Strictly for the adrenaline junkie : White water rafting with Riverbug

You know what, if you are a true adrenaline junkie at heart, you will love to head on and do that crazy pumped up activity over and over again. It can never get old and that's exactly what I am (an adrenaline junkie at heart ) and  what I've done ( doing the things I love to do repetitively, haha). I can't believe it that I've done white water rafting at Sg.Kampar with the Riverbug crew for the 3rd time now! Like OMG!

[caption id="attachment_1121" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="You gotta lift the boat first before you can hit the water. Dang the raft is heavy."][/caption]

The real reason Sg.Kampar seems to be the perfect white water rafting destination for me was because:

1. It's near to home, thus it is convenient and feasible. Moreover it's an excellent day trip outdoor adventure for me.

2. After going for my second run of white water rafting at Sg.Kampar, I was asking for friends to go with me for white water rafting (wwr) at Padas, Sabah right after the whole gang came down from Mt.Kinabalu.  I was disappointed to find out that only Bullert was keen enough to go all crazy with me with this wwr and because of other issues, we decided not to go for white water rafting at Padas just yet.

3. I was doing some crazy planning for some fun outdoor holiday and on the itinerary I included white water rafting at Padas but I was let down again when we had to scrapped Sabah out from our holiday destination. Thus, to further not to disappoint myself and to quench my thirst for some kick of awesome adrenaline, I agreed for yet another round of white water rafting at Sg.Kampar with the Riverbug crew. This time around I was going with my sisters and my brother in law.

I can tell you one thing about any outdoor adventure activity which is every single trip is going to be unique, different and new to you regardless on how many times you have gone through the same river or track or jungle path. This time around I was literally praying to have yet another new experience for my white water rafting trip. My prayers were answered and I got this:

At one of the rapids, for no reason at all, I got thrown out from the raft and went straight on into the fast flowing white water. I remembered opening my eyes and saw water bubbles all over me. The next second, I was being tossed up and down like a helpless rubber ball scraping along the way rocks from the front and back. I also began to swallow more water and eventually was gasping for air so bad that I was literally making that deep breathing sound and I kept trying to breath until all the water spurted out from my lungs. In the split seconds, I saw our raft floating by me but I couldn't get hold of it until I turned and saw the kayak rescue guide on my side telling me not to panic and to hold the little steel at the back of his kayak. It scared me shitless! Haha. After being hauled back on the raft, I was finally breathing properly and it scared me the most not because I got thrown into the rapid. It was primarily because I couldn't breathe for the few seconds being tossed in the water. Imagine yourself not breathing? That's like close to dying! Hahaha.

Nevertheless, it was one heck of a ride and I loved it for the adrenaline and for making me close to drowning. A whole new experience altogether although I must say, it wasn't the first time that I had drowned and being rescued of course. =).

[caption id="attachment_1122" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Check out that Mat Salleh. He's expressionless. Haha"][/caption]

Another extra thing that we got to do besides the normal banana boat, body surfing and team body surfing, the Riverbug crew asked if we would like to have a go at kayaking. All the three members in my raft went for it except for me because I was still traumatized and shaken after the fall and the fact that I wasn't being able to breathe like 15 minutes ago. Haha. All in all, it was a fun day, good to see the crews back again and I'm hoping that soon enough I can get my ass trotting for white water rafting at Padas. Let's make that happen in this future shall we.

Check out the video below too!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjFFa4l0Oqk

Animals Anecdotes 10 : The return of the Alpha dog

I'm pretty excited to check out this new alpha male dog in the pack. Out of the blue, this male dog returned back to his bitches just a couple of weeks back. Someone speculate that he is the rightful father of Brownie ( the brown puppy dog) and is the former mating partner of Maggie. At the moment there seem to be a slight rival and competition to win the heart of this Alpha dog between both Maggie and Silver - the bitches. There is also  a solid evident to believe that currently Alpha is mating with Silver. Haha.

