Ending the 4 days trip in Bali

The last 2 days of the trip on Bali paradise island. We went for water rafting in a river of which I could not recall the name now. I have the tendency of having a hard time to recall name of places these days. That is really bad. How should I pick up a language then if my memory is that bad! OucHh! Anyway, for this water rafting that we had, my personal comment, view was really good due to the resorts they had along the river. Challenges, I almost wanted to say 'none'. On second thought, there was a lil'. After all, this was my second time of water rafting and the first one, had it in Sg Padas of which is much fun and not over commercialised. Perhaps, the one we had in Bali was rather commercialised.


After the water rafting, we were back on our journey for... shopping! Gee... for me, it's really too much of shopping I must say. On top of that, at least 90% of the things were repetitive. Hence, does not really fancy the shopping session. We dropped by in Tanah Lot, and there goes another massive shopping session. Whew... Anyway, there were many different experiences in each of these places. Earlier in Ubud, it wasn't a good place to bargain and ended up not buying for you'll get some really bad looking faces or worse still, scolding... whoops! As for other places we go later, the locals were much better and friendly. such as Sukawati. Bargain all you want! In fact, I happen to be in about 1 or 2 stalls which do not require any further bargain. Because they simply offer the best price, of which my cousins had to bargain for more than 10 minutes for the same price. In fact, when I buy more, they gave me discount without having me to ask! I do miss that 2 stalls for they were really nice people.

Now, on the 3rd night, first taste of nasi padang in Bali. We were there late, hence, most of the dishes were gone! Little choice, yet, I still enjoy it. Nasi Padang has always been one of my most favoured food ^.^ And not to be forgotten, they have Factory Outlet Sales next door and the discount was up to 85% for all branded sport goods! Well, I didn't buy.. Yup, I didn't. Had too limited time to have a thorough look on the displayed.. it was already 9.30pm when we managed to enter the outlets. Now, we were rushing to our new sleeping place, the Ellie's place.

It was indeed a great place! Quiet and pleasant! They served wonderful breakfast alongside with melodious music... I couldn't agree more that it was a great place to lie down and have a good nap or read a book! That, I call the best way to be back to yourself, a moment of self-reflection ^.^

Over the last day, we checked out and had our very first walk in Kuta area. And voila, it's shopping time again. I did not buy anything and simply walked and walked and walked and walked... But... I had an ice-cream... the hazelnut with rum! It was incredibly tasty! I wish I get to taste it again... yum... no, this shouldn't be the right sound for it. It should be 'sluRp'! ^.^

Later, we headed for massage and SPA. One thing to take note on, 1 hour massage is never enough! Do not restrict your massage hour! Maximised it... at least 2 hours is a must for a good and relaxing massage. As for the SPA, not much of comment. Perhaps the scrubbing was good... can still feel the softness on my skin now.. after 2 days ^.^ But I guess at current time, I enjoy the massage better than the SPA ^.^

The massage and SPA somehow marked the end of our journey in Bali for this round. And some personal thought to chip in... as we travelled over the island where most call her a paradise... I had a moment of self-reflection.

I saw uncountable masterpiece on the island and all these, were produced with perfect passion! However, they were not sold at an any much higher price, comparing to some 'masterpieces' that were well recognised, with their creators' name on.

Was it mainly because there were mass production although each of them were supposed to be unique in their own way, that the value were ceased? Many did mentioned that art is priceless! When it comes to places like Indonesia where many beautiful artwork produced, the people behind these were forgotten... at most of the time. I find myself to be one of the many who behaved the same. At this particular moment, I learn that at most time, I've been complacent too. I complained and judged, but I sometimes forgotten to reflect it on my own. It's good to have a moment of self reflection... indeed.

People behind these art shall deserve a good respect from me... if not us. I learn to appreciate every single tiny thing I encounter, once more... Thank you, Bali ^.^

Day 2 in Bali

Day 2 in Bali. Apparently, 2 hours after updating the post of Day 1, we were awoke again for the very great morning! Three hours of driving from Kuta to Lovina, northern of Bali for... Dolphins and sunrise! That three hours just happened to be our sleeping time in the car all the way throughout the bumpy roads. Seriously, if we were to be sold to somewhere else, I guess we wouldn't have know it for we were sleeping like a baby.

When we were there, and here we come! The sunrise, the dolphins! I recalled that we used to be taught on the right word to describe a group of dolphins... now, dear teacher, I can make a very good use of the word for the very first time. I saw many schools of dolphins! Oops, did I use the word in the right way? I really can't say that I saw a school of dolphins for we really saw many dolphins everywhere this morning! On the surface of the sea water and right beneath our boats as well. It was great!

