Nowadays EC bloggers has been sprouting like mushrooms. This is good news for EC. It means so many members are sharing their views, stories and just anything on earth. I love reading blogs in EC, well except maybe poems. But it peeves me when I read a very interesting blog and found out it's taken from another site(s) and written by someone else without proper citation by EC blogger(s). 

When I read a wonderful blog, I would feel amazed that such blogger could come up with fantastic view/writing. But sometimes, a simple word or sentence would trigger something in me which prompted me to check through the wonder of internet about that particular sentence. 

It saddened me when my instinct about the blog turned out to be true. It was taken from someone's else writing. I feel cheated. Something too good to be true was really turned out to be a plagiarized work. 

Most of us in here are English learners. I don't think anyone expect us to write a perfectly written English blog. We are learners after all, so it's common to make a mistake or two or millions in our blogs, though we should learn from those mistakes. We should not be embarrassed to write a blog in our own words, but we should totally be ASHAMED for taking someone else ideas and writing and presented it as our own work.

Don't cheat your friends and EC members. Be honest! Don't plagiarize!

Cheers.

This is my second attempt in writing a blog based on Expector's Writing Challenge. I was not too happy with my previous blog; A Weathered Old Lady which I think I didn't answer the challenge properly.

The bespectacled, studious, reed-thin young man was so absorbed in his writing that he seemed totally oblivious to the fact that the balmy weather was turning into one big, vicious thunderstorm. He has been writing non stop since that day. It was like his very existence depended on him finishing the untold and gripping story. Once in a while he would comb his tousled, wavy hair with his fingers. 

Suddenly, he stopped. It was like his full attention was jerked out of him. His body became erect and alert. His blurry, red eyes swept through his surrounding. It was as if he just noticed the bare, small white room with a double-bed tucked in the corner. He took a deep cleansing breath and exhaled deeply. His body became relaxed. He took off his slightly askew glasses and rubbed his tired reddish eyes.

He closed his thick, black, nondescript note book and caressed it gently and lovingly with his fingers. He knew he had finished writing the story of that beautiful, gentle departed soul of the old lady with the piercing eyes. He was relieved. 

Slowly he stood up and walked to the small, rectangular, wooden, two-leafs window in front of him. He looked towards the stormy, rough sea. It was churning big powerful waves which pounded the beach. The big, vicious thunderstorm had abated and all he could hear was their rumbling echoes from the distant. 

He was not sure when he would write the beautiful yet painful memoir of the old lady into his computer. He was not even sure he would send it to his editor and get it published. But he was glad that he found his long lost Grandmother against all odds and against all objections from his parents.

This blog is dedicated to Luci for making me hide behind the big, beautiful Christmas tree. To Mr. Bob who is trying his best to show and guide me through my many mistakes. And last but not least, to Expector Smith for making me think harder. Expector, I hope I did a little bit better than my previous blog. LOL. Thank you guys. I really appreciate it. :) :)

I used to watch the white haired old lady sitting on her rustic rocking chair with a vacant look on her face. Her weathered and wrinkled face looked so sad. Sometimes I noticed her gnarled hand would tremble ever so slightly. Other times, I noticed that she would grip the rocking chair as if her life depended on it. Once in a blue moon, she would break into a little smile. Her little chuckles were so rare, as rare as hen's teeth. 

I wondered what her story was. I bet she had endured so much in her life, the beautiful, the bad and the ugly sides of it. 

One sunny day, I decided to approach her. I took a deep long breath, and cautiously approached her. I was surprised when she looked at me with clear and piercing eyes. She didn't say anything, but stared back to the yonder with a sad little smile. I don't know what to say, so decided not to say anything. I sat with her for the next soothing hour. The silence was deafening, yet at the same time calming. All I could hear was the happy chirping noise of birds and the melodic sounds of the waves that pounded the beach.

From that day onward, I would spend my free time with the old lady. I noticed her face would light up when she saw me, but so far she never say anything. 

"Why are you spending your valuable time with a cranky old lady?" she surprised me one day with that question. Her raspy voice quite loud in the silence of day. It's like it's been some time since she talked to anyone. I didn't know what to answer to that. So I just let it go for awhile. How could I say to her that she fascinated me? How could I tell her that her every wrinkle that is etched on her face has a story written on it?

"You fascinate and intrigue me. I want to hear your story. I am sure you have seen and done so much in your life that nothing fazes you anymore". After the longest pregnant pause, finally I told her the truth. 

"Hmmmm.... nosy young man". That was all the short answer I got that rainy day. However on my next visit, she asked me, "What do you want to know?". That was the start of our daily lively conversations. Sometimes she talked non-stop and other times, she would look too melancholic, so that I had to prod the story from her. I took notes on her story in my little note book.

Lately I noticed that her health was fading. She looked small and more fragile than usual. "Are you okay today? We can just sit here and do nothing" I said. "Are you getting bored with this grumpy old lady, young man?" She asked jokingly, in between wrecking cough. I handed her a glass of warm water and told her that she would never bore me. 

That beautiful day, she talked in earnestly about many things. It was like she wanted to tell me all her life story while she still could. When I wanted to take my leave, her small weathered and wrinkled hand hold me tightly and a bit longer. She looked at me with her piercing eyes but with a sad smile. "Thank you young man for making this old lady life more beautiful every day. You make me look back with fondness rather than regret. You make me smile with happiness rather than bitterness. I wish you all the best in your life". I didn't say anything. I can't say anything. I was chocking with emotion. 

The next day it was gloomy, when I saw an empty rocking chair where the old lady used to sit, I know that she had left. I sat on the rustic rocking chair, and smile sadly while looking at the blue yonder. I let the gentle wind caress my tears, and the sounds of crashing waves drown my sorrow. 

Some time in the middle of October this year, I had to travel to Sandakan, Sabah for a business meeting. This was my second visit to Sandakan, but when I visited it the first time, I never had the chance to see the town due to hectic meeting schedule. But this time, I had the chance to stay overnight over there.

First, let me tell you a little bit about Sandakan. Sandakan is the second largest city in Sabah. It's at the north-east coast of Borneo. It's better known to be the gateway for the famous orang utan sanctuary, Sepilok and the proboscis monkey sanctuary, Labuk Bay. To get to Sandakan, it's about 2 and 1/2 hour flight direct from Kuala Lumpur, or about 45 minutes flight from Kota Kinabalu, the capital city of Sabah.

