Sunflower

Inkosana Lodge @ Drakensberg, South Africa

This entry is dedicated to the beautiful lodge that Adri, May and I stayed in Drakensberg during the last world cup in South Africa. We drove from Johannesburg to Drakensberg, the highest mountain range in South Africa. We were planning to do some hiking here for a few days before proceeding to Durban.

The lodge is located at the Champagne Valley which is about 4 hours from Johannesburg. We booked a 6 bed dorm but since there were only 3 of us, we had the whole place to ourselves.The next day, we hike to the stunning mountain surrounding the valley.

The dog welcome us to the lodge

The lodge

Adri sweet talking to the kids

stunning view from the lodge

Opened my eyes in the morning and saw this

Totally Random

My travel

Namtso Lake, Tibet

Namtso Lake in Tibet is considered one of the most beautiful lake in China and I totally, absolutely agree to that statement. The lake is sometimes called as the Heavenly lake due to the location of the lake which is way up high in the mountains from Lhasa to Gyantse.

Although we were still having a bit of effect from the high altitude, it did not stop us from taking lots of pictures as well as mesmerise by the stunning scenery. However it was here that I had my first real exposure to the real toilet in China. Never did I expect that not only I need to pay for the usage of the toilet but it was without door and proper sewage system. I practically can see what my neighbour is doing her 'business'. Little did I know this is considered one of the 'better' ones along our journey across Tibet. The worst has yet to come. Anyway enough of toilet talk.

 

Namtso lake is as stunning as the lochs in Scotland, but something very fairytale about it that it almost looks fake, yet mysterious. Love the turqouise colour of the water against the lush greenery of the Tibetan mountain. No wonder it's called the Heaven Lake.

My Pressie

This by far my most romantic birthday surprise ever!

An Annual Affair

One of my annual affair or one can say annual 'curse' is having food poisoning. No I am not actually joking but it's been part of my life since the last few years. Every year without failed, I will have food poisoning and with just a few more days to 2012, I thought I could escape the 'curse'. Looks like not.

In 2011, I had food poisoning during the treasure hunt. Just one small portion of prawn. On happy note, my team was placed 12th out of the 70 teams. Not bad.

In 2010, I had food poisoning while in South Africa during the World Cup. I was supposed to leave for safari to see the lions the next day. I managed to go the next day with many painkillers popped in.

In 2009, I had food poisoning from the curry mee I ate in Glasgow while studying in UK. Adri had the same mee but she had mild stomach pain which she didn't know it's food poisoning until I told her.

In 2008, I had food poisoning after the annual dinner. We went to the Curve for some drinks after that. I spent most of the time inside the toilet vomitting while I heard drunk girls vomitting beside my cubicle. How ironic!

I cant remember much before that but basically once a year I will have this detox session. And even the doctor I went to see today, he said it's good to have some detox once in a while. I was like ?*%$#.

Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial

The memorial is built in memory of  former President Chiang Kai - Shek. It is situated at the heart of Taipei and easily accesible via the MRT. There's stop named after the memorial and so you cant miss it. 

 

We only managed to visit the memorial on the last day of our Taiwan trip right before our flight back. And we made a right decision to come early in the morning, I think as early as 8am before the truckload of tourists came pouring into the Liberty square (the square where the famous memorial located). Due to time constraint, we only managed to view the place from outside (anyway I am not a fan of museum or historical places) but for those who wanted to know more about the place, it's worth a visit.

It would be picture perfect if the Malaysian tourist group is not there

One of the four 'entrance'

the memorial

Thunderstorm

Lucky to caught this on camera :)

V & N Wedding

Since I kind of 'signed' a secrecy agreement with my cousin brother not to publish or disclose any of his wedding photos.. so I am just going to upload a few which do not directly disclose his face.

The Happenings

I realised I havent been updating as frequent as I used to be. Many things had been happening over the last few weeks and seriously I am feeling a bit burn out from work especially.

For the first time, I am leading a team and being given such heavy responsibility, I realised that many might not think I am capable to be a good team leader but I know deep down I have tried my best and will prove them wrong.


In a week's time, I will be celebrating my final 20s birthday..yeap..so everyone know how old am I now. Do I feel old, panic or scare? I think not because I feel that I have spend the best of my 20s by travelling around the world and now very much welcoming my next 30s with new life and with someone new as well. Plus I think I already had the birthday presssie ever this year (nope not my 7D)..*hint* already got it when I was in New York last May.


