January 21st, 2012 by Karmun

I started this series some time back so that I could put to use the thousand and one photos I take with my iPhone aside from my dSLR. I kinda came to forget about it for a bit, but after going through my phone gallery, I was reminded that I have some pretty important memories stored in there too. And it would be a shame if they never get shared.

So if you’re wondering where I’ve been as of late, wonder no more! While I do not deny that it has been a crazy week – with the moving and cleaning and tidying all happening right smack in the middle of the start of the semester – I do still owe this space a proper post. What have I been up to lately, you ask?

I think it’s no secret by now that I dyed my hair the craziest colour I’ve ever done yet.

I’ve always been more keen towards the colour red when it comes to my hair, but never this bright a red. I’ve never tried bleaching my strands before, but now that I’ve seen the results it yields, I’m warming up to it real fast. It’s turned quite some heads since I began sporting it about a week and a half ago, and the attention still hasn’t quite died down. In fact, I’ve had three people in total thus far who’s come to me and asked where I got it done and what colour code is it exactly. I guess that goes to mean they really like it?

I sure do!

A big chunk of of the reason behind my sudden absence from this space can be creditted to our most recent move to our new place.

We had so much stuff between the two of us, I swear, I have no idea where all that trash came from. We had so much that simply trying to pack them into boxes took a good three days – each of which we worked from morning to evening! We threw so much away yet the mess we accumulated didn’t seem to be dissipating. I was really beginning to think we’d never make it in time to get out of the house on the stated date!

We did finally manage however, but not without a lot of sacrifice on our backs. At one point, my back was hurting so bad from all the heavy lifting that I couldn’t stand straight!

Our new place is a dream come true. It’s everything we could have ever dreamt of while staying in the previous shithole.

It’s got the sexiest infinity pool overlooking the best part of Kota Damansara, a very well-equipped gym, restaurants and bars within walking distance, a laundry-mart, a supermarket right next door, even a freaking hair salon! But my favourite part are the people I’m living with now. Two really cool girls I’ve known since our college days and the Ninja Rabbit; no more filthy boys who can’t even wash a mug after using it for a simple drink of water!

Check out my super sexy new office/workspace. Blogging and editting photos are going to be so much more enjoyable in this little cozy corner of mine. Can’t wait to get started!

Marathon season is also back for a brand new year, and I signed up for my first race of 2012.

I really have to go back to training for it, but with a week of holidays ahead of me in conjunction with Chinese New Year, I’m feeling a tad bit lazy. Promise I will, soon enough! Time to kick back into gear!

During the busiest time of our January, Simple Plan also chose to stop by KL for a concert as part of their Get Your Heart On Asia Tour, and because they so happened to be my two younger sisters’ favourite band ever, I found myself standing in a sea of 15-16-year-olds one particular Saturday evening with the most spectacular view of the boys performing live.

Hey, why not, right? Since I got us four free tickets and it would be a complete shame to just let it go like that.

They weren’t half bad really. I had gone expecting to be bored, not knowing any of thier newer stuff, but they played it old school with their biggest hits from the early 2000′s. That was when they were best in my opinion.

I ended up really enjoying myself, singing along to tracks like Perfect and Alien and Shut Up with Nelson, who took up the last ticket since the Ninja Rabbit had a gig to perform at and couldn’t make it. For two hours, I was fifteen years old again, and it didn’t matter that we were much older than 90% of the crowd, Nelson and I sang out loud to the songs, completely unashamed and unabashed. We got weird stares from some of the kids near us, but what do they know. We’ve been headbanging to these guys since you were still in diapers complete with a pacifier in your mouth, kid! =P

It was really nostalgic, reliving these songs that I myself had sang along to when they came on my playlist. It was high school, and juggling hormones and teenaged melodrama all over again. I still remembered most of the words, if not the exact titles, and I couldn’t help but wonder if these kids around me also watched their videos on MTV like I did. Or did they simply stream it off YouTube, completely missing the fun of hearing that little trivia the VJ’s would slip in right before the videos come on? Technology ruin everything.

The biggest joy of the night was seeing the look in my baby sisters’ eyes. I’ve been to so many concerts myself that I sometimes take these gigs for granted. Free tickets come my way even more easily. I remember how it was like back then, fifteen years old and having to see so many of your favourite musical acts come and go, but you cannot make it to any of these shows because well, “you were too young”. I’m glad I managed to at least make this happen for them. To know that so little can completely make ther day – heck, their entire year even – I feel like I should’ve done so much more. Maybe try harder to get a media pass so I can sneak them backstage?

