QQ's Travel Tots

Pete's Farmstay

2011-10-25T08:43:00.001-07:00

day 9 : 20th Oct 2011

The next morning, we found breakfast was already served in the kitchen. Check it out!

Gaye's signature blueberry muffins. Yum yum...

All these jams were home-made by Gaye too. Doesn't home-made stuff makes you feel all warm and happy inside?

Unlike our Malaysian breakfast like nasi lemak, fried bee hoon, fried kuey teow, fried rice, fried this and fried that...Kiwi breakfast were wholesome and healthy.

After breakfast, it was the moment we've been waiting for. We slipped into the boots Pete brought us and off we go. We met and fed Barbara the lamb, aka Jason's new pet. The lamb kept calling JaJa...son...JaJa...son...

Barbara is so cute and drank up her milk so fast, I wondered if she takes any breath in between.

Pete made a strange noise and a group of sheep came running towards us. They were so fast, I thought they were about to trample us. Luckily, they stopped in a nick of time and started to sniff all of us. One even tried to chew Jessica's sweater. Pete brought some bread and we fed the greedy lot.

Not faraway, Meg, was crouching at the entrance of another field. Pete opened the door and all of us went in including Meg. There were a lot of poo everywhere. Now I know why we need these boots.

Pete said we're heading to the barber shop. In the distance, a group of sheep was happily chewing the grass. Meg crouched her body and cautiously moved towards the sheeps. Like a lion about to pounce on his prey. Pete called up to Meg and she sprang towards the startled sheep. Meg rounded the sheeps up in an instance and brought them to Pete. Again, I thought the sheeps were about to trample us as they don't look like they are going to brake on time.

Meg continued to guide the sheep towards the barber shop where someone's going to get a hair cut. Check out Meg in action.

And here it is. The sheep chosen for a makeover.

The "Sua-Ku" with the sheep

Here is the result of the makeover. Pete told us he used to be a shearer. Shearing 100-300 sheeps a day. Shearing was intense for the back and legs but it was good money then. That's how Pete managed to buy some land where his farm stands today.

The "Sua-Ku" again with the hairless sheep.

A sheep takes 1 year for its fur to grow again. That's one shearing per year. Pete made us guess how much does one single sheep's wool could fetch. $200? $100?...lower...$50 lower...$25?

Yes, it's $25. That's not much considered a sheep can only be sheared once a year. I did a quick calculation. If Pete has 500 sheeps, then he'll get $12,500. However, Pete only has over 200 sheeps so he'll earn $7000 a year. Not much to feed a big family too. So most Kiwis had switched to a more lucrative business such as cows for their milk and meat.

Pete's new hires TH and Jason. Pete was impressed with their work on the first day.

Jason, stop dreaming of Michelle and get to work!

Pete using his weight to stuff the wool. Today, the wool will be taken to auction in town.

Meg brought the sheep back to the greens and we walked to the back of to the house. At the back of the house were a group of llamas. Which we later found out they weren't llamas but alpacas. Pete told us, the alpacas' fur are softer and fetch more money. However, shearing of alpaca might require a professional as you'll see later.

They were so cute and cuddly. They looked funny too and their movement reminded me of the "lion" in the lion dance as one of them shook his butt left and right to poo. But they are the most docile animal ever.

Unlike other farm animals, they don't come running up for food even after Pete placed the food in their food container. They looked at each of us strangers cautiously. Even with the slightest movement by lifting your hand to scratch your head will send them running off. Of course, they won't let us pet them and will not eat from your hands (even though they are hungry).

After some time, the alpacas slightly let their guard down and they cautiously came closer to check us out. I can see they are a bunch of intelligent mammals and look at you curiously with their bambi eyes.

This one is the friendliest of them. Standing on his right, we call him Mr. Shaggy. I wonder if he can see with his fur covering his eyes. Standing on the left side (the black one), we call him Mr. Prada. He's the most cautious of them all, probably because he has the most expensive black fur. "Gotta take care of my preciousssss fur"

This one, I'd like to call him Mr. Friendly.

Or Mr. Lover Boy as he cannot stop kissing Jessica. Hehe...

Not faraway, Meg fainted with the sight of Mr. Lover Boy making out with Jessica.

Aww...such loving creatures. Looking at them makes me laugh as they are so adorable. I think my next pet will be an alpaca.

Jess, Jason & Michelle went back inside the house. The weather was so nice outside, TH & I decided to hang out in the farm. We went back to play with the sheep, played with Barbara and I found this trampoline.

Barbara...

Oh, and we found another pig near the entrance to add to our collection of pig photos from Pete's Farmstay.

Jess having one of her farm dreams...or maybe she's dreaming about Mr. Lover Boy?

Lookey here! Rooney is back from his football practice in ... errr...a farm in New Zealand. TH & Jason acted strangely again. TH supports Chelsea and was thinking this could be the best time to ambush Rooney!

Maybe not today...

Blogspot occasionally distorted my pictures which I have to upload them again. However, this distortion was so precisely bizarre I had to show you the difference.

One for the trip!

We're sad to leave Pete's Farmstay and the hospitality we received from Pete & Gaye. We highly recommend this place if you're planning for a farm stay in NZ. Plus they might throw in Rooney as a bonus. Hehe...

We were even sadder as we'll be leaving NZ in a couple of hours. As we drove towards the airport, we passed through the aftermath of Christchurch's earth quake.

Some of the homes actually fell off from the top of the hill.

It was saddening to see such catastrophe to hit this peaceful city but the city is patching up quickly. I just felt the news we heard are sensationalized. Scaring many potential visitors away from Christchurch. The pictures above are a few of the hardest hit areas but most of Christchurch are fine. There are still a lot to see in the South Island and we should continue to support the recovery of Christchurch :)

We felt really grateful to have Rhys as our reliable and resourceful guide. Otherwise, we won't be able to cover so many places and see so many things in just 8 days. All I can say is, we are well taken care off by Rhys. So, here we are as we waved goodbye to Rhys :(

On our way back from KL to Penang.

One more pic for the "Sua-Ku" as we headed home. Yay guys, it was another awesome vacation.

NZ has really thought us to be friendlier to our environment. Back at home, I felt we have a long way to go to reach the cleanliness level of NZ. Come to think about it, I've not seen a single rubbish lying on NZ's ground. All their public toilets were clean, dry and always equipped with toilet papers.

I think all it takes is for us to start keeping a good habit by throwing rubbish into bins. Tighter cleanliness patrol in public toilets and eateries. Not forgetting...recycle, recycle, recycle. Set a good example for the children. Once we reached the desired cleanliness level, the rest will come naturally. It's like when you see a very clean place, you'll be naturally appalled to dirty up the place. You'll also try to continue to keep the place clean and tidy.

Well, it won't make any difference if I do it alone. So, let's keep our home town clean - together :)

Christchurch & Rangiora

2011-10-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

day 8 : 19th Oct 2011

Let's go shopping! Today, Rhys brought us to the largest mall in Christchurch, Westfield Mall, for some shopping. Rhys told us the mall is not as large compared to the ones in Asia but it's a pretty descent mall.

Sure enough, the largest mall here is almost half the size of Queensbay mall. Penang is so small but our mall is bigger than theirs. Hmm...what does it tell us? We are a bunch of shopaholics!

We stumbled upon these cute ceramic cup cakes and shakes. There were even Simpsons chocolate in those cute tins. I can't get my eyes off them, my hands grew itchy and I wanted to just grab them and own them. Luckily, Jess was around and reminded me I don't have bag space anymore. The only thing I can bring back, are pictures of them.

Now, it's Jess's turn to go gaga over these cute pastries and cup cakes.

where...Michelle & Jason got back a cute cupcake.

The other day, I saw an advert on McDonald's Kiwi Angus burger. It looked really yummy. Since I can probably only find it in NZ...

Indeed, it was mouth watering. The angus beef, egg, cheese topped with loads of juicy lettuce, tomatoes, onions and beetroot. I had a messy time eating it. When I mentioned messy while eating a burger, that means the burger has all the juices and stuff overflowing in every bite. Slurrrp!

After lunch, we headed over to the Antartic Center. Inside, kids were swamping the place. So I was wondering, will an adult find this place interesting?

The blue penguins. Erm...I thought there were far more penguins in Langkawi than here.

The best attraction here is the Antartic Storm room where we can experience a snow storm in the Antartic. Probably you won't be able to find this experience elsewhere unless you go to Antartic yourself! Before going in, we had to wear special jackets and rubber shoes as the temperature can drop down to -50C.

After the snow storm, I only had one thing in mind. I will never want to go to the Artic or Antartic. It's way too cold!

Next, we headed over to the 4D theatre. After waiting in line, it was our turn to watch the 4D show. We were happily moving up the line and when we came up to the staff who distributed the 3D glasses, she told us that the theater was full. We have to wait for the next show.

What? But we were arranged by the staff outside to come here at 1:30pm. If we come back at 2:00pm, we might miss the Hagglund ride at 3pm. What if we come back at 2:00pm and the theater is full again? She told us to come back earlier but we didn't get any guarantee of admission at 2:00pm. Sigh...

So we strolled around outside. I was bored and upset as there was nothing much to see after this.

I didn't know Mat Rempit has reached the shores of NZ

We also have Cik Rempit

At 1:45pm, we went back to the 4D theatre again. We were just in a nick of time before these bunch of kids came. Phew! Finally, we got in!

