Birds Birds everywhere

Pic Top: Buff-rumped woodpecker, FRIM (tiny little guy)

Pic Right: Gold-whiskered Barbet (mouth very big)

We did it again! I told my husband, after he turned up sick and had to miss work on Monday.

"Birding for 7-8 hours straight for two consecutive days is taking its toll on us" after seeing a bunch of medication lying on the dining table. Nevertheless, i could see myself retiring about 30 years from now and do nothing but birding in different parts of the world, provided I am still able.

I guess it is the unpredictability factor that excites me when it comes to this sport (if you can call it a sport). You just wouldn't know when the chance will come to spot some amazing looking birds and how accomodative they would be to allow a couple of shots, just sufficient for the purpose of identification. Certain birds are residents while others are on transit (migratory), some are colourful and some can be damn ugly. Some are not shy at all while some are pretty elusive. All in all, they are wonderful creatures worth protecting and to be admired by the younger generation.

Pic Below: Chestnut-breasted Malkoha

Birding takes us this round to Sungai Tekala Forest Reserve and our fav forest reserve, FRIM.

A short distance from the Nirvana Memorial Park (Semenyih), you will find the Sungai Tekala Forest Reserve. Entrance fee is only RM 1 per person and it is surprisingly clean and untouched.

Most people go there to enjoy the waterfall and picnic lunch. It is also a good birding ground for amateurs like us. Spotting and chasing after the birds for photography are great way to spend your time in this place. We managed to capture two species of Malkohas, Trogons and the Drongos on camera. Yeh!

Another good birding spot is FRIM (located about 10 minute-drive from my place in Kepong). Entrance fee is RM 6 (per car) or RM 1 per person if you choose to walk in. My advice is to hang out at The Malay Tea House and savour a cup of lemongrass tea. At the vicinity, you will find many birds flying to this particular tree that has lots of fruits/berries.

Some of the common birds found here are the Gold-whiskered barbet, Asian fairy Blue Bird, woodpecker, yellow-vented bulbul, red-whiskered bulbuls and the Asian glossy starlings. We even caught sight of a Sharma......too bad lighting too dark so no good pictures to show.

Pic Left: Blue-throated Bee-eater
Pic Right: Red-whiskered Bulbul

The Raptors are back

Pic above: Raptor Watch at Tanjung Tuan

Last Saturday was my second time visiting Tanjung Tuan wildlife sanctuary. The first was during a family trip to PD a few years ago and now, to catch the giant birds of the sky, an annual event organised by the Malaysian Nature Society.

Raptor Watch is a festival to celebrate the return of the mighty birds of prey. Many species of hawks, eagles and ospreys use Tanjung Tuan as the crossing point from Sumatra on the way back north to their original breeding ground. Tanjung Tuan is one of Malaysia's oldest forest reserves and wildlife sanctuaries. Many of us come to Tanjung Tuan to visit the old lighthouse (10th Mile Port Dickson) but i never did realise the significance of this land mass as a pit stop for birds of prey till now.

The rising hot air at Tanjung Tuan is important during this time of the year. The raptors use the hot air to glide as opposed to flapping their wings over the long distances which tire them.

When David and I arrived on the Saturday afternoon, scores of visitors and birders were already on their way to the light house to catch a glimpse of these tired birds, gliding effortlessly in the air. MSN members were seen busy counting the numbers of birds that flew to Tanjung Tuan this year. The last I saw, numbers stood at some 30,000.

Pic above: Oriental Honey Buzzard

Booths were also set up on that day for product exhibitions, sales of MSN merchandises and registration for forest walk, marine walk and games. The whole event was held at Ilham Resort, about a kilometer away from Blue Lagoon.

Definitely not for 'puteri lilin' material as the scorching hot sun was unforgiving that day. But then, with sunblock SPF 50, a cap, an umbrella and oh......a bottle of icy drink all ready at hand, made our visit to Tanjung Tuan much more tolerable.

Pic above: White-bellied Sea Eagle

All in all, it was great fun watching the birds flying around and as a bonus, we also managed to spot a dollarbird (glad that most people there could immediately tell that it is a dollarbird), sunbird, bulbuls, drongo and mynas. Most of these birds were spotted as we were exploring the nature trail at the Tanjung Tuan wildlife sanctuary.

Pic above: Dollarbird

More information can be obtained from www.raptorwatch.org or www.mns.my

Raptors, hope to see more of you guys next year!

Babyface Live in KL!

It has been almost 2 weeks since my last blog entry and I’ve come to realise that blogging is way too time-consuming for people holding full-time jobs like myself. No new posting, no traffic :(

…unless of course if you are a celebrity or some big shot! OK OK, so I got to be disciplined enough to write at least twice a week.