To tell you the truth, I don't know what to expect even though it was my second visit to the city. My previous visit was very short, like, disembark from plane, meeting and back to Kuala Lumpur. I don't think I even had the time to look at the sky, let alone enjoying the view.

Even though I only have a short period of time to enjoy the view during my second visit this time round, but thank God Sandakan is small enough for me to explore within a few hours that I had. After checking into the hotel, I went to its traditional market. I was lucky that even though it's a bit late, some traders still opened their stalls. You have to understand, even though Sandakan has the same time zone with the rest of Malaysia, but in actual fact its dawn starts early which makes the dusk descent much earlier too. 

After buying some snacks as souvenirs for my staff and family, I decided to walk through the city. Even though I was alone, I don't feel any apprehension to walk through the city. With my trusted camera, I took the sight and feel of the city. Even though it's the second largest city of Sabah, it still retains the charm of small town. People still playing chess at the road side. School kids were playing skate boards at the pedestrian walkway. Over here, the sun set very early, at roughly about 5.30 pm, whereas if I were in Kuala Lumpur, the sun set at about 7.30 pm. Thus, it cut short my walk through the city. Like I said, even though I feel safe walking alone, I don't like walking alone at night. 

The next morning, I enjoyed my breakfast over looking the ocean and gentle wind. Though my visit was very short, I know I will be coming back to Sandakan soon because of my work. Hopefully, the next time I would have longer time to enjoy the sound and sight of this city.

This blog is dedicated to Luci. I know you're waiting for my other travelling blog, but my brain is still in doldrums. LOL. I promise to write it as soon as possible.

When I read Luci's challenge, I wonder, who on Earth can come up with some sort rational story line with all those words. LOL. Then it struck me, there's no need to be rational. I can come up with totally rambling short story and blame it all to an alien and say that it's my 'artistic creative' idea. :)

~~~~~~ The Story ~~~~~~

Since landed on this Alien Island, Luci found out that life was not so hard after all. Ohh! She won't call it a bed of roses either, but except for some bigger than elephant crawling insects, and the scarcity of toilet paper, she thought it's bearable considering all those scary stories she read and watched in the Earth Historical Museum. Anyway, Luci was thankful that after all the technical difficulties that she and her fellow cruise members faced during their journey to this island, everyone was safe and sound, except some bruising and maybe one or two sprained ankles.

After her successful trip to the moon in 2089, Luci never thought that she will be bitten with the wanderlust bug again. However, after coming back to Earth in 2093, she realised that her life was never the same again. Everything looked the same and mundane. She traveled around the Earth to find some kind new adventure. Living in isolation for three months in the Atlantic Ocean seemed too tamed.

The Moon's adventure destroyed her views on what's is tame and what is real adventure. She became like a lost soul, living in a dungeon. She felt her soul was being tortured with all the Earth constraints. 

One day, while chatting halo-graphically with her friends in EC, she voiced out her boredom with Earth life.

"Isn't it interesting to go and travel to this new found island in the Pluto?" Luci said out of the blue.

"New island? In Pluto?" asked one of her friends, Gatita. 

"Yes! Yes!" Luci excitedly said. Most of EC members can see her jumping up and down while holding a knife on one hand and a light on the other hand. Everyone was a bit afraid that she would hurt herself in her excitement. Luci seemed totally forgotten that she was holo-graphically chatting with her friends while at the same time cooking her lunch. Even though she can just order her lunch from anywhere on Earth and her food would be delivered to her doorstep within a few minutes, Luci still like to cook the traditional way like her ancestors.

"Okay. Tell me all about it" Gatita said.

That was the start of their interesting conversations about Alien Island. After convincing Nightly, Annah, Allen, Barbare and Rysperski to join their cruise, they started their plan. They also managed to convinced Tony Hawk to be their cruise ship pilot, though Tony really put up a hard bargain. Apparently cruise ships pilots were really in high demand due the fact that most people rather go on holidays to exotic planets than stay in 5-star hotels under the oceans. 

After doing some extensive holo-graphic research about the Alien Island, they decided to start their journey in the month of June when Earth was scorching hot and living on it was really a torture. After saying goodbyes to all their families and friends, they started their adventure to the Alien Island. 

After three months of cruise at lightning speed, they landed at one of Alien Island's archipelago and were surprised that it remained uninhabited. After setting up camps and securing their surrounding, they started their exploration of the island. 

Now it's been one month since they landed on the island. Life was tough. It was rough. But Luci and her friends were happy that they took the journey. Tony even managed to fix their cruise ship and told them that it's time for them to go back to Earth. So, tonight they sat in front of bonfire and ate some weird looking mango and just enjoyed each other company. Maybe they will think of a new adventure in the not so near future. Who knows!

~~~~~~ The End~~~~~

P/S : Sorry Luci. I know you said 50 - 70 words, but in my Alien's world, this is 50 -70 words blog. LOL

Note : "holo-graphically" and "holo-graphic" are two words that I invented. These words are based from two words - "hologram" which means a three-dimensional image formed by the interference of light beams from a laser or other coherent light source. And the second word is "graphic" which means a graphical item displayed on a screen or stored as data.

Did you know there are many syndromes or terms that are based on people and sometimes unfortunate circumstances that befell those people? We may be familiar with terms such as Stockholm Syndrome, and its opposite the Lima Syndrome. Whereas, one of the most famous syndromes that I read is the Pavlov's Dog Syndrome. 

Anyway, in this blog, I want to share some terms and syndromes that derived from certain circumstances or people, and the story behind the name.

AMBER Alert

Have you noticed in American movies or news, whenever there's a case of missing child being reported, an AMBER Alert will be issued? Once I thought it was called Amber Alert because of the colour of police siren, amber. But I was wrong. Amber Alert was named after an abducted and murdered child, Amber Hagerman, though it's also an acronym of America's Missing : Broadcast Emergency Response. In 1996, Amber was abducted in Arlington, Texas while visiting her grandparents. AMBER Alert is using the broadcast system using the Emergency Alert System which at that time widely being used to broadcast weather bulletins, civil emergencies or other emergencies. Four days after she was abducted, her body was found but until now her murder was not resolved.

