Where has she gone, you wonder.
To the grandeur of an adventure or in the mist of mysterious waves;
To the depth of hidden treks or the exotic land?
Where, where has she been to?
To the grand central of the world stage or that neverland where dreams are made of?

It’s grand, it’s dense, it’s a jubilant of magnificent.
All great things are worth a little wait.
Don’t you agree?

Oh the things you’ll see when she’s back,
The great tales she’ll tell.
She promises it won’t be long, just a little while longer.
Here, she bids you good night, for the first time in this new beginning of visual explosions.
‘I’ll be back’, her voice echoes over and yet again.

Post from: quaint melody | A Malaysian's life in the bungy land

• Where I was
• Little things in life
• Birth of a remarkable woman
• Dream holiday
• Tagged: One Word

夢想的旅行，可以很近也很遠。對我來說，那是一場回歸根源的旅程。

許多人都跟我說過中國人給他們的衝擊，現在到我親身體會一下。
或許是因為自小在華文教育的背景長大，對這片華人的祖地總有一分微妙的感情。
那片我們祖先生活的土地悠遠流長，一直都是我想去的地方。它牽系著我心裡最深處。

要去看看上海的繁華，蘇東坡口中初晴后雨的西湖，見證明清興滅的紫禁城，
依紅樓夢裡的描述而打造的大觀園和被英法聯軍洗劫焚毀的圓明園遺跡。

中國於我來說，是根的所在和中華文化千年歷史的依歸。

Where’s your dream destination? For most of my friends, it’s Japan, Europe or the Pacific. For me, it is the home of my forefathers, China. It’s been said that one must always treasure his culture and heritage. Those are the key factors for one to define oneself with. This oriental land of wonder has always been my dream destination. My Chinese educational background must have something to do with it. I’ve yearned to witness the many historical heritages I had read as a child. The metropolis city that is Shanghai, the beautiful mystical West Lake, the grand Forbidden City that witnessed the prosperity and decline of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

To me, this long-awaited trip is a journey of discovery, a chance to get to know my roots.

Photos to come soon. (Gazillians of them, please give me some time to edit ok! )

Post from: quaint melody | A Malaysian's life in the bungy land

• Singapore trip – Chinese New Year fireworks.
• Long time no see
• There she goes again…
• Where I was
• Colours of autumn.

As I slowly strolled between the majestic red walls, trying to imagine the days that were
A quaint feeling arose out of nowhere
A mixture of sorrow and grandeur; almost a weird sense of belonging
For a minute, I lost myself in the overwhelming rushes of emotions…

Stay tuned, more to come soon!

My apologies for the lack of updates lately, I’m having a grand time traveling at the moment. Thousands of photos have been taken, but this little laptop is simply not fast enough to process them all right now. Here’s one for your viewing pleasure. Can you tell where I was?

Post from: quaint melody | A Malaysian's life in the bungy land

• There she goes again…
• Little things in life
• Dream holiday
• Haste
• Feeling

What is that little delight that brightens up cold days like this? This of course, my little winter comfort food. Yes, it’s kiwi season again! No, not that bird! The fruit! The green sourly fruit that makes our mouth water. Winter is the best time to savour this sour sweet fruit. The season normally starts in late May, early June. (I know, I know, I was meaning to write about this in June, terrible procrastinator that I am!)

Golden fruits of heaven! click photo to enlarge.

The kiwifruit is originally named Chinese Gooseberry that is native to Shaanxi, China. New Zealand popularised and renamed it the kiwifruit after its national icon, the kiwi bird, for export marketing purposes. The green kiwi fruit is the more common one, but the gold variation is widely available too. The gold kiwifruits are sweeter and hairless, it is also my favourite, so delectable! During kiwi season, prices can go as low as 99 cents per kilo. That’s about 6-8 fruits, nice huh?!

This is how the glutton devour her kiwis. click photo to enlarge.

This is how I enjoy my kiwifruits. I use a teaspoon to scope half at a time and have a mouth full. Very satisfying and refreshing to have that sourly sweet taste in one big bite (ok, now you know I’m a glutton with a big mouth who likes to procrastinate, heh!). It’s heavenly! Now, tell me, how do you have your kiwifruits?

*****

Here are some photos taken with my good old Sony Cybershot T30 point-and-shoot when we went down to Kiwi360 way back in 2005 (See what I meant? Incurable procrastinator strikes again!). It is a kiwifruit orchard that opens for public. They operate tours that bring you around the orchard in cute karts to explain the whole production. It’s great fun and a very educational experience!

click photo to enlarge.

Kiwi360 is located at Te Puke in the Bay of Plenty. It is about 3 hours drive from Auckland. A great detour from Rotorua if you’re in the area, it’s about 35 minutes drive from there. The place is extremely easy to spot, just look for the giant 4-storey high, giant Kiwifruit slice by the roadside! We certainly had lots of fun taking silly shots with it. Other tourists around must have thought we were a bunch of crazy people who had escaped from the psycho ward. LOL. This is certainly a nice place to visit if you’re planning a trip to North Island, New Zealand. It comes with cc’s seal of approval! (but please don’t come chasing me down with a stick if it didn’t turn out to be as nice as I described. )

Post from: quaint melody | A Malaysian's life in the bungy land

• Land of the long white cloud
• Let’s talk about weather
• Colours of autumn.
• The night that was
• There she goes again…