What more after the sunrise and dolphins? Breakfast of course! Simple yet filling American Breakfast and English Breakfast. By the way, the orange juice we had was rather salty. One, we asked for orange juice without sugar. Two, we suspected that it was salty due to the water source which could be from the sea ^.^ We don't know for we didn't ask.

Next, we headed to Kintamani for the volcano mountain view. Simply good ^.^ And... before that, this morning from 5.30am onwards till noon about 2.00pm, I was still walking on my barefoot! Haha... ooh well.. that's an insane thing to do. When we visited the garden where we can get Luak Coffee, the walking paths were filled with sharp tiny stones everywhere. Phews... sweat! ^.^

Finally after that, I manage to get a new pair of slippers. Finally...

Next thing, we were in Ubud and had our lunch. I was having my own share of lunch at Bumbu Bali while my companions were trying out the Babi Guling dishes next door. Ain't too sure how it tasted, again, but the outlet was incredibly crowded!~ As for my side, simple and nice vegetarian dish with jackfruit and tempe. That dish was really good and... I'm missing it now.

After the lunch, there goes our whole evening! Shopping! Lots of thing to be packed now. So, guess I shall keep things posted tomorrow evening (if there is wifi available in the hotel we are going to check in tomorrow). Else, let's catch up later when all of use are back in Malaysia ^.^ Ooh by the way, it's another adventure tomorrow! Water rafting! ^.^

P/s: Monkeys are all over my sane mind now... goSh... ^.^

Day 1 in Bali

Right, we've touched down in Bali! Our first day and we were greeted by a great local tour, Casena. Apparently, some of us missed his name and called him Caseno accidentally ^.^

Now, for day 1, we checked in to Almaris Hotel in Legian. It's a decent and new hotel, this is the 6th month of its operation, as what Casena told us. Well, this round, as usual, wasn't completely planned on what, where and when! But, everything turns out perfectly good up to now.

After checking in, we headed to Padang Padang beach where the movie 'Eat, Pray, Love' has taken its shot here. This was the place where Julia Roberts was seen having a great party night on the paradise island. Basically, those huts we saw in the movie were built mainly for the movie. After the shooting, everything was taken off. Thus, they are not available there anymore.

However, many people are heading to this very beach which had appeared on the cinema screens many months before this. I guess about 95% of the visitors are foreigners, including ourselves. Except that we weren't there with our bikinis but about 90% were there with their bikinis and sun bathing. Ooh yes, many were doing the surfing there as well. How I wish I am doing that too!

Next, we headed to Pura Uluwatu from there. Here, we grabbed a quick snack food, the local satay! It's made of pork. Well, it contains the pork and liver as well. Don't ask me how it tastes, if you have ever had a meal with me, you know that I can't have meat in my mouth ^.^ But I saw everyone was enjoying the food ^.^ So, it must be good.

And there we go, entering the temple area! No shorts, but cloth was provided to cover all those who were in shorts or hot pants. This place was filled with monkeys. No intention to feed any of the monkeys, but I must admit, they are much alike a human, they have naturally gelled hairstyle! Phew! Cool!

Before we entered, we were warned that no earings, no necklace, simply, no anything to enter this area. Yes, we were warned! It offers a wonderful sunset view over the cliffs... but what do you know next? One of the many handsome monkeys hugged my leg, and my natural reaction was to kick the monkey away, and the next thing... when I lifted my leg, the monkey pulled off my slipper! Argh!! Now, I don't get the slipper back anymore. So, I decided to leave the other side of my slipper there. Tips here, no shining, shimmering, fancy stuffs to enter this area! Don't put yourself at risk! Eew... why would a monkey hug me? "-_- For the sake of the shining deco on my slippers! Good job! Now I really fall in love with the monkeys... And so, I was walking on bare foot from 6pm to 11pm today ^.^

Before we leave the place, we saw another monkey catching a toad and played with it. How? The monkey actually squeezed the toad and pulled its leg! We thought the monkey was trying to tear the toad into parts.. but it wasn't. Casena was telling us that the monkey was playing with the toad. Indeed, when the monkey let the toad go, the toad stayed there and not moving anywhere. I was saying, perhaps this is the way that the toad loved to be stretched and massage... well, we must agree that human is not the only living being who enjoyed worldly stuffs these days :P

Final destination of day 1, Jimbaran for seafood! Wonderful night view and ambiance for a romantic dinner! I couldn't agree more to this! Ain't cheap but it's a great place for a dinner on the beach with waves and cooling wind, fine sand... simply back to nature ^.^

Alright, I guess I could have written more. But, will just have to put a stop at the moment. Will have to wake up in about 2 hours for a long journey on dolphin watching activity tomorrow morning. Cheers friends ^.^

Brand new week and coming brand new year!~

Dear XXXXX,

To whoever it is. We have touched down to the 10th month of the year 2010 and it seems that time really passes fast. No one can really predict what will happen next. Right, you may say GOD could predicts. In fact, GOD does not predict, GOD plans!