I've yet to have a look at this particular Alpha dog and the fact that he returned back to his pack after such a long time is really amazing. On the other hand, that will mean, there are more mouth to feed these days. I will sure to capture some pictures if I'm lucky enough to spot this Alpha later today. And, Alpha is not a bad of a name to call this male dog. So Alpha he shall be called from now on.

You are my diamond by Tiesto

If you haven't already known, I am a big big fan of Tiesto and of late I've been spinning songs from his Myspace. I have to admit that I wasn't really into this song - You are my diamond, not after having to listen to all the songs in Tiesto's Myspace list for the gazillion times. Yes, I haven't been listening to anything else for the past couple of weeks except for Tiesto! Haha!

I'm going to share with you You are  my diamond song from YouTube and also the lyrics. I only started looking for the lyrics and finally come down to really listen to what Kianna is saying only today! Oh, Kianna is the featured artist for You are my diamond.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn9hQ0ltM7c

You are my diamond lyrics- Tiesto featuring Kianna

I don't need a ring to show me what your loves worth
don't need fancy things to show me what your loves worth

you are my diamond, when I am with you I shine
I'll be with you everyday so everyday I'll shine so bright


I am a rich girl when I am with you I know
you are my whole world and I will never let you go
I cant explain how you light me up inside
I radiate and thats not something you can buy

you are my diamond, when I am with you I shine
I'll be with you everyday so everyday I'll shine so bright
you are my diamond, when I am with you I shine
I am with you everyday so everyday I'll shine so bright

oh oh oh ..
oh oh
oh oh
oh oh oh
oh oh
oh oh

all my life I've been looking for love
I thought I'd never find it
all my life I've been looking for you
I just didnt know it

you are my diamond, when I am with you I shine
I'll be with you everyday so everyday I'll shine so bright
yeah you are my diamond
my diamond
my diamond
yeah
yeah
yeah
yeah

you are my diamond
you are my diamond

you are my diamond
you are my diamond

*note: The only way this song relates to me is that yes, I've found my diamond which is the thing that I'm really passionate & love and I am working my way to work it out despite all odds by any means and at any cost. =). Life is essentially not just about pursuing that ultimate love of your life, it is more than that. It is about finding your purpose in this life, the life at the present. If you haven't figured your purpose in life just yet, why not take a couple of minutes now and think about it.

Why do I always feel more tired after coming back from a holiday?

Have you ever been in a situation where you had an awesome 1 week holiday and upon arrival at home you are totally flat out, looking more exhausted than the last time you left the house for the holiday? AND you even have the nerve to call in sick  from work the very next day because your  body is aching all over you. If your answer to that question is Yes, you may be asking  "Why do I always feel more tired after coming back from a holiday?".

I have come out with a list of things that you might have done during your supposedly 'relaxing holiday' that you had eventually overlooked on the amount of energy you had poured on those 'fun-relaxing' activities during your holiday. Here goes the list :

1. Your idea of a relaxing holiday will never be a relaxing holiday like sitting around on the beach, swimming in the ocean, dining out, sleep and repeat process for the next couple of days because you ARE the type of person who don't know how to relax except to relax by going for crazy outdoor adventure holiday i.e : scuba diving, white water rafting, jungle trekking, mountain trekking, etc. Basically anything outdoorsy goes for you and if adventure ain't going to be in your itinerary, you will be at lost on what to do during your much needed 'relaxing holiday'.

2. The amount of time you literally spent in your hotel room is roughly around 6-7 hours tops. You only go inside the hotel room once to chuck your bags upon checking in and have a quick visit to the loo and out again in seconds to catch a ferry to an exotic, beautiful island. The next time you will be back it will be close to midnight, you are feeling all sticky, dirty, sleepy and the only things you have in mind are shower and sleep so that you can wake up early to catch the tour bus for your next adventure starting around 8 am the following day. If you are constantly on the move for more than 12 hours during a day, you are for sure to exhaust yourself on every other day during your long holiday.

