Jason's Jakarta Jottings #2 : Time Difference

    I just learned a few weeks back that Indonesia is so far spread out that they have 3 times zones. Being in Jakarta, the time here is (GMT +7) 1 hour behind Malaysia.  In Bali and nearby islands, its GMT +8, or same time as KL, and finally nearer towards Australia, in Papua, its GMT +9 (1 hour ahead of Malaysia)


The thing is, even though its an hour behind Malaysia here, the sun here rises at 6.15 in the morning and sets about 6-ish in the evening. (thats about same time in Malaysia if you factor in the time difference). So now, usually i will be wide awake at 7-ish or 8 on weekends because the sun is already up, and fools me to think I am oversleeping... And at night, I tend not to go out after work even though its only 7pm cause its already pitch black outside.

Its especially weird when i get off work at 5pm, jam my way back for an hour, and this its all dark. It almost feels like as if I worked till 8pm or something.

Looks like I just gotta get used to the timing here.

Early to bed,
Early to rise,
Makes a person healthy, wealthy and wise!

Cameron Highlands - Teluk Intan - Sekinchan Road Trip

This is probably a photologue of my recent trip to Cameron Highland over the weekend. It was a 1 nighter, with a stop on the way back at Teluk Intan and Sekinchan.

We left in the afternoon and it took me about 4 hours to reach our place in in Tanah Rata.
After dropping our stuff in the room, we went off in search of a place to visit before night fell.



Our 1st stop was a place called Cactus Point. It's located just a little bit further from Brinchang.
These flower shots are just some of my favourites. Full album can be seen in my Facebook album =). The above shot is a picture of a pink daisy.



I call this orchid the Dancing lady. They look like women dancing when the wind blows :-)




I dont know what this flower is called, but according to Stef, its like cupcakes hanging upside down, mainly because of the star shape at the top of the flower




Crysanthemum flower





Cactus! At Cactus Point, duh~~

I dont know what this flower is called, but it looks nice!

Since most flower farms close at 6pm, we headed back to Brinchang town, where the famous meal would be steamboat dinner. We had steamboat dinner cooked using charcoal, hence you cna see the flame at the top of the picture! Plus it is faster with charcoal as you dont have to wait for the stuff to boil in the soup. It is constantly boiling. Great place to have Steamboat for dinner, thanks to the cool weather

Next morning, we went to Bala's Resort for breakfast, which sucked major time and was pricey. hence no pictures on it. It doesnt deserve any more publicity, not from me. After that, we headed to Kea Farm, where the vegetable market is. Its located near Equitorial Hotel.

Here you can find a huge selection of vegetables, fruits and flowers planted in Camerons.

The all famous Cameron's strawberries, sold just about every corner of this highland wonderland.

Next stop: Gunung Brinchang. Its located near Boh Tea's Sungai Palas Plantation (Note to self: Its closed on Mondays). It about an extra half an hour drive on poor road conditions. But i can bet with you that this has to be the best place to go to in Cameron Highlands! Reason: the forest here is Mossy, and there is tonnes of fresh air!

Here are tonnes of shots of the Mossy Forest.

Like the path to Wonderland!

I had a great time looking out for Wild Pitcher plants / Monkey cups in the forest!

Bamboo sprouting from its branches are a sight to behold, even in the sky

Here, I managed to snap a shot of a Lavender coloured wildflower with a bee landing on it!

And here is a blue eyed butterfly who rested on a fern leaf, and posed long enough for me to get a few shots from different angles

On the ground, there are wild berries, not sure if they are edible though.

More moss!!

Bamboo sprouting right from its branches, or shall I say, branching out ;-p

On the way down from Gunung Brinchang, we stopped by the tea plantation so I could get a few shots of the place.

On the way back for lunch and checking out, we stopped by a strawberry farm so Stef could get some strawberry jam for her friend.

After checking out, I decided to show the girls the unseen landmark of Malaysia. We took the scenic route back. I drove them to Teluk Intan, and showed them the Menara Condong of Teluk Intan. Stef was pretty unhappy at how little the building "Condong-ed". Well if it condeong-ed any more it would have collapsed. Plus this spares you a few grand on air tickets flying to Italy just to get a glimpse of another leaning tower.

We then drove southwards and passed by the small town of Sekinchan. Sekinchan is primarily a town that started due to its Rice planting economy. It still has vast Rice Fields today. This picture above reminds me of a scene from Cast Away starring Tom Hanks. A cross road with nothing in sight in the horizon.

I managed to take some nice shots of lalang / weed in the sunset as well as the paddy fields that evening.

After that, it was a drive all the way back from Sekinchan to Kuala Lumpur and by the time we reached home, it was about 10 ish.

It was a great road trip, boring as I maybe as a host and driver ;-p

Boodyboy, out!!!

Call me a chauvinist

Thoughts that ran thru my head as I was driving back just now.

1. I don't really fancy playing against a mixed doubles pair in badminton

2. Sometimes, i feel like idiot. Wondering why do I act so awkwardly in some situations and be as cool as a cucumber in other situations even though the conditions of those situations are almost the same?

3. Sometimes, driving back into the sunset while listening to some emo song in my CD sucks. :-(
Especially when I'm still kicking myself over item #2 above.

Okay, let me go thru the above thought 1 by 1.

1. I'm not a chauvinist, but when I play against a mixed doubles pair, my partner has to be female. I don't really enjoy having a male partner then playing against a mixed pair. My competitive nature automatically shuts down. I love to play when the teams are even.

SOme may argue that the female maybe better than male players (I agree in certain situations), but most of the time, it is the opposite that is true. Plus, being a chauvinist that some ppl reading this may think (though i vehemently deny this), I don't smash at female players. Well of course, unless both pairs are mixed then everything is up for grabs. I wont purposely aim at the girl though, otherwise it might seem that I'm so desperate to win, i'll take advantage of the weaker sex (Disclaimer: usually the weaker player).

However, if i'm the guy with the female partner playing against 2 guys, then thats a different story. I'll go all out, knowing that I can play to my potential to win.

Last but not least, I prefer to think that I practice CHIVALRY, not chauvinism.


2. I dont know if its me, but i think no matter how comfortable I am with a large group of friends or people i know, I automatically shut myself down most of the time. Suddenly my body has the urge to become a chameleon and just make myself unnoticed. I get into awkward conversations, or into no conversations at all (I'll do stuff like look busy, playing with my phone when there is absolutely nothing for me to do with it). Then I kick myself after that when i drive home alone =..=""

Of course this is something that i'm trying to change. Easier said than done, but I'm still trying. So to those people who just got to know me not long ago, its not that I'm shy or unsociable, my body somehow just cocoons itself when there is a fair bit of ppl. I'm better in small groups of maybe 5-6 ppl at most. Thats when the real me shows itself :-)


3. Thats just plain old emo me. Especially when my mind gets kicked into hyper thinking mode. Self bashing and regretting is included free at the same time :-(

But glad I got home soon, or else the day mught get gloomier, skies may seem darker (it is already dark now anyway, 7.30pm). Then the Rain and singing along to "all by myself" images will start coming to my mind.


Well anyways, those are just random thoughts that go thru my mind when i drove back. Welcome to Boodyboy's weird thoughts!


Boodyboy, out!!