China Folk Culture Villages (Shenzhen)

Now after Window of the World, you must be thinking: "Jeez, that's a lot of photos. Hope I don't have to go through that again."

Or "Man, those Chinese sure can copy anything."

Well, sorry to inform you. I have more photos, better than ever, in fact, 200 over of them. Ho Ho... (am I trying to break the most photos ever posted in a single entry record or what?)

And this time, Chinese has done its best yet again...


By copying themselves.


Introducing.... China Folk Culture Villages.




Another theme park dedicated to reproducing all the best attractions in China, showcasing architectures and daily lives of the 56 ethnic groups in China.

I did wonder why they didn't name it Cultural Village instead of Culture Villages. Oh well, whatever they want it to be called.


Map 1



Map 2


Let's start with waking up really really early in the morning again.


Grumpy look



Ipod makes me happy


We arrived at the Culture Villages with sunshine moods.




It was Chinese New Year when we visited the park, hence the place was full of Chinese festivities.


Dragon at the entrance









Tang Long everywhere


When I went down the stairs, I was greeted with girls with their skirts up in my face.




It was the year of the OX, and a morning performance was going on.




Considering they're Oxes, they're pretty skinny to be one, or two.







And weird tall-ish guy dancing the finale away.




Shortly after the performance, we were given time to roam freely around.

Few things you could find here in a park that showcase all things Chinese.

First! You have, but none other than... Giant Size Chess.




Ok, so not all Chess are huge, but this one below is.




Chinese do love their chess. Soon there was crowds coming in splitting in two parties to play chess against each other.


The kid was the chess mover. lol. what a way to use your kids.


I sneakily stole a run to the centre of the Chess paper to take this photo.




Next, Calligraphy!

Another undeniably Chinese signature culture.




This guy was so amazing that to draw calligraphy, all he needed was water and a human size brush with sponge attached at one end.

Watch the video to see him in action.








Dragon.



Horse. (I do wonder how he ever draw such a perfect circle)


Third. Go game! Or also known as Wei Qi in Mandarin: 围棋




I learnt how to play this game from the comic: King of Wei Qi.
But know naught of the strategy of how to win it. -.-








Pretending to know how to play.


Then there's the famous Handmade Candy of Animals.




I don't know about you, but Chinese can do almost anything with their hands. Producing the most exquisite and delicate piece of art or food that would normally take ages for an average human to complete.

Here's a video of the making in process.




Amazing hand movement wasn't that?




Following that you place a stick on the dragon candy,




Tuck it in nicely.




Then peal it off with your spatula.




Voila! A fierce and fresh dragon candy done!




RMB 10 please.

I opted for candy floss instead.




Quite big don't you think?


Bigger than my head


Soon it was time for the afternoon performance. There are to be three performances that day. :D




The second performance was a showcase of all the costumes from different ethnicity around China.




Most of which were really pretty. Especially when they were worn by delicately picked beautiful Chinese women.




The final costume was a gown worn by the empress of a certain dynasty (which I am not sure).




If there was one documentary display of the beauty of China, this has to be it. Malaysia should learn such skill from China.

But then again, who could compete with China when it comes to showing off ones grand-ness. Beijing Olympics 2008 proved so.


Finally, now comes the Window of the World - China version.




On the right side of the park (according to the map) was a walk through on the replicas of China's most impressive attractions.


Not sure what this was though.


Phew, ok guys, let's start.


I know, long way to go!


First I want to bring you to Szechuan.







Where a great Buddha statue situates, called the Leshan Grand Buddha Statue.




Seeing that I've never been to the north of China, I can let imagination depicts the size of said statue.




Down in Yunnan, you will find the Dwellings of the Bai Nationality. (translation: white people)






Doesn't it make you wonder why these people are called so?


Then there was the Thatched Cottage of Du Fu in Chengdu, Szechuan.




Why it was translated as Cottage I have no idea, because the place looks nothing like the size of a cottage, nor a large cottage at that.




It looks more like a mansion on its own.


Halfway walking, I spotted a tree which has this sign next to it.




Now for people how read my blog religiously enough would know that I love Osmanthus tea. Especially after my visit to Shanghai.

But never have I known how the tree looks like.