Genovese Syndrome

Genovese syndrome is also known as the bystander effect. This syndrome was named after Catherine Susan "Kitty" Genovese who was stabbed to death in early morning of March 13, 1964. She was stabbed several times by her murderer in front of her apartment. The stabbing was witnessed by many of her neighbours when she cried for help and bleeding to death. The reaction, or in this case lack of reaction, by her neighbours, was reported in a newspaper. This led to what people term as bystander effect or diffusion of responsibility. Diffusion of responsibility is a phenomenon whereby a person or a group of people is less likely to take responsibility for action or inaction when others are present. This sociopsychological effect is more likely to occur in a group of people above a certain critical size and when responsibility is not explicitly assigned.

Asperger's Syndrome

Asperger's syndrome is named after Hans Asperger, an Austrian psychiatrist and pediatrician. Asperger's syndrome is a form of autism. According to WebMD, it's a form of pervasive development disorder (PDD). It stated that , "PDDs are a group of conditions that involve delays in the development of many basic skills, most notably the ability to socialize with others, to communicate, and to use imagination." Asperger appeared to have the social remoteness and talent in language, which are common features for people who exhibit Asperger's syndrom. My curious cat's antenna was awaken about Asperger's syndrome when I read the case of Gary McKinnon, a computer hacker who was found guilty of hacking into Pentagon and was supposed be to be extradited to the USA for his crime. He fought off the extradition order and claimed to have Asperger's syndrome. He won his case in 2012.

So, back to my original thought, I wonder, besides the saying, curiousity killed the cat, is there such as a 'cat syndrome'? Hmm ...

My other Did You Know? series:-

1. Did You Know?;  2. Continuation;  3. Another Continuation;  4. Not Another Continuation!; 5. Gosh! Will It Never Ends?;  6. Oh No! Not Another One!;  7. Here Comes Another One;  8. Another One?;  9. One, Two, Eighty Six?; 10. Punishment? OMG!; 11. Is This A Swan Song?;  12 John Has It All?; 13. It's All In The Myth;  14. This Is Random;  15. It's A Dog's World;  16.  It's Also A Cat's World;  17. Is It A Mouse World Too?;  18. Dutch Flavour;  19. It's The Greek Flavour;  20. It's All Greek;  21. All That Gold; 22. It's A Horsey Year; 23. It's All Red; 24. People Are Yummy; 25. What Day Is Today; 26. The Court Is Ours

Here goes my attempt in trying to write a whole dialogue. As Mr. Bob said, just imagine two people talking to each other. I found it's not so hard after that. So, try not cringe at this conversation. Please be patient with these two chirping birds. LOL

Ina : So, what's the plan for this year? Are we going to visit Europe as planned or are we going to go somewhere else?

Ita : I don't know. I've been thinking about it a lot, but I still can't make up my mind. What do you think?

Ina : You know I prefer to go to Europe, but walking around in Europe during winter is no fun. Ahhhh!

Ita : Yes! Me too. I don't like the cold weather. So what's our next plan?

Ina : I don't mind going back to Perth, you know.

Ita : Me too. I don't mind going back. But, I prefer if we go to some other places that we have never been before. 

Ina : Well, as long as it's not cold and within our budget, of course!

Ita : Of course. So what's your suggestion?

Ina : I've been looking through several destinations which I think could suit our budget and would also be warm enough for us. So here are a few places that I think we can look further. Bali, Bandung, Bangkok, Melbourne, Sydney or Hong Kong. But we had been to Bali, Bandung and Bangkok, so maybe we should look at other options.

Ita : Yes, those three places are interesting, but we have been there a few times, so they are less attractive. Maybe we should think further about Melbourne, Sydney or Hong Kong. And, if all fails, we can fall back to Perth. There are a few places that we didn't go the last time we were there.

Ina : Agree! Then the next question is, which dates are we talking about? When are you free?

Ita : You know I've tendered my resignation last week. So it means I won't be working the whole December. I've told my new Boss that I will only be available next year. So, basically, I am as free as a bird. 

Ina : Wow! Finally! That's good news then. 

Ita : Yes! Now the final dates will be up to you to decide. Which dates do you think suitable?

Ina : I think I am okay from 8th to 19th December. 

Ita : Great! Then the only thing that we need is to decide our destination.

Ina : Yeah! Tell you what! Let us sleep on it, and we will discuss about it again this coming weekend.

Ita : Yes. Let's do that. Lets us eat then.

As you can depict from the above conversations, basically it's based more or less on real life conversations between my best friend and me. We had been tossing ideas on where we are going this year. And to tell you the truth, we are still clueless where we are going.

As usual, after coming back from a long holiday, my brain refuses to cooperate and think too hard. Thus, I need to stop this mental blockage and write something. But then the question is, what should I write? Another rambling? I don't think I want to torture other people with that anymore. So here comes my favourite topic, 'Did You Know?'. In this blog, it's about legal and justice, and hence the word 'court'.

1. Kangaroo Court

Kangaroo court means an unfair, biased or hasty judicial proceeding which usually ends in harsh punishment. Though kangaroos only live in Australia, the origin of this term (slang) doesn't come from it. According to one source, it's originated during the California Gold Rush. During that time, itinerant judges were paid according on how many trials they had conducted, and sometimes their salaries were based on the fines that they handed down to defendants. Thus, these itinerant judges would hop from one place to another, which was similar to a kangaroo hopping from one place to another. Since these judges were paid based on trials and fined, they were seen less concern about justice, but rather wrapping up as many trials as they could.

2. Poetic Justice

Poetic justice means a result or occurrence that seems proper because someone who has done bad things to other people is being harmed or punished. This in sense befitting a work of poetry or drama. According Phrase Finder, this term was coined and made famous by Thomas Rymer in his essy The Tragedies of the Last Age Considere'd, 1678. He was an English literary critic and historian who demanded that drama should have moral values, of which good characters should be rewarded and evils were to be punished.

3. As sober as a judge. Drunk as a Lord

These two completely opposite idioms mean exactly as what they intended to say. As sober as a judge means to be alert and completely sober. The origin of these idioms are not known but it's common sense that a judge should be sober in order to be fair and handed down judgement, whereas a Lord could be perceived to be above the law. Thus, a Lord can drink and being drunk as he wants to be.

They are a few idioms and phrases that relate to judiciary. I'm sure you guys can add some more since I'm too lazy to write about them. LOL. As they say, the court is yours, or the ball is in your court.

