South Africa at a Glance

my dear blog,
i've missed you.
it's been a week - and there has been much in between to grace your lovely (cyber)pages.
a summary:

first spectacle upon arrival. half expected Mufasa to appear from amongst the clouds..

johannesburg is a brilliant example of wealth disparity. the old town centre - abandoned, shuttered, glass broken, unemployed wanderers.

So depressed when we drove through in the coach. The shops were closed and shuttered because the crime rate is atrocious. Hopefully it was just a public holiday, but the guides seemed pessimistic.

the new town centre - uptown apartments, brightly-lit shopping centres, clean cut offices, luxury cars.

the presidential palace. manicured gardens, italian architecture and huge statues. no, of course the money can't be better spent.

i felt quite depressed while pasing through the old town centre and was a bit disgusted at myself for being the rich tourist in a large coach. such is the world nowadays.

sun city was another lavish display of commercialism bordered by informal settlements (official term for shanty towns). the place itself is really grand and pretty well built up (imagine sunway lagoon with cooler weather and beautiful sunshine).

i can't complain about the service, and the fact i had my first proper african meal there (really tender and delicious marinated meat... can beat pat's lamb in the houseboat... and their staple is a maize mash thing called pap - pronounced 'pup' like in puppy. i liked it!).

it really tastes a lot better than it looks in this picture... i was stuffed after that meal. but it was yummy!

also, played a game of mini golf where i met the friendliest mini golf caddy (probably the ONLY mini golf caddy) ever..Simon our caddy - hhhmm... were we meant to tip him?

it strikes me how gay-ish this pose is. what with the hand touching and leg tilting. hhhmmm....

i had an overwhelming impression of the friendliness of the south africans, from everyone that i met there!
just like our bartender in the Johannesburg hotel who gave my mum Sex on the Beach and me some other strange-named concoction.

McGlory - our bartender! His African name's Komoto, but he was named after a charitable Scottish dude who died in his grandma's house the week he was born. Cool heritage!

also went on a safari while at sun city, it's the 3rd largest national park in s africa, but i still wish i went to the largest - kruger national park. all in all we were pretty lucky because apparently the tour guide hadn't seen lions in the area for a few months, and we saw 4 lionesses waiting to prey on some wildebeest. felt sorry for them cos the pesky tourists made noise and got in the way of their hunting, probably deprived them of a meal. right after that stopped by a lion park where I PET SOME LION CUBS! waaaaah... i dunno, i find it real cool to have pet some wild animals.. plus they're cute too! i can only remember the 2 month old cub's name - Lizzie, and 2 of the 5 month old cubs - Zahara and Mozart. =)

feeding baby lizzie - don't pet while feeding, she gets grumpy and has sharp claws already! and no, i didn't find out the hard way.
don't know which cub is which. i know i was stroking one when i suddenly felt a paw on my leg. haha, not really that funny when you think they're wild animals with really sharp claws.. lucky he was just playing..

In Johannesburg also ate at a restaurant called Carnivore - a meat buffet which nearly killed me from meat overconsumption. MADNESS! The menu consisted of impala, antelope, kudu (another type of antelope), ostrich, crocodile... you get the idea yeah?
Wanted to try everything so i did - and kudu is actually really tender and tasty. But i sort of had to avoid meat for the next day or two.

Serving it up African style (on a Masai sword). Mum's face sez it all... Priceless

Sickening fact: lions eat probably a similar portion as i did that night. Difference: lions eat once a week. i eat 3 times a day. *bleurgh*

Cape Town is a beautiful city. I fell in love with it on the first day.

Looking down on the city from Table Mountain
The waterfront where (*grumble* *grumble*) our passports got stolen. Table mountain in the background, btw.

The weather was beautiful - sunny and breezy, the beaches reminded me of those idyllic english summertime getaways that you read about - and all the lobster red (guai lo) people frolicking around!
somehow the ice cream there also tastes so much better.. so creamy and perfect on a hot sunny day!

Yummy lobster we ate by the sea... fresh seafood there of course! random fact: there are no prawns and crabs in south africa, only lobsters...

The town has slight Melbournian undertones, no really tall buildings, wide streets and colourful houses that slope up the mountainside - the latter feeling like a spanish town, villas and all.

