MR.CDBURN Ultra Cool Blog

Chinese New Year 2012

2012-02-07T18:55:00.001+08:00

Friday

Late in the evening, we hurriedly left home in Dad's brand new car (which in case you're wondering, is a Peugeot 508) and went straight to pick up Jasmine from school before cruising along the highways in the general direction of Muar.

Last picture of the scenery outside before activating warp drive.

After more than three hours on the road, we finally arrived at KL where we stopped by for Jasmine to change her school uniform and take a quick bath. Then, we resumed our journey to Muar.

After another two more hours or so, we arrived at Muar by midnight. As you probably might have guessed, after reaching Muar, we decided to go for some supper, or in this case, "roti canai". Unfortunately, the stall was already closed (which wasn't very much surprising, considering the time of our arrival), so we went to a nearby restaurant for some noodles before we went home for the night.

Midnight supper at Muar.

Saturday

In the morning, we didn't really do much, besides playing around with Max, watching some Cantonese drama series which had suddenly became everybody's common interest (save for myself because I don't really understand Cantonese and must strain to read the subtitles) and stopping by to take away some Hainanese chicken rice (which is err... kinda mandatory for every trip to Muar).

Fooling around with Max

Late in the evening, I followed Luke and Uncle Mike to catch some fish. So with some fishing rods, some uncooked prawns (as fish baits), some extra caps (not for me, obviously), the three of us went fishing.

The idea is that if you catch a fish here, you gotta pay for the fish; if not, then admission's free.

Like father, like son.

Okay, so we wait for the fishy here, right?

Sunset by the water.

In the end, we didn't managed to catch any fish, though something definitely nibbled on the prawn as there were suspicious bite marks on its side. Hmm, that shows how far evolution goes...

Anyway, we went back home just before nightfall. After a quick rest, we went to a nearby restaurant for dinner.

Dinner much lately?

After dinner, we went to get some dessert (namely "ice-cream goreng") before returning home for the night.

Sunday

In the morning, we paid a visit to my grandparents' place and hung around there for the whole afternoon. Nothing much happened there, unless you consider reading sci-fi classics while snacking on some candies something.

At night, we went to this considerably large restaurant for this year's reunion dinner where we all enjoyed our dinner while watching some literally back-breaking acrobatic performances.

Well, you can pretty much guess what happened next to the "yusheng".

(Slightly extended) family photo.

Monday

Well, nothing happened that day too. Apparently, everybody was busy doing something, which included a wide varieties of activities such as watching a Cantonese drama series, playing Mahjong, playing poker (or black jack, or gin rummy, or...), surfing the Internet, taking an afternoon nap etc.

Occupying the hottest Wi-Fi area in the house.

Dinner at home.

Tuesday

In the morning, we went to visit a couple of relatives and as you might have guessed, also snack a little (*Ahem!*).

"Makan" time again?

In the afternoon, we followed Mum to attend her annual class reunion that was held at the home of one of her old friends.

Hanging around at Mum's class reunion.

After leaving Mum's annual class reunion, we returned home for a quick rest. After taking a short nap and after watching a particularly unusual British comedy that features killer mothers and Indian ghosts halfway, we all went to visit another relative who just so happened to own a kind of "mini orchard" outside her house.

I spy with my little eye... Hey, wait a second, there's a ripe fruit over there!

Don't lean against the trees without looking first, or else...

Busy preparing some fresh ripe jackfruits.

Spotted a couple kingfishers too hanging around a satellite antenna.

After saying goodbye, we went back home for dinner. After finishing dinner, we all then resumed our previous activities.

Mahjong playing session beginning at home.

Cantonese drama series much lately, guys?

Wednesday

In the morning, we packed our stuff and headed back to Penang. After another few hours on the road, we stopped by at this crowded restaurant in Bidor for lunch. After waiting more than an hour for our food to arrive and then hungrily finishing our lunch once it arrived, we continued our journey and arrived back home late in the evening.

Mark's and Joyce's Wedding

2012-01-08T14:44:00.001+08:00

Yesterday morning, we went over to Penang to attend Mark's and Joyce's wedding. So with one of my trademark caps, my new snazzy new SLR, and (*Ahem!*) moderately casual clothes, we quickly left home and soon arrived at a church just before the wedding ceremony started. After taking our seats inside the church, we watched intently as the bride and groom strode up the stage and prepared to exchange their matrimonial vows.

Ready to finally tie the knot, guys?

"Now join hands, and with your hands your hearts..."

A short yet remarkable cello playing session.

Proudly showing their newly issued marriage certificate.

New family photo.

So shortly after the wedding ceremony and a rather brief photography session, we quickly departed the church and headed to a nearby restaurant for the wedding luncheon.

Arriving for the wedding luncheon.

Serving Chinese tea to their new parents.

Watching as a short slideshow was played.

Slowly pouring out the wine into the glasses.

Gently does it, guys, gently does it...

"YAAAMMM!!... seng.", or "toast!" if you prefer.

After finishing our rather prolonged lunch and departing from the wedding luncheon, we rested for a short while before heading to the base of the Penang Hill with my other camera in hand and taking a cable car up the hill for the wedding dinner. Though (initially) the buffet atop Penang Hill was made mainly for Mark's and Joyce's friends, we went up to the restaurant anyway. After stopping shortly at a nearby bar for a drink and then going further up to the restaurant, we took our respective seats and waited patiently as the bride and groom made their grand entrance.

Overlooking the whole of the town area.

"You may jump down the hill right now..."

Stopping briefly at a bar atop the hill for a quick swig.

Savouring a glass of cocktail while enjoying the breeze atop Penang Hill.

At the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, or in this case, the Top of Penang Hill

Having dinner around a nice garden with a large pond high atop the hill.

The newlyweds making their grand entrance into the restaurant.

Watching intently as Mark and Joyce cut the wedding cake together.

Okay, you guys ready for a quick dance or two?

Dancing "under" the Stars.

After finishing our dinner and arriving at the nearby cable car station, we took the second last cable car down the hill. But this time, we decided to take the front part of the cable car. There was this panoramic viewing window in front with a fixed metal bar. Since everybody already took the remaining seats, I just swung my legs onto the metal bar and held on as the cable car rushed down the hill at (*Ahem!*, again...) considerable speed.

YIPPPEEE...!!

After the cable car reached the base of the hill in a little over seven minutes, the newlywed couples left hastily from the cable car station and quickly headed to the airport for their flight as they were due for their honeymoon at New Zealand. So we then said goodbye and went back home.

Another Random Holiday Trip

2011-12-31T18:07:00.000+08:00

Saturday

It was Christmas Eve, again. After being bound to the car for more than 4 hours (The brief delay was partly due to the fact that we did stop by for a short while at a dim sum restaurant in Ipoh for brunch...), we arrived at KL a little over noon. Nothing much really happened during the afternoon, though we did sat up the whole Christmas tree. Oh, and we also made a "D.I.Y." gingerbread house sustained entirely by a colourful variety of whipped cream, though we did snack a bit (*Ahem!*) on the ingredients while we were busy decorating it with M&M's (Don't tell Santa...). Then, nothing much really happened later on throughout the afternoon.

Fascinated by Jasmine's brand new iPhone 3.

Setting up the Christmas tree.

Pretty, pretty lights...

Touching up the gingerbread house.

At night, we had a hearty dinner, which are all included in the following few pictures as below.

Spaghetti with mushroom soup.

Lamb chop with... err... vodka.

Home-made pizza!

Shortly after dinner, we resumed fooling around, which was instantly abandoned when our desert suddenly arrived at our table. Care to guess what we had for desert?

Answer: Chocolate fondue with assorted fruits and biscuits.

We were also supposed to munch away the gingerbread house, but everybody was stuffed to his or her fullest after finishing the chocolate fondue, so it was left back in the refrigerator, I think... Come to think of it, what exactly happened to the gingerbread house was never known in the end, though nobody really thought twice about solving this unsolved mystery that day as after barely finishing our desert, everybody went to bed. Hmm, looks like it will continue be another mystifying mystery that will continue mystify mystified people for the rest of eternity, or so.

Sunday

It was Christmas, again. After having "roti canai" for breakfast, we went to the mall for some more shopping. After snacking on some more titbits, we went into the mall and started walking into all sorts of outlets selling the good, the bad, and the downright bizarre (For example, there was this store where they sell all sorts of creepy Halloween masks and synthetic yet realistic plastic body parts. Now how weird is that?).

Arriving at Sunway Pyramid.

Everybody reading something at the book store

Stopping by, yet again, for some Korean food.

After walking till we almost dropped, we stopped by at Starbucks for some coffee. Then trouble ensued. Jasmine and Ashley decided to wander around the mall by themselves and had promised to meet at Starbucks shortly. However, as you might have already guessed, they didn't. So after waiting for them for half an hour and eventually searching for both of them from the top floor to the bottom, we still didn't find any of them anywhere. So we switched to Plan B and went to the info counter and asked the receptionist to make an announcement. But even after two announcements were made, nobody came forward. So, rather unfortunately, I was forced to stay put at Starbucks to wait for their much delayed arrival while Dad went to find them again. So after more than 2 hours of waiting, the two missing girls emerged into the light and quietly marched towards their imminent death throes.

As you would have already know, both of them were in the end scolded and all. Nothing much really happened later on throughout the night. In fact, probably due to that particular incident at the mall, nobody felt like chatting about that subject. So anyway, we had a quiet dinner and shortly afterwards, hit the sack.

Monday

In the morning, I finally received my slightly belated Christmas present from Uncle Kien Mun, which just so happened to be a snazzy new, second-hand SLR. So after a brief explanation on how to function it properly, I began experimenting with it and playing around for the whole morning.

Brand new SLR, courtesy of Uncle Kien Mun.

