Monday, May 23, 2011

Work Overload

Hey people,

It feels like I've been gone for months now :( I'm actually going to bed soon but I just needed to update you guys about what I've been up to lately.

What I've been up to lately? Here's a list:

1. CHURCH!!!!!! I've been getting so involved in most of the church activities, I'm feeling soooooo content and happy!!!!! :D :D :D (I'll try to take more pictures of me and my church friends so I can blog about my church activities!)

2. ASSIGNMENTS (like LOADS of 'em)

3. Shopping (more than I'm supposed to)

4. Meetings to discuss on Monash University's Year-End Musical Production. I'll announce the musical that we'll be performing when the time is right :P

5. Sleeping (I hardly get any sleep with the heavy workload of assignments)

That's all for my boring life. I'll update you when I can!!! BTW, I got a brand new camera for my birthday and it's a super awesome camera!! I'll reveal it once I take a few nice photos and videos with it :) Have a great fantabulous week people!!!!! Hugs hugs hugs!!!

Toodles!!

xoxo,
Mel

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

I'm Sorry :(

Hey people,

I'm sorry for my on and off status when it comes to posting.. I've been going through a lot of 'major' personal events lately so I've not been able to post frequently.. I've lots of posts that are due since ages ago.. Please bear with me as I'm going to soon finish my semester and will have more time to post frequently.. Till then, more pictures coming up for India!

Toodles!

xoxo
Mel

Thursday, March 31, 2011

NORTHERN INDIA PICTURES, FINALLY!

Pictures are in no particular order.. Sadly, I did not organize my pictures well when I transferred it to my computer. So if you want to know more about a picture, please tell me which picture is it counting from top to bottom then I'll explain where I took that picture and other info that you would want to know  (1st picture, 2nd picture, etc).

Here you go!!! ^^

Premium AirAsia seat (We got it for free coz we booked early and the seats were empty so they upgraded us to Premium seats) - Fully adjustable seats, phone charger, reading light, nice blanket - Perfect airplane bedroom^^

Airport - The air smelled terrible on that night. The air is very polluted and it was really noisy because of the honks. It is REQUIRED for the people in India to HONK when they OVERTAKE a car. It is considered wrong if you do not honk when overtaking. Yea, believe me, it's true. There are various types of honks in India, I think I have a video on them (will post it when I locate the video) So, you can imagine that India is quite a noisy place mainly coz of the excessive honks.

We hired a whole bus for our whole group - My dad is a part-time tourist guide so he brought family and friends along for this trip :) We had a driver also because it is SUICIDAL to drive in India. I dare say that the most SKILLED DRIVERS are the people in India because they do not follow any traffic rules but still manage to survive and they can even overtake when the road is only meant for one car to go through. My aunt was in tears several times because she was too shocked and was extremely frightened when she sat in the bus - the driver's a lunatic! (but they're really nice & friendly.. not on the road though) lol

Food (can't remember what it's called, lol) - Honestly, I very much prefer Malaysian Indian food because it suits my taste buds better. People say that the Southern Indian food tastes more like Malaysian Indian food and the Northern Indian food is not as nice in comparison to Southern India. We only went to Northern India so basically, the food was not to my taste.

Dahl - I prefer the Dahl at the Indian shop at Asia Cafe though, haha

Our first dinner at the hotel when we landed at Delhi - This hotel was the worst! The bedsheets were badly stained and it was sticky. There were cockroaches in the toilet. The room smelled horrible. The streets were just next to the hotel so it was so noisy that we couldn't sleep. SUPER HORRIBLE. So my dad called the booking agent immediately to tell them to make sure that the other hotels are much much better, if not we would ask for a refund. They listened and thank God the hotels were livable after that (although still not as nice as some hotels we stayed in other countries)

The market - As you can see, it's packed. The public places in India are always packed. It's logical considering that they are the 2nd most populated country in the world, right?

Red Fort of India - I'm not sure what's the exact name though. I think it's the Agra Fort if I'm not mistaken. It's basically made of red bricks, kinda like the Malacca Stadhuys. It's really beautiful when the sun sets on it because the redness of the fort will pop out :)

Some other red building opposite the fort.

Look at this shadowey kinda picture coz the sun is setting behind it.

I found this really really interesting.. lol

Teh Tarik?

This fiery red haired guy happily posed for me when he saw I was taking pictures.. haha..adorable! :D

These are the bowls made of some sort of leaf.

Curry?

Looks yummy but I din taste any of the street food coz I had no faith in my tummy strength :D

India's Sweets - I tasted some of them. Sadly, I hated all of them. I'm a huge fan of sweet things but my taste buds are just not agreeing with the candies in India.