Nonetheless, I can at least be assured that they had a great time standing right upfront in the first row of the VIP tier, singing their hearts out to words they’ve memorised from the countless times they’ve looped the band’s CD. Nelson and I stood a few rows back, so I saw with my own eyes how song after song, they screamed the lyrics out and and jumped along with the rest of the crowd to the beat.

To be young and make your favourite band the source of all your inspirations. I miss that. And for one night, I at least got to feel that again. All that teenaged angst and energy. It’s not wrong to sometimes just relive your past and go back to the best of those days.

Right now, I’m back home in Penang for a whole week. CNY is in a few short days and I can’t wait! Only downside is that the Ninja Rabbit isn’t with me for the weekend (he’ll be taking a bus up here in a few days) and I’m missing him terribly.

But hey, in the meantime, there’s so much to look forward to! Between cookies, and shopping sprees with my favourite girls, and homemade meals prepared by Mummy, I’m sure a mere couple of days will pass by in no time. Surely I can manage to find something to entertain myself with?

I mean, look!! Isn’t this the cutest thing ever?? =D

Hehe, yes, distraction is key in regard of the current situation.

Hope your preparations for the new auspicious year of the Water Dragon is coming along swell! Bring out every red thing you have!

Happy Chinese New Year in advance!

 

January 15th, 2012 by Karmun

Being half-blonde-half-brunette wasn’t really working for me. Even after giving the colour a chance for two months in hopes that I’ll get used to it, it just didn’t feel right. It just didn’t feel… me. Red is and always will be my colour. You know you’ve made the right decision when everytime you look into the mirror you feel just that little bit happier. It’s good to be feeling like myself again! ♥

January 12th, 2012 by Karmun

Part 2 of Ryan and Chantel’s visit! (Part 1 here.)

After all that hype of the Aquaria and their splendid underwater inhabitants, I honestly thought the day couldn’t get any better. Turned out it could.

Ryan found a place online that even we had no idea existed in our city. Located on the rooftop of Trader’s Hotel KLCC, it was an open air bar and lounge that overlooked the whole of KL so you can sip your drink while admiring the city skyline at sunset, with the option of dipping your feet in the pool or not!

Little cordoned off cubicles allow us plenty of privacy so we were free to stretch out and be lazy by the pool as we like.

Behold the view from the top!

Concrete jungle at its finest.

The weather was kind that day too; the sun wasn’t murderously scorching like it had been recently, and a nice breeze accompanied us and our beers.

The pool was the most refreshing thing. The water was ice cold and crisp, so much so that Chantel gave a little yelp of surprise when she first plunged her feet into them.

We spent three whole hours there just lounging around and talking about stuff without realizing it!

After three days in the city, we decided on a change of scene. The plan was to hit either Genting or Malacca so they could see more of Malaysia and not just KL. Since Ryan and I aren’t the biggest rollercoaster fans, Malacca it was where our feet will be firmly planted on the ground, heh. Roadtrip!

We arrived in the late afternoon a little later than planned because I couldn’t wake up (my bad!) but we still managed to cover all the places we wanted to go.It was for the better too I feel, because otherwise the sun would be too hot and we would have undoubtedly roasted.

Planking for a change – at least he’s not violating it this time as he is so prone to almost all things!

The place is beginning to become this yearly pilgrimage for us. We’re there at least once a year, yet we never seem to get bored of it. I wonder why.

We made the mistake of coming on a weekend (Saturday no less!) so the place was a little more crowded than we’d have liked. It would have been nice to see the old forts and admire the red brickstone walls in calm and quiet serenity.

The plus-side of a weekend was of course that there were more buskers and street-vendors around, making the atmosphere a lot more festive.

Me, I was so caught up with taking pictures of everything I was like an annoying fly just running all over the place, heh.

I spy with my little eye, a very cute boy x)

I love catching romantic moments of them like this, especially when they think we’re not looking! Heh.

Watching the sun set from one of Malaysia’ oldest cities lends a completely new feel to the experience. The orange rays seem more vibrant, the disappearing sun more melancholic as it humbly bows it way out to give way to the night.

Whilst stopping for a drink, we came across something completely cute.

Mini umbrellas! =D

If only we had seen them sooner and brought them along to hide from the sun!

For dinner, we didn’t want go too far since we weren’t very well-versed with the roads here, so Jonker it was.

I got my very first Henna tattoo done here. I’ve always wanted a tattoo sleeve, but since my parents would kill me if I did, a temporary one will have to do, heh.