In the afternoon, we all went to visit two of my granduncles. Actually, we were supposed to visit them while taking a road trip along the little-known rural areas of Peninsula Malaysia during the start of the long year-end holidays, but our supposed visit was unfortunately thwarted by this year's flash floods and was postponed until now. Hmm, how about we go on that road trip next year, OK?

Unofficial (partial) family reunion?

Checking out the apartment.

So after the visit, we were dropped off at a nearby park to play around. After playing around the park for a while, we quietly took our stuff and hiked back home. However, we did stopped by for a short while (*Ahem!*, again...) at the side of the hill to watch the beautiful sunset. As the last few wisps of sunlight finally vanished into the distant horizon, we resumed walking back home and arrived just before nightfall, and in time for dinner too, I think...

Good night, good night...

Tuesday

In the morning, we left early to visit my other granduncle at Bentong. Along the way, we did stopped by for a rather short while (I seriously got to stop the *Ahem!*-ing...) at a roadside stall beside the highway for some durians. Then, we continued our journey along the notorious Karak Highway, where according to a well-known urban legend, is infamously haunted with "pontianaks", or vampire-like ghosts. According to common folklore, you're not supposed to stop by for "hitchhikers" while driving along Karak Highway during nighttime to avoid accidentally sitting with a "pontianak" in disguise. Creepy enough?

Anyway, we also stopped by at a stall to purchase some "Ikan Patin" or iridescent shark, which is a species of shark catfish particularly famous in Pahang. It was once a highly-controversial fish among Malaysians as a wild "Ikan Patin" can sometimes fetch up to RM180.00 per kilogram in Pahang. Well, everything comes with a price, right?

Anyway we arrived at an old folk's home in Bentong where we met my granduncle. After concluding a brief tour around the large compound of the old folk's home with the warden there, we met up with my granduncle again and chatted for a while and also dropped off some extra supplies for the senior residents there.

After saying goodbye to each other, we left again and went uphill to a resort located up in the middle of a rainforest in Tanarimba, Bukit Tinggi for a one-night stay. After dumping our stuff in our rooms, we went outdoor and explored parts of the rainforest for a while before returning to our own rooms for a short rest and a nice warm shower, courtesy of those solar cells embedded somewhere onto the wooden roof above.

Our rooms for the night.

Pretty nice view from above.

A somewhat unofficial family photo.

Being chased by two "canine local residents".

As the night fell and the whole of the rainforest was plunged into murky darkness save for the dim orange light from occasional street lamps along the winding gravel road, we went back downhill to find something to eat. But instead of going straight down to our destination, we accidentally went on a rather large loop around the entire hill that nearly landed us on the top of the Genting Highlands and only realized that we took the wrong route when we arrived at the same place where we started. After being back on the right direction, we went downhill to a nearby seafood restaurant for dinner before returning back uphill for the night.

Wednesday

Early in the morning, we had "roti canai" and "nasi lemak" at the empty dining hall just above our rooms for breakfast. After finishing breakfast, we went off to visit a nearby organic farm. We drove to the main entrance of the organic farm where a local tour guide patiently waiting there introduced himself and took us all inside for a tour.

Epic sister having epic meal time.

The tour guide explaining how compost is made there and all.

Hiking uphill towards the organic farm ahead.

Looks a bit like Cameron Highlands, eh? Though minus the pesticide...

So after we visited the entire organic farm, we went back to our rooms to pack up our bags and hastily left our rooms. After buying some more vegetables at the local market and having a comparatively small lunch up at Genting Highlands, we went back home.

So that was pretty much my holiday trip, so how was yours? :-)

Just Another Typical Saturday

2011-12-11T15:53:00.001+08:00

Yesterday morning, we left home early to attend the Penang International Science Fair. So we arrived at PISA rather early and after a tad bit of minor commotion, my sister and I got signed up for LED science. So there we were taught how to build a basic transducer that converts sound waves into light energy and a joule thief, and were introduced to a whole bunch of other fancy LED-based gadgets. Then, we participated in a Newton Rocket Car competition, where we built our own balloon-propelled car model and raced with each other. Unfortunately, Newton's Third Law of Motion didn't helped my rocket car enough to reach the finish line, but nevertheless it was pretty fun and all. We also visited some cool exhibitions from a handful of industrial companies and local aspiring inventors, which included a wide range of large optical telescopes, solar-powered mechanical boats (Surprisingly, the solar-powered mechanical boats came from my school, coincidence?), polymer clay keychains, LEGO Mindstorm robots, and even high-resolution holographic projections of... er.... dancing girls (=.=''')... etc.... All and all, it was pretty interesting.

Visiting the (apparently) crowded science fair.

At noon, Mum picked us up from PISA and we went to the mall for lunch and... er... shopping. So after we pretty much "shopped till we dropped", we went back home before nightfall. Fortunately, tonight there will be a total lunar eclipse. Unfortunately, the evening sky was pretty much overcast with gloomy dark clouds.

The one thing deterring us from watching the eclipse.

But nevertheless, Mother Nature was rather compassionate that day. Soon, the gloomy clouds cleared away in virtually no time, just in time for the umbra stage of the lunar eclipse to start. So leaning out of the window with my camera pre-set to long exposure time in hand, I watched as the Moon was shrouded completely by the Earth's shadow and was (though rather poorly) camouflaged by the velvet blackness of the night sky. The lunar eclipse lasted a little over an hour before the Earth's shadow began motioning away slowly from the dark side of the Moon.

Wait a second, is that the Moon or Mars? =.='''

So that was pretty much my Saturday, so how was yours? ;-)

Rabbits 'Round The Garden

2011-12-04T14:43:00.001+08:00

Today, I took Sandy and Tommy (If you really must know, Sandy is the rabbit with the lop-ears, while Tommy is the other with the darker colour tone) out for a stroll. Basically, I pretty much helped my sister temporarily look after them as Jasmine is still sick. So anyway, with my trademark cap and my trusty camera, I took the two little bunnies out for their usual walk around the garden.

Staring beyond the garden and into the unknown...

Our new economical lawn mower.

"Are you guys from National Geography?"

"Halt! Who goes there, friend of foe?"

Looks like a bit like a dog, don't you think?

Taking a short rest after some running.

Yo, check out my new hip-hop moves!

Group photo!

So that's about all and will update real soon with more rabbit news!

A Quiet Moment With The Little Capped Blogger

2011-11-23T19:02:00.001+08:00

WARNING: TODAY'S THEME WILL BE MORE A LITTLE BIT MORE... SENTIMENTAL, WHICH IS CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH EPILEPTIC SEIZURE, HYPOXIA, HEART ATTACK, BRAIN HAEMORRHAGE, PERMANENT PARALYSIS, AND INFERTILITY. SHOULD SYMPTOMS PERSIST OR WORSEN EVEN AFTER READING THE FOLLOWING EXPLANATION, CONSULT A DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY, OR IF YOU ARE ONE OF THOSE PESSIMISTIC, HALF-CRAZED DOOMSAYERS THAT MARCH ALONG THE STREETS OF LOWER MANHATTAN CARRYING OVERSIZED CARDBOARD SIGNS AND BELLOWING APOCALYPTIC MAYAN PROPHECIES AT THE TOP OF THEIR LUNGS EVERY SUNDAY MORNING (NO OFFENCE INTENDED THOUGH), WRITE DOWN YOUR WILL ON A PIECE OF PAPER IMMEDIATELY AND START MAKING ARRANGEMENTS WITH YOUR NEARBY FUNERAL SERVICE PROVIDERS.

So anyway, as the year end holiday surfaces from its early dawn and the year gradually crawls to a crescendo, I started to look back into all my previous posts and suddenly noticed how much I have changed over the years. In short, my posts all been through 3 phases in total:

PHASE 1: That was my initial inspiration to start my blog, I started writing fictional horror stories.
PHASE 2: I started mixing these stories with a slight speck of my daily life.
PHASE 3: I began writing all about my daily life, including pictures and all.

Upon closer inspection, I realized all these phases all sum together to be a brief history of my own personality. During my years back in primary school, I would write fictional horror stories in a personal notebook, which unfortunately became long-lost throughout the years. Of course, with the technological aid of the computer, I would type science fiction e-Books nowadays. Besides that, I also started discovering my interest in photography and would bring my camera anywhere and everywhere I could so I could post them on my blog. Why, come to think of if, even my writing style has changed a lot over the years!

Change, it's something you and me must always encounter. Whether it's change for the best of change for the worst, look forward at it, even enjoy it. It's mandatory for change to occur, and thus technically speaking, it's mandatory too for you to face the music like a man, or a lady, or whatever you are... etc.... Who knows, maybe the next phase will be all about paper air planes? You never know!

So that's probably all and I will see you soon in my next post!

Weekend @ Home

2011-11-01T11:50:00.001+08:00

Today's theme will be all indoor, thanks to the recent raining spell that had struck here. So anyway, let's talk about my weekend at home.

Walking down the seemingly transfinite stairs.

Reading some comic strips from the newspaper.

Watching some television with my sister.

Entering the mysterious and "sacred" reading room.

Peering into the Universe and beyond, aka the living room.

Reading under the bright light from the side lamp.

Checking out a homeless frog that seems to hop inside the house.

So that's about all and "I'll be back!" (and so will Arnold Schwarzenegger, I think...)

Who Let the Hares Out?

2011-10-11T22:13:00.001+08:00

Our family just got two additional members, which in case you are probably wondering, are two cute sandy brown rabbits. You see, one of Jasmine's friends gave her these two bunnies as her birthday present. Great present though, now I'm jealous... Anyway, I'm here to introduce them, so here they are:

Having one of their most favorite past-time - Taking an afternoon nap.

"Gone to lunch again. Will be back in 5."

"Look at my puppy eyes, or to be more specific, bunny eyes..."

"Stealing my food again? Watch out, 'cause I'm going to zap your butt." the rabbit at the back thought, or at least that's what Jasmine claims.

So that's all for now and I will see you real soon, guys!

