My perspective on the 31st Bon Odori 0 lalalas

Before I start, some background info first: Bon Odori is actually a dance to honour the departed spirits of ancestor. It's actually a Japanese Buddhist event. For more information, please read this article on Wikipedia.

On the 14th of July, Jennings, Warna, Limys, I'm-not-grumpy, penunu Bensen, and I joined MMU's Soul Japanese Society in a trip to the annual Bon Odori at Panasonic Sports Complex (formerly known as Matsushita Sports Centre), Shah Alam. Jennings and I took bus B from Cyberjaya. Our driver was so confident of himself that he drove ahead of other buses before coming to a realization that he didn't know the road. So we waited like so chai for about 30 minutes before the other buses caught up to lead the way.

When I arrived at the complex, we were about an hour early. So there was nothing much to do besides camwhoring.

全家福

At about 5 p.m., we were let in and were given a cheap beautiful plastic fan each.

The FAN-tastic Four!!??

There wasn't much to do at that moment. We did see a few people rehearsing for their performance on the stage. It was pretty interesting... for a few minutes. So we visited the food department. There were a lot of Japanese delicacies on sale, like Japanese ice cream, sushi, dorayaki, onigiri, Terrymari, and other food ending with the alphabet "i". Despite the exorbitant prices, people rushed to purchase the food as if there was a famine.

Me wants Japanese food yay yay~

Reminded me of a guy named Takayuki

The self-proclaimed king of sushi also made an appearance here!

Japan got ais kacang meh? Nan-de-Yo!?

Special: Keropok, made from Japanese fish

Whale meat burger!!!

No la, no whale meat burger. Sorry to disappoint you guys. But shinpai nai, no whales mah, but got chicks le. We saw a pretty gorgeous Japanese girl promoting ja-pan. (What is ja-pan? Japanese bread lor, noob!)

Now you know why Silver Surfer is on the top of the post. To the right is a random superhero

After we bought some food, we sat down on the grass to eat and chat. Besides Malaysians, there were a lot of Japanese there too. Finally we got to show off the Japanese we learned from animes, like arigato, sumimasen, Mitsubishi, yamamoto, kusogaki, Nokia, kimochi, yamete, etc. Many people were dressed in colouful yukata, including pork chops and Jurassic dinosaurs. Anyway, there were many cute Japanese kids around. All the Malaysians were like crazy liao, pulling every Japanese kid they saw to take pictures with them while the kid's parents were being totally ignored.

Japanese little girls having fun

The little butterflies getting ready to perform on stage.

Discovered Japanese Zhou Xun!

We didn't have to wait for long. After 2 hours, the 1st part of the dance finally started. The beautiful dressed dancers moved like butterflies, graceful and effortless. The drummers hit their drum with all their might, as if the drum was their enemy. The music played was pretty catchy too. It was a sight to behold. Like corpses suddenly rising up to be zombies, the crowd suddenly started imitating the dancers movement. Seemingly entranced, they danced with such zeal and religious fervency that is rarely seen in Malaysians.

mi ni koi sakura ah e oh come and dance with me

Their imitation was so lame this obaachan had to teach them the steps

They were so engrossed in the exotic dance that they didn't care about the air pollution that's destroying our world.



After the dance, we chatted and bought more food to eat. In the meanwhile, there was another cultural dance going on in another part of the complex. The crowd rushed there like there was some kind of megasale. By the time I arrived, all I could see was cameras, vidcams, and cellphones (noob sia) held high. So I sacrificed myself to let my camera watch the performance instead.

Later, while I was busy taking pictures of a hot chick in yukata of cultural learning of Japan for make benefit glorious nation of Malaysia, the second part of the dance suddenly started. I was a bit disappointed to find out that the dance was the same as the first part. Yet the people around me obviously didn't think so. They swayed, twisted, and whirled along with the music without any regard to the safety of innocent people like me. I would have been crushed and trampled to a pulp by those fanatics if it wasn't for my hirenkyaku. Anyway, I made it back unscathed but couldn't find anyone. So I wandered around like a brainless ape until the second wave ended.

We were a bit excited because there was going to be a special guest that day. Amidst wild guesses ranging from Ayumi Hamasaki, Utada Hikaru to BoA(??), the special guest turned out to be an old fart honourable Japanese official, which was a disappointment great honour to us.

