Gloria & Kishore 15th Nov 08

Harmini & Shanker

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My cousin Harmini got married last Saturday. Im so happy for both of them. Congrats to both of you....
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Anyway this slide show is her engagement

Antonia & Matthew 24th May 08

Where do Old Land Rovers go to die?

They dont..... they go to Cameron Highlands...... to work just as hard if not harder then when they were new.....

Impromptu trip to Cameron Highlands... Self Picking Strawberries Ahead...

The day after the kids "sploosh" birthday party.... Rose and I woke up and thought... hmmm... it was the raya holidays and we're not doing anything.... There was talk about going to Cameron Highlands for months... thought of going during our wedding anniversary... but... plans... u know lah... they get push around a lot...

Then it hit us that morning... "lets just call this place called Bala's Cottage in Cameron's and we'll see from there!!!"... somebody picks up and says "yes there are rooms available..... So we book two nites and we start hurrying around the house to pack and get ready.... we need to leave by 11am...

We hit the road and hoped that it wasnt jammed..... well.... it was not .... but when we wanted to stop at the Tapah reststop there was a jam almost 500 meters before the entrance .... we slowly diverted back on the highway........ cars were parked all over the place.... streams of people packed the stall of shops....

Without a second thought we headed to Tapah town instead and hoped that it wasnt as bad.... well it wasnt ...but the eateries were packed ... so KFC take out it was.....


(Tapah town looks peaceful but the eateries were packed)


As we ate in the car... i noticed this sign in front of us....... now thats something i dont see everyday.....

After our short lunch ... we pushed on towards Cameron's through the old twisty road from Tapah. Sorry no photos of the old road cos it was pretty darn twisty ...so best i have both hands on the wheel.... and Rose was too nervous to take shots...... anyway i was having fun driving...but there were a few blind corners which got me by the balls......

We left Tapah at about 2.50 and reached Bala's Cottage which is after Tanah Rata town about 4.30pm..... it was absolutely gorgeous.... i didnt really manage to capture its atmosphea in my pics.... but trust me ... it was really really cosy....


Bala's cottage from our little terrace chalet....

A little walk around the cottage grounds..... my mum would love the 'English Garden'

Dinner by the fire at the Dinning Area........ comes with a price thought.... and if ur on a budget... eat out yeah...

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The next morning we took a drive to Brinchang. Visited the Rose Muzeum near the Rose Valley.... which has such and such number of types of Rose's under one roof.... including the rare Black Rose..... First thing i need to inform you is that the so called Black Rose is just a very dark shade of ....RED... which most people would call Maroon....

Anyway i found the weeds growing around the area more interesting... as the two shots below illustrates.... well there were other intesting plants there too... which u can see in the slide show below this post....

Oh yeah before we visited the Rose Muzium ... we drove up to the Bharat Tea plantation observation cafe thingy at Rose Valley.... which was a waste of petrol... thats why i almost forgot about it....There is another Bharat Cafe that we passed before reaching Tanah Rata on the way up the day before ...looked much better... but we didnt stop cos we wanted to reach Bala's before 5pm.... well maybe the next time then...


After that we took the slip road to Gunung Brinchang... which is the highest paved road in Malaysia.... We get really good views of BOH Plantations along the way..... very nice....



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The roads were very tricky.... it was interesting watching big MPVs like the Toyota Alfard maneuver up these roads..... We stopped at a strawberry farm...to pick strawberries.... not as execiting as i thought it wld be.... But i did find the cherry tomatos very photogenic....

There was a signboard which i noticed while driving but didnt manage to get a shot.... It read "Self Picking Strawberry's... 500 meters"...... kekekekeke...

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I was getting tired and hungry... so we headed back to Brinchang Town and had lunch at an Indian shop.... then after that we just bummed at Bala's..... and was looking forward to Tea and Scones in the garden..... at what else... Tea time lah....

Reading a book while waiting for our tea and scones.... it was raining so under the patio will do just fine thank you....

