Xmas

It's Christmas today here. I'm splat in Eastern Europe, in a country where the people are predominantly Orthodox Christians. For them Christmas is on Jan 7th :)

I was going through my bloglist and realised that stuff I read comes predominantly from Malaysia, Sri Lanka and India... There are the odd African and American blogs out there that I follow, but they're rare and few in number.. Just a random thought.

First snowfall during our first year

Saki Beach

It's Friday afternoon here and we just survived another major exam. The next 2 days are gonna be so hectic with tournaments and so many other things lined up I thought I'd post some pictures from our beach-BBQ-outing while I can. So, here goes...

We got there early and the water hadn't warmed up yet. Being the level headed adults that we are, we did this:

We ran screaming into the water and splashed around like a herd of hippos during the dry season, and had about as much fun :)

Then, our hunger set in and we got down to serious business. We ate. We barbequed. We sat and stared at the beautiful water, and marvelled at the sunlight glinting off its surface.We talked. And we ate some more. 

                           

Then we played touch rugby and volleyball till we got a bit bored and decided it was time for some torture. We caught a couple of our friends and buried them in the sand. The sand was warm on the surface and cool as we dug deeper. I particularly like this picture below: the hot afternoon sun cast our faces in shadows, brought out the deeper green of the sea and made the sky a heavenly blue - but I should just let you judge for yourself :) That's K in the sand by the way..

                             

We had to leave just before sunset, and though we didn't get a picture of the setting sun, we did manage to get this. The two boys in the picture add some character to it, I think.

                          

But I've always loved the sky meeting the sea and the sea meeting the shoreline ever since I was little.We are hoping to visit more places these next 6 weeks and maybe there'll be more amazing memories I can collect. We'll see...

Victory Day Weekend

We had a long awaited 3-day weekend. It happened to coincide with Mothers' Day :)... seeing as how the weather was becoming warmer, we hired a marshutka  and went down to Saki Beach, about 30 minutes away from Evpatoria which I mentioned here and here.

We had good food : satay, chicken, kuah kacang, sandwiches, drinks to quench our thirst... The beach was very near the railway tracks but I suspect it may be abandoned because in our 6 hours there we neither saw nor heard a single train, but the spot made for a memorable picture for us girls :) I'll leave us all unnamed for the sake of anonymity, yeah?

The water was too cold to swim in intially but we did that running away from the waves thing that we urbanites are so fond of. The water was beautiful, the little pebbles underfoot were pokey and prickly...
I've never seen such GREEN waters in person before. All other seasides I've been to have been blue. I like the greenness though... :D

A beach wouldn't be a beach without flip-flops and grainy sand. 

We had it all - the food, the beach, the sand, salty water and good company. Will definitely post more pictures soon, Saki Beach deserves more than one blogpost!!

spectrum

A shot taken just off Cairo. I like the shy sun and single cloud above the home, and the dark silhouettes.

The first rainbow we saw here, on the birthday of R... I don't have this view anymore. My room has an awesome-mer view now with spectacular sunsets, nightskies and green trees! Yep, spring is officially here, folks, and I LOVE it :)

Too tired to blog in words, but will definitely get around to it soon, aite?

Anyone watched 'How to train a dragon' yet? Kinda kiddie, I know, but thoroughly enjoyable... :D

My Backyard Blues

My chilli plants are flowering in the backyard, at least that’s what my mum said some weeks back. Given the insane heat back home, I don’t know if those plants survived. I’m hoping they watered them, but I doubt it because my backyard isn’t actually safe. I’ve seen a fair number of questionably shady looking individuals walk through it (it’s an open stretch of land behind the kitchen and it’s connected to the adjacent houses’ yards as well, since we live in terrace homes)

The papaya tree needs to be cut down.  The tree has grown to an incredible height but the fruits are far too fibrous to be eaten. Even the birds don’t eat them anymore. But it’s been there for the past four years, so we’ll see…

The kanaga flowers (subspecies of the hibiscus, I believe) are doing pretty well though. My dad ventures out every three days or so into my hazardous backyard to pluck the flowers and offer them up at the altar during evening prayers. I hope they’re ok. The kanaga flower plants I mean.

My feathered, two-legged siblings seem to have toned down, also due to the beating sun overhead, no doubt. They only come to gate and chirp in the early morning or late evening now, and even then only after my mum has done her routine cleaning of the courtyard, which involves spraying water all over it to remove the sand and debris from the previous day. I’m sure she misses them. The two-day old rice in little tupperwares in the fridge has probably been reused in fried rice, for fear of them going to waste (lesser sparrows, hence lesser need for left-over rice, meaning even more leftover rice for us humans at home … oh, what joy : S)

Oh, did I mention the baby banana trees? As a kid I would stare at them for hours - so many different birds would perch on them and each had different plumage. The insects I saw on them usually made me feel itchy all over, but they were fascinating in their own way too. Every now and then a rodent or stray cat or dog would wander past and that’s still a source of fascination for my nephews. I should do that again sometime, just leave my kitchen door open and wander around the backyard (hopefully with my brother or father not too far away :P)… or, maybe, we should just move everything to the front courtyard. Hmm…