It's like the Mexico of old time movies! Zorro and Three Amigos and all that. This is the Malay Quarter of Cape Town.

I really love the place and i believe i only began to scratch the surface of its vibrance.
We visitied the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. Sound familiar? Maybe reminisce about those sejarah lessons where we learned that Bartholomew Diaz (with mandatory statue honouring him) discovered the capes and then proceeded on to India and then to Malacca. something like that. In any case, I could spend a whole day just standing there and staring at the waves. Its such a big difference, the waters of a sea and the waters of an ocean. Just the intensity of the crashing waves, and the ocean breeze. I wanna go back and just spend a day by the waves.

sea, sea and endless sea. i could never get sick of the colour blue.

Cape Town was also where i pet a 1 and a half year old cheetah (they're adult by 2 years) called Hemingway.
I can say that he's like a giant pussy cat.. the fur also nice and soft, and so beautiful! Lion's fur is a little rougher. I wish i'd seen more animals while there but I won't complain because i've touched 2 of the biggest cats in the world!

Now that i've sold the country to you - and mind you i still love it. There were also some downsides to the trip:
1) My family's passports got stolen as some bastard (and i think i saw him - he was a chinese guy or something like that - just so that the often blamed africans are not implicated) took our bag from right under our feet, literally. thankfully, nothing irreplaceable and nobody hurt, i say.
2) they kept telling us how dangerous the place was and how you shouldn't go about on your own so i never saw a lot of the town, and i really wanted to see Long St in Cape Town with its antique stores and second hand books! All nights were spent watching tv or reading in the hotel room. True African experience.
3) Not enough time at the things that count - thanks to bloody tours. I rather spend half a day at the safari, or at the cape rather than 3 farking hours in a shopping centre that pales in comparison to ours here.
4) If you're travelling overseas, have an open mind .... and open stomach. 80% of our meals were at a chinese restaurant because "last time when we had clients, they couldn't get used to the african food so this is safer". well screw that. *sigh* corn soup and ma po taufu every meal.

I think the wonderful parts of the trip definitely outweighed the gripes and South Africa is definitely a place i would want to return to - in my own time, to my own venues and at my own leisure. I'm sure the memories of it will fade soon enough but i hope the photos will remind me how breathtaking the place was, and how beautiful the people are.

Bayar Dankie (thank you very much in Afrikaans) South Africa for a wonderful trip.

Pre-Africa... roar!

excitement!
i'm going to south africa!
hopefully it won't be completely commercial buildings which were built as a tourist trap!
hopefully i won't feel over-familied
hopefully the tour group isn't all boring old people. even interesting old people would do!

excitement!
phuket trip in january!
hopefully it all works out and there's enough people going!

excitement!
let's organise a party soon!


haha.. doesn't this seem like something you read off those cheapo made in china printed paper things? something like:

Happy day! You make me flying full of rainbow and we are forever friends.

*snigger* i made that up but it's probably been printed before.

Take care everyone! Good luck on first day at work for CC and Veron! Happy 21st Birthday for Damien... big boy d! Happy Guo Dong for the 22nd... although i'll be home already.
Don't be too bored for everyone else and make sure we go out when i'm back!

i want to see SiMbA....... RaWr... (''\(.:.......:.)/")

Every Heart has its Song...

A song after my own fickle heart

And you know that I love you
Here and now not forever
I can give you the present
I don't know about the future
That's all stuff and nonsense

~Missy Higgins

The guitar on this song is beautiful. Compliments Missy Higgins' voice perfectly.
But somehow this song echoes with a twang of sadness.
Stuff and Nonsense, if you wanted to look it up.

Hair today, Gone tomorrow...

For the benefit of those that missed out on my cool/African/hairdresser/outlandish (the reviews have been somewhat mixed) braids, i took them out today so i thought i'd dedicate one post to this little portrayal of vanity. It's rare (i think)! So let me indulge...

The Birth:

The Life:
The Death:
Braids, you will be sorely missed. We had good times together : the jingle jangle of beads at my neck, the aunties giving disapproving looks, the little children who stared and then tugged at their mummy's sleeves, the comments of Cool hair!, the predictable first question of So you don't wash your hair issit?...
*sigh* good times.
i have no qualms about doing it all over again. Maybe they have hair braiding in south africa....

Life's a ride, stop where you want.