3. After all those crazy outdoors you happily  have done for the first couple of days of your holiday, I bet you, you will either have bruises, muscle aches and the most common problems will be a bad aching feet. The remedy for this is to try to give yourself a break from the heavy outdoor activities at least for a day or simply walk-in to the nearest foot massage parlor if you have extra cash to burn.

4. Holidaying is no fun without having to really indulge big time on some really good food especially seafood! If you love food and you love seafood more, try to restrain yourself from overeating and take caution especially when you eat those super delicious fresh oysters. I had my share of 'seafood binging' because the price was wickedly cheap and in return I was down with a bad diarrhea and vommitting due to food poisoining the very next day. One thing I know for sure, it is no fun and no less exhausting having to make many trips to the loo during your holiday. So it is best to avoid yourself from overeating or over indulging on really delicious, cheap food during your holiday.

5. Emotional stress with your holiday partners. No doubt you are bound to arguments during your holiday especially when trying to decide on things to do that everybody will enjoy doing. It will get even more tiresome if you have  kids on tow with you and they begin to fight or get cranky for some reason. Thus this will lead to that emotional stress and eventually will exhaust you throughout your holiday. The best resolution to avoid emotional stress due to arguments during your holiday is to really prepare on your itinerary and learn to relax and don't take things too seriously if plans don't go your way because you are after all on a holiday and not on some mission that you have to make it happen during the holiday.

All in all, I feel that these 5 major points are the main reason to why you will always feel tired after that much deserving holiday. Whatever it is , at the end of your holiday, either if you feel exhausted or rejuvenated + exhausted, a holiday will always be one of the best things you could have done to yourself. It is all about having fun and enjoying the moment regardless on how exhausted you will be because all will be worth the effort. If you are going on a holiday pretty soon, have a jolly good one and try not to worry much on the aftermath of your holiday. Happy holiday!

Ouch no posts for over a week. Here's the reason why?

It has been very unfortunate that I can't really keep up with blogging on a daily basis, well  at least that's what happen last week. I have been busy hanging around with the family and we had a little 'holiday' of our own not so far away from hometown and truth be told I was being lazy to write some of the best things that had happened for the past one week. I can assure you readers that a lot of interesting things were going on and I really can't wait to blurt them all out in my future posts.

Meanwhile, I am still researching on ways to really monetize this site and the last I checked, there is a long list of them that I seriously need to do for the monetizing process. Other than that, I have less than 6 months to go to achieve that 'personal mission' of mine and I still believe that I can do it and will make it happen regardless of anything. Also, since I last step foot on the peak of Mt. Kinabalu back in mid May this year, I had only done once - a 4 km+  jog and another 1 hour hill hiking which happened only just recently. Imagine that, I wasn't technically doing any proper exercise for the past 2 months after I made it up one of the highest mountain in South East Asia. Despite the lack of exercise, I do think that in overall I am still fit and have visible muscles on my biceps and legs, so I'm still in good shape, so to speak. Hehe.

Alrighty now, enough of the reasoning and do watch out for posts on YaszAmzah.com!

Island Retreat at Pangkor Island

One of the nearest place for me to enjoy a quick island retreat is to head straight to Pangkor Island. It is a mere 20 minutes drive for me to get to Lumut Jetty. Only recently, visitors who wish to travel to Pangkor Island can enjoy an all new ferry trip from Marina Island, Teluk Muroh. The trip from Marina Island to Pangkor is said to take only 15 minutes instead for the close to 30 minutes ferry trip from Lumut Jetty.

The major attraction at Pangkor Island besides the crazy cycling round island trip that I do, is of course the beach and the water activities. To date, believe it or not, although I am local ( I'm from Sitiawan), I have only been to Pangkor Island only 3 times. Haha. You see, the locals don't really appreciate the best things they have in town so most people would rather go oversea to enjoy the beach. What more being typical of us Asians, we don't like to get our skin all 'dark' or the English term will more likely be 'tan'. But believe me, I'm not one of those 'scared to be dark Asian people'.

Although I would love to write more on those sea activities around Pangkor Island, I think you would enjoy it more from my pictures I took like a year ago. Enjoy!

