Tse from HongKong. That's pretty amazing. I'll bet he'll grow up to be a heartbreaker.

Here's wishing you a happy lifetime dearest nephew!

Sliding

2008-08-23T07:47:00.000-07:00

I am slowly sliding. I can feel myself sliding.

I am losing control of everything: of myself, of my thoughts, of my emotions.

I'd never thought I would turn into a train-wreck like this.

Whatever went wrong along the way? I can't find myself.

I am slowly sliding.

Comfort Zone

2008-08-20T18:21:00.000-07:00

Why did I ever leave my comfort zone?

I was safely tucked in my fantasy world for years. I created a huge collection of characters, each with their unique personality and back stories. Those years, I was completely honest when I said I was never bored. I had my stories to turn to.

Few months ago, I ventured out of my dreams. Thought I'd face the world as it is. I left my stories behind, slightly excited that I would no longer be as naive. Perhaps I'd grow up a bit.

I left them behind for months. These few months have been a terrible experience for me. I fell and couldn't- no, still can't - get up. I think that by leaving my dreams, I am leaving a whole part of myself behind. No wonder I am so lost.

I need to find myself back, even if it means I'll return to be that naive and immature girl, living in her own dream and not the reality. I can find solace in things that don't exist in real life, my own concoctions.

It's ironic how my characters are living the life I want, while I'm stuck in reality.

Why am I writing this? Perhaps I need a hand to help pull me through. I know people aren't meant to live in imaginations, but the reality hurt me and I'm afraid to go through it again.

Perhaps I'd rather stay stuck in my comfort zone forever. But I wonder, is that what I really want?

Introducing - Pastafarian

2008-06-27T08:25:00.000-07:00

Found something interesting in one of my friend's Facebook profile. It says his religious view: pastafarian.

That had me scratching my head. Pasta-what? Never did it cross my mind that the key word here really is PASTA.

Go ahead, read all about pastafarian on Wikipedia. And read about the invisible pink unicorn too while you're at it. And don't forget to read this letter that started it all. I love it!

And this is the official website.

Did I pique your interest? Notice how I never really did spell the answer out for ya :) But rest assured, the whole thing will have you in stitches! XD

2008 Wesak International Film Fest

2008-06-25T08:13:00.000-07:00

Went to a film fest on 21 June, Saturday, or more specifically, the 2008 Wesak International Film Fest. If you don't already know, I am a HUGE movie buff. I try to watch as much movies as I can, preferably those that have garnered good reviews.

I didn't know about this film fest until after 16 June from The Star newspaper. I'm constantly trying to catch up with my stack up-ed newspaper. A few day's delay is normal. Once I even found myself reading the papers a whole month late = = But I digress.

The film fest was held in Malaysia Tourism Centre, which is very conveniently located just near KLCC. There's a monorail station, Bukit Nanas, and an Putra LRT station, Dang Wangi within walking distance. In fact, I'd have to say it's the perfect venue, what with big, comfortable auditoriums and halls to show the movies and some merchandise.

And what movie choices they were! They all have the common theme of Buddhism, but not in the preaching sense, as some might have supposed. The movies chosen came from around the world, such as Thailand, China, Tibet and the western countries.

My movie companions on that day were TiMyen and SoonTeng, and later joined by JiaXuan. The movies we went to were "Milarepa" (Tibetan) and "Oseam" (Korean). While the first movie had me and Teng very amused (the scene with a man running so fast that all you can see was a trail of smoke a-la Road Runner; and the horse-chase scene where the tiny ponies were forced to work their puny legs at top speed, which in our opinion, looks very silly), the message in the movie was clear: Revenge is for suckers. No, I mean revenge would not let you attain anything.

The second movie, however, had me bawl my eyes out. Inside I was crying, very shallowly, "My makeup!!" XD Oh dear, if they were out to get my precious tears, they could have just pried my eyes out. JUST KIDDING. I won't spoil the movie for you, but if you were to have the chance to watch it, remember to bring a tissue box. A beautiful anime from Korea.

During lunch we strolled around the place. The place is beautiful! We spent a huge amount of time playing with the fishies XD.

The starfish wants to kiss you.
And there were people making rice picture too.
And there's a giant Willy Wonka's chocolate factory too! No, I mean a chocolate boutique. Rows and rows of beatifully wrapped chocolate! Oh we were in heaven! And the price, oh my goodness I can't pay for them! They were obviously targetting the financially bloated tourists = = But there are individual pieces selling for RM 3 each. Our purses were feeling a bit tight that day, so we passed.

But if they were selling those really unique ones individually, I wouldn't have mind. I'm talking bout chocolates with mango fillings, coconut fillings, durian fillings, pineapple fillings, kiwi fillings, papaya fillings...I'm not kidding. They really do sell these in boxes. XD

You should have seen us taking the bus to KLCC for lunch. We were fumbling around like 100% pure-bred tourists. "Which bus to take ah?" "That bus can or not?" "We walk lo~" "Wah, dun wan la~" And when we DO get on the bus: "Wah, so convenient o, can take bus straight to KLCC o~" "Eh when to press the ring ring ah?"