So you know something's bad for you.
So you know there will be repercussions.
You go ahead and do it anyway.
Then the magic fades, the ball is over and wham it hits you.
haha.. it's like the i told you so syndrome. 'cept the only person who told you so was yourself.
i think i got burned. but that's what you get for playing with fire, right?
Sometimes, you'll wish you never toyed with it in the first place, but you know, i wouldn't have it any other way.
Maybe some of this will come and bite me in the back, but til then, i'll take the scars, and the exhiliration with me.
It was worth the ride, but life goes on....

Release....

Haha.. i just realised how dodgy that title sounds.
in any case, i am feeling a little less uptight and a lot less drug-ridden. antibiotics of course.
and finally, saw friends.. Non-relatives! haha.. it was a form of release... got out of the house!
i often forget how great my friendships are. how stupid we can be. and how fun it is just to hang out, even with little in common in our current lives. Yes, we still reminisce. Yes, it might seem like holding on to some past gone by, but hey, love will keep us together! (sorry, stolen from Captain and Tenille's song)
Anyway, skipping the bits about my night driving, eating yummilicious food in Paris (the local one near ss2) and taking the scenic and beautifully-lighted kl town way home, we went to watch Deja vu in 1U.
i'm not gonna break the plot of the movie to you, as confused as we all ended up (not a movie for brains on a holiday), i thought it apt to reflect on Deja Vu's...
i think i haven't had one for a while, but what i remember, that fleeting moment, when you think that you've been there before. I think i tended to feel a deja vu more in secondary school. Maybe hormones were just racing then. But you could never figure out if it was something you'd dreamt, or seen before, or just grew accustomed to seeing but your mind analysed it a bit differently this time. One explanation I formulated was that the school uniform (which was sometimes what the deja vu moment revolved around) was just something you see day in and day out and you were bound to repeat a gesture or movement, and so it looked familiar enough.
But what about those unusual circumstances where there is NO WAY IN HELL you could've done that before, or been there before, and a certain phrase spoken by someone, an obscure, completely out of nowhere phrase, strikes you as being familiar.
How'd you explain that?
I fancied my theory that, like in some crazy sci fi movie, there would be this random adventure that goes on, and, like the memory scrabbler thing in Men in Black, maybe we'd have to forget everything and come back to the exact moment in time before all the cool stuff happened. And, you'd never know ANYTHING had gone on at all. And maybe then, after that, some of the stuff happens again, and deja vu means you know it.
Or maybe, we all have some sort of psychic intuition which allows us to see just a bit of the future, maybe in our sleep or dreams or subconscious, or whenever you can't ever fully grasp it, and then when it happens, you go.,. THERE! SEE IT! THAT'S WHAT I SAW BEFORE!
Or maybe, we'are like broken record players, our lives going round and round in this loop of reincarnation. And something we've seen in a past life suddenly gets triggered and we think it's familiar.... but that still doesn't explain how exact moments feel familiar huh...
Well, apart from my own confusing musings, this is what Time magazine has to say

in Jeannie's own words:

• the brain gets muddled when it sees something in the present that so resembles something from the past that it thinks the present is something from the past, triggering the feeling of familiarity.
• the brain mistimes how it receives outside images, so the first initial split-second sighting is somehow stored as a memory and the next split second you think you've seen it all before.
  
• Freud said something about wish fulfilment - where you want something from the past to happen again but with a better outcome. (but i don't really understand this one)
  

Okay, the gist of it is, as they make it more sciencey, the answers seem to point to the brain being a little miswired and less cool sci-finess being involved. I dunno. It would be pretty cool to have seen it all before in some other dimension or life or time.
But til they figure it out I guess all i have are freak theories. Any other deja vu ideas out there? Would love to hear them... drop a comment! obviously no limit to the outrageousness of thought.

i'm going mad....

I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!!!
have you ever felt the guilt of an overdose of family?!?!?
YOU DON'T WANT TO!!!
i just need.. one day. ONE DAY AWAY!
I CAN'T TAKE IT!!!! 7 days of the only people around me i know being FAMILY. and bitchy aunties. and horrible, nagging grandma! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!
Someone, somewhere.. SAVE ME. I NEED CIVILISATION....
And hearing everyone else going out FRUSTRATES me more...
FARK! FARK! FARK!

