*Warning: Picture heavy!*

This summer vacation is filled with short getaways to Malaysia. First Tioman, then a day trip to Desaru, then a 3D2N to Sunway Lagoon (which I haven’t blogged about – shame on me) and then finally another 3D2N to Cameron Highlands. I haven’t been to Cameron Highlands for more than 10 years already. Coupled with the crazy warm weather, Angela and I decided to make a short trip up to the hills.

We booked a free and easy tour with Konsortium Express, the tour company I went with to Sunway Lagoon. The daily departure bus leaves at 10.30pm from Singapore, and reaches Brinchang town, Cameron Highlands at about 7 in the morming. We stayed at Strawberry Park Resort, the resort I stayed in some 12 years ago. The picture above is the view from the resort. The resort is somewhat secluded, away from the main towns and hence very tranquil and quiet.

I got a shock after we checked in and got our rooms. It was in fact what I consider a suite. The tour agency gave us the Tioga Room (stated on the hotel voucher), which has a bedroom, a small living room, a 4-seater dining table and a separate kitchenette. This was a pleasant surprise. There is no airconditioner in the room, and even with all the windows shut, the room is chilly at night. A great respite from the Singapore heat.

We signed up with local land tour companies at Brinchang town when our bus stopped for breakfast. I think Konsortium and Five Star Travel (affiliated companies) have some form of contract with the tour agency, called Titiwangsa tours, and we were hijacked after breakfast for a talk to introduce their tours. We felt it wasn’t bad, so we signed up for all three day tours – Nature Discovery, Leisure Tour and Agro Discovery Tour. All 3 tours costs a total of RM150 per person.

Cameron Highlands is all about agriculture and nature. Unlike Genting Higlands, real people live there. They farm vegetables, flowers and tea, which we saw a lot of on this trip. A trip to Cameron Highlands is definitely not for fastidious urbanites; be prepared to tread on soil in the farms, get your hands and shoes dirty on forest walks, and smell funky manure in the nurseries.

A small scale family-run vegetable farm

Cabbage patch (sans kids)

Tour guide holding a habanero chilli

Young chrysanthemum flowers

Terraced watercress farms

One of the highlights of every Cameron Highlands tour is possibly the strawberry farms, where visitors can pick strawberries by weight and have all kinds of strawberry snacks. I recall when I saw the farms back in the 90′s, strawberries were still grown on the ground. Today, they have improved techniques and grow strawberries in pots, which increase yield per landspace.

Strawberry seedlings waiting to be planted

A strawberry budding from the flower

Showing the difference between Dutch (left) and Japanese (right) strawberries

The strawberries in Cameron Highlands are, unfortunately, sour. But sour strawberries are best eaten with cream and icing sugar. :D

Strawberries and cream

Apart from strawberry farms another apparent must-go is the tea plantations. The largest producer is BOH tea, which conveniently stands for Best Of Highlands. Angela was very excited about standing amongst tea leaves, so the tea plantation tour was especially enjoyable for her, at least.

Tea bushes with a great view in the background

Angela smelling tea leaves, which unfortunately smell like any other leaves

(And I happen to think her permed hair is great as exemplified by this photo. I think people who have different (or really, crappy) taste should keep their comments to themselves.)

We visited the tea factory and saw the process of drying, fermentation and sorting. The processing of tea leaves emitted a strong smell of tea as we know it, and we smelled it before we reached the factory proper. I seriously thought the visitor centre used some kind of tea frangrance air freshener. At the visitor centre we bought teabags and had tea at the cafe. The terraced cafe overlooks their tea plantation. Very nice view.

BOH tea plantation

I was interested in hiking in Cameron Highlands, partly for the unspoiled forests and also the cool weather. Part of our nature tour was a short hike in the mossy forests. Let’s just say, for a person who was hyped about trekking, I wasn’t prepared for it. Ironic, yes but I still had fun.

Mossy trees in the mossy forest

Clean shoes. Initially.

I totally soiled my sneakers. The following shot shows my shoes, post superficial cleaning.

Soiled shoes on retro tiles

I got mud soil and other forest stuff on my cargo pants and my shoes and socks. Nonetheless it was a fun experience. I don’t mind getting my hands and feet dirty. I actually like the hike, if not for my bad choice of footwear and me carrying a crossbody camera bag. If I carried a backpack I think it would have been a greater experience. Oh yes, did I mention that the mossy forest we went to was at 6,666 feet above sea level? We had a great view once we exited the forest and stood on the summit.

Great view from the top

Another thing I was looking forward to on the trip was the Rose Centre. I remember smelling roses from that place from my previous trip, and ever since then, I have never smelled another rose as sweet. Shakespeare is wrong, not every rose smell as sweet as each other. The roses at the Rose Centre, because they are allowed to grow to full term (they are not a nursery hence not sold), they smell very very good, exactly like bandung. It’s a smell I will remember for life.

