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.

Tree Of Life

I have seen many a things in my lifetime. Would you like to hear about them?

I have stood here for many a years. Come rain, shine, thunder or winds, I have never faltered, knowing this is where my roots will stay.

Everyday, I can feel the sun shining down on me, giving each nerve its life. A life that is part and parcel of what makes this earth. Each nerve connected to one another forming what is my hard body and my soft hair.

As the sun gives me life, the rain breathes new life to my being. From where I stand, I can see the children running in the rain. How odd, they love the rain when they are small, then as they grow and colorful umbrellas shields them from my view.  I have seen them turn from little wild younglings to good young people and to wonderful parents themselves. I believe it is a part of what they call The circle of life.

I am tied to my mother, earth, and I can feel her moving each day. Changing, shaping into a different landscapes. From where I stand , I used to see hills and feel the dew from morning misty air on my hair. Today, the landscape I once knew is now growing into buildings and concrete, housing more life than I had seen in so long.

And yet, some things are left where they are. I can see the kids in the playground, and the boys practicing their football skills.

As the clouds change, I too change with the seasons. Some days I have more hair falling off, I can see the sweepers cleaning away my brown hair. Come sit by me, and I will provide you some shelter. Oh, I can see some of my being eaten a tiny guinea pig residing in a brown house. The earth gives what it makes I guess.

I love the evening winds. The birds chirp away, making their nests between my many hands. It gets ticklish but it gives me a sense of purpose and I enjoy their warmth as much as I love to provide coolness under my shades to anyone who would need it.

But what lives must die, it is so said in the circle of this life. Perhaps in my next life, I could be that little guinea pig.

Written in memory of the wonderful Tree that was with us growing up, but was taken down today.

Chiang Mai's Flowers, Jade, Coffee and Massage..need i say more?

We woke a little later to the same breakfast but this time Pekster and I decided to share as the portion is rather large. The hotel arranged the taxi for us to visit the kings summer palace up the hill and Doi Suthep temple in the hills. We had to leave our dear deviljoe behind due as she wasn’t well, but from what I heard later, she seemed to have had a pretty relaxing day anyway. So I guess anyway you decide to spend your time, Chiang Mai is just the best wind-down place.

The 3 of us left around 11am. The temple and the palace is at the top of the hill and the road is something like going up Cameron’s on the old road. Winding and winding and winding like the pocket watch on the white rabbit.By the time we reached the summer place, there was no way I could stand straight without the nausea and after a painful spill-my-guts session, we thankfully found me a little Medicare at the palace. The nurse spoke perfect English and gave me some anti-nausea tablet and some sort of smelling salts-liquid. She warned me about getting sleepy but I just needed the spinning to stop.

Took me an hour and 5 chicken balls later to actually feel like the world wasn’t going to somehow collapse around me. Sigh.

The palace is a great place! It’s cold, its huge with flowers of all kinds of colours and shapes complete with a green house, log cabin, cottages, a singing water reservoir, formal and informal landscaping and the main palace(which sadly, was under renovation) and the highlight of the day- Giant bamboo trees about 20 feet tall. We took tons of pictures of the flowers, I plan to buy a suit with the color combinations, yeay! Pekster was mistaken as a Thai girl a gazillion times, it would have been cool if she was able to reply the people in their own language!

Dayang dayang sekalian

Beauty's true colors?

XXL Roses

Chilling Beneath Giant Bamboos

We will NOT climb this tree!

From the palace, we came down to the Doi Suthep temple, complete with an elevator. The temple has about 600 steps going up but you can choose to pay 20 baht for the “elevator” and 30 baht tourism fee for foreigners. The stupa is in the middle of the temple grounds, and is made of gold and there are statues of Buddha made with jade but apart from that, I would rather sit at Thean Hou any day. 

Proud that these 2 stood fearlessly so high over the city

600 steps up Doi Suthep Temple

Jade and Gold

Took us only about an hour to linger about the temple and we then drove down to a small waterfall off the road back to the city. It was quiet at the waterfall, there were only a couple of local families and bunches of teenagers hanging about. Nothing much to shout about as have similar falls right here in Malaysia. There was ONE difference though. As you enter the waterfall area, there are stalls selling picnic foodstuff, stalls like ones selling our pisang goreng. But look closer! Its all roaches and maggots for sale –man,  picnic is defined differently for me. Urgh.