At current moment, we really do need to appreciate rather than holding grudge. At times, I thought I'm rational enough to control my emotion. But it isn't. I allow my emotion to control me instead. This is not the right thing to do. Yet, I allow it to. Merely because I didn't want to think too much. Until someone stood up to me and tell me, "Hey, Fiona, are you out of your mind?!"

And there goes my answer, "Why?"

It's a neverending process if we would prefer to take grudge on people. In fact, Buddha, the great teacher taught us to not clinging to any uncertainty happening or things. The Lord Jesus, or the Great Allah told us to be rational and understanding the living's right. Everything happens for a reason.

So do you and me. We are here for a reason. If we do not know it today, we shall know it the next second for we must be here for a cause and an effect. In Buddhism term, it's called 'karma'.

Whatever term it is, it is actually referring to the same thing. Remember a story by a Zen master?

Let's recall right now.

Situation: Gentleman A, B and C are looking onto a cup of tea.

Gentlemen A, B and C: Wow... this drink is really good... not tastless like a glass of plain water. Yet, not harmful like other sugar-added drinks!

Gentleman A: This is actually 'cha' (in Chinese)
Gentleman B: No-no, this is 'teh' (in Malay)
Gentleman C: Both of you are wrong. This is actually the 'tea' (in English)

And so, the Master Zen who observed the whole incident voiced out:

Gentlemen, please cool down. All of you are right. Be it 'cha', 'teh' or 'tea' or anything else... aren't we referring to the same thing? Why do we have to argue over a thing we know it's the same... just that the names are different.

It is really mind opening. We always quarrel or argue over a minor thing on who's right or wrong. But when it comes to the conclusion, we are actually referring to the same thing whereby it's only the words we use to describe it is different. At the end of the day, it function exactly the same. Why don't we stop arguing and focus on the productivity?

After all, the human race mentioned that human race will never learn from HISTORY. We are only REPEATING IT! That's not the reality. Rather than misunderstanding others, why don't we put aside the 'misunderstanding' and start 'UNDERSTANDING' each other instead?

Is it still a contradiction?

Looking into this, are we living on behalf of others perspective or on behalf of our own?

Try to think about it... when someone is telling us, "You don't look good in that outfit", from a stranger, how would you react?

i. I care so much over what I heard and make an immediate improvement over it, looking forward for a positive comment from anyone

ii. I didn't even consider that a matter and go on with my day

iii. Or simply, "Hey you, what has it got to do with you?"

Perhaps that's the same thing that happens to us most of the time. When our friends are claiming that we are amazing, silly, nerd etc... it's still up to us on how would we like to react. Now that human should realise that every individual is unique and there it no 100% match of similarity, not even identical twins.

We have our rights to comment at most time but seriously, we do not expect it to actually change another's world, completely. Up to this day, there are still part of the human nation who would favour the 'superiority' over their status by getting control over somebody else's life. It is true... this happen at most of the time, without one realising it, at all.

Not a typical year end, but an amazing one!

Right... it was't a typical way to end the year of 2009! The moment when everyone else was busy to secure themselves a place for countdown, I was somehow still driving my car from Kuala Terengganu back to Kuantan... Departed from 9.00pm and voilà, was back at home right at 00:00:00 of 01.01.2010!

The first thing I did in 01.01.2010 was to was my dearie car... been working real hard for several days...

So, I shall declare that I've completed my year 2009 with yet another new experience... having spent up to 16 hours of time in a cold room of the temperature in between -18°C to -22°C... between frozen food and hardened ice-cream... phew! One of the new exploration before the year end... great!~ Somehow, felt my fingers hardened and turned real red when I was in the ice-cream cold room... anyway, was grateful that we also have supportive colleague to help out with our mission - stock check! Haha... without them, I think many of us would have fainted right in front of the cold room... freezing cold!~ As well as the supportive team to make things happen... we are looking forward for up to 99.9% of stock accuracy in this year! ^^

Amani

"Amani, nakupenda nakupenda wewe, tunataka wewe"
-Peace, I love you, I love you, you, we want you, you-
quoted from http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=501705

The news had just reported on yet another gun shooting incident in Africa causing an eight-year-old child to have lost his clarity in speech, to have to breathe without a nose, and unability to lead a normal life where every child deserved to.

