May 11, 2008
monk robes at luang prabang
posted by nyx at 5:18 PM | images travelling | comments (0)
May 5, 2008
another laos update
took a slow boat down the mekong river today. sounds awfully romantic doesnt it? well, the river is pretty murky. and slow wasn't too slow either, the boat was powered by a motor. it still had an evocative quality, the slow cruise.
we got tomorrow roughly planned - wake up at dawn to witness the morning monk alm procession. then leave on the first bus for vang vien, where we should be till friday.
that's all for now. got lots of awesome pics, am excited about making a new travelogue!
posted by nyx at 9:55 PM | travelling | comments (0)
May 4, 2008
sabai dee from luang prabang
sleeping in bus stations waiting for the night bus, crawling like indiana jones in buddha park, getting baked in the plain of jars, cycling freely among the tranquil streets of luang prabang, stalking bright orange robed monks, sipping beer lao by the mekong river.
i am loving laos so far. be back with pictures soon.
posted by nyx at 6:27 PM | travelling | comments (0)
April 25, 2008
i want change
posted by nyx at 11:54 AM | images | comments (0)
April 23, 2008
for anyone who has played zelda before
posted by nyx at 8:39 AM | music | comments (0)
April 22, 2008
more mario theme madness
posted by nyx at 8:53 AM | music | comments (0)
mario theme - flute & beatbox (super killer combo)
posted by nyx at 8:48 AM | music | comments (0)
April 16, 2008
mario theme - by a car and some bottles
posted by nyx at 1:27 PM | music | comments (0)
March 10, 2008
my favourite ceramahs
posted by nyx at 8:31 AM | malaysia | comments (4)
March 9, 2008
makkal sakthi
what happened last night is equivalent to a tight whip cracking on bn's ass, and it's stinging. it's history in the making. the rakyat are clearly dissatisfied with the way they have been ruling and the rakyat are slamming their fists down hard. the delicious keywords i found in today's papers - political tsunami, winds of change. shivers down my spine. the next four years, suffice to say, will be an interesting one for malaysia.
posted by nyx at 8:43 AM | malaysia | comments (0)
March 8, 2008
to those voting today, vote wisely
posted by nyx at 12:53 PM | malaysia | comments (0)
February 12, 2008
a moment
there are days i am convinced my friends would lay down their life for me. the fact that i am worth such fierce loyalty, is powerful.
posted by nyx at 4:35 PM | personal | comments (12)
February 10, 2008
all my bags are (un)packed....
my last night at home. all came out to play - my friends, my brother and his girlfriend, a cousin and an aunt. we were at a lounge, a revolving restaurant. the ambiance was mellow and soft. the city that i love spun below us.
our laughter was so loud it become invasive - filling up empty spaces, taking over the pub. a night so rich with merriment always makes it harder to leave the next day. and here i am, hours away from my flight, staring at the stuff i have yet to pack.
my visit home was filled with the usuals - concerned family members who berate me for coming home only once a year, the few close friends whom i try to see as much as possible while i'm back, my beloved brother whose presence i miss constantly while i'm away.
maybe i'll make another visit home this year.
i've been pampered by my friends. they've been chauffeuring me around, and the roads of kk has changed. i dont think i know how to navigate my way without getting confused. as i stepped down from the car yesterday, while bidding my bestest buddies goodbye - i wondered how many times i'll see them again in the coming year.
i then realised that my grandparents hold that very same thought for me.
posted by nyx at 7:15 AM | personal | comments (1)
February 8, 2008
happy chinese new year!
typing this really quickly while waiting for my family members to get ready. we're heading back to my mum's hometown today, and i will be there all day - gambling, eating, gossiping. i will break away from all that in the afternoon - my uncle heads a lion dance troupe, and i like trailing them from house to house, with my camera.
its too bright and too hot. every morning i get shocked by the brightness of the sun. i've been eating too much - and it really isn't chinese new year if you're not stuffed to the max with food.
i grew up getting to know many interesting animals in my grandfather's house. he loves hunting. and he always comes back with weird pets. mostly because he shot the mother and found the babies. this year it was a flying fox. an awfully adorable, affectionate flying fox! i love eating their meat which has a very intense gamey taste. but after bonding with this little fellow, i no longer can eat them.
time to go, gotta dash. happy chinese new year all!
posted by nyx at 8:38 AM | personal | comments (2)
February 5, 2008
i'm home but hardly at home
in my last post i forgot to mention the night orchestra - serenades from the cicadas around my house. mmmm.
i only have the mornings to myself. come lunch, the four of us would roam around town, ticking off the food-to-eat-back-home list. afternoons would be spent in some cafes, whiling the time away in each other's company, talking, reading, laughing, planning for the next day. dinner - another food scramble. then home for a quick shower. the nights are dedicated to drinking.
life of a regular social butterfly.
it's hot in kk. the brilliance of the sun is overwhelming. the heat gets into your bones. everything seems so illuminated, and intense. i need the quiet early mornings to take this in before the swirl of the day sweeps me up.
speaking of which, here comes my ride. gotta dash!