Candle Twilight

2011-09-16T14:22:00.000+08:00

First of all, I'm sorry for the prolong delay, I have been pretty engaged in my life lately.

Anyway, let's skip the usual formality and talk about something else today, shall we? Okay, today we will talk about a much soothing theme (Drum roll please...) - Candles!

Please help brighten the earth and enlighten the world, O' Mighty Candle!

These pretty much light up my day, if you know what I mean.

If light is hope, then the world really has a perpetual supply of hopes.

♫ All I want to see, is a sky full of lighters, a sky full of lighterrrs... ♫ (From the song "Lighters" by Bruno Mars featuring Bad Meets Evil)

So that will be pretty much all, and hopefully I will see you soon in some uncharted date in the near future. Till then, see ya! :-)

English Camp 2011

2011-08-04T10:37:00.001+08:00

Last Saturday, I went to school early in the morning for the school's English Camp. The English Camp was hosted by the English Society's morning session board of AJK's in conjunction with the English Week.

Waiting on another typical rainy dawn...

After arriving at school, we waited at the school gate to direct several English Camp participants to the school hall where the events will be conducted.

After registering at the counter area, we each received a group tag. I was one of the dog team.

We soon settled down on our seats and listened as the INTI trainers give out instructions.

The first event was the English Workshop, which is a series of stations where you must carry out tasks associated with English in a given time. Every time the INTI trainer blows her whistle, all the team leaders must give a piece of paper to the station masters to note down the number of rounds played and proceed to the next station.

The first station on my team list was charades, whereby each team members must act out a certain phrase for the other members to guess. The second station was Win Lose or Draw, which is similar to Charades except each team member must draw out the phrase instead of act it out. The third station was the Human Boggle in which each team member receives a letter and must align properly to form words. The fourth station was the Obstacle Course, whereby a blindfolded team member must walk through a course filled with physical obstructions with only verbal guidance from his team partner. The next station was Guess Who I Am in which each team member must ask questions for him or her to guess out what selected object he or she is. Moving on, the following station was a game which team members must draw out letters using their hips for the others to guess what is the word. The final station was taboo, where each team member must describe a particular object without using the words noted on a list.

"You go that way, and I go this way!"

Shake that hips, guys!

"No, not my right, your right!"

"Am I a living thing?" "No, you are dead."

Time to show off my artistic impression!

"It's a... Wait... How am I gonna describe it without these words?"

After the final whistle was blown, all the team leaders passed their score sheet to the station master to count and returned back to their seats. The team with the highest mark was given a prize. The team with the lowest mark was, much to everyone's surprise, also given a prize as an encouragement. So after another short talk by the trainers, we were all separated into groups again and watched several members perform a small drama as we waited for our lunch.

Finally, we were all directed to a class where we had our lunch. Care to guess what is it? I'll give you a hint: It's something I would usually blog about in my Muar trips.

And the answer is: Chicken rice!

An unnatural silence soon settled around the class as everybody had their chicken rice.

So after that, we gathered outside the class for the next event: Treasure hunt! According to one of the AJK's, a "fat and ugly Devil" has kidnapped several AJK's and we must find out who is him/her. Four stations' locations were given out and we must do the task associated at the stations before receiving the next clue to the other station. The tasks were admittedly rather challenging, but after running around the entire school, we arrived at our final station. There, an AJK informs us that the Devil is one of the AJK's and we can ask him three questions about the Devil's characteristics. After much discussion, we asked the AJK these questions:

1. Is the Devil bespectacled?

2. Is he wearing short pants or long pants?

3. Is he wearing the black English Rock T-shirt or the white English Society T-shirt?

After asking them, we went out to survey the AJK's and discussed among each others as we were the first team to arrive. Soon, all the teams arrived at the last station and each team leader gave out their answers. Finally, the results were announced: My team won! After everybody went inside the class, we were each given a prize and after another short announcement, we went back home.

Photo session.

Waiting to go home.

So that was how our English Camp went. Thanks for reading and will be seeing you soon!

Weekend Muar Trip

2011-07-31T21:12:00.002+08:00

Last weekend, I went back to Muar. Reason? Strictly family issues. ;-)

Friday

After I came back from school, we loaded our stuff into the car and went back to Muar.

"Activating warp drive..."

Saturday

In the morning, we had a quick breakfast. Quick, because we were about to lunch real soon.

Everyone blowing balloons, you know why? Because it's actually Mom's and Sheung's birthday.

So later, we dropped by at my grandparents' place, where we had lunch. As you can see, we had chicken rice, again...

While Jasmine and Ashley played some games online, I did my weekend homework at the corner.

After hanging around for a while, we went to buy a "congkak" for Sheung as his birthday present.

We soon went home to find Max chasing after a basketball. As you might have guessed, Max is quite interested in balls.

Sheung also got a cool electrical helicopter as his birthday present.

Sheung and Luke playing with their electrical helicopters indoor.

The rest of us played "congkak" at the living room.

Soon, it was time for Mum's and Sheung's birthday celebration. Happy birthday, guys!

The birthday cake was a figure of Homer Simpson. Hmm... I think I'm going to eat his brains out, if he has any...

"Everybody enjoying the cake?""D'oh!"

We soon had dinner at a restaurant outside.

After dinner, we ordered some "ice cream goreng" back at a nearby store.

Having my chocolate chip "ice cream goreng" back home.

Their challenge is to land a copter safely on the chair. It is actually much harder than it looks.

Sunday

At noon, after having lunch (which if you are wondering, is "bak kut teh"), we went back home.

"Where are you guys going?"

So that's my weekend Muar Trip

Saturday Hiking Trip

2011-07-09T21:04:00.075+08:00

Last Saturday, we went hiking in the morning with some of Dad's colleagues. So early in the morning, we prepared our stuff and headed to Balik Pulau to meet the rest of the team.

Early in the morning=5:35P.M.

Arriving at the meeting venue.

Official team gathering.

Part of our team hiking up a path. Initially, we thought that we were in front of the rest, but the unsettling truth was much worse...

We soon found out the truth of the other's absence when the other part of the team called us and said that we have taken the wrong path. Oh well, let's count that as a warm up exercise... =.='''

Hiking, on the right path.

We saw this large papaya trees along the way.

We also saw these cocoa beans that are usually used to create chocolates. Wanna try one?

The rest of us stopping at a lookout post.

Nice scenery.

"Wait a second... Beware of dogs? What dogs?"

We later found out that the "dogs" were actually three cute puppies. Apparently, that warning sign had a pretty good sense of humour.

Arriving at a rest stop atop the mountain.

Soon, the team decided to go back as it was getting late. Unfortunately, two of our team were far in front of us and we couldn't contact them. In the end, the team decided to dispatch a three-person "rescue team" (Including me) to call back the two missing members.

Rescue team on their way.

We saw this poisonous scorpion on our way.

At first, we thought it was raining. But it later turned out to be just water droplets falling from the trees above us.

We soon found the two missing team members. Apparently they have stopped to wait for the rest of the team and was out of calling range. We then quickly hiked back up to meet with the rest and returned to the base.

Hiking back to the base.

We also meet up with this little fella along the way. Does it kind of reminds you of someone in the Disney movie A Bug's Life?

We soon arrived at the base where we meet up with one of Dad's colleague who introduced us to a couple of flower species and gave us a short tour around the botanical garden. After the brief tour, we went to have some durians. Being a non-durian lover, I only joined the others for some mangosteens and visited the owner's mansion.

Setting up the table for the durian feast.

Makan time.

Looking pass the ancient artifacts in the owner's mansion.

Checking out the second floor.

Conclusion: The owner have a pretty sweet mansion.

Buying some more durians for later.

After that, we went to Balik Pulau's new market for lunch.

At the hawker centre.

The chicken sausage omelet I ordered. By the way, the pattern on it is actually a pigeon. The store owner said that his son is autistic and loves to draw on foods with ketchup. Well, good for him.

Also had "ice kacang" for desert.

After lunch, we said goodbye to the team and went back home.

Day Trip to Kuala Gula & Kuala Kurau

2011-07-09T18:33:00.002+08:00

Last Sunday, we went on a one-day trip to Kuala Gula and Kuala Kurau.

"When are we going to reach?"

Our first stop along the way was a typical Chinese store at Kuala Gula where we watch as they prepare salted duck eggs.

First of all, they sort out the eggs through a machine.

Then, they prepare a mixture of clay, table salt and water.

Next, they smear the mixture on the selected eggs and toss it down another machine.

The machine then covers the eggs with charcoal and passes it down for packing.

Buying some salted duck eggs along the way.

After that, we continue our way to Kuala Gula where we stop for lunch at a seafood restaurant. It was also along the way we found out how dried shrimps are made, which if you really want to know, is by sun-dried besides busy roads or worse, drains.

The "dirty" little secret of dried shrimps.

Having lunch at the seafood restaurant.

Then, we went to see how belacan or "shrimp paste" is processed.

Looking at some "sun-bathing" shrimps. ("Jemu udang kering, kampung style")

After 6 months of fermentation, the belacan is molded into various shapes.

Some workers using the belacan molding machine.

After molding, the belacan goes through final packaging. Anyone, wanna try some?

Our next stop was a... Hmm... I think I will let you guess where. (Hint: It's not the most pleasant place you will find) Keep guessing... ;-)

What secretive location is this supposed to be? (I will give you 3 guesses...)

And the answer is... (Drum roll please...) A pig farm!

Whatcha looking at, big fella?

Since most of the group was slightly offended by the foul smell at the gate of the farm, our visit at the pig farm was considerably short. Anyway, after visiting the pig farm, we went on our way to a charcoal factory.

Entering the charcoal factory... Wonder what lies inside...

Inside the factory, we saw several charcoal kilns where mangrove woods are burned into charcoal.

Everyone rushing to inspect an abandoned kiln, and also to absorb its negative ions. ><

Me outside of the charcoal kiln.