[caption id="attachment_1089" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Pangkor Island on the ferry"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1090" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Teluk nipah, Pangkor Island"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1091" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Pangkor Island on a hot afternoon day"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1092" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Snorkeling buddies at Pangkor Island"][/caption]

How to tie a bandana on your wrist?

I don't know about you guys, but I really enjoy wearing a bandana every now and then especially during hiking because it is a light , cotton cloth and can be easily kept inside the pocket to wipe out your sweat. Well most of the time, you'll see people wearing the bandanas on their heads. However, you can vary and style the bandana on your wrist too.

The primary reason why I like to have a bandana handy on my wrist is because it works as good as the usual sport sweatband. If you don't know what is a sweatband, it is one of those cloth band that you see most tennis players have on their wrists during game. It is one quick way to wipe those perspiration out from your forehead and face during play.

So now, if you don't have a sweatband but you always have an extra bandana around, you could always make a handy sweatband out of your bandana. Personally, I learned to wrapped the bandana on my wrist by watching this awesome "How to tie a bandana on your wrist ?" video by Kandee Johnson.

Check the video out here and I'm quite sure that it is a pretty cool thing to have a super colorful bandana on your wrists during your hike, jog or in anything at all that you do. Try it out soon if you haven't had a bandana tied on your wrist yet.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blGVpJNnpaE

Ah, you know what you just have to keep writing...

At the moment, I'm thinking about many things. There are:

1. Where should I go to spend my RM200 AirAsia ticket voucher?

2. How the heck should I redeem my voucher when I don't even know what is my membership number?

3. I've been thinking and talking about getting that darn scuba license since like forever and when the heck am I going to get it?

4. Why can't I just go on and travel alone, get that scuba license all alone?

5. I miss most of my friends right now...

6. I wish I have a light bulb thingy sticking out from my head and from there on, it sparks brilliant ideas and I can make something work

7. By hook or by crook, I need to gather and save that amount of $$$ by December

8. I think I should migrate out of the country like soon...

9. I need to start jogging tomorrow and continue aiming to clock 10km non-stop, which by now, I think  I have to start over again with just 5km  non-stop.

10. I want to experience Padas WWR so bad ...

11. Is life all about traveling? That's why I've resorted to not have a car by now! =)

Tiësto vs Diplo - C'Mon

C'mon is currently my favorite song from Tiesto. I can spin the same song over and over again. C'mon simply gives you the vibe and energy to keep you moving while at work. Yet another great one from Tiesto. =)

You can either listen and watch from youtube:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gujB7A5ycew

or just tune in to Tiesto on MySpace Music Streaming:

http://www.myspace.com/tiesto

It's Summer Holiday, at least for people from the West!

Hi peeps,

July is the month for holiday and it is officially summer holiday for people living the in Western countries. Personally, I really can't wait for our little family holiday this month because I know that everyone really needs a break. If you are by any chance going to spend the next couple of weeks of your summer holiday down in Malaysia (that's where I'm at), let me share with you a little thing or two on things you can expect from Malaysia.

First is the weather. July 2009 was so different from July this year. It was crazily hot, humid and dry during this time of the year in 2009. However, the weather is constantly changing thanks to global warming and other factors only God knows what and because of that, this time around the year, we've been getting constant showers on certain days and it is all gloomy,windy and all in all a perfect weather not to hot or too chilly for the holiday. Despite that, we do get really extremely hot days and hot days are usually a sign that it will rain later on the day.

So, if you are going to spend most time outdoors ( on the beach or jungle), do gear up with enough sunblock lotion, a hat, sunglasses, light clothing and a rain coat (in case it rains). For clothing, personally I like to try wearing a nice cotton long sleeve shirt over a t-shirt if I'm going to spend most of the day under the hot sun. Since I'm not a big fan of lathering sticky sunblock lotion on my exposed body, the layering shirt helps to reduce the 'biting' effect on my skin from the UV rays. The sun rays can really hurt your skin and you can literally feel it gnawing or burning away on your epidermis.

