I do not mean to neglect my blog, honest :s It’s just that I’ve been quite busy keeping myself occupied with Facebook (Only add me if we know each other, otherwise write a note or something. I will not simply add people for teh lulz), University and of course with dearest :P

Oh, and also, because I’ve got my Panasonic Lumix LX3 semi-pro digital camera, thanks to dearest and Meng Suan, and have thus been occupied with it (Amongst many other things, obviously) :D I’ll need to update and/or revamp my albums section @_@

So… it may be late, but Happy Chinese/Lunar New Year and Happy Valentine’s Day nonetheless XD

Oh, even though I might not be updating my blog much, I’m still pretty much active on Twitter (Also on my sidebar), so that’s an alternative :P

It’s technically the 5th day into the new year already :D How time flies. A very happy birthday to Tibbar, first of all, since she loses her 1s and turns the big 2-0 this year XD

To be honest I’ve not made an resolutions this year, as I believe they will come as I go along the year :P Plus, everything’s too fluid, not fixed, so of course it’s going to be hard in some ways to keep the resolutions XD A few things I do know now, though, is that I will be cutting off things and people that bring me down or just piss me off in general (e.g. reading bimbo blogs). No more negativity! :D Of course, I do want to save up more money and spend less, though I’m slowly getting there now >_> And go on more holidays with dear dear ♥

The new semester starts on 11th January, a week later than expected, but still, it feels as though the break is just not enough! I’m quite cheerfully optimistic about the new semester for some reason… despite PSY 202 Advanced Quantitative Methods last semester (The results are still not out yet, and I’m ever-so-slightly nervous and worried, but fingers crossed for the best, of course!) and the fact that I have not completed all my second year elective subjects (But according to most of my course mates, not everyone has either, so I shouldn’t worry too much there) D: The third year looks awfully interesting with its elective subject choices (Compared to the second, seriously), so I guess it would be kind of fun, hopefully :P

I’ve yet to really settle on a thesis topic, though @_@

Basically spent my New Year’s Day having my room repainted, and reorganising my room with the help of dear dear, despite him having to work. It looks more cosy and organised now :3

Here’s basically what half of it looks like XD No more walls in shades of blue, but dark red, peach (Not pink!), light grey and brownish-grey :D Used slow synchro flash because the lighting wasn’t sufficient enough, and normal flash is too bright and glaring and makes the colours look un-natural >_>

Speaking of photos, I might want to buy a new camera- either a full-fledged DSLR (e.g. Sony Alpha 200 or even the Nikon D3000 maybe) or a semi-pro (e.g. Panasonic Lumix LX3) D: Louis suggests the semi-pro Panasonic Lumix LX3 though, since it’s smaller and less complicated, and fulfils my needs :D Oh well, we’ll see how everything goes I suppose.

2009 has been great, with all its ups and downs. 2010 will hopefully be better. Here’s to a better year, and so far it’s been so good :D

Dear dear Louis needs a break, or a day of nothing but rest, seriously. I love you baby ♥ Do take care for me.

I won’t be going anywhere for the New Year’s celebration or countdown this year (As usual, I don’t every year anyway XD), since traffic is going to be unbelievably heavy and everywhere will be jam-packed with people @_@ Just not really worth getting worked up over people banging into you or trodding on your feet, etc. At least, that’s my opinion >_> Celebrating with other people can be fun, but sometimes depending on the situation it’s just not for me :P I’d rather stay home and have a quiet countdown snuggling Louis this year ♥

So… what are you thankful for this year?

For me, the most major thing I am thankful for is having met Louis, and having him in my life as well as being in his life. Yes, ever since we got together, life has not been easy for the both of us- him with his business, studies and work (And his parents moving to Sarawak for work), and me with my family and studies, etc. But the both of us have chosen to ride this out together, so that we may be stronger and able to go through the worst of the worst together :3 And I’m glad that I have made this decision. I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world ♥

I’m also thankful for the people I’ve met the entire year, and for those whom I’ve got to known better (You all should know who you are :P), even if we’re not too close in the end, or even if we have gotten closer. I’ve learnt to love people as they are, flaws and all, and not hate instead, because hating someone is a terrible burden.