I always thought it would be more of a bush than such a big tree. I tried smelling the leaves but it doesn't smell anything like that it tasted after it's dried and soaked in hot water.

The next attraction was familiar to me. I didn't need a sign to tell me what it was for I have seen the actual thing myself.

It's the Elephant Rock in Guilin.




Not this kind of elephant rock.




Next, we'll fly to Chong Qing, Hu Bei to cruise along the Yangtze River Gorges.




Three gorges combined forming a picturesque view,




even as a replica.




From the Tang Dynasty comes the Yue Yang Tower.




A historical tower that lasted through Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing Dynasties till this day.




It was also once compiled into an essay by famous poet Fan Zhong Yan which made its existence famous.




The next building was a significant one.

Maybe even legendary. One I will definitely want to visit one day, even if I have to transform into a boy.







The Shaolin Temple of Henan province.







Is there really a 18 bronze men inside the temple? Is there really legendary wise beyond human's wisdom monk inside? No one knows. We only ever heard it from movies and stories.

This is probably the closest I've ever gotten to the temple.



Wa cha!


Next is the Yellow Crane Tower, another famous-appeared-in-poems (and stories) tower. Located in Hubei.










Yawn.

The next icon they conveniently transformed it into a public toilet.







Introducing, Huang Shan (directly translated to Yellow Mountain). Another historical and legendary icon in China (what is not in China *roll eyes*).









I was more excited about this mountain than the rest of the river and buildings because coming from a Chinese school, I read about the said mountain in a lot of poems and historical documentary I came across during high school.





They even replicated the stone on top.




And even the famous tree on the Huang Shan.




There's even a small waterfall next to it. Awee...




Looks like long-kang to me.




Nearby I was playing hide-and-seek with some flowers. :D










The next icon I happened to come across before too, but never explored much.

The West Lake in Hangzhou.




A lake so big it looks like a sea.




That's how the proverb "Autumn Moon on Calm Lake" come about.




Man I can't stop laughing every time I read that. How they translate things. haha.




The ZheJiang is a long river that passed through West Lake, on another location you find a water village on ShaoXing.
















Coming to Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, you will come to see the Hanshan (Cold Mountain) Temple.







I read about this place in the poem written by Zhang Xu.




It does bring a lot of high school memories, seeing actual places from stories you've only read about when you were young. No wonder my mom loves visiting China, it reminded her a lot of when she was a kid.













If you know a Chinese proverb or two, you might heard of "Wen Ru Tai Shan" (or "As steady as the Mount Tai").




The proverb was due to its sheer size, ranked first among all the sacred mountains in China, Taishan has been used by many emperors of the past as a sacred place to pray to the gods.







Now the next one, even if you are a Chinese culture noob, you will hear of it anyway.

Because people stereotype him with Chinese. He is so popular, even Peter Russell made jokes about him.




The temple (or monastery) of Confucius.













The man sure had made it.

Just look how big his place is. Though the temple was constructed over his original residence.



















The guide pointed out an edge on the roof of Confucius temple which was famous for a proverb.




Which I forgot about it. Does anyone know what proverb is it?




When taking this photo, I saw a little cute Chinese girl with her cute outfit walked by the temple.




Seriously, why are all Chinese babies all dressed so adorably.


Rushing off to the next location, I passed by the Minng Tombs.




Which I shall skip quickly and let you read the sign yourself instead.




We paid a visit to the Summer Palace next to the Minng Tombs.




It seems to be located on a lake, accessible via a bridge.
















Too bad we couldn't get anywhere nearer than watching it from the other side of the lake, or pond in this case.


If you've realized, we've come to Beijing. And in Beijing, you find a lot of famous historical monument, royal architecture and garden, popular poet's houses. A large amount of reproductions originated from this city.




The Temple of Heaven for one. A sacred place where the Emporers of Ming and Qing Dynasties prayed to gods, which, btw, was a very grand and sacred event.








Hence a very, very, very big place.




My brother's been there. And he said it was a really long walk in spite of it being just a place for praying.




This circular wall is called a Hui Yin Qiang, if you place your ear to one side of the wall, you can hear other people speak on the other end of the wall. No one can hide any secret here, so they say.

Then we reached the actual praying platform







There you see a mini emperor carrying out his prayer.