My other Did You Know? series:-

1. Did You Know?;  2. Continuation;  3. Another Continuation;  4. Not Another Continuation!; 5. Gosh! Will It Never Ends?;  6. Oh No! Not Another One!;  7. Here Comes Another One;  8. Another One?;  9. One, Two, Eighty Six?; 10. Punishment? OMG!; 11. Is This A Swan Song?;  12 John Has It All?; 13. It's All In The Myth;  14. This Is Random;  15. It's A Dog's World;  16.  It's Also A Cat's World;  17. Is It A Mouse World Too?;  18. Dutch Flavour;  19. It's The Greek Flavour;  20. It's All Greek;  21. All That Gold; 22. It's A Horsey Year; 23. It's All Red; 24. People Are Yummy; 25. What Day Is Today

Three things in my life that I'm not fond of; watching movies, ironing and reading poems. Well, I seldom, make it like only if you tied me at a tree and let loose those fire ants, read poems because I never understand them, to be honest. Sometimes it feels like I was reading gibberish. 

Anyway, tonight, while I was ironing, I was also listening (yes! I prefer listening to the television rather than watching it) to a movie called 'Chasing Leprechauns', I was struck by a beautiful poem quoted by the actor. I don't know the name of the poem, but the actor said it was Yeat's.

Therefore, with a few lines still stuck in my head, I left my ironing and browse through the net to find the full poem. I still did not fully understand the meaning of it, but I was struck with his wonderful thought. So I want to share the poem with you guys in here. I hope you will enjoy it, and maybe interpret it for me.

When You Are Old by William Butler Yeats

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look,

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

Source : Poetry Foundation

After reading an article about one extra ordinary artist named Paul Smith, I can't help from being humbled and marvel at this amazing man. Thus I just wanted to share what I've seen in the video and I hope you guys also will be amazed at this totally wonderful artist. 

You see, Paul Smith was not just a normal artist. He's a 'typewriter artist'. He created his arts by using typewriter. Yes! Not a computer, but the old fashioned typewriter. What's more amazing was that, he was a cerebral palsy patient and was the residence in an Oregon nursing home. 

Please click this link to read more about this amazing man, and have a look at this video just to learn a bit about him. (Or click on the Youtube link)

Paul Smith really shown what's really the meaning of perseverance. He left this world with a long lasting legacy.

This is another video which shows his beautiful art collections.

Did you know that every day there would be something to celebrate? I got to know some peculiar celebration days while listening to a local radio when I was driving to the office. I used to listen to those peculiar celebration without taking much stock of it. But then I realised that it seemed we always have something to celebrate and try to remember those dates. Photo was taken from www.ccac.com.au.

However, in this blog I just want to share selected few of those days, otherwise my blog would be an endless blog. LOL. Some of those days are totally silly, but some of them are very meaningful.

Did you know that 2nd January is a 'Happy Mew Year For Cats Day'? According to the www.examiner.com, Happy Mew Year For Cats Day was created by Thomas and Ruth Roy. I guess I don't have to explain much about why we really should have a day to celebrate the greatness of cats. There's a saying that, 'After all, don’t you know that cats rule and dogs drool?'. LOL. However, since this 'Happy Mew Year For Cats Day' is copyrighted, I don't think many people can enjoy it without having a thought whether they are breaking the copy right law. What a pity!

Did you know that for every first Wednesday of April has been earmarked as the Day of Hope? According to www.childhelp.org, it was initiated by Sara O'Meara and Yvonne Fedderson in 1999. Both of them founded Childhelp and initiated Day of Hope to highlight the suffering millions of children because of abuse and neglects. Though it's hard to imagine any normal human beings can abuse a helpless child, but this Day Of Hope is in fact trying to remember these hidden statistics of which sometimes purposely being ignored. Abuse comes in many forms, either physical, mental or sexual. It's our duty to help those in our own community as well as throughout the world, that are suffering this kind of abuse or neglect.

Did you know that 30th July is my birthday? LOL. Well, it is also the Cheesecake Day. It's no wonder I love cheesecake. Cheesecake is one of tastiest desserts. Usually it's made from cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla, though sometimes some other flavours were added in such as strawberry and key lime. 

Did you know that 28th September 2014 was a 'Ask A Stupid Question Day'? Yes! It really does exists. According to holidayinsights.com, teachers in the USA created this special day in order to encourage children to ask questions and not feeling stupid or ridicule. Though in reality, 'Ask A Stupid Question Day' should falls on every 28th September, sometimes it will be celebrated on the last day of school day in the USA. 

Did you know that 10th December is the the Human Rights Day? In 1950, the UN General Assembly declared that every 10th December should be the Human Rights Day in order bring the attention of the world to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations. This day is basically trying to promote the awareness of human rights issues, such as democracy, discrimination, education and environment, to the world. It also trying to highlight the effort of United Nations to improve human rights conditions globally. United Nations has listed human rights issues in its site. Click the link to read the list.

So, what day is yours?

My other Did You Know? series:-

1. Did You Know?;  2. Continuation;  3. Another Continuation;  4. Not Another Continuation!; 5. Gosh! Will It Never Ends?;  6. Oh No! Not Another One!;  7. Here Comes Another One;  8. Another One?;  9. One, Two, Eighty Six?; 10. Punishment? OMG!; 11. Is This A Swan Song?;  12 John Has It All?; 13. It's All In The Myth;  14. This Is Random;  15. It's A Dog's World;  16.  It's Also A Cat's World;  17. Is It A Mouse World Too?;  18. Dutch Flavour;  19. It's The Greek Flavour;  20. It's All Greek;  21. All That Gold; 22. It's A Horsey Year; 23. It's All Red; 24. People Are Yummy

Have you ever been to any masquerade balls? What is a masquerade ball? According to a source, the masquerade ball was dating back to 14th and 15th centuries as part of Europe's carnival season. However, another source cited that it went back to medieval court life, originally to celebrate a marriage or mark a point in a royal dynasty.

Masquerade ball was made popular at the height of Renaissance time in 15th century by the Venice upper classes. In England, it was made popular in the 18th century when a Swiss Count, John Heidegger brought it to the Haymarket Opera House. Photo was taken from www.abovetopsecret.com.

Though masquerade ball always being associated with glamour and opulent live styles, it also evoked mystery, intrigue and ultimate night of risk. In 1771, Gustav III, Sweden’s King was assassinated by a disgruntled masked nobleman during a masquerade ball.

You are maybe wondering why on earth I am writing about some obscure and past albeit popular event in here. Well, main chatting room in EC reminds me of this masquerade ball. What interesting is the similarity of the masquerade ball and EC chat room. We come here from all walks of life, from all over the world, with various objectives and masks. 

