Ahhh! I spent the entire day yesterday batch editing all the animal photos I shot at the zoo.

It made me realize how similar animals are to human beings.. in many ways!

For those of you following, this post is a sequel to this sneak-peak blogged here

Konzy and I wanted to check out most, if not all, of the animals residing in Melbourne Zoo. Guided by the map, we started from the left and went anti-clockwise, ensuring every area is covered.

Holy crap! Gave me a shock. Easy, kitty, easy.

The Snow Leopard was the first animal we saw high atop the makeshift cave of its den.

T'was a beautiful animal, with an equally beautiful coat.

But the poor thing looked rather bored

Heck, I will be bored too if I were to be sitting in a man-made den all day and all night.

Somebody, find me a live animal to hunt! 

My point exactly.

Goodnight kitty, we won't disturb you anymore.

On to other animals!

Stopped by this huge den

What animal could possibly inside?

Most certainly not a small animal, considering the sizable space allocated for this enclosure

Oh, hello there, you cuddly fellow! 😀

It's nice watching how this bear malevolently lumbers around; without a care in the world.

I wanted to take a photo with it!

Obviously, this was the closest I could get lest it rips my head off

Turned around to peek at the Snow Leopard again to see…

LOL okay. Go ahead. Don't mind me.

Walked past a smaller enclosure, with lots of dried leaves and gravel inside.

Ohai! Would you puff out your tail feathers for me?

Hmmm.. maybe not.

Artsy photo of Konzy taking a photo of the peacock

We waited for ages ans ages for it to puff up its tail feathers… to no avail!

Hmph, maybe if I was a female – a peahen – it probably will try to impress me LOL

Us and the stubborn peacock!

There was some other creature that was sharing the den with Mr. Proud Peacock here

Konzy didn't know what it was (neither did I) so he started exclaiming, "Quick! Take a picture of that crawling thing!! It's crawling away!" 

And I did. In the midst of crawling away from over-enthusiastic people like us

We soon found out that it was something lika groundhog

The next enclosure was made to look like a massive cave that we had to enter.

UGHH. A reptile/amphibian farm – as I had expected.

Green chameleon!

Turned brownish-green

Into entirely brown chameleon!

Bah. Why are you afraid of me? I know I shoot, but only with my camera 😛

Moving on….

Look at this baby crocodile!!

The top of its head and its eyes are floating while the rest of its body is submerged underwater

Saw a smiling tortoise. Something must've made its day 

Here's a different kind of tortoise.

My slithery, slippery friends! How are you?

 For those wondering, I was born in the year of the Snake according to the Chinese Zodiac.

Okay, no need to count my age. I've just turned 22.

Gawd knows what bird is this.

Whole flock of them scurrying away from me -__-

I may eat KFC but sorry lah, you don't qualify. So don't be scared!

I stood outside in the field for a while. Just HAD to get away from the creepy-crawlies in the cave, while Konzy happily continues taking pictures of Monitor Lizards, Beetles and Tarantulas FML.

LOL cool.

Scary face OMG. Looks like some mutant 

Went inside the butterfly farm

OMG what is this! T'was SO HOT AND HUMID 10 times worse than Malaysia!

Had to remove my overcoat immediately! I guess butterflies breed best in tropical climates

There were millions, perhaps trillions of butterflies fluttering all around us!

Nope, they weren't caged up at all. Oh wait, technically they are, but..

WE WERE IN THE CAGE WITH THEM! 

The most massive, elaborate "cage" ever! LOL

Didn't even feel like a cage. It was more of a large greenhouse.

We left soon after. Konzy was amused by all the butterflies and started videoing them.

I'm like OMG IT'S SO HOT CAN WE GO NAAAAOO? hahahaha 😛

Don't know what animal this is but saw it in The Lion King before

Probably some kind of gazelle or an antelope.

And and and…. I rode an elephant!! 😛 😛

A wooden elephant. So? Still an elephant nonetheless 😛

Awww… momma elephant teaching baby elephant how to drink water through its trunk!

Konzy and I with the elephants!

He made some sort of cynical joke about elephants and a person. I refuse to reiterate.

But had to admit, it was funny. As much as I tried not to laugh.

Baby elephant, open wide! 😀

Konzy took a sneaky picture of me taking a picture of the elephants

But I managed to sneak in a smile! HA!

Okay, you should know what's coming next

I absolutely love tigers.

