Yogyakarta

Majestic volcanoes rising above the clouds on approaching Yogjarkarta, leaving me in awe of this land.

I had always resist holidays to Indonesia. The bad press in the Western media about Indonesia isn't helping the country's tourism industry.

So I had a pleasant surprise during my recent trip there. Friendly people, great food, beautiful country, fabulous shopping...


Mount Merapi, as seen from a viewpoint at a mountain pass. Looking at the ash and smoke puking from its crater, it really gives people reason to be fearful of it. Yet it's also awfully beautiful.




Borobudur...another wonder of Yogyakarta.

Charming hotels in Penang

In Penang, try to stay in those old hotels that emits a rustic old world charm.
For those with a small wallet, like me, can consider Cathay Hotel. It was said that Michelle Yeoh recently shot a movie here.
The reception is manned by several friendly "uncles" who speak very good English, Mandarin, and of course Penang Hokkien. The rooms are clean and spacious. The few gripes I have with this place is, first, the wall is paper thin. Second, as I did not make any reservation and was lucky enough to still get the last room despite arriving close to midnight, I had the first room on ground floor from the main entrance. It means that you can hear all the sounds of people talking and walking in and out of the hotel early in the morning.

If you have lots of money to spare, then Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion is just right across the road from Cathay. Cost 10 times more, but expect more luxury. I missed the twice daily guided tour, so did not manage to visit the interior. But this architectually award-winning hotel should be worth the stay there.

Another luxury option is Eastern & Oriental Hotel, the Raffles Hotel equivalent of Penang, founded by the Sarkies brothers too. Looks good too.

Sunflower for the kitchen

No, I don't mean decorating the kitchen with a vase of the pretty flowers.

My constant search for a pretty sunflowers field brought me to a stop outside a village in Provence.

Each flower is HUGE, bigger than the size of my face. Not the prettiest sunflower, but looks nutritious. Can imagine the amount of oil you can extract from each flower?

The little red bug

This pretty little red bug features very prominently in my childhood memories.

One of our little joys as a kid was to catch insects, and the ladybird was one of the girls' favourites (while the boys liked to keep spiders for sparring purposes). On hindsight, now that I've grown old and wiser and more environment conscious, it's actually quite cruel to these tiny creatures.

Ladybird is also closely associated to my first library of English storybooks. At that time, we read about Cinderella, Jack and the beansprout and other fairy tales from the tiny, hardcover "Ladybird Classics".

These books also served as our toys, as we stacked them to become doll houses, or lined them up to become roads for our toy cars.

These are life's simple pleasures for simple kids with simple needs during those good, old and memorable days.

This is Singapore

What you see here is really Singapore.

Last Sunday, went on a trip down memory lane in Lim Chu Kang -- a place I spend my childhood. So it's not totally unfamiliar, as we drove around the place.

I turned into tour guide, pointing out to R: here's the widest road of Singapore in one of the remotest corner of Singapore; there's only few kinds of beings residing here: soldiers, farmers (or agropreneurs, as they call themselves nowadays) and "ghosts" (the largest cemeteries are found here too...remember one of my primary school classmates has to walk past the quiet cemetary roads to get home everyday); that's the site of my old school, here's (Thong Hoe) the Orchard Road of the kampong dwellers, where get our groceries, stationery, clothes, haircut etc done; there's the old market where we had our Sunday breakfast...


We also drove to the end of Lim Chu Kang Road, where we reach the sea and admire the floating village (I mean the kelongs) not far away.

After which we went farm hoping, from tropical fish farm (Singapore is one of the largest exporter of ornamental fish in the world), veggie farm, goat farm etc.


Did not manage to find the site of my old house during this trip. Will consider searching again next time, probably with the help of my sister or father.

Sunset in Corsica

Corsica
Originally uploaded by fangie2000.

Sunsets in Corsica are always a pleasure to the senses.

Bande Dessinée - French manga

Unknown to me for a long time, French not only loves Japanese manga, but are avid comic readers. In fact, France has a thriving comic industry, that I wouldn't be too surprise if they give the Japanese and US comic industry a run for their money.

Bande Dessinée is comic book in French. Unlike Japanese manga, they come in hard cover and A4 size, fully coloured. Price wise, they're definitely more expensive, each issue costing over 10 euros. However, unlike manga, they don't seem to run into ten over issues.


Step into a French comic shop and you'll be spoilt for choice. There is a comprehensive selection of creators, styles and genres, so much so that beginners would have difficulty in finding where to start.

The biggest problem perhaps is the language barrier. Most French comics are not translated into English and it's hard to find English editions, unfortunately. Maybe that's why many comic fans are unfamiliar with French comic. The most familiar French comic series to the English world could possibly be Asterix. Tin Tin is in French, albeit originating from neighbouring Belgium, which has a pretty robust comic industry as well, or so I heard.