So with my ‘almost-can-die’ busy schedule, I am going to share my recent experience having witnessed the legend of R&B himself, Mr. Kenny Edmond a.k.a Babyface performed his solo concert here in Malaysia….woo hoo!

The event was held at the Plenary Hall, KLCC on the 5th of March. Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds performed here in Malaysia as part of his South East Asian tour.

I am glad to finally see the man who is responsible for producing number one hits for the world’s biggest-selling artists like Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Madonna, Eric Clapton and Michael Jackson. The singer, songwriter and producer has had several chart-topping hits of his own too such as “Every Time I Close My Eyes” with Mariah Carey (another favourite artist of mine), a track that was nominated for four Grammy’s Awards.

Through his own recordings, Babyface has helped to restore the smooth and sensitive R&B crooning style, making him one of the best-known faces of contemporary music, especially during my early twenties, when he was more active performing then (I am not sure whether the teens nowadays have heard about him or not).

I love the R&B genre and I was elated when I won 2 tickets to watch Babyface live via the Shout-Out-Song contest organised by Mix FM (Thank you guys!). My moment with the Mix FM breakfast crew, Rudy, Jay and Ferhad can be found in the Mix FM website but i uploaded it here as well.



Now, back to the concert…….

My husband and I reached KLCC about 8 pm and there were already many people at the venue.

Pic above: ticket to the concert

After collecting our tickets and as we made our way to our seats, I started reminiscing the last concert I’ve attended, which was actually a good 12 to 13 years back…..the Jon Bon Jovi’s concert held at Stadium Shah Alam. The band was fantastic, the singer blown me away and the atmosphere electrifying. I remembered jumping up and down on my seat, dancing to “It’s My Life” like there’s no tomorrow……..

Pic above: Queues before the doors opened

I have to admit I am very excited and slightly overwhelmed when the show finally started right on the dot at 9:30 pm. Before that, a local artist were performing.

Pic above : Sarimah Ibrahim's opening gig

Babyface looks just like ……..Babyface, well of course he is older now but hey, he can still croons. Besides doing the numbers that we usually hear him doing on the radio, he also performed a medley of songs that he produced for other artists such as "Change the world" by Eric Clapton, "Can we talk" by Terry Campbell and "End of the road" and "Mama" by Boyz to Men.



And when he sang THE song…….Everybody started singing with him…..especially when he reached the chorus part (song from “Every time I close my eyes”)

“And every time I close my eyes,
I thank the lord that I’ve got you,
And you’ve got me too,
And every time I think of it,
I pinch myself cause, I don’t believe it’s true
That someone like you, loves me too………”

(heart melted)

I am sure everyone in the audience feels the same way too…..including the men!


The concert lasted for about 2 hours. I was a bit disappointed that he did not do his version of "Take a bow" which he wrote for Madonna and the song which I think propelled him higher in his singing and song-writing career "Nobody knows it but me"

Overall, my hubby and I had a wonderful time. This is exactly the way I like to end my Mon-Fri work routine, especially after a week of reports, meetings and deadlines. Thanks to Babyface for gracing our Malaysian soil and the organisers for making it happen.

As I slipped into Lalaland that night………I broke into a smile, knowing that I will be humming songs from Babyface for another week… or maybe two……

Melaka - A trip down memory lane

This CNY, my family and I planned a trip down to Melaka. Not that we have not been there before, but we have not done so with the entire family. So, this time I managed to gather the entire family to go on this short escapade with me.


Seeing that I love to stay at hostels or B&B over hotels anytime, i chose to stay at this guest house called The Riverview Guest House.

Pic above: a shot of my sis, Sue Shan hanging out at the balcony

It is located at Lot 94 & 96, Jalan Kampung Pantai, adjacent to Lorong Hang Jebat and runs parallel to the famous Jonker street.

I guess staying in these budget or no-frill accommodations is something I've picked up when I was backpacking in Italy and Spain. It is great as very often, they come cheap (RM 25/per person/night), have more characters (this guest house has been listed as a UNESCO site) and you also get to mingle with the other guests for chats.

The guest house is also centrally located as all the interesting attractions are just a stone-throw away. The owners are very friendly, though they were surprise to see us and shared with us that they don't find many Malaysians staying at their guest house as they mostly receive international visitors, mainly backpackers. Beds are comfy with the occasional bed bugs, common toilets are clean, nice owners and a wonderful view of the river for relaxation.