So all in all, it has been a wonderful year despite all the setbacks and obstacles that may have appeared. Goodbye 2009, hello 2010 :3 Happy New Year, everyone! ♥

And as for resolutions… what resolutions o_O

This post is continued from here :3 Dear dear and my trip to Malacca.

Day 3- Tuesday, 29th December 2009

Woke up earlier than yesterday, and after we’ve gotten ready, loaded everything into the car. Again we had breakfast at the hotel (We were earlier than yesterday, so there was more food, but yesterday’s was nicer), and checked out afterwards. Today’s plan was to visit the Malacca Zoo, and if possible, the Crocodile Farm as well before heading down back home. Going to the zoo excites me quite a fair bit- I have no idea why XD Though the National Zoo doesn’t hold the same appeal to me @_@ There also is a night zoo at the Malacca Zoo, but it’s not open everyday, just on selected days.

An owl! One of the first exhibits after you enter the zoo. Louis and I decided to explore the entire zoo on foot, skipping the tram ride despite having walked for almost 5 hours (Or more, even) straight yesterday around A’ Famosa Fort, Jonker Walk, Stadthuys and all the surrounding areas XD

More owls!

The zoo has a few enclosures which visitors can walk in and see the animals up close, and this was the first one, with a sign saying “Ring-Tailed Lemur” outside. Hmm. Apparently they had bats too! :D

Oh look, a ring-tailed lemur walking away XD It’s actually quite hard to get nice decent photos of the animals, as they all tend to move around and not stay still for long periods of time. It can get a little frustrating as I am not exactly a patient person to wait D:

I got bored of trying to wait for a nice shot of the lemur, so I decided to turn my attention to the bats for now. They were quite big yet beautiful. This one was stretching around :3

This bat was climbing down the tree, apparently trying to find a suitable place to sleep or something. It looked a little restless, though. The way its joints extend and contract as it moves down the tree looks a bit scary to be honest @_@

I LIKE TO MOVE IT MOVE IT :D Finally, a good shot of the ring-tailed lemur :P Dear dear was asking me what if it started singing the song and dancing >_> It would have been awesome actually.

Pretty mandarin ducks! Actually taken for the benefit of Louis’s Mum, who likes ducks a lot :D

While inside the enclosure, we heard a commotion outside, like some performance going on, but decided to finish exploring the enclosure first. When we got out we found out that there was an animal performance going on, and so decided to go take a look.

When we took our seats these two parrots/parakeets were performing. Here they were apparently racing each other. I didn’t pay attention as to who won because I was worried about my Sony CyberShot camera’s battery D: I think I didn’t charge it fully, which is why the battery life was so weak ;_; The white one could do mathematical calculations too, apparently, but only addition was demonstrated XD Still impressive.

This parrot/parakeet can pick up rubbish, walk towards the pedal bin, step on the pedal and throw the rubbish into the bin all by itself!

And this parrot/parakeet can correctly and accurately guess, on first try, which bowl is the ball under, even when it was shuffled by a member of the audience. There were also a pair of trained white pigeons who would fly out from the backstage and land on a volunteer from the audience, and then fly back :D

Then there was the orangutan show. A very naughty and mischievous one too, but excuse me, I am not very interested with primates :x We’ve apparently missed the snake show though ;_; The audience can take photos with the orangutan once the show is over, but dear dear and I scuttled off to continue our journey.

Mousedeer! They’re really tiny and adorably cute~

Larger mousedeer. I told Louis these were full-grown mousedeer, while the one previously were babies :P But that wasn’t the case, though I insisted <_<

A tapir just lazing around :D There was another one in the enclosure beside it, but it was pretty hidden.

@_@ Oooh they have even capybara in the zoo. Larger relatives of guinea pigs :D They look so cute and rodent-like despite their size, and this one is sitting in what looks like their feeding bowl XD

A group of capybara. Look at the one lazing in the water. So cute :3

Zebras and rhinos :D ‘Nuff said.

