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wow.. i was just sitting in my ‘office’ looking out at the Joburg sky and it suddenly just hit me that i’ve only been here for just a little over a month and just barely three months ago, i stepped foot on South African soil for the first time in my life, and now i’m working here!

it feel like i’ve been here for months and months.. i guess its because we’ve been doing a lot and most the time i’m stuck in the house so the days seem to drag longer than usual.

so lets just recap..

December 2009
had a stop over in Dubai, so we visited Burj Al-Arab for breakfast, drove to and explored Atlantis the Palm, and saw Burj Khalifah.. that was certainly an experience to have seen all that on tv and pictures..

inside the Burj Al-Arab

the Atlantis was interesting how the houses were set..

Burj Al-Arab was a let down as it was tiny compared to the pictures you see and videos on it… camera angles makes all the difference.. cis~

but the Burj Khalifah was something else.. tallest building in the world, beautifully individualistic against the sky.. it always looks like it has a silver lining around it.. it is a modern, simple yet stunning piece of art..

after the stop over, it was on to Joburg!
it was a mad few days i tell you!
there was a trip to the Philanesberg National Park, Lion Park, Soweto and Miss World grand finals!
i was fortunate to be able to meet a few very nice people.. hence i’m back in joburg haha!

at the Orlando’s Children’s Home

Philanesberg National Park.. sitting in the van trying to spot one of the big fives… i guess i spotted a monkey in the mirror instead hahahahaha

but i did see some quality booty while i was there…

that’s me hanging out the window of the van so i could see more.. or more like trying to use myself as bait so that the lions will appear.. or the giraffs could come eat my hair… hahaha
we spotted the giraffs and I’M SO IN LOVE WITH THEM! but no lions… so we had to make do with the lion park.. but it was well worth it as we met Christine and she knows the owners and the manager of the park so we got special special treatment

that’s christine (my current boss/friend) and alex the manager of the lion park

me touching a cub YAY!!!

like faiz said, in Africa, we’re the ones in cages.. hahaha

alex said the lions chooses one person to rawr at…. and that person was me
-.-”

it was inches away from me! i want one!!!!

so cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute so cute so cute so cute so cute so cute….
i want one!

this is the next best part
supporting Thanuja in the Miss World finals!
this was from the night before..

us and Thanu’s parents!
this was after the finals during the coronation ball/dinner

miss Philippines, miss mexico and miss peru

thanu’s mom, christine, thanu and me

thanu! so beautiful this girl.. ish ish~ i nak all the natural beauty!

January 2010
spend my new years in Langkawi.. a week at Four Seasons and Uncle Devo’s house with Didi and Eidrix

and then it came time to leave for South Africa..
it was not easy at first as it was cold half the time and the food gets a bit ‘jelaking’ after a few bites.. but all’s good now.. just miss home and stinkys and claudes and pat and choy and faiz and dawn, sue lynn, nisha, hazel and raymund.. all my friends la basically..
but photography opportunities has been good…

February 2010

trips to Soweto and Alexandra for photography expeditions.. ended up giving money to poor mothers….

I had a chance to go to Botswana before the event started..

and then i got a chance to go to Durban.. sorry no pictures at the moment..
and then to Cape Town!
gosh i LOVE Cape Town!
i’ll post more on that soon… but for now, i’ll post two pictures first..

cantik kan?

I LOVE CAPE TOWN!

i’m still in denial that all that was in less than 3 months…
it felt like half a year or more!
sigh~ need to start acknowledging my life soon hahaha

He: Okok. I got questions wana ask you. And I need your honest answer. Just wana know more about my gf. If on Friday I cannot send you to Starbucks, and you gotta stay at home, what would you do?

She: Haa… err… watch movie lu…

He: Then..?

She: Read books? Your National Geographic magazine…

He: What else?

She: Listening to music kua… By that time you’ll reach home already lor.

He: From your answer I can see that you’re a very manja gf. Why didn’t you say that you’ll help me to clean my room, do my laundry etc?

She: Eekkk… This is how you get me to do your chores?

He: Then will you do it for me?

She: Maybe I’ll help you to tidy up your place but not clean it. Perhaps I’ll just dump all your stuffs into your big ass luggage.

He: -_-”

I <3 my bf so much.

Ok I hope to take more street photo than my last trip to Penang. It was so unsuccessful. Don’t know why.

Useful hands,

Eyes of an eagle,

Young at heart,

Lives forever <3

She said I’m wuliau -_-”

Belly dancer,

4-eyed babe,

Always the smart one,

Please laugh at my jokes!!

And then she laughs like a vampire

Double -_-”

i flew to Botswana 6 days ago to meet the headmasters and career guidance teachers of the highschools in Gaborone..
Botswana is very much like Cambodia in terms of their weather and dust and the friendliness of the people..
it is a much much stable country as compared to South Africa i must say ..
in many ways, they are safer and less threatening with more orderly cars, patient people, stable government and lower crime rates.
it is one of the fastest growing countries in the African continent..
their currency is also, for now, the strongest in this part of the region (not including the USD used in Zimbabwe and a few other countries)
my trip there was pretty interesting as i was greeted by uber friendly people with lots of “How are you”s and a trip to the poorest part of their town..

however, this trip made me realize just how much one person represents their country and how much the things that a country does reflects on their citizens.