Peach Rose

Red-White Rose

The Rose Centre

We saw other types of flowers there too, and there’s a particular flower called the Lady’s Shoe flower that’s really cute! Our tourguide showed us how exactly to view the flowers, albeit a little destructive, but very cool.

Lady's Shoe Flower

Doesn’t it resemble a pait of yellow pumps with a red tip?

Another great view from the top of The Rose Centre

A hibiscus bigger than my face

(This is the customary shot of me to show that I really was there.)

A cute boy holding a butterfly

All in all it was a fun-filled trip, and on this trip I learnt some stuff about agriculture and nature. I enjoyed the cold weather there, despite me developing a cold and having running nose. It was indeed an experience having a blocked nose at 6,666 feet above sea level, but nothing I am not acquainted with. I went up the Grand Canyon with a cold too. Perhaps I just have really bad luck with high terrains. Anyway, I think Cameron Highlands is really good for a short getaway to relax and enjoy the nature.

After leaving the Ostrich Farm we made our way to the Desaru Fruit Farm. The Desaru Fruit Farm is about 160 acres (= 80 soccer fields, or 240 of SunHo’s house in LA).We had a guided tour by the farm employees, who took us on a 45-minute walk in the tourist designated areas to look at various tropical fruits. Here are the photos from the fruit farm:

(Click the pictures to enlarge)

You can see that there are some animals there. Yes! There’s a mini petting zoo at the end of the 45-minute trail. There is one (or more) crocodile, rabbits, mice and tortoises on platforms for you to touch, goats to feed, monkeys, birds and also a big pond with many koi fish. My niece and I really enjoyed ourselves at the mini zoo petting animals and feeding goats.

They also sell various fruit juices (unfortunately from their house brand cordial, not freshly squeezed) like rosella drink (sweet and slightly sour), noni juice (smells and tastes like shit even though my mum feels it is ok), calamansi drink, passion fruit drink and even jumbu /water apple cordial. You can buy the cordial itself at the gift shop. We were also made to sit through a talk on bees, honeys and Malaysian tongkat ali, which the presenter claims is not an aphrodisiac but a herbal plant. I think otherwise; somehow I have a grave mistrust of salespeople sheerly because they have a conflict of interest when it comes to giving advice and opinion. But that’s for another day.

After the fruit farm tour we went to a bizarre shopping place that has a supermarket, wet market, and random shops. The building had sparring airconditioning, and the place was crawling with Malaysian Malays. ‘Nuff said. So we sat down at Marrybrown, a Malaysian answer to KFC to wait for time to board the bus and go for dinner. Dinner was at a Chinese restaurant. The food was good but I didnt’ take any pictures. There was a soup, steamed fish, steam prawns, tofu, deep-fried squid-like things and vegetables. Simple Chinese fare but I think it’s not bad. After dinner was yet another highlight – firefly watching.

We had to board a boat to take us to the marshlands upriver.

It’s funny that there’s a variety of boats available, open top, bench seats, normal seats… lucky for us we got the one with a roof AND normal seats like a bus.

We all had to put on lifejackets, so there’s this field of orange at the jetty.

We went under a bridge on the way to the wetlands and we saw these under the bridge:

Our tour guide claims it’s swallow birds’ nest, the kind that is sold at an exhorbitant price for people to consume. My mum thinks otherwise; if it were the valuable sort why haven’t these been stolen? Good question. Nonetheless it looks gross, and if it is really that valuable birds’ nest, can you imagine what rubbish people are consuming? Yes, they wash it, but seriously, swallow spit?

As we left the river and ventured into the wetlands.We took the boat at about 7pm, and we had to wait till it was dark. It didn’t take long because there is no light where we went. It was total darkness except for sporadic idiots’ camera flashes and a small like at the front of the boat.

Emo shot

These are people’s houses and community. They live by the river.

On the day we went to Desaru (26th June), it happened to be the lunar eclipse so we caught a very good view of it. Alas my camera zoom is not enough, and the boat was moving so the picture is subpar:

You can see it’s not a case of a waning moon, but a full moon that’s eclipsed.

I tried taking pictures of the fireflies, but found it challenging because no flash is allowed (not like it’d help, don’t understand the photography idiots who insist on using flash). The following picture is one of the many I took. Look at the white specks – that’s not camera dush or dust on your monitor. This photo, obviously, does not do justice to what we saw.