It's a long walk in from the entrance.







Then you'll find the Mausoleum of Li Bai (famous poet) next to the temple.




Located on a hill. To get there, you will need to climb a lot of stairs.

And I mean a lot.





Skipping Beijing for a bit, we walked past Ying Country, there you find a Pagoda called YingXian Wooden Pagoda.







Then also in Shanxi province, you should know about the famous Terra Cotta warriors in Xi'an.




Buried in the Qin Xi Huang Mausoleum.










It's amazing how they had carved out every single warrior and horse and reproduced the entire mausoleum.










No matter how small, it is amazing.

Here are a few photos of me camwhoring with a human size Terra Cotta Warrior.













Back to Beijing.

The content is getting better now.

Tell me. What else is famous in Beijing?




Heard of Tian An Men? (Gate of Heavenly Peace)




It's located on the southern part of Forbidden City. A gate actually.







Existing over 5 centuries and is one of the most substantial architecture ever.













Now what is Beijing without the Imperial Palace. The very one you see in every Qing Dynasty based Chinese TV series (or drama, or movie), though the palace was built in the Ming Dynasty.










If you do watch any TV, you should know more of the interior of this palace than viewing it from here.

At the back lies the Imperial Garden, also built in the Ming Dynasty.



















We're almost coming to an end.

Now the last final thing you have to see and experience in China, is the great wall of China.

And yes damn well they reproduce it.

Or sections of it.




These are the The JuYongGuan and Badaling sections.










If I didn't know better, I thought this photo was pretty realistic.







Until I came into the picture.







Hehe...




Ok. Done with the most part of China. Now let's get off course of China. Like the Mongolia.




Here you find the Mausoleum of Chenghis Khan, the ever ferocious ruler who founded Yuan Dynasty. (most also like to refer to him as Gengkhis Khan)






I managed to spot a broken wall on the replica. Haha.. so funny. Wonder if the real thing is also broken :p




A typical Nadam Fair in Mongolia.







See the jubilee people on the road?




Yep, they sure looked happy alright.


Someone must've stepped on these guys' heads.


In XinQiang, you will find a Great Islamic Mosque.




So don't say China doesn't have great mosques. :)




Have anyone of you watched the movie Huan Zu Ge Ge?

When you heard Xin Qiang, did it remind you of the Fragrance Concubine that Emporer Qian Long once fell head over heels for?

Well, here is her Mausoleum.







All the way out in Gansu, stood a Jiayu Pass (a wall, or gate),







which was famous by its archictect. Why? Because some say such was his accuracy in design and calculation of such a perfect outpost, that by the time building was done, he count of bricks of over estimated by ONE.

ONE BRICK! can you believe it?!







Finally!! Our last building!

This one is located alllll the up in the mountains.




Where? Tibet of course.




The Potala Palace in Lhasa. (I thought I read Potato palace at first :p)




To get up there, you need days of trackings, and if you're not fit, don't even think about reaching your destination. Because air is thin up there and you might it difficult to breath, least to stay up there.

So I stayed below to take photos with a few Tibetans.




But who knows, one day. One day I might have the chance to go up there. :D




See the horses running in the wilderness.




Done! We've finished the park!

Let's have a family photo.




I know, we're a tall family. Mom being the shortest. 5ft 5. Hehe.



But wait, aren't we forgetting something.

Oh right! The evening performance.

Haha. don't think I forget that.

Told you it's going to be a long entry. It's meant to tire you out.

As it is tiring me out now to type these. La la la...


But since most of you like photos. I shall go through this very quickly with just photos k?


Introduction: Little girls in nude costumes



Natives dancing



Person doing hip hop move



started to rain



Emperor and his war carriage



flamboyant costumes



beautiful girls doing synchronized dance



dragon and kids doing synchronized dance



more beautiful girls



This time yellow beautiful girls



oh look, pink butterflies join in the yellow and white butterflies



almost finishing



almost there





Finale!!!



What a great show. Everyone clap hand please.


The show, I would like to summarize, was really worth watching. I thoroughly enjoyed every piece of it. Especially the rain on the stage. It's real water, with real artificial river.

And now, god, it's time to sleep. I think my hands are going to wither from typing.

Night night everyone! Visit Shenzhen soon k!