in a fairly recent detainment of four Swana students in Malaysia for suspected drug possession, it turned almost the entire country against Malaysia.
now we all know that the news you get in your own country is usually either very much blown up over the top or silenced/diminished as though it isnt a big deal.
but regardless of what the news portrayed it to be, the Swanas DO NOT LIKE MALAYSIA!
all of my initial greetings were pleasant until the man (guide) i was with told them that i am from Malaysia, and then i get a frown and an occasional “Malaysia is a horrible country” then i would have to apologize for my country’s faults and convince them that i aint like my countrymen (government more like it) and then they will open up and start talking to me

problem number one
the people are not happy with how their students are being treated over in Malaysia.
apparently to them, Malaysians are a drug driven nation with horrible racist notions.
racist, yes.
drug driven? not as much to the extend of open cocaine pushing and all that crap.
so as i talked to these headmasters, i gathered information that the Swana students get a scholarship and some money from their government and our local institutes to study in the Malaysian private universities.
now how do they get involved in drugs? i can only think of the probability of them mixing with the wrong crowd.
some of the Swanans says that its because of the Nigerians,
(anywhere you go in Africa, no one likes the Nigerians.. they are apparently cunning, conniving, sly, evil and moral-less)
some say its the Malaysians,
some say its because their government is giving these kids too much money to waste.
and i noticed that no one seemed to blame their own kids!
until we went to the last school of the day and met with the headmaster.. and he was the first one to say the smartest thing i’ve heard the whole day..
he said, “It is not the fault of Malaysia, it is the fault of the government for giving them too much money, and it is largely the fault of the students for being ignorant enough to dabble themselves in drugs when they should have known better.”
righto~
however, to everyone else, all i could tell them was, “Look, anywhere you go in the world, regardless of whether you are from Kenya or Botswana or Zimbabwe, people will automatically assume you are like the Nigerians. Lets face it, Nigerians do not have the best reputation in the world, they have murdered students, pushed drugs and bullied people the world around. To you, all chinese looking people are from China, but I’m chinese and I’m from Malaysia. So to the rest of the world, all Africans look alike and are pre-assumed to be alike and from Nigeria. But you are African, and you are from Botswana. This does not only happen in Malaysia, it happens even in UK, US, wherever you can think of. Yes there are racist notions, yes i know it is unfair, but we cant do anything about it.”

problem number two
headmaster from another high school says, “I have nothing against Malaysians, but i do have a problem with their universities. They lie to us, and deceive us into studying there, but they do not keep to their promises. I sent my daughter over there three years ago. She was studying at Sunway University. They promised my daughter and I that they had the course that she wanted to study. So she went. After two years of foundation courses, they finally were forced to tell her that they actually do not have the course that she wants and even tried to push her into another course that they think was ‘better for her talents’. So i had to bring her back, and send her to the States with my own money. She ended up wasting two years, and I ended up wasting a lot of money. I am highly disappointed with the level of integrity  in that country.”
i was just feeling so disappointed and ashamed of my countrymen at that point because i know how some universities over sell and over promise and a lot of students get conned into studying there and not being able to study what they truly want to study.
(heard all these stories back when i was in University College Sedaya International)
naturally, i did not have a good comeback for I myself have been through this bout of shit.
(my guide even purposely drove me past Lim Kok Wing’s branch and said, “It all started from THEM!”)
o.O”

they even named the universities.
they are:
Sunway University
Monash University College
University College Sedaya International (they might have changed their name by now)
Lim Kok Wing

four prime suspects.
why am i not surprised.
this isnt the first time these institutes were named as highly marketed and lied about.
not surprisingly, these are the universities with the highest number of African students (they have agreements.. money making agreements)
a couple even had a cap on the number of African students they can bring in in a year..
lets just say, what you dont hear in the news, does not mean that there aint shit happening right under your noses.
this problem isnt only confined to the African students.
if you take some time to talk to SOME of the students from China, Pakistan, Bangladash, UAE they too can tell you that they were lied to to come study in some of these institutes.
at that time 4 – 5 years ago when i first heard these stories, it sicken me to my core.
now that its come up again, i felt even worse.
i did not know whether i should dig a hole, climb in and bury myself to do them a favour, or run and hide..
i was, in any case, a minority in that country.. (freaky)
so what could i do?
apologize for their lack of integrity and tell them that i sympathize with them.
(also, i was superbly irritated with the lack of honestly and integrity. wanting to make money is one thing, but lying about something that you dont have, is another. there is NO SUCH THING as, “oh its too late you’re already here so might as well take another course. we offer business, mass comm……..”)

a country should never be selfish.
a government should never be selfish.
because what a country does (or what people who represent a large industry does), reflects on every one else.
it is unfair that the innocent has to suffer all the bullets when they are in another country.
it is not only saddening and embarrassing when you country(men) is being compared to Saudi and the prehistoric for the racial, religious and human integrity issues.

i’ve even had a comment (from a South African who worked in Saudi) asking me how’s it like living in a country that’s like Saudi when women had to be caned, they cant use the same cashier as the men and there needs to be four witnesses for a rape case to be a case.
-.-”
thanks PAS, thanks…………

so in a month of being in Africa, i not only became ‘Malaysia’, i also went from being a chinese from China who should know kungfu to a Malay to a moral-less Muslim to just about every other fault read in the papers.
(suspiciously similar to how all Africans are Nigerians)
i guess people are not so different the world round, innit?!

i guess i can now safely say,
THANK GOD I’M NOT MISS MALAYSIA OR THE PRIME MINISTER!