And that pretty much a little thing or two that I wanted to share with you holidaymakers. Happy holiday and have a great one!

Animals Anecdotes 9 : They finally have names!

Hey! I know it's yet another Animals Anecdotes post because that's what I have written so far but no worries, this is a pretty short post. So here goes...

If you have been keeping up with my Animals Anecdotes series on the dogs, the latest on them is that we got them names. The names are as follows:

Big brown female – Maggie (after Simpson's mom - Maggie)
Big black female – Silver (like the Silverback gorilla who is very black just minus the silver at the back =p)
Small brown female – Brownie or Bronie
Small black female - Blackie

Animals Anecdotes 8 : What's small and poops a lot?

The question for the day is,” What's small and poops a lot?”. It is an animal. It is very small, almost the size of your fist. It has a beak, 2 set of eyes on each sides, mostly black in color with a little touch of white strip and yes it has tiny claws. Moreover, it is noisy and is currently busy looking after its young. When it poops, there will be a taint of white dot and a little black all over the gate, the floor out at the front yard and that particular spot on the car where the car radio aerial stands at the back of the car.

Got it figured out already or you are still clueless?

The answer to “What's small and poops a lot ?” is none other than a BIRD! I'm suspecting (only suspecting because I don't learn a lot on birds) that this one is a pair of Magpie Robin or probably it is more than 2 birds because there are 2 nests on the trees. It gets pretty annoying to see the white-black dots on the ground and it is taxing to spray it with water everyday. I wonder how long they will make this home their home ...

Nature's best view - sunrise, sunset and the moon

I'm going to share with you guys some of the best views I get to see this month! There are so breathtakingly beautiful.

[caption id="attachment_1047" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Sunrise in blue"][/caption]

This is Sunrise in Blue! Taken some where nearing 7 am. The sky is literally that color. No editing is made to these pictures I'm showing you.

[caption id="attachment_1048" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Sunrise in Orange"][/caption]

A couple of seconds later, the sky changes color to this beautiful orangey- blue hue and it's all rise and shine soon after.

Come evening and the sun begins to set ...

[caption id="attachment_1050" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Sunset view"][/caption]

... and it's back to that blue-orange color again. Also not forgetting ...

[caption id="attachment_1051" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The moon"][/caption]

The moon!

No photo uploads for now...

It is a shame that I need to be on a constant move and have to rely big time on the portable usb broadband. The connection is not fast enough to allow photo uploads and I don't want be publishing posts with merely writings and no photos since at the moment, I have tonnes of photos to share on to you peeps. So yeah, I'm just going to press the publish button right after this and let's keep our fingers cross that I'm going to be back to 'excellent connection area' hopefully by tonight.

Also, do watch out for more posts from me throughout this weekend because I'm still dreaming big about keeping up with that one post per day for YaszAmzah.com and I haven't been publishing any for the past 6 days. Like OMG, no posts for close to a week?

So over and out for now...

Til more posts to come...

"Brownie Come!" - how to call your dog in Tamil?

Check out this super hilarious video. Do note that I wasn't the one talking in Tamil. I was the cameraman and the one making the 'sweet' noise. I have no idea why you need to speak Tamil to a dog but that's how things went around here. Haha.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsABZHLhPv4

If it were you, how and what language will you be calling a dog or any animals in that matter?

Round island cycling trip at Pangkor Island

One of the best things about living near an island is that we get to swim at the beach at anytime of the year or simply have a fun family 'road trip' around the island. Pangkor Island is a mere 20 minutes or so from where I live in Sitiawan. When I was young, around the early 90's, the whole family used to bring our bicycles in the car, boarded the ferry toward Pangkor Island and went on a round island cycling trip for the whole day. Back then my sisters and I didn't have mountain bikes, so we went around cycling in one of those bicycles fitted with a front basket while my little brother rode on his tiny BMX and my dad on his racing bike. As long that everyone has a bicycle, we were good to go for one of the best early days round island cycling trip at Pangkor island.

