The Bygone Era of A Road Tripper

I’ve been wanting to hit the open road again. I’m longing for a roadtrip. Apart from this Oreo-blog, my roadtrip plan too has been sekejap ada sekejap takde. What’s with the shifting and Raya, the plan have to be put off much to my dismay.

There’s a new plan in the air. My good friends cum neighbors cum travel buddies suggested another roadtrip for December (just about the best time of year to be out there) and we have a few days to play with. Probably hit the north – a few nice stops before heading back to KL. Need to find some good loops with lots of charm and easy access. Ah, if there’s a subject on roadology in high-school, I would definitely score myself an A+.

But the best roadtrips are often impromptu, of course. Pack your shits up and just frikkin’ go. Be lost and explore. From my past roadtrippin’, each and one of the places I went to have their own bittersweet. With lots of sweet part, I may say. The only bitter piece was when my mini campervan – scientific word for my trusty Alice btw – was when she went into a huge drain, leaving my good friends cum neighbors cum travel buddies shocked to death.

The secret, I’ve learnt this from travelling with a few different people; is always to take the pleasure in the many places you will see, without worrying too much about trying to "see it all’. Some people tend to do that. Malaysia itself is a total landmass of 329,845 square kilometers. US is 3000 miles across, 1500 miles top to bottom. I just can’t see the rush. Unless the loop you’re in is boring. But then again, that’s when roadology comes into play. One may or may not need it but its often useful.

Another ‘it all’ that could trigger my ‘parannoying’ system on is ‘upload it all’. Seven pages for each four albums of your vacation pictures on facebook? Lmao.

I can talk about roadtrip all day long but its nearing five in the evening and I need to pack my stuff up and be gone. Ooh, did I tell you that I got the job?

Happy Tuesday!

Wedding Bells Are Ringing

Matt told me; 'You've been stress out. Chill out boleh? Ask MN to settle things for you.'

Oh dear, how can I when situation rapidly surprises me with abrupt changes? Mom is still sick and right now my eldest sister is also admitted because of high-blood pressure. I'm juggling between mum, my sister, work and wedding preps. I lack of sleep and rest. Sometimes, I get really cranky and angry and everything.

Its not easy.

Alhamdullilah, Allah granted each and everyone us with strength and courage. Not to mention family and good friends. I'm glaaaaad (I've been mentioning this a lot lately) for my friends for the endless support and helping around. Thank you 10000x plus a humongous hug. Hee.

I'm gonna take a few days break to settle some stuff regarding my wedding. One month! Haa! I'm a little bit freaked out and going bonkers but things are manageable as for now. Gonna start distributing my wedding card soon! 

I realllly need a break. Planning for a backpacking trip for my honeymoon. Except that, I need to know whether its possible to go pass Vietnam and into Laos just by flipping my passport. Do I really need to buy visa? 

Hey, here's a sneak peek of my pre-wedding shoot with Syahrin, Sophie and Mado. Thanks a bunch for tagging along, you guys (and also for granting the mosquitos to harrass us all) :D

Photography by Syahrin Aziz. Mado looked so gatal like that :P

Time To Celebrate!

CNY hols have been rather interesting. Spent quality time in bed, catching up with sleep, rest and movie marathon. A damn fun way to waste time especially if you have enough chip supply to last you for days so you dont have to go out and buy.

But of course I did not spend all 24 hours plonking my ass happily at home. Went to a small shopping mall where my brother used to buy his groceries when he was in high school last Saturday. Eka and Nadiah brought me there to show the moroccan lamp I wanted for my wedding. It was cool alright and if all goes well, we’ll have the lamp. Kinda cool to look around for wedding stuff together with your close friends who’s also getting married.

Sunday went up to Cameron Highland with MN and his dad (soon-to-be my dad). His dad is also an avid photographer and a very well-travelled man so we had an amazing time listening to his travel stories. We snapped around and sipped tasteful earl grey by the plantation area. Everything looked so purplish-ly beautiful at sunset. Weather was rather chilly as it rained cats and dogs when we arrived.



We were supposed to hop on the train scheduled at 5am to Tampin the next day but I screwed up the plan on behalf of everyone. Thought roadtrip would be a bad idea this time around. I need to load off and catch some Zs, tempt my body with some massage and good food. I must say - stinky coach, heavy backpack and restless journey was indeed a very very win-over thing for me but I guess I gotta stick to my sine qua non; notice the two big words in one line? That means, my rest is unquestionably needed.

