Been to the Auckland Museum during my trip to New Zealand last year. Its a pretty good museum with lots of displays from natural history to Maori culture and a war memorial (huh, NZ in war? Not quite, but they sent their people to join the British, duh).
And in that museum, I've come across the most disgusting display I've ever seen! Its around the natural history galleries, in the section called "Weird and Wonderful". There is a tank.... well, let the picture speak for itself.
There has been a wave of "What I think I do" posts on Facebook lately. There's been a nice one for doctors, which kinda can be applied to vets a bit. But not quite, so I created one!
Here you go, enjoy!
Remember sometime back when I posted about "Peace Poles"? Well, this time I've unexpectedly come across yet another Peace Pole.
This Peace Pole is situated in front of the YHA in Tongariro National Park, New Zealand. It is definitely an amazing place for a Peace Pole, very scenic with the mountain range in the background and definitely a very peaceful place to be!
Where else will I find my next Peace Pole?
Travelling across New Zealand you'll take in all the scenery. Beautiful mountains, lakes, forests, hills and animals. And then it confuses you when they throw this into the middle of the town!
Finally found a Wat for this blog… meet temple Vat Sop!!
Visit it in Luang Prabang, Laos. :)
There’s a thing called “That Dam” in Laos. I kid you not.
Its a stupa of some sort. “That” means stupa, so its literally called a “Dam stupa”! Anyway, its not a remarkable monument. In fact its just a small roundabout.
There’s something I like about this picture. First time really trying to play with camera settings to make the afternoon sun look very dark :)
If you enter into Wat Po, there’s a little counter where you can donate money and write your name/wish/message on a tile that they would use for renovating this temple.
You write it down with pencil that they provide on the table.
But then, you walk a little bit, around the tree, and you see this guy doing this…
Uh huh! He’s washing the tiles so that they can use it again! Seesh, at least take some effort to hide it somewhere further away from the table lah. But that aside, Wat Po is still worth visiting.
Its been 2 years since I started working in Bangkok. Being back in KL after that time, even when I’m back every few months, there are certain changes that I noticed.
In an earlier trip back home, while queuing up at the duty free in the airport (LCCT), the lady behind me produced this stack of money to pay. At first I thought she was trying to pay in Chinese Yuan. But after a close look, what do you know, we now have new RM 50 notes!
Other things I noticed is that there are lots of developments in the outskirts areas. New shopping malls, new housing estates, new high-rises, new highways. So many new ‘happening’ places that I have not heard before. Even familiar places becomes a bit alien. Imagine me telling people, “yes, I know that place”, but after further details I realise I know none of the new landmarks, buildings or roads (except for “Bali” – apparently that reference is still used even if that place has been burnt down 10 years ago). The city is growing - where did all these extra people come from?!?!
Road rage is definitely more prominent than ever. It is becoming a norm that people describe incidences of violence on the road and how drivers try to pull over other drivers to give them a piece of their mind. I always say that Malaysians have split personality while driving (me included), even the most docile person will turn into a foul swearing monster behind the wheel. Nothing much is being done to upgrade our public transport, so more and more people are forced to drive their cars, even with the escalating price of petrol. And KL is definitely more jam than ever (and I forget how stressful it is until I am stuck in one!). Is it really surprising that there is road rage?
More people are speaking English – Malay, Chinese, Indians – more people in KL are just speaking better English these days.
Inflation is horrible. All prices go up. I realise a simple lunch costing more than RM 5 is normal these days (before I left, RM 5 was a bit extravagant). While in Bangkok the prices remain about the same despite the global economic crisis, simple lunch there still costs not more than RM 3. Our currency is being devalued, but does your salary remain the same?? Another thing, I know that the 1 sen coin has been discontinued, but I was surprised when nobody now cares to return your 5 sen change anymore. What is happening to the value of the Ringgit?
Politics – ah, how to summarise this? After the GE 08, each time I read the news its like one of those HK drama series. You never know how the plot twists and you’re always looking forward to the next episode to know what happened. At least people are now more questioning.
Anyway, I’m now back in the land where the switches are terbalik.
Left side is on, right side is off. Confusing huh? (I still am after 2 years!)
Back in 2008, my office building management always leaves the rooftop doors open. So, once a while we will sneak up there to take a break from mundane work. Our building is 22 storeys and one of the highest around this area, so we do get quite a good view from up there.
But nowadays its always locked. I guess it must be due to the silly things we did up there…
The artist’s rendition of a new World Trade Tower in New York. Notice something only Asians do when posing for photos? (yeah, I’m trying hard not to do it too often!)
While in Bohol, Philippines, I took the chance to see around the island. At one point, I jumped on this boat ride up the river. This was the sign on the boat.
But then, sometime later, the boat kind of went to the side towards this little shed by the river. It stopped here for a while, so we can see kids dance and collect donations…
Why do they always contradict themselves?
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