Chantel sportingly gave it a go too! =D

It was done in less that 5 minutes. Every intricate detail and smallest, minute dot to the design you see was done free hand, believe it or not. The lady was a natural at it. She took one look at my arm and and went at it without a second’s hesitation. The Ninja Rabbit reckons she must be really good with icing cakes LOL!

Jonker Walk was exactly the same as the last time we were there – noisy, packed and stuffed with a thousand and one odd-looking curios.

After walking the whole stretch, we parked our asses down for drinks that lasted longer than we had intended.

I almost didn’t want to leave, and we would have stayed longer if only we didn’t have an hour and half’s drive ahead of us to go back to KL.

Time went by way too quickly. It wasn’t just this one night either. How fast the whole week flew by. The sucky part about vacations is that they have to eventually end =(

Ryan and Chantel’s visit definitely was the highlight of our January, a trip that had been planned as long as six months ago.

We miss you guys already! Hurry back soon!

It’s been a memorable seven days filled with sunscreen, shades and one extremely adorable Golden Retriever named Leroy.

I’m really liking how my 2012 is faring so far.

Hope things are going as great on your end! Right now, I’m going to busy myself by looking forward to even greater things. Things like Chinese New Year, more time to be spent with family and loved ones, gorging on cookies and all things fattening, and moving into a new place with some really cool girls.

Happy Midweek!

January 11th, 2012 by Karmun

Guess who were in town last week!

I’ll help you out a little: we visited them for a whole week last December of 2010, so this time round, they thought they’d return the favour and spend a whole week with us! It’s only fair right?

Know the answer yet? Tehehehehehe.

We had been looking forward to Ryan and Chantel’s visit since June of last year when plans were already made. Can’t believe the day finally came and we got to see them both again after a whole long year! We spent New Year’s Eve of 2010 with them, and counted down to 2011 together; how fast indeed time flies. Here we are in 2012, a little more grown up, a little wiser, but still essentially the same people. It was so good to see them again!

They were the most gracious hosts when we were down in Singapore that the Ninja Rabbit and I were afraid we won’t measure up now that it was our turn to bring them around, haha! Nonetheless, we did the best we could and brought them all over KL and to all the little must-see places when in this country.

Like Bukit Bintang and the Golden Triangle.

Where we had bubble tea and pretended to be Japanese tuorists,

desecrated landmarks as per the Ninja Rabbit’s specialty,

and found me the awesome-st iPhone case around town.

I’ve been in dire need of a new one since my old one cracked at one of the edges and broke away (I have no idea how that happened, I’ve never dropped my phone even once, swear!) but I just haven’t seen anything I quite like. When we spotted this in Sg. Wang, I knew it had to be mine or I would never sleep or eat in peace again. True story.

I haven’t been to Sg. Wang in a really long while because the crowd there isn’t really my kind of crowd, but after this trip, I might just change my mind. We found the most curious-looking knick-knacks in the most unassuming of stores. The highlight of Ryan’s day was scoring these cool customized guitar picks for only RM3 each.

How bad ass are they?!

We shopped, we poked at weird looking things we’ve never seen before, we ate non-stop.

It was so much fun that it was as much a mini holiday for us as it was for them!

We went everywhere and did everything. We took on Petaling Street and tried our hands at haggling.

We were all on a budget since all of us were still students, but we totally made it work. There are tonnes of stuff to do that doesn’t require to spend.

The best part about visiting any new country are the sights and sounds to be absorbed anyway. And simply sightseeing is always FOC.

Beauty is present almost anywhere if you know where to look for it.

Like this bear we spotted in the clouds when stuck in one of KL’s infamous peak hour traffic jam.

It looks like it’s farting here doesn’t it hahaha! We named it Barry =D

Of course, KLCC was on the list of stops too. It’s only like Malaysia’s most famous landmark.

Dabbling in photography has opened to me so many new ways of looking at something. I now see everything in frames, and it has shown me so much beauty in the most mundane of settings. Three years ago, I wouldn’t have looked twice at the KLCC fountain pool, but that afternoon when we were there, I just couldn’t stop taking enough pictures of it.

Here’s someone I can never take enough photos of, too =)

Ryan does the funniest roll with his eyes when he gets exasperated at the amount of pictures I take of the most irrelevant things haha!

Since we were already in the vicinity, we decided to drop by the Aquaria located just by the Convention Centre. I’ve heard raving reviews about the place so I was looking forward to it a big deal.