The third part commenced after his speech, which, to no big surprise, was a repetition to the first part. My friends, who danced twice, was too tired to join in the fun again. So we bought more food and talked more crap. It was really exciting, I tell you


I bought an okonomi yaki and Beard Papa cream puffs. They were as delicious as they were expensive. Talking about the cream puffs, I noticed a weird thing: it's sold for RM10 for 3 pieces, but RM18 for 5 (if you don't see what I mean, use a calculator). I bet they tricked a lot of people using this dirty tactic. I only got away because I thought 5 were too many - I only realized the sketchy pricing after I bought them.

Anyway, Jenning's friend pointed to me something that really stood out.

O-kayyy, that's definitely not Japanese clothing

And I dedicate this to Limys and I'm-not-grumpy...


And I dedicate this to myself...

The event ended at 9.30 p.m. and we finally left at 10.00 p.m. which was a long waiting time. When we finally got back to Cyberjaya, something happened, throwing us all into disarray and dismay.

[END]
- Credits to myself and Jennings for the photographs


BONUS:

A very cool picture of the drummers taken by Joshua Teoh

Please check out his site for more professional looking pictures of Bon Odori 2007

If you're lusting for pictures of MM at B.O. 2007, you might as well check out this gallery at Jack Tan's blog.<--<< Go back

My perspective on the trip to Hermit Lagoon 0 lalalas

(I know this post is oh so outdated. But better late than never)

One fine day about a month ago, me friends and I embarked on a journey to the unknown. The unknown was located near the Kuantan Port. The fellowship included me, Jenny, Tcherry, and STFU (Starfish Ultimate). Originally there were four people in the fellowship but a fellow comrade, McLum betrayed us in the last minute. But we were undaunted. So with a few rusty, ancient parangs and a staunch heart, we ventured into the mysterious forest that stood between us and our final destination.

When we were in the mysterious forest, we didn’t see any ferocious beasts but we were on guard nonetheless because like Chinese proverb says, “one ten-thousand is not as fearsome as ten-thousand one”. Got it? Good.

Anyway when we were walking on the hidden path left by adventurers from the past, we heard fearsome creatures growling, snarling, neighing, and bleating (!!!) in the background. Their cries were so horrible and blood-cuddling that we told jokes to each other. I was a bit afraid because there were some tricky slopes; I feared that if I slipped it will become a hatred of thousand bones and I’d become a Hollow. My comrades were lucky because they’re not as burdened by the force of gravity as I was. STFU wore shorts so his sexy, slender legs were being cut mercilessly by the bastardly evil plants. Other than that, there were not much problems besides sucker mosquitoes.



After about 40 minutes of trudging through the dark forest, we finally reached the beautiful shores of a nameless beach.

A view of the beautiful beach

I saw the heaven and ...angels, but the angels don't show in the photo

There were morning glories growing abundantly zz..

Having suffered from certain bodily discomfort for more than an hour, I knew that this was the golden opportunity. Being not a stupid person, I conducted a number two million-dollar business in a hut so conveniently built nearby. Great success! I buried the nutritious elements I left behind meticulously so that now the flowers will grow. I felt proud to have contributed to the preservation of our natural environment.

We took a while to camwhore a bit...

One of the brave adventurers

Jenny’s tripod proved to be a really useful tool indeed. Not only did it help us to take pictures of everybody, but it also saved Jenny’s camera from a tragic death following an invasion by the thrice-damned ocean water.

Anyway, we threw our stuffs in a shady place and transformed into hot, topless Asians, and jumped into the lovely embrace of Mother Ocean. Because of the large number of hermit crabs discovered by my comrades, we decided to name this place Hermit Lagoon! We swam (well, at least I tried to float) and we found an undisturbed ocean life in the lagoon that wasn’t seen in places like TC3. It was a really beautiful places untainted by civilization or human pollution. We had a lot of fun just going round and looking under the rocks to look for fishes and other organisms. Unfortunately, STFU couldn’t find his species there. What a shame!

