My Second Night At Lake Kenyir

After our memorable boat paddling experience at Lake Kenyir, we returned to our chalet. It was almost 7pm and I took a shower while my friend went for a swim at the resort's infinity swimming pool.

After shower, I sat for a while at the balcony enjoying the darkening skies and the view of the lake. It felt good to be alone and I silently observed the relaxing surroundings around me.



Then I went back in and switched on the TV. But I was not watching it. Instead I played with my camera.

I looked up at the ceiling, saw the turning fan and took a shot of it.



I took another shot.



You must be wondering why I took photos of the fan! Well, that's what I like to do when there is nothing to do. Haha!

My friend came back moments later, took his bath and off we went for dinner at Tembat Restaurant, the one and only restaurant at this resort.

If you remember, we had earlier requested for a-la-carte dinner instead of the lousy buffet. It turned out that the manager agreed to our request but we were given a very limited choice of menu.

Both me and my friend chose fried mee mamak.



Guess how much this plate of mee with a large prawn cost me? RM12? No. RM16? Nope.

It was RM24!!

And the prawn was not even fresh! I did not want to risk food poisoning, so I ate everything minus the large prawn. I can tell you if I ever return to this Kenyir Resort in future, I will definitely bring my own food!

After dinner, me and my friend decided to go moon watching! What the heck is moon watching? We've done bird watching and plant watching and even bug watching, but moon watching?

We took a buggy ride back to that jetty we had earlier went to for our boat paddling.



It was dark. The buggy driver drove off leaving just the two of us there. You must be thinking what the heck we were doing there!



My friend and I took two rubber seats from a boat nearby and spread them on the wooden floor of the jetty. We laid down on the seats side by side looking up at the night sky.



It was a full moon night! My camera could not capture the moon and its surrounding halo of light nicely. Too bad because if you were there, you would have been fascinated by that ring of bluish light circling the moon.

OK, more photos of my legs.....again! Haha! I was lying down while taking this shot. We could not see the lake scenery as it was completely dark.



My friend and I had a good time chatting while lying there. I thought it was pretty enjoyable. To be basking in the moonlight and listening to the sound of night insects and frogs croaking. And of course a good company sure made all the difference!

After we had enough of chit chatting, we made a call for the buggy service to take us back to the resort. To our surprise, the telephone at the jetty was not working! Luckily we had our handphones with us so were able to make the call.

I wonder what would we do if we did not bring our handphones along! Sleep there till sunrise? Or walk back to the resort in complete darkness?



The above photo shows how Kenyir Resort front entrance looks like at night. I snapped a picture of it when we arrived at the resort.

And the photo below shows the lobby area of Kenyir Resort with the giant chandelier all lighted up hanging from the ceiling. I thought it looked kind of charming.



We heard someone singing at the lounge area and decided to sit there. But not before buying ourselves some snacks.



OK, it's just Mister Potato and Mamee. Haha!

I am not a fan of Mister Potato but when you are at a place with no good food, Mister Potato did not seem too bad! As for Mamee, I used to like eating it when I was a child, so there's nothing wrong with keeping memories of my childhood alive. LOL!



We sat there enjoying our snacks and the performance. The lady's singing was not too bad. But of course, she was no Mariah Carey. Haha!



We sat there until the performance was over and everyone including the audiences had left. It was close to 1am. Although I am a night owl, my friend is not. We decided to call it a day and walked back to our chalet.

It was quite dark walking along the dimly lit steps. When we reached our chalet, I took out the key and unlock the door. To my surprise, I could not turn the key inside the keyhole.

What happened next would turn out to be the most bizarre and frightening experience during my stay at Lake Kenyir!

FIRST COMMENTER

Johnny Be Good

John Lydon, otherwise known as Johnny Rotten the insolent front man for the Sex Pistols, turns 54 today. As a young delinquent, Lydon hung around Vivienne Westwood’s fetish shop called SEX where he met Malcolm McLaren who was working with the New York Doll’s at the time and looking to promote a new band. McLaren chose Lydon as the lead singer for the Sex Pistols because he was impressed with his ragged look. The name Rotten was given to him by band mate Steve Jones due to the fact that Johnny’s teeth were apparently – rotten.

