Just went I thought it was finished

Late packages meant that my birthday was extended for quite a long time, and just when I thought it was all over, Emma and George tell me that everybody had put enough money together to buy me a yukata. What is that? I hear you say. Fear not my friend, let me enlighten you.

Yukata (浴衣 or in hiragana ゆかた) is a Japanese summer kimono, usually made out of cotton and only has one layer.

George, Emma and I went shopping, which is normally a much loved pasttime for me but it was so difficult choosing what colour of yukataI was going to get let alone even starting on the pattern, obi, bags and shoes. An hour later, we settled on a deep red yukata, a white obi, black shoes with red trimmings and a white and red bag (see the coordination?). We even had money left to buy me a proper white pair of tabe which are pristine white Japanese socks to be worn with a kimono.

I was such a happy bunny, I had been contemplating getting a yukata set anyway and it was a complete surprise when Emble and George mentioned the birthday money, I'd thought my birthday was long finish!

My luvage turns 21

This is Ellie and Hellie enjoying the good life in Mexico, Helena is the second Angel turning 21 this year, and she's all the way in Me-hi-co far away from her fellow angels, boohoo! Happy Birthday chica, I can't wait for a little catch up and hear all your stories. How fast the year has flown! It just seemed like yesterday when you were running away from me to catch the bus and then turning back and saying, 'F*ck Thanh, we're not going to see each other for a year'. Darling, this is why you were the good conversationalist in our group!

One for Seb

Jealous?

Swimming with turtles

I had never imagined that we would be able to see the turtles so up close. We spotted one in the waters by D'Lagoon but it was like Speedy Gonzales and whizzed away, but we spotted lots more in the waters by the bigger island. The turtles were beautiful and a lot stronger than they look, we would swim with one when we spotted it and wait for it to come up to the surface for air. I discovered the most amazing thing, the turtles were always followed by two long fish who lives under the shells, I think you should just be able to make out a dark shape underneath the turtle in the picture. Thats the fish. Wherever the turtle go, the fish would follow, and the only thing I can think of to explain this is that the fish helps to keep the turtle's shell clean. I absolutely loved this experience, we were so lucky to find them.

A room with a view

I am not really a morning person but waking up to this view from our room at D'Lagoon positively makes me want to jump out of bed and go swimming. I had my heart set on staying in the tree house they have but it was booked for the period we were there, so we had to 'settle' for a room in their long house instead. The place had oodles of charm, it was a long wooden hut with simple rooms named after tropical fish and an electric fan on the ceiling. We stayed in the Clown Fish room and then moved to the Shark room for this view. The electricity went out all the time so we were cloaked in darkness for most of the night listening to the storms outside.

It always rained in the evening, and we were unlucky enough to be caught in a really big storm while we were in another part of the island trying to get a boat back. Taxi boats stop operating after 7pm and at that time we were still having dinner at Long Beach, but we were assured by the manager that we would be able to get a taxi boat back to D'Lagoon. We took our time with dinner hoping that the rain would ease up enough for us to make the 5 minutes boat ride back. It didn't, but we had to leave anyway because it was getting pretty dark. So, in the middle of torrential downpour, the sky lighting up with lightning, we walked 20m into the sea (well, we were wet anyway) and got into the speedboat, by this stage we were completely drenched, and it was one of the most freezing rides I have ever taken. And one of the best.

We didnt really care about being wet, it was just a great moment, all the wind, all the rain, it was nature as it should be.

Dinner at sunset

This was one of my favourite places on the islands, it served an amazing seafood BBQ and chicken satay...I could have died and gone to heaven. I loved sitting on the deck in the evening, having a mango shake and natter while watching the sun go down.

A Few Days in Paradise

Our next stop was the Perhentian islands off the east coast of Malaysia. It seems that our trip had been to this point since we were both looking forward to the snorkelling, the white sandy beaches and waking up to aquamarine blue waters. Perhentian didnt disappoint.

There are actually two islands; the smaller one is where most travelers come and the larger one is where all the families camp out in their cosy chalets. We stayed on both, first at a small guesthouse called D'Lagoon and then we moved across the waters to a beach-front chalet on the larger island for the sheer luxury of having our own bathroom. The snorkelling was amazing! We spotted clownfish, angelfish, flounders, urchins, and a whole array of other fish that I simply do not know the name of. We tried to find some sharks at D'Lagoon but our luck wasnt in, or maybe it was depending on your viewpoint. They are the harmless species, nothing like Jaws at all, and they survive by eating other fish so we were pretty safe.

I used to assume that I'd get bored being on a little island but there was so much to do and an abundance of deserted beaches to explore. It was pretty sad to leave these emerald drops in the South China Sea.