The fireflies were a sight to behold. They clustered on trees and lit up the trees like Christmas lights. They flicker on  and off, and sometimes they fly into our boat, mistaking camera lights as a mate. It was really fun to watch and for a city kid like me, it’s an eye-opener. While we slowly progress on the river which has no artificial lights whatsoever, we could see the stars very clearly. And the darkness that surrounded us made me feel small in this universe, which is somewhat unsettling. I think I’m more urbanite than I think I am.

Following the end of the firefly trip we took the coach back to Singapore. It was one whole day of fun. Nonetheless, day tours are tiring. Will I go on a day tour to Malaysia again? I might, my young bones can endure it, heh heh.

Guess what? Next week we’re going away again! This time we’re going on a 3D2N trip to Sunway Lagoon in KL, making use of the Youth Day long weekend. I’m not a fan of theme parks, but I suppose this might be fun. It’s a 5-park compound with an animal park. Can’t wait!  So, next next week you get to see more Malaysia travel pictures!

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My family and I went on a day tour to Desaru, Malaysia. The itinerary includes an Ostrich Farm, the Desaru Fruit Farm, firefly watching and two meals, lunch and dinner. We set off from Singapore via the 2nd Link to Malaysia. First things first – I am pertubed by the checkpoint on the Malaysian side of the Tuas 2nd Link – why is the building for immigration so #$#@%^$ small that we have to queue up OUTSIDE the door? It’s insanely stupid.

Anyway, we went to Pengarang for lunch. Pengarang is a small seaside town that is pretty near to Singapore, accessible by ferry from Changi, if I’m not wrong.

Small town Pengarang

Our restaurant

We had lunch at Restoran Sungai Emas. Apparently some travel show on Channel 8 filmed there once.

The lunch was passable, the seafood quite fresh and tasty, but I only found two of the dishes picture worthy:

Black Pepper Crab

Mini lobsters

The mini lobsters are quite tasty, not as chewy or briny as Maine lobsters, although I highly suspect the deep-frying altered the taste of the lobsters rendering it unrecognizable. Many Singaporeans like to take a bumboat to Pengarang for the seafood and cycling.

After lunch we went to the Ostrich Farm, which is a highlight for me and my niece.

Male Ostrich

The ostriches at the Ostrich Farm are from Africa. This above is a male ostrich characterized by the predominantly black plume and red beak, as though it has lipstick on. As with most animals on earth, the male species are flashy in order attract.

Ostrich skin

This is gross, but this is a female ostrich that is post-moulting. Birds shed all their feather and grow new ones periodically, and during that time they stop laying eggs as well. Did you know that the female ostrich lays an egg every other day or so? Like chickens, they are very easily farmed for eggs, as compared to wild small birds flighted birds.That aside, when I saw this ostrich, the first thing that came to my mind was “eww” and the second thing that followed was – “hmm, enlarged chicken skin. Will look good dyed and made into a handbag. And sold for 5 figures.” Oh well. Ignore me.

Flexi neck

The ostrich has a very flexible neck. It’s peeking upskirts from under the fence, but unfortunately none of the females wore skirts.

See what I see? Unfortunately I was too stuffed from lunch to go grab an ostrich burger. Such a pity. Besides, my mum thinks it’s mildly disturbing to hang a sign for burgers next to the chicks’ pen.

Young chicks

The farm have pens for young ostrich chicks at different stages of growth.

One of the owners/guide of the farm demonstrated standing on ostrich eggs. I didn’t try. It would have been embarassing if I broke it.

We paid for a small basket of dried corn kernels to feed the ostriches. I didn’t try, for I was busy taking pictures. The niece was supremely amused.

Ostrich Eye

After such close encounter with ostriches I can finally fully understand what scientists claim about the ostrich having a brain smaller than its eye. Come to think about it, that’s quite like many Singaporean girls who have crazy eye makeup and iris-enlarging contact lens. Brain smaller than madeup eyes. Anyway, while I was taking pictures of the ostriches, one of them decided to photobomb:

There’s this faint smirk on the photobomber that is just so adorable and funny.

We also saw a day-old ostrich hatchling:

Apart from ostriches there are other birds at the farm like chickens, Polish chickens (that are quite cute to be honest) and something called a cassowary. Before reaching home and Googling, I had no idea what that giant bird was. It looks like something out of the Jurrasic era, seriously. And it’s huge. And it was walking about. It could have been an illusion. Fortunately I caught it on photo:

Cassowary

With the protrusion on its head it really resembles some kind of dinosaur. The blue on its neck is very beautiful and its black feather looks very shiny in real life. In this picture it’s seated, drinking water. When it stood up it was quite statuesque. According to the Internet the cassowary is the 3rd largest flightless land bird after the ostrich and the emu. It is native to some parts of Australia and Papua New Guinea. (And there’s one in the Jurong Bird Park. I haven’t been there in years.)