After burning all the wood, the kiln must be sealed off for

A worker busy lining stacks of mangrove wood for burning.

Group photo session.

After visiting the charcoal factory, we proceeded for some coconuts.

Walking under the coconut trees.

Along the way, we saw a factory which is armed with a electrified fencing. Creepy...

We finally arrived at this hut to find out that they have ran out of coconuts and a man is collecting some now. We then continued to wait for the man to return with some coconuts.

Finally, the man returned with several coconuts.

With a scary-looking knife, the man cut open each coconut and passed it to everyone.

Everybody enjoying their coconuts.

After finishing its water, the man chopped the entire coconut apart for us to eat its flesh.

Proceeding on our return voyage.

Moving on, we drove to a fisherman village and dropped by at a nearby jetty.

The kids there checking out the boat.

Peeking at today's big catch.

Among the fishes, we found this slimy octopus.

We also found this poisonous jellyfish.

Not to mention this jumpy mudskipper.

From top to bottom: a lobster, a small shark, a larger lobster, and a pregnant female crab

A baby octopus attaching itself onto my palm.

After having fun playing with the fishes at the jetty, we went down to see a mantis shrimp aquarium while waiting for a boat to come and give us a ride later. Because of their aggressiveness, the mantis shrimps are gently lowered into freezing cold water to basically "cool down" for us to observe them safely.

Observing some mantis shrimps.

A mantis shrimp with its deadly claw protruding from its side.

Fisherman tools debriefing session.

After a while, our boat finally arrived. We then went back to the jetty and suited up into our life-jackets, before boarding the bobbing boat. After everybody has boarded the boat, we went out into the river to visit a floating fishing port.

Boarding the boat.

Arriving at the buoyant port.

Mind your steps, guys!

Everybody watching as the guide feeds the fish.

After visiting the floating fishing port, we boarded the boat and continued down the river to a mangrove swamp.

Fascinated by the mangrove's strange seeds.

The guide introducing the mangrove tree.

Next, we continued our way downstream to check some crab traps which were sat up in the morning. The crab traps are typically hung over mangrove tree's branches and are indicated by colourful buoyant balls. All we have to do was to pick up all the traps along the stream and bring back our catch for dinner. Hmm... Fair enough...

♫ Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream~ ♫

Everybody busy looking for floating balls.

My catch of the day.

Most of the fish we caught were horseshoe crabs.

A cute-looking puffer-fish caught between the netting.

It was also halfway throughout the catch my camera battery expired. ><

Anyway, after we picked up the last trap, we went back to the village where we took a quick bath and had dinner at the same restaurant we had lunch at. So after dinner, we went searching for fireflies and after that, we went back home.

The World Behind My (New) Lens

2011-06-20T13:47:00.000+08:00

Okay, first of all, I must apologize for not updating for quite a while because I have been busy recently. Sorry about that, readers. Anyway, I got a brand new lens for the camera. You see, there was some technical problem with the old lens as somehow it can't focus on distant objects, which is why Dad bought a new camera lens. The new camera lens is great as it can take very clear images even under dim lighting, although it can't focus on distant objects. So, with a new camera lens and one of my trademark caps, I am off to capture the world behind my lens. ;-)

Breakfast, with a light touch of sepia.

Sky-gazing, again.

Our house's forest.

A Parrot Heliconia attracting attention.

The neighbour's flower creeping pass the fence.

Kind of remind me of a corn under a cabbage leaf.

Think pink, guys.

Another example of attractive flowers.

Finally got some progress in planting.

Mushrooms sprouting everywhere after a rainy morning.

Clearly, dinner time is not always vivid in colour.

As nighttime slowly approaches.

So clearly, everything in the world is beautiful when you look at it in a different perspectives (or in a different camera lens, that is...)

Teacher's Day Celebration 2011

2011-05-29T16:57:00.001+08:00

My exams is officially over and it's now the start of the holidays. How about a round of applause?

Anyway, I'm going to talk about last Friday's stuff. Last Friday was not only the first day after my exams, but also our school's Teacher's Day celebration. Because of that, I got a reason (or excuse, for that matter...) to bring along my camera. Jackpot, guys!

So in the afternoon, we gathered at the school hall as usual. We listened (or three-quarter listened) as the teachers gave their speeches on the stage.

Speech time...

After their speeches, we finally left the school hall and proceeded back to our class for teatime. We reordered the tables and laid out the food. Then, we went to invite all the teachers over to our class.

Reordering the tables.

Laying out the food.

Open ceremony.

"Bon appetit, guys!"

The teachers having a good time.

Some of the boys playing chess at the back of the class.

Cutting the chocolate cake, much thanks to Mr. Soo Thean.

Clearing up the mess after teatime.

Deciding how to pack the remaining food home.

So after teatime, we went back to the school hall for another speech. After that, we went back home for the rest of the holidays.

So that was pretty much what happened last Friday. Oh, and happy holidays, guys! :-)

Another typical Sunday afternoon...

2011-04-25T23:40:00.001+08:00

Sorry for not updating for such a long time, I have been quiet busy lately - again. So let me just give you a quick debriefing on yesterday's events.

So yesterday, we left home at around 1P.M. to Penang and stopped by at a Chinese restaurant for some "dim sum" as lunch.

"Dim sum" as lunch? Cool...

After having lunch, we proceeded our way to Gurney Plaza for some shopping, or to be more specific, bookstore-cruising.

Bookworm paradise.

After book-store cruising, we left the mall and went to Caring Society Complex to check out the Puzzlers' Challenge 2011 organized by the Mensa Penang Society, which is a high-IQ organization. You see, one of Dad's friends invited him to this competition and Dad wanted us to see it. So anyway, we entered the Complex and saw a bunch of secondary students in uniforms eating at a cafeteria. Apparently, the participants were having tea break.

Arriving at the Complex...

We soon entered a large room where the competition was taking place. Inside the room, several groups of secondary students were trying to answer a battery of IQ tests. The test papers are based on science, maths and mostly general knowledge. The papers look quite tough to me. Anyway, as the other students racked their minds over the tests, Dad's friend asked me to try out a challenge. He gave me two piece of newspaper, a coil of wire and a pencil. He told me to construct any design with only these items so that the pencil can balance on my finger. So, I found a table at the end of the room and tried to build it.

After some crazy designs and a few tips from Dad, I managed to build a design to balance the pencil on my index finger. First, I coiled up the wire around the body of the pencil and bent the wire until it formed a rough arch. Then, I rolled up the two pieces of newspaper and coiled the two ends of the wire around the newspaper roll. Apparently, it balanced perfectly on my index finger! Magic?

Yes! I did it!! :-P

Close-up of my design.

Time flies when you are having fun. Soon we thanked Dad's friend and said goodbye. Then, we left the Complex and went back home.

Journey back home...

So that was my Sunday afternoon. So, how was yours?

Qing Ming Festival

2011-04-06T01:37:00.001+08:00

First of all, I must apologize to all readers for not updating for so long. I have been quite busy lately. Let's start with last weekend's progam, OK?

Friday

At night, I came home from school and quickly packed my stuff. Guess where I was heading to? Muar, for the Qing Ming festival. It was by far the first time I went back to celebrate the Qing Ming festival. So, we took off at around 8:30P.M. in Dad's car. We arrived at KL at about midnight and stopped for the night.

Driving at night

Saturday

After about 4 hours of sleep, we left KL at four in the morning and headed to Muar. After reaching Muar, we quickly changed and went to the cementery to visit our ancestors.

Arriving at the cementery just before sunrise.

At the cementery...

After finding our ancestor's graves, we cleared all the dried leaves from their graves and started writing with red ink onto their headstones. Tea was poured and symbolic replicas of clothes were placed in front of their graves. After praying, we burnt the replicas and stacks of joss paper and poured the tea into the fire. Then, we proceeded for brunch. As usual, we had chicken rice for brunch.

Somehow, it seems compulsory to have chicken rice whenever we are in Muar.

After having brunch, we went to buy some flowers and accesories for my grandfather. Meanwhile, we also bought some "between-meal snacks" for later.

Waiting at this "legendary" store, or so Dad says.

Then, we went to a temple to visit my grandfather. After praying at his ashes, we went on to burn some joss papers and clothes replicas for him. Next, we went back home. We finished our "between-meals snacks" and played some Wii.

Playing Wii at the living room

Max trying to coax some food with its doggy eyes.

At about 5:30P.M., we went out for tea time. We had "Mee Bandung" at a small store. Obviously, we had quite a large apettite.

High tea.

Later, we procedded to my grandmother's house for dinner. "Makan", again... =.='''

When we returned, another scent drifted past. It was the smell of durians. Unfortunately, I don't really like durians, so I didn't took any, while the rest continued to eat.

Durian, anyone?

So after "supper", we headed back to KL and spent the night there.

Sunday

Early in the morning, we went to meet up with my aunt at McDonald's for breakfast.

Breakfast at McD.

After breakfast, we headed back home.

Chinese New Year of 2011

2011-02-11T23:43:00.000+08:00

Let's take a short recap on my Chinese New Year events, all right?

Thursday:

In the morning, we had our annual family photo session. This year, I was chosen as one of the photographers. Everybody, even Max, gathered around at the living room for the family photo. So, cheese, people!

In preparation...

After the photo session (which actually lasted for more than an hour...), we went over to my grandparents' house and hung around for the entire afternoon.

At night, we went back from my grandparents' house. Unfortunately, our initial plan to play firecrackers today was thwarted as the water supply was cut off at Muar. So, no firecrackers today...

The adults and young adults playing gin rummy at the living room.

Meanwhile, the rest of us played "Pictionary".

Friday

We practically hung around at home for the entire day. Oh, and I also learned how to play "mahjong". We also went to "Baskin Robin" for some ice-creams. ^.^

Everybody enjoying their ice-creams.