In the jungle...

We traveled for two and a half hours by bus and then changed for a three hours boat ride to get to the heart of Taman Negara, the rainforest in the middle of the Malaysian Peninsular. They didnt call it a rainforest for nothing, it rained so heavy and so loud in the evening that I thought that our rickety tin roof was going to cave in and the heavens would simply sweep us away.

Taman Negara is home to a small elephant and tiger population though we didnt actually see any because that would involve days-long trek into the jungle and our limited schedule simply didnt allow for it. We managed to see some lizards, birds, and lots of butterflies and mosquitoes. Oh , the pesky little biters! No amount of repellant could deter them from taking a nibble at my poor exposed flesh- yes, I know I should cover up so I wont get biten but I was in the rainforest, it was too bloody hot to cover up.

A flimsy rope bridge was built connecting a section of the jungle so that you could take a walk 25m above the forest floor at the canopy level. It was terrifying, especially because I havent been that good with heights since attempting to do a bungee jump at the age of 15. (I never did the bungee jump because I made the mistake of looking down and realising that there was a better way of getting back onto solid ground rather than hurdling myself out of crane box).

We went on some short treks; the combination of intense heat and humidity meant that I was sweating buckets, which is, of course, very sexy indeed. Thankfully, we found a little stream so we could have a swim to cool down. It was so beautiful, we had the rushing sound of water splashing against the rocks, the murmurs of the jungle, the songs of the birds, and lush green trees framing our view.

When night-time fell on us, everything became pitch black and scary. We stayed in a hut away from the river where all the 'restaurants' were. These were like raft houses on the waters which served a mixture of Malay, Chinese and Indian food. From our hut, we had to navigate a long, bumpy path that led to the river front with possibly the smallest torch in the world as our only light source. Every now and then, there would be some movements in the bushes and we would positively jump out of our skin in fright. The good thing is that the night-sky was lit up with stars that we would never have seen in the city, it was really peaceful and serene.

Wedding bells are ringing

Obviously not for me, silly. We stumbled upon a colourful Indian wedding when we visited a temple near Chinatown in Kuala Lumpur; the family was especially friendly and welcomed us in despite our shabby attire and the fact that we were uninvited guests. I fell in love with saris in Sri Lanka and I bought so many that Charlotte had to physically drag me away from the markets because I was already carrying about several reams of fabric in my backpack. You could imagine my delight at finding myself in the midst of a real 'Monsoon Wedding' and I would have been in heaven if they'd started the music and dancing.

Petronas Towers

The merits of having a birthday near to a holiday is that you end up getting wonderful surprises like a night at a five-star hotel on your first day of the trip. I felt utterly spoilt, the hotel in question is the Mandarin Oriental situated right next to the Petronas Towers so this is the view that filled our bedroom window. It was our first day in Kuala Lumpur so we had to force ourselves to leave the luxuries of the Mandarin Oriental to see some of the city, though I would have been happy to pass the day away just spreading out on the king-size bed or using it as a trampoline.

At night, the view was even more spectacular with the city lights glimmering beneath us and the towers in their illuminated glory. Sorry for exercising so many gushing adjectives. It was simply a sight to behold.

Anyway, there was this little dial-switch in the bathroom which I thought was a dimmer switch for the lights but I turned it backwards and forwards with no effect. But then, when we turned on the TV, the stereo system came on and music filled the bathroom. I was just so impressed, though apparently this is quite a common feature in even ordinary hotels. I guess in my prefered mode of traveling, I really dont get many experiences of hotels as such, let alone hotels with stereos in the bathroom. Maybe I'll end my backpacking days and start to enjoy the finer things in life.

日本語の勉強について

An ‘explanation’ about a grammar point in my Japanese textbook.

Indirect passive sentence

“The way of making the indirect passive sentence is different from that of the English passive sentence. This kind of passive sentence indicates that someone Z, including the speaker who is not the object of the original active sentence, is indirectly affected by the action done by the actor of X. And this affected person Z appears as a new subject of the passive sentence. In this type of passive sentence not only transitive verbs but also intransitive verbs can be used”.

I had my Japanese midterms the day before going away on holiday, a fact which I was naturally thrilled about. I was so afraid of failing because many ex-102 students had failed the midterms in the last semester. I've understood everything we've learnt but digesting the information, memorising all the particles and know how to use them in the appropriate context under examination pressure is another story.

I was doing quite well until I came up to the last chapter I had to revise and stumbled upon this baffling explanation of indirect passive sentences. I nearly cried.

I did pass the midterms and surprisingly, my speaking score was higher than my written test.