So, it's a pity I'm still a far way to mastering French beyond bonjour and merci to enable me to read their comics.

Hiking for real

I've been an experienced "hiker" of concrete jungles, with real stamina for indulging in every female Singaporean's favourite pastime of shopping. Alas, the training I've received at Orchard Road is way insufficient in preparing me for my first hike with my bf's family.

It was an introductory hike for me, so it was expected to be easy. The plan was to hike at a plateau beside "La Meije", one of the highest mountain in the Rhone Alps. The idea was, after reaching the peak of the plateau (which is not very high by French standard), the road will be pretty flat and we will reach a lake. The whole adventure would last only around 3-4 hours.


The choice of hike is perfect, with a wonderful scenery to die for, which I almost did (in a way).

The reality: within short while, I was already having difficulty keeping with the rest of the group (which includes 1 grandmother and another young lady, both with an injured foot). :-P




Difficult it may be, all the sweat and pain has not gone to waste. La Meije is so beautiful that I couldn't resist taking photos after photos of it.

The day I jumped off the cliff

I don't mean suicide of course. Life is too beautiful to end it prematurely, especially when I'm enjoying almost every minute of it (especially when I'm on holidays).

Well, I've made up my mind to jump from the cliff, literally, before going to France. Since I'm planning a visit to the Alps, and a country full of paragliders, tandem paragliding would be a good, easy and relaxing way to enjoy the mountain scenery.

Truth is, the height does freak me out initially. But there's always a first time and I've always harbour a secret desire to jump off a helicopter next by trying sky diving. So the plan is fixed and there's no turning back.

Standing at the edge of the cliff where I'm about to jump does make legs feel wobbly at first. It's no joke, considering that it's a steep drop of probably a thousand metres high.

The instructor was reassuring, telling me that I do not even have to sprint to catch the wind. True enough, after "walking" a few steps with him, we were lifted onto the sky within seconds, before reaching the edge of the cliff. Soon enough, my feet were already running in the air and I was comfortably seated in the parapente, securely strapped to the instructor. The village and valley came in full view underneath me, while we glide effortlessly along the cliff of the mountain for close to half an hour, aided by the stream of ascending wind blowing against the mountain edge.

"Wow, you've really got the most wonderful job", I exclaimed to my instructor, who couldn't agree less. Putting all fears of height behind me, I was soon busy clicking my camera away, totally awed by the thrill of being in the air.


The last few minutes of my flight adventure was to give me further new sensations when my instructor decided to let me experience freestyle paragliding. Without any warning, the world was suddenly spinning at full speed around me. Thankfully, the spinning didn't last long (but the effects of it did not wear off immediately).

Hmmm...I wouldn't mind taking up paragliding lessons next time.

Taking a French break

After going down memory lane, trying to refresh my memories of past fantastic holidays, I'm finally off for another big break! Tonight!

Hopefully, I'll be able to update my latest travel tidbits, rather than writing about trips that were already taken months ago :-)

Au revoir!

Not just concrete jungle

Of course, Tokyo is a sprawling metropolis with all its steel structures, latest gadgets, fashionable shops and modern conveniences, waiting to sweep you off your feet the moment you arrive.

However, it would do nature injustice if you neglect to make at least a day trip to one of the wonderful nature reserve surrounding the outskirts of Tokyo.

I'm glad I made the effort to go hiking to Mitake mountain, even though no one else was interested to tag along.

Despite being only 1 to 2 hours train ride away, you seem to be transported to an entirely different place -- peace and quiet, so quiet you can hear the rustles of the leaves, the flow of the stream and your own heartbeat. Being in the deep of summer, the leaves are so green that I can almost feel the dew are going to ooze out.

There's no need to rush, everytthing would be at your own pace. People there are also very friendly, ready to help you even if they can't speak your language. Japan is known for its greying population, and in the mountains, you feel that the elderly are ageing with grace and vigour. I was told that it's common for them to go hiking in the mountains for a couple of hours, sometimes even everyday. So don't be surprised if you see some elderly couple overtaking you.

People watching in Tokyo

Harajuku always come to everyone's mind if you want to do some people watching. No, not because of the super pretty/handsome Japanese artistes hang out there. Harajuku is good for people watching on a Sunday because of the punks in all sorts of unimaginable dressing/hairstyle that hang around there. And mind you, this place is super crowded (just like any other place in Tokyo actually) with teenages.



