Love my new camera!!!

So today was the first day of the dragon year...slept quite late (or early in the morning) coz was on the phone...but managed to drag myself up at 930am...we were supposed to go visit Pa before we met up with the others for buffet brunch/lunch at Westin...unfortunately, the cemetery/urn pagoda place was closed for CNY...not sure if that's actually ethical but well, it's not like we have a lot of experience with such things...

Anyway, went to Bukit Bintang...so glad there was no jam...so i was busy exploring my new camera while waiting for the others to arrive...Bro, Pei and i had quite some fun 'camwhoring'...and i discovered an amazing feature in the camera...it's called 'soft skin effect'...with this effect, it's goodbye photoshop...not that i ever photoshop my photos...but now there's even less need for it...and i still can look good in my photos...:) i love my new camera!!!

After a long buffet lunch, we went back to 2nd uncle's place...managed to watch a few movies...well, haven't been watching a lot of movies...so it was a good time to catch up with movies...had fun watching Smurfs...yes, finally...and then continued with Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallow part 1...can't remember a lot of things coz it has been a long time since i read the book...luckily we had Pei the cross reference to explain the scenes to us...then we watched this silly slapstick comedy called Mr Bones...quite mindless but sometimes it's good to watch movies that don't require too much analytical thinking...

Guess it's gonna be a quiet new year...somehow even the reunion dinner last night was more sombre than previous years...i guess we all missed Pa's presence...well, Happy Dragon New Year....

Road to Kundasang...

Today was the first time i drove long distance in Sabah...drove my parents, aunty and Petrina to Kinabalu Park...by the time we got ready it was past 9am...then brought them to my favourite beef noodles stall for breakfast...unfortunately, Pa's got a case of dyspepsia so we had to hunt for Eno and i had to go back to the hospital to get some PCM and maxolon (in case he felt like puking on the trip)..

By the time we started our journey it was almost 11am...we stopped by a petrol station to fill up the tank and check my car...had to fill up the brake oil and battery water coz i haven't service my car for ages...so off we went on our journey...we reached Kinabalu Park about 120pm...weather was cooling...we drove up to Timpohon gate for photo session....then continued towards Poring Hot Springs...

Stopped by at Ranau for late lunch...had KFC...then we continued our journey...it started raining before we reached Poring...so didn't get to go to the Hot Springs...so we decided to drive back coz it was quite late already...it became misty as the sky darkened...and we were basically driving at a crawl coz of the low visibility...almost fell asleep a few times...finally made it back to flat roads...

Thought we'd make it back to KK about 730pm...but fate has it that i were to drive over a pothole and burst my left front tyre...crap!!! poor Pa...had to help me to change to my spare tyre in the rain... in the end, we only arrived at the hotel about 8pm plus...i went home to bathe...stopped by at SMC to get some medications...then ta pau-ed char kuey teow for the bunch of them...really had late dinner...

Gosh, my whole body is aching from sitting too long in the car...driving long distance is really not my thing....but i still hope to drive to Kudat to visit Simpang Mengayau one of these days...hopefully i can find someone to go with me...

Goodbye Grandma...

I was on call on Tuesday...got a message from Mom telling me that grandma passed away at 9.15am that morning...i didn't cry...i guess i was kinda expecting the news...she hasn't been well since her choking incident during CNY...she had a left BKA done about 2 months ago...been on tube feeding since her choking incident...i supposed that's enough suffering for a poor old lady...

I was never really close to this grandma (she was my dad's mom)...she used to live in Taiping...and i only saw her once a year during CNY...but i remembered that i loved going back to Taiping...my grandpa and grandma lived upstairs this shophouse...there was a Siamese temple on a plot of land next to where they lived...and i've always been intrigued by it...i've never entered the place until the recent Wednesday...they brought my grandma's body back from KL to Taiping...so the wake and funeral service was in the Siamese temple...

I flew back from KK on Wednesday...coz it would have been quite impossible to ask someone to take my call on Tuesday...had to ask boss to help me buy my flight tickets coz i couldn't get out of the hospital...the tickets cost me RM915...and that's the cheapest already, i guess...and i was flying airasia...oh well, no choice...my bro drove my elder sis, my 1st aunt and i back to Taiping...we reached just in time for the prayer service...by the time we finished it was about 930pm...so we went for supper at this place my Dad calls "Kam Pin" (coz it was located among rows of goldsmith and pawn shops)...

Then we went to check-in at this new hotel at the lake garden called The Flemington...bathed and slept...felt quite tired after a whole day of travelling...wanted to skip breakfast and sleep more but my parents wouldn't allow it...we were at the temple again about 9am...the funeral service started about 1015am...then we went to the burial ground...my grandma was buried next to my grandpa...after we checked-out from the hotel, we went to have our customary chendol before we drove back to kl...

I don't usually cry at funerals...especially those of old people...i supposed it's coz i feel that at least my grandma isn't suffering anymore...and that she's in a better place...towards the end, she didn't even recognize me anymore...perhaps when we meet again on the other side, she would remember me...Goodbye Grandma...rest in peace...