Sid and Johnny looking stylish

In the late 70’s the Ramones went over to England to play at a gig with The Clash, the Sex Pistols and several other bands. Supposedly, Rotten was frightened of the Ramones and thought that lead singer Joey might beat him up! Have you seen Joey Ramone (not lately, of course)? Joey was freakishly skinny with a very sweet and passive demeanor. Johnny Rotten wasn’t so tough. Angry definitely, but not tough. He was genuinely concerned for his friend Sid (whose real name was also John) and his addiction to heroin. Johnny pleaded with Sid many times to stop and in the documentary The Filth and the Fury, Rotten is noticeably emotional when talking about his pal Sid.

Young Johnny.  I would totally wear this sweater today!

Rotten in a fabulous plaid blazer!

Obviously, the punk rock movement made a tremendous impact on fashion and the Sex Pistols were one of the leaders. The influence they had on fashion was completely unintentional. Bands like the Sex Pistols weren’t trying to make a fashion statement; on the contrary, they were with great effort making an anti-statement. Johnny and his mates didn’t use safety pins because it was cool; they actually used them to hold their threadbare clothing together since they couldn’t afford a new wardrobe. But, as with any performer, once they’ve established and a fan base, it’s inevitable that their followers soon imitate. After all, imitation is the highest form of flattery…

Johnny Rotten in the late 70's (left) / Rodarte men's 2009 (right)

Johnny on stage in a leather vest and leather cuff

me in menswear pinstripe vest (my own design), leather cuff and "swear rings" by WendyB

Today Johnny lives with his wife of 30 years, Nora, in Los Angeles.  He reunited with members from his band PiL which he joined after the Sex Pistols split in 1978.  They will be playing shows together in the upcoming months.

Drum Roll Please...

OK everyone, the answer to yesterday's fashion quiz is John Richmond!  Congrats to "fadetoblack" who nailed it!  The grand prize is... knowing that you are a true fashionista!  Sorry, but that's all I have to offer right now :)

A few of looks from John Richmond's Spring 2009 Collection...

If you compare these pieces to the photos in the post below, it's clear that Richmond has a point of view.  He's managed to update and refine his aesthetic while maintianing his brand inegrity. 

Thanks for playing!  I'll try to make the next one harder.

Feng Shui 2010 According To Lillian Too

For my latest feng shui post, FENG SHUI 2011 ACCORDING TO LILLIAN TOO, please click HERE.

WARNING! This is a very long post, but if you want to know...
1) three important tips to win at the casino,
2) which VIP's life will be in danger in 2010 and
3) which month you should stay away from the stock market,

....then you might want to continue reading : )

I have written about Feng Shui 2010 according to Joey Yap. Now it's Lillian Too's turn!



I attended Lillian Too's Feng Shui Extravaganza 2010 which was a whole day affair held at Plenary Hall, KL Convention Centre on January 10th 2010. Her feng shui talk was one week ahead of Joey's and it had been like that every year.

This year however, I noticed that the hall was only about three quarter full. I was not sure what happened but it seemed as if she's getting less popular now. Maybe some of her long time fans are switching over to Joey Yap?

Well, despite the drop in attendance, I still enjoyed her talk nevertheless. She had always been a good speaker and she still is. Her talk was so funny it was practically a laugh a minute! It's no wonder that my friend who did not believe in feng shui attended her talk every year without fail! Just to enjoy a full day entertainment, she told me. Haha!

Before Lillian started her talk, there was a lion dance performance all around the large hall and on stage. I took a few pictures but only this one turned out well.



Lillian then came out and went round the hall to shake hands with her audiences. I didn't get to shake her hands as I was sitting somewhere in the middle where she could not reach.

When she started her talk, I was amused to see that those lion dance workers had to stand there holding the dragon until the first part of her speech was over. That must be really tiring!