Coconut Tree in the Blue

I would like to continue blogging about my travel trips in Shenzhen but then there are just too many photos and I just managed a bunch of 230 photos this evening. Phew.

Further more it's not easy when you only have the late evenings to edit these photos and blog. Every day it's diving from 8am till 5pm, takes one hour to shower and two hours for dinner and chat. By the time things are done, it's almost time for bed. Ishh....

Welp, it's late now. So I shall blog those out tomorrow.
Need to wake up at 8am again tomorrow. Mabul will be my last day dive! :D

As for today, OMG, Sipadan during it's peak season was AWESOME!!!!!


To be honest I knew I was expecting a great dive, but never in my wildest imagination that I was welcomed with such wonders underwater!!

Imagine having a school of thousand barracudas swimming around you, having turtles swimming around you and with you, seeing fishes that's bigger than you and I combine, and sharks sneaking up from behind when you least expected it.

You want photos? No la, not now. I don't have them uploaded yet.


But I'll share one photo with you.

Patience. It's a lot of work resizing photos and putting watermarks on them k?


Just one.


in case you're wondering, it's a coral


I think my photography skill underwater is getting better no? :D

Overslept!

*update* for those of you who want to read more about diving in Sipadan, here's an entry written last year when I dived in Sipadan :)



Argh... I overslept! Now I have rush to wear my swimsuit, wetsuit, apply sun block lotion all over and rush to the dive shop!!

And I don't have time to send my clothes for laundry, dang!


Dived in Mataking yesterday. Chased away by Mataking resort people when we went to the island for a rest stop, look see. Snobbish people. hmph.

Nothing much to see, lots of dead corals. But saw a few stingray and few a handful of turtles. Played chasing with a hawksbill turtle too. Hopefully can see more today.

Hehe, we're going to Sipadan today!!!

Intriguing Comment

Flying to Sipadan today. Going on a 7 days dive streak with my two favourite peeps and two new friends (reader and reader's friend whom I have yet to met). :D

While I'm away, here's a little something for you guys to think about.

I'm fairly intrigued by this comment this anonymous reader left.

To all Muslim friends here,

Personally, I truly hope I can gain some intelligent response as I want learn....to me, some reasons why it is scary if the main religion of the world is Islam:

1) Most of world terrorism acts are carried out by Islamic extremists. This is a fact.

2) Muslim men especially originating from Middle Eastern countries are actively suppressing women's rights. Even Muslim men in Malaysia are known not to grant equal rights to their spouse in many marital and divorce cases. This is also a fact. Islamic laws are easily twisted by dominant male lawmakers to their advantage.

3) Beside Malaysia, none of the Islamic countries have shown to be progressive in terms of human rights, education, technology , art etc. And remember Malaysia is multi-ethnic, multi religious. A balanced religious+ secular nation always is better. Any Malaysian want PAS to fully take over Malaysia? You get my point.

4)The way Islam is being practiced varies from each countries. This depends on whether you are a Suni or a Shiites. This leads to a difficulty to unite the Islamic world in a way that benefits everyone.

5)Relating to #2. Muslim extremist men will not allow other culture to flourish or survive. There will be many restrictions leading to extinction of non Islamic cultures.

My questions are:
1) How does a non extremist Muslim can help to reduce religious-cased violence? What is really being done among the non violent Islamic intellectuals to solve this problem?

2)I have many Muslim male friends who are progressive, but there are also times they are under tremendous societal pressure to conform to some ridiculous Islamic laws. How can a religion truly be loving when it is forced by law or society?

3)Beside the point above, I like to point out Iran especially. I believe many Iranians will agree that Iran before the Islamic Revolution was a better country than it is now.

4)A dominant religion will benefits from a centralized administration. If the Islamic world has something like The Vatican it would be better.

5)If we look at a Islamic nation, frankly how diverse is other culture there? But if we look at a non Islamic nation, best example Europe or USA, I can see they do not stop anyone from practicing their culture or religion. Muslims are free to practice there. If it is reversed, would be Islamic ulamas truly embrace other cultures and religions to be practiced under their noses?