CNY made more than half of the city dead. KL was immobilized and most of my fav places were closed till 2nd. My whole family were out traveling all over the world- sometimes its not a good thing to have a traveling family - and I can’t reach out to my traveling mates either coz they were out..err..traveling.

A phone conversation:

Me- Hello. Awak baru bangun?
Friend: *sounded very sleepy* Err ye.
Me: Oh, maaf. Ingat mahu ajak awak pergi makan seafood. Umbai jom!
Friend: Errrr....saya di London?

Everyone was on hols so what more can I do than to just stay put in a place and watch movie? For someone who as mobile as I am, its pathetic to be so stagnant. MN who felt my anxiety tried to bring me out somewhere on Monday where we ended up in a dead, sleepy, hollow perkampungan orang asli in Hulu Selangor. Honestly, I slept the whole way there and when I woke up I was absolute clueless of the whereabouts. Saw a huge signage saying ‘D’Rasa Seafood’ and since we were hungry we thought why not try the food. The place was descent, built on top of a lake. But i have to say this, if I know where we were from the beginning, I might have a second thought on dining there. Its fine if we were on a road trip and trapped in an unknown place. Its understandable to go hantam anything in the name of surviving but that day it felt totally weird. Or maybe its just a feeling, maybe I woke up on the wrong side of car seat. Anyway, after dinner we head on a few kilometers further and found a damn great spot to watch sunset. The sky was incredibly blue and suddenly the whole world felt spectacularly vast. I sat in the car (kinda scary to go out actually) watching the sky as if twas so near that I could touch the fluffyness of clouds with my bare fingers. Monday has never felt this fantastic, man.



Will be out of town this weekend to scout for my beach wedding in Penang, have a joy ride and eat lots of foooood. 

*pause* 

Sometimes, life is really about this ya know - enjoying every second that goes by without hesitation, knowing when to take control and when to just let loose. Some things we need to see for ourselves. Gotta make our own mistakes and learn from all the damn lessons thrown. Embracing struggle, appreciating small victories. MN reminds me each time - be thankful with whatever we have.

Life can be terribly painful, there's always gonna be surprises popping out from a corner and bite you up in the ass but you just gotta keep on riding, breathe deep and wait for the agony to subside.

And never be in denial. Sooner or later we have to put the mask aside and face the world. So why lie and pretend? To be screwed by truth is the worst of feelings. And to hide from it and blame it on others is another thing, I suppose. Life is messy. That’s how we’re made. At some point, you have to make a decision. Well like Grey said - ‘At the end of the day, the fact that we have the courage to still be standing is a reason enough to celebrate.’ 

Now I can't wait to drown in good food. Maybe can take a quiet stroll by the beach too. 

All Work and No Play Makes Jack A Dull Boy

I guess it's time to cheer up a little and write something.

I've been insanely zombiefied and caffeinated for the past two weeks. Nadiah told me 'Ibah, you're nuts. Nuts!' which cracks me up. She has been accompanying me till midnight, chatting up in between staying awake at work. Going home from work at 5am for two straight weeks wasn't that bad actually. Traffic is super clear and the weather's always balmy and chilly.

I thank God that I have my main support beside me all the time. I love him.

Surprisingly, living life in the fast lane doesn't affect my social life at all. Managed to catch up with old friends, meeting up with new ones, attended all sorts of family luncheons/dinners, preparing for my big day and traveling a little bit here and there.

Weekends were filled with happy activities, that's for sure. Traveled to Penang a week after my engagement which was an absolute fun. Brought mom to taste food that she has never tasted before - nasi daun pisang and sushi. I could imagine her surprise but she had lotsa fun too. Head on to Passions of Kerala along Burmah Road if you happen to be in Penang. The owner is a lovely Indian lady who shared with us her cooking tips and secrets. But the best time I must say was during a small little hike up in Spice Garden where we sat on a giant swing and had lovely drinks at a cafe on top of the hill overlooking Batu Feringghi. They have a big jar of lovely lotus on each table. Which I think is sweet and perfect for a small wedding reception. The place is so cosy surrounded by huge trees.

Two weeks back, I finally had the chance to meet up with my flickr friend nicknamed 'kediwah' which means 'us' in kelabit. Chris and Sam are a lovely couple, proud film supporters I may add, who always stream on my photostream and share with me street shots they stumble upon in flickr. Chris is originally from SFO while Sam is a Kuchingite who now resides in Wellington. They were back in Malaysia on a two weeks vacation. Another photographer friend also managed to join us that night; Reza Ali who inspired me a lot with his insights and Zac Labang from Euro. I think Chris drove my fiance crazy with his gadgets. Twas a great meet up alright with everyone having a jolly good time talking about photography. I shall post up the group photo if Chris happen to upload 'em on his flickr.

