crocheted wrist bag

*update: realized that "tote bag" means "large, 2-handled open-topped bag (usually of canvas material)". so i've renamed this as a "wrist bag" instead.

here's my latest craft... a wrist bag for N, who just started working for a new company. it's for her to carry her purse and handphone in when she goes for lunch.



found this pattern free at www.katcrochet.com

new year gift...

see what N made for me as a new year gift!

tic-tac-toe coasters...

while i like to work with yarns, N is more of a felt person. below is the 1st coaster she gave me, abt 4 months back... this is her first few attempts and i think she used too much fabric glue on this. so the edges are a bit jagged. but i still love it. cute, right?

tree and flowers coaster...

ah bao's baby booties...

actually i finished making this for ah bao more than one month ago, but was just waiting for N to buy the buttons. coz she said she'll take care of the buttons mar. but until now, i've yet to even get a whiff of the elusive buttons, and i think if i wait longer, baby ah bao's feet will no longer be baby feet anymore!

so i went to buy the buttons myself and finally completed the booties yesterday night. red and pink buttons are to make the booties more colourful.



as i sewed on the buttons quite late last night (2 am!), i did not have time to look for a nice paper bag to put them in. and anyway, i dun think any normal paper bag will be suitable. so i fashioned out one that has a broad base so that the booties can be placed side by side. i did it in the office, using whatever resources i have --> coloured A4 papers, cardboard, green ribbon (from our new year performance, still tied to my cello case), double-sided tape and paper clips! nice effect?



read also:
1) new project...

short weekend getaway: my gopeng resort - day 2

free & easy

woke up bright and early at 8 something... looked over to N's bed and saw that she's still there, despite announcing loud-loud the previous day that she would wake up early to watch the rubber tappers at work (despite me warning her that they start work VERY early, as early as 5am!).

ah... nothing like breathing in fresh, unpolluted
morning air away from the hustle and bustle of the city!

this is the 'pondok telefon' (malay: phone booth) of the resort.
serious! see those polystyrene plates at the roof of the booth?
they have "you can make your phone calls here" and "celcom, digi & maxis"
written on them. apparently, the connection here is the best!

N lining up for breakfast

one more before we go!

after breakfast, we didn't want to depart for KL so early and thought we can squeeze in one more activity before our journey back. among the list of activities offered, we were only interested in 2. my 1st choice was the wet abseiling, where we abseil down along the waterfall. sounded like fun! but too bad we were the only 2 who wanted to do this and their minimum pax is 6 person. so we had no choice but to go for our next option: white water rafting. turned out to be not a bad choice!

N saw this 'hermit crab' walking by the briefing area...

waiting for the start of the briefing...

traffic jam at the starting point...

as there were quite a number of rafters that day (8 rafts from our group alone!), the organisers told us to body raft down the river so as not to jam up the starting point. basically, body rafting means we float down the river with just our life jackets on and the guides will 'rescue' us by throwing ropes to us and reeling us in. it was blardy fun, i tell u!

N did this before in sabah, so she went first with me at a close 2nd. i didn't do so well on my first go, coz i think i leaned back too far, sort of like lying on my back in the water. that was y at the first rapid, i was engulfed by the waves and kinda lost my bearings. but it was dem fun! as we were the first 2 to go, we had to wait for quite some time for the rest of the participants to body raft down one by one. nearing the end, the resort boss, Mr. Lim (forgot to mention that he joined us on this trip too) asked N and i if we wanted to do it a 2nd time. of course we did!

my 2nd attempt was better, coz i tried putting my body upright in the sitting possition (with my legs straight out paddling the water in front of me). i managed to keep my head above the water, even at the rapids, and was able to keep my bearings and see where i was going. after that, we all climbed onto our rafts (4 or 5 to a raft) and were on our way!

this river we were rafting is the sungai kampar, with 14 rapids along the stretch. on a good day, this river can produce class 4 rapids. but as the water levels were quite low that day, we only had about class 2+.

