Dear Mister Interwebs,

I realised today that I began this blog just under 4 years ago at the youthful age of 20 years (at 23 now, I know I'm still young but 20 just sounds ridiculous!). A lot happens in 4 years and, without wanting to get philosophical, a lot changes. One significant change that I have noticed since 1st posting things on this blog is that, all of a sudden, I'm feeling very self-conscious. Gone are the days where I could send this link to all my Gmail contacts, without caring who reads it or what they think. Now, all I can think about is my grammar, spelling and whether or not those reading this think my thoughts are interesting or boring. I don't even have the courage to read my old posts. It is exactly why I've never been able to keep a diary - the idea of writing down all my thoughts and having them there to re-read later on is simply cringeworthy (apologies to those who do have diaries and have the formidable self-discipline to keep them up to date). Despite this, I have found this blog to be a marvelous thing for 2 main reasons. Firstly, it's a wonderful record of the many places I've been lucky enough to visit, people I've met there and things that I've done. In addition, it does avoid group e-mails! As such, I would like to attempt to continue these posts, at least over the next 6 weeks. Why? Because in the wee small hours of Saturday morning I'm hopping on a plane for another adventure (Life is full of them. Hurrah!), starting and finishing in London with a series of stops in between. There'll be new places, old faces (and old places with new faces...) and plenty for me to babble about. I do hope to write regularly but am not keeping any promises :P So, here we go!

(the original) ARod ;)

Carnivorous tendencies

After many months (possibly years) of "considering" vegetarianism, and at times ... (for all you meat eaters out there, take a seat) ... even veganism, I believe I should explain my views on the issues of eating animals.

I am not vegetarian, though I find the word a vague one as there are quite a few variations on the theme . I am, in Sian Harrick's favourite words, "actively reducing my meat consumption". I don't think it is wrong to eat meat. I love duck fish and many other species of the animal kingdom. What shocks me is the over consumption of meat and the lack of consideration as to where this meat actually comes from.

There are many good reasons to convert to an animal friendly diet. I will briefly explain the ones that I believe in most.

Agriculture and climate change

In 2007, agriculture was the second highest contributor towards Australia's greenhouse gas emissions (16.3%). This included land clearing and crop growing amongst other things, however, the majority of carbon-dioxide emissions in the agriculture sector (65%) was due to "enteric fermentation" (and, speaking from an engineering perspective, I'm not convinced we are capable of improving the efficiency of our cattle's bowel movements).
In addition, cattle and sheep are not adapted to our (more recently) lush, green pastures. Framing kangaroo seems much more reasonable, not to mention the health benefits as a lean, red meat (there is an element of hypocrisy in that statement as I am not yet 100% comfortable with the idea of eating part of our national emblem, but am working on it).

Animal rights

I am perplexed by the ability of people to detach the food they eat with how it got on their plate. Why squirm at the idea of hunting and killing an animal, yet eat them every day? Or enjoy a roast chicken but refuse to eat a fuzzy wuzzy wabbit? I have never been to an abattoir myself, nor do I wish to. There are of course many regulations in place, but still, culling "en masse" makes me feel a little queezy. The waste that is generated also seems unnecessary. There is so much of the animal that we choose not to eat as it is deemed unsavoury. An interesting example is liver - a delicacy in France yet generally rejected in Australia.

And finally,

Diet

I think it's high time we get over the idea that a meal is not a meal without meat and that "you can't make friends with salad"! Of course meat is a wonderful source of iron, protein, omega 3s (in fish), but these nutrients can be found in non-animal based food too. Look outside the square, live a little - being vegeterian is NOT all about tofu!

In a nutshell, I don't believe eating meat is bad. I just think that it is possible to live without it and we can definitely eat less of it!

Cheers, Ola xoxo

Lemons

Dear Jamie Oliver,

May I congratulate you (and myself) on a delightful dessert – the Lovely Lemon Curdy Pud. Though it was a taste sensation (confirmed by my good friends, Jase & Sian, last night) I am not convinced of the recipes authenticity. Was this truly “Jamie Oliver’s Lovely Lemon Curdy Pud” or simply a giant, old skool, “Lemon Delicious”?

Despite this, it was still delicious (or lovely – whatever you prefer).
2 suggestions

1. “Fold” the egg whites into the mixture
2. A little extra lemon juice goes a lonnnnnnng way

Yours sincerely,

A-Rod

A final "adieu"

So, what's been happening these last few weeks?

Spent a lovely day with mum as she stopped over in KL on her way to Europe. We went to the KL Lake Gardens and saw all the beautiful flowers AND the butterfly garden. Showed her my "crib" and went to a yoga class before filling up with food and sending her on her way!




Otherwise, it's mainly been studying for exams. They were alright but what's most important is that now it's OVER!!! Have to say, studying was actually really fun. Stayed away from Ally as much as possible to avoid our gossip sessions, discovered how weird Tom really is (he's really weird), practically moved in with Sian and studied for hours on end in her company. A very healthy and fun study period. Sian even came over this morning to support me in my final efforts before today's exam! Pre-exams is not usually such a good time, so was great!

Off to Vietnam tomorrow for the week. Will be back next Saturday, hit Reggae bar one last time, pack in the morning then off to Melbourne. Only momentarily though. Am hiking for a week in Tassie with Paddy, Alice, James, Ryan & someobody else i don't know. My current fitness is questionable. I'm not sure my "Sun Salutations" will have me well prepared but am looking forward to it all the same.

OK. Well, at the risk of sounding lame & teary I'd like to make a few special mentions (it is my last post after all...and this time it really will be my last post, I promise!).