Gardening’s a pain – digging into the ground, sweating profusely for the sake of a little greenery, getting icky and dirty. But the smell of freshly turned earth and the frustration at the bits of dark soil stuck under my fingernails has a very subtle magnetic pull for some reason. The newly emerging plant shoots, the small budding leaves, the annoying bugs and vermin that get me into a frenzy and of course the flowers and fruit are something else all together. The joy and pain of it all is almost like raising a kid. All right, I’m exaggerating a bit, excuse the melodrama :)

I am looking forward to my time at home, when I get to bicker with my mum over bits of shrub, because had it not been for her, I would have been stuck in front of the TV or curled up with my story book, or running crazy mad hatter races with my brother and sister as a kid.

I miss being able to say ‘I planted that’ or ‘that needs weeding’ or ‘die, stooopid bug, DIE!’

Anyone know how to make the next papaya tree less fibrous? Would appreciate the input! Then every time I feel like eating chilled papayas with a squeeze of lime, I needn’t look farther than the backyard :)

Speaking of that, I wonder how my mum’s lime tree’s doing. The most minute of grasshoppers, which look a bit like the infamous cutie that made it onto Rainfield’s blog, can wreak havoc on that poor tree, and they’re too fast to catch.. I wonder if they died in the heat? Yeah, I’m evil ;)

Missing my life in the backyard, at home. You could say that I'm having a somewhat warped version of backyard blues.. and to give it a kick and so that I'll be able to laugh at myself sometime down the road, I highlighted the source of my blues, in well, BLUE :)

Calm Waters

As opposed to Alexandria, these waters exuded a sense of calm when we 'met' them. And at the risk of sounding biased, I enjoy these pictures more than Alexandria. The emotions one feels when looking at them are less like that of a rampaging boar's ;)

This is a shot of the Red Sea, that time we visited Egypt. It was taken right before we went snorkelling. I love the different shades of blue, showing the different depths and the possibility of corals. It was also the only time I've seen dolphins, albeit from far, but I DID see them nonetheless. 

And this is of the Nile, the marshy parts of it. I posted a similar picture here.

Another of the Nile, my favourite one by far. This shot was taken mere moments before the previous picture.

 

My last picture on Egyptian waters, ok? :) This is a shot out of a window of the hotel we stayed in, in Cairo. Reminded me of a jetty at home except that our port cities don't usually have such tall buildings that are visible here  in the background.

This is the beachside in Evpatoria, also bordering on the Black Sea which I mentioned when I talked about the Bear Mountain (Medved Gara). We went here for a weekend two years back - I think. Look closely enough and you might spot a ship on the far horizon. Oh, and the water was freezing!! (Maybe that was because we went there towards the ending of autumn, being the heroes that we are :p)

And this deep blue is of my home. It's off the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The convoy of fishing boats you can see is a norm. The fishermen go out together for safety from the weather, and pirates... Aaarrr! :)

except real life pirates aren't this cute :)

Earth

It took me some time to admit that this place could be almost as good as home. These helped over the years:

We moved in, four unknown people who had nothing whatsoever in common with each other, except for love of the seat on the windowsill which overlooked this bit of earth. As crammed up as it may seem, the tops of the green firs had us smiling and chattering away, nursing mugs of steaming chai (tea). We had black tea, green tea, milk tea, fruity tea, hibiscus tea, camomile tea, earlgrey tea, english breakfast tea, Turkish tea,tea with lemon slices.... you name it, and we might have tried it.

Weirdly (or maybe not) a lot of the tea here comes from Ceylon and India. And the coffee mixes from Indonesia and Brazil. Did I hear you say globalisation? ;)

Do you see the rocky peninsular-ish outcrop? That's Medved Gara. Medved means bear and Gara means mountain. Apparently an enormous bear wandered the Earth long ago and finally felt such an unquenchable thirst that he had to stop for a drink. And he happened to be by the Black Sea, just on the outskirts of Port Yalta. Well, he bent over, bum in the air and all, and began drinking from the saltiest sea in the world. No wonder his thirst has not been quenched yet!

He was still there a few months back when I took this picture :)

And my last picture for today is of the mountains and gentle rolling hills leading to the Red Caves, so named, for their rusty colour (high iron deposits). The Red Caves area has a beautiful waterfall and little gurgling brooks and streams surrounded by lush greenery and tree saplings. We had to walk an hour from the marshutka (shuttle-van/public bus?) stop to get there, but it was worth it.

The Red Caves are unadulterated and peaceful, a perfect place to be after a crazy schedule.We enjoyed the hike up the hills and the slipping and splashing along the cold cold cold stream beds very much!

************************ 

It's funny how we worked so hard during school, A-levels and the equivalents to get an education here, away from home, then now we work so hard to get back home. Maybe it's got something to do with where the heart is? ;)

Whatever it is, the earth here may be beautiful, but my motivation to do better each day is for my bit of earth halfway around the globe, somewhere along the Equator.