There were two movies playing - Happy Feet and Ice Voyage. The 4D was cool with great 3D, motion chairs and snow. Plus, I've never been splashed so many times in a 4D movie before. I got too much water on my face in Happy Feet. During Ice Voyage, I was busy anticipating all the possible water spraying moments to avoid. I think I avoided all except for one where a bird was flying over the ocean and suddenly it dropped a flying poo at us. Splash!
In fact, these 4D shows were even better than the one I saw in Disney World.

After the show, we hopped out of our chair and made a bee line to the Hagglund ride. Rhys was jumping with joy (again) seeing us. He went in and out and everywhere looking for us as he was extremely worried (again) we might miss our Hagglund schedule at 3pm.

If you don't know what a Hagglund ride is, it's an all terrain vehicle used in the Antartic explorations. The purpose of the ride was to experience how rugged it is. So we can expect some bumps coming up!

The party of 5 (us) got the front seat with the driver. Cool! We hurled ourselves up the Hagglund. I was seated next to the door and no matter how many times I slammed the door, it just won't seal shut. The driver got around the Hagglund, took out a screwdriver, made some adjustment on the door and slammed the door shut. Oh, so this is how it's done.

So we buckled up and off we go. The Hagglund maneuvered around a bumpy field. Not faraway, I saw a little hill. As it positioned itself to ascend the hill, suddenly that door (yes the door that won't shut) flew upon! I was shocked and without thinking, just pulled the door close again. Holding on to the string that was tied on the door to keep it shut as we ascended the hill. Eeeks!

Up and up we go. All the while thinking, I would probably going to be thrown outside of the Hagglund by the time it reaches the bottom. As it reached the top, we saw what was coming.

"Eeeaaaaahhhh!"

The Hagglund took a sharp dip and straight into the pool which I don't know how deep it was. I kept holding on the string for dear life until my knuckles turned white. The Hagglund went deeper into the pool until it covered half of the vehicle. I can see the murky water almost reaching my shoulder and to my surprise, no water seeped in. At that point, I had this thought of pushing the uncanny door open (just to see if water seeps in). Now, I know after watching Myth Busters you can't open the door while the vehicle is submerged halfway in water. After having a 5 seconds deliberation with my thoughts, it was too late to do anything as the vehicle emerged from the water :(

The Hagglund was the highlight of the Antartic center. Or should I say the Hagglund's door was the highlight of the Antartic center. Again, it rained and we ran towards Rhys's car. This time, we headed to our farmstay!

Pete's Farmstay is at Rangiora. A town nearby to Christchurch. After a short lost (Rhy's first time to Pete Farmstay), we found the farmstay's sign and headed to the farm. We passed through fields of sheeps and towards a nice home surrounded with the fields.

Pete & Gaye (our host) came out to greet us. Maybe, I should rephrase. Pete, Gaye, the dogs, the sheeps and all the farm animals came to greet us.

We unloaded our bags and Gaye showed us around the home. We were all awed with the home. It has 2 lounges, a big kitchen, 6 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1 toilet. All of those not inclusive of Pete & Gaye's own bedroom and their office.

Let us take a tour with Gaye...

The corridor leading towards all the rooms. The doors all looked the same and we had to trial and error making sure we don't end up opening someone else's bedroom. At one time, Jessica was searching for the toilet and she ended up in our room. Lol!

All the rooms had a large window that showcased the brilliant view of the farm. Oh, I must tell you the beds and pillows were extra comfy. Lying on the bed, was our bath essentials - soft bath towels and an exclusive Pete's Farmstay's soap that came with different fragrances. Opening up the closet revealed cuddly bathrobes, soft slippers and more pillows.

We hung around the lounges. The blue chairs below were super comfy too. It behaves like a rocking chair and can swerve 360 turn.

I like the open concept of the house with large glass windows and doors that gave away the view of the farm and the skies beyond. At one point, I was curled up on one of those comfy sofa and just sat there watching the clouds moving and changing its colors as the sun sets.

We'll be having a BBQ dinner at 6:30pm but my stomach is already growling.

I really like large kitchen and I kept telling everyone this is my dream kitchen.

I wondered around and saw this croissant dough and chocolate cake. Is it for us? The chocolate cake looked so tempting and I was this close to steal a bite. Control....control...

Jason and Michelle's cupcake that looked too pretty to be eaten.

The farm looked so inviting. Pete said it was too cold now, but we really cant wait until tomorrow. So, we the "Sua-Ku" disregarded all sound advice and in our so called sound mind went outside into the cold.

To see a big worm.

Nyeh...actually to see a the sheeps.

While we played with the sheeps, Pete and Gaye were preparing our dinner. The kitchen was filled with yummy aromas that made our stomach growled again.

Dinner is served!

The pasta was delicious. I had double helpings of it. Gaye told me she added a hint of curry flavour in it. No wonder it tasted so familiarly good! I can't believe I could not figure out it was curry flavoured.

The succulent BBQ lamb. I wonder if they are from Pete's farm. I rather not ask as I might not be able to face the sheeps tomorrow if I know I am eating one of their relatives. Or worse, their mummy.

We downed the yummy home-cooked food with beer and juices while leaving some room for dessert.

Those cakes are really for us. Gaye told us she made them herself. What luck!

My new found favourite - Hokey Pokey ice cream. There was also a bowl of whipped cream. Aye, do people here eat whipped cream for dessert?

We were flipping channels and suddenly, the TV lost all the channels. Pete & Gaye tried to fix it back but it wouldn't work. So, Gaye called up his son, Brent, who just lived down the street.

As he entered the house, Jason and TH suddenly behaved like a lost kid that had just found his dad. They were all excited and I soon found out why. Brent looked like Wayne Rooney - Manchester United's striker. While he was fixing the channels, all of us ogled at him like a specimen under a microscope from the couch. I was actually trying to figure out which part of him looked like Rooney.

Suddenly, TH & Jason disappeared. Just as quickly as they disappeared, they reappeared again wearing their respective football jersey. They were beaming like little kids and can't wait to take a picture with "Mr. Rooney". Duhh...

Finally, the channel was fixed. Jason & TH immediately swamped the unprepared "Mr. Rooney" and I took this picture. As you can see, "Mr. Rooney" was still in a maze in this picture. Flanked by some weird football fanatic Asians.

After dinner, Pete, Gaye and Brent disappeared. I had a warm relaxing bath in their jacuzzi (oops) and lay on the cozy bed soon after. It was still too early to sleep. So, I decided to hunt for a familiar sight in this house. Pigs!

From the moment I walked in, I noticed the house has lot of pigs in it. Tonight, I am hunting them down.

TH made me a cup of warm tea and I lay on the bed again. This time, I slept like a pig!

Arrowtown & Snowfall at Land of Lakes

2011-10-25T08:09:00.001-07:00

day 7 : 18th Oct 2011

It's sad to leave Queenstown. It just don't feel enough :(
Rhys brought us to the neighbouring town a few minutes away from Queenstown - Arrowtown. Arrowtown was an old gold mining town frozen in time.

I had this picture set as my new wallpaper. I am still reminiscing the moment I stood on this street, gentle breeze on my face while taking in this idyllic town.

Jess decided to call home and tell her parents not to expect her home as she's migrating to NZ

with me...

We can join the gold miners, dig some gold nuggets and earn some cash. I was really into it until this K.N.S truck burst my bubble. It was about time I face reality. Arrowtown has long exhausted of all its gold (since early 1900s). No more gold. Nothing. Nada!

It started to drizzle again. Yikes! I don't like the rain at all. Please give us a break. We drove off and away from the rain and ended up in this winery.

Look! Jessica had all of these liquor as breakfast.
Tsk tsk...

The waitress gave Jessica the chronology of the wine to taste.

So, I decided to join her (to pose for a picture)

What's best to pair with wine? Cheese!

After some wine and cheese tasting, we linger around the garden admiring its colors.

The rain caught up with us again. So, we made another escape. This time, we escaped to a road side fruit shop.

Mmm...I must say, this was the yummiest fruit shop I've ever seen. Everything was beautifully arranged and all the fruits looked so alluring. At one point, I heard the Kiwis saying "Eat me! Eat me!"

The shop offered a variety of fruit packages. Single/double/triple colored grapes in a box, crates of similar or assorted fruits, fruits in a box, fruits in a bag, or if you can't make up your mind, hand pick them yourself. I liked the assorted fruits in the crate. I can imagine a busy mother of 3 rushing into the shop. With little time to spare, she just need to buy the readily assorted fruits in the crate for her kids.

The free tasting table was a hit. Most shoppers were lured to it trying the fruits, nougat and all the condiments in the shop.

NZ, (need I say) was famous for its Kiwi. Or it should be the other way round ... NZ, was famous because of its Kiwi!

These Kiwis were so huge they were almost as big as my face!

Jess & I tried the tasty fruit yogurt ice cream. After eating it under the rain, we were frozen!

Speaking of freezing. A few minutes drive later, we reached Waitaki District which was snowing. The whole place was blanketed in snow and whiteness.

The "Sua-Ku" got out to see the snow again. Oh wait a minute. It was not exactly snow yet. It was more of a sleet.

I felt a rumble in my stomach and just realized, we have not eaten anything since this morning. Rhys pulled into this restaurant + gift shop.

Inside, there were two cabinets filled with life-like dolls. At first, I thought they were the owner's collection until I saw a sign in the cupboard saying the doll-maker is on sabbatical leave and ordering of dolls is temporarily unavailable.

