When I landed back in Malaysia few days ago, I thought I wouldn’t have to suffer Siem Reap’s heat anymore. But aiyo it’s the same hot here but Siem Reap is slightly hotter. The only solace is my hotel room. Will tell you why later.

My poor dog is feeling the heat as well. He’s been drinking lots of water. Very unlike him actually. And he’s constantly playing with his mini ’swimming pool’ (read: water bowl) when no one is around. LOL Gotta bath him soon. His last bath was 2 days before CNY. That’s like 17 days ago. Hehe

I’ve been feeding him lots of ice cubes as well.

Me: Chester you want ice?

Chester: WOOF!

Me: How many you want?

Chester: WOOF! WOOF! (means he wants 2 ice cubes hehe)

I just love it when my dog response to my question. I don’t think he understands actually. Haha

Sometimes we will have this sort of conversation:

Me: Chester you want to play frisbee?

Chester: WOOF!

Me: Are you ready? (preparing to throw the frisbee)

Chester: WOOF!

Sometimes I think he actually understands my question. LOL

This will be my first oversea trip in 2 1/2 years. My last oversea trip was to Hong Kong and Macau in November 2007. What happened to my ‘visit at least 1 oversea country a year’ mission? Failed lo. It was due to health and busyness. I’m very sure I will be able to ‘tambah’ balik those 2 lost ‘oversea trips’ soon. Thinking of Bali. Anyone? *blink blink

OK back to Siem Reap…
I’m getting the 3 days pass ticket
Taking my 2 lenses (50mm f/1.8 and 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6) but which one should I ‘load’ on my camera as the main lens. Any suggestion?
Am contemplating whether I should bring my tripod and gorillapod. Or maybe I can use my body as tripod? haha Decided to bring tripod.
Not hiring a guide (since this will be a leisure trip; will be going to Siem Reap again with a more ’serious’ partner later)
Not visiting Tonle Sap
Will be hiring tuk-tuk except for the last day trip I will hire a car to bring us to Banteay Srei and Angkor Wat. I thought Banteay Srei is too pretty and cannot be missed. Is the road to Banteay Srei dangerous for 2 ladies and a driver?
Already I’m thinking this is sure gonna be an expensive US$$ trip.
Oh and where do you change large US$ notes to smaller notes? Got it at money changer. LOL

Kindly comment if you have any suggestion. I can read your comment until this Saturday. *yeah that soon!

Angkor Wat… here I come!!!

There are a couple of things that I like about our newly renovated ‘concrete’ turf.

First there’s this lovely wrought iron window grill.

Perfect match with a lacy curtain. Don’t ya think so?
Photo had a seventies twist!

Notice the porch lighting?
I love it very very MUCH. It gives the porch a very classic-antique look. It’s even lovelier at night! (with light-shadow effect)

Cost only RM28 (if I’m not mistaken). Chosen by yours truly. Hehe and am very proud of the selection.
And if you look at the right, you can see the window is green in color. It is actually reflecting silver with some green and beige color at the corner. Surprisingly it blends well with the overall look.

Then there’s this wrought iron gate.

It has the same pattern design as the window grill. Love it!
This is Chester’s favorite spot. The door to freedom. Haha

This is the mid-section of the gate. Cun ya? Haha

Let’s check out the porch then.

With everything on the ground tiled up… we flora buffs need some space to grow plants. We requested the contractor to build a mini garden bed at the side of the wall.

Right now there’s only a couple of cactuses and spring onions. I’ve seeded a portion of the mini garden with herbs seed. *fingers cross

For the outdoor lights, we have this…

This design is actually very common in Klang Valley nowadays. It’s kinda Japanese style.
Anyhow I love it. My family love it. It was an unanimous vote. lol

Then there’s this corner stone wall that I like very much TOO.

The wall stone is light yellow in color. Good match with the outdoor wall color which is sandstone.
Dad said he wanted the ‘Dubai’ color. Hahaha
And the gate, looks like made of wood ya? It’s actually wrought iron too. I wanted an actual wood gate but my mom said NO!

Last but not least… the pattern on the front gate. Again, similar design as the house gate and window grills.

They’re taken in different mood to highlight the beauty of the pattern. Now you know why I love my new front-ier.