Tea and Scones... worth the wait.... and the cold cold rain....

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It rained pretty much the rest of the day and nite...and the next morning..... i was freezing my ass off.... overall the trip was very very relaxing.... apart from the cold.... and that the room for the amount we paid was pretty small and old (it is one of the oldest in cameron's) ... but it felt so cosy and and relaxing....

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We drove a little bit more in Brinchang that morning and visited the Big Red Strawberry Park which was a little touristy and then after that bought lots of fresh veggies.... we then headed home...... but instead of using the old road back to Tapah.... we used the new Simpang Pulai pass.... very very nice two lane road which you can cruise at 80 to 90 kph with ease.... Top Gear kind of road.....

The Simpang Pulai Road.... a little longer but way less taxing then the Old Tapah-Ringlet road...

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Sploosh...!!!!!

My niece had a birthday party last month and the kids had a good old water fight..... with water ballons and water guns....and a littel splish splash in the pool.... some of the adults (im one of the kids... so im not included in this category).... well they didnt want to be left out too....

I dont think i have ever had this much fun with a water gun before......

END

Not so trigger happy in Ipoh

Took my in-laws to Ipoh to attend a relatives wedding... errr... some time around the end of September..... It was a pleasant drive all the way there and we spent the night at the Heritage Hotel. It was like dejavu cos i was driving the bimmer in Ipoh town like the last time i was here. But one thing was different for sure,... Ipoh was a lot cleaner this time :) .. Now this is the Ipoh i have hear about when growing up.....

For some reason i wasnt trigger happy with my camera on this trip. .... but i did however manage to snap the sunrise after breakfast...

Yes'days Sunset

On Adrian's advise... i invested in a new lense..... A Nikon D80 kit lense. 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 ....... for we normal folks... That just means it has a longer zoom range than the D70s kit lense which is only up to 70mm...

anyways.... here is the first sunset ever taken by this lense......

Where Did September GO....???????

Woah... before October comes to an end ... i better put up a post about September... hmmm,... oh yah... september as always... is about birthdays.... it was non other then Dono and Rose's Birthday.....

We took dono out to a place called Oasis Garden... is that correct ah?.... its that place at the open car park opposite Sunway Lagoon Hotel... The food wasnt that great but the ambience was nice... still couldnt figure out if the place had a tropical theme or African theme... or was it both..... anyway... they had the Liverpool ManU game live on the tele... so the boys were happy...

We only could order our food at 9.30pm only because the cooks were out to break fast (it was the Muslim fasting month)... they break fast at 7.30pm... so i didnt know why they need two hours ....... nyway, we started with the drinks first. but like i said... the food wasnt that nice... but the ambience was nice and the band was pretty good too...

Since Dono and Rose birthdays are a few days apart, the girls brought in 2 cakes.....

After the game ended we decided to head over to Republic...... It was full outside but inside was almost empty...... The DJ was sucky and the JD tasted funny.... but hey ...when youre with good company... it doesnt matter...... we danced and had fun..... yup... this lazy bum got his ass on the dance floor....

There was this Indian chick putting her best RnB moves on the dance floor.... that was amusing and got us in stitches ... but hey,,,... i think she deserved some respect for having the nerve and courage in making a fool of herself... besides... she looked like she was having a ball of a time...

Interesting enuff the place became more lively after 2am...... time just passed by so fast that the next thing we knew it was 4am...... way pass my bed time!!!

Then 3 days later we got together again to celebrate Rose' s birthday... we had dinner at an italian restaurant in TTDI.,,... the one at the shops facing the main road near TTDI plaza. The food her was much much better.....

After dinner we convened to Waikiki 2..... ah!!! nice 80s and 90s music was on the airways and companied by its music video on the tele..... The band that played later was really entertaining too.... very nice.... the keyboardist was like a one man band.... he had an interesting and versatile voice. He was accompany by two other singers...