The dolls were indeed very beautiful. The prettiest and most intricate dolls I've ever seen. It's hard to see in these pictures but I actually took a very close look at each dolls. They were all perfect looking, down to each hair strand and embroidery on the doll's clothes.

Some of the dolls went over a thousand dollars but I believe a lot of ladies could not resist them.

Though, at night, they may look kind of creepy. Remember Chucky?

Well, time to treat my tummy.

A choice of unique and healthy breakfast at 2PM. I think I should call it brunch. We had a light meal as Rhys mentioned there was a nice Chinese restaurant near Lake Tekapo. Did you say rice? Ooo...rice rice :p

We continued towards Lake Tekapo. When we reached the lake, all of us unanimously agreed to just skip the lake. Unless you say the lake is purple in colour, otherwise, we prefer to just stay inside than weather the cold. After all, we've had plenty of lake scenes.

We arrived in a town in the precinct of Lake Tekapo. The town was painted in white and Rhys was asking us if we wanted to stop. If we stop here, we might risk getting stuck here as the road might be closed later due to heavy snow fall.

The place was too beautiful just to drive by. "Can we just have 5 minutes here, please?", I asked.

As we came to a stop, Rhys kept saying "This is so unreal". Why? Because it's spring time now! It was not suppose to snow. It was indeed - Unreal

So, we made a pit stop here and had to order takeaways. We couldn't stay too long here as we don't want to end up being stuck in this place.

The takeaways with epic proportions. Or as Rhys would say - Unreal

After dancing around in the snow and throwing snow balls at each other, the "Sua Ku" were satisfied to leave. Oh yes! This is the first snow fall I've ever seen in my life! I've seen snow before but not the actual snow fall. - Unreal

Rhys was excited over something. He said "Let me show you something", and drove us behind the row of shops. In the middle of the snow covered landscape, perched a quaint little church. It was really lovely under the snowy backdrop.

We made our way back to Christchurch. There was no snow in Christchurch though. Rhys dropped us at our favourite Countdown supermarket to make our last minute shopping. Gotta get some Kiwi teas, some Fruit Burst (best candy), some Simpsons shaped cookies...Chocolates, chocolates...all those special looking chocolate I gotta have them all!
All our carts were filled with chocolates, candies, snacks and all those calorie unfriendly treats. Kids, time to stop loading your carts!

We checked back into Camelot Lodge. That night, we had a fruit party with all the fruits we bought this morning.

We could not finish the strawberries and Jess creatively turned it into something useful.

Voila! Strawberry face mask which leaves your face feeling all fruity.

Oh no...suddenly, the thought dawned at us like a smack on the face. Tomorrow is going to be our second last day in NZ. I don't wanna leave just yet :(

Milford Sound & Te Anau Glow Worms

2011-10-25T07:51:00.001-07:00

day 5 : 17th Oct 2011

We were glad we made the right move to return to Queenstown yesterday. Today and the next few days were gloomy and filled with never ending downpour.

We started at 7:30am today from Queenstown. We had breakfast in Te Anau before heading to Milford Sound.

Something new...yummy venison pie

Later this evening, we'll be journeying to the far side of Lake Te Anau to see the glow worms.

The journey to Milford Sound continued. When I was young, I saw a documentary of Milford Sound, I thought it was purely enchanting. Even the name sounded magical and mysterious like a remote Eden on earth. Since then, Milford Sound had been one of my top destination.

Meanwhile, I started to develop this pig-like behaviour in NZ. All it takes was 2 minutes in the car and I will be dozing off. I tried to pry my eyes open to see the beautiful landscape (that I wanted to see since I was young). However, my pig syndrome was overwhelming. At one point, I was fighting so hard to stay awake to see the view that I dreamed of (since I was young), I was literally pinching myself.

Alas! Mother Nature worked her magic wand and for pure 5 minutes, I was fully awake. Admiring hundreds of waterfall from the mountain range :)

Unlike the other lakes that we saw a couple of days ago, the Mirror Lakes is a little bit different. Check it out.

Now, do you see what I see?
If you still could not see what I saw, try reading out loud "Mirror Lakes" for 10 times.

I wonder if Hobbits stayed here?

One of the uniqueness of NZ's lakes is they are all crystal clear. I can see everything inside the lake including the roots of the trees extending inside the lake. The strangeness of it was, I've yet to see any fish in any of these lakes.

We were back in the van when Rhys suddenly cornered into the forest. Branches and leaves brushing against the van. Rhys continued the bumpy ride into an unmarked path with a smirk on his face.

So this is the part where the tourists get abducted. I knew things seems too good to be true with Rhys. Him treating us like kings and queens. Knocking on his door in the middle of the night asking where we can find Asian food or interrupting him in the All Black's game against the Aussies.

"Excuse us Rhys, but where can we find a mart that's still open? We can't sleep". All our whims were accommodated with the same smirk on his face...like the smirk now.

Rhys suddenly said "No one knew much of this place. I called this Rhys's place"

NOooooo......we're gonna die. We're gonna DIE!

The van came out from the forest and into a lake over looking the fiordland. Rhys turned around and said "Get out!"

We obliged and got out from the van. Rhys continued "Go on...take your best shot". I was about to grab a fallen branch nearby and attack him when TH said "Smile, say Cheese!"

OK, maybe I watched too many movies. Maybe I slept too much. Sorry Rhys!
Rhys gave us more preview of the fiordland.

The stream goes on into the distance

We made another pit stop at Falls Creek. The place was alive with waterfall on the left and a strong stream on the right. The water elements were further accented with a downpour. With its width and length, this was the best looking stream of all the streams I saw.

Next stop, Milford Sound - the place I dreamed of (since I was young)

Maori names are very unique. For those who understand the Malay language, they will find the other meaning in Piopiotahi and Punakaiki. (Though the other meaning are not very nice)

So after building up the story for the entire day, we finally reached Milford Sound! (the place I dreamed of since young).

Milford Sound is known as the top tourist destination and the number one hot spot in New Zealand. The fjord carved by ice millions of years ago, is also the wettest place on earth with almost 200 days of rain a year. No surprise that it was raining today. Some say, one has yet to see the real Milford Sound if it wasn't raining. That's when the place come alive (whatever that means...it's too wet and cold!).

We embarked into our 1.5 hours cruise in Jucy Cruze ($65)

The gorgeous scenery started as soon as the boat pulled away from the port. The magnificent waterfall seen here also provides hydroelectric power to the small area in Milford Sound here.

They said a picture says a thousand words. I am going to shut up and let you sit back, relax and enjoy the view. Though I must stress that no picture can do justice for Milford Sound. When seen with the naked eye, the place is really magical. Just as what I've always dreamed of when I was young.

TH all geared up to get some shots against the rain.

Even though it was so cold outside with the rain, we braved them all to take some good shots and videos. Heck, I've been dreaming about this place (since I was young). Out in the blue, I felt more water splashing over me. A huge waterfall poured into the front of the boat. Everyone in front were soaking wet after that. Hahaha!

We also got up close to the wildlife in Milford Sound.

And got lucky. Today, the penguins came out to play! We told Rhys later that we saw penguins and he was amazed and told us we were the first group he led to have seen the penguins in Milford Sound. Woohoo!

There were pretty tiny and the boat couldn't get too close to them. Can you spot them?

Jess & I were satisfied and moved inside to enjoy the view without the chill. Ahh...it was so warm and cozy inside. The boat made a turn back and we saw more fjord and waterfalls.

Big and small waterfalls

Hundreds of falls

More falls

and....I fall Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I discovered that the pig syndrome has a greater effect in boats. I remembered myself dozing off in Mandurah, Australia. Also dozing off in a cruise in Korea. Now I know what to do if I have insomnia.

It was still raining when our cruise ended. The emphatic, Rhys, had umbrellas ready for all of us. We jumped inside the warm van and headed off.

Now at this point, we completely turned into a sloth. Don't know where we're heading. We slept mostly in the car only to be awaken up when we reached a point of interest or a restaurant. Knowing that Rhys has taken care of everything.

The "Sua-Ku" earlier saw a place filled with snow. So, the "Sua-Ku" got Rhys to stop by so the "Sua-Ku" can go play with the snow for awhile.

After the "Sua-Ku" stint, we headed to the Chasm. TH & I had a debate whether it should be called Chasm with the "Ch" or "Kh" sound. (Google revealed I was wrong. It was with a "Kh" sound)

"So what's a Chasm?", we asked Rhys as we approached The Chasm.
"Erm, it's hard to explain. You have to see it for yourself", Rhys said.

It was raining outside. Cold. Wet. Is The Chasm really worth a look?
Well, the name sounded cool. The Chasm. CHASM! Heck, it'll be a waste to come this far and turn into a sloth.

So, we shed our sloth mold and went into the rain towards The Chasm.

When the photograph of this waterfall near The Chasm came out, it felt like a deja-vu. Like I've seen this fall before in a picture somewhere.

The Chasm - I later found out was a deep fissure on the face of the earth caused by the earth surface being pulled apart. For this chasm, it was formed by the force of water and rocks swirling and grinding in the currents. After over thousands of years, the water activity sculpted rocks and rounded basins of the Chasm. Ooo...Something new and interesting!

After our geographic exploration today, we headed back to Te Anau. It was time for some good old dinner. Rhys highly recommended this place.

Mmm...the food was unforgettable. I had a Beef Stroganoff.

TH had a Chicken Schnitzel. Wow...the best chicken and sauce I've ever tasted.

Jason had some lamb

Michelle had some vegetarian snacks

Looking at these pictures made me hungry now...hehehe

Our exploration for the day did not stop here. We still have the Glowworm Caves to check out!

