Sights of Ipoh: Kek Lok Cave

I spent the past Chinese New Year with my family in Cameron Highlands, which isn't new to me at all -- dad used to drive us up there a few times every year.

This time, however, before driving all the way back to Klang after the trip, we made a small detour and stopped by Ipoh for a half day.

Before you go bombarding me with questions like "Oooh, did you try the Ipoh xxx?" (replace xxx with one of the many famous delicacies in Ipoh) let me first tell you that we only ate one meal there, and it was just a simple fried rice, which in Malaysia is as common as salt in the sea.

Nope. But we spent our time in Kek Lok Cave, a Buddhist cave instead. I went around taking pictures while my parents set up their tools and started sketching.

Main entrance to the cave.

The place is genuinely interesting, even before entering the cave. There is a koi pond, and another tortoise pool. I'd never seen so many tortoises in such a small area before. Small man-made miniatures line up along the path into the cave. While I'm not a big fan of still life photography, I approached a few interesting looking ones and snapped a number of pictures anyway.

Everything gets darker once you step into the cave. It wasn't actually too hot inside, despite the blazing hot Malaysian sun, probably due to the high ceilings. Floors are fully man-made with cement to ease navigation.

Staircase not far away from the main entrance.

Not being a regular visitor of Malaysian caves, I was impressed by the natural structure of the ceilings and the walls.

Most sections are artificially lit with lamps strategically positioned not just to illuminate the surroundings, but to increase contrast of the walls and ceilings to bring out their shapes. I personally prefer them to be naturally lit, though, as lamps usually introduce a yellow cast, which I don't really fancy. Check out this following picture of a naturally lit section of the cave.

From some angles, the texture and structure of the walls are simply astounding.

If you're lucky, like I was, you may be able to notice the internal layering of the walls.

Took me so many tries (and that much dust on my beloved camera) to get this shot.

Once you read the end of the cave, though, you'll reach another exit.

The exit at the other end of the cave.

Beyond, you'll see a park with a huge lake, surrounded by hills. Breathtaking view.

The scene that caused so many to suddenly stop in their tracks. A panorama -- click on the picture to see a bigger image.




Guess what this little building is? Hint: zoom in to see symbols of a man and a lady.

So next time, when you visit Ipoh, stop thinking about xxx (replace xxx with favourite Ipoh cuisine) and start looking around for things you may have missed.

Sights of UK: Scars

Note: High resolution images of all of the following photos are available. Click on the photos to view their higher resolution images.

It's been over three months since I came back from UK.

Two long rows of Union Flags leading to Buckingham Palace.

Any sane person would have been glad to be in Malaysia. The weather's much cheerful here, especially in the mornings, when the local kopitiams bath in the sweet aromas of Nasi Lemak and Chinese coffee. Everything is dirt cheap here compared to English food, whose prices' only possible explanation is shipping fees from Mars. Best of all, it is now again possible to find badminton buddies without having to resort to virtual Facebook-based matches.

Things have all returned to normal. No longer do I have to wake up at 6 in the morning to prepare my lunches. Nor do I have to lug a thick jacket around with me wherever I go, or track my expenses to the pennies (literally).

However, part of me thinks the nine months in UK was actually more extraordinary than abnormal. It was the same me who was rather reluctant to readjust back to his Malaysian routines.

Westminster Clocktower, also known colloquially as the "Big Ben", seen in the distance from Trafalgar Square.

Because of him, my luggage is still not fully unpacked yet. Unzip its top and you'll be greeted with a colourful assortment of undergarments, T-shirts and jeans. It's like he's expecting an unlikely out-of-the-blue call from the UK University of Nottingham Campus "Heya! Where've you been the past three weeks? Come attend classes at University Park or we'll expel you!"

It was also him who left his UK O2 Sim Card in my spare phone. I tried talking him into giving the now-useless piece of plastic away, but he was adamant.

Palace of Westminster, across River Thames.