After a couple of beers and 3 tequila shots.... it was a wonder how i was still standing.... i think this was the most i had drank since christmas last year....... the next day i felt like crap........ im getting too old for this shit.......

End

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PS- sorry about the format of the photos.... was trying out Picasa 3 Beta.... no, im not going to correct it.... will just do a better job in my next post/..... :P

Merdeka Camping trip...

Woah!!... I better put in a post before September is over…. (yup…too late!!!) I cant remember if it was a week after???… yeah it was a week after I returned from Sydney that the gang planned a camping trip in PD…. I was a little shocked because I was very sure they weren’t the camping type…. We planned to go on Saturday 30th August since Monday was a holiday for Merdeka (Independence Day) ……. So I thought we will spend two nights camping on the beach but I find out later that week that they had booked an apartment suite for the second night… I thought we could go early since we had only one night to camp there but some of them wanted to help out for the Assumption Family Day…. So by the time Dono, Alex, Shanti, Rose and myself left KL ..it was .,… hmmm I cant remember lah… well… it was late and I believe we reached PD about 12:30am I think….

No surprise PD was packed with people… since it was a long weekend holiday… and also all Muslims will be starting their fast for Ramadan the next day….. PD was like a circus… There was a bad crawl leading all the way to Teluk Kemang was packed with people…. We drove to the 10th mile stretch (Blue Lagoon) where I initially planned to camp but it was filled back to back with tents and holiday goes…. ..

Was not sure what to do next…. So we took a gamble and drove further and explored each exit to see if we could find a nice stretch of beach to setup camp…. After a few U-turns, 3-point turns and a heck of a lot of huge speed bumps… which wasn’t good for a car packed to the brim .. we finally found an interesting, almost deserted stretch of beach…. The sand wasn’t very nice …actually it was more like tiny pebbles…. But hey… it was empty and it was only for a night…. Hmmmm my only worry was how am I going to give directions to Sheeven and Kat who were on their way here… Well …. They did get lost for a bit but after a few phone calls they finally reaching us… By then we had setup the 2 tents and were relaxing on the beach looking at the awesome lightning…. It looked intense and the wind was picking up… we thought for certain it was going to rain heavily…. Every time the sky lit up with lightning, we got a glimpse of the menacing clouds…. It was our very own natural National Day fireworks parade!!!.....

(our merdeka day fireworks parade)

I think it was about 4am when everyone decided to get into the tent… Alex offered to stay up for security and I kept him company… about an hour later I convinced him to sleep and I would take over ….

Woke up with the sound of children playing and shouting … and alex looked at me and said Ooii!! U slept off ah??!! Kekekeke… yup I slept off … kekeke… anyway … the noisy bunch of kids were with two women which I assume were their mothers. They had spread out pages of newspaper on the sand to sit on…. Then suddenly they all just got up and left in their Toyota Wish…… they didn’t even bother to pick up the newspapers…. Such pariahs!!! they looked educated and well-off… oh well… I guess wealth and education does not equate to being civilized….

Rose, Alex and I got up and decided to start making breakfast… So I bring out the portable stove (Yup!! pampered peopel we are…) and… that’s when I realized that I had left a bag back home which had 2 butane gas canisters and a sheet of canvas which I normally use to make a covered area for cooking… … hmmm I didn’t think we had enuff gas … but just when we start cooking…. It starts raining…. Heavily!!!… the three of us scrambled to our feet and took whatever was cooked and got into the car….. kekekeke… we continued to eat while it rained to glory…. hmmm i cant remember why we ran into the car and not the tent,,,...