Some adorned mask of celebrities, animals, cartoon characters, flowers, and other characters. Whereas some are brave enough to come in with their own photos. While adorning different masks, some people seems to adopt different characters too. It's like some have different and split personalities, some becomes braver and less timid, and some become more vocal and intimidating. However, some remain tentative and prefer to be at the background.

It's fascinating to observe and learn the daily interactions of EC members. Friendship developed, and sometimes broken up because some misunderstanding. Though so far I don't observe any 'love story' developing in front of my own eyes, but I've heard that some members of EC had found love through this site. Though I don't think there would be the extreme risk such of King Gustav III, but daily squabbles and fighting are norm.

What's more fascinating is that even though sometimes some members keep on changing their nicks, but somehow or rather, their way of chatting would reveal their previous nick. Some members would still come back even though they had been suspended or even banned. I guess it's an absolute truth that EC is really a fascinating and wonderful masquerade ball.

I am sure if there is a study about human behaviour by a group of psychologists or psychiatrists , EC main room would make a very interesting subject. 

This blog is dedicated to all my EC friends who are part of this wonderful masquerade ball especially WMW, Sima, Luci, Rysperski, Tony Hawk, Fizzy, Afro, Barbare, Allen and others. You know who you are. And also to my teachers, Tara and Expector Smith. 

I just read a hilarious article in BBC about Ig Nobel Prize 2014 that made me smile at the ridiculous things that we human do in the name of research. What is Ig Nobel Prize? According to its website www.improbable.com, the Ig Nobel Prize honour achievement that first make people laugh and then make them think. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honour the imaginative – and spur people’s interest in science, medicine and technology.

In other words, Ig Nobel Prize is the parody of Nobel Prize.

Here are the list of Ig Nobel Prize winners for 2014.

 1.         PHYSICS: Kiyoshi Mabuchi, of Kitasato University, Japan, and colleagues, for measuring the amount of friction between a shoe and a banana skin, and between a banana skin and the floor, when a person steps on a banana skin that's on the floor. 

2.         NEUROSCIENCE: Kang Lee, of the University of Toronto, Canada, and colleagues for trying to understand what happens in the brains of people who see the face of Jesus in a piece of toast.

3.         PSYCHOLOGY: Peter Jonason, of the University of Western Sydney, Australia, and colleagues for amassing evidence that people who habitually stay up late are, on average, more self-admiring, more manipulative, and more psychopathic than people who habitually arise early in the morning.

4.         PUBLIC HEALTH: Jaroslav Flegr, of Charles University, Czech Republic, and colleagues for investigating whether it is mentally hazardous for a human being to own a cat.

5.         BIOLOGY: Vlastimil Hart, of the Czech University of Life Sciences, and colleagues for carefully documenting that when dogs defecate and urinate, they prefer to align their body axis with Earth's north-south geomagnetic field lines.

6.         ART: Marina de Tommaso, of the University of Bari, Italy, and colleagues for measuring the relative pain people suffer while looking at an ugly painting, rather than a pretty painting, while being shot [in the hand] by a powerful laser beam.

7.         ECONOMICS: The Italian government's National Institute of Statistics, for proudly taking the lead in fulfilling the European Union mandate for each country to increase the official size of its national economy by including revenues from prostitution, illegal drug sales, smuggling, and all other unlawful financial transactions between willing participants.

8.         MEDICINE: Ian Humphreys, of Michigan State University, US, and colleagues, for treating "uncontrollable" nosebleeds, using the method of nasal-packing-with-strips-of-cured-pork.

9.         ARCTIC SCIENCE: Eigil Reimers, of the University of Oslo, Norway, and colleagues, for testing how reindeer react to seeing humans who are disguised as polar bears.

10.     NUTRITION: Raquel Rubio, of IRTA, Spain, and colleagues, for their study titled "Characterization of Lactic Acid Bacteria Isolated from Infant Faeces as Potential Probiotic Starter Cultures for Fermented Sausages."

Among those winners, I was struck with something akin of wonder and amazement, with the research in the field of Phycology and Public Health by Peter Jonason, of the University of Western Sydney, Australia and  Jaroslav Flegr, of Charles University, Czech Republic respectively. Am I a psychopath with mental issues since I often stayed up late and love cats?  LOL.

I hope you enjoy reading the article as well as reading the list of winners. Which research do you like the best? :D :D

Source : BBC and Improbable Research

After talking about it for some times, finally, Grape sent me a message. She told me that she had booked her flight ticket and going to come to visit me. I was surprised, because I never thought that it's going to happen soon. Though like I said, we had been talking about it, but planning and realising it were two different matters altogether.

However, she told me that it's going to be a crazy trip because it's just going to be a day trip. I was delighted to meet her but at the same time a bit afraid of what to treat her in a few hours that she's going to be in Malaysia.

So, I decided that it's better if I stay together with her in the hotel so that we won't waste too much time for me to pick her up in the morning and trying to bring her to places in Kuala Lumpur. It's fortunate too because she will come on my long weekend because of Malaysia Independence Day holiday.

I was a bit apprehensive of whether I will be able to show Grape many things that make Malaysia unique within a short period of time, but I will try my best. And another thing, I said to her, I hope we can understand each other, because all these times, we had been text-chatting, rather than voice chatting.

On Saturday 30th August, I waited for Grape at the airport. I was afraid that we won't recognise each other, but when I saw she was smiling at me at the gate, I knew immediately that she's Grape. I think both of us were smiling from ear to ear. It felt like we had met with each other before this. There's no awkwardness of strangers meeting with other for the first time.

It was about one hour drive from the airport to our hotel. We talked about little things while I was driving. There was nothing much for Grape to see because it was dark already. And I must say, I was proud of myself because I took a wrong turn only once, I have to qualify myself, I don't like driving at night, before we reached our hotel.

After checking into our hotel, we went down to the shopping mall (the hotel was connected to the shopping mall). However, it was a bit late in the evening, about 9.30 pm and most of the restaurants and shops were closing. Thus, I asked Grape whether she's okay if I brought her to any Indian restaurant. Over here, there are a lot of Indian restaurants that open for 24 hours. 

Apparently it was the first time that Grape had ever tasted Indian food. And I don't think she enjoyed it that much because she said it was spicy. LOL. Poor Grape.