I would like to thank my parentals for supporting me throughout these adventures that started out as "my year overseas" and turned into "a year and a half a little bit all over the place"! I also want to thank family and friends back home for reading my blog and keeping in touch and all the people I've met and new friends I've made througout my travels - without whom there would have been no stories to tell :)

Things I will miss:
- Malaysian food
- Elias
- Arthur
- crazy fun times with Ally
- tea, food and study with Sian
- cheap and brilliant Yoga
- the weather (storms especially)
- Reggae bar
- the cheapness (eg. 1AUD packets of OREOS)
- Sunway Campus and class mates
- microbes with Tom
- dancing with Lee
- answering to "Alex" when I'm not being spoken too (when ppl talk to my name twin, unfortunately Zan never took off)
- Malaysian english la!
- Sunday & Tuesday market
- not wearing closed shoes
- Craigie-Berns (those cheeky South Africans)

Things I will miss less:
- Air-con
- traffic
- sweating and smelling most of the time
- 3am wake up calls from James (although, to be fair he hasn't done this recently :P and he even cooked us up a mean pasta dish last week)
- being inappropriately stared at
- nasty taxi drivers

Things I am looking forward to:
- being an Auntie!!!
- fun times with friends and family
- Summer
- recycling
- Sorrento back beach rock pool
- HOME!!!

Adios amigos xoxo

Olenka

Malaysian Textiles

Today I took a (perhaps not so well deserved :P ) study break and released my inner Picasso. I made Batik with Scarlett, Liz and Averil.


Denni and the others showing off (I think they've done this before!)


Averil's beautiful Batik


My masterpiece :)


Scarlett working hard!

A wonderful morning overall, topped off with a chocolate factory visit and more yummy Malaysian food...back into the study for now, first exam on Thursday!

Oh, and mum will be dropping by on Friday. Looking forward to some TLC :)

Hope you're all well

Love from Ola xoxo

Recipe for satisfaction and contentedness

INGREDIENTS
Vegetable farms
Strawberry farms
Steamboat dinner
Mossy forest walk
Flower farms
Tea plantations
A good book

1. Ask a friend to join you for a weekend in the Cameron Highlands (in this case, Lauren).

2. Take a bus from Pudaraya station (in KL) to Tanah Rata and stay in a quiet hostel nearby, Daniel's Lodge.

3. Book a couple of half day tours combining the above ingredients.

4. Sprinkle with some tea and scones with jam & cream.

Note: For best results, don't forget the random bus trip home that stops to pick up anybody on the road only to arrive at your destination 2 hours later than expected.

Photos of some I prepared earlier...


Lauren lost amongst flowers


BOH Tea plantation


Vegetable farm & Alex

Love to all

Olenka xoxo

Family Reunions

Anne left me just last Saturday after a wonderful couple of weeks together. It was great, we didn't even fight (I was quite impressed)! So where to start?

Spent the first weekend at the Perhentian Islands with Ally. We flew up to Pulau Kecil (pronounced Ke-chill, as in we ke-chilled on the island) and were dropped off by water taxi to our lovely, secluded beach hotel D'Lagoon (more like shacks surrounded by jungle on one side and beach on the other). It was gorgeous, perhaps my favourite place I've been to so far. It was the end of Hari Raya so the owner even gave us a free meal on the Sunday...food tastes amazing when it's free :)

Ally convinced me to try some diving so we went on a discovery dive. Lasted about an hour, 12 metres deep. Saw lots of little nemo's and plenty of other fish. It was fantastic. Also got to see a turtle when snorkelling!



Came home for a couple of days for uni. Caught up with friends, took Anne to all the crazy malls and then we were off again. This time to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysian Borneo.

Stayed in KK just one night, enough to go to the crazy night market with the philipino bbq and delicious mee goreng (added deliciousness because it only costs 1$AU)! We then moved on to Mount Kinabalu National Park to attempt the 4000 metre peak. It was pretty tough, up all the way (well, we were climbing a mountain) and our legs were sore for a couple of days afterwards. What was most disappointing was that we were only able to make it to the Laban Rata guest house (3200m). We woke up at 2am the second day and waited for the OK from the ranger to continue the climb and watch the sunrise (or the sunset come up as Tom would say). But strong winds and rain meant that this was impossible. So back to bed, only to wake up in a few hours and return to the bottom. We were quite upset but a visit to the Poring Hot Springs, back to KK and we were quite satisfied all the same. It's quite a beautiful walk. Ally climbed just a couple of days after us and the photos look amazing.


We then moved on to the East coast, Sandakan, where the Orang Utans live. Went to Sepilok to watch them feed and all. Very cute. I think I prefer them to monkeys. The rehabilitation centre was quite similar to the elephant one I visited previously although they have less contact with humans really. Decided to spend 3 days on Jungle camp...Uncle Tan's Wildlife Addventures!!!


Absolutely loved that. We had guides take us Jungle trekking and on river boat rides to see the wildlife. Managed to see wild orang utans, crocodiles, millipedes, monkeys, monkeys and more monkeys! And there was plenty of food (Alex was happy). Stayed in open huts with mosquitoe nets to protect us overnight. No showers so we were pretty smelly by the end of the trip! What was a little strange were the surrounding Palm Oil plantations. We took 2 hours by bus to get to the camp as well as a short boat trip and all the way we could only see palm oil plantations. They're not so pretty either. It's not very cool seeing an orang utan up in a tree, sleeping and then seeing/hearing a giant truck about 20 metres behind it.

Made our way back to KL and said our good byes. A pretty wonderful holiday over all.

Uni is coming to an end soon. Just a couple more weeks of classes and then exams. :( It's all gone by very quickly. They're even having a farewell dinner at uni tonight (a bit too soon I think but never mind).

Dad is arriving tomorrow. Visiting for the weekend. I have plenty planned to keep him busy, should be fun.

Love to all

Alex xoxo