By the way, that giant book you see on stage is Lillian's latest book called Living With Good Feng Shui that she is no doubt promoting. The book gives readers an in-depth look into Lillian's home and office, which should make interesting reading!

So what did Lillian Too predicted for the year 2010, the year of the metal tiger? Of course she is no fortune teller. What she predicted was based on her analysis and interpretation of this year's Bazi. (or Paht Chee in Cantonese)


2010 Bazi Chart courtesy of Bazi Buzz

Lillian joked a lot about Tiger Woods this year. Look at Bazi Chart for 2010 above. Can you see Tiger Woods? There's Rabbit Wood, Rooster Metal, and then there are two Tiger Woods! Haha!

Oh, she also asked this question which I could not remember the answer to. The question was "What is the difference between a tiger and a lion?"

It was obviously a joke about Tiger Woods but I could not remember the answer although I remember laughing out loud! Anyone of you attended her talk and remember this joke? Do let me know the answer, please : )

And do you know what has 2012, Avatar and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon got to do with feng shui?

Nothing much really, except that Lillian mentioned about them during the seminar, haha! She had high praises for 2012 and Avatar and recommended both movies highly.

As for Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, I learnt it had something to do with the Bazi Chart this year! If you refer to the chart above, you can see the presence of rabbit and tiger. These two animals are symbols of Spring and when combined with the Dragon would create a trinity that produces a very strong seasonal combination of spring.

OK, you may not understand fully (neither do I, haha!) but according to Lillian Too, this Crouching Tiger can cause the Hidden Dragon to surface producing auspicious new beginnings! This is the actual source that gave birth to the phrase "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon". Interesting!

OK, back to more serious stuff. Looking at the Bazi Chart above, you will notice that it is not a balanced chart. When I say not balanced, I mean some elements are missing. In Chinese metaphysics, the world is made up of 5 elements, namely Earth, Metal, Wood, Water and Fire. A balanced Bazi Chart would have all these 5 elements present.

(FYI, the Bazi is made up of four pillars. From the left to right is the Hour, Day, Month and Year pillar respectively. Each pillar has 2 characters, the top character is known as heavenly stem and the bottom character is earthly branch. Below the earthly branches, are the hidden heavenly stems.)

However, in the 2010 Bazi Chart, there is missing fire and water elements although there is hidden fire under the month and year pillar. What does this mean?

According to Lillian Too, missing fire indicates a lacking of creativity and intelligence in 2010. You know, like burning churches and mosques, riots, political backstabbings and things like that.

And the hidden fire in the month and year pillar (not shown in English in the Chart above), indicates fire disasters like forest fires and volcano eruptions. So you are living near an active volcano? Be on the alert then for that volcano would most likely erupt this year!

If you look at the Year pillar, there is a metal and a wood element there. In Chinese metaphysics, metal is said to destroy wood (refer to diagram below) indicating health problems pertaining to lungs and respiratory problems. So if you think that the H1N1 epidemic is over, you may be wrong. Beware of H1N1's second wave!


(For Cycle OF Elements 101, please read here)

Of course, Lillian Too has a preventive cure for H1N1 - wear her 4 Heavenly Kings scarf which contains powerful healing mantras!

The metal and wood conflict also means that war and fierce fightings will continue in 2010. International conflict and disharmony will go on and there will be political instability in many countries, especially in Southeast Asia.

With metal from the heavenly stem destroying the earthly branch wood, coupled with lack of water elements, it is going to be a very dry year. A dry year does not mean no rain. It simply means a year full of burglaries, fire hazards, pollution and car accidents. So there is a higher chance of road accidents in 2010. And I can just imagine the haze from Indonesia coming back again to haunt us in Malaysia! Not very good news!

Now take a look at the 2010 Bazi Chart again. To prevent you the hassles of scrolling up and down, I'm reproducing the Chart below for your convenience.


2010 Bazi Chart courtesy of Bazi Buzz

Do you see that the wood element makes up most of all the elements? There are also wood elements in the hidden stems. This dominant wood indicates strong competition. Lillian Too warned that even friends can become devious in the interests of surviving through a tough time, so be extra careful!

