Of second steps and beyond.

I am taking a break from my other blog today. That one can get to be a bit of a dark and dreary road, sometimes.

So hello! Here I am, as I have said in a posting some time ago, this year is going to be year of exploring and if not doing somethings’ for the first time, then, I am taking seconds steps on a road previously paved.

So lets wind back the clock

It was roughly 9 years ago,  Pekster and I had a Treasure Hunt at the Zoo, back then we had an amazing time running around in our yellow tee-shirts, outdoing each others team in a treasure hunt and to think back, if only I knew then what I knew now, I would be able to beat her in that hunt in flat 30 minutes! Who knew the Giraffes tongue was black??

Fast forward: 2 years ago, I had volunteered for the clean-up effort at the zoo and  I spent some amazing minutes with Appu the Rhino, feeding and learning about the giraffes(oh theres the black tongue) and getting up close and personal with the Ostriches(please dont peck me), Zebras, antelopes and tons of dung. But honestly, I had a wonderful time.

So when a couple of months ago, The Company offered for us to volunteer at the Zoo again, I jumped up and snatched the opportunity because the Pekster was going with me this time. We did have In-Tiara,  Daveman and Bouncy join us and it was crazy fun seeing Bouncy trying to feed 'Do' the giant turtle as though he was a tiger; 4 feet away, stance ready to run..and hand outstretched with a little banana. I wonder how she would feed a baby.

Well, apart from sweeping and chasing down Galapagos Turtles(it’s said their eyes hold the secrets of the universe, so next time you come across one, be sure to make eye contact), I swept the cages around THE CROCODILES and was fortunate enough to spend 15 minutes with the kakak there, learning not only about the Crocs habits, but also of her own family and origins (North Java, with a daughter who is a doctor based in US. Still humbly sweeping cages of turtles, she was)

Our Keeper was a talker too, so we had a good chance to learn about the animals and some insight on how the zoo is run and (confidential infor ahead) the salaries of the staff between this zoo and an unnamed private zoo. He also showed us a special trick- how to clean shedding off Iguanas( I did not know that Iguanas shed so often and our keeper so comfortably peeled the dead skin off and the reptile didn’t move an inch. In fact he seemed to be rather enjoying it), how to see if a Turtle is sick (spotting, people!) and learning that monkeys on trees is never a safe bet, They are just waiting to pee on you.

I did wish the day would have gone longer. Not to compare to my previous visits, but this visit was crazy fun as it always is to spend time with animals (Hence the reason I love the weekly Monkey visits)

Here is another thing I did for the second time. I took a road trip to Penang. Nothing great I know but the things is,  I last went to Penang about 7 years ago, it was the first time I had met The Slothman(not to confuse you, this is my ex whom I broke up with couple years back). I have not been to Penang on such a trip since. That trip was great, we had the best coconut water, walks on the beach and the best ever roti canai. 

So when Momsie decided to have a trip to Penang couple of weeks ago, I jumped at the chance of it being a holiday( don’t get me wrong, I am not a fan of family holidays, but Diplodocus and I needed this break) So off we went to Georgetown and my oh my. Some places really do change in the midst of staying the same. We had an amazing time gazing at the street art that can be found at every nook of Georgetown. We found the café style of Kuala Lumpur had moved into the small heritage buildings near Gurney and surprisingly, enjoyed some amazing coffee set in a shop with unique chandeliers and antique phones and pictures. The morning adventure trip down Transfer Road brought us to the Best roti canai place(though the Bakery was closed, I would have loved to get some Roti Bengali) . The Roti is still good, though I sincerely hope the next generation who take over the business will do just an amazing job at it.

We travelled down Lebuh Keng Kwee for the Penang Famous Cendol, last I was here, there weren’t that many other stalls around it, but apart from that, not much has changed as we still had to stand around the stall in a small tiny street to enjoy the cendol. 

Then we headed to Bukit Bendera for a visit to the temple atop the Hill, its really good that there is ample parking now near the foot of the hill and we were lucky that there weren’t many visitors on the island that weekend, we managed to get the tickets fairly easily. I did not need my talents of being a pushing KL-ite (heh, I can be pushy ok?). The train to Bukit Bendera reminded us of Putra LRT(next station, kampong orang asli), and though there weren’t many monkeys about, and maybe the lack of their presence is the one that pushed me and Diplodocus to walk down some tracks up on the hill to find some haunting spots. My favorite being of an old bungalow that has been taken over by vines and moss. Reminds me that at the end, we all belong to our Mother, the earth. 

And a big no- no to Northam Food Court. I mean the view, fantastic! The food? Fantastically sucky. Next trip would definitely be a stop at Pulau Tikus, hopefully the food there is still awesome.  By the end of the trip though, I barely remembered that visit 10 years ago

For both trips, we took steps in the same places I walked years ago, but as Ahern said, we can take the same steps down the memory lane. But with each new step, we are making new memories.