Here are some pics from today's lovely luncheon at Han's:















So rajin to upload stuff now that I got internet at home.

If you notice a little link in my left-side bar; feel free to drop by and have a look :)

A Totally Crab Weekend

My weekend was crab.

I was really in dire of some refreshment after all the emotional turmoil on Friday, so Saturday morning MN and I headed down to Pulau Ketam as early as 7.30am out of spontaneity. I honestly think that MN deserves nothing to be waken up that early on a weekend but the trip did his chubby cheek some justice.

We were half way towards the island when MN told me about the water crisis in Pulau Ketam. Wow! Another great reason to go and pay the place a visit! Apparently, water supplies to the fishing villages (including Kampung Sungai Lima and Bagan Teo Chew) was disrupted since last Monday following a serious leak in the 17km underwater pipeline that connects a reservoir in Pulau Ketam from the mainland.

We were a bit lost while on our way to the Port Klang despite MN's high tech Global Positioning System. Pulau Ketam is accessible by ferry from Port Klang, and actually driving there was a huge mistake for us as the journey was longer than we thought. It’s more convenient to use the KTM-the jetty to Pulau Ketam is just next to the Port Klang KTM station (we found out upon our arrival....an hour and a half later). So take note of that.

We boarded an old rusty ferry after much hassle trying to avoid knocking off any uncles carrying vegetables. The morning ferry was a fun ride even though it was cramped and packed with Indonesians, Vietnamese, chickens, vegetables and local tourists hunting for seafood and crabmeat. I was horrified to see a dead pig floating in the sea whilst waiting for the other passengers to board. Well, we cant really got off since we've already paid the fare but I knew what to expect on our advent - stinkyness. A Jackie Chan movie made the 40 minutes ride less suffering for us. I will tell you which movie was played on our journey back later.

We were greeted by a huge banner stating that the rescue team was there for the water crisis. The town was surprisingly quiet, the huge Kuai Lok Hian restaurant was totally empty. I do not know the reason and didnt quite care to find out as our main reason to go wasn't to find food. We rent bicycles - seems to be the main transportation here besides walking.

I was absolutely in awe looking at the colorful, unique looking houses. The houses are all on stilts and a narrow set of sidewalks runs between them. The island has a full sized school, a police station, a bank, several temples and stores and a small hotel. I was surprise to see how a sleepy town like this has a great wi-fi connection. 3G connection sucks in my area where I live (definitely in the heart of the city).

I have to say nearly 98percent of the residents are Chinese who doesn't speak Malay so basically MN and I were nodding and waving to all the warm, lovable Hokkiens. They were busy doing their daily chores whilst cycling back and forth to carry the water supplies from the Pusat Bantuan to their homes. No riots, no people pushing one another into the sea (and float with a dead pig) to get water supplies.

Saw lots of selling and buying activities going on, as well as cooking, frying, peeling prawns and drying the shrimps. No trouble documenting street here, as everyone was so friendly - we had a little girl following us with her bicycle twice her size, hoping to get her photograph taken, maybe.

Environmentalist might hate this place though as rubbish was thrown indiscriminately here. You can see them almost on every ground you walk/cycle on. Not to mention, dog poops. Almost every houses keep dogs as their pets. If you travel here, be careful with the roaming ones.

Despite the poops, ugly smell and the fact that we were being stalked by a 5 year old, we really love the island. It certainly has its own charm and nostalgic feeling that you wont get elsewhere. Its not your dream getaway but this town is definitely an eye-opener. We had a lot of fun cycling around too!

Oh, the movie on our journey back? They played CJ7. We didnt get to the end, so I'm thinking of buying the DVD.



We arrived in KL at about 4ish with the smell of Pulau Ketam on our shirt. Went to KLCC and Bukit Bintang for another round of street shooting. After the crab visit, I saw the city in a totally different way. My lense refuse to shoot any porcelain-looking dolls in KLCC or those so-called emo/punkrock-whatevayourmacallit-kids that litters around in Bukit Bintang.

Somebody should send those kids to Pulau Ketam and make them wear 'Visit Redang' t-shirt with seluar katak and nothing else.

p/s you can view my street shots of pulau ketam in my flickr.

Along the road

along lebuh armenian.

On my second visit to Penang, i fell in love again with this lively place. I want to write more but maybe later when this loopy feeling has vanish.

grrrreat!

