Wednesday 19 July 2017
Yayoi Kusama: Life Is The Heart of A Rainbow
Who is Yayoi Kusama?
Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist and writer, famous for her thematic interest in psychedelic colours, repetition, and pattern, mainly in the form of dots and nets. Leaving Japan in 1957, she moved to New York City where she produced a series of paintings influenced by the abstract expressionist movement. She came to public attention when she organized a series of happenings in which naked participants were painted with brightly colored polka dots.
Kusama's work is based in conceptual art and shows some attributes of feminism, minimalism, surrealism, pop art, and abstract expressionism, infused with autobiographical, psychological, and sexual content. She receives several major art achievement awards and was named one of the Top 10 Living Artists of 2015. Kusama is now acknowledged as one of the most important living artists to come out of Japan, and an important voice of the avant-garde.
This exhibition is Yayoi Kusama’s first major survey of her work held in South East Asia, featuring over 120 works across media, beginning with her paintings from 1950s.
Friday 23 June 2017
Chamah? “Cham-ah”… Is it really that wretched?
Chamah is the fifth highest mountain in Peninsular Malaysia, well-known for being one of the toughest hike in Malaysia. Despite its fame for being a challenging mountain, it still attracts hikers from all over the country, many with the purpose of completing all G7s. In fact, some hikers even ranked it the toughest G7.
Note:G7 refers to the seven highest mountains in Peninsular Malaysia, in the following order: G1 Tahan (read: link), G2 Korbu, G3 Yong Belar (read: link), G4 Gayong, G5 Chamah, G6 Yong Yap and G7 Ulu Sepat. It’s an achievement among Malaysian hikers to complete G7.
Located in the Titiwangsa Range, Chamah sits at the elevation of 2,171m above sea level, and is accessible from Kuala Betis, Kelantan. There are typically two trails that can be done, one being Trans CUS (Chamah – Ulu Sepat) while the other being only Chamah. Fearing the difficulty of Trans CUS, I gladly joined Chin’s Chamah event when he opened this trip few months ago.
“Chamah” sounds like “Cham ah” in Cantonese which means “wretched”, a perfect play of words since rumour has it that the hike is no joke. So… is the hike really that wretched? Let’s find out, shall we?
Tuesday 16 May 2017
Splish - Splash - Splosh : Trans Chemerong-Berembun-Langsir (CBL) 3D2N Camping Trip
“Who said hiking is boring? Who said hiking is no fun? Who said hiking is all sweaty and smelly?”
Whoever said so certainly hadn’t been to CBL. CBL, short for Chemerong-Berembun-Langsir is a popular hiking destination in Dungun, Terengganu. Entering through Hutan Lipur Chemerong, this trail brings us to the peak of Gunung Berembun, Langsir Waterfall and Chemerong Waterfall. Unlike other hike that I’ve done previously, the selling point of this place is not the view at the summit, it’s certainly not the challenging trek, it’s not the height of the mountain, but the beautiful crystal-clear water of the waterfalls, and Bangan river. Duped the Jiuzhaigou of Malaysia, CBL is no doubt one of the most beautiful hiking destination in Malaysia. I haven’t been to many hikes to conclude this but it certainly tops my list.
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| 36 hikers for this CBL trip |
Organised by Night Ranger, this hike was planned last year October, after our return from Gunung Tahan (read about it here). Meant to accommodate 24 hikers, the event was almost fully registered in a couple of hours. I wasn’t so interested initially but after some persuading by the Tahan hikers, I finally sign up for a spot before it was full. Like me, MJ had no idea what this place is all about and decided not to join. However, the event was then extended to 36 people and when some people bailed out due to scheduling conflict, MJ scored a place after being persuaded to join in the fun.
Friday 31 March 2017
Extreme Benum Dayhike (via Lata Berembun) in 24 Hours
Assembling a team
If you have not heard of Gunung Benum, I’m sure you have heard of Lata Berembun, the famous waterfall located in Sg. Ruan, Raub. Every year around durian season, KL-ites will visit this waterfall, and some companies and schools even conduct their teambuilding here, due to its proximity from KL/Selangor. After all, it’s less than 2hours drive from Gombak toll. Despite being a Raubian myself, I had yet to visit this waterfall, simply because no one among my friends had ever planned such a trip, and the fact that I couldn’t swim deter me from ever feeling excited about waterfall. But hiking a mountain? Well, that is an entirely different story.
Sunday 26 March 2017
That Day, I Went On A Road Trip With Strangers I Now Called Friends – East Coast Federal Route 3
Have you been on the road trip with people you barely know, or worse still, people you have never met?
Long before my Johor road trip (read it here), there was another road trip back in March 2016, when I travelled to the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Different from Johor road trip, this was with a bunch of total strangers. So how did this trip happen then?