Well, they're essentially kittycats 😀 

Just… very big and dangerous kittycats capable of having me for lunch, that's all

Konzy and I outside the cage

Of lions and lionesses! 😀

RAAAAAWWWRRR!!!! 

Climbed to the top of the cage to see a dingo/hyena-like animal

I wish I could ride a zebra to university and be the coolest kid on the block

Hello Giraffes!! Super-tall creatures!

Kisses! 

Also, I've learned that you can't take a giraffe seriously.

Wanna know why?

How to take you seriously liddat???? -____-"

Fell in love with a female Orang Utan that smiled at me

Orang Utans are wonderful creatures, very much like humans.

But, I fail to understand why that particular Orang Utan chooses to wear cloithes

Maybe he doesn't fit in with his peers.

Should try going naked too. Maybe then he'll fit in 😛

Mother & Baby Orang Utan portrait!

When she smile for the camera, I melted.

When I showed her the photo, she looked at it and smiled at me again.

I was smitten by her until…..

She spread her legs wide open for me -___-"

Oh you skank 🙁

On 2nd thoughts, maybe she spread her legs for this Orang Utan 😛

Kangaroo!! It reminds me that I'm in Australia

Okay lemme recall a funny incident.

Poor joey wanted to come out of mama roo's pouch but mama wouldn't let her.

Kid : "MOM! LEMME OUT!"

Mom : "No."

Kid : "i'M OUT! YEEOUCCH! MY BUTT HURTS"

Mom : "NOW GET BACK INSIDE!"

Kid : "FINE"

Mom : "OUUCHH! DON'T JUST BARGE IN LIKE THAT!"

HAPPY NOW?

Okay 1 more kangaroo photo

Lazy Koala Bear was hibernating throughout the day!

Probably still baked from Eucalyptus LOL

Don't know what adorable animal this is but Konzy took its photo

Looks like a weasel/meerkat/civet cat to me

The Seal was delightful to look at!

Cos it goes both underwater and on land! 

Also saw penguins who couldn't walk nor stand straight

Neither could I. In this photo

Saw the caretaker feeding Percy the Pelican!

Cockatoo!

Ta-daaa! Found a stray peacock.

Don't know what animal this is but it reminds me of a skunk LOL

The entrance/exit

By the time we realized, it was already close to 6pm!

Geez. Looks like 5 hours isn't enough to tour the entire zoo.

But imma take less than 5 minutes of your time to watch a VLOG I made!

Enjoy the video :) 🙂

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IqWPa19lxs

Watch till the end! 😉

Managed to stop by the souvenir shop for a bit

RAWWWRR RAWWWRR!!

Konzy surprised me with this adorable fluffy, furry tiger hat! 

Although I have no where to wear it in Malaysia, It's in my car now! Yay tiger gets to go everywhere I go!

T'was an amazing afternoon spending time with all the animals of the animal kingdom!

I love animals, do you? 

 
Here I am on a 6 hour long coach ride back from Tioman.
Bah… at this rate, I’ll be alighting the bus approximately midnight

Anyhoozers, Part 2 of The Star BRATs like I promised!
A sequel to this blogpost of BRATS Part 1, Kuantan was where it all happened.
 

BRATs began and a few of us began manning the registration counter.
Typical! The BRATs were all on their best behavior on the first day. Hehe. But not for long! 😛
 

For starters, they were required to introduce themselves.. sounds pretty easy right?
BUT ON CAMERA! Yup, a stand upper was what they were supposed to do.
 

They say a camera adds 10kg to a person. Heh!

They did pretty well considering it being their 1st time. However, there were some hilarious blunders and bloopers which became a significant inside joke for most of ‘em.
 

Something that went along the lines of : “HI. MY NAME IS SIXTEEN. EHH?”
 

More food for thought on newsworthiness, what makes news, different types of news and other fundamentals were being fed to their young minds before putting them on a simple practical test.
 

They were to gather as much info as possible about Jason and I and interview us on different angles of our blogging history, profile and journey. How to interview a person, how to approach a person and ask the right questions 🙂

Now, these were important to hone their skills – before they set off in the open to scour for news and handle real life interviews.
 

Lunchtime!
And I spotted a gingerbread mosque. I’ve seen gingerbread houses, cookies, men and lots more for Christmas…
 

…..but a GINGERBREAD MOSQUE? Cooooolios 😀
 

The very next morning, it was time for them to put their newly acquired skills to test. Yeeehawww!
Feeling ambitious? 😀
 

The BRATs was split into a few groups for convenience and the group that Ian and I accompanied were assigned to the Batik manufacturing factory. For the benefit of my non-Malaysian readers, Batik is a cloth that traditionally uses a manual wax-resist dyeing technique.

