more about me!

Hi readers! Recently I read a novel about a girl who spent her entire summer holiday in Tinos, Greece and had abruptly started up a blog as she had nothing better to do and despised everything around her in the beginning. This made me come up with a new idea on blogging about my everyday life. I have been contemplating about this for a few days now and would really appreciate if you guys can let me know if you would like me to do it or not :)

Anyways, as the post suggests, MORE about me! Here goes 19 facts about me that you may or may not know about. If you're wondering why 19, that's because I just turned 19! Well, hope you find it interesting heh

#1 The youngest child in a family of 4, I have an older brother whom I cannot live without!

#2 My love for bananas makes me wonder at times if part of me still have yet evolved from a monkey.

#3 Coffee is life but I recently encountered some 'panic attack' issues from caffeine so yeah, there goes my favourite drink, sigh.

#4 Not your typical type of girl, but the outdoor and adventurous one. Love extreme sports and hoping to experience more of it in the future!

#5 You can call me a nerd or geek, but I love reading.

#6 Highly empathetic and emotional, I can't control my tears most of the time.

#7 Health geek who doesn't take fried food or fast food......yes, please don't judge me. Minimum intake daily: 2 Apples, 2 Oranges, not forgetting my 4 litres of water......

#8 Crazy over anything cute, and have been wanting to own a tiny hedgehog since the visit to my friend's!!!

#9 Only consumes dark chocolate over 70%.

#10 Travelling is my source of happiness, love exploring and taking interesting pictures of every corner of the world!

#11 Love for fruits never ends, especially mango, grapes, raspberries......and ACAI ICE CREAM BOWLS!

#12 May look sociable to you, but totally a socially awkward person. I just TRY my best not to look as awkward tsk tsk.

#13 Currently doing A-Levels, pure humanities subjects.

#14 Worked as a barista at Starbucks Coffeeshop, man, you have no idea, it is definitely tougher than you think......

#15 Amazed by philosophies and constantly wondering about perceptions of the world and all the things around.

#16 Have the sweetest tooth ever! Desserts are the only thing I cannot turn away from, especially Snowflake with the chewy taro balls!!!!

#17 Love animals and think that they are extremely adorable, even thought of having a pet dog, but afraid of anything that can move besides humans, that includes animals, insects and all!

#18 Started playing the piano at the age of 5/6, and used to be part of the Chinese Orchestra when I was 11, played Pipa, a type of Chinese guitar.

#19 Just turned 19 on the 6th of January! Mark that date down on your calendar, hah joking :) I feel old :(

trip to the east side of malaysia! (PART I)

The end of the year is probably the time which I most look forward to besides my birthday as my family has a tradition of going on trips. I am embarrassed to admit that I have never set foot on the East part of Malaysia throughout my 18 years living in Malaysia. Well, better late than never right?

Once we arrived at the domestic airport in Kuching, we departed to Damai Beach, which took us around an hour and a half drive. We were greeted by the strong waves, cooling sea breeze and sky which seems rather gloomy with a tint of orange hue. I was mesmerised by the beauty of nature and immediately took out my camera to capture the picture-post card perfect scenery. 

 The next day, my family and I walked to the Sarawak Cultural Village which is only a 15 minutes-walk away form our hotel. One thing to keep in mind: There are either no or very limited taxis in Sarawak, thus we travelled around mostly by walking. 

traditional Chinese temple

tools used by Chinese farmers in the agriculture field

traditional Malay house

Malays enjoy spinning tops during their past time and have a top spinning area where they conduct competitions within kampungs (=small village in Bahasa Malaysia)

this house is completely made by bamboos and woods and is built this tall to prevent wild animals from attacking in the old days

so they provided us a 'passport' kind of thing as a souvenir to collect stamps from each traditional house

We also went to watch a traditional cultural performance at noon. I really enjoyed listening to the traditional music and songs produced by their instruments made from bamboo and some other materials. Sarawak-ians also have some pretty unique traditional clothes whereby men were spotted wearing a bulky dress or skirt kind of thing. 

Sumpit, a traditional blowpipe first made by natives of Sarawak used as hunting tools and weapons of warfare. Even though they still make an effective hunting tool, the more common modern uses are as props in traditional dances or for decorative purposes. Sumpits are normally made about 6 feet long, which make sit possible to be taken on hunting trips. At this length, they are long enough to be able to aim at preys from a distance. The darts that are normally used in traditional blowpipes are known as damaks, and are most frequently carved from the soft wood of palm trees. After this, they are washed and left out to dry, avoid from direct sunlight. 

setting up the sumpit before aiming at the target

the traditional guitar which I am most impressed by, known as Sape

girls dressed elegantly in their traditional costumes

men spotted in dress!!!!

Bidayuh House

my cheeky dad making fun of my facial expression when I see the skull of animal

Every Bidayuh long house community will have room known as the Head House whereby skulls of their opponents will be retrieved and locked in a big cage. It will subsequently be smoked on top of the fire as they believe that by trapping the skulls, the souls of their opponents will be trapped as well and thus will not harm their tribe in the future. 

 Iban House

 the stage whereby people gather round to celebrate harvest festivals

 the props above my parents' heads are known as Bubu, a traditional tool to catch fish in the river

 natural waterfall

 giant me standing in front of the Penan Hut

 Orang Ulu House

 the houses were built in such a manner to avoid flood as the Orang Ulu happen to stay by the riverbanks

traditional knife, Parang in the making

This marks the end of our first 2 days in Damai, Sarawak. We spent an entire day in the Sarawak Cultural Village and took a lot of pictures. Most importantly, it was an eye opening experience as I got the chance to witness all the traditional cultures of the tribes in Sarawak as well as their respective costumes which I have been studying from textbooks since I was 8/9. Stay tuned for the next part of our Sarawak trip!