Now we all know wood needs water to grow. Since there is plenty of wood this year, but no water element at all, this means all the woods will be rotting woods! This indicates that anyone dealing in the wood industry (eg plantation, agriculture, publishing) will be in for lots of competitive pressures and a tough time!

In Chinese metaphysics, wood is said to destroy earth. Since wood element is dominant this year, that means earth energy will be unstable. Unstable earth energy leads to earthquakes! According to Lillian Too, earthquakes are likely to happen in the Northeast (China) and Southwest (South America) areas of the world.

Wow! Didn't the Haiti earthquake came a bit early? Perhaps that's an indication of more earthquakes to come throughout the year?


Earthquake aftermath in Haiti

The absence of water in the Bazi Chart means that we desperately need water elements this year. So anyone with water elements in his or her personal Bazi Chart will do better than those without. And water element businesses (eg banking, shipping, transport, fishing) will do well and therefore owners of such businesses can afford to take calculated risk.

If you are into stock market, Lillian said that water element stocks (eg oil, banks etc) will do well. Do take note of this!

To cure this absence of water, Lillian Too suggested that we surround ourselves with water! Wearing blue and black colour (which signifies water) clothings do help in changing the energy level so wear more of such colours this year. Guess I have no problem with this as blue is my favourite colour and it matches well with black!

Lillian also mentioned about the river from the Kunlun mountains in China which is believed to be the source of most rivers in South East Asian countries. It seemed that this river in Kun Lun was blocked thereby affecting the feng shui of South East Asian countries.


Kunlun Mountains courtesy of Cultural China

However, Singapore and Indonesia are spared as they are not connected to the river and besides, these two countries are surrounded by water! Now isn't that interesting!

Besides water industries, fire industries will also be doing well. This means most restaurants will be doing brisk business, entertainment industry will be reaping in the profits and the stock market looks promising for quick gains.

Talking about the stock market, the first half of the year will be better than the second half. Lillian Too warned that we should be careful during September and October when things would not look so good and advised us to stay away from the stock market during these two months. Western markets will do better than Asian markets, it seems.

Metal industries (eg jewellery, computers, airlines, mining) outlook is average for this year. Business approach would need creative strategies.

Earth industries (eg property, real estate, construction, hotels) does not look too good this year. There will be little wealth or profits, so there is a need to think at least of the medium term.

I have already mentioned about the Flying Stars in my post on Joey Yap's seminar, so I will not repeat it here. As most of you who are into feng shui would probably know by now, Joey Yap and Lillian Too differs in that Joey Yap is into classical feng shui whilst Lillian is more into new age feng shui. New age feng shui involves placing objects to cure afflictions or to activate good stars.

It will make this post too long if I mention about the cures so you may want to check out Lillian's recommendation here.

Now I have reach the exciting part. The part where Lillian reveals which VIP's life will be threatened in 2010. To do that, let's take a look at the Flying Star Chart 2010 below.


2010 Flying Stars Chart courtesy of wofs.com

Notice the number 9 at the Northwest sector. In Flying Stars, number 9 represents fire. The Northwest sector represents heaven's gate. This combination means fire at heaven's gate which is not auspicious.

According to Lillian Too, this combination also means danger to a leader. And since it's the Northwest sector (if you look at the world map, USA is at the Northwest sector), the leader in question would be none other than the current President of USA Barack Obama!

Lillian went one step further to check on Obama's life force and spirit essence. She was dismayed to find that Obama, whose astrological animal is Ox, has low life force and spirit essence this year!

For the uninitiated, life force indicates danger to one's life. If one has low life force, this means the danger to one's life is high. As for spirit essence, this indicates one's personal cosmic strength whether one will encounter spiritual obstacles. If your spirit essence is low, it is easy for you to be hurt by bad spiritual energies.

So will anything happen to Obama in 2010? Your guess is as good as mine.