For the next December, I am pretty much occupied for now; spa date, makeover session plus hopefully clubbing with my besties, treasure hunt in the first week, ji mui duty for Christmas eve and finally my pressie in Christmas :)

So yes, I am also looking foward to 2012 and a great dragon year ahead.

Random Kid

Just need to make a disclaimer that she's not my kid. Some random kid attending my cousin brother's wedding recently. Such a cutie and such a poser!

Fairytale Castles Around the World

Bran castle, Translyvania Romania (the famous Dracula castle)

Peles castle, Sinaia Romania

What makes castle so intriguing to most people?

Perhaps, it is always associated with prince and princess living happily ever after in fairytales.

Perhaps, it is the grandeur.

Or perhaps, it is the symbol for most ancient cities.

Of all the castle I have visited before, Neuschwanstein remains my favourite and the most fairytale like castle. No wonder even Disney 'borrowed' the idea of their theme parks castle from this one.

Some of the famous castles from the places I visited so far..

Hmm.. I shall write another one of palaces next time.

Linlithgow castle, Scotland (birthplace of Queen of Mary Scots)

Edinburgh castle, Scotland

Alnwick castle, England (one of the famous Hogwarts filming location)

Kronborg castle, Denmark (the setting for Hamlet)

Frederiksberg castle, Copenhagen Denmark

Segovia alcazar, Spain (one of the Disney's castle inspiration)

Cordoba alcazar, Spain

Seville alcazar, Spain

Palais of Pena, Portugal (not exactly a castle)

Prague castle, Prague

Neuschwanstein castle, Germany (the famous castle of them all)

Wawel castle, Krakow Poland

Punakha Dzong @ Bhutan

Overall view of Punakha Dzong

Remember the extragavant wedding between Tony Leung and Carina Lau? And also the grand wedding between the current Bhutan king and his wife? The wedding was held in Punakha Dzong. In Bhutan, dzongs are also known as fortress because they are used to defend the city during war.

Punakha Dzong is one of the oldest dzong in Bhutan and located at the confluence of Pho and Mo Chu river which are also known as the male and female river. Punakha used to be the capital of Bhutan before Thimpu. No photographs are allowed in the dzong and we need to be appropriately dress, with no sleveless shirt and  shorts allowed. Somehow I love the interior architecture of the dzong. Very rustic and different from the moden interior building.

 

The wedding and the famous stairs 

view of the Punakha Dzong from Pho and Mo Chu river

The best view is from one of the park before reaching the dzong

amazing architecture

Inside the dzong courtyard

In The Pursuit of Happiness

Druk Air, the only airline which fly into Bhutan

Happiness…

To some it could mean having lots of money.

To some it could mean having a happy and loving family.

To some it could mean having a high flying career.

But to the Bhutanese, it is more important than the economic development of the country.

Bhutan also known as the last Shangri-La, is a small country landlocked between India and China, only recently opened her doors to tourism.

In Bhutan, there are a few distinctive features which differentiate her from the others.

In Bhutan, all buildings are only allowed the maximum of 5 storeys high and required to be Dzong design, even the airport is using the same design as the normal house in Bhutan.

Yes..this is the airport and we spend 15 minutes taking photo at the runway

In Bhutan, all the Bhutanese are required to wear their national costume to work and school whereby men are required to wear gho and women, the kera.

In Bhutan, Gross National Happiness (GNH) is used to measure the happiness of the people rather than GDP.

In Bhutan, crime rate is very low, almost zero and we never saw a single beggar while we were there for 5 days.

In Bhutan, the national sport is achery but strangely they never win any Olimpic medal. The archers need to shoot the arrow from a distance of more than 10 feet and the Bhutanese play in teams. Both teams can insult or distract their opponent and dance of victory if one of their members managed to hit the target.

Archers celebrating their shot to target

In Bhutan, the ‘official’ food is chili cheese. We tried some, it was way too hot even for Malaysians like us.

In Bhutan, the current King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck is loved by all the Bhutanese. Unlike William and Kate, his union with Jetsun Pema was only a close country affair. And my travelmate has a huge crush on him!

The current king and queen of Bhutan (credit to bbc.co.uk)

In Bhutan, most importantly we learn that sometimes having a simple life is happiness itself.

A morning market. This is some of the stunning scenary we saw during the trip.

More than 80% of Bhutan still covered in forest