I am not of any particular religion . Islam is a beautiful religion, sadly what is mostly seen now are negatives. Big problem is the religious Muslims for some reason seems easy to get carried away, using religion to control instead of using their intellect to glorify the religion. They seems to glorify Islam only through 'converting' the whole world which is fundamentally wrong as everyone should have freedom to choose their beliefs. A true Muslim should not be angered by criticism, instead ask why we non Muslims ask such questions and how things can be improved. The problem is every time questions are asked they are being shut down and abuses are hurled. Keep saying 'This is a sensitive issue' does not solve anything!

Thank you and hope to get a meaningful reply.

I won't input any comment.

But yes, do share with me (or us) your opinions.

Window of the World: Full Version (Almost)

Let's start off with what happens when you combine Zorb, water and a Chinese mind?




You get human size water threading balloons of RMB20 per 5 mins.




It's a place where you put your kids so you have your 5 mins peace of mind while seeing them make a fool of themselves.




It's kinda fun before you run out of energy to stand up.













It's even more stupid when you see two kids going at each other in their respective balloons,

when all we see is two balloons rolling non stop against each other.




Here's a video of cute little kids running around aimless in balloons.




Okay, so that concludes the sort of activity entertainment you can find in the park of Window of the World. (Read Part 1 here)




I am going to show you how amazing Chinese are with their skill of "copy".

Brace yourself for this is going to be a long entry.

You have been warned.



Let's begin. We started off from the Asia region.

Here we have The Grand Palace of Thailand.




An exact 1:15 ratio copy of the real thing in Thailand.




How small? Here's me in the photo.




Then we head up north to the Kyongbokkung Palace in Korea.







By now I was utterly impressed, seeing how detailed these miniature constructions are.

How detailed? See it for yourself.







Next to was a famous gate named Bu Tung Mun gate in Korea.







Sounds like a direct translation from Chinese "Pu Tong Men".

Well, at least something never change in China. The amazing Chinese-English. I call it, Cenglish.





Small little gate.


The next one was rather impressive.

It's the Imperial Palace of Japan.




Also in 1:15 ratio to the real thing.







They even imitate an on going festival at the palace.




Where hundreds of little people join in the marching.







The palace was so real up to every detail including the river that surrounds the palace.







Mini bridge was simply adorable.


The next reproduction was even more impressive when they managed to reproduce the whole Burohudur Stupa in Indonesia.




Which looked like this.




Like wtf man, how the heck do you sculpt something like that?!

It wasn't until the next one when they completely threw me off course.




You've read it correctly. They just reproduced the entire Angkor Wat (the queen of Angkor temples). Yes, THE Angkor Wat, the one and only in Cambodia, the one which I played self timer in for an entire morning.




It's so real, even the front yard was an exact copy to copy.




Well except there were grass instead of tiny pebbles on the ground.

I guess it would looked more like tall weeds if they were to plant real grass on it.




But heck, even the east entrance (at the back) was detailed to speechlessness.




If not for the building in the far distant background, this could have been a spoof photo of the real thing.


Then there was the Wat Xiang Thong in Laos.




And the many many Stupas in South East Asia.

The Shwe Dagoon Pagoda in Burma.






The Ruwanwelisaya stupa in Sri Lanka.







The Swayambhunath stupa in Nepal.







Then there's the single column temple in Vietnam which I never heard before.







Don't know about you, but I find the mini lake just so cute! They just have to make the pond to increase the realistic level of the tiny sculpture.




Moving slightly toward the middle east, a place of which culture I'm unfamiliar with and very much would like to visit, you'll find the Great Mosque of Dalaban in Iran.








I'm surprised that it was so big, bigger than Angkor Wat, if not the same size, even at 1:15 ratio its miniature.




Now if you're thinking: "Ceh, only know how to copy all the architecture and produce them in small sizes, easy lar". Well think again.




Here was the Chaitya arch gate in Bhaja, Indi, in 1:2 ratio.




Which the park used it as an entrance to another section of the park. Brilliant wasn't it!


Or what about the Taj Mahal in India. Ah hah, don't think they forget that,

In 1:6 ratio.













I almost felt like I was visiting the actual Taj Mahal, as a giant.




And these people don't just reproduce the sculpture, they make it a point to create the entrance and its surroundings too.

Like the magnificent long fountain that leads to the Taj.




Let's move to the West region now, shall we?