Late in the evening, we went over to my grandparents' house again. Again, hanging around...

Obviously, they are up to no good.

At night, we played firecrackers. Well... That was the original plan... Sadly, we only got to launch two "Moon-rakers" before the police came. The police gave us a warning for playing firecrackers illegally. Hmm... So, no more firecrackers for today... -,-

Saturday

In the morning, we went to a relative's house for an open house.

Open house...

At night, we finally got the chance to play firecrackers. We played everything in our firecracker "arsenal", from the classic "Golden Dragon Eggs" and the "Crackling Ground Bloom Flowers" to the "Moon Travellers". With a lighter and a couple of firecrackers in hand, we started setting them off on the driveway.

Finally, we sat off the biggest of the big - a large, hundred-and-fifty-dollars firework. When we sat if off, the firework shot an endless stream of projectiles that explode brilliantly in the sky. The firework display was pretty spectacular and it lasted for five minutes.

Sunday

In the early morning, we packed all of our stuffs into the car and went back home.

As dawn approached, we drove off...

Of course, we did stopped by to buy some "otak-otak"s. As always, we dropped by to collect some four hundred "otak-otak"s before leaving Muar. After collecting them, we finally left Muar and headed back home.

"Otak-otak", in process...

Heading back home...

Home sweet home...

So that's pretty much of my Chinese New Year events...

What I Did On Chinese New Year's Eve

2011-02-03T20:08:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was officially the 30th night and also the eve of Chinese New Year, according to the Chinese Lunar Calendar. In the evening, we played Frisbee outside. Iniatially, the Frisbee kept flying out onto the street and we had to open the gate to retrieve it. So in the end, we decided to played at the outside "padang". Anyway, catch, dude!

Playing Frisbee in the garden...

Mark fooling around with Max.

After playing, we went inside to shower and change, because we were having our annual Chinese New Year's Eve dinner at home later. After taking our bath, we went to do our own stuffs.

Most of us watching Samantha and Pek Pek playing Wii at the living room.

The rest of the ladies polished their nails near the living room.

Then, it was dinner time! As usual, the dining room was placed with two additional table and another long table with the food, dubbed the "buffet table". Everybody quickly lined up to take their share at the "buffet table".

The dining room.

Everybody lining up to take the food.

Dinner is served, presumably...

"Makan" time...

After having dinner, the teenagers took out the mahjong table and started the usual Chinese New Year gambling session. Meanwhile, the adults continued to talk at the dining room while some of us killed some mosquitoes using electrical zappers. You see, there was no mosquito netting in the house and the house was generally filled with blood-thirsty mosquitoes. Unfortunately for them, the mosquito zapper was invented for a reason. Soon, everybody wanted to zap the mosquitoes and even competed to see who kill the most mosquitoes. So, let the Great Mosquito Massacre begin!

OK, bring out the mahjong table, folks!

Swatting mosquito suddenly became an obsession for everybody.

Some of our catch. Hmmm... Let's see, there's one, two, three...

The mosquitoes-zapping team on the case at the living room.

Soon, the night was filled with firecrackers noises. It was 12:00 midnight, and Chinese New Year has arrived! The dark night sky was suddenly brightly-lit with an endless flow of exploding firecrackers.

So that was what I did yesterday...

My 1st Day in Muar

2011-02-01T22:58:00.007+08:00

Today was my first day in Muar. In the morning, we had "roti canai" for breakfast. Mum and Jasmine went to my grandparents' house, while the rest of us kids stayed at home and fooled around. :-)

Mark playing around with Max.

In the afternoon, we went out for lunch. Today, we had Hainan chicken rice for lunch. It's compulsory to have Hainan chicken rice at Muar if you are a Hainanese like me.

Rice balls poured with black soy sauce.

Chicken prepared in traditional Hainanese style.

After having lunch, we also walked over the bust streets to a small store for some "cendol".

Walking down the busy streets of Muar...

At the "cendol" store...

My "cendol kacang"

We then returned home. The usual pre-Chinese New Year scene soon sat in. Hmmm... Actually, it seemed to be more of a tradition then a scene, come to think of it......

Most of us working on their laptops around the dining table.

The ladies making cookies and cakes in the kitchen.

Max taking an afternoon nap beneath the dining table.

I was doing some editing of my eBook with Dad at the dining room. From there you can hear the others playing Nintendo Wii at the living room and smell the sweet scent of baking cakes from the kitchen.

In the evening, we went over to my grandparents' house to fetch Mum and Jasmine. It was already sunset by the time we fetched Mum and Jasmine back home.

Soon, night fell. At night, we had dinner at home. After dinner, the kids then went to play Scrabble while the adults did their own stuffs. We went out to drop Mum and Jasmine back at my grandparents' place. You see, Mum wanted to stay there for the night and Jasmine wanted to follow. After dropping them off, we went for supper. What is today's supper? Duh, it's "roti canai"! After supper, we went back home. By the time we reached home, it was already 12:45P.M.. -,-

So that was pretty much of my first day in Muar. ^.^

"Balik Kampung"

2011-02-01T16:57:00.000+08:00

Yesterday morning, we left Penang in Dad's car. Purpose? "Balik kampung" lah...

We hit the highway at around 11:00A.M. in the morning. The traffic was quite smooth, though it was an entirely different story for the opposite traffic, which was mostly congested along the way.

♫ Take me home, country road... ♫

Entertainment in the car: Kindle and iPod.

After driving for an hour or so, we stopped by at a typical restaurant at Ipoh for brunch (breakfast and lunch). Today's brunch, as it turned out, was dim sum.

"Makan" dim sum at Ipoh...

After having brunch, we continued our journey. At around 4:00P.M., we reached KL. We stopped by there because Dad wanted to meet his friend at dinner. So, we stopped by at a Chinese restaurant for dinner.

The real challenge when tossing "Yusheng" is to not create a huge mess.

Having dinner while talking...

Desert: Mango pudding!

After saying goodbye to Dad's friend, we continued our journey to Muar. Nobody talked during the whole journey, obviously tired from travelling. The only sound in the car were the songs from the radio and the annoying, mouse-like squeaking sound of a vibrating polystyrene box rubbing against the side wall... =.='''

Driving, the night shift...

Yeah! I see Muar! XD

So, after 2 hours of driving, we finally reached Muar at around 12:30A.M..

A Typical Saturday Morning

2011-01-29T15:54:00.000+08:00

As usual, I went to school early in the morning to attend today's co-curriculum activity. We proceeded to the school hall and quickly changed into our "gi"s. After changing into our "gi"s, we started to do our usual routine- some warm-ups and running on the school field. After that, the Form 1 members, or the Karate newbies, were taught some basic stuffs by some of our seniors. Meanwhile, we did some kicking and punching. Then, we learned some basic "kumite" (sparring) stuffs. All in all, it was pretty fun.

Hey, wanna test out my sidekicks?

Soon, we dismissed. After changing into my normal attire, Jasmine was already standing near the school hall. After packing my "gi" into my bag pack, I went upstairs to my class. Purpose? For a bit photographing... Meanwhile, Jasmine had no choice but to follow me there.

Jasmine looking at my class's decorations...

The deserted class seems to be unnaturally silent. -,-

OK, after taking some more photos, we then climbed up the car and went for lunch. Guess what we had for lunch. Go on, guess!

Answer: We had "bak kut teh"... =.='''

After lunch, we went back home.

1st Co-curriculum Activity of 2011

2011-01-15T21:45:00.000+08:00

Today was officially the first co-curriculum activity of 2011! Looks like I really have something to do this Saturday...

After arriving at school, we went to the school hall first, because we had to choose which club to enter. So in the end, I choose English Society (obviously...).

The English Society was held at my old class, 1A2. Since it was our first day, we didn't really do much today. In fact, we only filled in our names on a list. =.='''

English Society...

Moving on, it was Karate time! After changing into our Karate "gi"s, we proceeded our way to the school field for warm-up.

Then came the new generation of Form 1 Karate members. Surprisingly, there were 47 Form 1 members this year. That was a pretty large number for all of us, compared to the number we initially estimated (At first, we all guessed that there would be around 10 to 20 Form 1 members...). We joked that combined with all active Karate members, from Form 2 to Form 5, we still couldn't beat the number of Form 1 members this year (which I think may be possible...).

Anyway, after warm-up sessions, we switched over to the hall. While the Form 1 were busy listening to a speech, we started our usual training.

The seniors doing "kumite", or sparring.

Meanwhile, we did some hard-kicking and punching...

Boom Boom Pow! XD

Now who wanna test my side kick?

After some kicking, punching and "kata"s, we finally dismissed and went back home.

So this was the 1st co-curriculum activity of 2011...

Sunrise-ish Pictures

2011-01-09T16:12:00.002+08:00

Yesterday, I woke up early in the morning and got to witness sunrise. So wearily, I went downstairs to retrieve my camera and snapped several pictures as it slowly happened.

These pictures are all taken at the same angle. And, err... Truth be told, it's not really a spectacular sunrise like in those professional photos lah, just a dramatic colour change of the sky. It's kind of a sunrise-ish. So, notice the gradual change in colour gradient in each picture...

Dark...

Not so dark...

Much better...

It's not sunrise, it's just sunrise-ish. :-P

1st day of 2011

2011-01-04T11:11:00.000+08:00

OK, so here's what I did on the very first day of 2011...

In the morning, we kids just fooled around the house as there was no program. ^.^

So, in the afternoon, we all went to a karaoke lounge. So mike's up, everybody!

The karaoke lounge...

Ordering food first...

First course: Salmon pizza! Mmm...

The karaoke family...

Second course: Toasts!

Mum and Dad singing together.

"Miss Com" is also a karaoke "kaki".

Third course... I think I will skip this one... =.='''

We returned home in the evening, just in time for dinner. =.='''

Dinner: Homemade sushi!