See the pretty finished products that we love and adorn?
 

Now, let’s get behind the scenes!

There are 4 key processes involved in making a Batik.   
Waxing, Coloring,  Dyeing and Boiling
 

I watched and guided some of them as they interviewed the masters of the trade
He’s Myanmanese (and I don’t recall his name) but this fella below speaks fluent Bahasa Malaysia and Mandarin!
 

Not too shabby for a non-local, at all 😀
 

Kinda puts my Mandarin command to shame but that’s besides the point. Heh 😀
 

They were given a chance in stamping the repetitive Batik motifs with hot boiling wax.
 

I had a go too! 😀

I don’t know who’s bright idea it was to do our very own BRATs version of Batik but we imprinted our lack of artistic skills on the cloth to form an unimpressive, lopsided outline anyway.

Finished product. Doesn’t it look somewhat close to the original? 😀
 

Hell yeah, if I do say so meself!
 

 
Here’s the final process. When everything is all stamped and painted on in place, the masterpieces are dunked into a boiling hot cauldron of water and soda to melt off the wax.
 

We skipped this process ‘cos we ain’t got all day! To boil and wait for it to dry would take furrrevaah!
 

Proud! 😀 Some of them were quite a natural with the paintbrush by the way.
 

Ian and I camwhoring with the Brats Batik!
 

While we were at it, the rest of the groups were busy at their respective assignments; the Keropok Lekor factory and the Ikan Masin processing site. Both are very notable foodstuff in Kuantan – quite like a heritage!
 

Kuantan is never complete without their huge-ass Chewy Fish Craclers and fresh Salted Fish
Oh and did I mention that the entire bus reeked of fishy stench the moment that group boarded? Pheeee-ewwww!! 😛 But it was all good!
 

When we all returned back to the hotel, it was crunchtime for them! They were supposed to produce newsworthy material in a few forms – an article, a photo essay and a video. So, chop chop!
 

Till the next blogpost! BRATs Kuantan Part 3 coming up soon. Think surfers and beach boys  😀
 

Oh and by the way, here are some of the local delights which we Seniors and Facilitators indulged in every night for supper.
Satay! Chicken, Beef and.. er.. Rabbit meat -__-
 

But they were all so succulent and bursting with every stick we sank our teeth in! Much, much better than Satay Kajang. Hmmph! I can vouch for that.
 

The famous Nasi Impit. Such adorable cubes of glutinous rice, no? 😀
 

Oh and, one very prominent thing I will always remember at every single BRATs session: SNACKS & JUNKFOOD APLENTY!!
 

And if you thought we were gonna starve you in this “bootcamp”, that’s where you’re gravely mistaken – we stuff you till you’ll never look at Pringles, chocolates or cookies the same way again!

I've always wanted a red party of my own – and that day finally came!

My family planned an all-red birthday dinner for me during my 21st at San Francisco Steakhouse 😀

When I saw my dearest fockers in red before dinner, I raised my eyebrows with a pleasant surprise. Each and every one of them were decked in red! No, Chinese New Year did not come early this year. I found out that it was just for me 😉

with my lovely red guests 😀

and that's not all. I fell in love with the table setting too! The centerpiece was decorated with red roses in full bloom, reddish candles and on every seat there was red folded napkins with each a glass of red wine.

The view of the table from my seat! 😀

Not forgetting the red tablecloth too!

😀

I was still in awe, sitting there at the end of the table admiring the entire set up, while watching my loved ones chattering about. It's all slowly getting to me! My own red party – finally! 😀 Played with the stalks of roses a little…

I liked the outlet too!

It was more to a bar – cum – fine dining – cum – restaurant – cum – chillout place

They bought yummy red wine too for all

I can haz moarrrr!! 😀 😀

😀 why, thank you!

And I had a very cute pretty boy waiter serving me throughout the night too.

EYE CANDY 😛 😛

Fooling around with the cam before the food came. Got photobombed by godmom!!

Red Zipper Hairband + Iconography Ring by Soak Republic

Check 'em out! The Coronation Crown Rings on my left hand are from there too 😀

More fun-loving moments with the people that matter most to me 🙂

Meet the fockers! 😀 They're one awesome bunch

Granny, Godmom, Uncle Mike, Mom and Kakak (she's been my nanny since I was 3!)