What did the history teach us human nation? Haven't we realise what life is all about? I told myself not to make comparison from one to another because every life is unique and everyone has their own destiny.

But all that have come to my six senses (touch, see, smell, taste, listen and FEEL) are telling me, I am so lucky... for I do not fight for food, I do not steal to feed, I do not hide for safety, and most importantly, I do not struggle to live.

What makes me wonder right now, when someone on the earth is actually fighting for food, stealing to feed, hiding for safety and struggling to live... I see many who are fighting NOT TO EAT (finishing own portion of food served) for wanting a fabulous shape, stealing NOT TO FEED but to satisfy the wilderness within self, hiding NOT FOR SAFETY but to avoid responsibility and reality, and most importantly, struggling NOT TO LIVE but to being above everyone else by hurting or killing.

How often do we appreciate PEACE or should I say AMANI?

At certain time, I may recall some incidents reported in media and start questioning "what if it happens to me?" Will I actually be as strong as I think I would? As calm as I think I could?

Nevertheless, several people from the hall of fame has succeeded into delivering important message to the human nation. One of the must be the late Michael Jackson. Regardless what people may be thinking of about him, one thing I can be sure of, he showed the world how important it is to start proctecting our mother nature... our future generations' future. Anyone get to recall the 'Earth Song'? Or the MTV shown? No? How about 'Heal the World'?

Next would be the late Wong Ka Kui, a member of a famous band named Beyond. Apparently, I learnt the word AMANI from one of the songs.

Like it or not, each and everyone of us are definitely connected in one way or more. When one is hurt in any way, it will definitely be felt by another in some other way.

At this moment, you may feel great for taking a revenge on a person you hated. But do you realise that you may be the person who feel sorry in return? I happen to learn about this, HATE's best friend will always be GRIEVE.

Some may say it hard, and some may even say it impossible, but why don't we try? There's no harm trying... after all, there's something hidden in the word impossible... if we want to... we could have read it as I'M POSSIBLE.

Assessment... Kino... Gombak Toll... Skytrex... Kuantan

Right... took a day leave to KL for some kind of assessment on Friday... wanted to go to KL merely for Skytrex at first. But received a call a week before, so, took a leave on Friday. Been spending one whole day in KL, Serdang and Sri Petaling on Friday. Eventually, have to leave Sri Petaling within 30 minutes because was rushing to Gombak Toll to send something to another friend before 11pm. There goes my whole Friday.. gee... Anyway, I managed to get me something from Kino... 2 books which I hope I get to finish them real soon. Been keeping too many books since the beginning of the year... phew... but, at least did finish half of the piles... not bad I guess ^^

Here comes Saturday! Yoohoo... I'm back in Skytrex after two years! Here I come, Extreme Challenge! Hihi... Cacamon and Yanni didn't make it so, two of my cousins joined instead - Jane Sai Hui and Jane Win Nie. Haha... we had a great time there though. Anyway, I miss the big net so much! I still couldn't stop myself from repeating this as I wanted to take up the big net challenge so much! It's my all time favourite! Apart from the flying fox of course...

Have met Julien and Pakku... not Nana this time.. Cacamon and I both agreed that Pakku is more handsome compared to two years ago! Don't get much chance to talk to the both of them this time round. Hopefully there'll be chances to talk to them more soon ^^

And Sunday... make a move from KL at 9am and here I am right now... photos posting time! ^^

http://picasaweb.google.com/yingsim85/SkytrexAdventure#

Human ain't robot

Human are lucky as we are always given 'options'. How can we actually compare a human with a robot and vice-versa, a robot with a human? Robot will never be given any option, be it for the robot or for others.

We may somehow categorize a human as a robot when his/her life seems robotic. Repetitive of following: wake up, breakfast, work, lunch, work, dinner, sleep and it goes on the same till the day the person got fed up.

Well... seriously, this really depends on how an individual handles it. We, H.U.M.A.N, are always provided with options. It's just a matter of whether we value the options given/available.

Australian town bans bottled water - Times Online

Australian town bans bottled water - Times Online

Shared via AddThis

Again, it's time to re-calculate our carbon footprint!

My result from http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx:

Your footprint is 3.13 tonnes per year
The average footprint for people in Malaysia is 7.00 tonnes
The average for the industrial nations is about 11 tonnes
The average worldwide carbon footprint is about 4 tonnes
The worldwide target to combat climate change is 2 tonnes

I guess I'm doing better than 2 years ago now ^^ Perhaps I've miscalculated something? Anyway, the most important thing is to do the most we can ^^