And he annoyed me in classes, disturbing me by coming up with UK counterparts of brand names mentioned by lecturers. He'd go "Ryan Air" to "AirAsia", "Hovis" to "Gardenia's", "Asda" to "Giant" and "National Express" to "Transnasional". Makes concentrating in classes that much harder.

Two of the most recognizable icons of England.

He even went as far as keeping his UK phone number AND address in his head. Mind you, UK phone numbers are 11 digits long, excluding the country code. And English postal codes make no sense to me (I could hear him objecting about this across the corner of my brain when I typed this "It's NG7 2JZ!!! It's not that tough!!!").

Marching band in front of Buckingham Palace during the changing of the guards.

When we're alone and get a good chat with each other, however, I feel more pity than anger towards him. He'd occasionally have flashbacks about his time in UK at random times of the day, staring into the distance and rather reluctant to participate in conversations. He tends to avoid certain songs in our playlist -- apparently they reminded him too much of our time in Nottingham. He goes oddly silent when we looked into pictures we took in UK, biting his thumb and unresponsive to my futile attempts at humour.

Tower bridge, late evening, summer 2010. This photo turned out rather good for my camera with questionable low-light capabilities.

Little did I expect the short few months in a foreign country to scar someone that deeply, perhaps permanently. There is little doubt that he is never going to be the same person again.

Some Stranger Hugged Me...

... just because I'm a "Chinaman" earlier just now.

No kidding.

I was walking by myself when suddenly a bloke called after me. He muttered some stuff to me which I didn't really understand. I stared at him, bewildered, and gave him a blur "huh?". The first words that came out of his mouth which I actually understood was something like "you're a Chinaman!"

I stammered. "Uh, yeah?"

"Oh, I love you!" he exclaimed and gave me a big bear hug, leaving me totally astounded.

Trust me, I stutter all the time when I talk to local Englishmen. Push me in front of a stranger who hugs me just because I'm a Chinese and my jibber-jabber makes as much sense as Chip and Dale impersonating Donald Duck.

Brought up in Malaysia as a rather conservative Asian, I have to say I was a little paranoid. I don't even remember the last time I hugged my parents. We didn't even share as much as a handshake before I flew here to UK. Add with the many suspicious characters with hidden agendas in Malaysia, giving a free hug to a random chap on the street is probably a free pass for a night in jail.

But this is UK, over 7000 miles away from Malaysia. Things could be different here.

"Oh, what an honour! You're a handsome young man!" He commented in his smooth English accent when we broke apart.

Oh one more thing. I've had fantasies of people complimenting my looks (which, as many of you know, isn't that great, hence the fantasies). However wild my imagination was, none of my fantasies looked like this.

"Um, you too, sir!" I stammered. Flattery is a strong suit of the English, and I figured the right thing to do was to return a positive comment as well.

He chuckled, eyes scanning on me while I smiled stupidly. After receiving one more platonic (I hope) "I love you", I bid farewell to the stranger and left.

A considerable distance away, I looked back, and, after making sure he was out of sight, I gasped "Holy Crap! What the hell just happened?"

I checked my pockets -- all my possessions were still with me and I found no (further) surprises.

It took a few seconds for me to accept the fact that the stranger probably meant nothing else, other than to have the honour of having a 30-second chat with a Chinese (why though?). Besides, it was far too early to be drunk. I sniggered to myself and thought, boy, I love England!

All the best to England in the up-coming FIFA game!

PS. To the person who hugged me: if you're reading this (that's probably even more unlikely than getting another free hug from yet another stranger), thanks a lot for the surprise! You just made my day ;-)

Sights of Nottingham: Spring is Here

Every year before 2010, I celebrated Chinese New Year in Malaysia (or Singapore), supposedly marking the arrival of Spring.

This year, however, things were different. I didn't get to celebrate Chinese New Year. However, I did manage to witness the arrival of Spring for real.

While I personally enjoyed winter and the many photographic opportunities it has given me, many people don't like the frosty season (save for Christmas).