L-R : Han Ghazi, MN, Matt Marzuki, Ibah

I’ve been planning my life the past few months that it drains me out a little bit. Spent a lot of time resolving a few issues. Wheww, looking at my cards I’m pretty scared to realize that there’s actually a lot of things to be done, to be accomplish, to be enjoyed before I hit the big three-oh.

It has been a slow but tough ride for me. There are quite a handful of great opportunities laid at my feet that sometimes I am totally clueless of which to pick. I missed to join the Singapore International Photography Festival due to lack of time to which i'm a bit frustrated of. 

Saturday, finally managed to put my energy into good use. MN, Han, Matt and I headed to Kuala Kubu Bharu for some street shooting. It felt good walking around the quiet town once again, greeting folks in between cursing my camera. I kept forgetting to check the white balance and for a minute, I thought I’ve lost the ability to remember anything. After slurping some chendol we headed to Han family’s farm not far from the pekan.

It’s huuuugeeee. Twas pretty adventurous getting there and we were greeted by three fierce dogs barking at us like mad. They were the big farm’s guardians, mind you. Had fun sightseeing around the ranch. Felt like a kid again feeding the goats and hopping on the tractor with MN who thinks that he’s a tractor driver.

Sunday, I got my ‘thang’ planned out well for MN’s advance birthday celebration. I felt totally overwhelmed with my own table setting. Uhuu. Here’s what I did for the simple, modern English table setting at the park:

1- blue table cloth (disposable)

2- white table runner

3- matching English-looking plates and cups (also disposable)

4- white lilies matched with orchids for the centrepiece

And as for the food, I served tea, tarts, cookies and cuppycakes and special Belgian chocolates added as a gift. I forgot the rose petals, sadly.

Han called in to invite us for dinner, as she wanted to cook the ikan talapia she bought from the farm. Still very much in my ‘party-planner-with-david tutera’ mood, I offered to do her dinner table and bring in dessert. MN did the napkin while I got the candles and potpourri ready. My goodness, the dinner was superb! It was just a simple meal for four but boy, that fish sure taste great! Sedapnya Han masak! By the time dinner is finished, Lyanna was mad (but happy) for having us stuffing her tummy good!

Thank you, Han!

My little time-lapse work for 24 KL Long Photos - A KLickr project would be showcasing in the Urbanscapes on Saturday. Something to brag about? Not really, i still am sad about the SIPF thingy. LOL. But the rest of the KLickr members had done a grrreat job for the project! Big round applause for everyone! Yayyy!

the photographer and the lighting man :P

clockwise: MN, ibah, Han Ghazi, Lyanna Johan

ipoh lai la!

My original theory of road trip was to do an economical outing somewhere on weekends to shoot and hunt for food. Eka came up with the idea of going for a photography trip and El suggested ‘Ipoh!’. I jumped up and down waiting for the big Sunday to come.

We planned it two weeks back.
First, it got cancelled.
Secondly, four people out of six bailed out due to work.

Nonetheless, my (now) faithful traveling companion agreed (if not pushed after got pinched miserably) to go ahead with the ipoh trip. We struggled to get out of bed and hit the road mid afternoon. We were terribly late but was too excited to worry about anything. Grabbed some burgers, we had lunch in the car to save time and with magic ball in hand, our concern on getting lost in ipoh suddenly became less. Hehe. The drive was pretty smooth without any traffic so I guess we were fortunate enough this time. We arrived in two hours time without much hassle.

Upon arrival, I nearly shoot myself in the head as I totally forgot about one thing: twas election month! Now now the colorful town of Ipoh was mottled with ugly BN and rocket banners and flags and signages.
I didn’t find it as a good opportunity for photography documentation, however. I don’t like politics, so. Anyhoo, we managed to find our way around for some good photography spots. For two really clueless road tripper with zero navigation, we did pretty well.


sometimes i can be utterly clueless. you know why?

Ipoh is pretty much a quiet town on Sunday with less traffic and people. Its not a popular tourist spot but for those who wanna go for a short trip, even tough I found this place a tad bit boring, I would certainly recommend Ipoh. My second time here, my early memories of this place is the beautiful colorful temples, greeny hills and the edgy looking hospital. I love the main street leading up to places. Could be confusing for a first timer but its totally hypnotic too! There is not much of high rise building around but there’s lots of terrace shoplots with beautiful colors and wooden doors which reminds me of Muar. Finding a place to park would be a breeze if not for MN kept on terbabas for one. We strolled around the street (me in my short and gold flat looking like a tourist bitch) and discovered that most of the shops here looked as if they have not been opened for a few hundred years. Very deadly!