Kids will be kids..

As we got back to the hotel, and paid our driver 900 baht for the day, diplodocus and pekster hopped onto the hotel bicycles and off they cycled to the café nearby for coffee. Unfortunately Deviljoe, who is expert ATV rider, doesn’t ride a bicycle, so we had a nice walk instead. We enjoyed the food at the Fern Forest Café, its one of the mushrooming coffee houses around the old city. 

We then got another taxi to the Sompet market to try the local food there. Tom yum and omelet and then an (amazing!) Foot massage for 200 baht.--200 baht for an hour, I’m telling ya, it’s a steal!—

This last night we had the best sleep and rest. Time to head back to the Malaysian Weather tomorrow. Not sure which I miss more of home, Shimbu or Nasi Lemak..

Note: If you are travelling to CM, do try the Gac fruit if it’s in season. This fruit is only available in Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar and is supposed as the Fruit from Heaven..

Moat around the Old City

Chiang Mai's Tigers, Elephants, and the LongWalk

We awoke this morning to a cooling temperature of about 18 degrees C. It gets hotter through the day up to 29 degrees by 4pm about this time of the year. Maybe the next trip, I could try to make it earlier in January to enjoy cooler weather.

Peaberry served us a wonderful breakfast of toast, omelet and orange juice. Coffee is available round the clock, so that’s a plus point too. We decided check out the Tiger Kingdom and the Elephant Park today and the staff were so helpful, they arranged a Red Taxi for us at a price of 800 Bhat for a round trip. The first stop was the Tiger Kingdom, entrance is at a minimal fee , and depends on the size of the tiger that you want to spend time with. We decided to take small tiger of about 6 months old as the cubs were not available. Couldn’t be certain if the tigers were sedated a little or they are so used to human touch ..we could just walk around them and take pictures while rubbing their bellies. It was the closest I have ever got to seeing a tiger in the eyes, and the blue of a Bengal Tigers eyes is not something one can ever forget.

The Bengal Tiger a.k.a Panthera. Male and female are kept separately so they dont fight. 

They didnt have so tiny cubs available but the cubs are most expensive to hang around with

This small guy was kept near the nursery

We then headed up the Maesa Elephant Camp which had received numerous awards for their elephant care. We stopped at the entrance to enjoy coconut ice cream with bubur pulut hitam(40 baht well spent!) and got in just in time for the elephant bathing show. The elephants are trained to put their trunks around people for picture taking, then grabbing 20 Baht(thats fee for photo taking) and passing the monies to their Mahouts.

Coconut Icecream with pulut. super yums

The podium for the elephant show reminded me of a Roman Coliseum. The Romans had enjoyed sports with animals, and I remember reading one such sport being a fight between elephants and rhinos.  Thank god, no such spectacle is played today, and the elephant show was a showcase of how intelligent these gentle beings are. To the Oohs and Aaahs of the crowd, the elephants went on stepping over their Mahouts, pulling logs, playing football and even painting a scenic picture.

This fellow is a better painter than i will ever be

Though it was wonderful show by the ever amazing elephants, I couldn’t help but cry at the thought that these magnificent giants are not in the wild instead. It is sad world we live in.

The fee to the camp is 40 bhat but there are souvenir shops inside the camp where the proceeds go to the upkeep of the camp. Diplodocus did a donation with her purchase of another stuffed Elephant, and deviljoe asked her where is the space for her to store more toys, so I guess a new apartment is much needed now.

From the camp we went down to the Orchid Farm and Butterfly house, the orchids were in arrays of colours and textures and I was lost in richness of these beautiful plants.We had decided to have our lunch here and though I would not normally eat at the parks around KL, the food here was really good.

Butterfly enclosure..I almost didnt get out alive after the Butterfly attacked

We got back to our hotel at 5, tired and beat , but just as we sat in the lounge, Mr Kishore walked in the front yard. He immediately came to us and told us to take a taxi to the night walk,that it would be a worth stroll. So as hurriedly as humanely possible, we raced to our rooms, washing up before catching a taxi to the walking street.

The traffic was starting to get heavier by 6pm. The driver dropped us across from the walking street and we right in the middle of km long road of food and more food. It reminded us of the old gurney drive, before it became the commercialized eatery it is today. We were sort of lost, not sure which way to go, so we decided to take a breather next to a stall selling sort of like lok lok. The smell of the grilled meat was amazing and were decided to place an order for a stick each, it cost us 10 Baht. When was our satay ever RM1? Seems a lifetime ago, sigh.  The meat on a stick was good, the pepper sauce burning into our tummies. Finally pedas food!

