Endau Rompin
Went for this short weekend trip in April. I think the plan was to go climb KK at first, but accommodation was fully booked, hence we went to Endau Rompin instead. Memorable because I had my first encounter with leeches. Read a lot horror stories about leeches before going for the trip, and nearly backed out last minute because Endau Rompin is known to have a lot of leeches.

The first leech we encountered - on a boat.

The hike on the first day was tedious, and we were all physically unprepared for it. To make matters worse, we had to keep a lookout for the bloodsuckers - there were really a lot of them. We had to stop every 10 min to check our shoes and flick them off. Gross.

On the first night we (the girls) could not help whining non-stop and we wanted to skip the hike to Upeh Culing waters the next day. Luckily we did not, because the hike was easier (no upslope) and we had a fun time sliding down the rocks at Upeh Culing.

Boracay
Went to Boracay in March, and it's the best beach I have ever been. Ok I haven't been to that many beaches.. but still, it's really beautiful.

The sand is very white, fine and soft - you don't need a beach mat! The sand is more comfortable! And the waters is crystal clear..


However the diving wasn't fantastic - the visibility wasn't good surprisingly, think maybe the timing was bad. Heard from the locals that Boracay is actually not as nice as before, and there are many more islands in Philippines that are more unspoiled and beautiful than Boracay. I hope I can check out these islands next time!

Time flies.. we're now approaching the end of 2009! Inspired by healthiliciouslyme, I decide to recap my 2009 as well.

While in certain aspects, my 2009 was less than ideal - I never knew I could complain and whine non-stop! However, to think on the bright side, I'm very thankful that I have some listening ears to turn to.

1/1/2009 - I had a little test of friendship on the last day of 2008, luckily no hard feelings was brought over to 2009. Spent the countdown in a movie theatre. Little did I know that my first movie in 2009 would predict my highlight of the year.

Did a fair bit of travel this year, will recap them in the next few posts :)

Miyazaki Movie To-Watch List

• Grave of the Fireflies

[Update: Just finished watching this. Sad film, but maybe I had expected it to be sad, I did not cry. And though this is a Studio Ghibli movie, it is actually not directed by Miyazaki.]


• Kiki's Delivery Service

• My Neighbur Totoro

• Porco Rosso

• Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (I just have to rewatch this Miyazaki classic)

Drama To-Watch List

• House Season 3 and 4 (The most cranky doctor ever!)

• 狗和狼的時間 (Lee Jun-Ki!)

• 太王四神记 (Bae Yong-Jun! But I dun like him so much now so this has to come after Lee Jun-Ki)

My Little Nephew
Learning how to say mama!

Kaze no tani no Naushika


Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind 風の谷のナウシカ. This film simply blew me away. This is only the 3rd Miyazaki film I've watched. The first 2 are Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away. I was a bit disappointed with Spirited Away as I had high expectations of it. Whereas for this show, I do not have very high expectations but man, it is splendid! And it's supposedly a 1984 production but the quality does not defer much from anime produced today. The best of Miyazaki I've seen so far.
Do not confuse this with Warriors of the Wind. Warriors of the Wind is a butchered version of this film. Taken from the wiki --

A heavily edited and English-dubbed version of the film was shown on HBO and released on VHS by New World Pictures & Orion Pictures in the 1980s as Warriors of the Wind (Japanese: 風の戦士 or Kaze no Kishi, lit. "Warriors of Wind"). According to Nausicaa.net, the voice actors and actresses were not even informed of the film's plotline and more than 30 minutes of the movie were cut from the film because New World felt that "the parts were slow moving" [2]. As a result, much of the film's narrative meaning was lost; many of the environmentalist themes were purged as was the main subplot about the Ohmu, altered to turn them into aggressive enemies. Most of the characters were renamed (for example, Nausicaä became "Princess Zandra"). The cover for the VHS release featured a cadre of male characters, who are not part of the film, riding the resurrected God Warrior — including a still-living Warrior shown briefly in a flashback. It was released around the world under various different titles for example, in Germany, it is known as Sternkrieger (lit. "Star Warriors") during that time.
Most fans of Nausicaä, along with Miyazaki himself, dislike that version; Miyazaki suggested that people should put it "out of their minds." [3] Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki has asked fans to forget its existence, and has subsequently adopted a strict "no-edits" clause for future foreign releases of its films. (A common rumor tells of Miyazaki sending Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein, overseeing the distribution for the Miramax release of Princess Mononoke, an authentic katana with a simple message: "No cuts"[2] when he heard that Weinstein would try to cut the film to make it "marketable.") An uncut and re-dubbed version of Nausicaä was released on DVD by Walt Disney Home Entertainment on February 22, 2005 for Region 1. This DVD also includes the Japanese audio track with English subtitles. Optimum Home Entertainment released the film in Region 2, and the Region 4 DVD is distributed by Madman Entertainment. The 2005 DVD version made it around the world uncut.

Now I have to wait for mr nky to pass me my Princess Mononoke for my next dose of Miyazaki.

Pop! Goes My Heart

I love this music video! Very 80s with the cheesy corny catchy style. I think the 80s music is much better than the present R&B and rap music style. And omg can't believe Hugh Grant can sing!