Out of a sudden, there were loads of loud noises outside. So, we all went outside, just to see the entire sky filled with fireworks!

BOOOM!

So, that was basically what I did on the first day of 2011.

Last Day of 2010

2011-01-02T09:04:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was officially the 31st of December, marking the final day of 2010. Early in the morning, we packed all our stuff into the car and went down to KL. Hmmm... So, it's KL (again... =.=''')

Driving down the highway...

As usual, stopping by at Tapah to buy some donuts...

Finally, we reached KL by noon. After having lunch (which if you are wondering, was spaghetti...), we kids had nothing to do but to fool around the house. Since there was no program in the afternoon, we practically fooled around for the entire afternoon. ^.^

Soon it was nighttime. Everybody prepared all the stuff outside for dinner, because on today's dinner menu was outdoor steamboat. :-)

Steamboat, outdoor style...

Looks like we are going to "makan" outdoor...

Uncle Kien Mun, my rival photographer... =.='''

Mmm... :-)

OK, so after dinner, we went back to our usual stuff. Let's take a look, shall we?

The adults talking outside...

Mum looking after little Gareth...

Eugene playing Maple Story on his laptop...

Jasmine, Ashley and Ruyi playing Nintendo Wii...

The rest of the kids playing board games... Ruyi eventually got bored with the Nintendo Wii and decided to join the group.

Soon, it was already 11:00P.M., another hour till 2011. The adults quickly sat up the LCD television outdoor for, you know, entertainment.

Viewing photos while listening to music on the TV outdoor...

The kids got bored again and decided to play around outside...

Then, a small presentation, created by "Miss Com", was played on the outside television. You see, it was also my grandparent's and my parent's anniversary, so "Miss Com" (If you are wondering, "Miss Com" is actually my aunt. It became our little inside joke among the family...) made a presentation for this special occasion. Soon, everybody gathered around to watch the TV "program".

Viewing the PowerPoint presentation on the TV outdoor...

Time sure flies when you are having fun. Soon, it was midnight. The year then went out with a bang, and I mean quite literally. As the clock struck twelve, a symphony (or is it a cacophony?) of distant fireworks quickly filled the night. All the fireworks were quickly ended when a police car came to patrol the area.

Uncle Kien Mun trying to snap some photos of the spectacular fireworks display. Obviously, he was unaware of the other photographer whose taking HIS photo. Hee... Hee... ^.^

Dad then took out a bottle of champagne and opened it. Then, Uncle Woon Seng took out the big "red firecracker" and lit it. Man, that thing packed a punch! We probably had the largest firework in the neighbourhood!

After that, the adults continued to talk and drink champagne, while the DJ (which was me...) played a couple of music through the TV.

Champagne, anyone? :-P

Happy new year, everyone!

So that was the last day of 2010...

P.S. Oh, and happy new year, readers! ^.^

Orientation Day Preparation

2010-12-30T19:15:00.000+08:00

Today, I went back to school. You see, tomorrow is Orientation Day, when all the new generation of Form 1 students come and visit our school. So, members from all clubs were needed to come back to school today and do some preparations for promoting their club to the new generation of Form 1 students tomorrow. It was kinda like an old school tradition as we have actually done this for years.

But strangely, it felt pretty weird to me. It was strange enough to come back to school on the last week before school reopens. But it was just plain weird to wear normal clothes to school. So, clad in a blue striped T-shirt, a pair of brown jeans, and one of my trademark caps, I proceeded to school.

When I arrived at school, I went straight up to the two empty classrooms which were used temporarily by the club to do our promotion for tomorrow. Also, these two classrooms were about to be transformed into two awesome rooms for tomorrow's Karate Club promotion. When I reached the classrooms, they were already partially-decorated by our seniors. The other clubs had already started preparing and the school band was already practising for tomorrow's music performance. So, we quickly assembled and soon, we started our own jobs.

Hmm... The Chinese word "道" looks a bit different...

Ninja? More like TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)... XD

The Karate Club's collection of trophies

Mr. Chung Ling trophy? Cool...

OK, let's get back to work. Our first assignment was to cut some bamboos into several pieces with razor sharp saws for decorations. First of all, we went to gather some bamboos and slowly transported them to the corridor of the two classrooms. Then, it was sawing time, guys!

Gathering some bamboos...

Busy sawing the bamboos.

Whoever allergic to ultra sharp saws, please don't come near here.

After some hard bamboo sawing, we went out for lunch. We proceeded to a restaurant outside the school compound. Guess what's for lunch. Today's lunch: Chicken chop rice... =.=

After "makan" time, we went back to school and walked up to the classes. When we reached the classrooms,there was a slight change to one of the classes. Apparently, some of our seniors sat up a punching bag on the exit of the classroom.

Kinda makes you want to hit that punching bag, eh?

Since most of the members were still out for lunch, we practically fooled around. You know, hitting the punching bag, playing around with the bamboos, hanging around at the corridor... Somebody even brought along a laptop and a broadband. So we also got to surf the internet, mainly Facebook.

But then, it was back to work. This time, I was assigned to another job: decorate the classes with drawings. So, I grabbed a piece of chalk and started working on my drawings...

Part of my "frescoes"...

Soon, it was time for me to leave. Too bad they haven't really completed all the decorations yet, because I will not see it again as I'm going to KL tomorrow and can't go to school until it reopens next week. And by then the decorations would have been took off already. Oh well, there is always next year... =P

On Christmas Day

2010-12-25T23:26:00.002+08:00

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas, everybody! Let's do a little update on this Christmas's events.

In the morning, we all rushed downstairs and opened our Christmas presents eagerly. Can you guess what I got for this Christmas day from "Santa Clause" (which is actually Dad)? A pair of snazzy new earphones for my iPod. Yeah, dude! :-)

My Christmas present: Brand new earphones for my iPod!

So after that, we went over to Penang. Our destination for today? Taman Negara Pulau Penang (Penang National Park)!

Crossing Penang bridge...

First of all, we stopped by at a small restaurant in Batu Ferringhi for breakfast. Today's breakfast: Dim sum!

So after having breakfast, we proceeded our way to Penang National Park. Finally, we arrived at our destination. After grabbing all our stuffs, we entered the shady main entrance of Penand National Park.

Entering Penang National Park...

Somebody's up to some monkey business...

At first, the terrain was just shady trees with a concrete pavement.

Hey, look over there! Somebody's sending us a smoke signal!

Cool! We got to walk across a shaky suspension bridge...

As the terrain got more and more jungle-y...

Walking up some stairs...

Is it a memorial for the 2004 tsunami or an alien structure like Stonehenge? You decide.

Soon, the initial concrete pavement slowly reduced into a small dirt path, littered with large boulders and tumbled trees.

The terrain getting much tougher.

Then, we saw this large ant hole with loads of ants crawling all over the place.

Ants crawling all the place.

Tumbled trees ain't an obstacle here...

After more than an hour of jungle walking, we arrived at a stretch of beach. Here, we stopped a while for some photo session. Cheese, guys! :-)

Family photo, excluding me...

Cool! "Grand Canyon" of the beach.

After walking along the beach, we came to another dirt path. Jungle terrain, again. But this time, it got a whole lot tougher. Sometimes, we needed to grab on tightly to thick ropes/tree vines to pass several tough jungle terrains, such as huge boulders and uprooted trees.

Upturned tree roots sticking out

Walking down along the dirt path...

OK, after some non-stop jungle walking (actually, it was a lot of walking... ), we finally reached another stretch of beach.

The beach (again...)

A man fishing at the beach

Jasmine, up to no good... :-P

Not too long later, a speed boat arrived. Looks like we are grabbing a speed boat back. So, grab on to your cap tightly, 'cause it's going to be a pretty bumpy boat ride, folks!

Our boat has arrived...

Cheese, brother! :-)

After several minutes of boating, we soon arrived onshore at the place we started. What a ride! We soon departed Penang National Park. After some lunch (which turns out to be economy rice), we headed back home. We reached home at 5:30P.M.

At night, we had homemade steamboat for dinner. Mmm...

Hey, what happen to the turkey. Oh well, let's stick to the steamboat...

And what's a Christmas without a Christmas tree? Dad just had to set up some LED lights around the backyard's pine tree and there you have it, a homemade Christmas tree!

Our backyard Christmas tree, D.I.Y. style...

In conclusion, this Christmas was really awesome! Thanks for everything, Santa Clause, but we have to go for now... Goodbye! See you next year, Santa! :-)

Christmas Eve-nts

2010-12-25T18:26:00.001+08:00

24th of December is here again, people! It's officially Christmas Eve! :-)

So yesterday evening, we went for a bit Christmas shopping at Sunway Carnival.

As we all feared, the traffic was congested along the way. >.<'''

Nothing to do but to fool around with the camera. :-P

Sunset on the highway...

After barely crawling through the long traffic jam, we arrived at our destination at 7:00P.M. >.<'''

Finally arrived at Sunway Carnival...

First thing to do: Eat lah! Decided to go to Sushi King...

"Makan" time, everybody!

Then, we were just in time to see snow pouring down from the sky. Well... It was not exactly genuine snow, it was just artificial snow. But artificial snow is still snow, right?

Looks like it's going to be a pretty white Christmas...

Clearing the mess after the snow show...

Later, we hit the book store. Err... Not literally lah, but you get the meaning, right?

Books, books, books... And guess what? Books... :-P

After that, we went to buy some Christmas presents. Can't tell you what they are, because the information is highly classified. So, shhh!

After we were finished, it was already 10:00P.M. But before we head home, there was still one final stop. We stopped by at McDonald for supper. ^.^

Stop at McDonald for supper...

Then, we finally headed back home.

Sky Anomaly

2010-12-16T22:19:00.001+08:00

Today afternoon, I saw something quite unusual about the sky. Can you guess what's the anomaly? The moon was quite visible in the sky, at 4:30 P.M.!

