Macau – Hong Kong October 2009 Part 3

I’ve been having the writer’s block lately.

So, I will be backtracking and posting more pictures from my Hong Kong trip, as I had promised earlier. (See, I never break my promises.)

Continuing on to Day… 4?

Day 4: Lantau Island (大嶼山)

Lantau Island was my mom’s idea. None of us had jumped at the idea of going to Lantau Island, but my mom’s persistence and innocent oblivion to our lack of enthusiasm won. And that was how we ended up at Lantau Island on Day 4.

We started the day early because Lantau Island supposedly gets very busy on Sundays. We took the cable car from Tung Chung to Lantau Island. It was a relatively long ride… I don’t quite remember but I would say the ride was about twenty five minutes.

The ride was longer than expected. After rows and rows of mountains, we reached our destination.

Lantau Island is famous for the statue of the Giant Buddha, which is, “an 85-foot-high bronze Buddha statue,” [Wikipedia]. It is supposedly the “world’s largest, seated, outdoor, bronze Buddha statue” [Wikipedia]. (Long live Wikipedia. lol.)

And that was what we were there for. We had to climb a flight of stairs (again, quoted by Wikipedia, 268 steps) to reach the statue. And inside the statue was a gallery of Buddhist-related artifacts.

What fascinated me the most were old scripts written by the emperors, Hong Hei (康熙帝) or Kangxi in Mandarin, and his son, Yong Zheng (雍正帝). It looked so old, yet well-preserved. What I liked best about them was how neatly every stroke of the Chinese calligraphy was executed, how beautiful and fine the prints were – almost as if it was typed out using a computer. Yet, they were all handwritten.

I guess if you were an emperor in the ancient times, you would need to perfect every single task. They were probably trained since the day they were born to write such beautiful calligraphy.

It was really interesting, and for a moment, I tried to imagine life in the ancient times. Unfortunately, I could only go as far as what I had seen in the Hong Kong dramas. =_= Still, it was a very memorable moment for me… making me all the more determined to explore China and its ancient history.

Here are the pictures:

The view of Tung Chung from the cable car.

After awhile, we realised that there was a hiking trail all the way from Tung Chung, across the mountains, to Lantau Island. And there were actually real-life people hiking on these trails!

Managed to zoom into one of the many ambitious hikers on this trail. What you see is only a gazillionth of the trail. I estimate that if I were on that trail, it might take about just a month or two for me to reach my destination? I found out much later that the trail was 5.7km long and should take the average hiker about 2 hours.

At first, we thought they were a flock of ducks in the water…

A closer look revealed that they were actually fishermen – according to my aunt – digging for clams? Not too sure.

Walking to the main tourist attraction of Lantau Island… The Giant Buddha

I thought this was kinda cute… ^^

The family at Lantau Island…

Bro, Mom and I at the top of the world. Sort of anyway.

View from the top.

Okay, I am too lazy to post anymore pictures up. Let’s say the day ended there. Went back to the hotel to sleep after that. And went to my aunt’s place at night for dinner. They had bought and cooked some crabs (大閘蟹) and it was delicious!!! Yummy…

Okay, last picture:

 

So that’s it for now! I have to say that Photoshop takes practice. I was just telling my friend the other day that even after photoshop-ing my pictures, they still looked ugly.

However, I have to say that I do like this batch of pictures more than the previous ones. Still don’t know how to use a lot of the functions. It has mostly been trial and error for me lol!

Alright, enjoy.

Smiles.

 

 

Related posts:
Macau-Hong Kong October 2009 Part 1
Macau-Hong Kong October 2009 Part 2

 

A trip down memory lane…

Instead of bumming my time away, I thought I would do something more productive. So I recently took on a new project, which I call: The “Clean Up the House” project.

My family and I moved into my current house since I was twelve years old and man, what a shitload of junk we have accumulated over the past thirteen years.

I started with organizing the collection of pirated VCDs and DVDs in the living room. Old, old movies – some that were seen once and put aside, some classics such as Back to the Future Trilogy, the Mr Bean series and Home Alone which my siblings and I absolutely LOVED and had seen thousands of times.