If you must know, the road around Pangkor is very steep, hilly, small and either winding up or down. It was very challenging to climb up the steep 35 degrees road but we sure made it around the island either pushing our bicycles, cycling on it as hard as we could or going down the fast downhill road in lighting speed. After what had been ages, my family (minus 2 family members) finally made yet another round island bicycle trip at Pangkor Island last year.

This time around, we rented mountain bikes at the island for a small fee and attempted the round island cycling trip. The result was very shameful. At that time, I had close to zero stamina and a pretty awful fitness level. After merely 15-30 minutes of cycling, I was feeling light headed and nauseous.The trip was made worse when one of our bicycles had a punctured tire and that forced us to turn back and had lunch instead. Haha. The mid afternoon sun was really getting on us, so we left the island soon after a scrumptious lunch. Up until today, we have yet to re-attempt the round island cycling trip at Pangkor and I wonder if July will be a great time to make that fun, cycling trip once again.

If you are adventurous and love the outdoor, cycling around Pangkor Island is a must do. You get to see very the beautiful view of the Naval Base and Lumut town also not forgetting the beaches and other small islands surrounding Pangkor. Along the way, you can also make many several touristy stops for example at the Dutch Fort, the fish factories and other tourist attractions around the island.

I also have some vital notes on cycling around Pangkor Island to share here. There are:

- If you would like to make the cycling trip as a day trip (no sleep over at the island) then, it is best to take the first ferry of the day to the island - I think the earliest is around 7 am or is it earlier? I'm not so sure :). The ferry is very frequent so fret not if you can't make it to the Lumut Jetty that early in the morning. The reason you want to be at the island as early as possible is so that you don't get caught up with the the hot sun later (around 10 am above) on during your cycling trip.
- Dress appropriately -sunblock,hat,shoes or those zap on sandals ( flip-flops are not recommended because you may hurt yourself if you fall on your feet from the bicycle or worse lose the flip-flops along the way. haha), light clothing and if you are a typical Asian and are afraid to be home looking super tan - put on a long sleeve t-shirt and long pants.
- Drink a lot of water and pack some bottles also some food in your bag pack.
- Bring some medicines if you are prone to mild sickness like me. Haha. Some panadols, antiseptic cream and hansaplast plaster will do.
- Most importantly, have a hearty breakfast before you kick off to pack some energy because you need a whole lot of it.
- The trip may take up almost until noon or even later into the afternoon, depending on how fast and fit you are. So be prepared to spend almost the whole day at the island.
- In case and just in case you really can't cycle anymore because you are just plain exhausted, you can still continue on with your round island trip by hiring motorcycles or even cars or simply hail the prominently pink taxi at Pangkor Island. Of course, it wouldn't really be a cycling trip if you ended up taking bikes and cars to finish up the trip and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't end up doing and risk losing all the fun of crazy cycling around the island.

Also, it is not really common to see people cycling around the island. Most people will simply cycle around the beach and they usually won't pass the hilly roads. So I can really assure you that round Pangkor Island cycling trip is adventurous, fun and very recommended for the fit. Happy cycling, peeps!

Animal Anecdotes 7: Brownie and family

If you have been keeping up with the Animal Anecdotes, you may have been introduced to Brownie. The latest updates for Brownie are all great news. She has gone so far to inviting the rest of her family members - 2 adult female dogs and another black puppy just like her. Brownie is also brave enough to come and pick her treat directly from the hand and we also have some Pedigree puppy food for her and little family to eat. The dogs have been keeping us company since last weekend and they are pretty good at making a ruckus if the herd of buffaloes come eating near the fenced up gate.

[caption id="attachment_1034" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Brownie taking her bread"][/caption]

As for now, little Brownie seems to be dominating the cabin area and her 3 other family members are merely her guests because she is always the first one to start eating her feed, the one who will eat more than the rest and also the only one who gets to runaway and play with one black sock and one Croc shoe. The mystery of the missing pair of a Croc shoe is solved when I saw Brownie sleeping just next to it. Haha.