I would like to suggest another kind of people watching, which is to go to Meiji shrine. It's interesting because on Sundays (or probably just about any weekends), you'll likely be able to catch a traditional wedding procession. There, you'll be able to see Japanese couple deck out in their gorgeous wedding kimono with their family members (equally gorgeously dressed up), walking across the shrine courtyard. Everyone looks super serious, while hordes of tourists (me included) will be busy and happily snapping photos of them. Not exactly the kind of wedding I particular fancy, but it's fun to watch. I manage to catch two such wedding procession in the morning that I was there, while my friend Ying witnessed five in one morning, one of which has a very huge entourage of family members.

Another type of people watching was suggested by another friend Kul. Just go to the infamous Yasukuni shrine on a Sunday as well and you may be able to see protests by Chinese/Koreans protesters, complete with their banners, head bands and loud hailers.

When Monster Inc. meets Totoro

Imagine what happens when a Miyazaki fan got the chance to not just visit the famous Ghibli Museum, but Studio Ghibli itself?

Well, I almost went crazy (but not with my camera as photos are not allowed at most times)

My lucky break was during my Japan trip last June. Totoros of all sizes were almost everywhere the moment we stepped into Studio Ghibli: greeting us near the entrance, at the foot of the stairs leading to the meeting room, in the meeting room itself, all over the book shelves, on the glasses and coaster...

They are so adorable that even the 2 cute monsters from Pixar paid Totoro a visit at Studio Ghibli. Hanging outside the meeting room is a picture of Sulley and Mike waiting for the catbus with Totoro in the rain. Kawaii desu ne!

We were given a tour of the studio to catch a glimpse of the animators and artists at work. Being an ardent fan of Studio Ghibli's work, I was completely swept off by the painstaking efforts the artists take to put every detail into each frame of the anime by hand. Although the animation market is currently dominated by 3D animation, I'm really glad that Ghibli has stuck to its style of 2D drawings (They even painted the walls with windows and blue sky, Ghibli style)

Ghibli museum was like stepping into its anime world. It's frustrating that I had barely 30 minutes to tour the whole museum, and I wasted half the time waiting for the anime shorts to start. Still, I managed to take as many photos as possible wherever it is allowed. I can be sure that the museum would be in my "must go" list next time I visit Tokyo.

My 3rd encounter with Ghibli during this Japan trip was at Aichi World Expo. Yes, it's another "so close, yet so far" experience when I caught a glimpse of Satsuki and Mei's House from a distance. Tickets to this hugely popular place at the expo were hard to get. So I'm satisfied with at least a glimpse. It looked almost like a doll house, creating a "picture perfect", ideal world sense of feeling. No wonder Totoro the movie has been so well liked by people.

Looking forward to the next Ghibli movie!

LV vs another holiday

I came back from another fabulous holiday to Siem Reap, which set me back by $600.

The following week, I was at a chit chat tea session with my girlfriends when A started showing us her new trophy buy: a new LV handbag, proudly bought at a discounted price of $600.

Seeing the look of disgust in my face, A retorted: "How much did you just spend on your holiday again, my dear? My bag can last me more than 2 years. And yours? Gone in 4 days!"

My god, the most expensive bag I ever owned was a 40 litres backpack that cost $90, and I would hesitate to buy even a $60 handbag. And she has just added another expensive buy to her not so cheap collection. Of course, I love bags, just as I love holidays. But not enough to spend so much on something that I'm likely to get sick of after a while.

So give me $600 now, I'll rather spend it on another holiday.

Give me an LV bag? Thanks but no thanks. I think my holiday experience can last me a memory of a lifetime.

In search of the sunflower fields

Seems that every flower on earth is my favourite flower.

Well, my other fav flower is sunflower. So imagine the thrill and disappointment when I was in France some years back, when we passed by sunflower fields in the train and yet unable to get off to take photos! In the end, we only managed to take a distant shot of the fields in Avignon.

Which was why I was thrilled to pass by sunflower fields again in Myanmar unexpectedly. Sunflower fields lined up the road leading up to the Yangon airport, and I was glad to be able to stop by for a few minutes to take some photos.

Actually, I like any kinds of flower fields. Me and cousin got equally excited to pass by lavendar fields when we were hiking in Provence.

Now on orchids

My other fav flower is orchids.

This has nothing to do with it being the national flower status of Singapore. I'm not that patriotic.

Lotus, I like it because it gives a sense of serenity.
Orchids evokes an aura of elegance. My favourite orchid is the golden showers, as they really look like dancing fairies. A pity I haven't shot any photo of a big bunch of this flower yet, but the image is strongly imprinted in my mind.


This one is also taken in the farmart in Kranji. I guess, someday soon, when I visit the orchid garden in Botanic Gardens, I'll just go crazy with my camera.


This is taken in Hanoi, near Ho Chi Minh Masoleum.

Flower power

I love flowers.
And I love taking photos of flowers. Here's some of the nicer ones I've taken on my trips so far. Hopefully, I'll be able to build up a bigger and better collection in time to come.