The next morning, we woke up very early to catch the Independence Day's parade. We took the train to avoid the traffic jam. When we reached the Merdeka Square, the place was jammed pack with all sorts of people. To tell you the truth, I can't see anything much, neither do Grape. So I decided to show Grape the China Town. 

Unfortunately, there's nothing much to see in the China Town in the early morning. The shops were yet to open. Then I brought her to a Chinese Temple and Hindu's Temple. Both temples are on the opposite to each other and nestled between rows of restored old shop houses. I told her that in a day she managed to visit two holy places of many Malaysians. Unfortunately, a famous Mosque a few meters away is under renovation and closed.

After visiting both temples, I thought I want to bring Grape to a Butterfly Park, which is located a few kilometers away. Unfortunately, all taxi drivers only wanted to take us there by charging an exorbitant fees which I refused to do. So I told Grape that we go back to our hotel, and play by the ear. If after some shopping and lunch, time permits, I will bring her to the Butterfly Park.

After a bit of shopping, I brought Grape to a well known Malay restaurant inside the mall. Once again, I don't think Grape enjoyed the food very much because she said it was spicy. LOL. Maybe I should tell Grape well beforehand that we love our food to be spicy.

Anyway, after our lunch I realised that we don't have much time to go to the Butterfly Park. So I decided just to bring Grape to the Petronas Twin Tower. We spent a few minutes at the park then I knew I had to drive back to the airport. 

Though I know we just spent a few hours with each other, I was glad to finally able to meet with Grape. I was sad to say goodbye to Grape and I wish that I could shown her more interesting places. I hope one of these days I will reciprocated her visit and go to Vietnam. 

To my good friend Grape Hyacinth, thank you for your wonderful friendship. I hope our friendship will last. 

Hmm ... the weekend is here. It's time to gorge myself with yummy food. LOL. Do you know that many food are named after a famous person/personalities? In this blog, I want to introduce to you a few of yummy food which was named after a famous person, in no particular order.

1. Pavlova Meringue

Pavlova is a meringue based dessert. Though it really looks delicious, well in fact it is delicious, but I don't really like it because it's too sweet. Pavlova is made famous in New Zealand, though Australia also claimed the honour. But reading from it's name, it doesn't look like anything from New Zealand or Australia. In fact, it looks like a Russian name. It was indeed named after the famous Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova. It was believed that it was created in the honour of Anna Pavlova when she toured New Zealand in 1920s.  Photo was taken from dwenujang.blogspot.com.

2. Margherita Pizza

One of my favourite pizzas is Margherita pizza. It's really a simple pizza with tomato, basil and cheese. It was believed that Margherita pizza was named after Margherita of Savoy, the Queen of Italy. When she travelled to Naples with her husband, King Umberto, Chef Raffaele Esposito made them three specialty pizzas in his restaurant. After tasting all those pizzas, Queen Margherita of Savoy apparently love a simple pizza which only consist of mozzarella cheese, tomato and basil which was created to mimic the flag of Italy. Therefore, the pizza was named after the queen, Margherita. Photo was taken from humblefeast.wordpress.com.

3. Peach Melba

One of long list of desserts that I want to taste is the peach Melba. It is a scrumptious dessert made from peach. It was named after an Australian opera singer, Nellie Melba. It was invented by chef, Auguste Escoffier, from Savoy Hotel in London in 1890s. Photo was taken from pbs.org. The same chef later created Melba toast in her honour when she was taken ill. 

4. Beef Wellington

Whenever I watched any cooking show, the beef Wellington was always the hardest menu that any contestants had to cook. It seemed it's very hard to cook correctly and deliciously. It was believed that beef Wellington was named after the Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley. It was after the victory of Battle of Waterloo and the Duke of Wellington became a national hero. Beef Wellington is basically beef steak wrapped in puff pastry and then baked. Photo was taken from realfood.tesco.com

5. Caesar Salad

Caesar salad is one of my favourite salad. Hmm ... it seems I have so many favourite foods. LOL. Anyway, I always thought that Caesar salad was named after the great Caesar. You know.. The Julius Caesar. However I was wrong. Caesar salad was in fact named after Caesar Cardini who created the salad at the restaurant in his Hotel Caesar in Tijuana. Photo was taken from gourmet-food-revolution.com.

Hmm.. writing this blog is making me hungry. So I think it's better if I stop now before I'll die of starvation. Hope you guys enjoy salivating after looking at these photos. LOL. Anyway, I hope you guys will share your favourite food(s) that is(are) named after a person.

My other Did You Know? series:-

1. Did You Know?;  2. Continuation;  3. Another Continuation;  4. Not Another Continuation!; 5. Gosh! Will It Never Ends?;  6. Oh No! Not Another One!;  7. Here Comes Another One;  8. Another One?;  9. One, Two, Eighty Six?; 10. Punishment? OMG!; 11. Is This A Swan Song?;  12 John Has It All?; 13. It's All In The Myth;  14. This Is Random;  15. It's A Dog's World;  16.  It's Also A Cat's World;  17. Is It A Mouse World Too?;  18. Dutch Flavour;  19. It's The Greek Flavour;  20. It's All Greek;  21. All That Gold; 22. It's A Horsey Year; 23. It's All Red

I am sorry for taking so long to finish this travel blog. I won't bother you guys anymore with it since this is the final installment of my Northern Adventure. I am sorry to bore you guys with such a long winded travel blog. LOL. However, I hope my Northern Adventure blog will show you some interesting places in Malaysia.

Day One

Day Two

Day Three and Four

Finale

The next day, my sister's Mom suggested that we went to visit a sleepy fishing village called Tanjung Dawai. It's an off-beaten track from normal tourist area, and I guess, it's a heavenly place for a cat. Nearly every shops in the town was filled with dried fish, dried shrimps, or even fish crackers. Because it's the first day of Ramadhan, we decided not to do anything too exhausting. So the rest of the day, we spent it being lazy and catching up some much needed rest. 

My sister decided that we should visit the capital town of Kedah which is Alor Star on our next day. First order of the day was Mahathir's House. Mahathir was the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia, and he was born and raised in Alor Star. However, we were run out of luck. Apparently the house was closed on every Mondays. Bummer! 

Then we went to the old palace of Sultan Kedah. It had been turned into a Royal Museum. Kedah is one of the oldest states in Malaysia. It's history intertwined with Thailand and India. Lembah Bujang (Bujang Valley) is one of the oldest ancient archaeology sites in Malaysia and which shown that it dates more than 2000 years old and tied to Hinduism from India. We spent quite some minutes in the Royal Museum reading and admiring all the artifacts in there. I just wished we were allowed to take photos of those artifacts.