POOONNNEEEEEHHHHH! So cute >_< It's head was sticking out the side of the enclosure, as though asking for pats from people. And so I gave it pats :D The ponies are so fat. There is another one (You can see its legs), but it was quite far from the fence so no pats for it :(

Giraffes. The last time I went to a zoo (I forgot which one already- I think it was the Taiping Zoo) giraffes stole my prawn crackers, and I remember how rough their tongues feel D:

A type of deer. I forgot its name as there were so many types of deer in the zoo (More as we walked along). The youngster kept harassing the male (The only one), resulting in annoyed kicks by the male, but the youngster looks like it wants a fight >_> Though in this photo, the male was actually licking it.

And after this point, my Sony CyberShot camera battery died for good ;_; And this was only like, what, 1/4 of the zoo. It is HUGE. I can’t use my HTC Hero, although it takes good pictures as there is no zoom :(

Honestly, the animals were all well-fed. They looked fat and healthy with shiny coats/fur/skin, not famished or lethargic too as they were quite active (Unless they are nocturnal and are sleeping/hiding), so seeing them is pretty pleasurable and enjoyable :3 Apart from the animals pictured above there were also more deer, wildebeest, eagles, snakes, tigers, bears and of course otters! The otters are my favourite obviously :D I have taken a video of a very adorable (Although a little pitiful) otter with my HTC Hero which I will upload soon :)

I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to the zoo, but we didn’t make it to the Crocodile Farm on the opposite side of the zoo due to a lack of time. Oh well, it’s not like we’re not going back so there’s always next time :3 Instead we headed down to Jonker Walk (Again D:) as Louis wants to buy some pineapple tarts for Gamer’s Hideout XD

While waiting for our lunch at a rather hidden Cheng Ho Cafe in Jonker Walk. It seems to be own by an expat @_@ The food is cheap and quite nice and filling, and I had a taste of the supposedly “world-famous Cheng Ho sambal” XD It’s unique, like most food in Malacca is, apparently… now that I think about it o_O

Managed to also stop by The Orangutan House to pick up a pair of matching t-shirts for both dear dear and me :D They ran out of the colours we wanted- white on black, so this was the next best one. I like the t-shirt designs there- they’re really unique and one-of-a-kind, so making a decision of which design to get was pretty mind-boggling >_>

A close-up of the design. It says “No Photos Please” in handwritten script :P We should wear it to photography festivals XD

We left Malacca town before 3 pm, and reached home around 5 pm… with me sleeping all the way, even though I was supposed to drive halfway back @_@ It’s quite sad to leave, particularly since I’ve enjoyed my stay there and I really loved spending time with dear dear. We do plan to return again though, just not sure when, or maybe holiday somewhere else, it all depends :3 But one thing’s for sure, I do enjoy going on trips with Louis :D

Dear dear Louis and I went for our first holiday together to Malacca on Sunday, 27th December 2009 to Tuesday, 29th December 2009 :3 It was an awesome trip, despite some minor glitches here and there, but after all it is our first holiday together, so I guess we’re still learning :P

All of the photos (And a few more) are on an album on my Facebook account, but I’ve decided to make a post here for the sake of posterity too anyway :D Plus, there’ll be more verbosity here compared to my Facebook album >_>

The photo above is pretty much a memento of our trip- a printed out photo of dear dear and me holding an albino python at the square in front of the Christ Church Malacca, the clock tower and Stadthuys and ticket stubs from our visits to the Malacca Zoo, the museum complex around Stadthuys, the Tortura 2 exhibition in a museum near A’ Famosa Fort (Exhibition of medieval torture methods and implements!) and the Malacca River Cruise :3

I’m going to be writing the travelogues for days 1 and 2 in this post, and day 3 in the next post XD

The bedrooms in my house (Mum’s, mine and little brother’s) are getting repainted within these few days, mine being the last to be repainted… meaning I will be celebrating New Year’s with my room being painted D: I shall take this opportunity to rearrange the clutter in my room, I guess :P

Day 1- Sunday, 27th December 2009

We left in the morning, but I don’t remember exactly what time though >_> We stopped by at Seremban for beef noodles, because dear dear knows I love beef noodles and he has promised to bring me here to try the beef noodles :D

They were delicious, and unlike the beef noodles I’ve always been accustomed to @_@ Unfortunately I had just contracted a bout of sore throat and flu (Which I was still nursing at that time) the day before due to walking in the rain, so my appetite wasn’t that huge and I only had a bowl of the noodles and nothing else ;_;