I think they're cooking Dahl. It didn't really smell delicious though. It was a very strong, pungent smell.

Another fort shot

My mummy ^^

There you go - It's the Red Fort Complex ( I wonder which one's the Agra Fort, I went to so many forts I really can't remember which is which already)

Read the notice board if you want to know more :)

Red Fort

I find the separation of the road for different genders interesting. Actually they separated it for the gate security check - female police will check the girls while the male police inspects the guys.

Read to your heart's content^^

Inside the Fort

One of the gardens in the fort

Fort compound

One of the buildings in the fort


The Khas Mahal (it is located in the fort compound) - I look like Dora the Explorer, haha

Explanation for Khas Mahal

Khas Mahal - the architecture style is almost similar to the Taj Mahal. There are semi-precious stones carved into every part of the building. Semi-precious stones are very expensive and hard to find nowadays so people tend to scrape the stones out from the building. Therefore, these buildings are well protected and secured from jewel thieves.

Nerdy me :)

See all the intricate designs? They are not painted. They are actually semi-precious jewels which are carved to perfection and fitted into the building one by one entirely by hand. Freaking hard labor.

If you shine a torchlight on it, you can see the jewel illuminate. If you light a candle in front of it during the night, the jewel glows. Breathtakingly beautiful gems.


Khas Mahal


An interesting tree in the fort compound

See how it looks kinda like humans entwined with each other? lol

Squirrel!!! hehehe

One of the artifacts in the fort's museum

Museum artifact

The grass-trimmer lady :) She's so friendly ^^


There are lots of arches in India's architecture designs :)

Red wall of the Red Fort, haha

People lining up to get into the fort

Day time shot

There's a GOOD REASON FOR THIS SHOT - Our bus is actually right in the middle of this jam packed market (see the orange Tourist  bus right at the back, behind the other vans and in front of the blue bus) . Our super professional bus driver managed to squeeze through this crowd of people to get out of the market.

I think it's Nasi Briyani

The biggest Samosa I've ever seen!

It's as big as my mom's face! lol

Thali - it's a dish where a variety of food is in it.


It's dangerous to walk in India - You have to beware of all kinds of stools on the floor (cow, goat, dog, elephant, camel) and also be alert of the different vehicles speeding around you (trishaws, bicycles, trucks, bikes, cars) and remember to watch out for cows so you don't bang into them.

The building surrounding the Taj Mahal (very early in the morning)

The que to the Taj Mahal - It's super early in the morning, around 4 or 5am, and the people are already lining up.

The entrance of the wall surrounding the Taj Mahal

People swarming into the compound surrounding the Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal compound

You still have to walk for some time before reaching the main entrance of the Taj Mahal - People living a few radius from the Taj Mahal are not allowed to drive gas emitting cars because they do not want to pollute the Taj Mahal's marble stone. So we use eco-friendly cars to go to the Taj Mahal :)


Finally, the main entrance to the Taj Mahal

People swarming in

Tadaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE TAJ MAHAL

It's blurry coz of the morning fog. Wait till it's afternoon, then it'll be super gorgeous.

Taj Mahal


My parents^^




Reflection!

Cantik!

My mom and her friends


I love this picture of my parents! ^^

I'm as tall as the Taj Mahal!! lol

Miss Poser ;)

One of the buildings next to the Taj Mahal - Apparently, Shah Jehan stayed in one of these red buildings so he can wake up looking at the Taj Mahal everyday.

The fog is slowly clearing away :)

Breathtaking

I kinda ruin the picture but yea, it's to prove I was there, haha

Ignore my stupid pose, lol

My parents lovey dovey pose :D







My mom's friend




One of my favorite shots :)

Can't decide which one to delete, haha, i know they look the same, lol

My mom, me, and mom's friends



The sky is soooooo blue!!











Poser picture, my dad's idea, haha

My mummy^^
There's no copyright symbol on my pictures because I haven't had the time to edit my pictures. So please be a good soul and not claim these pictures as your own. I can't control you but you should have a good conscience not to do anything you're not supposed to :) 

Hope you find the pictures self-explanatory. I think it's quite draggy coz there are so many pictures and words. I'm really sorry for this unorganized manner of blogging. I will train myself to be more organized next time when I plan to blog on my trips :)

Oh yea, these are not the only pictures, there are MORE!!!! seriously, hundreds more of pictures, haha. I spent 2 months in India which explains the crazy amount of pictures and VIDEOS too! 

Will update when I can!! I've to finish my uni assignments now. Till then, take care people :) 

Toodles!!

xoxo,
Mel