We had an enjoyable time at the Ostrich Farm, even though the smell, coupled with the midday heat made me feel like a piece of ostrich dung myself, I still had fun.

Thus concludes part 1 of our day tour.

To the sea

I love this picture.

Clear water baybeh!

The strong sun and clear water. Beautiful.

I bought a Dicapac to use with my Canon Powershot A710IS. The DicaPac and be submerged for up to 50m.

Coral formation

Sarah did some courses on Marine Biology and commented that some of the corals look bleached. Maybe the water is too warm. There is an interesting mix of warm and cold water in the region that makes swimming really fun and bizarre at the same time.

Coral polyps

Young coral. Looks rather phallic if you asked me.

School of fish

I am not a big fan of fish, and for quite a while when I was snorkelling, I had the morbid fear of a one of these tiny creatures jumping into my breathing tube and choking me to death. Or swimming into my lifevest. Or my ear. You get the drift.

Me - in a lifevest

I had the bad habit of breathing out my nose and fogging up my snorkelling mask. And the fins gave me a very bad blister. And the lifevest was nothing but cumbersome.

So the very friendly snorkelling guide told me to remove the lifevest. The moment the vest came off…

Free wirry!

I felt as free as, well, free wirry. There is just something immensely enjoyable about dolphin-kicking against the current and riding the waves. I felt like I was water soluble – in the sense the sea and I became one. It’s hard to explain but let’s just say it unleashed the killer whale in me more.

I think our guide, Mr. Rahman was impressed with my swimming and he decided to change into his diving/snorkelling gear and come join me, and made me swim all the way around Renggis Island.

Mr. Rahman

He taught me to dive, yes, dive underwater. It’s a mildly sobering experience to inform me my lungs don’t quite hold enough air for me to go even 3 metres under. Water pressure is a scary thing. Well, that aside, he showed me things I would otherwise not have spotted. Like this round starfish.

Nemo

And Nemo. And yes this picture is damn clear and nice. Rahman even stuck his hand into the sea anemone (!!!) to catch a Nemo to show me.

Stingray

And a stingray which I really won’t have spotted. Seriously, even after he pointed it out I still couldn’t see it. So he went to stir (!!!) the ray which then swam a little and I yelped into my breathing tube when I saw it. And at the right side of the picture you can see two sea urchins. Sea urchins are plentiful in those waters, but they tend to hide among rocks (except perhaps these two camera un-shy ones). As long as you stay afloat and not attempt to stand on anything you should be ok. Rahman said some Japanese tourists see sea urchins and feel like eating them. Seriously.

I have many more underwater pictures (I just randomly fired off my camera so that at least I get SOME good shots), and I am certainly very pleased with my camera’s performance. Oh yes, all these were taken with an “Underwater” SCN mode. One wonders why my camera even has that mode to begin with, but that’s not really important.

All in all I think my strong swimming background has made this virgin snorkelling experience enjoyable. Being stuck in the lifevest is really cumbersome and I don’t think anyone who cannot swim in the sea without a lifevest can fully enjoy snorkelling. Not that it will be a total booboo to snorkel with a lifevest, it’s just, well, a pity. But that said don’t go taking off your lifevest – I will not be responsible if you drown or get swept into the South China Sea. If your guide gives the green light, go ahead. Else I would suggest having at least 15 years swimming experience and at least some sort of seawater experience. :D

If you are staying at Berjaya Tioman, go to the Marine Centre and look for Rahman. He gave me a namecard with his cell number and apparently he can help organize daytrips and tours. He’s from Tekek Village and he knows people. So if you badly want to contact him, his cell number is 019-7494164. Else just look for him at the Marine Centre and talk to him personally.

Postcard worthy shot

In the back you can see Renggis Island off the beach of Berjaya Tioman. Renggis Island is one of the best places to snorkel. And you know what? I swam around that island. One and a half times.

Lounging on the beach

Beach chairs can be found on the beach at Berjaya. The place was quiet and peaceful. It was very relaxing indeed.

Endless sea

Tioman is located in the South China Sea. The endless horizon, apart from sporadic other islands, is an amazing view.

Berjaya Tioman

I spent a lot of time by the poolside at the resort. I’d lounge, try to read a book, people watch, eat and drink, swim and while time away. Splendid slacking vacation.

蓝天白云

It’s just the clouds, the sky and the sea. I haven’t seen such views in a really really really long time.

That's blue.

This is the view from Tioman Suites in the morning. I have never seen blue sea in my life.

Low tide

When the tide is low one can traipse about further out from the beach.

Coral pieces washed ashore. The sand is not exactly pristine – but not from human rubbish.