The rain continued when we reached the Glowworm Caves. At one point, I though I would freeze with the cold sea breeze, cold rain and cold night fall.

After a short briefing, each groups took turns into the cave. The cave system itself was interesting. We walked along the see-through bridge while watching the strong currents beneath our feet. There was a tiny but powerful waterfall inside the cave. We ascended a couple of steps towards the top of the fall and not far away, saw the first glimpse of the glow worms hanging from the cave's ceiling.

These pictures are from Real Journeys as we couldn't take any pictures inside as they fear we might scare the glow worms with the flashes.

The climax of the journey was the boat ride into the darkened cave. It was cold and pitch dark inside. All I can hear is the sound of the waterfall and then I saw it. Clusters of lights like stars twinkling in the dark. The boat slowly maneuvered inside the cave as we admired the glow worms in total darkness. The sound of the waterfall in the distance. The atmosphere was pretty romantic even though there were about a dozen of us strangers in the boat sitting side by side.

Rhys was waiting for us when we arrived back in Te Anau. Rhys started the van. Nothing. He tried again. Nothing. On the third time, the engine came alive and we cheered!

We headed back to Queenstown. It will be a pretty long journey. Halfway through, Rhys felt something is wrong with the car. Jason was looking at the van's clock that got dimmer and dimmer as minutes passed. At that moment, all of us were wide awake.

Rhys was contemplating if we should return to Te Anau or push on to Queenstown. We were about 1/4 out of Te Anau at that time passing through a narrow road guided only by reflectors on the road. The clock's light is barely visible now. That was when we hit the brakes and Rhys trying to make a U-Turn back to Te Anau. It was tough as there were no street lights. We couldn't even see if there was a drain or edge that we might fall into.

I turned around to check if there's any car coming our way while Rhys tried to turn his van around. All I can see was complete darkness and that was when I got pacnicky! 101 things could happen now. We could fall into a drain. A car might crash into us. The battery might go completely dead if Rhys hit the brakes again. We will be stranded in the middle of nowhere if that happens. We might be frozen in this extreme weather too.

Luckily, both side of the road were empty and Rhys managed to turn the van around. He continued to push the van back to Te Anau. By now, the clock completely disappeared. The van started to shut down bit by bit. The radio lights and speedometer were gone. Error lights (that we've not seen before) were blinking non stop. It was raining quite heavily and dark outside. The wiper moved as though it was dying. My fear was the wiper (rain was quite heavy) and the car lights (to light the road reflectors). Without them, we might as well drive blind folded.

All of us were in complete silence. Eyes wide open. Praying. Are we there yet? Are we there yet? After pushing the van for eternity, we saw the first street lamp. Then, a car. Then some houses until we reached Te Anau again. As soon as the van reached the gas station in Te Anau, the van went completely dead. Talk about timing!

Rhys called for SOS . All of us waited in the car for the mechanic to arrive. In under 10 minutes, a truck pulled over. Yay! Our rescue had arrived!

We got out of the car as the mechanic checked the van. It was freezing! We ended up having to push the van to a nearby garage which coincidentally was just behind the gas station.

At least we can take shelter in this garage while the fixing goes on.

Bored, cold and wet. We decided to check out the garage.

These broken rubber belt (the alternator) was the root cause of the problem. I later checked with my bro and he told me the alternator was the one that continues to charge the battery. He was amazed that the battery lasted so long when the belt was broken at the start of our journey back to Queenstown. We were travelling with just the remaining power of the battery-uncharged!

The van was fixed. Rhys got us back to Queenstown safe and sound. We were all worn out and cold. All of us were glued to the heater as soon as we reached our motel.

Jess & I decided to have a sweet ending for our day by indulging into our special yogurt. Though the chocolate one is more of an acquired taste.

Come to think about it, the breakdown of the van was something that we remembered the most. Those unplanned surprises. Rhys and the mechanic handled the situation so well (applause). We should thank our lucky stars that all of us were safe tonight!

Queenstown Adventures

2011-10-25T07:36:00.001-07:00

day 5 : 16th Oct 2011

The main attraction in Queenstown was probably the Shotover Jet. Heck, the street across our motel was even called Shotover Street.

I can't describe in words about the thrill of this ride but this video will!

The "Sua-Ku" caught in the Shotover Jet.

Personally, I felt the ride was a tad too slow. I really wished it could go faster and do more 360 spins until I get dizzy. Maybe I got too used to the speed of a roller coaster. Still, it's worth an experience in Queenstown:)

After the ride, Rhys drove us to the neighbouring Arrowtown. Halfway through the journey, we drove back to Queenstown. Nope, someone did not left his brains back in the Shotover Jet. The sun was shining brilliantly and the sky was clear. With NZ's moody weather, this was an opportunity not to be missed to catch the gondola up to the Skyline.

So, up we go!

What a cool bungee jumping site

There was plenty of food at the Skyline Cafe.

However, we decided to have the buffet lunch at the Skyline restaurant.

This was the view through the restaurant's glass window. We were glad we made the right choice to come up to the Skyline today. As we dined, parachuters and helicopter flew passed us with The Remarkables creating a stunning backdrop (The Remarkables is the snow capped mountain range). Below, a steamship was busy ferrying passengers across Lake Wakatipu.

I am not sure why all the pictures we took are dessert. They definitely served more than just dessert.

My favourite was the Hokey Pokey.

The Kiwi Pavlova that simply melts in your mouth.

Assorted jellies and cream brulee

We saw the Skyline Luge from our restaurant. I didn't put much expectation on this one as I saw some kids and adults luging slowly along the track...zzz

We took the chairlift up to the Skyline Luge's base.

Up here, the track looks more appealing!

First timers had to do a Scenic Track with the luge before doing the Advanced Track.

Quite unexpectedly, we were thrilled as the Luge succumbed to gravity and we were "free falling" 800 metres down. Our motivation increased as little kids swerved past us. Gotta catch those rascals! Before we knew it, we were at the finishing line. The Advanced Track was even more interesting as we raced each other and got ourselves into unexpected dips and sharp bends. The dips made the luge went even faster.

I want to do it again and again and again :)

One for the Luge!

After leaving the Skyline, we decided to spend the rest of our day exploring Queenstown.

TH : Hey look! There's a Bead Shop
QQ (30 secs later) : Hey look! There's a Bead Shop
Jason (1 min later) : Hey look! There's a Bead Shop

The Bead Shop was just opposite our motel. We kept having repeated mindless conversation over The Bead Shop as it was always in our face. So, we had to check it out.

We continued to admire spring time in Queenstown. Trees started to flower bringing colour into Queenstown.

The shop gave us free tasting of the yummy fudge which lured Jessica to get them home. I got some apple and melon drops with some ginger to help us combat motion sickness (okok...I got coz I actually can't resist the cute box). As I was writing this, I looked over at the candies still sitting on my table untouched. Even the ants stayed away from it (honest!)

Our stroll led us to Queenstown's pier.

It was a great place to hang out and we fed the birds. They were a pretty noisy bunch and sounded just like the Angry Birds. Dogs and their owners were seen strolling in the park. The bars started to fill up with enthusiastic guests watching a replay of previous rugby games.

Tonight, New Zealand will play against Australia in the Semi Finals of the World Rugby Championship. Rugby is big, i mean BIG in NZ. It is even bigger for NZ to play against her neighbour. Based on the performance, I thought Australia and NZ should end up head to head in the finals. But not this year. All Blacks are about to face the Wallabies in just a few minutes.

After having Thai food at the same shop again, we headed back to our motel. Jason & Michelle were already in their all black shirt watching the game.

Jess, TH & I thought it was still too early to be back in the motel. After dropping our stuff, we walked to the supermarket that opens until midnight. Along the way, we saw people glued to their TV watching the game.

Halfway through, I wondered if the mart is open. I am sure the workers there would not want to miss this important game.

As we arrived in the mart, I realized there's nothing to worry about. First, the mart is open. Second, there was a large LCD screen above the cashiers and in every aisle in the mart there was a LCD set. All of them airing the game!

The usually quiet nights in Queenstown were occassionally broken by cheers from the All Blacks' fans as All Blacks defeated Australia 20-6.

Since then, All Blacks came out as the champion in the 2011 World Rugby Championship. Edging out France over a tight 8-7 win. Cheers to the All Blacks!

Franz Josef & Fox Glaciers

2011-10-25T07:18:00.001-07:00

day 4 : 15th Oct 2011

Early in the morning, we felt safe. Why safe? Well, because we had food on the table. They came from the frozen food we bought yesterday.

Today, it's time to explore the glaciers. We headed up to the Franz Josef glacier. Took a short walk towards the glacier.

The area here is normally foggy and we were lucky it was a sunny day to catch a clear view of the glacier.

Rhys gave us a bonus by getting us to the Fox Glaciers too.

Dwarfed by these magnificent hills and valley.

When there is a sign like this in New Zealand, make sure that you follow all the precautions. The rain and melting ice could cause a flash flood. You may also be swept away by the powerful current . Do not attempt to climb over barriers as well. Some had died from falling ice.

Fox Glacier is much closer compared to Franz Josef.

Erm...I have no comment for this one

After an eye catching morning, we stopped over at a salmon farm.

What a coincidence it was lunch time!

The cafe serves a variety of food with salmon (of course). I could not resist the bright orange salmon bread and the salmon chowder. Oh la la! The salmon chowder was awesome with generous amount of salmon in it. Slurp!