Pic above: Picture perfect view of the Melaka river

Places of interests in Melaka are St. Paul's Church, The Famosa fort, and about 5 different museums. I did a refresher course in history after checking out the Melaka Sultanate Museum (RM 2 per person). Man, I realised that all my history lessons has been given back to my History teacher. Lets see whether I can recall what I have learnt during my visit to the Museum:

1. After witnessing a white mousedeer kicking a hunting dog off the river bank, Parameswara (who fled from Temasek after killing Temagi) decided to establish his administration here in Melaka. It is named after the tree where he sought shelter.
2. Bendahara is equivalent to the present day Prime Minister
3. Laksamana is equivalent to the present day Admiral
4. Temenggung is equivalent to the present day Chief Police Officer

Pic above: i am the envoy from the Ming Dynasty, having an audience with the Sultan ....hahhah

Everything else appeared fuzzy after that....well, I am never that good in history anyway.

This is the time of the year where everybody comes to Melaka, as the traffic was horrendous, especially along Jonker Street. Luckily, we stayed nearby and walked most of the time.

Pic above: Jonker Street @ night

Eating is never a problem in Melaka. Famous local cuisine usually include the famous Satay Celup (Capitol), Chicken rice balls (along Jonker Street), Cendol and Baba Laksa (Jonker88) and Asam Pedas fish.

Pic above: Laksa Baba, Asam Laksa & Cendol @ Jonker 88

Baba & Nyonya restaurants are also scattered around town. Must try foods are Ayam Ponteh and Ayam Keluak. Famous pubs include Geographer and Discovery.

But if you can, make your way to Batu Berendam as you can find some pretty good eats. These are the places where the locals go for their daily fixes of chicken rice balls (RM 3 per serving) and coconut pudding (RM 8 per coconut, serves 3). The coconut pudding is highly recommended. Hmmmm....i will try to see whether I can make this at home.

Pic above: Coconut pudding at Dragon Deluxe Restaurant, Bt Berendam

In the evening, a few rounds of card games followed before we called it a night.

Early the next day, when the rest of my family members went out for breakfast, I took the opportunity to lounge at the balcony of the guest house while sipping my cup of tea, overlooking the river (hence the name of the guest house). Ah, what bliss........

Will I come back to Melaka for a visit in the future?.....most defintely.....but not during CNY!

Diva - What to wear for first day of work after CNY

Diva - What to wear for first day of work after CNY

The best ice cream experience I ever had

The Best Ice Cream experience I ever had?…..mmmm lets just say that there was never a best experience but all ice cream occasions could be summed up as my best life experiences…..

I grew up on ice cream. Come to think of it, I still remember when I was just a little girl, my dad used to take me and my sister to this ice cream parlour located in SS2. The parlour was beautifully decorated and everything seems to be in pretty pink. From the colour of the walls, to the tables and chairs and even the countertops were all in pink hues!

Not only that, the owners liked to show the cartoon ‘The Pink Panther’ through a projector on the wall as we were enjoying our cup of ice cream. I also remembered that they loved to garnish the ice-cream with these little wooden-stick umbrellas which I collected and meticulously used when we were playing with our Barbie dolls. I really love my visits to that parlour as I feel that I am being cocooned in a whole new world filled with love and flurry animals. I believe that was when I started associating ice cream with all things nice.

As I grow up, everyday after school sessions ended, I love to buy ice-cream ‘potong’ from this uncle from the roadside for a mere 20 cents. It was artificially coloured and flavoured but still tasted good! Hey, what do we know then?.....cring cring cring….the sound of the bell from the ice vendor is here….hooray! Ice cream then was associated to a job well-done at school and I used that excuse to reward myself often.

When I was in my teens, ice cream buffets were the fads. People actually paid to have ‘All you can eat’ ice creams at the outlets and boy was it heaven. Flavours of ice creams also expanded from the common chocolates, vanilla, corn and strawberry to a variety of flavours ranging from butterscotch to cookies and creams. Ice creams then was associated to good fun with friends and also love for that special someone……

Now when I am more matured and subdue, health has become more important. Hence, I love to frequent the New Zealand Natural outlet from where I work for their fat-free versions of ice creams. Cookies and Cream is still my favourite choice and if I had a bad day at work, I can just lounge at the outlet with a New Zealand Natural brownie topped with ice cream. Ice cream to me is a healthy stress reliever. My husband is also a fan but he prefers the milk shakes from New Zealand Natural.

There you have it! My ice cream life experiences ………

Sound clip: Catastrophic Lexus crash

Sound clip: Catastrophic Lexus crash

Unintended acceleration had caused this Lexus crash. Four people were in the car when it crashed into a fiery fireball. This is a sound recording of their last moments: a male passenger's emergency call to the 911 hotline