ONE sea urchin, like the street variety

There are indeed sea urchins in the sea. However sea urchins like to hide between rocks and coral formations. As long as you don’t stand on rocks or corals while out at sea, it’s generally fine.

Monkeys!

Monkeys are native to the island. They are everywhere.

Monitor lizard.

So are monitor lizards.

When was the last time you watched a sun set into a clean horizon not littered with boats?

I never really watched sunsets in Singapore. The awful tankers littering our horizon just makes it gross. This sunset was breathtakingly beautiful. It made me feel like running off and never coming back.

Evening

Evenings like this, I look towards the sea and wonder – how many of these can I see in my lifetime?

After sifting through my photographs I have decided to start with the customary food porn – even though these aren’t exactly exotic new dishes they were very delicious.

The first night we had the BBQ buffet dinner at Sri Nelayan at RM70 per head. It occurred to us most things in Berjaya Tioman are priced like Singapore. Not cheap, but not unaffordable either. The buffet spread was not bad, a great variety of food. However, we found it’s cheaper to eat a la carte for subsequent dinners.

BBQ Buffet

BBQ Buffet

BBQ Buffet

BBQ Buffet - dessert

The next day we had tea by the poolside. Sri Nelayan serves food and drinks to the poolside and it was the ultimate resort experience; lounging on pool chairs, reading, tanning, and sipping cocktails (at 3pm in the afternoon).

Baguette with herbs and cheese served with fries and side salad (RM17) and Tequila Sunrise (RM18)

In case you’re wondering, no, I didn’t get to read the book after all. All the half-nekkid angmohs prancing around was distracting, and not in the good way. But I suppose it feels nicer at an expensive angmoh resort; no one cares if you look like crap in a bikini suit, unlike a predominantly Asian resort (read: Malaysian and Singaporean overcrawled) where people are generally not as forgiving. Oh well, just a thought.

We liked the food at Sri Nelayan so much we only ate from there out of the other restaurants in the resort.

Blue Lagoon (RM18)

Blue cocktail at lunch. I am starting to love resort life.

Beef burger (RM23)

The beef burger is larger than it looks here. I love the side salad they serve; it tastes a little like achar, but not as tangy. The use of bell peppers lend amazing colours to my photos. Another plus.

Vietnamese glass noodle soup with prawns (RM23 - I think)

This restaurant serves a mix of Western and Asian food and to be honest this Vietnamese glass noodle soup tastes fantastic. The soup is sour and slightly spicy and yet light. It’s a very appropriate summer food.

Nasi padang with satay, egg, chicken and prawns (RM21)

This fried rice was very value-for-money, considering that they sell 6 sticks of satay at RM23 (extortion, I know). The egg has a very gooey yolk (which I happily gave to my travel companion Sarah). There’s a stick of BBQ-ed prawns that I did not catch in this picture but overall it was a tasty dish.

Jumbo Hotdog (RM25?)

Sarah and I are hotdog junkies. One thing we cannot give up. We ordered the jumbo hotdog which was described as “foot-long” in the menu. True enough, it was close to 30cm. Very satisfying.

To get to and fro Pulau Tioman we took a ferry from Mersing in Johor. On the way back to Singapore, we had a slight layover in Mersing so we visiting a small eatery by the jetty called The Portside Cafe. I think it caters to a lot of foreigners and backpackers. The staff were very friendly, giving us directions to our bus pickup point. They play fab music too!

We (or at least, I) might have developed a satay addiction during my trip. I never really knew I loved satay this much.

Satay (RM1x)

Yummy! There’s just something about satay sauce and the chargrilled meat that tastes really good.

So thus concludes the food I had during the trip. Next post I will talk about the trip, particularly my snorkeling experience!

Where I started and ended my trip.

Where I left my heart at.

Where I love the most out of all the places I visited.

San Francisco is beautiful.

I’ll let the pictures do the talking. (PS: I just posted 100 pictures on Facebook, check it out there.)

The Seven Painted Ladies – often seen on postcards, these painted houses are famous. In fact, these are not the only painted houses in San Francisco. Painted houses are everywhere, just that these 7, in a row, are famous.

Lombard Street – also another famous site. It’s a very crooked street, originally designed to facilitate horses going up and down the steep slope.

The Golden Gate bridge, overseeing the Golden Gate Bay. The field you see is known as Crissy Fields.

Not many has seen the underbelly of the Golden Gate. I have.

The bay waters at Crissy Fields.

The Golden Gate Bridge from another site, up in the hills. Talking about hills, San Francisco is built upon 47 (thereabout) hills. Explains the slopes!  Talking about slopes, here’s an example. A slope near Nob Hill:

So steep parking is an issue:

You’ve got to park at 90 degrees or your cars will roll down the hills, no kidding.