But Lillian had this hope that Obama knew a little about feng shui and would probably have in his possession a few talismans or cures to protect himself from his life threatening afflictions. She even mentioned (or probably boasted a little) that he actually owned a talisman that came from her online feng shui mall! How about that!

Finally, the tips on how to win at casinos! Most casinos especially in Asia are heavily feng shui-ed to give advantage to the casino owners. In other words, once you go in there, you are almost guaranteed to lose money to them! Lillian gave us 3 tips. Now read carefully...

Tips #1 - DO NOT ENTER THROUGH THE FRONT MAIN ENTRANCE OF THE CASINO. You will most probably notice the fu dogs statues placed at the front entrance - these giant fu dogs are meant to eat you up! Lillian advised to enter via other entrances probably from the back. So if you take a cab to the casino, make sure you tell the cab driver not to drop you off at the main entrance. Instead instruct him to drop you at the parking area.

Tips #2 - When you gamble, DO NOT SIT DOWN! If you notice, the chairs inside casinos have holes at the back. This signifies no proper support. And the holes allow money to flow out! So when you gamble, stand up!

Tips #3 - Face your personal best direction. To know your good directions, you will need to know your KUA number. You can get your KUA number here. Your best direction is usually your success direction. In other words, when you go to the casino, please bring along a compass so that you know which direction to face when gambling!

So there you have it, 3 tips on how to win at casinos. However, Lillian gave us one last tip. Do you want to know what is her last tip? She called it bonus tip : )

Here it is....

Tips #4 (bonus tip) - The moment you win.......RUN!!! Haha.

Most gamblers continue to gamble even after winning hoping to win even more. However this rarely happens so leave the casino as soon as you win big. Good advice indeed.

FIRST COMMENTER

The Guessing Game

More from the archives...can you guess the creative mind responsible for these sexy pieces?

Spring 1992

Want a hint?  This designer is known for a rock and roll vibe and has dressed stars such as Madonna, David Bowie and Annie Lenox.  And no, it's not D&G. 

That Was Then, This Is Now

When I'm feeling uninspired and stagnant, I dive into my fashion archives for some much needed rejuvination.  By fashion archives, I mean the mountain of magazines I somehow manage to store in a one bedroom NYC apartment.  I know that in today's modern age of technology I can find almost anything online, but I'm a sucker for having something tangible.  Besides, I feel a tremendous sense of pride when I flip through my September 1985 issue of Vogue! Today, I happened to be browsing through an old Collezioni from Spring 1992 when I came across designer Susanne Wiebe who was showing in Munich that season.  I recently featured a few looks from Wiebe's Fall 2010 collection from Berlin Fashion Week.  What an interesting progression she has made over 18 years!  I thought it would be fun to compare...

Susanne Wiebe Collection - Spring 1992

Susanne Wiebe - Fall 2010

Well, that's quite a difference!  What do you guys think?

Do you "Nomi"

Klaus Nomi

I’m feeling in a very German mood since the end of Berlin Fashion Week on Saturday. Music influences and fashion and vice versa.  This is a topic I will discuss frequently on this blog. In 1982, my sister and I snuck downstairs to watch MTV late at night. Remember when MTV actually played music videos? Ah, the good old days. Anyway, they were showing a film called “Urgh! A Music War” which featured some very cutting edge musicians including up and coming bands like The Police, Devo and The Go Go’s. When singer Klaus Nomi took the stage, our jaws hit the ground. We couldn’t help but laugh at his strange appearance, yet we couldn’t stop watching. There was something fabulous about him! And wait until you hear him hit notes that would shatter glass...

Klaus Nomi - 1981

Klaus Nomi was born Klaus Sperber in Bavaria, Germany in 1944.  In the late 60's, he started singing in a gay discothèque in Berlin before moving to New York in 1972.  Nomi became very involved in the New York art scene.  He sang in a four night event called "New Wave Vaudeville" where he dressed in a spacesuit with a clear plastic cape.  His performance was so well received that he was invited to play at clubs all over the city.  David Bowie heard about the phenomenal performer and hired Nomi and friend Joey Arias in 1979 to sing backup in an appearance on Saturday Night Live.