After the beef noodles, we continued our journey to Malacca, and after searching a while for our hotel, managed to locate it and checked in. It was… decent, to say the least. Maybe I had too high of an expectation, but at RM 150 a night at a 3-star hotel, I was expecting a room with at least carpeting and a bathtub >_> Oh well, it was the cheapest 3-star hotel we could find that had available rooms at that time, so we can’t really complain. And after all, we won’t be lazing around in the room much anyway :P

We actually planned to visit Louis’s grandparents’s grave after we have checked in, but it was raining so we had to cancel that part :( I really wish we could visit them, but there’s always a next time, so it’s OK :) So we ended up resting a while, then headed out to Dataran Pahlawan and Mahkota Parade to do some window shopping (And collecting our movie tickets) before walking to Jonker Walk.

I’ve not been inspired to take photos of the trip so far until the walk on the way to Jonker Walk and saw this scenery along the Malacca River :3 Pretty, isn’t it? I like the lighting and the buildings in general.

A boat ferrying tourists along the Malacca River on the Malacca River Cruise. There was a long, long line there, since it’s the weekend D:

And we have arrived at Jonker Walk! Since it’s the weekend as mentioned, there was a night market. The things peddled and sold there are much different from the night markets in Selangor or Kuala Lumpur in general, and even if they had similar items (e.g. imitation sunglasses), it was much cheaper XD

Bubbles!

I had a craving for radish cake, and while waiting for our radish cake to be cooked, Louis tried camwhoring :P

There was a karaoke competition going on on Jonker Walk’s centre stage, and when we passed by, saw the ending of this man’s performance. What drew me to take this photo was actually the fact that this old man was wearing a wig reminiscent of those olden day men or artists, and he also put a lot of effort into his performance (As compared to those after him, which we promptly skipped) XD Apparently, he is also blind, as dear dear and I soon found out while we were walking out from Jonker Walk and he was walking against us, his cane in hand @_@ No wonder he required assistance while walking down the stage- at first we thought it was due to his old age!

More bubbles on the way out of Jonker Walk!

I had to stop and blow my nose several times on our trip at Jonker Walk because of my flu ;_; Bought gifts for parents.

Colourful beca or trishaws dotting the area around Christ Church Malacca and Stadthuys. Taken on our way walking back from Jonker Walk to my car parked at Dataran Pahlawan :3 These trishaws pack not only mean lighting, but also mean sound systems XD

Louis’s attempt to ruin my photos but randomly appearing once I take them, but this photo actually turned out really nice and adorable ♥

“Old” (Because it’s not actually old) and new. An “old”-looking building with the Menara Taming Sari (Supposedly new XD) in the background.

WHAT IS THIS??? D:

Christ Church Malacca and the clock tower at night. This turned out really nice. So proud of myself XD

Another attempt by dear dear to ruin my photos ;_; (Psst, this was actually done on purpose, though :P)

A view of the Eye On Malaysia and the surrounding area.

The Muzium Samudera (Maritime Museum) as seen at night. Another nice photo I am proud of :x

Our dinner for the night- satay celup :D These are just the preliminary round for now :P We didn’t have it at Capitol though, as it’s over-hyped and not really that nice. This is at one of the many satay celup stalls in a row, and three of them were open that night. It was actually yummy too!

Our midnight movie in Malacca at Dataran Pahlawan :D Louis wants to bring me to watch Sherlock Holmes but didn’t have the time (As well as seats >_>) in Selangor, so at Malacca it was :P He even got us couple seats, which were extremely comfortable and nice for snuggling :x Very well worth the extra RM 1 he paid.

Dataran Pahlawan didn’t seem fitted for a cinema, much less midnight movies though. Only one access lift and one way into the cinema and out, causing massive human jams D:

Day 2- Monday, 28th December 2009

My sore throat seems to have pretty much disappeared (Yay!) but my flu was still there, although much better compared to last night. Hurrah for zealously medicating myself as soon as I got the symptoms :P We woke up early-ish despite the late night movie, and made it in time for free breakfast at the hotel (They were about to clear up) XD

Our agenda of the day- museums and A’ Famosa Fort!