Chinatown

Chinatown. One of the earliest Chinatowns in the US, and apparently houses the largest Chinese population outside Asia. It’s filled with the usual touristy fare, though when you go into the small side alleys you can find authentic Chinese shops for real Chinese people. This is where I came for a rice fix one day. Fortunately (or not), the eatery I chose did not sell fortune cookies – something I insist is an invention of the West and refuse to eat.

In the middle of this collage you can see Sacramento street – this is the original 唐人街. I think it all started from here. I may be wrong, but it feels right to me.

The famous cable car turnaround at Union Square.  The queue is always long, so I didn’t ride on it. I did ride on plenty of streetcars though. The F line streetcar was my friend.

Pier39 is along Fisherman’s Wharf, and has a carnival thing going on. There is a sea lion habitat at this pier, and specialty stores. It’s a family place, and this is where I can find my favourite crab and shrimp chowder. I don’t eat clam, so clam chowders are out of the question.

From Pier39 you get a good view of Alcatraz, aka The Rock.

Castro

I watched the movie Milk, starring Sean Penn, on the flight to San Francisco. The movies is about Harvey Milk, supervisor of San Francisco and first gay man to help champion gay rights in the US. It was such a moving movie I nearly cried watching. It tells a tale of struggles against a mob rule masquerading as democracy, which really is still evident today. It tells of a tale of intolerance and religious fundamentalism. All in all it was a really thought-provoking film. After watching the film, I was sure I had to visit Castro, where it all began.

The  famous Castro Theater.

Raising the rainbow flag up high.

Harvey Milk Plaza. Is it just me or does Sean Penn really resemble Harvey Milk?

Castro, on a weekday afternoon, isn’t as happening as I would have liked it to be. I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting, but deserted streets wasn’t one of them.

Muir Woods

One highlight of my trip to San Francisco is the tour to Muir Woods, also commonly known as the Redwood forest. Californian redwood is the tallest species of trees in the world, and can easily grow to 200 ft tall. This particular species require the moisture from the bay area fog to grow well, and hence is found only near the coast to the Pacific Ocean. (Well, not near  near like coconut trees, but near enough.)

It was peaceful and serene in these woods. Frankly, I expected the trees to be a lot fatter considering how old they are, but they aren’t. The girth shown in the first picture is exceptional actually. Most of the other trees in the reserve are not as thick.

I love this shot.  Light and shadows.

On the guided tour to Muir Woods, we went up a hill to look at the ocean as well. The Pacific Ocean is awesome. I have never seen an ocean, and the view is simply breathtaking. The great expanse of water meeting the horizon, gulls flying above our heads, strong wind beating on our faces, but we all left with a smile.

Below is another ocean visit on another guided tour. That is an oceanside beach and the waters are cold; they hover at about 52 degrees Fahrenheit, about 11 degrees Celsius. So to take part in sea sports, a thermal wetsuit is a must. The waves aren’t as high as I expected, but definitely much more than the ripples we get in Singapore.

And the following two shots taken from the above two locations sums up my feeling about San Francisco very nicely – it’s like holding infinity in the palms of my hands. I never really knew where this line came from, until Angela told me it’s from William Blake.

“To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.” – William Blake

Despite not knowing exactly where the line came from, or what precedes it, somehow these pictures made me feel like saying those words. Maybe there is some truth to Blake’s words, to see a world in that manner. It is moments like this that resonate, to quote Suhui and her friend again, “life is perfect”. It’s like seeing eternity in a moment. It’s hard to convey what I felt when I was up on the cliff overlooking the ocean, you have to experience it for yourself.

I love San Francisco. Now I know why many in the world hold the same sentiment.

In actual fact, LA is a shitty place. At least Hollywood is a shitty place. Nothing like the glitz and glamour we see on TV. Those are only found in the rich estates and the rest of LA, quite the slum if you asked me. Furthermore, when I was there, it was cloudy and unusually chilly for this time of the year – the bad weather really added to the misery of this place. It’s a different misery compared to New York – New York is the concrete jungle misery and LA is the culture-shock misery. Why culture shock? West Hollywood is practically a vice district. Imagine shops selling smoking paraphernalia (and I don’t mean lighters and cigarettes) dotted between tattoo shops and shops selling porn star outfits. And it’s not like I intentionally sought out these places. They are on Hollywood Boulevard – the tourist district, just about 200m away from Kodak Theater. Oh well. Prudes shouldn’t walk too much in LA.

Speaking about Kodak Theater – arh the golden tourist district. Probably the safest part of LA, in daytime.

From left: Walk of Fame (running on Hollywood Boulevard and Vine), Kodak Theater, Chinese Theater, and El Capitan.