Nomi's spacy outfits

Although Nomi never enjoyed mainstream success, he was an important part of the punk-rock, avant-garde, visual art scene in the East Village in the early 80's.  Nomi wore his signature black and white plastic tuxedo with spandex pants most of the time, but sometimes he donned a Shakespearean ensemble complete with Elizabethan collar.  It's not hard to see how he has influenced fashion.  Designers such as Gareth Pugh have adopted some of his ideas.

              Nomi in 1981      Gareth Pugh - Spring 2007

                        Klaus Nomi                      Gareth Pugh - Spring 2009

In August 1983, Nomi died at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York as a result of an illness complicated by AIDS.  Apparently, his ashes were spread all over the city.  If you're interested in learning more about this talented and outrageous human being, check out Andrew Horn's 2004 documentary titled "The Nomi Song."

UPDATE: Madeline was kind enough to share a post from her blog.  What a great story!  Thanks Madeline.

Boat Paddling And Dead Trees At Lake Kenyir (Part 2)

Continued from Part 1

It was time like this that I was really glad I wore a life jacket! But even though the life jacket could save my life, my camera and my handphone would never survive the water!

My friend saw the pool of water and assured me it was not the boat leaking. I could not believe he was that calm! I knew he could swim and I could not, but he did not have to be so damn calm about it.

I mean, we were somewhere in the middle of Lake Kenyir and I could not even see where the jetty was!



Look! I was so nervous I could not even take a decent picture. My thoughts were as blurred as this picture.



OK, I have to admit I may have over reacted a little bit, haha! The pool of water was not that big actually, and after paddling for some time, I noticed the water seeped in through a small hole at the side of the boat where my pedal was joined to my friend's pedal on the other side.

But that did not stop me from thinking that if we paddled long enough, the water leaking in would be enough to sink us. Of course, we could always bail the water out and judging by the slow rate of water leaking in, I would have no doubt about keeping the boat afloat. Haha, those were comforting thoughts indeed.

We reached the island we saw earlier and paddled round it.



Reaching the other side of the island, the Dead Trees were no longer in sight.




I noticed that the sun was about to set.



As we left the island behind us, I checked on the pool of water at my feet. I thought the pool was slightly bigger now though I could not be sure.

We saw another island ahead of us and my friend asked me whether I wanted to circle round that island as well.





I was thinking maybe we should head back to the jetty (wherever that was!) instead of paddling further away. I did not know how far we would have to travel going around that island!



Besides, we had clearly exceeded the one hour limit paddling on Lake Kenyir. Although we were given some flexibility on the time, thanks to the man who prepared our boat for us earlier, I did not know if he would be waiting at the jetty for us. It would not be so nice to keep him waiting too long, right?

And so we decided not to circle that island and headed back to the jetty although I was not quite sure if we were heading at the right direction. My sense of direction was pretty bad! LOL!

But along the way, both me and my friend were awed by the beautiful scenery of the lake.



Click on the photos for enlarged version.

The reflection of the sunset on the waters took my breath away! We paddled slower and took in the scenery.



In the beauty of that moment, I have forgotten about the boat leak. Even the thought about the man waiting for us at the jetty was no longer in my mind. I only knew there I was, with my friend and the whole of Lake Kenyir with the beautiful sunset in the sky.

My friend and I chatted about our blogging experience and our conversation extended to the topic about several bloggers we knew. If any of you bloggers wonder whether we talked about you, keep wondering 'cos I am not telling, haha! And please don't ask me who my blogger friend is 'cos I have promised him that I will not reveal his identity.



Soon, we saw the jetty ahead of us. I was a little sad that our boat paddling adventure was coming to an end.



I think I have bonded with my good blogger friend here. This must be one of my most memorable experience during my Lake Kenyir trip and the happy memories shall reside forever on this blog.

Coming Soon : My Paranormal Experience At Lake Kenyir (not for the faint hearted!!)

FIRST COMMENTER