After the rain had settled down which by then everyone was up… we finally got some coffee going… the gas was just enuff to boil water for coffee… kekeke… luckily we had enuff bread and chocolate peanut butter and Nutella to go around….. After breakfast we brought out Taboo and played a few rounds until I noticed something crawling under Rose’s feet…. I almost panicked but stayed calm and said DON’T PANICK… (normally when you say DON’T PANICK… everyone starts panicking and shouting and running… kekeke) luckily everybody stayed calm and looked at me waiting for an explanation…. As I motioned everyone to stand up slowly …I then ordered them to move away from the mat… Thats when everyone noticed the big ass centipede on the mat…. It was HUGE!!!…. I guided it away from the camp site ..much to rose dissapointment as she was hoping I would kill it….. kekeke…

Played a few more round of taboo then just bummed on th beach for while and also took a walk around the area. Then just before lunch we broke camp… packed and headed out for lunch at a Chinese restaurant near Guoman….

After lunch we checked into Ilham Resort which is at the 10th mile or Blue lagoon Beach. I must say I was impressed… it was a very pleasant place… looks like it has been newly renovated. The only complain i have with the place was that the food was bad ....The food was cheap though...but very bad..…. the buffet breakfast the next day was even worse… but other then that it was a pleasant stay…

PD was pretty much deserted onMonday morning. Such a difference from Saturday night… eventhought Monday was a holiday.... After a walk on Blue Lagoon beach and a popcical stick ice cream... we headed home..... :(

here's too sand between our feet.....

So much to see So little time... Sydney 4th and last day

....Woke up just after 5am and dragged myself out of bed freshened up… grabbed my gear and caught a cab to the opera house… There was loud squawking sounds coming from the trees at the park near the opera house… it sounded like cockatoos… anyway, I walked around to get some nice shots of the opera house but thought that the best view was still near the waterfront restaurant… So I walked all the way around the Circular Quay and got into position…. The opera house is such a beautiful building lah…

(above taken from a cab at around 5am.........)

While looking through the lens of my camera I notice a flock of birds flying around the Opera House… It was what I suspected… Sulfur crested white cockatoos… They were so noisy I could hear them from where I was standing…. The flock broke into two with one bunch flying across the Harbour Bridge and the second bunch flying across to where I was standing… It felt so strange seeing these wild birds in the city… so cool lah… but they are one noisy bunch…. Made my way back to the hotel to meet Fiona for breakfast…. We didn’t have much time because Fabrice wanted to meet us for a debriefing and discussion… So we walked towards Chinatown but didn’t find anything open yet… we walked an extra block and found a crowded café… The food wasn’t good at all …. I guess it was crowded because it was the only one open…… after breakfast we continued our walk and found Chinatown. Most of it was closed but we suspected that it would all slowly open towards lunch time. I witnessed the strangest thing on our walk back to the hotel

Spent about an hour and a half with Fabrice at the hotel lounge ….. then we had the rest of the day to ourselves… It was about 1pm and our flight was at 8.30pm….

So we went back to Chinatown to eat Dim Sum. Yes, you guessed it… I have never eaten Dim Sum before….. and I really liked it. Fiona explained that the shop we were in was very much a Hong Kong style Dim Sum…. But it has been westernized a little cos they were serving fried chicken wings too…. Kekeke.. actually that was so funny… what was funnier was that we found a shop called Mamak… and they were selling typical Mamak food like Roti Canai, Roti Sardin, Roti Telur and other variation of Roti Canai. Of cos Nasi Lemak too and nnot for getting Mamak Mee Goreng…. Ok so it’s a Mamak stall but there wasn’t a single Mamak fellow in there …. The whole place was run by Chinese dudes… It was hilarious seeing a Chinese Dude twirl roti canai…. Fiona and I could stop laughing as I took a few shots of him making roti canai… The shop was pack though and people were queuing up waiting for their food. They were looking at us probably thinking what’s wrong with us… kekeke…

We took a cab to the Opera House because Fiona hasn’t seen it up close …. And I cant get enough exploring the Opera House… The atmosphere at the Circular Quay was so much more different. The place was so lively and buzzling with people. We went inside and visited the gift shop and then walked around looking at this fascinating building…

It was getting cold again so we stopped at a café to get a hot drink and also sit down to rest and take in the scenery around the Harbour…. … After awhile we went back towards the hotel and walked around Pitt Street to get some souvenirs… Standard lah… we are tourist after all…