I caught the new Pixar film Up in 3D at El Capitan. The tickets aren’t cheap, but it comes with a live HSM-like performance with Mickey mascots before the show, something that cannot be found elsewhere. I also took the 3D glasses back with me. Gone are the days where 3D glasses are blue and red; nowadays they are able to produce 3D glasses with clear glasses.

The concrete slabs are before the Chinese Theater. Only the big big stars can have their palms and foot imprinted there. To get a star on the Walk of Fame simply requires one to be in the industry for 5 years and one has to hand over the payment of 25,000$. On hindsight, I should have sought out Michael Jackson’s star.

Oh but I did go to his house though.

On a walking tour in Beverly Hills to see the stars’ homes.

Here’s Dustin Hoffman’s house.

Woohoo Ben Stiller!

And this is MJ’s house. Did he collapse here? It’s so surreal isn’t it. First time I step on his driveway and he quacks. (ha!) Really. I don’t really care if he died. I’m too young to have been a contemporaneous fan of his.

Beverly Hills isn’t really that glamorous. Sure, big houses (apparently Jennifer Anniston’s driveway is 1/2 mile long), nice landscaping, flash cars … but you know, it just lacks that starry atmosphere I was looking for. I don’t know why.

Of course, Beverly Hills is not Beverly Hills without Rodeo (Ro-day-oh , in the true American fashion) Drive.

This is the LA we see on TV baby. Palm trees that don’t belong to the climate, nice clean paved sidewalk, glitzy shops selling things plebeians can’t afford … a Hollywood experience!

And another Hollywood experience that’s mandatory on a trip to LA:

Hollywood Hills. Apparently when a certain Pope went to the US for a visit, some pranksters took down one L, so it spelt Holy Wood. Quite a joker, that.

My favourite place in LA is the Getty Center. It’s an art museum built on a hill and boy it’s a pretty place .

The entrance. To get to the main entrance, we had to take a monorail from the foot of the hill. Oh yeah, entry to the Getty Center is free; it’s fully supported by its own funds.

On top of the hill, it overlooks the rest of LA.

Beautiful place. The garden is really really beautiful. Their cafe serves a great chicken salad.

A quote on the wall in the photography section of the museum – “Art is life as seen through a man’s inner craving for perfection and beauty – his escape from the sordid realities of life into a world of his imagining.” Paul Outerbridge. Actually, looking back now, I don’t know why I took a picture of this quote. Maybe it’s because this photo looked nice. Oh well.

The Getty Museum is filled with 15-20th Century European art pieces (many related to religion). There I saw some pieces I studied in an architecture history course before and I was really excited. I had a great time in the photography section as well. It’s a nice place to get away from the grossness of Hollywood, really.

And as a parting shot, I leave you with another picture of Beverly Hills and the Jacaranda trees that line its roads -

(Admittedly at first sight of the purple flowers my first thought was “Wisteria Lane” since Desperate Housewives is probably the brainchild of one of the residents. How wrong I am. Wisteria is a vine, not a tree. I have no botanist knowledge at all.)

To see killer whales, duh.

So as you can expect, I took copious pictures of killer whales, which I will hereby unload on all of you, whether you like it or not.

First, the random sea critters I don’t fancy too much:

Manta rays.

Dolphin Lagoon.

Dolphins.

Manatee. Grazing on lettuce. I never knew these guys were vegetarians. No wonder they are called sea cows.

Sharks.

Now the serious stuff:

Shamu Theatre. See, all adult killer whales are called Shamu in all the Seaworlds in USA. The Orlando Seaworld is the biggest Seaworld in the US.

Sneaking a peak!

Aww.

And they jump.

:D

Giant!

And Shamu soaks everyone.

Shamu. There’s a sad story behind why his dorsal fin is bent. I shall not rehash it here. It spoils the magic of Seaworld. Leave it to the animal rights people to tell that story.

More heavy lifting.

And photo op for me.

And an orca says “Hi!”

Mother and child frolicking.

Looking at this picture (edited by me), I am feeling that moment Suhui was talking about on her blog. That moment that makes one stop and think life is perfect. I won’t mind spending the rest of my life with them.

Now that I have seen killer whales in real life, my life is complete. :)

That. Is. Ginormous.

It consists of 4 main parks, of which I visited 3 – Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Animal Kingdom. We stayed at one of the Disneyworld resorts called Fort Wilderness. It’s a forested area with cabins and campsites for pitching tents. We stayed in one of the cabins and it was damn fun!