Holy-lot-of-people

 Anyway the crowd seemed to going one way, so we got into the mass of heads and followed along. That’s when we realized the nigh walk was just in front of us, excitedly we followed the throng of people. Food was everywhere we turned, Sausage with pulut? 2^nd stop for food it is! Mini donuts, black bean pau, mango sticky rice, waffles,sausages, avocado In a cup, u name it, they have it. Apart from a  brief panic of attack of losing devil Joe, everything else was great. The only problem was, we did not realize the walk goes on for about 2-3 kms and there aren’t many shops to stop and sit at and there isn’t any small lorongs to get out of the street. Once you are in,you got to be in for all the way. We had to make one pit stop for a beer so that we don’t lose our knees and after that we were so happy to see the end of the road that we had to stop again for crepes. Not knowing how to order exactly, we decided to just order the same thing as the customer in front of us,though with minor changes(they had egg with chicken floss and chocolate sauce. Chicken and chocolate? I’ll pass)

Me and Pekster enjoying the sticky rice. somehow we couldnt find this in Krabi.. 

Tiru people and order crepe..but it was good tho

The things at the street walk are cheaper than the bazaar so haggling is not much of an option. There are many people so they tend to keep their prices at a certain rate. In pain and tired as hell, but with grins on our faces, we only got back to our hotel around 11pm. Phew.

Chiang Mai Old City in a Peaberry

In this day and time, the world’s Economy isn’t going great, currencies are falling, inflation is going up and the unemployment in Europe hasn’t got any better. Like a tide, we can feel the slowdown back home too, so travelling is getting to be more of a privilege these days, and all but 4 of us wanted to do was to head out to Chiang Mai for a much needed relaxing break.

After saying a silent prayer for the tragically drowned flight QZ 8501, we got on board at 6++ am . As the airplane hit the Chiang Mai airspace, the view  was breath taking.Rolling hills and greenery, clear skies and small streams running down the hills.

The small airport reminded me of the airport on Wroclaw but a little less busier. And the people were definitely much nicer.We got ourselves a taxi for only 160 Bhat and rode a short way to our hotel in the corner part of Chiang Mai’s Old City. 

The peaberry Hotel is designed in the old Lanna Thailand style and just stepping into the quaint hotel made us relaxed immediately.

Though we were early, the owner informed us that our room could be ready within the hour.

His question of what we had planned out was met with glazed looks as we hadn’t thought much into it. So we were grateful that Mr Kishore gave us ideas on what to dos in Chiang Mai for the length that we were going to be there.

We started out on the first day by checking out the old city area. There are a lot of old temples and monuments just around the Old City.We decided to just walk about, taking in the sights and sounds of the small street ways and enjoying the food at the corner restaurant. We were very happy to see the number of coffee joints that Chiang Mai has. And 40 Bhat for a cup of latte that can give the large coffee chains a run for its money is definitely worth it.

From the Old City we took a Taxi to the Central Bazaar for some delicate French style and local pastries. The shopping mall offers free rides to the The Night Bazaar (Le Meridien stop is the nearest to the bazaar entrance). 

It was just a 10 minute ride away and we thought to complete our souvenir shopping(better to get it out of the way first I say!) The traders at the bazaar were friendly and haggling was relatively easy. The only issue would be that Chiang Mai has many travelers from China and a lot of the food is adjusted to for the less spicy palette of the said travelers. I would have loved chili padi in my ginger pork rice, but alas! It was not to be.

The War of Wellness Day.

Ever had that feeling that when you are in a fair and there are sales people around, especially the ones that want you to sign up for  credit card, it becomes more of a war zone than a fair?

You have to have skills to say no and the skill to drift and zoom through the spaces between these sales warriors before you can breathe the normal, credit-less air again.

The M threw their annual Wellness Day again and invited a gazillion booths of people selling milk, yogurt and a bunch of healthy foodstuff. Didn’t join the walkathon this year, didn’t have the heart for it I guess, or maybe it was the PINK of the tee shirt that kind of made me skip leg day.