[HiRes] The gloomy weather of winter.

Daytime was ridiculously short. By 4pm it would be all dark. Like midnight. Even when it wasn't dark, the sky would be blanketed by gray, hazy clouds, making it hard (if possible at all) to locate the sun. The trees were bald, the shrubs had frosty white leaves and the colourful flowers no where to be seen.

[HiRes] Are these pinecones?

Come February, however, things changed. The earth thawed, leaves sprouted out of the bare branches and the grass became nature's colour palette.

[HiRes] Caught right in front of Nightingale Hall, University Park Campus.

It was simply amazing. It's like seeing life coming a full cycle. Heck, it IS life coming a full cycle.

[HiRes] Notice how the petals were scattered all over.

Herbs and flowers can now be found practically everwhere.

[HiRes] Near sunset, University Park campus. The way the light fell gently on the pale pink flowers was just plain magical.


[HiRes] Caught beside Sherwood Hall, University Park, where I spent my first two nights in Nottingham.


[HiRes] This is the only photo today not captured in any of the University of Nottingham campuses, I think. Probably the same specie as the one above, but definitely different location.

Even right beside the drain. In Malaysia, plants would rather die than absorb a single drop of liquid from the drains.

[HiRes] Even the drains see life flourish. This drain was even visited by the ducks occasionally.


[HiRes] One of Jubilee Campus's many Sails reflected on the surface.

Eventually, the bees came out. The bees here are huge. I've seen some bigger than my thumb. And my man-thumb isn't exactly small.

[HiRes] You have no idea how much effort was needed to take two mediocre pictures of the bees using my 5-year-old compact camera.


[HiRes] A bee stained with pollens.

Life. Amazing, isn't it?

6th May 2010: Polling Day

... for UK.

Some time in March I received this letter from the Conservatives.

[HiRes] The letter, front and back.

It came with an extra envelope, addressed to the Conservatives' Nottingham branch office.

Back then, I had no idea what was going on. Sure I knew an election was coming up, but the parliament was not dissolved yet and the election day was not set.

The worse thing is that I knew nothing about British politics. Not that I know a lot now, mind you, but back then I didn't even know who (or what) the Conservatives were. It could be their tree logo and party name, or my slight enthusiasm for eco-friendliness, but when I first saw the letter I thought some environmental society was asking me for participation.

The Conservative Party's official logo. Seriously, it's misleading.

No kidding.

Anyway, it goes without saying I totally ignored the survey. It was probably a mistake, I thought. I'm a 20-year-old visitor to the UK, do I get a say on how things go? (Apparently I do, and I kind of regret ignoring the survey.)

Anyway, fast forward a few weeks, and I started to receive more election, er, goodies. The first to come was this.

In the middle of the Easter break, I woke up around er, noon, and picked up a small stack of identical white cards, each of them addressed to each of my (local) house mates. I flicked through them, going through the names and imagine my surprise when I saw mine.

I scratched my head. Why do I get to vote? A quick check to Wikipedia answered my question.

"Anyone who is a citizen of the UK, the Republic of Ireland, or of a Commonwealth country, who is legally resident in the UK, and who is 18 or over on the date of the election is eligible to vote..."

Elections in the United Kingdom. (2010, May 5).
In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:24, May 6, 2010,
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_the_United_Kingdom#Eligibility

18? Oh wow, that's awesome. I get to vote!

The next few weeks saw leaflets and flyers delivered to my place, all aiming to, er, to put it delicately, help me make up my mind on who to vote for.

We got more from the Conservatives.

And Labour Party, the winning party for the last election which brought Gordon Brown to power.

Liberal-Democrats, or Lib-Dems.

And BNP, the British National Party.

And today, May 6th, the polling day, arrived. I cast my vote in the Lenton/Radford Library. The process took much shorter time than I expected. I swear it could've taken less than 1 minute (including waiting, how about that) if nothing goes wrong.