If you've been to Spain, here is the Guell Park of Spain.

1:2 ratio.







They even made the mosaic tiled lizard in front!







Goodness, just look at the design. How alike it was.

Now here's a replica of the Obelisk in Italy, 1:3 ratio.







Or the Coliseum in Rome, Italy.



Which ratio I didn't manage to get.


Why not try The Acropolis of Athens, Greece.

1:6 ratio.



















Damn, now I want to go to Greece more than ever.


I even visited the Egyptian Pyramids.





for those who read Chinese


By then we were quite honestly running out of time, so we quickly skimmed through a section here and skipped the rest and proceeded to the other parts of the world.


Wolfman



Pregnant woman



Sarcophagus



Hugging Sarcophagus



again for those who's able to read



More Sarcophagus



some Pharaoh's statue


After Egypt, we ended up in South America.

Brazil to be exact.

Where we found the Congress Building in 1:15 ratio in size.




Which was.. really... quite a plain and weird building.




Then there was the El Caslillo in Mexico. 1:15 ratio.










Globose from the same country.







Also, there're the statues of Easter Island in Chile.




1:2 ratio.




Some asses might now criticize: "ah.. it's still in smaller size, these people are so incompetent, only know how to copy things and make them smaller."

Why not try this on for size, wise guy.




The Modhere Well in India.

1:1 ratio.


I don't know how deep this reproduced well is and I don't want to find out


Observe the human in the distant sitting on the other end of the "well", and visually measure how big this well is.


Or the statues of warriors in Mexico.







Or the oh-so-too-famous maze you heard so much about in England, that everyone always gets lost inside.


o.. aunty got lost.


Well, now you shall find one an exactly the same here, 1:1 ratio.






Now you don't have to fly to England to try out the maze. There are TWO exact Maze in the world!

Seriously, I've studied in England, never visited the Maze, though always wanted to. Now having gone through an exact copy of the Maze and successfully came out from it, I'm not sure if I'll be bother to actually try out the real one anymore. It's going to be the same anyway.

Btw, about the maze (side track a bit), I read somewhere years ago that the one trick to get out of a maze was to put your left hand on the wall, and keep on walking without your left hand leaving the wall, and eventually, you will find the exit.

Guess what, it's true!

Here's a video of me and my brother having successfully exited the maze.




(back on track)

Or what about creating an entire Japanese garden,







put in a pond, with lots of koi fish (for better effect),




add some tang longs for beautification,




so to house a 1:1 ratio reproduction of Katsura Imperial Villa in Japan.







Everyone say "Ichiban!"


peace


Now some anal critical bastard would then say: "ai yo, can only copy that big only a... loser la these people".

Want to copy something big?

How big are we talking about here?


What about... Fuji Mountain big.




Oh yes, they did. They bloody reproduce the whole mountain, damn they're good!







Not big enough for you?

Okay, how's this then.

The GRAND CANYON.




Even the miniature of it was so big they made it into a water slide ride.




Want more?

Granted, I shall give you the Niagara falls.




Bloody hell, they made an artificial lake in the middle of the park for this reproduction.




I could even feel the water splashing toward me from where I was standing.


Hungry for a snack? Want some chapati from India? You can find them here in China. (oh that rhymes)




Break's over.

Now let's stop being so narrow minded and move on to something bigger, something more impressive.

What we've gone through were just puny stuff, pfft, small projects. Not even worth boasting.

We should think big.


Anyone has ever been to Venice - the romantic water city in Italy? (I have)

Why not... we take the whole St Mark's Square, concise that to 1:5 ratio, and reproduce that?




And so they did.




Down to every single window and tiles and brick stones and statues.
















God, walking through here was like me walking through Venice years ago. Brought back memories it did.


Next project.

Been to the states? Seen amazing monuments before? Okay, now see the whole collection of every possible grand monument and memorial there and compile them here shall we?

And so they did, again.

Lincoln Memorial. 1:15 ratio.










Look inside you can even see a tiny Lincoln sitting on his marble throne.




Then there's Benjamin Franklin and his amazing memorial.

You know how Benjamin's memorial is located on an island of its own?

Well, they have the island, as well as the lake too.




Now anyone who has seen the Washington Monument knows that it's just a stick, and that it's f*cking big.