Brownie and family have been sleeping under the cabin at night - so at least, things are a bit secure around the area. The best part is we don't literally own them. If we feed, they will come and I hope they shall be trained and will be at service (working as guard dogs) around the cabin and farm.

[caption id="attachment_1035" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Eating up her Pedigree dog food"][/caption]

Live Curious - ad by National Geographic Channel

Live Curious! Nicely presented by the National Geographic Channel. The very idea of living curious, constantly asking, wanting to learn more than what I've already known, discovering, doubting things and experiencing new things have always been me! The fact that NatGeo has an ad out about it nails the whole point of life in general to pretty much everyone.

If you haven't already watch the ad, check it out below and ponder on the words and make that change in your life now. Live curious because it somehow or rather relates to yourself pushing beyond the ordinary to experience that extraordinary things in this life. So go on and LIVE CURIOUS!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amkuj9QRqvQ&NR=1

Animal Anecdotes 6: Brownie, our first visitor

[caption id="attachment_1019" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Brownie the little doggie"][/caption]

This is our first dog visitor at the cabin. I think it is a little female dog sizing just a little bigger than a big full grown cat. Her visit was just at the nick of time because we were about to have breakfast. One of us threw a little piece of a chicken meat to her. She ate it and the throwing-eating routine lasted for sometime until she finally decided to sit down and eat her meal instead of gobbling the large chunk quickly or running off with the meal to eat just behind the car.

After breakfast, we tried calling her to come closer to us but she was still very apprehensive about it. Instead, she decided to sit and somewhat or rather be on guard at the front gate for a little while.Brownie kept on watch and was eyeing on a running morning jogger. Unfortunately, the little creature backed up and ran a little once the jogger began approaching the front of the gate. Probably a little to young to be a guard dog. Not just yet but hopefully soon enough.

On another note, Brownie is the cutest little puppy with that adorable pair of round eyes. I wonder if she will come back for another visit today.

Green, sustainable, eco-friendly dream home

If you have the means and money, what will your dream home be ? Is it going to be:

A : Huge bungalow, 2-3 storeys, 5 rooms, living room, wet kitchen, dry kitchen, lounge room, dining hall, maid's room, balcony, pantry room, garden, pool, big garage and front yard, fully air-conditioned, 5 bathrooms and strictly tiled front yard with only palm trees alongside with a tiny path of grass for the house landscaping.

B : A condominium or town house with super tight security needing for residents passes at guard house entrance, lobby entrance and a pass on the elevator to get to your front door at the penthouse. Home security is purely essential since no one is to be trusted. No pets are allowed in the residents homes and the only trees you can plant are cactus or small plants.

C: A flat or low cost home. No need for trees because everyone will make their front yard fully tiled or cemented and awning roofs will be placed for shades.

D: Typical traditional wooden Malay home. Would be best if it is build without nails and highly decorated with intricate traditional wood carvings and designs. Lots of plants and trees in the yard with some free range chickens running around the yard and vegetables are also planted for the household consumption.

E: Simple, super low cost home made with almost 100% of recycled materials by using used wood, roof, doors,etc. Powered with solar panels for electricity.Water source will come either from collected rain water or pumped from underground or from the river by the side of the house. All waste from the household will be recycled and used as fertilizer for the plants and vegetables. There is always a constant supply of fresh cow's milk, eggs, chicken meat and beef. The house is surrounded by big rain trees and other trees to provide good air quality around the house, shade, privacy and it attracted different species of animals from birds, insects to small reptiles. Totally a green home that is sustainable and very self-sufficient however most importantly, it is very eco-friendly.

Of all the choices above, which one will your dream home be?

My personal choice is of course the most obvious which is E. Life is much simpler when you live green, working on with recycle materials to avoid unnecessary waste on your pocket as well as to avoid polluting unwanted waste on mother Earth. In the long run, this green home living concept provides a better life for everyone including both the animals and plants. If you are big about making a different in your life, you can start now by making good choices and choosing to live green is one small way to make that huge different in this life.