I was lucky to catch the iries in full bloom while in Tokyo. Other than cherry blossoms, Japanese seems to be obsessed with iries and have gardens totally dedicated to it. So imagine when the iries are in full bloom, Japanese just flock there to enjoy the sea of white and purple flowers pretty before their eyes.

This was taken at the iries garden next to Meiji Shrine.

This was taken at the Imperial Garden East.

Lotus is one of my favourite flowers. This one on the left is taken in Nara, shy and alone in a small pot in a temple.





And you can imagine that I almost went crazy with my camera when I saw 2 lotus ponds right in front of Angkor Wat.


In Zhuozheng Yuan in Suzhou, with no lotus in bloom, I've to content myself with just pictures of its leaves. Hopefully, next time, I'll be luckier.


Closer to home, you can find a lotus pond in Sungei Buloh.


This pretty one is found in the farmart in Kranji. Hmmm...one day, I'll like to have a small lotus pond in my garden if I were ever to own a landed property.

Enough of lotuses for now till I have new photos of them. After looking at these flower pictures, I'm actually craving for lotus rice and lotus desserts.

More on Krabi

This place is certainly not for lazy bums.

For the 5 or 6 days there, we've kept ourselves busy with different activities each day: sea kayaking, rock climbing, snorkelling, canoeing, hiking etc. Never worked my muscles so hard before.

Railay is a popular among the rock climbers and it's not hard to understand why when you reach the place. There's so many limestone cliffs to scale, and the scenery once up there is superb. The combination of cliffs, sun, sand and sea are intoxicating that sometimes, you are tempted to dance up the cliff surface and rapell straight into the sea.

Climbing is a sport to make beautiful people. All climbers seem to have enviable body you can die for - lean muscles at all the right places. So you can imagine that it is a very watchable sports: orgling at good-looking people dancing vertically up steep hanging cliffs amidst dramatic landscapes.

What is less attractive about these climbers are the tonnes of plastic bottles they left behind at the various climbing spots.

The Andaman coastline is also perfect for kayaking. This trip has really allow me to work various parts of my muscles and explore different kinds of landscape. Here, we're transported to the muddy mangrove swamps tuck among the limestone caves. As we glide quietly through the water, we can feel nature at its best - almost undisturbed. Time almost stopped for us too, as we rested by the banks and witnessed the tide receding away from us.


The monkeys are so spoilt by the tourists and guides that I wonder if they still know how to find their own food. I can't really blame the local guides for feeding the monkeys to please their clients. It's city bumpkins like us, that are also so detached from nature that we get fascinated easily by the monkeys and couldn't help getting excited by the sight of these creatures jumping after our food.

Krabi beaches

I love beach holidays.

It's an irony cos:
1. I don't swim well (having acquire the skills only in adulthood);
2. I am not water confident, so don't fancy swimming in the sea;
3. I get seasick easily, even by just snorkelling in choppy waters;
4. I can't dive (yet);
5. I don't fancy barbequeing myself under the scorching sun.

My aim is to search for the perfect dream beach. I've started this search by going for beach holidays as much as I can, beginning with our neighbours, esp M'sia and Thailand.



Krabi currently ranks quite highly in my ranking of beaches. Phranang beach really scores for its dramatic landscape and fine clean sand and crystal clear water. It certainly helps that there's only 1 bloody expensive hotel fronting this beach, thereby preventing the place from becoming noisy and messy. A pity the corals surrounding the area is not too impressive. But definitely a romantic place to catch the sunset, or to watch hunks scaling the steep cliffs. Railay West is nice as well.

I'm definitely coming back to this place. There's so much things to do and feel there that I've not even had the time to explore other nearby islands like Phi Phi and Ko Lanta.

Unicycling in Desaru

I have slope phobia, but somehow this stretch of bumpy dirt track did not taunt me. I love it here.

Groovy bike

Groovy, isn't it?
Found this in Bangkok
Idea is pretty close to my dream car: a hot pink mini

Tioman

2 times to Tioman and not discounting a 3rd time within a year from now.

It's close and cheap enough to make regular trips there. While the beach and corals there are definitely not the best in Malaysia, it is certainly beautiful enough to make the half day journey there worthwhile. Monkey Bay is certainly my favourite. ABC beach is also nice, clean and quiet with good food and friendly staff, making my stay at ABC chalet rather worthwhile.


Tioman is certainly another place to waste my time away, soaking in the sun and sea the whole day. Makes me so lazy that I've yet to explore the other parts of this island, including the offshore Coral Island.



Hmmm...fishes are still quite abundant near the shore though the corals are somewhat damaged. Not too much rubbish floating around. Hopefully, the tourism there will remain sustainable and tourists will be mindful to bring their rubbish (not corals) back.