It was nothing much to brag about, but I just have to boast about one thing. My first participation in a general election is in UK, and that happened before I reached the age of 21 (one month shy, hint, hint!), the legal voting age for Malaysian. That, my dear friends, is epic.

And who will lead UK this time? Is my vote working its magic? We'll have to wait and see.

I C U, Icy Me

Note: High resolution images of some of the following photos are available. These photos are marked with [HiRes] tags in their captions. Click on the photos to view their higher resolution images.

Before coming to Nottingham. seniors told me "you'll be able to experience snow for the first time, with any luck". They made it sound as if snowfall is a once-a-year affair in UK.

The truth is, however, the past winter had been the coldest in UK since decades ago (1970s?). I guess I got quite lucky then.

[HiRes] Snow scenes are challenging to cameras, due to high contrasts, and this is simply too much for my old Nikon to handle. Also, the same ol' camera had trouble catching actual snowfall due to the lack of sunlight.

It snowed on daily basis in Nottingham during the peak of the winter. Unlike rainfall, snowfall is virtually silent, so I've always found it a little surprising to look out the window and realise it was snowing.

[HiRes] Peak of winter -- snow covered everything. I don't know why this picture deserved a HiRes.

As a friend mentioned, the fascination of snow is quite unexplainable. After all, we see those things every day in the fridge.

[HiRes] Close-up of snow.

Us people who have never seen snow before would surely be excited to find the world covered with fluffy white stuff.

Or to see big white flakes of dandruff falling from the heavens above. Someone up there needs better shampoo, I guess.

Thoughts quickly came. Snowball fights! Snowmen! Snow angels!

[HiRes] Snow angel.

It's harder to build a snowman than I had anticipated. How did they ever make them so round? Stupid Disney cartoons involving Donald Duck, Huey, Dewey and Louie misled me.

[HiRes] An example of a better-built snowman. I obviously didn't built it.


The same snowman losing some of its shape the next morning.

The fun will eventually wear away though. And once that happens, things will not be half as funny any more.

The weather has to be freaking cold for snow to occur, and you wouldn't want anything else than to lie in your warm bed until, um, never. Try going out for two minutes without your gloves and your hands will start aching like they're crushed under a 2-tonne lorry. Your nose would leak faster than the underground pipes in Malaysia.

And worst of all, the roads.

Tyre tracks in Jubilee Campus car park, University of Nottingham.

Snow itself isn't that much of a problem, other than emitting the 'crunch crunch' sounds upon stepping on it. The problem is when friction creates enough heat to melt the snow into water. The water will then re-freeze into ice, making roads slippery. Water also seeps into small holes, creating cracks and potholes if it freezes over and expands.

Imagine walking for 500m and slipping once every few steps.

Travelling may be impossible in extreme conditions, and there were talks about extending the Christmas breaks in January (which didn't come through, if you were wondering).

[HiRes] Faraday Road bus stop, right beside Raleigh Park, where I'm staying. This stretch of icy pavement was where I slipped the most back then.

For these reasons, the roads and pavements have to be gritted regularly over the course of winter. Salt lowers the freezing temperature of water, melting ice, and small sand particles (or grit) help increase friction to permit travelling. Unfortunately, the roads in Nottingham weren't very well gritted, and as I said in Twitter, I've never had that much trouble walking since I was, like, 5.

[HiRes] Railway tracks, covered with snow. Find the snowman! (It's the very same snowman shown in the two pictures above.)

Nevertheless, this may be the only winter I get to experience in my entire lifetime. I figured it's worth freezing for an hour or two and a few scratches on my knees to catch some photos before the opportunity goes away forever.

[HiRes] This photo looked good in my head, bad in my camera, yet turned out well after editing. The big red seal sort of spoiled it though.

Coming up soon -- Jubilee Campus in winter.

[HiRes] Winter Road. My favourite photo of the batch. I have no idea how one tells temperature and hardness by sight, but the road looks quite hard and cold. Notice that it is also slightly reflective.