Home. That's. Where. I. Want. To. Be. :)

Woopsie. I hope KFC doesn't sue me for plagiarising their catchphrase :S

Alexandria

       The first view we got of the Mediterranean Sea, and her gathering might. Choppy waves, and chaos. That's what I initially thought.The churning froth from the heaving waters had us awestruck for where I come from, the waves are more subdued  - though no less beautiful!
       Disembarking from the van we were hit by the salty tang of the sea, and cold spittle rained on us from even 3 plus metres away. 

       Then we got closer to the water's edge. The fine spray and the way the droplets danced and shimmered as wave upon wave pounded on the cemented walls around the periphery of the city left us breathless. Breathless from her majestic power and also because we were running for cover!
Note : Running for cover was a futile attempt because we all got drenched anyway :P
       The pounding of the waves was rhythmic and almost orchestrated, and the thunder of the waves drowned out all thought from us. 

       We waited a full 2 hours and more to watch the receding waves. That platform you see in the picture above had been submerged underwater the first time we got to there. 
       We could finally hear each other speak again but none of us did much talking  for some reason.

       This was our parting shot as we left to go to the library (No, not the original library by Alexander the Great, that one got sunk long ago!) 
       I love the shoreline formed by the crests of the waves, that huge white curve upon the sand.
       I genuinely believe that if I had been an atheist, I would have succumbed to animistic beliefs after that day, for the sea truly seemed to have a soul of her own. The sea having a soul thing was much talked about after our trip, when our tongue-tied-ness had worn off, but one thing we all agreed on was this: never had any of us seen any other body of water with such character, such attitude before!
       And our translator assured us that she was like this every single day. Such immense power, it was a trifle scary. 
Yeah, we had a translator :), since the only decent word we knew collectively in Arabic was 'shukrat', which means thank you... and that wouldn't have gotten us very far! 

Pieces of Home

Before you begin, let me tell you that none of this is my work, except the little narrations  :) 

Dodol durian, pengat durian, durian ice-cream, deep fried durian. Malaysians like all other south East Asians adore this thorny fruit. Many thanks to my old friend, Norma Noordin for letting me use her picture.

                                                   

Another picture by Norma. Don't ask me why I like this picture, I just do. It's like an expression of a feeling surging up from deep down inside.  I like the mossy-slippery-ness that one can almost feel just by staring at the picture long enough :) And it reminds me of home :D

This was taken by one of my best friends, Anna Nishiuchi and it was taken outside of the Pejabat Kastam Melaka of all places. I like the rainbow sky because it's like paddle pop icecream and it's also a part of my tribute to light. Also, the day that preceeded this photo is special because the crazy Jap came all the way back to visit us in Malaysia. Her excuse was that she needed to find herself, but I think she secretly just missed us :) I'm glad she made that trip, and hope someday, we make the trip back to see her in the land of the rising sun, because I secretly miss her too.

Nature's important to me, but I'm more of a words person versus photos and words can be very limiting when describing beauty, not to mention eye-glazing, yawn-provoking and sleep-inducing! :p

Anyway, I don't own a camera and my camera phone has a 1.2 pixel quality. Did I just hear someone gasp in horror? :P Haha, yeah well...I'm probably the only urbanite under 30 who is tech-challenged. Unbelievable, na? ;)

Those three pictures I posted come from two friends, both tree-hugging weirdos like me :) so, thank you, Anna and Norma for these pieces of home. 

P/s: To all and sundry, go get a paddle pop ice cream NOW! It's the epitome of bliss on a hot weekend afternoon. And no, I don't secretly work for that Australian food company :)

Light

This was taken outside a Bedouin village. Can you see the man's face with his mouth open? They believe(d) that the sun set each day after that very hungry man ate up the sun, and each morning, it rose because it was so hot that he was forced to let it out again.

Just another folklore on sunsets, huh? I loved it though :)

I wish I had the picture of the desert night sky, but I didn't think of taking a picture then. Definitely one of the best experiences in a foreign land.

This is a castle in Alexandria. Those clouds overhead are storm clouds. It was eerily beautiful, especially with the bits of sunlight breaking through. But the best part of Alexandria was the ocean, pictures of which I hope to share sometime soon!

This was at Hurghada. The sunrise was very peaceful, and the lone camel grazing near the pokok kurma (I'm not too sure what you call it in English) was just asking to be photographed.

Night lights along the road, next to a running river. I have no idea why it makes me think of goals that one wishes to reach in life, the aspiration for a dream, the effort to make it reality. That little light on the top is the reflection against the windowpane :P

An eclipse that we saw right here on campus two years ago. The Mayans believed the eclipse foretold the ending of an era, Hindus have numerous superstitions concerning any eclipse, more so a lunar one. I thought it looked a bit like a human iris, with the little pupil in the centre letting in light.

I know this looks like a postcard, but one of us snapped this image when we were on the Nile, that time in Egypt. That is the Nile bank, upon which lies the history of ancient civilisations and laid the foundation for today's. The perfect form of the sun and the dark silhouetted palms and shrubs look even better in real life.