See, the exterior of our cabin and the surrounding area. Since it was raining in Florida for quite a bit just before we arrived, small “ponds” were found behind our cabin from the rainwater. We saw tadpoles in the ponds. The cabin can sleep 6 people comfortably; there’s a bedroom that holds 1 queen size bed and a bunk bed, and then in the living room there’s a pull-down Murphy bed. I have never in my 23 years of existence seen a Murphy bed in real life, so it was certainly interesting. In the cabin there is also a dining table and a working kitchen with a huge fridge, oven, microwave and cooker. Outside our cabin is also a sitting area with a picnic bench and a BBQ pit.

Even the bedspread has a Mickey emblem on it.

Each day we have to walk about 2 minutes out to the nearest shuttle stop to take a bus to main bus depot servicing our resort. From that depot we would ride other buses to the different parks. That goes to show how big Disneyworld is.

Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom is, well, animal kingdom. It’s a theme park and safari built into one. The must-go of this park is the safari ride where we are taken through a savanna showcase of animals.

Our safari vehicle.

The safari is named Harambe Wildlife Preserve, and being the true Disney experience, the ride simulated a ride through a wildlife preserve where we chase after imaginary poachers and eventually nabbing them. On the ride we saw giraffes crossing our path, baby African elephants, white and black rhinos, various antelopes and deers, a pride rock and lions and also cheetahs. It was a great ride! Because of the very convenient FastPass system, we are able to secure our spots in a queue without physically being there. If not, the average wait for this ride is 1 hour.

Apart from the safari rides there is a zoo portion showcasing animals in enclosures.

From top left: Flamingoes, bald eagle, okapi, some primate I don’t care for, meerkat and another okapi. I really like the okapi. It’s so archaic looking. FYI, the okapi is not related to the zebra even though it has stripes. It is in fact the closest relative to a giraffe, even though it’s not as tall. I first saw the okapi in the Museum of Natural History in NY and thought it’s extinct and then I saw the real ones in Animal Kingdom! Imagine my delight!

Apart from these animals, there were tigers. That kept staring at me.

The tiger is found is another part of the park that is themed to be India and the nearby Nepalese region. See the art on the wall that mimic an old India.

It is at this part of the park we found ourselves in Nepal.

Staring up at Everest.

It never ceases to amaze me the effort and money put into building theme parks. And in retrospect, it is funny how I saw so many wild animals out of their natural habitat in this trip to the US.

Epcot

Epcot is a park that brings together the different cultures of the world and also showcase what the future world might be like.

This giant golfball is the emblem of Epcot. In it houses a space-related exhibition.

I particularly loved the parts of the park where they showcase the different cultures of the world, even building small replicates of these countries.

I found the miniature Temple of Heaven (天坛) particularly amusing. because I have been to the real one and I’d have to admit it’s a great job done copying it. The outside, that is. The cuter part is how you enter the Temple of Heaven and find Qin dynasty terracotta warriors. We also visited little Germany and indulged in German sausages and German beer. Epcot is the only Disneyworld park where you can find and consume alcohol.

The park is so big one can spend a good part of the morning and afternoon weaving through the buildings, strolling from Canada to China to Mexico. Oh yes, there’s an amazing ride at Epcot that’s imported from the Anaheim Disneyland called Soar, which is a 4-D ride that showcases the diverse scenery of California. The seat lifts you up to this gigantic screen and air is blown towards you to create the sensation of flying and dropping over the Californian landscape. It was a truly awesome ride, and definitely worth the 1 hour queue time.

Magic Kingdom

Magic Kingdom. The holy grail of Disneyworld. No trip to Disneyworld is complete without Magic Kingdom. The castle, the character shows, the magic of Disney.

I like this photo of the castle. Looks like it’s burning up, no? :d

Mickey and crew parading around Magic Kingdom. Apparently there’s a trail where you can follow them on the parade.

Me in the Class of 2009 Mickey hat. See, Sarah and I saw some people wearing this in Animal Kingdom and we wanted one too. We hunted around all the shops we passed by but we couldn’t find it. We eventually found it in Magic Kingdom and we so had to buy it, since we’re class of 2009 too. So I wore the cap wherever I went in Magic Kingdom and some people actually commented it’s cute. The Disney staff would congratulate us on our graduation when they saw the cap. It was super fun!

One highlight of Magic Kingdom is the fireworks show at night. So we stayed and staked out in front of the castle by 8 plus and the show started at 9pm. The crowd was crazy, as with any fireworks show.

I like this photo of the castle too. Looks eerie~~~

These photos are dedicated to my fireworks-loving friends including and not limited to KL, TS, Cel.

Below is the video I took in honour of those named above, so that at least some one will derive joy out of this:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK3yv6g9Q5E]

The fireworks… aren’t as spectacular as I expected. I expected Disney things shooting up the sky, like many many Mickey ears or something. Alas, nothing of that sort. I did feel that part of my exorbitant entrance fee is shooting up and burning in the sky though.

And a parting shot – confetti a la Disney.