Unfinished, and unable to move on due to the lack of CD organizers (need to buy more at the Thursday’s pasar malam (night market), I moved on to my bedroom.

My bedroom.

I can’t believe that every piece of junk that I had thrown into the drawers were still there. Random paperclips, receipts, movie ticket stubs (and lots of it… I used to collect them, for who knows what reason), and I don’t know… lots of random stuff.

There are currently three huge black garbage bags of stuff in my room: one for recycling, one for broken toys and old stuff to be thrown away, and the last one is for stuff to be given away to the orphanage.

I have been working on my room for two full days now, and I am nowhere near the end, lol.

It’s actually not easy de-cluttering a room. A lot of things that I own used to be important to me at one point in time but no longer mean anything to me now. But somehow it is not easy throwing away something that reminded me of my past. Stuff that still lingered with memories of my younger days.

For example, magazines. Lots and lots of magazines that I bought when I was a mindless teenage girl. Cleo magazines. Smash Hits. Stacks and stacks of worthless boyband posters. I even bought a 2001 Christina Aguilera calendar.

This should be a no-brainer, right? I have zero interest in Westlife, Backstreet Boys, Boyzone, S Club 7 or the Spice Girls now. Throwing them out seem to be the thing to do.

Yet, I couldn’t bring myself to recycle them. After all, I had spent real-life money on these magazines. Most importantly, they reminded me of my teenage self. When YeeLing and I would sing in class. Swoon over 911 (the boyband, lol). Decide which Spice Girl we liked better. Fight over Britney and Christina.

Actually, looking back now, it seemed as if discussing pop music and boybands made you a part of the popular “in” crowd. And back then, it was very important to be popular in high school. Well, at least for me anyway. I am not ashamed to say that at a point in my life, being popular was my everyday goal. lol!

Now, ten years later, I don’t give a hoot about how popular I am. In fact, I just want to be left alone. Cut the small talk. And just hang out with people that I genuinely care about and sincerely want to be my friend.

It also amuses me to see teenage girls who reminded me of my younger self. And I would silently tell myself that soon, like me, they would grow out of that phase.

My only question is, why did my parents ever succumb to my requests for expensive and useless magazines? They probably knew that it was a waste of money and that it was unhealthy to indulge in teenage infatuation with pop idols.

I guess I would need to be a parent to find out. I would probably end up being a parent who would be unable to resist my child’s requests as well.

Anyway! I decided to recycle the boyband magazines but keep the women magazines. Women magazines and the issues that they touch on are usually timeless.

On a totally random note, did I mention that I was electrocuted the other night? *Shudder*

In Canada, the wall sockets don’t have an on/off switch. The moment you plug your electronic device into the socket, the current starts flowing. The voltage is different, if I’m not mistaken, it is probably only 120V in North America?

So the other night, I totally forgot to turn off the switch before plugging the camera charger into the socket. (Or maybe I was just subconsciously too lazy to do it.) And without thinking, I had carelessly touched the metal part of the plug. A split second later, I felt 240 volts of current stun my body like a shock wave. Almost as if I was Taser-ed and my heart had stopped beating for a microsecond. Out of pain and shock (literally), I dropped the charger with a scream.

For five minutes, I was speechless and immobile in a state of shock. My parents were so worried about me…

And then I burst out crying lol. I couldn’t help it. The shock had frightened me. And my fingers were numb from the current. To make matters worse, my parents were fussing over me like a little kid. “Are you okay? What happened??” It just made me feel all the more sorry for myself hahaa.

Anyway, it was a lesson well learnt!! Ever since then, I never ever forgot to turn the switch off before plugging or unplugging anything into or from the socket. Lol.

Another random note. I’ve been eating a lot of “heaty” stuff lately.

The other day, I ate curry laksa for brunch, nasi lemak with curry chicken for tea-time, and for dinner, drank tom yam soup with a bowl of chue yook fun (pork noodles) and a whole coconut. Mmmmm.