…. Sigh!!... it was time to go home….Walked back to the hotel and got our bags, then took a cab to the airport... After eating McD’s (yuck!) and visiting the Duty Free shop where I bought perfume for Rose..… Interestingly they asked me to pick it up once I pass security…. Maybe that should have got me thinking hmmm would I get into trouble for the duty free liquor I had in my hand luggage??!... All I can say is I made a mistake of buying duty free liquor coming into Australian then carried it in my hand luggage while getting out of Australia… yes yes im sure u frequent flier people would be slapping your palm on your head… and saying Bodoh punya orang!! (stupid fellow) … made our way to security…..

Well actually I got into trouble even before passing the metal detector. The security guy was like very curt towards me .... TAKE THE LAP TOP OUT!!! …. Then when I passed the metal detector …it beeped!!... GO BACK IN LINE!! ..EMPTY YOUR POCKETS!! TAKE YOUR JACKET OFF!!... then I pass thru and it beeps again!! WHAT ARE YOU CARRYING!! ….I said it might be my belt??!!... GET BACK IN LINE!!... REMOVE YOUR BELT!!... by that time they were announcing last call to board the plane… finally after removing my belt… I passed the metal detector without setting it off… My things where all over the place… my bag was on one end of the line …. WHOSE BAG IS THIS!!! WHOSE BAG IS THIS!!... its mine, I replied… MAY I GO THROUGH IT!! (Said a Security lady like as if I had a choice)…. She takes out the bottle and slams it on the stainless steel counter…. YOU CANT TAKE THIS IN!! YOU HAVE TO CHECK IT IN…!!!... (well its too late now)… I explained that it was duty free and that I had the receipt but to no avail…. Then Fiona gets into the negotiation but I think that kind of pissed her off even more… Then she starts taking everything out of my bag and then shoved it back in… but withheld the bottle… sign!!! Oh well… so much for Bundaberg Rum….

We board the plane and find out that there’s still one more passenger that hasn’t boarded… then as I sat in my seat I suddenly realized that I didn’t pick up the perfume after the security check…. Fiona suggested asking the flight crew if I could go and pick it up… And when I asked them they then asked me to ask the boarding officer… … and when I asked him he tell me that I have 10 seconds to pick it up so run!!... funny chap… When I get to the pick up counter there isn’t anyone there… so I get behind the counter and start looking for it… my taught were racing and thinking what if they arrest me for being behind this counter… … they will interrogate me and will miss my flight … and im going to be jailed … the adrenalin rush was making me giddy….

As I got into the plane the boarding guy shouted CHAMPION!!!... … what an embarrassing night… I just want to go home!!.... but unfortunately it was a transit flight with an hours stop over at Brisbane....

It was turbulence all the way to Brisbane.... and while were landing there... the plane was swinging side to side..... i kid u not!!!.... i swear one set of the plane's tyres touched down before the next set did.... ...arrrggghhh!!...

The flight back to KL wasnt any better either.... turbulence!!! turbulence!!! and more turbulence!!!... i tell you... it was so good getting home.... dumped all my bags and got into bed............... WHAT?? Anwar caught for sodomy? Permatang Pauh? Government take over?... Imigrants??? ISA????... sigh!!!!!!! theres no place like home.........

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END

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view pics HERE
or view the slide show below

Freezing in Sydney - Days 2 & 3

… it was a lovely morning lah… even though it was freezing even with the heater at maximum… I think it was the best sleep I had had in a long time…… Wanted to wait for Fiona to arrive at the hotel then go for breakfast with her but I was way too hungry to wait …Went down to the lobby and found out that the buffet breakfast is 17 aussie … looked at what they had and thought…nope…im venturing out…. Went into a nice cozy diner not too far from the hotel and had a lovely English Breakfast for only 10 aussie… superb breakfast with real bacon…. Luckily I didn’t wait for Fiona because the taxi she took from the airport took her to the wrong Travelodge Hotel…. what a stupid cabby…he even had a map…. Well anyway… once she got to the hotel I gave her the bad news that check-in is only 2pm. Dumped her things in my room and I waited in the lobby as she freshened up. Then I took her out for breakfast.