The "Sua-Ku" got interested with the strange leaves served with our food.

After feeding ourselves with salmon, we returned the favour of feeding back the salmons outside. We thought it will be more humane that the other way round.

While frolicking in the salmon farm, Chemical Brother's Salmon Dance kept playing in my head. It's one of my favourite track from them. Check it out!

It was cold outside. We nestled cozily inside the van after a nice lunch and what happened next? Zzzzzzzz.....

We woke up at Knights Point. A lookout for seals. The wind was so strong here that we scurried back inside the van after a few shots.

One of my favourite children story was The Secret Garden. The path towards the Thunder Falls brought my Secret Garden's imagination to life. We felt like little Hobbits here.

The magnificent Thunder Falls!

After Thunder Falls, we journeyed to the Blue Pools. Stopping by at Cameron Flat.

The forest walk towards the blue pool is longer but was even more fascinating. OK, OK ... I am a nature lover :) The forest was so tranquil. Our boots crunched on the pebbled walkway as we wondered around. Admiring the tranquility and taking in the freshness of the air. Guess where's the blue pool?

Blue and crystal clear

The drive continued and Rhys stopped at Lake Hawea's lookout.

Next stop was the picturesque Lake Wanaka township. Every homes and apartment that I saw was overlooking the magnificent mountain range.

The Kiwis are so lucky to have landed-homes with a wide selection of postcard sceneries for their home's backdrop. Back at my home, we have to pay millions for a landed-home that comes with a mere glimpse of the sea (sad).

A short break and we had to hurry back to the van. We had to get to Queenstown before sun down. Along the way, we passed through a range of narrow and winding hills. Now I know why we had to get to Queenstown before sun down.

I didn't realize that we were so high up the hill until Rhys stopped the van for us to take an aerial view of Queenstown and the nearby Arrowtown.

Almost there! Almost there! Hold on to the puking everyone!

Voila! Cheers as we arrived in Queenstown. It was a long ride and Rhys was also exhausted. After checking into the hotel, we suddenly had a craving for Thai food. The thought was so infectious that everyone of us started to crave for it including Rhys.

Thankfully, our ever resourceful guide had us chomping away our Thai cuisines in a nearby Queenstown mall. By the way, I had a $15+ red curry rice. 7 times ... yes SEVEN times more compared to the one we had at home. Though we had our tummies filled and were brimming with glee as we missed our rice. LOL!

We had a long day. Tomorrow, we are going to the highly acclaimed - Shotover Jet ride! Woohoo!

Arthurs Pass & Punakaiki

2011-10-25T06:49:00.001-07:00

Day 3 - 14th Oct 2011

The NZ journey officially started today. With a mere glimpse of Christchurch, we packed out bags and headed to the glaciers. We passed through the Canterbury plains with farms land rolling towards the mountains. We got excited just looking at the sheeps and cows. Rhys was probably thinking..."Ah! I've seen this all the time..ZZZ"

We passed through these peculiar looking mountains littered with large jagged stones. Rhys said the battle scene in Narnia was shot here. (Hmm...I got to watch that movie again)

After looking at far too many farms with sheeps and cows, our eyes started to close. When we woke up, we were in Arthur's Pass. A small town that became a base for explorers into Arthur's Pass National Park. It was drizzling so we scurried inside for a warm breakfast.

In case you're wondering, these are gigantic scones.

Halfway through breakfast, TH suddenly disappeared. We thought he was taken away by the Kea.

Oh well, it's just a small bird.

Although it's small Alpine parrot, it's known to be a smarty pants. Look, it even posed for you in all these shots.

We drove a little further and along the coastline. It looks like the 12 Apostles from here.

And the 5 "sua-ku"

Unlike the crowded beaches in Bali, there was no one here. We had the place all to ourselves.

After a few breather, the journey continued along the coast line ...

The highlight of the day was Punakaiki. The location to view geographic wonders of the pancake rocks and blow holes.

We met this curious bird (I forgot what it's called). It almost looked like a duck to me.

With the neat layered formation of the rock, they named it the Pancake Rocks. I'd call it "kuih lapis" (layered cake) instead.

The three angels of Punakaiki...hehe

Jason unleashed his hidden talent. David Blaine, you are not alone.

Enough of the posers! Where was I?
Oh, we had now moved on to the blow hole called the Chimney Pot.

Now, it looked like steam from the hill. Our geography teacher will probably knock us on the head and said this.

"Boys and girls. What you see is not steam. Powerful waves traveled across the narrow rocky crevasse and abruptly stopped by the rocky wall. The impact sent water surging up the tiny hole inside the body of the rocks and exit through a small opening at the top making it looked like smoke from the chimney"

We marveled at the natural wonder while waiting for powerful waves to come by in order to capture the blow hole in action.

We heard a loud noise nearby. It sounded like a dinosaur groaning in Jurassic Park. This huge pool (Surge Pool) was the one making the noises. The powerful waves hitting against the four walls, sending out deep growling echoes.

The waves had slowly cut out some strange shapes in the rocks.
Do you see a man's head and a four legged creature?

One of the best treat we had was the Kapiti ice cream. The chocolate and raspberry flavour was mmm....heavenly!

Next stop is at Lake Lanthe. A serene lake that we had all to ourselves too.

We met this puffy little bird. Quite a friendly one too as it allowed us to take close shots of him.

The scene was so inviting that Jason suddenly went to practice his Wu Shu

Our drive continued along the farm lands. The rain had subsided and look here... Two rainbows ending on the farm. Fairy tales said there's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. No doubt, I was straining to check if there's a pot of gold behind the cows. Oh well...

All of us had this question in mind. What will become of us if we stay in this sleepy little town? More importantly, what are we gonna do? I think there are only less than 20 homes in this entire town. Although it's a small town, there's always a clean public rest area available. That's one fascinating thing in NZ and I must applaud the Kiwis in keeping their environment clean everywhere all the time.

Lake Mapourika

I was getting hungry. Michelle had a leg cramp from the long ride and Jason had far too many lakes for the day.

After a long day's drive, we finally reached the glacier township.

The view from our motel reminded me much of Interlaken, Switzerland.

Though it's just a motel, we had a fully functional kitchen and large heated beds to cozy up. Compared to some 5 star hotels, we still had plenty of room to lounge around.

Hm...the bathroom looks like a hospital room

It was cold and peaceful outside. Occasionally, birds were heard. Singing a chirpy melody on top of a tree somewhere. The flowers were blooming and it was a nice time for a stroll in this tiny glacier town.

There was nothing much to eat here. Being a Penangite where food is a priority and available 24 hours a day, we started to panic and hurried into a local mart to stock up food as if we were going to die of starvation soon.

There were only two eateries to choose from and guess what we ended up with for dinner?

After enjoying a warm shower, we snuggled under layers of duvet. Jessica & TH thought I went nuts as I was literally rolling on my bed in glee. You know... the feeling of the warm bed was soooo nice in this weather!

We were lying on the bed flipping through channels and tried watching the All Blacks vs Argentina in the Rugby World Cup. Not knowing the rules, we were scratching our head looking at men piled up on top of each other, men pushing other men's butt, men carrying another men up in the air. It did looked interesting though and of course, we cheered for the All Blacks :)

Arriving at Christchurch

2011-10-25T06:29:00.000-07:00

Day 2 - 13th Oct 2011

"Wake up! Wake up!" I heard someone said. Excitement was buzzing in the air as I tried to burst the air pressure in my ear. We will be landing in Christchurch in just a couple of minutes.

Our Kiwi guide, Rhys, was getting worried as it's half past 3pm and we were nowhere to be seen. Well, there were a lot of things we had to do before we were released to roam the NZ ground. He was so relieved as the gang emerged from the arrival hall.

It was a lovely sunny day with a mild breeze. The change of temperature spurred our spirit, marking the start of our exciting journey in NZ.

While we loaded our luggage into Rhys's van, out in a blue a man came up and ask us if we are Malaysians. Then, he went ahead offering us a job in NZ. Errr....thanks, but no thanks.
We were still thinking about this strange man as Rhys pulled out of the car park.

I was still groggy from the flight. I felt kind of nauseous thinking about the thick lasagna the flight served us for supper. This was followed by chicken with potatoes a few hours later. We were eating all these heavy food when we will be normally at home sleeping at this time.

So, Rhys dropped us at a supermarket to grab some food for dinner. Dinner? What dinner? We just had dinner and our after dinner meals in the plane.

Instead of getting some real food, we got ourselves something else. Treats and junk food! We were all excited by the variety of candies, chocolates and snacks here. Marshmallow covered chocolate, biscuits blended with colorful chocolate candies, chocolate with berry fruits and vanilla shortcake list goes on...slurp!

Later, we checked into Camelot Lodge, Christchurch. The 2-storey lodge was a cozy little place with well equipped kitchen and comfortable lounge seats. The only draw back was the water heater system where we were told to only take short bath. If the hot water runs out, it'll take another 2 hours to reheat. Plus, the shower temperature was so tricky to adjust that it was either getting icy water or scalding water.

It's daylight saving in NZ and we are not ready to go to bed. Rhys brought us to a Fish n Chips place. The store was run by a Chinese family who migrated to NZ

These cute puppies were also waiting for their Fish n Chips!

Fish n Chips are possibly the most affordable food here. With just $4.40, you get a generous amount of food which can cover a big portion of a lounge table.

We cant wait to enjoy spring time in NZ!