I never knew how big it was until I came here.

Even at 1:15 ratio, the thing looked humongous!




And who could forget the one and only White House.




Oh look! I stepped on the staircase of the White House!




And you're aint talking about states if there's no Statue of Liberty.




And again on its very own mini island too!





Ok, stop fooling around. All these are simply petty projects.

Honestly, do you really think that any of these is impressive?

You want size? I give you size.

You want scale? I give you that too.

You want grand-ness? Fine.

Ready?

...
..
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

I give you....


New York City!







1:100 ratio.




or rather, Downtown Manhattan in 1:100 ratio.




If you looked closely enough, there's something in the city that doesn't belong there anymore.

Yep, the World Trade Centre.




Which was ironic, because not too far from the "city", up in the sky, stood the Jesus statue of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.










And coincidentally enough, it's looking directly at and over the said World Trade Centre.




Maybe that's why the World Trade Centre in Window of the World is still standing.
(ok, lame joke, ignore me)


The whole park was simply breathtaking. As much and as fast as I ran that day, from one monument to the next palace, I still wasn't able to cover half the park.

Each country around the world took years or even decades to build any of the above architecture and has awed millions around the world, flying there purposely just to see such amazing grand scale of art work,

and the Chinese took ALL of those amazing grand scale breathtaking awe-striking work, copy them and combine them into Window of the World.

It's so amazing, it made reproduction like this humorous.




Piss fountain in Belgium, 1:1 ratio.




But it just shows how detailed the park was designed and laid out.

After all that have been included and crafted out,

guess what Malaysia's iconic attraction was in the eyes of the Chinese?




The Monastery in Penang?! Are you f**king kidding me?!




First you left Peninsular Malaysia out of your global map!

Now of all things amazing in Malaysia to be included,
all you can think of that's iconic in Malaysia is a tiny can die Monastery?!!!

*show middle finger*

It's called seeking Balance

Now it gets funnier, some reader actually thought H1N1 is contracted by eating pigs and that H1N1 is caused by pigs. Ha ha. That's really classic.

I'm not against Muslims. I just don't want to be a Muslim, nor do I want to be Christian, nor a Buddhist. Yes, I'm a free thinker.

And sadly the law in Malaysia forced us to join the religion when we marry Muslims. And that, my friend, scares me. Because then my parents would have killed me. You know how parents are and their religions.

Some parents are devoted Christians and expect their kids to be Christians, some parents are devoted Buddhist and would be damned than to have their kids enter the Islamic religion. I'm sure some conservative Muslim families would have disowned their children too if they were to marry Christians and leave the religion by force, whether by leaving the country what not.

But alas, by living in Malaysia we are bound by that law.


I know of Chinese friends who're dating really sweet Malay girls, super hot if not, but the extreme actions their parents are taking to tear them apart are so maddening. Now he's flying to Sydney to further his study (by force?) and she's here. And we guessed that if she were to follow him there, the father might fly him back here. (Both are from quite well off family)

I love Malaysia. Nothing against the belief. But why the law.

Why can't we be free to choose whatever religion we wished to join, what can a religion that's joined by force force us to believe? You can't force a belief, or maybe you can. Is that what our government intend us to do?

I've seen love brought a Chinese and Malay together in marriage, and now that they are divorced (heart-breaking story), he's still a Muslim. Is it by choice? Maybe. You tell me.

Why does the video scare me? It just does ok.
Damn those creepy background music with creepy serious voice.

Would it scare you if the documentary is saying that by statistic the whole world is turning into a transvestite and gay evolution, and by 2030 80% of the world are gays or lady-boys?




F*ck man, we would have gone extinct or survived on artificial copulation by 2060.

*shivers*


Balance, my friend, balance.

Muslims Conquering The World?

I don't know if this is true, it does scare the shit out of me somehow.




Is it me or am I really seeing more and more Muslims everywhere I travel to? And not just in South East Asia.

*O.O;;!!

MJ's "This is it" Concert announced too late

Saw this article in the July's Magazine of Travel 3sixty (Airasia's in-flight magazine) earlier on the plane.




Looks like the in-flight mag must've printed the mag a tad bit too early.

Sigh.. why Michael, why?!