Can you see the tiny moon in this picture? You may not see it because it's just a small speck of white on the vast sky. Try zooming in...

A much closer view of the moon. Looks like we are having a gibbous moon tonight...

Kinda weird, eh? And it all happened at 4:30 P.M.! Can you believe it? :-P

Fly, Paper Planes!

2010-12-03T14:00:00.000+08:00

Have nothing to do during the holidays? You can always try making paper planes, which is exactly what I did.

Paper planes are one of the most popular areas in the origami field. Until now, nobody knows when the first paper plane was invented. But rumours has it that the classic dart may be over 100 years old, and may even pre-date the first real aeroplane! Beat that, Wright Brothers!

Anyway, I spent the whole afternoon making these neat paper planes. So, with a big stack of A4 papers and a book that teaches how to make paper planes, I started folding.

At first, I made a couple of paper planes according to the book. Then I got bolder and tried experimenting to make my own designs. Most of my designs sucked (=.='''), but a few succeeded. After making a few of them, I tried testing the paper planes. Unfortunately, it was raining outside, so I had to test my paper planes indoors. And when I mean indoors, I mean the living room. ^.^

Part of my Air Force team. The middle paper plane is a traditional Canard plane, while the two paper planes besides it are my very own designs. :-)

If you are bored, go grab a stack of paper and start folding paper planes now! :-)

Yesterday's Events

2010-11-27T15:07:00.001+08:00

OK, let's take a recap on yesterday's stuff.

In the morning, we went to a warehouse to check out some "koi" fish, a type of carp that is originated from Japan. We actually got a bit lost along the way, no thanks to the confusing GPS navigation.... But we finally found the place.

The "koi" warehouse.

Oh boy, that's some pretty big "koi" fish!

The smaller "koi" fish, looks like midget compare to the big one...

The green stuff is actually medicines for killing infections.

Specially-designed tanks for the new arrivals.

こんにちは! (Means "hello" in Japanese)

After that, we went for "makan" at a Malay store. It is located inside a shady oil palm estate. And did you guess what we ordered? Fish!

Something definitely smells fishy...

Under some shady oil palm trees...

So, after having lunch, we went shopping at Sunway Carnival. We finally came back home before nightfall, just in time for the barbecue party!

You can almost feel your stomach rumbling, eh?

Awesome food...

It's party time, folks!

Yesterday was also Mark's birthday too. So, birthday cake out, guys!

♫ Happy birthday to you... ♫

Cheese, Birthday Boy! :-)

So that's yesterday events. In conclusion, yesterday was definitely one great day! =D

Me, 13 to 14!

2010-11-23T21:31:00.004+08:00

Already, 2010 is coming soon to an end. 2011 is just around the corner.

1 year, 365 days, 8760 hours, 525600 minutes, 31536000 seconds. A year is about to end. Another is about to begin.

Time has past so quickly that I just can't keep pace. I can still clearly remember the very first day of Form 1 like it was just yesterday. Now, I'm about to go to Form 2, the second level of secondary school. Can you do me a favour? Please give me a cup of bicarbonate of soda, because I'm starting to feel a bit motion sickness from the swift pace of life...

Anyway, 13 was a breeze, but now it's time for it to move over for 14. Thank you for all the awesome times, 13, but now it's time for 14.

So long, 13! And wassup, 14! =D

All the golden moments...

Sky High Pictures!

2010-11-23T00:19:00.001+08:00

Okay, so let's review yesterday's stuff...

Yesterday afternoon, I happened to gaze upon the beautiful sky above and managed to snap some pictures with my trusty camera.

Looks kinda like a water-coloured poster, eh?

The sky does look pretty neat...

At evening, another beautiful scenery unfolded right before my eyes. So, camera's up, everybody!

Awesome scenery!

I'm going to rate this as the photo of the day!

If you like my photos, then go buy me a cup of coffee from Starbuck! (Just kidding... XD)

I'm Back!

2010-11-17T21:55:00.003+08:00

I'm back, everybody! Back from exam!

Ya, you heard that right! I'm back from my exam, people. 2B exam is officially history. Even Mr. T.I. is singing all about it.

Now, I can do whatever I desire. I think I will now officially commerce my very first assignment, which is to try finishing my newest eBook before next year begins. No hints on my new eBook. Just wait patiently until I publish it.

P.S. I'm going to write my eBook now. Will be back in 5. See ya later, alligator! XD

Halloween: COMING SOON!

2010-10-21T19:57:00.002+08:00

Hi again! Halloween is just around the corner. What do you wanna do? Buy some pumpkins and carved them into creepy-looking jack-o'-lanterns? Dress up like a zombie and scare off all your friends? Rent a few scary movies and watch till midnight? Throw a smashing, super-duper Halloween party at your house?

Oh, look everyone! Mr. Creepy-Spider-Guy is back to my blog again! Good for him!

Make sure you scare the living daylights off those visitors, Mr. Creepy-Spider-Guy. Deal?

Anyway, happy Halloween, folks! ^,..,^

Sunday Sky-Gazing...

2010-10-07T23:13:00.000+08:00

Last Sunday, I gazed at the sky for no reason and saw the Sun slowly being obscured by the clouds. So, I took out my camera and snapped as the spectacle unfolded.

Looked a bit like a Michelangelo's fresco...

As the clouds approached the Sun...

The clouds started to cover the Sun...

The clouds finally covered the Sun...

For a split second, the sky became darker yet prettier...

My KL Adventure!

2010-09-14T10:12:00.000+08:00

Here's a summary of my trip to KL...

Monday

Went to KL in a car. Luckily, there wasn't any traffic congestion along the way, only a couple of police checkpoints...

Smooth traffic...

Tuesday

Didn't do much...Just playing around with my cousins and fooling around...

Fooling around...

Wednesday
Also, not much happened. But had homemade sushi for dinner...Mmm....

Homemade sushi? Yummy!

Thursday

Went karaoke with relatives for the whole afternoon.

♫ I gotta feeling! Woohoo! That tonight's gonna be a good night! That tonight's gonna be a good, good night...... ♫

Having a pretty shiok time!

Me singing...

Friday

Went ice skating at Sunway Pyramid. It was my first time ice skating. So, for the first 30 minutes, there was a coach teaching how to skate, then the rest of the time you can skate by yourself.

Queuing to buy tickets...

My ice skating shoe

The ice rink...

After we came back from ice skating, we dove into the indoor swimming pool we built.

Playing in the pool...

Saturday

Went to the biggest book fair in South East Asia - The Bookfest @ Malaysia. It was located in KLCC. The book fair was held in two long halls joined together. And when I said long, I mean LONG! At least I got to meet Chinese comic writer 徐有利 at the book fair. I even got his signature. Can I scream, "Jackpot!" now?

Sunday
Went back to Penang...

What a funny day...

2010-09-07T05:20:00.001+08:00

Today was the a very funny day. The football match between 1A2 and 1A10 was initially supposed to carry out today. But then, there was a heavy downpour during the morning. The school field should be very muddy and wet, which is not so suitable for kicking football.

And when I 'm on Facebook, my friends started to ask me if I wanna go to the match. And then we were like, "If you cancel the match, I'm OK with it lah...But who's gonna tell the other players?" "Wait arr...I'm calling someone else," "You help me call xxx, OK? His phone number: 017-xxxxxxx" "Maybe cancel arr...But not sure yet lah..."

In the end? They decided to cancel the football match. Hahahaha!!! >.<'''

Skateboarding at Youth Park...

2010-09-02T00:11:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, we went to Youth Park for a picnic. So, with my cap and my skateboard, I'm off!

After having a few bites, I went to the skateboarding ring. You see, I wanted practice the Ollie on my skateboard. The Ollie is a skateboard stunt when both the skateboarder and skateboard leap into the air and the skateboarder lands on the skateboard with both feet on. Kinda tricky, though...

At the ramp, a couple of teenagers did some pretty neat stunts on their skateboards. They did all sorts of cool tricks, such as the Pop Shuvit, the Ollie, the Handstand...You name it! Looks sorta cool, until one of them wiped out while on the half-pipe. Ouch!

After some skateboarding, we went back home.

The MR.CDBURN Code

2010-08-25T20:39:00.005+08:00

Did you ever wonder why I'm called MR.CDBURN? Well, it is actually an encrypted message. Wanna know this secret message? Lean closer a bit and I will whisper it to you...

Decryption instructions:

1. First of all, take off the dot in "MR.CDBURN":

MRCBURN

2. Next, place the word "MRCDBURN" in a vertical manner:

3. Finally, add some words into the letterings. And, voila! You have the decryption:

Me:

Rocking,

Cool,

Dangerous,

Bombastic,

Unique,

Random,

Nothing Else... :-)

So here's the secret to my nickname: MR.CDBURN!

P.S. This blog post will self-destruct in 10 second! Run! Run like the wind!!! (I'm kidding...BwaHaHaHa!!!)

My Top 10 Favourite Songs List

2010-08-25T00:21:00.000+08:00

This is my top ten favorite songs list:

1. I'm Yours by Jason Mraz
2. I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas
3. Baby by Justin Bieber featuring Ludacris
4. Hey Soul Sister by Train
5. Billionaire by Travis McCoy featuring Bruno Mars
6. Bad Day by Daniel Powter
7. Down Down by Jay Sean featuring Lil Wayne
8. Dynamite by Taio Cruz
9. Misery by Maroon 5
10. In My Head by Jason Derulo

So, what is your top ten favourite songs?

To the Jetty!

2010-08-21T19:33:00.000+08:00

Last Sunday, I went to the jetty. My cap...Check! My camera...Check! Okay, let's go!!

We have arrived!

Cliff dead ahead!

Wave come crashing in...

Looks like I'm not the only camera enthusiast here!

Sunset...

2010-07-31T17:07:00.001+08:00

Yesterday evening, I took a few photos of the sky with my camera. Just in time, it was during sunset, the most beautiful (and also the shortest) time in a day.