Still, in support of the Wellness Day, I went down to the fairgrounds to get Diplodocus some headsets (to make her ears more healthy?) and some yogurt drinks. And that’s when I saw them.

The warriors.

All cloaked in their red Insurance team tee shirts.Holding their swords and knifes up in the air ready to strike us down.

Ok it was just clipboards and pens but it might as well have been.

Anna and I stood in the corner, looking for the easiest route out. I looked left and saw Sabby and her friends talking animatedly. She is a loud person and the mousey warrior was on her left, squeaking ‘miss?’miss?’ . As she was running out of topics with her friends, I could see her eyes darting to the ceiling instead, I guess anything is more interesting than having to speak to the mouse-warrior. In defeat, he squandered away, back to his hole-booth. Hah! Take that mouse man!

Mr cute WS  was stuck in a another corner. He looked like a well concentrated race horse and he hurried between the line of warriors, constantly repeating NO NO NO NO … until he was out of the door. It was amazing. I have never seen anyone look at the exit door with such determination.

It was then that Anna and I decided to make our move. As I scurried on behind my human shield(thank you Mrs Koch) the warriors tried to get her to sign up for some hospitalization card. Repeating that she has such a card from Poland , the warriors gave up and finally, we pushed the door and saw the light of the day.

Barely breathing the first sigh of relief, we noticed WS trapped in a sea of red warriors right outside the door, as they were just about to start their warrior cry.

Well. Here we go again.

The Late Lunchtime

Due to one maternity and one bereavement leave, I have been down from 4 lunch buddies to 2.

And then yesterday I had to open my un-cursed mouth and told Siew ling that her car seems to be in a great condition despite it being 8 years old. I have no idea what emotionalness got into the car and it took offence against my words and the very same day, the car decided to bust its accelerator cable and hence, with curses from Siew Ling to my dear self, it ended up being only me and Liana in office looking for food in the godforsaken Twilight –zoned CBJ.

Though I am glad to have arranged the lunch for Mr LG and Diplodocus some 30 kms away with the power of the OC, I couldn’t arrange to meet Liana’s time(thank you financial close calendars) and that is how I ended up having spaghetti with KC Vios and Big-Z late in the evening. Note for CBJ folks eating out at Tokio Café: they don’t serve at Padi House even though they are a sister company. No idea why. I buggered and buggered them,  I think to the point that that my waiter pretended not to speak English, but they wouldn’t give me an answer.

In the spirit on continuation of having discussions with strangers, which I started with Mr LG yesterday, it’s probably the other reason that prompted me to go out with these 2 macho souls.

Though I have known both men for some time, we weren’t always friends. In fact I think there was a time when KC Vios was pretty cold towards Big-Z and his team. But then the Plats of the organization moved  and the M decided to bring the 2 departments together and that’s how we ended up working together. In a very short time, the 2 of them became almost inseparable.

So coming back to lunch today. Eating out with the ladies can  be very different from being with just the boys. Though for some reason, they seem to have adopted me to their circle of Dudes and appreciatively shared their views on the anatomy of the ladies walking by. Don’t get me wrong, beauty is definitely to be admired..but from one straight woman’s point of view, I honestly am not intrigued by a lady’s sway nor her other ‘parts’.  Show me the hunk making the Nasi biryani at Neo CBJ and you got me at ‘welcome”

But what I considered more interesting is how different these 2 men are and yet are so close friends. KC Vios is much younger, here at his first job and doesn’t think that anything is more important than money. Hot blooded and unique in his fashion, his opinions are of fresh young eyes. Big-Z  on the other hand is a little more matured, married and loves songs that are probably sang by Big Tasty. He is more patient and cool and is simply crazy and fun. I guess friendship can always be made even in the most ying-and-yang of situations. Hmm.

I guess it works better if you have something in common. In this case, that thing has a beating heart and a job at the Org. And a name. Ms Emily. The prettiest girl they have ever(in their working lives) laid eyes on. The most sophisticated, and elegant woman both men have ever met. They would do anything to have a HELLO from her. Pretend to fall, pretend to visit a nonexistent friend around her cube, pretend to care about the weather outside her window, pretend to..well, you get the idea

But I got to admit, this office would be a much slower and boring place without the chitter chatter of KC Vios and Big-Z.

So cheers to you guys!

P.S Inthira- Big-Z misses all the fights you guys have..and Congratulations on the cutest cutest cutest baby boy~