To begin, back in March 2015, MJ and Richard (together with Arthur and SC) went on a trip to Sauk New Village, where they stayed in Kamo Home, a local homestay. I was supposed to join them for that trip but had to pull out due to work commitments. On the same weekend, the place also hosted three other group of travellers (CK and Mike from Ipoh, Amy and Anna from KL, and Charmaine and Pauline from PJ). What happened when four groups of like-minded travellers bumped into each other? They become bonded over some conversation during their stay and become friends since then. Fast forward to one year after, in March 2016, the same group of people, now we called “Sauk Gang” decided to do a road trip to East Coast together. After some planning, Mike, Pauline, Arthur and SC were not able to join due to conflicting schedule. And to make the trip extra fun, MJ decided to ask me to tag along while Richard invited his high school buddy, Nigel. At the very last minute, I invited Ken to join us as well, making the members for this trip 9 in total.
Remark: This post is a throwback to a trip done a year ago, in commemoration of our one-year friendversary. Hahahaha, pattern more than badminton huh?
Monday 13 March 2017
A Very Muddy Birthday Hike to Yong Belar
Standing at 2,181m above sea level, Mount Yong Belar is the third highest mountain in Peninsular Malaysia and is located at the border of Kelantan and Perak. I've never thought of hiking Yong Belar separately on its own as I previously planned to do Trans V2 Titiwangsa (Yong Belar - Korbu - Gayong - Yong Yap) someday, which would cover four G7s. With that done (if I were to succeed) I’ll only need to do a CUS (Chamah - Ulu Sepat) to complete all G7 (since I've done Tahan [read here] last year.). However, when Night Ranger decided to organise a day hike to Yong Belar, it suddenly sparked my interest to celebrate my birthday up there. How cool is that to celebrate my big day on the summit of the third highest mountain in Peninsular Malaysia, right? After all, it was my birthday weekend and I had no plans scheduled yet at that time. I invited MJ to tag along and she agreed to it even though she is not a fan of hiking, just because it was my birthday. Awwwwww! Love you, babe!
There were 49 hikers in total and apart from MJ, I only knew Wills (organiser), Bobby (from Tahan), Sebastian (Johor road trip), Saro (from Tahan) and Chee Jing (from Tahan). Read about my Tahan and Johor road trip [here] and [here].
Tuesday 28 February 2017
That Day, I Went On A Road Trip With Strangers I Now Called Friends – Johor
What kind of a weird combination is this?
That was the question that popped up in my mind, when we finalised the people who will be doing this road trip together - Chin, Eunice, Kai Sin, MJ, Sebastian and I. The only person I truly know is Eunice who hiked Tahan with me back in September (read about it here), while Chin, Kai Sin and Sebastian are fellow hiker friends of the Tahan gang (Eunice included). I met both Kai Sin and Chin from a movie outing in October (though we didn’t talk) and only maintained contact through WhatsApp and Facebook, while Sebastian and I have not met each other prior to this trip despite hearing a lot about this “fast leg” from fellow hikers. So how did we end up together?
Wednesday 18 January 2017
How I Tahan-ed (Endured) Mount Tahan for 4D3N (Merapoh-Merapoh trail)
Mount Tahan, literally translated as Mount of Endurance is technically the highest mountain in Peninsular Malaysia and the 6th highest mountain in Malaysia after Kinabalu, Trusmadi, Tambuyukon, Murud and Mulu. It’s been on my bucket list for quite some time since it was known as one of the toughest mountain to hike in Malaysia, being harder than highest Kinabalu. The most commonly hiked trail is the one from Kuala Tahan to Merapoh (also known as Trans Tahan), taking at least 5 to 6 days to complete, but over the years, I’ve heard of another trail frequented by hikers who do not want to spend so many days (and possibly taking so many days off work) to climb this mountain. This trail is the Merapoh-Merapoh trail, where one ascend and descend from the same starting point (Merapoh), which will only take about 3 to 4 days to complete. But taking a short cut doesn’t come without a price, because you ultimately miss out on the very scenic view (from what I heard) if you were to do Trans Tahan), but life’s a give and take and if you can’t take that many days to spend in the mountain, you’d have to make that sacrifice.
Wednesday 14 December 2016
Spending A Day in Gili Trawangan
When people talk about Lombok, there are two things which will come across their mind - Climbing the famous Mount Rinjani and the three Gili islands (Gili Trawangan, Gili Air, Gili Meno)
Sunday 30 October 2016
Discovering The Hidden Gems of Medan In Not More Than RM660 / SGD220
"Air Asia is having promotion again. Let's go to Medan!"
MJ, Richard and I have known each other for 8 years and despite having gone on several staycation and weekend road trips, we have never traveled abroad together. So when AirAsia was having their promo last year in June, we decided to finally do a backpacking trip to Medan, Indonesia. Tagging along is two other friends, but one had to bail out 2 months before the trip due to personal reasons and the other one stood us up few days prior to departure. Richard had just sprained his ankle a week earlier and MJ had just recently change job but we all decided to go ahead with the trip no matter what. It's something we had decided a year ago, and we refuse to cancel it. So off we go, even if it's just the 3 of us.
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