Everytime I cross this bridgelink I am left amazed at just how advanced Malaysia actually is. The facilities and technology is top-notch, and if I didn’t know better, I could have easily mistaken that I’m somewhere else other than here.

If only it weren’t so hot here all the time!

The Aquaria KLCC was an entirely different world. It felt like we had just stepped into a Jules Verne novel. What you see above are live, actual piranhas, just like those you’d find in the Amazon. Do not be fooled by their docile looks. During feeding time, they polished off two large fish lowered into their tank till nothing was left – not even bones! – in less than a minute and a half!

The rest of the place was less vicious. They had the quaintest little petting zoo where you can actually dip your hands into this shallow basin that is home to sea cucumbers, water snails and one little shark that squirmed in a delight when you stroke it from head to tail.

(Flash photography isn’t allowed in the Aquaria, so you’re gonn ahave to contend with pretty dim pictures from here in on.)

Chantel’s favourite was the sea cucumber. It’s squishy, wobbly and feels like a furry Jell-O if that makes any sense haha! They feel nothing like they look, that much I can tell you!

The place holds not only aquatic animals, much to our delight. They have this section devoted to creepy crawlies and land dwellers that you can find in the Amazon jungles, and we had a ball of a time just peering into enclosures and tanks trying to spot a poison frog here and a killer tarantula there.

This weirdo fascinated me to no end.

It dwells primarily underwater, but it cannot breathe when submerged. So what it does is that it extends this special tube that stretches from its snout up to the surface of the water to breathe, much like a submarine’s periscope. How peculiar is that?? It’s neither a land nor marine animal! Lol.

I’ve always been more partial to furry things, heh.

The otters were the cutest!

We could climb under their tank into this glass sphere so we could see them swim all over the place. It was the coolest thing! We got a good peek at which otter was a girl otter, and which was a boy otter, heh.

And then we reached the main attraction of the house, and everyone just literally stopped in their tracks at how majestic it was. There really are no words to describe how it feels to see a shark this upclose, 500 razor sharp teeth bared and fins splayed proud and upright as it maneuvers through the waters.

I’ve fought many heated arguments for them sharks, be it in public speaking competitions back in high school or heated debates with friends who are either ignorant or heartless. Shark fin soup is pure, unadulterated cruelty in a bowl. Have you seen how the fins are hacked of these beautiful creatures while they’re alive and gasping for breath? The sea water turns a vivid red. The sharks are still alive, alert and well aware of every chop of the machete aimed at their precious fins. They are then tossed back into the ocean fin-less, unable to swim; unable to swim, but still very well alive. Did you know that sharks cannot breathe if they don’t keep swimming forward? Without their fins to propel them in the water, they die a slow, painful death as they drown in the very waters that sustain them, given that they don’t become easy prey to other animals before that.

All that for what? Shark’s fin has zero nutritional value. It contributes nothing to the flavour of the soup, and has no benefits whatsoever. The only reason why it is so in demand is because of the sole glamour of its name. Is it worth it? Do they deserve to be put through such cruel treatment just so you may appear sophisticated to your friends?

I think not.

It is estimated that sharks will go extinct within the next ten years if something is not done to stop the rampant hunting and killing of it. Protect our sharks! I sure want my kids to know what a shark is and why it’s one of the most feared creatures in the big wide ocean. And not just from books either!

Say no to shark’s fin soup. When the buying stops, the killing will too.

Right, before I scare all of you away thinking I’m a crazy animal rights fanatic, lookie! Sea turtles! =D

They are huge I swear, so many times bigger than what I expected them to be. They can grow up to one and a half metres in length, and weigh up to 200kg!! They too are endangered, but let’s not allow me to go into another one of my rants now. I get so worked up and upset!

(Why do people eat turtle eggs?? OK, that’s as far as I’ll go.)

The best part was taking a walk through the underwater haven and seeing for ourselves the little ecosystem they have thriving in the giant aquarium.

Isn’t it funny how our best scientists know 200 times more of the outer space than our very own ocean?

An approximate 15 new species of underwater animals are found everyday. What else lives down there in the ocean bed? It’s clearly not Spongebob.

HAHAHA clearly, I was mesmerized by everything in that aquarium! Everything was just so magnificent-looking.

Seahorses are definitely my favourite marine animal =D

Our new favourite place! =D

I’ve got a shit tonne more of photos to share as we made a small roadtrip down to Malacca one of the days, but I’m getting too restless sitting here in front of my computer to go any further. More to come!

Be back soon! =)

(Part 2 here.)