Oh 1 last note…

Kong Hei Fatt Choy!!!!!!!

May the year of Tiger brings good luck to EVERYONE!

p/s: haven’t finish shopping and cleaning the house yet.:P

Just as we parked the car in front of the pet clinic, Chester began to bark excitedly. We haven’t got out of the car yet. I think he recognizes the clinic. Smart dog *kembang*. Second year in a row with no problem leading Chester inside the clinic. I had to muzzled him up later because he was ‘talking’ not stop and I couldn’t hear what the doctor was saying.

Hi doc!

First up is the weighing scale.

We had some difficulty prepping Chester on the digital scale. It’s either his head was out of the area or his butt is. Haha

Grrrr…

Finally we got a reading. My dog who is 6 years and 3 months old this month weights at 29.6kg. He’s lighter by about 1kg compared to last year which is a good thing because as dogs get older, we have to be more sensitive towards their weight. Overweight can really hinder their mobility and health.

My dog is going to be a senior next year so the doctor said ideally he should drop his weight to about 26-28kg.

Waiting for the doctor. Awww look at his brows.

The doc said he needn’t to be muzzled. So I removed it.

I asked the vet about his ‘unhealed’ hematoma ear and she said no problem. Hmm??

After that injection time!

Chester clung on to me after the needle went in. I praised him “Good Boy Chester!”.

Now say “Ahhhhhh…”

If you think Chester is such a good boy, not struggling on the table then you’re wrong. He did struggle a bit but overall it’s controllable.

I want to jump.

Hmm where shall I land? This corner or there ar?

In about 15 minutes, we’re ready to jump back in the car.

Total damage RM110.
1. Deworming RM30
2. Vaccination RM80

p/s: All pictures were taken with Lumix TZ7.

I informed the owner of my interest in photographing the nursery as the place is so beautiful and serene. I was told to come back early February as there will be new flowers and plants coming in for Chinese New Year.

So here I am on the 31st January armed with my trusty D80. Initially I was using my kit lens (as I was shooting something else prior to this) but half way decided to change to my favorite 50mm f/1.8 lens because I just love bokeh. Haha

Note: Do click at the pictures for larger size. They’re pretty in big.

Lime tree (吉 ‘KAT’). An absolute MUST for Chinese New Year.
It means auspicious.

Chrysanthemum (‘Fu Kui Hua’).
It means fortune flower.

More Chrysanthemums!

Red Poinsettia.
Another auspicious plant for Chinese New Year. I think this picture is too vivid. Argghh my eyes! my eyes!

The tree leaves might be a bit blur… no problem. There’s just something about it.

Red flowers. Anyone know the name of this flower?

Its branch has plenty of thorns!

Pretty red Daisy.

‘Shooting’ bougainvillea. Haha

Purple Chrysanthemum. Pretty hor.

Update: This plant is called Kalanchoe.
I have this same kind of plant at home but I don’t know the name. Adui! Haha. Mine is red.

They’re also available in fuchsia! or is this purple?

Half way shooting, my mom is already shooing me to go home. And yet she’s busy picking out a chrysanthemum pot.

Another mystery flower.

And yes another mystery one.

What a beauty! Knew this is going to be a stunner. Delicate.

Look at the tiny purple petals. So special.

And finally…

THIS. This is the highlight of the day. Look at the water drops. So precious. Couldn’t believe my eyes. It looks like diamond! This photo was taken with my kit lens. I took another shot using the 50mm. They came out pretty much alike.

That’s it. There are more but I think these are enough to feast your eyes.

I noticed while I’m all out doing the photographing, I couldn’t enjoy as much as I would like to like last time. Awww too bad. Hmm and most of my shots were close-up. Not many landscape… after all I’m armed most of the time with a 50mm.

Thank you to the owner of Poh Soon Garden for this opportunity.

p/s: I so wanted to take some shots of the place they lived in (very olden days lookin’). I know because I went into their ‘open’ living space to borrow the toilet. Haha But my kit lens doesn’t fare well in low light condition… so a missed opportunity there. PLUS my mom exclaimed loudly “Why do you want to shoot at people’s home? Go toilet quickly!” AND the horror is a teenage boy emerged out of nowhere. Malunya. (embarrassed)