(the worse panorama pic ever... we'll just call it creative shall we... nyway this is the view from my room)

Fabrice picked us up around 10am. As Fiona chatted with Fabrice, I took in the scenery while we drove to the office. They don’t have as many highways as Klang Valley but their tolls are not cheap (Dollar to dollar) but then again most Malaysians have to pass a few tolls a day which I guess would come up to the same amount. Anyway the jams are just as bad over there.

(My shiny self, Fiona, Jack, Andy and Fabrice)

Lunch was nice but I cant seem to remember what I ate… oh oooh… hope I can remember the rest of my trip… We had lunch at a café at a public golf course not too far from the office. After lunch we had a few more sessions at the office then we took a drive with Valerie and Fabrice to visit ‘HYstandard’, a forklift dealer about an hours drive from the office. When we left HYstandard it was bout 5.45pm and it was starting to get very cold. As usual it was the wind that was the culprit…. Valerie took as back to the hotel because she lived nearer to the city. She took us through the main roads instead of the highway to show us what the suburbs look like in Sydney… she also took us to Balmain, at the edge of a river which had a fantastic view of the city. We also got to cross the ANZAC bridge as we got into the city…

(Fiona takes good pictures of me.... heres me in Balmain with the Harbour Brigde as background)

After getting back to the hotel, Fiona wanted to go to for sushi at a Japanese restaurant recommended by a friend of hers which was along Oxford Street. We walked 3 blocks but didn’t find it… so we decided to back track and have tapaz at on a Spanish restaurant … This would be the first time I am eating Tapas… (yes…am adventures but im not adventures with food)…. I loved it… especially the prawn dish which were delicious and so fresh… After dinner we thought of walking to Chinatown but the wind was starting to pick up… it was getting really really cold… even the locals were saying it was exceptionally cold for winter… the weather is screwed up I tell you!!... We decided to just head back to the hotel and call it a nite… we needed to be in the office early the next day anyway…. And I was also extremely tired too… otherwise I would have ventured out to Darling Habour near Chinatown…

As I lay in bed I looked at my finger nails which looked so blue… pulled up my socks and snuggled into my comforter… … damn ‘Chasing Cars’ is still ringing in my ear…. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Day 3.......…

We decided to save time and take a cab to office so that we could start early…. We had sessions lined up back to back and the day went by really fast… Andy, Jack, Val and Fabrice took us across the street at a University campus… walking there and back I hear strange bird sounds in the trees …. Found colourful parrot looking birds high up in the trees.. (did a google search; they’re called Lorikeets) … nope sorry didn’t have my zoom lens with me…

After lunch it was more sessions… it was tiring… We finished nearly at 6pm. Fabrice then treated us for dinner at the Waterfront Restaurant at the Circular Quay across the Sydney Opera House. Fiona and me were just blown away by the view… it was so lovely lah… Anyway the restaurant had an open air concept but because it was winter, there was a canopy put up with outdoor heater lamps put up everywhere… I tell you … if you every want to woo a girl in Sydney… this would be the most romantic place ever… with its ambience and view of the harbour. The seafood was so so only (Malaysia still better :) but it tasted so fresh lah… especially the prawns…

Walking back to the car after dinner was very difficult because it was so freaking cold!!!!. The drive back to the hotel was interesting because we noticed all the nightclubs where packed and the city looked lively….compared to other nights….. The girls were all in their sexy outfits which puzzled me because I really wondered how they can wear skimpy outfits while waiting in line to get into the club…in the freaking cold!!!!... I really wondered….. but of cos I wasn’t complaining lah….…

went to bed early cos i wanted to take pics of the sunrise ........ which is at 5am!!!!...

to be continued.......

view pics of Day 2 and 3 HERE

or view the slide below;