On our way to Land of Hobbits

2011-10-25T06:19:00.000-07:00

Day 1 - 12th Oct 2011

It's amazing how time flies. We had an interesting 2011 and after a year long wait, the time has come! It's time to pack our bags and fly to the Land of Hobbits

Passing our 5 hour wait in the airport. Playing Chor Tai Tee with Tigger

Christchurch is calling!

We practiced diligently to get our best angles and apparently, Jason's best angle is when he's looking like a psychopath

Yes, the 10 hour flight is less painful now. Heart Jared Leto

Dream Villa, Seminyak

2011-08-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

Day 5 - 15th July 2011

I've got to admit that yesterday wasn't a good start in introducing our villa. So today, let's start all over again.

Welcome to Bali Dream Villa :)

Pathway towards our villa. It feels like we are living wrapped in nature's embrace.

Keys to our villa with the villa's angelic symbol

Shhh...don't disturb me when I hang up this mask

Going gaga over my beautiful villa with my own private pool and sun deck

My room smelled pleasantly of Jasmine. I snuggled up to my cozy bed and I was greeted with my lavender infused pillow and bed sheet. Coupled with some romantic lights and cool AC, I could really get use to this place :)

While I lie on the bed, I could either sleep (duh), watch TV or enjoy the view from my bed

I did mentioned about the complimentary basket of fruits yesterday during our villa tour.
Well, I wasn't joking!

I can just start my day by singing Bruno Mars's Lazy Song in my lounge

Or soak up in my bath tub. Oh yes, I have trees in my bathroom!

Did I tell you that we have a surprise upgrade for our villa? I initially booked a 1 room villa but we got a free upgrade to 3 rooms which means we have one of the largest villa here!
How cool is that?

So, we had triple of everything - 3 rooms with 3 attached bathroom, 3 beds and 4 TVs. Each of the rooms & bathrooms had their own unique design. Let's check them out!

My first bathroom

My second bathroom

My third bathroom at the second floor

The only thing that I am sad about is I don't have enough time to fully enjoy the villa :(
We only had a night here and we gotta fly home this afternoon.

At 12 noon, the villa called up and asked if we are ready to go to the airport. Yup, they even checked our flight schedule and transport us to the airport in time. Oh, did I mention that they also provide 15mins complimentary massage upon check-in? Though we missed that due to our hectic schedule....

Anyway, it's time to say goodbye to Bali...and of course, I can't wait to come back again :)

Ulun Danu temple & Bedugul

2011-08-09T08:35:00.000-07:00

day 4 : 14th July 2011

The journey to Bedugul highland was a long one but the scene was really beautiful on the way up towards Ulun Danu temple. By the time we reached, it was already lunch time. So, we had an Indonesian buffet lunch opposite of the temple. Also, the same place I dined 3 years back. The best on the buffet table was of course the Fish Satay. Yumm!

Apart from Tanah Lot, Ulun Danu was perhaps the next most visited temple in Bali.
Let's enter...

This 16th century temple, was devoted to Batara Dewi Ulun Danu, goddess of the lake. No doubt, the temple was built on top of a crater lake. Even before entering the temple, the surroundings gave an amazing view. It was very serene here coupled with the cool air and breeze from the lake. Breathe...

The first thing that caught our attention when entering the temple were the huge God figures.

A closer look revealed that they were made of coloured rice!

I was "examining" another God-figure when the head of a real pig popped up at me (see below)

Here it is the picture perfect symbol of Ulun Danu

The temple looks as though it is floating on the lake. That's why I kept calling this place as the "Floating Temple"

Other ancient sights of Ulun Danu

Devotees of Ulu Danu. Women must wear the traditional Kebaya while the men have to wear Sarong. Although they are of Hindu religion but their attire is just like our Malay friends back at home

Time is an essence. It was already quarter past 2pm. We still have a journey to Tanah Lot, shop in Joger, return to Seminyak to check into our villa, dinner in Kuta and arrive in our spa before 7:30pm.

On the way up earlier, I saw a colourful market place which I also wanted to visit. So we made the ultimate decision .... we are skipping Tanah Lot!

I know, I know, Tanah Lot is like a symbol of Bali. But, it's alright as I still have pictures of my last visit to Tanah Lot for TH to look at. Hehehe!

Actually, we really don't have enough time to journey all the way there to look at the temple perched in the middle of the sea. Maybe next time :)

So, back to the market place called Sari Candi Kuning. The market offers a lot of local fruits, spices, food and loads of handmade items.

And toilets selling plants?

After a short stroll, we headed back. The last time I was in Bali, I only had a few rushed minutes in Joger Kuta before our flight home. This time, I wanted to ensure it is part of our itinerary. Wayan suprised us by bringing us to the largest Joger shop in Bali. Woohoo!

I love the cool slippers here!

After a dizzy shopping in Joger, we quickly made our way back to town to check into our Bali Dream Villa.

It was 5:30pm. The villa of course was fantastic, boombastic, masochistic...okay maybe not that but I cant help that it rhymed so well. Hehe..

As you know, we got to be going to dinner by 6pm. I was basically restless waiting for them to count my $, verify the number code in each of my $, then saying the $50 was an old note and they cannot accept it (although it is still valid with money changers), then making calls bla bla bla. Finally, the payment was made. I was ready to dump my luggage in the room & go dinner.

Then the villa asked what welcome drinks we want. OK, we decided to just drink up. Waited forever for the drinks to come (although it's just less than 5mins). Hoping the waiter would walk faster. We gulped down the fresh juice. Then practically held the villa guy to bring us to our room.

"Welcome to your new home" he said as he entered the key into our room & started the villa tour.

"Here's your pool, here's your lounge, here's your room, here's your kitchen, here's your bathroom, here's your complimentary refreshment in the fridge, here's your basket of fruits, here's your TV, here's your remote.............."

"Okok...here's your tips. Bye bye", I said

A few seconds later, there was a door bell. A house keeper was smiling and gave me a plate of "kuih" then asked if I wanted to smoke my villa from mosquito.
I was like "Erm like now? Erm...wokay"

I know I am supposed to relax & unwind. Enjoy the great services in the villa but it's already 6:15pm. Gotta goooo! (probably the villa folks think we are some kind of weird people)

All Right! We made it to Malioboro - Restauran Ayam Tulang Lunak at 6:30pm. I had the most succulent chicken 3 years ago and today, I can finally fulfill my cravings :)

Yummy!
The crunchy & tender chicken sprinkled with prawn cracker bits

Guess what? With our awesome time management, we made it to the spa sharp at 7:30pm :)
It was time to say good bye to our good friend, Wayan, who had been a good driver for the past few days.

After choosing our favourite massage oil, it's time to kick back and throw away my watch (literally). Time to enjoy the 2 hour Balinese massage & pampering. Ahhhhh.....

Sumatran Elephant, Uluwatu, Dreamland & Jimbaran

2011-07-26T08:02:00.000-07:00

day 3 : 13th July 2011

This morning, we headed off to meet the elephants. I've never had an elephant ride before and wanted to give it a try. We'll see how that goes.

As we were stuck in the jam, we took the opportunity to capture some cool stone works. They can be found anywhere in Bali & there are hundreds of shops offering stone art. Most of the works depict the Buddha.

Finally, we arrived at Taro Village, North Ubud.

It's not often we see this sign in our every day life

Apart from the park owner's pictures, there was a wall filled with pictures of celebrities visiting this elephant safari. I saw the Beckhams, Jessica Biel, Dolf Lungdren, Johnny Knoxville ... list goes on. Even the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin said it's the best elephant safari in the world. How's that as a resume?

Are they playing or....?

Seeing this, I can't wait to go on the elephant ride!

Not far away, this elephant was seen making its masterpiece. I've seen it with my own eyes. Their art is spectacular!

One of the 2 cute baby elephants

I love this elephant the most! He is so cute and greedy. It likes to eat vegetable, plants or anything leafy from visitors' hands. Whatever you give, he wanna eat. Look at the greedy smirk on his face.

After his treat from the visitors, he was brought over to his circle for lunch. Most elephants will jump at their meal but he refused to eat. He just wanna be hand fed by visitors. A kid held a large red coloured leaf. The leaf was dried and dead but he was stretching with his trunks elongated for the leaf

"Give me that leaf!"

I guessed he must be bored of the same old food. After minutes when the visitors stopped feeding him, he finally settled for the same old leaves. Unlike other elephants who just grab the leaves and put into their mouth, this one is so playful that he decided to play with his food.
He'll tore the leaves from the bunch, then using his feet to break the leaves into shorter proportion, grabbed the juiciest part in the middle, swayed the leaves around his head before putting into his mouth. That fetched a lot of claps from visitors.

I guessed this elephant was out to impress :)

Another friendly elephant loves getting her trunk stroked

And of course, getting sugar cane treats from me!

She's so greedy she'll eat the food so quickly that before you are ready with the next sugar cane, the trunk is back at your hand asking for more, more more!

After having so much fun with these playful giants, it's time to go for a ride. We toured around the safari riding on Daisy the elephant. Speed limit of 7kmph swaying back & forth while chatting with the elephant guide.

I got to know this safari has 30 elephants with 2 babies. The oldest of the Sumatran elephant is 40 years old. There is a place for the elephant to bath/play in a big pool, a feeding area, their own room (circle) and also a secluded area for the elephant to get romantic.

As for the humans, they can choose to overnight here with the elephants where they will come to your window and fetch you to dinner. There's also a wedding reception for those who wants the elephant to be part of their big day.

It was so hard to leave this place.