Next we went to visit two typical traditional Malay houses. Unfortunately, the sky decided to grace us with some water. When we reached the place, it was drizzling. Thus, we can't spent too much time at the place. Because of that, we decided to cut short our trip. 

Our flight was on very early morning on our last day in Kedah. My sister's brother drove us to Penang Airport. We went out from my sister's house at 6.00 am. It was supposed to be a short drive, but on that morning day, the traffic jam was extra-ordinary. Our flight was at 9.00 am and our boarding was supposed to be at least 30 minutes before take off. At 8.30 am, we were still stuck in a traffic jam. We were getting panic, and I prayed and prayed and prayed. 

I told my brother and sister that I would run and try to check in for everyone when we reached the airport while they would bring all the bags. I never run so fast in my whole life that I think I even out-run Usain Bolt that morning. I reached the check in counter, painting and profusely saying sorry to the staff, but he didn't even bat his eyelids, instead just asked for my reservation details and identifications.

In no time at all we cleared the check in process and security clearance. We reached the boarding hall just in time to hear the staff calling every passenger to board the plane. OHMY! We really cutting it too closed that day. Though the end of my holiday was a bit on adrenalin rush, but on overall, the holiday was peaceful and relaxing.

~~~~~ Thank you for reading ~~~~~

This coming 31st August 2014, we Malaysians are 57 years old. Well, actually the country is much older than that, if taking into consideration that one of the oldest rainforests (130 millions years old) is in Malaysia, but it is 57 years of independence from the British rules. In the spirit of being independent, I want to share with all of you something unique, weird and quirky about Malaysians. In fact I've written a similar subject in my previous blog; Only In Malaysia, but in this blog I want to share with you how you know you've met a Malaysian even when you see them from 1 km away. LOL

1. Car Signal Indicator Is Only For Accessory

Most Malaysians loath to use their car signal indicator. I don't know why. Maybe we are afraid that someone would overtake us when ever we use our car indicator to change lane, to go to the right or left or even just to park our car. But if any of you want to drive a car in Malaysia, try to learn to anticipate what the other driver going to do. To have some psychic skills really help. LOL

2. You Are A Brother/Sister/Uncle/Auntie To Everyone

On day to day street conversations, most Malaysians will address strangers as "Abang - Brother", "Kakak - Sister", "Pak Cik - Uncle", "Mak Cik - Auntie" and other family terms. It seems that we are related to each other, no matter who we are. Sometimes you're being addressed as an 'Amoi - Sister in Mandarin', or "Anne - Brother in Tamil', or "Macha - Brother-in-law in Tamil".

3. "Lah" Is Malaysian Universal Expression

When ever you talk to Malaysians, don't be confused whenever we end our sentences with the universal expression 'lah'. 'Lah' can means everything and anything. It can indicate surprise; "Why so expensive, lah?". It can indicate disbelief; "Why today is so hot lah". It can just a simple invitation; "Come, lah". Basically, 'lah' is adaptable to any situation, as adaptable as Malaysians can be.

4. Malaysians Have Our Own Time

When ever you make an appointment or meeting or anything that involves time, please allow yourself some leeway. We Malaysians will only follow our own time, and not the universal time. For an example, if you say, "Can we meet with each other at 10.00 am tomorrow?". This sentence will be 'translated' to a Malaysian as "Can we meet with each other at 10.30 am, or later, tomorrow?". Don't feel frazzle when ever you did not see the said person at the said time. Allow yourself a 30 minutes leeway, at least.

5. Malaysians Celebrate Every Festival

Malaysians love celebrations. We celebrate nearly every festival, be it Chinese New Year, Thaipusam, Wesak, Eid Mubarak, Deevali or Christmas. We take this opportunity to abandon our cities and go back to our hometowns. We call this 'balik kampung'. It doesn't matter if you don't have a hometown, for a typical Malaysian hometown means a small village or township, it's your 'obligation' to go somewhere, anywhere except hiding in your own house during any festivals. So, most cities seem to be 'abandoned' during any of these festivals.

Finally, I want to share with you a video about what's it's like to be a Malaysian from a Mat Salleh's, a general name given to a Western foreigner, point of view. Even though it's just a commercial, but it does reflects what a Malaysian is all about.

This is the third installment of my Northern Adventures' blog. It took a bit longer to be written because I was not too happy with it, and I had been re-writing it a few times. Though I am still not too happy with it, I decided to just let it be, and post it.

Day One

Day Two

Day Three and Four

Our last day in Langkawi was a bit mess-up. After leaving our luggage at the left luggage storage in the Jetty Kuah Point, we went to Pekan Kuah to do a bit of shopping. Langkawi Island is a duty free island, so most visitors would take the opportunity to shop while in Langkawi. I decided not to buy bulky items since we had to take a ferry to go to the mainland. So I just bought some batik for my mother and family members. 

I thought I would have ample time to enjoy the Dataran Lang - Eagle Square, however, we spent too much time shopping and then once again, the sky decided to open up. My wish to relax at the Dataran Lang evaporated. We boarded the ferry to Kuala Kedah at 5.00 pm. The journey was roughly about 1 hour and 45 minutes.

The journey was monotonous. There's nothing I could do except looking at the blue yonder of the ocean. After a few minutes, even the view looked similar, long stretch of islands and blue ocean. We reached Kuala Kedah in the late evening, and was greeted by magnificent sunset. My sister-in-law's parents were waiting for us. We will be spending the rest of our holidays in the mainland of Kedah. 

The next day, we decided to drive to Padang Besar, a well known shopping town bordering to Songkhla Province of Thailand. Padang Besar is a mixture of Malay and Thai cultures. People came from all over Malaysia to find bargain products such as textiles, ironware, jewelries and food. 

After spending quite some time in Padang Besar, we decided to drive further up and went to Wan Kelian. Wan Kelian is a small place further up north. To reach Wan Kelian, we had to drive through very treacherous and perilous mountainous road. Wan Kelian itself is nothing much to offer. Our real destination is Satun, a shanty town just bordering Malaysia. Even though Satun is in Thailand, we had no difficulty to walk down to the town. We don't need to produce any identification, nor we were being asked by both border immigration.

Communication with the traders over in Satun was easy because mostly they were able to talk in Malay, though some words maybe a bit different. After spending some time in Satun and spending a little bit on some snacks and souvenirs, we drove back. 

On our way back, we stopped for a few minutes to explore Gua Kelam - which can literally translated as Dark (Kelam) Cave (Gua). It's located at a place called Kaki Bukit which means Foothill.

It’s a limestone cave of which a wooded bridge was installed through the cave. We walked through from one end of the cave to another. Though the walk was not too long, it was a bit eerie because of the darkness of the cave; only a few lights were located inside the cave, it was also a bit cold and it was already a bit late in the evening.

After a long day, it's nice when we reached my sister's home tired but happy.