posted by nyx at 12:31 PM | personal | comments (1)
February 3, 2008
home sweet home
home is always the best. there are simple, quiet things that i miss, the intangibles that are absent in my current manic city life. things like having the sunlight on your face as you're showering. my bathroom at home, has a little window right above the shower head. as i tilt my face up, eyes closed, rinsing the shampoo off, i can feel the light play its little dance upon my eyelids.
waking up to proper birdsongs - melodic twitterings. not the city's pigeons or crows, but magpies, burung pipit, some yellow breasted bird, the polite black and white bird.
the shock of green everytime i step out of my bedroom. green leaves, green trees, green grass, green green green. the blueness of the skies. the vivid sunsets.
the stars at night.
i have ten days of this.
posted by nyx at 11:33 AM | personal | comments (1)
January 17, 2008
how cool is shipment tracking @ dhl.com.my
posted by nyx at 9:35 AM | personal | comments (3)
January 15, 2008
while driving home today...
sometimes it's really nifty to have a camera with you at all times (this was taken with my mobile). today as i was driving through the after-work traffic, i saw a bunch of hawkers rush out. they were running away from the authorities, i think. it's a pretty novel sight. they too, got stuck in traffic.
posted by nyx at 10:03 PM | images | comments (4)
January 10, 2008
new passion
i am completely and utterly addicted to lo-fi toy cameras. yes - i am back to film photography. i am absolutely in love with the surprise it gives me, the anticipation of an undeveloped film and the delightful imperfection in the images produced by these toy cameras. my passion in photography has revived. and i am fooling around with lomo cameras.
what i love is the philosophy behind it. "bad photography" becomes art. light leaks, distortion, unrealistic colours, soft focus, vignetting - bring it on. be vibrant! shoot without thinking! capture life in motion. use expired film! take risks! embrace the unexpected!
each roll of film holds multiple gasps and oh-my-gawd moments. i love it! its no longer about what you see, its about what you feel. stop rationalizing, start feeling.
posted by nyx at 11:41 AM | personal | comments (1)
January 7, 2008
you know you got bitten by the travel bug BAD when....
flying back kk for ten days during chinese new year. i found myself thinking whether i should purchase travel insurance....then it hit me. i am going HOME.
posted by nyx at 3:38 PM | personal | comments (4)
January 4, 2008
a random thought
it is speculated that genghis khan's male descendants could number up to 16 million.
sixteen million males. that, to put it mildly, is startling. he is definitely the alpha male of alpha males. as i digested that number, my imagination exploded.
imagine this - a family reunion. let's just take half his lineage, 8 million families. from all across the earth coming together. yes families. imagine how dramatic it would be to make a movie about 8 million families travelling back to mongolia for a large gathering. it would be a mini mass migration across lands. it would be like mountains moving together.
imagine the reunion took place before we had modern transportation - and they had to travel on foot, on ship, on horses, on camels, on caravans across the vast lands of central asia. dramatic.
staggering. i can't even begin to fathom 16 million families.
i wonder if his blood is in me.
posted by nyx at 9:29 AM | curiosities | comments (15)
a snippet of conversation
her : what about you, are you like your parents?
me : well...i am a bit of both, i think
her : how so?
me : well.....i tell jokes like my dad, and laugh like my mum, sometimes
her : hey that's a good combi, coz am sure your dad tells a lot of jokes, then your mum laughs
posted by nyx at 8:47 AM | personal | comments (1)
January 1, 2008
the first 2008 entry
why do so many people begin the year intoxicated? :D
as the clock struck midnight we were wild - screaming, dancing, hugging and ready to take on 2008. i looked at my friends - the people that i celebrate almost any and every occasion with. we've stuck by each other for a good seven years. separately we're pretty normal, but together - we're just dysfunctional, loud, offensive and lewd. this works for us. and having them validates some goodness in me. it feels like i'm worth something, having people who will stick by me no matter what. chosen family.
my first post for this year shall be dedicated to you all - you know who you are. a toast - may whatever mojo that keeps us together continue keeping us together.
posted by nyx at 9:27 PM | personal | comments (3)
daydreamer
posted by nyx at 9:21 PM | music | comments (0)
December 31, 2007
summing up 2007
i find no better way to sum my year up than through my own writings. so ladies and gentleman, here it is:
wrote up a chinese new year lion dance series (which continues to attract a lot of hits, someone even linked me up at wiki.
- the origin of chinese lion dance
- the different types of lions in chinese lion dance
- the etiquette of lion dancing
i talked about turtle conservation.
made travel plans for burma but changed to nepal instead.
splurged on phantom of the opera and came back totally invigorated.
i wrote about how packing satisfies something in me and headed off to chiang mai for a songkran festival (and had a wild time!!).
flew off to nepal and fell devastatingly in love with it.
popped into bali for a quick trip.
attended the rainforest world music festival's 10th year anniversary.
appeared in the local paper - an entire page! revived my love for photography and experimented with some bokeh techniques.
created three travelogues - chiang mai, nepal and bali.
for the first time, my reading diet was entirely non-fiction (apart from murakami), largely travel literature.
in retrospect, i did have quite a year....:) 2007 was very good for the heart.
happy new year everyone :)
posted by nyx at 3:11 PM | personal | comments (4)