The view on St. Paul’s Hill, going up towards the ruins of St. Paul’s Church and the surrounding areas, which includes some graves and a small Dutch Graveyard. I had no idea the ruins were a church though at first, due to the Latin-inscribed tombstones and grave markers lining the inside of it :x

A ship hit land! Oh, it’s just the Muzium Samudera (Maritime Museum), as visible from St. Paul’s Hill.

Dear dear at one of the cannons around A’ Famosa Fort :D

Another shot of dear dear. Kuma go bluek! :P A’ Famosa Fort isn’t as interesting as it used to be anymore, because the cannons overlook Dataran Pahlawan and modern buildings (They should at least make the buildings replicate old ones instead >_>) instead of the sea. A fort of supposed to fire out at sea, against pirates and/or invaders! >_<

Inside one of the museums in Stadthuys :o This is an old bicycle, used by the Japanese to get around during the Japanese Occupation.

A photo dear dear took of me with the bicycle XD

After the museums (We didn’t go to all of them, just the ones that we’ve never been to and those that interest us XD), we walked down to Jonker Walk (Yes, again! XD) as Louis’s mother requested for some fridge magnets of the nyonya beaded shoes and since it was a short walk anyway. Also settled some stuff for my Mum after some tedious searching and walking around the entire area @_@

Our (late) lunch for the day- pork satay! Granted, I don’t really actually enjoy satay in general, but this is a completely different thing. It’s delicious, very much so and doesn’t taste like usual satay. The kuah (Gravy) is unique too. In short, I love it. Ah, just thinking about it now makes me hungry for it ;_;

The reason for this photo was because dear dear looks cute with the way he carries his bag :P Taken at Dataran Pahlawan, where we had dinner that night. After pork satay there was really no other places of interest to go to, and the zoo would be closing soon, so we decided to leave that for the next day as planned earlier and take a rest before heading out for dinner :3

After dinner we decided to check out the Malacca River Cruise, as yesterday was too crowded. Thankfully it wasn’t today, so we decided to take it :D So much for planning to return early and get more sleep! XD

Taken after having boarded the boat and waiting for more passengers to embark. This is another view of the area surrounding the Eye On Malaysia. Was feeling very excited, as I’ve wanted to take the Malacca River Cruise anyway, just that it was crowded yesterday :D

Dear dear flash-banged himself while taking photos of us on the boat :P

Much better :D Such a nice photo of the both of us :3

With enough passengers on board, the boat finally moves and the Malacca River Cruise begins! I didn’t expect the sprays of water (Thankfully we were sitting not too front), and was considerably lucky that I managed to get a photo of it too :D Dear dear calls this “Malacca On Fire” >_>

The back alleys of the buildings along Malacca River. The street lights lend a certain charismatic, nice, old-ish feel to the whole scenery.

This is actually a failed shot, but uploaded to show how the kid’s hand looks like it’s touching the pole XD

The three street lights on the right of the photo reminds me of a foggy London town at night D:

Brightly lit Malay village houses along the Malacca River. Notice how straight the boat (In red and blue) is in this shot :P

The boat on its way back from the cruise. The cruise did not go the entire Malacca River, maybe just half, and we start the journey going upstream until a certain point before reversing back. When the boats meet each other they honk at each other, like buses or taxis here.

A rather interesting motion blur on the left, with a nice scenery on the right. Now you see why I love yellow lighting when taking photos most of the time- it lends a soft feel and mood to the whole photo. Or at least that’s my opinion >_>

Another clash between old and new. Old building vs new steel construction structure.

At the end of the cruise, there were nice lighting along the bank which I couldn’t resist taking photos of. The whole cruise was actually enjoyable, though you don’t exactly see much but bridges most of the time, and of course buildings, including the Cheng Ho Cultural Museum at Jonker Walk and also St. Peter’s Church. There was also a mini fun fair somewhere. In general the Malacca River Cruise was very relaxing and to an extent, romantic even, especially if it’s with the one you love ♥ A nice way to unwind after a long day and to relax.

Sigh, last night in Malacca ;_;

Day 3 continues here :3