Snap happy

Last Saturday was a really productive day. Planky and I were craving a good photography excursion, and it turned out to be a snap-happy day!

We happened to be at tHe Spring and there was a special lion dance performance in conjunction with the 'Go Bald' campaign. The drummer was a little 4-year old boy who was also shaving his head, and here are some of the snaps of that:

We left tHe Spring and took a drive to the outskirts of Kuching, and took these shots of the new Sarawak State Legislative Assembly building:

And then we dropped into the Orchid Garden, since it was close by. We spent the bulk of the photo excursion here, there were so many things to take pictures of! It's a pretty big place, and there were quite a few photographers, tourists, and people taking evening walks there.

The day ended with a good dinner, and we finally managed to have our biryani! The first time I had dinner at this place (a small restaurant specializing in Northern Indian cuisine), it was late and they ran out of biryani and I ended up having Chinese-style fried rice (I know, ironic). The second time we arrived an hour before opening time, and waited for approximately 20 minutes (Planky claims it was 25 minutes) only to find out there was a private function that day, and thus not open to the public. Third time's the charm though, and I finally managed to try the vegetable biryani on Saturday! It was probably the best vegetable biryani I've tasted! But then again, it's the only vegetable biryani I've tasted so far; usually I go for lamb or chicken, but I was craving a try, and it did not disappoint.

And that's it. This is a pretty photo-heavy blogpost, but then again it's not often I have so many good pics to share! Cheers, y'all!

Funny bone

This afternoon, out of sheer boredom and an excessive tickling in my funny bone, I went a little crazy with the picture-taking.

Hoping this put a smile on your face. Cheers!

Bloom amongst the mud

I was walking around the garden with my mobile the other day, looking to snap a photo of anything remotely interesting, when something tiny caught my eye. It was so small that I could have missed it, this wee flower, peeking out from amongst a layer of aquatic plants that shielded the eyes from the murky, muddy depths of some rainwater in a makeshift pond.

The pond is one of the more interesting features of our garden, I think. It looks like a giant wok, all metal and copperish from the rust brought about by the interchanging cycles of rain and sunshine. It sits in the middle of our garden, and looks rather like a UFO decided to make a crash landing in the compound of some random house, only it looks too pretty to be an accident.

The metallic pond cum giant wok cum UFO wasn't what I took a picture of, however; it was this little picture-in-the-making fine specimen of a flower. It looks like a big bloom, but in reality it's really small, and you would probably mistake it for a weed and just trample thoughtlessly on it. But zooming up close with the macro setting on my mobile, you really start noticing its subtle beauty; thin filaments of yellow that elegantly end in glittering white pearls, slim translucent petals that look as smooth as velvet. Such breathtaking complexity in what must be one of the most humble of plants. I still have no idea what species this is; I'm wondering if it's a waterlily.

It reminds me so much of life. At times we feel like everything sucks, and it's all ugly and old and depressing. We just wanna crawl by, trying our hardest not to stand out. Don't look at me, don't pick on me. Just leave me alone. That's what it looks like, anyway. But look close enough, take the effort to dig deep and think, and suddenly you notice the beauty in the simplest of things. The smallest of gestures. Maybe it's the realization that you've got to pick yourself up off the floor, and move on, and that the world's just waiting to be explored. Or it could be a memory of something so silly and trivial, it cracks you up.

And suddenly life doesn't seem so bad after all. And you start searching for the silver lining. Not that the clouds disappear, of course. Thunderstorms don't turn to rainbows in the blink of an eye. It all takes time.

But when it finally happens, you can't help but step back in awe, relish the moment, and smile.

Peter Pan

It's been tough these past few weeks. At times I feel like a raft out at sea, being tossed about, carelessly, by the rough winds and roaring waves. Waiting for that moment when the elements overwhelm, and everything ups and turns upon itself, a crash, destruction, and it all sinks under, to lie, buried beneath the surface of the sea. That, or a constant journey across the miles of endless blue. Just a piece of discarded driftwood. Old, rotten, forgotten, fragile. Just waiting for that first glimpse of land.

But it's not all bad. There are good moments too. Like when I retreat into my past, and try to reconnect with the kid within. Good days of old. The Peter Pan complex. Never wanting to grow up. But then again, we all do, and we must.

But every once in a while, when all looks dull and gray, it's never too late to pick up a piece of an easier, happier, less complicated childhood. And to just enjoy the moment.

Rolling down a hill

Stuck in the hub of a wheel,
rolling down a hill;
rolling, rolling, rolling,
till it comes to a still.