Le blue tank

Le stupid sea cucumber who wouldn't cooperate when I wanna take pictures of it

Le sea slut slug

Le crab with a foaming mouth

Le fish whose name must not be spoken

She sells sea shells by the seashore.
The shells she sells are surely seashells.
So if she sells shells on the seashore,
I'm sure she sells seashore shells

Le used-to-be fish

When we were having fun and getting wet and aroused, we spotted our possible-ancestors gathering in force towards the place where we placed our stuff. My comrades rushed to our place while I stayed behind because I was trying to track some fish (Reader: sanpa lou, never seen wild fishes before izit? Me: stfu! STFU: You call me a?). My comrades discovered that the ancestors had already landed irreparable damage to our assets (no, not our attractive physical assets you pervert!). It was a critical moment. Tcherry and Jenny weren’t able to summon the bankai of their parangs, so they were powerless against our more experienced ancestors who were also the local snake. STFU who was formerly the God of Nature was being sealed in human form, so his godly powers couldn’t be unleashed. I was too far away to help! We needed a strategy! After a long session of discussion, debate, cum insult-throwing, and whatever the Members of Parliament like to do, my comrades decided to retreat. And so we were forced to evacuate and move to another place among the rocks. I was on the verge of despair when I saw my food container being destroyed by the savage apes. I decided that I am going to take arms against those beasts and if I have free time, I will attack the Planet of the Apes. However I was relieved when I saw that my Big Bunny candies survived the onslaught unharmed.

Anyway we went to play again. This time Tcherry and Jenny used Shunpo to climb up the rocky slopes and explore the dark area beyond while I, having no such skills, couldn’t reach them and I ended up walking on the sharp rocks. STFU was having a good time soaking in the sea water which is rising rapidly. When I saw him in his eyes, I saw delight and an excitement that I had not seen since that time, that time when he floated all the way from Langkawi to Kuantan through the raging seas, through the fiery storms, and the legendary Kraken.

Le fabuleux kraken!

I saw a terrorist on the beach. He told me he's looking for Osama. Since crime rates are soaring, I asked him to show me his id to prove that he is really a terrorist. Guess what he said?

Terrosist: Ano, I forgot it at home.

Hmmm, must be a fake one. I just walked away.

The sun was getting hotter and hotter and the water level is getting higher and higher, we realized that if we don’t leave the sea soon, we would risk extinction. After having a debate and a vote, we agreed on a special policy that is biased to Chinese that we retreat to a more shady part on the beach. We also devised a security act to imprison and execute any animal without trial that we suspect is involved in the attack against us. As soon as we finished making laws to protect only ourselves, we took our supplies and walked to a bed of seashells on our bare foot (damn painful, who the heck suggested that) under some trees to rest. After taking a wink and having some obscene fun,

Ahem, no comment. Interpret it as you like

being deprived of all our food supplies (damn you gluttonous corrupt apes!), we decided to head back and have lunch.

After an arduous trip through the woods – this time it’s uphill, we finally made it back to the familiar environment – human civilization, exposed once more to the responsibilities, sanity, pollution, corruption, and the darkness of man’s heart. Being emaciated, we hopped onto the car and ate to our heart’s content.

To end this magical journey, I want to recite a poem:

The sky is blue,
The sand is white,
We all are hottie,
And monkeys are naughty,
KFC is yummy.

Sekian, terima kasih.

p/s: Phew, done. This is way longer than I expected
<--<< Go back

My perspective of Sg. Lembing Trip (4th-5th June 2007) 0 lalalas

One afternoon on 4th June 2007, we went to Sungai Lembing. Jenny was kind enough to give me a ride. We put a night in McLum's grandma's house (free! yeah!). It's a nice wooden house which has a river behind it and surrounded by fresh air and has a collapsed house as one of its neighbour.

We walked in a circle, passing two bridges, the Sg. Lembing museum. Liuck, Jenny, Tcherry, and I also went down walking across the river to feel the coolness of the mountain water brushing through the naked skin of our legs. It was really a moment to savour. There were a lot of dogs in the neighbourhood, maybe meant as a supplement to the absence of adequate security in the houses. Whenever we went, the dogs barked as if there was no tomorrow and as if we are going to invade Sg. Lembing. The girls were scared and we picked up little stones to protect ourselves, but luckily we didn't have to use them. It's all thanks to the aura of manliness emanating from Tcherry, who is respected to three degrees by the white and the black two sides. When we passed by the cemetery, everybody walked faster and talked less, but suddenly damn Tcherry and Jenny sprinted away, so I just followed them. As expected, the large group caught up with us pretty soon.