Even while I was leaving, the elephants were asking me not to go :(

I missed the elephants but I am getting hungry.
Here we are at Ibu Ora to eat Bali's famous "Babi Guling"

We got a mixture of crispy pork skin & some succulent pork. All mixed with some spice.

After lunch, it's time to revisit Uluwatu

The beautiful temple with crazy & scandalous monkeys. I'll tell you more later...

Such a beautiful sight. I missed the sound of the waves in Uluwatu

This scene...memories :)

There's a new pathway (or maybe I missed it the last time). This path led us to the most amazing sight in Uluwatu temple that I've never seen before.

Heading back to meet some old friends. Stick ready!

Yes, my good old friends. Still earning (food) from their notorious activities

Their skills have been upgraded. Even pulling slippers from visitor's feet

Hey! Who's got monkey on her back? This is my mama!

Oh my! Look who's here?

The grandma! I met her here at this exact location 3 years ago
One of the reasons I chose to come back to Uluwatu (of the many temples in Bali) is to see her.
I didn't have much hope as people come and go but I recognized her the moment I saw her. She didn't change a bit!

Somehow, she exudes a special happy aura around her whenever I am around her. I can feel it. She clasped her hand in front of her face, holding the money I paid her for her wares and smiled the most genuine smile while thanking me profusely. I almost cried :*(

I had a little chat with her. She said she can't see very well & she's already 80 years old. Before I leave, she waved and said "Jumpa lagi" ... "See you next time" :)

I wondered why I always forget to ask for her name. I guess something is better left unknown :)

Our driver was getting worried. We were fast losing sunlight and we might miss the sunset in Jimbaran. Still, we have 1 more place to stop by...

Dreamland...

aka the new Kuta beach

Who cares about catching sunset in Jimbaran when we already have this...

"aaaaargh! it's coming!"

This kid with his Drogba shirt had non stop fun with the waves

Oh yeah...surfing. If I wanna start surfing, I'd prefer this beach anytime

With awesome wave curls that broke into foamy bubbles as they reach the shore

With beautiful people in a beautiful place comes a beautiful sunset :)

It was cool watching the sunset while the moon shines at the back of me at the same time

As the sun sets, the wave grew bigger...almost scary. The life guard blew the final whistle at 7pm

Time for a romantic dinner in Jimbaran :)

It's supposed to be a sunset dinner & now it's dark. Hehe!
But I couldn't be more satisfied to watch the sunset in Dreamland than anywhere else.
Time to sink my feet into the cool soft sand while enjoying the yummy seafood dinner

The best "Jagung Bakar" (smoked corn) for 10,000 rupiah. The corn was so crunchy & sweet it was simply addictive. We got Wayan a corn treat too.

Bravo to the cook for our fastastic meal

What can I say? Another amazing day in Bali :)

The ATV Ride

2011-07-22T07:32:00.000-07:00

day 2 : 12th July 2011

Ain't it great to have a room facing the pool? I opened up my room's door to let the water element flood into my room as I prepped for the day.

Loved the carefully planned details in a small space. The hanging garden & plants surrounding the pool gave a sense of serenity.

Breakfast was simple. Toast with cheese, butter & scrambled eggs. Fruits & orange juice for some Vit C boost.

We headed straight to the ATV ride. The bustling city was slowly replaced with stretches of paddy fields. I fell asleep along the more than an hour journey. As our Grand Livina came to a halt, I woke up to a lush greenery. I stepped out of the car & took in a deep breath of fresh air. Ahhh...it's so cooling here too.

The place looked better than 3 years ago. It now has a proper dining area & washrooms

My pledges...

1. I must not try any Fast & Furious stunts
2. I must not run over monkeys
3. I must not tail gate
4. I must not over take another vehicle
5. I must not throw stuff at monkeys
6. I must stop when villagers are crossing the road
7. I must stop when the chicken is crossing the road
8. I must stop when cows are crossing the road
.....
.....
.....

Local meal before our ride. I always loved Indo Mee

Cool rides

All geared up! The place now has a fully automatic all terrain vehicle. 3 years ago, we only had the semi automatic ones

A few training laps and we were off! Weee.....hooo....

Wow! A kid appeared from nowhere in the middle of the forest

Bare-footed kids playing with self made kites & "lastik". We distributed pencils & erasers to them as they looked curiously at their new "toys".

We came across these 2 little girls. They were seen busy working away in their family farm pulling out weeds & cutting shrubs. The look on their faces as we passed them the goodies were priceless :)

A typical house in the village. Hidden between bushes & trees

Kids jumping with joy as they get their goodies

These kids were seen hanging out by the road side having their white rice wrapped in banana leaf

A mother & her baby giving us the most sincere smile

Paddy field within the village

Hello mates! This couple was behind us earlier but has over taken us. They are now heading back. Hey, I thought no over taking :p

Heading deeper into the village

Our guide whom I crappily forgot his name. Let's call him Din for now.

It started to drizzle a little bit and we stopped by a shed. I believe these are toilets. As we waited for the rain to stop, we had a nice chat with our guide.

Here's Din's story...

Villagers here live a simple life. Plantation is their main source of income and survival.
The paddy fields we've seen is merely for the villagers' own consumption. There isn't enough for them to sell. Sure enough, villagers were seen toiling in their field without any sign of machine invasion.

Banana trees here are considered a more lucrative source of income. Apart from the fruit, their leaves are highly sought after by restaurants.

The village also strive on the abundance from the forest

While poultry were scattered around the village. Cow dungs were made into natural fertilizer

For entertainment, kids go fly kites while adults enjoy cock fighting. I wonder apart from that, what else they do? Normally, I would see people sitting outside of their house chatting or just relaxing while waiting for their trees to grow.

Din told us people don't worry that much here. If they did not earn anything today, it's fine as long as the family still have rice for dinner today. If they run out of rice, they can always borrow from their neighbours. No fuss at all & no worries. Just strive to do better tomorrow.

Even they had very little in their life, they are all happy & smiley. These villagers live for today and don't worry about tomorrow. No worries, no problem. Din said some visitors don't get this. I think we really should practice this once in awhile.

If many of us city folks realized this small fact, we shouldn't have suffered so much from depression, anxiety, heart attack, high blood pressure, migraine....the list of these illnesses goes on which sounded very alien for the villagers here.

"What if someone got really sick? There's no hospital or clinic anywhere here", I asked

Din said "We have a healer here using traditional methods but villagers rarely fall ill. Even if they do, it's very minor that the healer can easily fix. No worries, no problem"

I was being attacked by mosquitoes! While I applied the second layer of repellent, Din smiled and said the mosquitoes here are harmless. No Aedes mosquitoes.

I asked if they have more mosquitoes at night. He replied "Well even if they got bitten, it's fine. The redness & itch will quickly go away. No worries, no problem" :)

We headed back as the rain subsided. The kids were back chasing after our vehicle
A little girl plucked a flower from her house garden & gave it to me. I was like..."how sweet"
Then, her hands were at my face while she exclaimed "Money! Money!"
Suddenly, all the kids surrounded us and keep saying "Money! Money!"

This mother & a few kids were also lining up by the road side and asking for money.
3 years ago, kids were just happily waving at us but now...omg...they are now corrupted!

I wonder whose fault is this?
Their parents or the visitors to the village?

Even though I feel for them, this shouldn't be encouraged. No one wants to go to a place with the entire village coming after you begging for money. It'll spoil the image of an otherwise beautiful village.

As we headed back, suddenly my ATV just came to an abrupt stop. It just refused to move at all.
Din investigated & found out mine was out of gas. Din sent an SOS message.

SOS to the rescue!

It was a thrilling ride back. The rain just subsided and the air was cool. We went faster to enjoy the gush of cool breeze on us.

After washing up a little bit, it's time to say goodbye. We came across this fat little bear. Actually he's a shy little pup that looks like a bear. So cute & cuddly.

Next, we headed to Ubud for some good old shopping

Here we are at the Ubud Market. I read that this is one of the location for the movie "Eat, Pray, Love" starring Julia Roberts. I gotta watch that movie some time.

Ubud market still looked exactly the way I remembered it

Getting some slippers

It's dinner time! We headed to this nice little restaurant in Ubud to enjoy our "Bebek Kotor" aka Dirty Duck. I asked our driver Wayan why it's called Dirty Duck? Is it really dirty?

Wayan laughed and said Bebek Kotor are the kampung ducks. These kampung ducks normally like to play in the muddy paddy field and that's where they get their name.

I've never been to this restaurant before and it's beautiful

With well manicured garden, it even has a miniature paddy field inside

They also had a small little garden featuring a variety of local vegetables

Across this tiny irrigation, sprawled a large paddy field

My dining area

The best Bebek Kotor I've tasted served with crackers, vegetable and spices. So crispy & yummy!

We also got a 5-star treatment in this restaurant. The food were carefully passed from one waitress to the head waiter serving us. Then, they checked on us from time to time. They even had waiters and waitresses taking turns standing nearby ready to attend to us. Though I am really not used to these kind of attention while I am eating.

After dinner, we headed to this place for more souveniers

Though there are a lot of things here but I wasn't really excited with the products. I barely got anything

As our driver dropped us back to our hotel, I saw this pretty little shop just next to our hotel.
I decided to check it out and was overwhelmed with the variety of colours and bead works in this shop. I was sooo excited and wanted all of those pretty bangles, earrings, purse, necklace all intricately handmade with colourful beads.

The owner was a friendly dude who is the first entrepreneur I've met in Bali. And the first Balinese I see wearing glasses! He has customers from overseas so the product is non allergic & has a higher quality. I like!