And then the next day, my dad bought durians. More mmmmmmm.

My nose started bleeding after that, lol. But if I could go back in time, I wouldn’t change anything. I could eat like this every day, lol!!

Alright, it is almost 3 am. I started reading The Kite Runner a few days ago. It’s pretty good, even though I’ve only read a quarter of the book. I leave it in the washroom for times when I have to you-know-what.

Okay. I had more durians after dinner today. And I have an interview tomorrow. ><

I hope I don't burp during the interview. *Keeps fingers crossed.*

Oh, and I kept the Christina Aguilera calendar. Couldn’t bring myself to recycle it.

Goodnight Malaysia.

 

I will miss…

Yesterday I received an email from Broadway Across Canada, informing me that Broadway’s Lion King will be in Vancouver in July 2010.

It made me really sad to know that I will be missing out on things like that. I’ve enjoyed my fair share of musicals throughout my stay in Vancouver, something that I’ve grew to appreciate and love.

Occasionally I would wonder how my friends in Vancouver were doing. After all, they were my closest friends for the past six years. They could relate to my everyday life in Vancouver. They knew how I felt about my job. About people. About alot of stuff. We shared so many good times, juicy gossips, priceless memories, private jokes and definitely, a unique bond.

Sometimes I will think of my apartment. And my sisters. Wonder how they are faring without me. I miss my apartment. I miss the layout of my apartment. At the convenience of how everything is just within reach. I can watch TV and cook/eat/brush teeth/change clothes at the same time. Unlike living in a house, where I have to drag my heavy feet up three floors just to get to my bedroom. I miss being on the 19th floor. I miss being able to look out of the window before I go to work in the morning, to see how heavy the traffic is. It was really convenient for me, especially when I was late.

At the same time, I know that if I were in Vancouver right now, I knew what my routine would be.

Go to work on weekdays. Cook. TV. Shower. Clean up. Maybe the occasional weekday dineout. Or hang out.

Hang out with friends on weekends. Dinner. In the same restaurants. Either Richmond or Burnaby. The guys will talk about stocks, Gutterpost and make sick jokes. The girls will talk about work. People. Gossip. Janet and I will talk about cooking. Lol.

After dinner, it will be dessert houses. Or the casino. Someone’s house. The movies.

I doubt anything has changed much. Especially during the winter time.

I guess that is part of life. Moving on to different stages in life. Making choices. Decisions that will definitely have opportunity costs one way of other. I know what my priorities are. What my decision is. I am aware of what I will trading in. Giving up.

Maybe I am reluctant to look for a job in Malaysia because I know that if I start working… my decision will be all the more final. The reality of my choice would sink in. Of course, I am fortunate enough to say that if things don’t fare well, I can always return to Vancouver. I am blessed and thankful for that.

Alright, before I end this post, I can not resist not talking about… none other than TWILIGHT.

Lol.

Edward Cullen. Drools.

I was talking to Suzz about Twilight earlier. And I realised that the reason I loved the first book so much was the fact that it reminded me of high school. Of our first crushes. The reason why it was bearable for us to wake up at six in the morning to go to school. Observing your crush from a distance. The looking, and looking backs. The highs and lows you go through. Every move is analysed with the greatest detail. And every small detail creates a large impact on your emotions.

Lol!

Alright. I can safely say that my obsession for the Twilight series is pretty much under wraps. I re-read all four books, skimming through much of the second and third book, only reading my favourite parts.

I won’t be reading it in awhile. Since I am only trying to harmlessly phase out my obsession, not hate the book. Haha. I am still excited about New Moon the movie though.

And Suzz has given me something else to focus on. True Blood. A series about vampires, with the male lead dangerously resembling Edward Cullen, my latest infatuation. Haha. Yes, yes, yes.

Will update soon.

 

Can’t get enough…

I dreamt of Edward Cullen and Bella Swan last night.

This morning I woke up with a sense of emptiness in me. Because unlike the past three days, I no longer have a book to look forward to.