19:43. The magnificent sunset.

19:46. The beautiful sunset fading away.

19:51. The sunset finally disappears.

19:57. The sky is replaced with darkness.

Flowers Everywhere!

2010-07-25T19:45:00.000+08:00

It's another Sunday, the final day of a week. The blooming season have arrived. So for today, I took a few photos of the garden.

Sorta pretty, don't you think?

Jasmine flowers...

Blooming in the garden...

Kinda weird plant...

Life=2,524,608,000 seconds!

2010-07-19T10:29:00.002+08:00

There are :

60 seconds in a minute
60 minutes in an hour
24 hours in a day
365.25 days in a year

In calculation, an average 80-years-old person has 2,524,608,000 seconds in his entire life!

So, in your life, how many seconds have you wasted?

Time is precious, and also limited. Fill your life with loads and loads of fun and laughters and you will lead a great and happy life.

Remember, you only have about 2,524,608,000 seconds in your whole life!

Mars Hoax Email

2010-07-10T22:12:00.005+08:00

You might have received an email about Mars will appear as large as a full moon on 27th August this year. You might be wondering if it might be true.

The disappointing answer is no. The email is just a hoax. It has circulated every summer since 2003. The truth is that Mars will not even be at its brightest in August of 2010. In fact, Mars will never appear as large as a full moon.

This rumor actually originated from a past event. On August 27 of 2003, Earth and Mars came slightly closer than they’d been in about 60,000 years. Both planets were lesser than 35 million miles apart – just over three light-minutes apart. But even though Mars so at its closest, it never was as large as a full moon.

By coincidence, Jupiter will come close to the moon on August 27. Maybe people will see Jupiter and think it is Mars...

So this myth, is busted.

School Clean-up!

2010-07-10T15:20:00.000+08:00

Today, I went to school to clean-up parts of the school (all thanks to the sivik folio...). I arrived at school at 8:00a.m. (Before that, I told my friends that if I didn't arrive at 8 o' clock, the FIFA World Cup association would topple...)

The school block...

"吾爱吾钟灵!" (Our school motto)

After everybody arrived, we went to a class to clean-up. So, we grabbed some cloth and brooms and started to clean-up.

"Ladies and gentlemen, start your brooms!"

The messy class

The black board, filled with doodles...

Arranging the tables...

Arranging the chairs while posing...

Cleaning the doodles-bombarded black board...

Me, the garbage-disposal unit

Fooling around...

Group photo!

Soon, we finished cleaning-up and went back home. Well...Most of them go to buy "Fresh" (A famous drink among the school) lah...

World Cup Fever!

2010-07-08T11:37:00.002+08:00

World Cup Final 2010 is drawing closer. Holland vs. Spain in finals this Sunday. So who's it gonna be? Who do you think will win in the match?

Wait a second I go and grab my Spain jersey...

NIE Magazine

2010-07-03T14:30:00.001+08:00

Recently, I had been pretty busy. I had to finish a three-paged magazine and passed up to teacher in two days time. Mission: Almost Impossible!

Front page of the magazine

I'm gonna pass the magazine to teacher. So, wish me luck!

Barbecue Party

2010-06-29T09:41:00.002+08:00

Last Sunday, we had a barbecue party at our house. Though, it supposed to be in the garden. But it was raining, so we moved to Plan B - the garage. >.<'''

The barbecue set Dad bought back from US...

Some of the foods, un-barbecued yet. Clockwise from top: Banana leaves, crabs, pineapples, clams, mantis prawns, shrimps, fish, bacons and sausages.

Since we couldn't get the fire started, we used an electrical fan to fan the fire. Just look at all the sparks!

Look at those sparks go!

More than 450 Degrees Fahrenheit! That's about 237 Degrees Celsius!

Getting late soon...

So we had a great time. Soon, everyone went home.

"Excuse me, Dad? Did you remember to extinguish the fire?" "Aurgghh! Somebody hand me the !@%#$? fire extinguisher!!!" (I'm kidding...)

Pictures in the Garden: Part 2

2010-06-27T17:53:00.001+08:00

Saturday, first day of the weekends after one whole week. Today, I grabbed my camera and snapped another few photos of the garden.

Beautiful sky, eh?

Tree in the garden

Getting dark soon...

I will call this post "Pictures in the Garden: Part 2" since I already had one under the same name. Cool, my first ever blog post's sequel.

Mushrooms!

2010-06-16T22:57:00.001+08:00

I just remove my stitches at a hospital a few days ago. It was kinda gross (If you know what I mean). Anyway, I took pictures of these huge mushrooms sprouting next to a tree in the garden. They grown overnight after several days of heavy rain. Now that's something you don't see every day.

Two word: Big mushrooms!

An aerial view of the mushrooms

Maybe the mushrooms are a species of alien mushrooms that will exterminate the human race with their lethal toxins and rule the world. Or maybe I just had way too much cheese for dinner...

Trip to USA: Day 9

2010-06-14T07:12:00.004+08:00

Day 9 in the United States of America and also the final day here. Didn't went to any cool places, we were busy packing up our stuffs.

In the morning, we had brunch (Breakfast and lunch) at a nearby pancake house.

My strawberry waffles. Huge portion...

Later, we returned the van, then jogged back to Dad's friend's house. And F.Y.I. The van rental place was somewhere near San Francisco International Airport, and to be honest, jogging from the airport to Millbrae is not a very short distance...

Taken while walking back...

Anyway, we went shopping a bit after packing. Well...I stayed home. At night, we had curry chicken (The Malaysian style...). Then, we left to the airport by midnight and said goodbye to Dad's friend. We boarded the plane to Hong Kong later. The trip to Hong Kong was kinda tiring (With the turbulence and all...), the wait for the transit flight back to Penang even worse. (The next flight is due 9 hours!) In other words, I am stuck at Hong Kong International Airport for 9 hours.

Like father like son...Only I am not holding a laptop!

While in the plane...

We then took the plane back to Penang. We arrived at Penang International Airport at about 6 P.M..

Trip to USA: Day 8

2010-06-13T13:34:00.003+08:00

Trip to US and it's Day 8. In the morning, we circled around San Francisco City. After having lunch at Fisherman's Wharf (Had fish and chips at a vendor...), we headed to the famous Pier 39.

Welcome to Pier 39!

Had ice cream (the American Rocky Road) at Pier 39

The famous sea lions at Pier 39. Looks like they are sunbathing...

Later, we procceded to Fort Point National Historic Site, which is just below Golden Gate Bridge.

Kind of spooky...

Cannonball!

Proudly taken by me... :-)

After that, we walked across the Golden Gate Bridge. Well...we walked a quarter of Golden Gate Bridge. But it's still cool, right? We walked along the pedestrian line, built specially for people to walk or cycle along the bridge.

Walking along Golden Gate Bridge...

Next, we went to Twin Peaks, two hills situated in the heart of San Francisco. When we reached up there, we must wear a Windbreaker before going out. It was really chilly. From above, you could see San Francisco City.

San Francisco City, seen from Twin Peaks

If you look really, really closely, you could see Golden Gate Bridge behind the foggy hill.

We then returned home.

Trip to USA: Day 7

2010-06-12T13:49:00.003+08:00

On to Day No. 7 in US. We went to Santa Rosa. We rented a seven-seater van. Sweet!

We crossed the city and passed one of the must-see attraction in San Francisco, Golden Gate Bridge.

Golden Gate Bridge ahead!

Passing Golden Gate Bridge

Alcatraz in the distant

We went to Agilent Technologies office to meet up with Dad's colleague. We then had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant.

There were solar panels there. Go green!

Next stop was a dog pound.

Dad, can I adopt a pet here?

Cute puppies

Big fella, ain't you?

Then, we went to Ferrari-Carrano. Nope, it isn't a car show (Mind you), it's a winery, where they make fine wines. We drove past valleys and valleys of grapes before reaching there. Looks quite tasty...

Yay, we are here!

Bottles and bottles of wine, all packed and ready to be bought.

Below the gift shop was a cellar where they let the grapes to ferment into wine. When we reached the cellar, we smelt a strong fermenting odor. The smell of fermenting wine...

Gates to the wine!

Fermenting grapes, left in wine barrels. Just like the vikings did some hundred years ago...

While leaving the winery, we decided to go to a lookout nearby. We went up a mountain. It was until we came to a dead end did we knew we went the wrong direction. We went more than 20 miles and didn't realize we went the wrong way... =.=

Finally, we found the right direction and went to the lookout. It was windy up there. You could see everything from up there.

Beautiful scenery.

After that, we returned back to San Francisco. We also past one of the most curvy roads in the world, the famous Lombard Street. It's a very steep, one-cross section with tight, twisting turns.

Now you get the picture...

We reached San Francisco just before night. Later, we went out to eat.

Trip to USA: Day 6

2010-06-11T15:51:00.004+08:00

Day No.6 and now back at San Francisco. In the early morning, we returned back the RV. Then, we went shopping for the whole day. Yay, to the shopping mall!

Hit the bookstore! (Not literally. But you know what I mean...)

Be back before midnight!

Trip to USA: Day 5

2010-06-11T15:45:00.004+08:00

Day 5 of my trip to US, also the last day at Lake Tahoe. We went to Fallen Leaves Lake. Since I can't cycle (How can I cycle with so many injuries?!), so we took the RV there.

Fallen Leaves Lake

The ice mountains in the distant...

There were also loads of snow there. It was my first time to touch snow. Snow, as it turns out, felt sort of like crushed ice compact together...

Snowball, anyone?

We also went to see a waterfall near there. You can almost feel the force as gallons and gallons of water raging down the fall.

Spectacular sight!

Then, we sat out to San Francisco. While crossing a hill, we saw a Red Indians' tent. Cool!

Oh, we also stopped at a factory outlet to shop a bit. Hee...Hee...

We reached San Francisco just before nightfall.