~~~~~ To be continued to Day Five ~~~~~

Today is the day of national mourning for Malaysia. Today we mourned for the victims of MH17. Today we received the 20 bodies of 43 Malaysians that had been repatriated from Holland. Today is a bitter sweet day for the families of the victims.

Finally, they welcome back their love ones to be properly buried. It's a bitter sweet because they had been advice not to open the coffins of their love ones, but at least they have some closure. Though answers are yet to be given to them, their agonizing wait for the bodies of their love ones is over. 

Normally, national of mourning is only reserved for leaders, but due to unfortunate nature of these victims, it's really appropriate that the whole nation mourned for the death. 

1. Mastura Mustafa

2. Ahmad Hakimi Hanapi

3. Hamfazlin Sham Mohamad Arifin

4. Nur Shazana Mohamed Salleh

5. Dora Shahila Kassim

6. Foo Ming Lee

7. Karamjit Singh Karnail Singh

8. Ng Qing Zheng

9. Mabel Anthony Samy

10. Paul Rajasingam/Sivagnnam

11. Elisabeth Ng Lyeti

12. Lee Hui Pin

13. Angelina Premila Rajandaran

14. Ariza Ghazalee

15. Muhammad Afif Tambi

16. Noor Rahimmah Mohd Nor

17. Chong Yee Pheng

18. Azrina Yakob

19. Mohd Ali Md Salim

20. Hasni Hardi Parfan

Welcome back  home.

There're no words to say farewell, only the memories linger and live on.

This is the second entry of my Northern Adventures. Writing this blog in a sense is a therapy for me. It allows me to look back at my holiday after being melancholy for a little bit.

Day One

Day Two

On day two, our day started very early. After having our breakfast, we went to Tanjung Malai to board our boat for the islands hopping adventure. I was a bit apprehensive at first to eat anything, just in case I would feel queasy on the boat. But since food and I cannot be separated, I ended up enjoying my breakfast to the fullest. 

We reached the small jetty point for our scheduled islands hopping at no time at all. We were one of the first groups that arrived at the place. After waiting for a few minutes, our boatman arrived. After putting and fastening our life jackets, we were on our way to a new adventure.

The boat was very fast and loud. But I didn't mind all that because the view was breathtaking. Suddenly, the boatman slowed down his boat. He asked us to turn to our left, and point out in between two islands, nestled an island that resembled a pregnant lady who is lying on her back. It's the famous Pulau Dayang Bunting, the Pregnant Maiden Island. 

Out of the blue, the heaven opened up, and it started to rain. It's getting cold, but didn't dampened our spirits. Even the toddlers were behaving themselves. After a few minutes looking over the Dayang Bunting Island, we continued our journey. 

After roughly about 30 - 40 minutes of boat rides, we reached the Dayang Bunting Island itself. Here, our boat was moored so that we can go to the Dayang Bunting lake. According to the local myth, anyone who wants to have a kid, a lady can either swims in the lake or drinks the water from the lake. Even though it was raining, I chose to hike the small distance to the lake. It was a bit slow because of it's getting slippery. 

When I reached the lake, nearly everyone was trying to find a little bit of non-existence shelter from the rain. Most of us were shivering, and standing underneath a small hut which was selling some souvenirs and rental of paddling boat. Some brave souls were brave enough to jump and swim in the lake, and some people chose to rent the paddling boat. I was not a brave soul so I decided to go back to the beach, and stayed with my brother who decided to leave behind with his son at one the resting huts.

As suddenly as it came, the rain stopped. The sun was peeking again from the clouds. After 30 minutes, our boatman came to fetch us and to bring us to the next destination. When we boarded our boat at the jetty, we noticed our boatman brought along a small plastic bag with him. We didn't ask what it was, but when we reached our next destination, Pulau Singa Besar or the Big Lion Island, he opened up the plastic bag and thrown some of the contents to the sea. 

The plastic bag was apparently fulled with chicken's skin. It's being used to feed the eagle at the Pulau Singa Besar. The view was awesome especially when one by one the eagles would scoop up the chicken skin. It was like a feast of chicken's skin. We were told that only boatmen were allowed to feed the eagles. I don't mind. I was just felt so blessed to watch such magnificent animals from closed up.

After spending about 15 minutes just watching those eagles, we moved to our next destination. It was Pulau Beras Basah or literally can be translated as Wet Rice Island. Over here, we were given one hour to swim and do anything we want on the beach. The beach was magnificent, however, we had to be very careful of our food because those wild monkeys from the island loved to steal them.

We came back to our hotel tired but happy. After some freshening up, we went out again to have very late lunch and then went to Pantai Kok, to try its cable car. Though I am a bit acrophobia, I don't want to miss the chance to ride in the cable car. 

Most of the time, I just look at the yonder. I was a bit afraid to look down. I don't know how long it was for the cable car to reach from the base station to the first station, but it seemed forever. We were alighted at the first station, also known as the Middle Station, and enjoyed the view from the viewing platform. Though the day was a bit cloudy, we were able to enjoy magnificent view of Machincang Mountain Range and the sea.

Though I was still not too sure of my wobbly feet, we took the next gondola and went to the next station, the Top Station. The view from this station was similar to the Middle Station except that we it was covering more area. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you want to look at it, the Skybridge, the suspended bridge on top of the Machincang Mountain from the Top Station was closed for repair works. Thus, I don't have to take a deep breath and walk through the swinging bridge, (I was told it may swing when the wind was strong), with my still wobbly leg.

Descending from the Top Station to the Base Station was more harrowing experience for me. It seemed the cable car was faster than when we were ascending. I took the decision to sit at the seat looking back rather than looking forward. LOL. I know, I was a wuss. 

We ended the day with hopping from one beach to another and eating from one food stall to another. 

~~~~~ To be continued on Day Three ~~~~~