After finishing lunch and successfully getting back to MTC via bus, upon jumping down the bus we were like: "Wah, you see you see, so many place can go o~" (we were looking at the Hop-on Hop-off bus sign) "I wanna go I wanna go~" "The sun very shiny la, wan stand here meh?"

Total fumbling tourists :)

So anyway to boost our country's tourism sector, we will arrange for KL one-day-trips somedays! We will join the likes of my friend, who wrote his experience in his blog, Project Transmission, and be good Malaysians and travel domestically! Via bus or whatever! And again act like the good tourists fumbling around in good o' Malaysia.

中国游记 - 杭州（二）

2008-06-23T09:03:00.001-07:00

上一篇写了一个礼拜，这一篇两个礼拜，我到底几时才能写完我的游记啊 = =

第三天了，我有了前车之鉴，戴眼罩睡，结果睡到7点多，恨不得能睡多一些。每天都玩得那么累，所以说跟旅行团是拿命。

8:30am前往西湖搭游艇。看看西湖美景，著名的三潭映月、苏堤、雷锋塔等。

图,点击这里。

三潭映月：关于三潭映月，我找到了一个很有趣的故事，来看看。

这是我看到最具代表性的三潭映月照片。

听导游说，这三个塔各有十个孔，三个塔就有三十个孔。天上一个月亮，水中一个月亮，心中一个月亮，总共三十三个月亮 J

苏堤春晓：苏堤，还真是那个写“欲把西湖比西子，淡妆浓抹总相宜”的苏东坡建的呢。杭州人民为纪念苏东坡治理西湖的功绩，把堤命名为“苏堤”。

雷锋夕照：雷锋塔更好玩。《白蛇传》中的白蛇娘娘就是被法海和尚压在这座塔下。明朝，倭寇入侵杭州，因为怀疑明军藏在塔内而放火烧塔，只留下砖体塔身。后来又因为传说雷锋塔塔砖可以驱病强身或安胎，人们就从塔砖上许多就从塔砖上磨取粉末、挖取砖块，还有人从塔内挖寻经卷来牟利。就这样，几乎挖空的塔基再也不堪重负，于1924年全部崩塌。现在看到的塔是杭州市于1999年重建，2002年竣工的。

鲁迅曾写了这样一篇文章。

许仙与白娘子。

断桥残雪：这叫宝淑塔，那个桥…我不能肯定，但是好像是断桥，看看又还像不是…人们常爱说雷锋塔是个老爷爷，而宝淑塔是个亭亭玉立的美女。宝淑塔像雷锋塔那样也是屡遭破坏，在1993年重建的。断桥则是西湖中最出名的一座桥，是西湖三大情人桥之一。据说白蛇娘娘与许仙是在这里相识，同舟归城，借伞定情；后又在此邂逅，言归于好。至于断桥名字的由来，较普遍的说法是因为自平湖秋月的白堤至此而断，故称断桥。又有说冬天的时候，白雪覆盖遍地，从远处观看，断桥被白雪掩盖，看起来像是断开了，因此称为断桥。

断桥也有个传说。

在西湖上游啊游，看啊看，就到了泊船的地方，走啊走，就到了一个叫花港观鱼的美景。这里是个大花园，很多花很多鸟，还有孔雀开屏：

还会转圈…露点了，老兄 = =

鱼很多，主角嘛：

肥鱼，看到人就游过来讨吃：

之前如果你有点击link，就会看到有个牡丹亭。就在这里！可惜当时入夏了，牡丹全谢了。唉…

爱走花园的人一定很喜欢这里，不过要春天来。当年乾隆皇帝也来过呵（他几乎哪里都去过，贪玩的皇帝。途中看到很多的运河，很多都是因为方便他逃出紫禁城来找姑娘而建的 = =）

山不在高，有仙则灵；水不在深，有龙则灵。形容西湖太贴切了。西湖周围的山不高，但受人们喜爱，诗人也情有独钟；西湖本身平均深度才2.27米，但扬名远近，是杭州的宝。

11am到著名的“杭州西湖龙井绿茶”（不要买错，要认明名字，哈哈）出产地—梅家坞。龙井茶是最上等的绿茶，健康功效不得了。外国高层人员到访中国，中国总爱送他们杭州西湖龙井绿茶（名字好长…）。梅家坞八成的人姓梅，因此得名。这里人们生活俭朴，空气山水好，自然也是个长寿村。Jason的学长，茶厂经理梅杰先生抽空替我们讲解绿茶的等级及功效，顺便做做推销（又或者是倒过来说比较对 ^^）

龙井分三种等级：普通级、特级和茶王级。普通级，市面上卖的大部分就是，味道、功效当然普通。特级就是平常送礼的，而茶王就是贵宾（主席、总理、外国首脑等）和非常注重吃茶的人喝的。茶王级的茶叶采摘时间非常短，而且只摘嫩叶（忘了是最顶四片还是两片茶叶），因此产量特别少，但也是最香最好的茶。龙井茶是用吃的，喝时鼓励将茶叶送进口里咀嚼。