I can’t believe how trapped I am in the world of Edward Cullen and Bella Swan!!!! I actually re-read the first book this morning, greedily absorbing each sentence as if I were only reading it for the first time.

Last night before I went to bed, I even googled Twilight. The movie. The novels. The cast. Rob Pattinson. Edward Cullen. Stephenie Meyer. I googled. I youtubed. I wiki-ed.

And much to my glorious delight, I found the first chapter of Midnight Sun posted on the author’s website!!!!! Click here if you would like to read it. It is actually the same story but retold in Edward’s perspective.

I am dying to read the book. When will it be finished? When will it be published? When will I be able to get my hands on it?????

O-mi-gawd. I just realised that the first draft of Midnight Sun which was illegally exposed on the Internet is on the author’s website. And a much much longer draft too! 264 pages!!! As opposed to the measly 20 pages in the first chapter.

Click here if you would like to read the first draft of Midnight Sun! I think even a rough draft as this, unrefined and unedited will be able to grasp you in. Then you will understand my obsession with Twilight.

Hah!

 

In my next life, I want to be Bella Cullen.

Warning: This entry is going to consist of much rambling and is somewhat meaningless, probably due to the lack of complex brain exercises for the past 3.5 months. Please bear with me. Thank you.

I LOVE THE TWILIGHT SAGA!!!!!

I believe it all started in Vancouver. My very first awareness of the Twilight fad. I drove to work alot in Vancouver and usually tuned in to the Kid Carson’s morning show. One of the co-hosts, Nira Arora, is a huge fan of the Twilight Movie.

She had been anxiously anticipating for the Twilight cast to arrive in Vancouver for their shoot of the sequel, New Moon. When they had finally arrived, every morning she would give brief updates about sightings of the cast here and there, and she even went to the extreme of stalking Robert Pattinson, who stars as Edward Cullen.

I still remember them playing an audio clip of their brief encounter on the movie set with Nira saying: “I’m looking for Edward. Is Edward there? Edward! Edward!”

Hahaha.

And then a few months later, I decided to download the movie and saving it in my collection of downloaded movies until I was back in Malaysia to enjoy them.

I vaguely remember a few people gushing about how good the book is. At how I should read it. But I didn’t take them seriously when I heard that it was about vampires. Consequently, I wasn’t too inclined to watch the movie as well.

I finally watched the movie last week. It wasn’t a bad movie (as opposed to what I was told by the people who read the book first). Actually, it was pretty interesting but somehow I didn’t quite get the movie.

So I proceeded to Wikipedia the book. I read the plots of all four books. Definitely got a better understanding of the movie from there. Haha. But still, it was a very summarized gist of the plot and I wanted to know more.

On Friday night, I bought the complete set from MPH. I was contemplating a little because I could get the hard-covered version for cheaper in Canada than my paperbacks. But my eagerness to read the book won.

By Monday evening, I had finished all four books.

As I am typing these words, I can say that I am still not over the exhilaration of the Twilght Saga.

The books are SO SO SO DAMN GOOD!

Even after watching the movie…

Even after knowing the entire plot of the complete set…

Even after knowing what will happen and what the ending is…

… I couldn’t believe how the author drew me in with the vividness of her story, how captured I was with Bella’s life, how my heart throbbed and my body literally trembled with fear as the suspense grew.

O-mi-gawd.

I am still very lost in the world of vampires, Forks, Bella Swan and her powers, and the unbelievably beautiful Edward Cullen.

Now I see why Nira Arora is so madly in love with him. His love for Bella makes him even more irresistable.

Okay. Unless you are a Twilight fan, you might find this entry boring. If you are not a Twilight fan yet, I BEG you to please read the book and share my enthusiasm for it!

Stephenie Meyer is truly a talented author. Her ability to manifest her fantasy stories into life is just amazing. I can’t wait to read Midnight Sun, her latest Twilight book which is still in the works and not yet released.

Twilight fans, anyone out there? Want to watch New Moon with me? Yeeling, if you’re reading this, I know you’re up for it! Call me. Haha!