While I was admiring his shop, he was busy receiving calls from his overseas clients. He said sometimes, he got to stay up for his customers due to the time difference. Now, that's familiar to me :)

He is so nice to let me spend a little time in his shop even though he closes 2 hours ago.
"No problem. I just live across the street!" he said

Nusa Dua & Kuta Beach

2011-07-19T06:15:00.000-07:00

day 1 : 11th July 11

It's vacation time again! I've never been to somewhere twice. It's never been my motto but there are certain places that you just had to make an exception.

That's right, I am going back to Bali again :)
We were already in the airport at dawn & with my last minute packing that stretched till wee hours in the morning the night before...all I looked forward to is to get some sleep in the plane before the adventure unfolds in Bali.

As I buckled up, someone leaned over and wanted to play with me. He kept giving us a big smile and laughing...so cute! In this picture, he's playing with his bunny and wants me to have it too. He's in a playful mood, stepping over his dad and hurling his bunny back & forth in the air. Not to mention hitting his mom's head with the bunny as he swings the bunny backwards. Then he started to hit his head on the chair...more like head banging. LOL! He's so adorable & smiles at everyone. I think he should be a rocker when he grows up.

55 mins from Penang to Kuala Lumpur & Another 3 hours from there to Bali

Outside of the airport, I saw a guy holding up my name.

"Selamat datang ke Bali" greeted Wayan, our driver, with his hands clasped together.

Without wasting any time, we headed to our first stop - Nusa Dua to watch the blow hole aka water blow. Strong waves pushes sea waters against the narrow reef's opening causing the water to shoot up into the sky.

It was a hot & sunny afternoon & we could not see the full might of the water blow. But it could shoot up to 8 meters high on a windy day

The beautiful surrounding around the blow hole

Don't most of us set this picture as our wallpaper? Well, I don't need to today coz I am already here! Yippeee!

We were back from the classy Nusa Dua and entered the busy streets of Kuta. Along the way, I saw

Our first encounter with Bali's traffic. I don't remember facing such jam 3 years ago while I was in Bali

The Vira Bali where I stayed 3 years ago. I am amazed at how little things changed here. As we headed to Kuta beach, the roads we passed felt like I've just been here yesterday.

The famous Kuta beach in Bali

This dude reminds me of Shia Lebouf from Transformers (click to enlarge photo). Though I am not sure if Shia's body looked this hot. Hehe

Surfers everywhere

Even this kid looked like a pro

Bay Watching :)

and strolling along the coastline while watching the sunset

For dinner, I wanted to enjoy the Thai food at Kin Khao again. 3 years ago, we had an unforgettable meal where we almost burst our tummy

Hmm...but it didn't tasted that good anymore :(

It's time to check in to check out our hotel - Danny's Homestay. I would describe this unmarked 3 star hotel as the little hidden escapade from the city. It's just a few steps away from the busy Legian street. Plus, it even has a Circle K convenience store next to it.

It's really refreshing the moment we stepped inside. We were greeted by 2 friendly teenage staff who carried our bags & introduced us to our room. We were told that we can make the hotel payment when we check out. Wow! I've never experience any hotel trusting their patrons so much. All I know is, pay before you stay.

As I could not even trust myself that much, I surrendered my money to them first

The room was clean & came with a big bathroom. Bigger than most of the hotels out there. The design is clean with a minimalist approach. My room is also facing the pool which adds more glee.

It's only 9:30PM. Too early to be sleeping on a holiday. So we headed down to Legian street. I don't remember getting anything from Legian street the last time. Guess what? I did not get anything too this time. Legian to me is kind of ... messy. I don't really remember the shops there too because most of the time, I was looking down making sure I did not fall into any pot holes.

Legian is still popular among tourists. Maybe some find Legian interesting but not me. So, we grabbed some ice cream and headed back to enjoy in our cozy little hotel.

Santa Monica - The Beach

2011-07-18T03:00:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that it's our last day in US. We woke up early enjoy the last few hours in LA. Wearing our Daisy Dukes and bikini on top,, we took the public bus and headed to the Beach.

Sing it Katy Perry (California Girls...)

For the sake of the crowd in the beach, we skipped our Daisy Dukes and bikini. We don't want to cause unecessary vomitting in the beach. But one thing we have is our sun kissed skin. As for me, maybe I had an overdose of sun kiss. Hehe...

We stepped out of the bus, cold wind gushed at us. Since we are going to the beach & it was so hot yesterday in Universal Studio, we wore a typical beach wear.
Brrr...I've never been to an ice cold beach in my life. Look at the fog. We were freezing to our bones.

Since we were here, we should just have our breakfast before we leave. Bubba Gump looks good. I loved the food here. Yumz!

As we ate, the fog started to disipate outside.

Hey, it's not that cold anymore and more people started to throng the beach.

And my turkey looking hair

Mmm...I wanna catch some muscle guys here

It's been awesome and I wanted to walk all the way to Venice beach. However, we don't wanna miss our flight home

Time to say goodbye to the big USA. I am coming home....

I sort of "blacked out" during my flight to US, this time, I stayed awake for a few hours to see what's in store in Cathay's business class.

The airstewardess was worried that I just wanted to sleep and offered to reserve a meal for me.
When I woke up a few hours later, I thought nobody will remember about me and voila, the stewardess brought my meal. Impressive!

This is my favourite meal. Scallops, fresh garden salad, berries, garlic bread, hot chocolate and the yummiest chocolate marble cheesecake. In flight meal could be that good.

As for dessert, I get to choose a selection of Haagen Dazs ice cream

I was watching a couple of movies from an endless selection of movies & songs when it's breakfast time! Hmm...have I digested my wee-hour meals?

It's a great way to wrap up the business trip & treated like a princess for once. Hehe...
Penang Laksa, Hokkien Mee, Sar Hor Fun, Curry Mee, Mee Goreng, Mom's home cook food...I am coming home!

Oh! Before I forget, here's one of my fav video from my favourite band 30 seconds to mars. It felt like a deja-vu looking back at flashes of the places I've been in LA in this video.

Los Angeles - Universal Studio & LA Live

2011-07-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

Here I am in this sunny day in Universal Studio, Hollywood :)

Walking the red carpet into the studio

So many colors and shops at Universal CityWalk. If it looks that good in the morning, it'll look even cooler when the lights come out at night.

All those excitement and we have not even stepped into Universal Studio. Here we are at the first attraction inside the Universal Studio.

Aww...why Alex is crying on the floor?

Guessed someone did not get his morning meat today

Growl...I am hungry. I need a zebra

Alex, get up lazy lion! Say Cheeze...

I am not sure who this character is...for now, I'll call him monkey

The epitome in Universal. I am about to enter Krustyland from my favorite cartoon series The Simpsons. Yahoo!

Apu entertained us while we waited in anticipation for our ride. The story appeared that SideShow Bob escaped from prison and wanted to revenge on Krusty the clown. So he decided to jeopardize the rides in Krustyland (yup! the ride we are about to take with the Simpson's family). It was the most thrilling 4-D ride as we reeled down the roller-coaster, almost hit our heads on the giant donut in Springfield, splashing into a river and .... well not too much spoiler here...hehe...

Outside, we met Marge & Homer :)

This one scared the hell outta me. He'll creep behind you. His face just behind your ears and when you feel someone breathing down your neck, you turned around and stared into a mean looking creature with panther eyes.

This is the most exhilarating ride ever! I'd like to do it again anytime. While the stories of the mummy curse unfolds, mummies coming alive & fluorescent ghost chasing after us in complete darkness. Hurling us up and toppling us down backwards, spirits & scarab beetles creeping on you...and it all suddenly ends with an extremely bright light that blinded all of us. Phew! Thinking of it makes me wanna do it again!

As we disembarked from the ride, Scooby Doo made an appearance

Kids loved getting themselves wet in this Coka-Cola playground

As we frolicked around, Shrek, Princess Fiona & Spongebob waved at us

So...Shrek 4-D, here we come!

Another classics in Universal Terminator 2:3D. Apart from the funny acting, the 3D effects were one of the best I've seen.

It's time to descend down the long flight of escalators where the studio sets are

No Universal Studio trip is complete without the ride into the movie sets. Here we have the scene from Fast & Furious

It looked all quiet...

Until a giant wave of water came surging at us!

Aha...where all the cowboy movies at

Movie set from Jaws

The highlight of the ride is no doubt the ride into the set of Desperate Housewives. Here are all the houses in Wisteria Lane.

Wisteria Lane looked so much smaller than in the show! It looked like it was shrunk twice in size-The effects of the movie

Next is an airplane crash scene from Steven Spielberg's movie

If we concentrated hard the next time we watch a movie, this scene was actually used plenty of time.

The Bates Motel from the movie Psycho (1959). It sure looks creepy and I wonder if anyone in their sane mind would check into this motel in the first place.

Time to say goodbye to my minions

We had a blast in Universal Studio today and it's time to unwind & relax in the city of angels.
How about a ride in this limo?

Well, maybe the next lifetime if we were born as celebrities. As of now, we're good walking and enjoying the breeze of LA. In the distance, is the LA Live and that's where we're heading

The Ritz & JW Marriott glowed elegantly in the night

LA Live! Staples Center!

MTV is about to host another show in LA Live

OK, here are clearer shots from Google images on Staples Center & LA Live.

We found a nice bar to unwind & I'll have my Patron Tequila. Watching the long line of party goers waiting to enter the bar