Kakak fascinated with the humongous plate of imported fruits!

Goddy taking control over my DSLR cam while mom and I posed away ;)

Ladies 3 generations playing around with cherries and camwhoring with roses

Granny, Mom and I 😀

That's Uncle Philip and Aunt Karen below 😀 Figured I wanted to take a last shot of the table before everything gets messed up with food later.

….not predicting any cake fights with this crowd but still! One more for the memories 🙂

I'm sure the fabulous crew at the Steakhouse put in lotsa effort for this – THANKEWWW again.

ESPECIALLY ANDREW who was in-charge!

Very coincidentally with the arrival of the food, Germany VS Argentina began their match for the Quarter Finals. Excellent! We could all watch the showdown and cheer on the hunky Germans all the way while eating. Speaking of Germans, let's take a look at the German Sausages that was served

Almost a foot long! My, my..

One of the biggest ones I've ever seen *wiggles eyebrow*

The cheese and garlic lobsters were the freshest and finest I've ever tasted as well

Pretty bad to take seafood during the healing stages of my new tattoo but what the heck? 😀

I ONLY TURN 21 ONCE. *winks*

Lovely lovely… and succulent too!

I hear they cost over 200bucks here. Very well worth it

Mom loved it just as much as all of us did! 😀

Slowly but surely, Argentina was beginning to get thrashed real hard by the Germans.

Go Germanyyyy!!! All the wayyyy Germannyyyy!! I didn't buy your team's jersey for nuthin'! 😀 😀 😀

MAKE US PROUD!

The scores were getting more and more promising, and I was pretty convinced that Germany would whoop Argentina's ass tonight there and then. Was kinda engrossed in the match when I was surprised with a huge, round, chocolate cake with exactly 21 lighted candles!

Such a pretty cake! and I bet it will taste theyummmmmmmsss too 😀

The live band sang me a birthday song and after that I made a wish and blew off the candles

I make the same wish every year… hmm… now I wonder what that is? 😉 hehe

And when I thought all is over and done with, I was very, very wrong. I was surprised once again…

… with a beautiful bouquet of 2 dozen red roses!

It was given to me by my favorite uncle of all, Uncle Mike

Tonight will definitely be one of my most memorable nights ever. New age men and bachelor boys are always girls' best friends! (after diamonds, that is) They always do the most thoughtful and sweetest things! For planning my surprise party in such detail all the way up to the roses. Thankewwww

I'm never really a big fan of flowers ever, but how can I not be overwhelmed by a huge bouquet of roses – all in my favorite color!

That was such a sweet gesture. Looks like flowers will always have a place in a lady's heart 😀

I ADORE FLOWERS NOW. ESPECIALLY RED ROSES!!

Hurrraahhhh!!! 😀 😀

Mom and her 21 year old rebel

In case you were wondering what she got me for my birthday, it's the necklace I was wearing tonight

Scroll up picture#7 to see it again 😉

It's a very pretty cross made out of of Rubies! This gem represents the month of July, hence a Ruby cross. And most importantly, IT'S RED!!!! Squeeeeeee 😀 How lucky! Granny and Godmom got me a White Gold bracelet which I was wearing throughout the night as well. I know you're reading this guys, thanks again 😀

I love it, and am still wearing it now!

My loving focker family + the nanny (now, why is there a gap between Granny and I?)

Hmmm.. My guess is that Grandpa wants IN too 😀 He would fit in that space perfectly

Oddly, that actually makes sense 🙂 He would've loved to see his grand daughter turn 21. I'm certain he was right there in the family photo, between Granny and I *beams* I love you kungkung!

us with Uncle Philip and Aunt Karen!

Just like daddy at home, they gave me an angpow too, thanks yeah! 😀

No one would exactly let the birthday girl go that easily. The fockers made me bottoms up a few glasses of red wine before I left. *gulps*  But I assure you, I'm ay-okayy and still standing!! 😀 😀 Totally different from the night before LOL

Yeah yeah fine, not denying it. I wasn't so okay by the time the night ended during my birthday party with a group of friends in Twenty One bar (more on that on the next post I promise!)

A big gracias to the Fockers for making my 21st a memorable one

You're the best family one can ever ask for!

Obviously I've only had ONE family but whatev-

My statement still stands!! 😀 😀