FAAAAAAAARRRKKK!!!!!!!!

yooohooo... (it's a long one)

Well, i'm back from bali! Still nursing a terrible runny nose, awful mouth ulcers and slight sore throat. And a bit of a tan... Apart from the fact that I had to eat soggy McChicken burger at the Bali airport today thanks to my over-prepared taiko, notice anything different?
So Clever! I am a bit more tanned!!Okay, maybe a little bit more than that.. (see izy, not shorter, dyed, straightened or curled!)
I think i took around 600 photos this time round with my new new camera. But how to sum a trip up in one blog entry? (can't be bothered with those... here's part 1.. and part 2 tomorrow! kind of things... ) Let's see... Bali.. I introduced my taiko to...SODA GEMBIRA! maybe gembira, but UNHEALTHY! i figure the recipe goes something like: Rose syrup + condensed milk + evaporated milk + soda water = mix together and Voila! Soda Gembira!
We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel in Bali which is themed just like the Hard Rock cafes all over the world.. COOL! Posed with the guitars of Sting *swoon*, Ronan Keating (for old time's sake) and, just for Eddie... snapped this one:Honestly, most of the time was spent shopping. Can spend millions in a day. Seriously. But then, 1 million rupiah = rm 400. *shrug*Oh, and there was lots of eating too. The worst time to have mega mouth ulcer when ALL BALINESE FOOD CONTAINS CHILI. *groan*

We did eat lots and lots of Balinese food though. Refused to fall prey to McDonalds and KFC although they beckoned around most street corners. Instead, we decided to go local. Like really local. Like eating local dish babi guling local.

Like eating it at a freaking sawah padi by the side of the road local. Look yonder and sight ye the greenness that is sawah padi

The verdict? Hhhmm.. i think i'll stick with siu yuk, but at least there was teh botol.
Did most of the touristy things. Visited temples, watched the cultural shows, etc. Balinese architecture is amazing and the landscape is so beautiful.

The volcano Kintamani - with black soil!

Rice paddy terraces - so green! This is my postcard shot...
The view from the Temple on the Cliff (the one with monkeys)

I did think of the architects and am not surprised at the amount of 'oriental influence' that seems to be popular lately.. ALL balinese houses are like that! They all look like temples! And every house has to have a temple in it. So devout!

Tanah Lot - The temple on the sea

At every tourist attraction you go to, there are at least 3 different people (some armed with children!) to attack you with cheap paraphernalia and souvenirs. It's kind of annoying saying no but being battered with cries of Please Mam.. Very cheap missy.. You just look... How much you want? We went down to take pictures and here's some evidence of "the gang" waiting for us at the head of the stairs. There were 3 others out of the picture but they seemed rather amused I turned my back on the scenery and took them instead. For an economy pretty wholly reliant on tourism, times have been bad since the Bali bombings...

Whatchoo lookin' at? Stop eyeing my tourist goldmine ass!

The spa was awesome too....
Which brings me back to my soggy McChicken burger, sore throat, runny nose and mouth ulcers. *grumble*

Much shopping, many useless momentos and memories later, i'm back home. Bali - a perfect place for a honeymoon,

See what i mean? Random couple that walked into my sunset picture and it looks so movie-like already.

but a little different with family. Haha.. Tips for my future fiance... BALI!

Everytime you go away....

I went to watch Happy Feet today. I was actually very surprised by how enjoyable it is (naturally, cute little baby penguins!!) Squeals of omg.. so cute! from me and li may all around. I think it's a good watch - for people of all ages!
I have little to say today. Have been sneezing all day from allergies - or someone's bitching about me - or someone's missing me lots. Or all three at once. Any number of possibilities really.
It's tiring. Sneezing is tiring. I believe it impairs your driving judgement, or maybe that's just my justification. In any case, it's better not to drive when not feeling 100%. 'Cos then your father has less to nag about.
Flying off to Bali in a few hours. Should be exciting! Hope the sneezing's not a cold... To the warm warm sun, baby! Expect an absence til Thursday - when my exam results come out.
Looks like there's no anxious browser-refreshing the night before. At least i enjoy before i see it i suppose.
Take care everyone til I bore you with my next post.
Good luck, Safe flight, Enjoy and See you Soon for Kee Win. Sure you aced the test. =) *HuGz*

This Year's MUST-SEE Movie...