The first big hint was to find interesting places as railways or temples and ipoh has a few great ones. First stop was the DR Senivasagam park but we didn’t last long as the mosquitoes attacked us like a plague. We headed to the Ipoh Railway Station and I found the architectural very cool! A combination of super gothic and Moorish design with a few extra modern superfluities attached to it. The compound compromises of the famous Ipoh tree, very welcoming. Opposite the railway building is a neocolonial style building of the City Hall. It’s a bad-ass white and I totally love it! Of course we managed to get a few snaps but twas only unlucky for us that by the time our lenses started to get the groove, it drizzled and the sky brewed us some heavy downpour.





(more pictures can be found in my flickr)

Ipoh is certainly on the tip of everyone’s tongue when food is the subject concern. We decided to have a quick dinner afterwards. Eateries are just everywhere so you can just picked. But then again, make sure you picked well. Right, my bad that I chose to eat a local malay food stall (because of the lovely chairs?) when I surely know I should find that famous Hor Fun, char kuey tiao and coffee! Warg. Okay lets not write more on that. Ze food is totally out out out!

I would like to go back to Ipoh again someday. I surely wanna stroll down the street yet again for more heritage buildings, the lost world of tambun for the climbing, and churches and temples! MN kept on saying ‘you’re wearing this so we cant really go in the temples’ so I think he was pretty mad about me wearing my spandex short.

Here’s a few things I’ve learnt so far:

Ib's happy tips:

Tip no 1- if you are bad with navigation like *cough* me, don’t be shy to stop at the local gas station to ask for directions.
Tip no 2- one of the best way to find great makan spot is to ask the locals. They sure know better. You can stop by at any local convenient store and ask the people at the counter. Be friendly and they will surely spill you the beans. One of the friendly girl I met told me to go to a place called Boloh where they serve great laksa but we didn’t manage to find it.
Tip no 3- I didn’t tell MN this when he suggested to head up to the museum but I do not know why I don’t fancy ‘em. Here’s what I thought: its better to be out there looking at the real world, chatting up with local folks and listen closely to what the surroundings wants to tell you than to get your education learnt inside a stuffy building. I can google up history and learn Socrates anytime. Okay, maybe I am not THAT intelligently educated so mind me, ya?
Tip no 4- you cant afford to fret your whole journey should there be any major or minor obstacles or else you wont have fun at all. So stay positive! You’ll miss the chance to discover things that might surprise you if you keep on frowning!
Tip no 5- bring along your sketches to doodle, some playing cards or chalks so you wont get bored. Chalks is MN’s fav thing; he wanted to conteng road with it. My fav is of course, my playing cards.
Tip no 6- I hate to say this but its true; always plan ahead and plan well. Unless you’re a crazy stinky mad road tripper like me who just don’t care much about anything.
Tip no 7- don’t go out traveling on an election month.

I’m moving on to either Muar or Penang for my next road trip. FOOOOD! I cant wait! Woooh!

For my travelogue project, I foresee myself not having a home. Well, I don’t have one for the past few years so its not bothering me to not have one right now. A great number of people, including the police who nearly gave me a ticket, had been pointing their fingers to my car in horror and yell a big OMG. Those who knows me personally, knows that I’ve been practically living inside my car. I am totally comfy with the idea that my teddy and luggage bag are my number one companion.

I have a few more little projects in hand to keep myself busy, so I need all the time in the world to get everything done. Travel, as I had mentioned earlier, is my biggest thing for 2008. Finding money comes second and I hope the small little jobs I got each month can help to fund my traveling trips. Helping MN with his photography work, my design jobs, website and what not are up on the list as well.

Travel, so far, has been incidental to lots of creative ideas that came on rolling like a snowball. I guess, fate has forced me out the door to see the world in a bigger perspective. Its easier to find your way out of a strange land then out of your own mind. No, I did not google this quote. Its my own. <--shit this could be a quote too. Hah.

Thursday, a few days back in KL and already I’m driving myself nuts with everyone here plus work. Gah! I realized that Malays love drama a lot, ey? I don’t know. I have a lot of other things to settle than to entertain any stupid messages. The last one came two days ago telling me some shyte to not disturb her life and that I could have his ex back.

I’m sorry but do I look like I give a crap?
God bless you people.

I just want to keep out of fights that is not mine. Not worth my time dealing with it.

Its nearing 2pm and I need to send my ride for service. I seriously need to change the cellophane that secured my side mirror from dangling. It made some happy little noise of late, ticking an indication that its gonna fall off soon. I don’t want to change it. It makes my ride looks so bad-ass and I *giggle* love when people question me about it.

‘Yo! Whats with the black cellophane tape on your side mirror?’

ha ha.