龙井茶的一个传说，点击这里。

到餐馆的途中，经过了钱塘江。这里常常发生大浪卷走人的事情。原来，从古到今，钱塘江仍然脾气暴躁。这是个非常有趣的传说，之前说到的钱谬王是故事主角。

这是金庸在杭州的豪宅！

1pm 午餐。重头戏是东坡肉。懂得享受入口即化的肥猪油的人（我！）就有口福！不过东坡肉也肥得可怕，我也不敢全部肥油塞进口（当地人一定暗地里骂我们蠢，哈哈）健康要紧，呵呵。再配上暖暖的绍兴酒，吃吃乞丐鸡、糖醋排骨等，喝喝美味的菌类汤，这餐是吃得不能动了。

杭州太多景色参观了，我打算有机会到梅家坞homestay住上一个月，吃吃当地用茶叶烹煮的菜肴，走走整个杭州。有兴趣和我同行的，向我说一声，我们来安排安排 XD

2pm吃饱了，我们到飞来峰、灵隐寺参观。灵隐寺是江南著名古刹之一，置于一片青葱之中。走着山路，在左手边就是著名的飞来峰，也叫灵鹫峰。飞来峰的壁上雕刻着从五代至宋、元时期的石刻造像470多尊，其中保存完整和比较完整的有335尊。

其中南宋大肚弥勒像是最特出，造像中最大的一尊，也是中国现有最早的大肚弥勒。游客们都爱与它照相。

飞来峰为什么叫飞来峰呢？点击这里。

另一个网页则说那位和尚就是鼎鼎有名的济公。

说到飞来峰、灵隐寺，就会说到济公。济公当初就是在灵隐寺出家的。飞来峰古人记载有72洞，但是现在只剩下几个较大的洞了，其中最南端的一个大洞叫青林洞，洞内有石床、手掌印，传说石床为“济公床”，掌印为 “济公手掌印”。

还有一个洞叫呼猿洞，来看看传说。

走着走着，来到了灵隐寺。这里香火非常旺，旅客特别多。大雄宝殿内是一尊高24.8米的坐佛，样子非常慈祥。在大佛的背后是一面墙，向外的一方是一幅巨大的浮雕艺术，共有佛像150尊，年代久远。

这里还有个“罗汉堂”，陈列着500尊罗汉的雕像，每尊罗汉像都形态各异，雕功卓越。灵隐寺的特点就是历史悠久，艺术价值高，且环境幽静，是个清幽的佛门境地。

康熙皇帝题字“云林禅寺”。不知怎的，上网看看其他人拍的照，大家都拍不到那个“云”字 = =。那时是一排木围栏隔着我与云林禅寺，我匆匆忙忙（团友走在很前面了）将相机伸进去拍的。

4pm会酒店休息，5:30pm出门晚餐。特色：梅菜鱿鱼、蒸水蛋、莲藕。

7pm自由时间。到酒店附近走走。话说我们酒店在高级商场上面，既然有时间，就当然要深入民生，体会杭州人的生活啦。就从血拼下手！对面好像很漂亮，就先走那里！

才要踏入大门，就看到团友走出来，大叫说去不得！这里全是名牌货（Chanel, Coach, Louis Vuitton…），贵得离谱！你知道吗，中国进口货价钱比本地贵上50%~100%，要买就要回来买。我们立刻打退堂鼓，从另一个入口进去，这里没那么高级(Levis, Esprit…)。

真佩服这里人的购买能力，东西的确不便宜。连中国牌子的东西也要上几百。相较之下，KLCC和StarHill就比较便宜，因此外国游客来到马来西亚，血拼还是非常快乐的活动。不买了，走到户外吹吹风。

因为是四季的国家，中国很多地方白天和夜晚的温度落差蛮大。当时晚上天气凉爽，向十年前的云顶晚上的温度。刮起风来，整个人会僵硬在行人道上 XD。杭州市夜晚灯光明媚，走在街上的多是身穿时髦衣裳的人们。不习惯的人，还会一时以为自己身处不夜城上海。随着中国日益富强，像杭州市这样的富裕的城市只会日益增多。

昨天四川发生的7.8级地震（现在修正成8级），对全中国人来说是一间非常震惊的事。那天晚上的街上就有很多的慈善团体替灾民募捐。中国人团结心非常强，而且应对灾难非常有效率，后来得到各界的赞赏。有很多人不用多想就塞了一大笔数目给工作人员。但是，我又听到一位义工抱怨，说了类似的句子：“…人家发生了这么大灾难，我们进行赈灾，他们还怀疑我们是骗子，真是…”。想到本地有不少行诈的案子是利用人们的恻隐之心，现代人们会稍微提防，也是不幸的发展。

街上也有不少的乞丐。中国大体上人民还是穷困的，在乡下的日子实在熬不过了，才迫不得已来到光鲜的大城市乞讨。我们在各大城市以及很多旅游胜地都看到他们的踪影，老实说，的确令人心酸。当时我还在想，共产国家也有乞丐，哪里都有乞丐了…不知道哪里来的想法。

夜深，路上行人渐渐减少，杭州市慢慢入睡。