Cicakman - the latest crimefighter in the city of Metrofulus*. With his slithery slick moves and powerful lashing tongue, you won't know what hit you until you hear the echoes of the Tchak Tchak Tchak as Cicakman escapes the scene.
Crime becoming a pest? Cicakman will gobble it up like flies in the night.
Who can resist the sleek physique of a lizard? With reptile-quick reflexes and a defence mechanism to rival those of the most hi-tech countries. You think you've caught Cicakman - but all you have in your hands is a writhing, trashing tail as Cicakman leaps into the night.

No really, I have no idea what this film is about. You, YOU can make a difference by reading about it here. And then post up a comment telling me. I'm not sure I want to check it out - if only for satisfying my curiosity - but then again i seem to have trouble getting anyone to come with me.

Ah well, I thought my mum was joking when she said Cicakman anyway.

*I kid you not... that's the name they used. *Cough* *Co-RIPO- ugh*

p.s: just 'cos Tish got really excited over the trailer, here it is (i'm sorry.. i actually viewed it) Brought to you by your friendly toothbrush advertisement voiceover guy

Lengthy Grumbles

Things Done Today:

• Bought random presents from MPH to donate as Christmas gifts for the underpriviliged.
• Visited the new Tesco at Ampang - large and cheap
• Went walking at GE Mall
• Had a roti pisang/kaya made by friendly neighbourhood roti man
• Bought 3 for rm 10 earrings
• Watched Thank You For Smoking - again.

Signs of too much free time? Maybe...
Anyway, I was thinking... *gasp* My oldest bro is choosing wedding dates, my youngest bro is unemployed. My parents seem slightly desperate for me to get a boyfriend with comments like "Oh, it's alright, normally third year only get hor?"
How different the reaction would be if I actually brought a guy home. Haha.. Yeah, i've seen both my bros go through/ continue to go through it. Such a scary process. But then again, it's sort of a preparation thing. Less things faze my parents now that the boys have weathered them.
Anyway, sidetracking. I realise that next year i am 20. Two decades old.
My taiko is getting married at 30. (as a side fact... the average age of marriage for women is 27 years and 29 for men)

You can buy your Lego cake from here

My second bro is still between jobs at 27.
I have neither a stable relationship nor a definitive career. Should i be afraid?
I guess talking to the high school friends kind of was a kick in the head too. The mandatory : "So what's up with your love life?" and "What are you gonna do once you graduate?" questions inevitably popped up. Inevitably, i answered "I dunno.." before responding with the same question.
But there was a difference this time. I spilt the beans on the relationship - the noncommitant nature, the nonexistent future, the feeling of immorality of it all.

Rather than being labeled a slut (although maybe,quietly, in their minds) my case was met with sympathy. As i like to call it, a bad habit. It's probably the same kind of sympathy you offer someone trying to quit an addictive drug.

If tit is for tat, then i should be getting a brutal telling off.

Maybe it's time i also thought about a serious career. I wonder how far you can get by with thinking that things will work themselves out. That the right job will crop up at the right time, and i took the right degree after all. I wonder if it IS true that your degree is only worth as much as the paper it's typed on - fancy, decorative and completely irrelevant in terms of the different words written on it. Then again, I probably made that statement up myself. When I mentioned event management Sujen seemed to jump a mile high. "Don't! It's a waste of time! You don't need a degree you know..." Oh dear god he's right.

Is it worth it all in the end?

Maybe i can be a bitchy English teacher instead. The kind that makes stark markings with her red Kilometrico that she probably gets free from some stuffy teacher's conference in some cavernous school hall. The kind that makes you stand pulling your ears through the whole period if you forget to bring your textbook. The kind who makes the naughty kids wipe the board after she's done explaining the difference between nouns and pronouns, verbs and adverbs and prefixes and suffixes. Engrish.com sure as hell shows we're not lacking in need of better teachers...

(-_-') wtf....

Feel the atrocity of the Engrish...

I've thought too much about this, haven't i?
The long and the short of it - my future is uncertain and I'm disgruntled about the status of my love life. No quick and easy solutions? Jeannie says just shut up and enjoy your holiday.
Ne-yo says: Why can't I turn off the radio?