oh, and i'm proud to announce that i fell into the water at one of the bumpier rapids! i was paddling at the back right position and at one of the rapids, the front left of the raft bumped against a large rock, tilting the raft. i think i was leaning slightly out of the raft, busy paddling and didn't anticipate the tilt. so i just fell head over heals overboard! my first thought was, "Oh shit, i fell", but said in a calm manner. my 2nd thought was, "better grab hold of the rope". the 'rope' is tied along the rafts as a handhold for rafters during bumpy rides. but as we were in the middle of the rapid, waves after waves kept pushing my head underwater that i couldn't see where my hands were grabbing. then i felt the guide grabbing my life jacket and pulling me along with the raft, so i just went along with the ride and only concentrated on keeping a firm hold on my paddle. it was only after we passed the rapid that the guide pulled me back on board. but anyway, it all happened so fast, like maybe 15 seconds, that i did not have the time to be afraid. instead, after i got on board, i thought it was loads of fun! hehe...

at one of our pit-stops...

we were allowed to come down and rest and play around in the water

at one of the pit-stops, Mr. Lim asked N and i to follow him across the river where there was a tree with a branch overhanging the water. but halfway through, even though the water is considerably calmer here, the currents were still very strong. most of the time, the water just came up to our waists, but we were still not able to stand properly! when we tried swimming against the current to get upstream, we only managed to stay where we were, without moving an inch forward! and once we stopped swimming, we were swept away by the currents so fast that the guides had to come rescue us before we were carried away too far downstream!

but on our 2nd attempt, we managed to cross the river (with Mr. Lim's help) and get to the said tree. once there, Mr. Lim climbed up to the overhanging branch and jumped down into the river! apparently, the river bed below that tree is quite deep and they (Mr. Lim and the guides) are used to jumping down from it. so N and i climbed up behind Mr. Lim... with shaky legs!!! it's not really a high branch, abt 2 meter up, but just because it's over the water, we were overcame by our own mental weaknesses. imagine, i was not an ounce afraid when i fell into the river in the middle of a rapid, but was shivering like a wet puppy out of the drain on top of a low tree branch! anyway, N and i jumped twice from that tree, the second time jumping together holding hands, and less shaky! hehe, i'm sure the mother is gonna scream if she saw me! :P

all in all, i think this rafting is the best activity out of the 3 that we did in gopeng, even though it's the one that gave me all the scratches and bruises (not to mention sunburn. even my ears were burnt!). so now we're looking forward to our next wwr trip! haha... from caving to wwr! such thrills!!


going home...

after getting back to the resort via the transfer lorry again (this time we weren't so lucky; we had to hop onto the back like the rest of the "zhu-chai" [canto: piglets]), we had our lunch, bath and then checked out. before we go, we took a walk around the area surrounding the resort.

the afternoon session of rafters setting out...

been there, done that...

as gopeng is actually very near kellie's castle in batu gajah (only 6km away), we decided to drive over and check it out. i won't bore everyone with the details of this castle here... any of you interested in reading more abt it can click here.

view of the castle from across the moat...

the corridor at the ground floor...

view from the roof of the castle...

N: "i'm scared of heights..."
the opening on the roof from where the stairs come up...

ok, really going home...

saw this swamp full of lotus flowers along the road not far from kellie's castle,
so we stopped by the roadside and got down to take this photo...

detour at tapah...

me: ling, remember to stop at the tapah r&r wor.
N: y ar?
me: i wanna buy jambu air and seedless guava. can ar?
N: u asked oredi, takkan i won't stop for u!

but on the way to the jambu air stalls,
something more tempting lured us from our path!

who needs jambu air when we can have baskin-robbins? yums...

but in the end, we bought our jambu air also lar... hehe...


end of the journey...

taking our own sweet time coming back, we only reached kl at abt 8pm. it's great that the next day was a public holiday (awal muharram). we do not need to rush back to prepare ourselves (mentally and physically) for work the next day... and to close off our trip (and after all the simple kampung food, and also because i was craving for chicken those few days), we decided to treat ourselves to kenny rogers! yummers!

we can eat a lot! see, i got coupons!

read also:
1) short weekend getaway: my gopeng resort - day 1
2) caving at the dark cave

short weekend getaway: my gopeng resort - day 1

one fine day...

this was a very last minute trip. it all started last tuesday, when i was feeling particularly restless. so i sent N an sms:

“i suddenly feel so sien… feel like going away somewhere for few days. u think our gua tempurung trip can happen dis weekend?”

at which N promptly replied:

“can… so long v got friends go with us… u check website for min requirement. min 5 pax if i’m not mistaken”

but after asking everyone we can think of (that we wanted on the trip), no one wanted to go with us! i think it was because it was so last minute. less than 1 week's notice! i wanted to ask san, but she wasn’t online that day… and i reckoned it’ll be too last minute for her too.

so in the end, we decided to go by ourselves, which i think still worked out for the best! less ppl, less hassle! and we also decided to go to gua kandu instead of gua tempurung, which is also in perak.

long morning wait

as mentioned in my previous post, i was pissed with N for (i think) not taking this trip seriously that i nearly wanted to cancel everything and crawl back into bed. luckily N managed to persuade me otherwise…

and so, our trip began! since it’s quite a long drive to perak, we didn’t want to make it a day trip. so we booked a package at My Gopeng Resort, inclusive of full board (5 meals), 1 gua kandu trip and 1 night jungle trekking.


bored in the car

in between yakking abt anything and everything, and singing tunes from mama mia! at the top of our lungs, i was pretty bored in the car. well, i think these photos explained my boredom…

one indication that u're nearing ipoh
is the limestone caves along the highway...

N sempat lagi (malay: still had time) to pose for my camera!

yours truly... i was bored, ok? not very sharp pic, coz of the moving car...

our breakfast-on-the-go!

nearly there! 1 more km to the gopeng exit!

getting into gopeng town

well, the map indicated that upon turning right from the toll, we are to look out for a bus station on our right, at which we are to turn into gopeng town. but after driving for 15 minutes, we still did not see any bus station. and we were already heading towards setiawan! so we called the resort to ask again and found out that the bus station is only abt 3-4 minutes from the toll. ok… we made a u-turn and only saw the bus station after driving really slowly and opening our eyes really big.

the place don’t look like a bus station at all! i think the resort should indicate more landmarks in their map, such as the post office next to the bus station and also the police station next to the post office. those are the more obvious landmarks, compared to the bus station. also, i think the resort should have a sign board by the main road pointing INTO gopeng town, instead of appearing AFTER we’ve gotten our lost selves into there.

while lost, we passed by this 2 rows of empty pre-war shoplots...
very eerie. it was quickly dubbed as 'ghost town' by us

and the journey continues

dear, u think this one ok ar?

after a brief stop at an electrical shop in gopeng town (where N wanted to buy a headlamp or a torchlight for our caving), we followed the signboards scattered along the way towards the resort… from town, the road got smaller and the surrounding overgrown with bushes and undergrowth. the adventurous selves in us were awakened and we can’t wait to get to our destination!

this wira a few cars in front of us had some trouble with the pot-holed road.
so we got down from our car to 'kay-poh' (hokkien: become busybodies).
moral of the story: don't modify ur car!

along the way, i was looking if there were any cars behind us, and saw this!

some 20 over ppl packed behind a lorry!

we were laughing our heads off, commenting that they look like kena ‘mai-zhu-chai’ (canto: ‘sold-off pig’ --> human trafficking).

arrived at last!

main entrance to the resort...

entrance to the carpark at the back...

the place is very nicely tended, with vast open space and has a very peaceful kampung feel to it. after checking in at abt 1.15pm, we straight away had our lunch before checking out our living quarters.

the dining area... looks like a canteen, hor?

their buffet lunch was a simple fare...

back to basics... but good thing everything was very clean. no icky feelings!

and the adventure begins!

after settling down and changing into appropriate clothes and shoes, we were brought to gua kandu… on the lorry as mentioned above! turned out, those lorries are used for transferring the guests and participants to the various activity locations around the area! so the moral of the story here is, do not laugh at ppl at the back of lorries looking like ‘zhu-chai’ (canto: pig) on the way to the market, coz u’ll never know when u’ll end up like them! but we were lucky coz on this trip, there were only the 2 of us, so our guide (an org asli named ah ngah) let us sit in front with the driver while he climbed onto the back of the lorry.

we had to climb up a small hill to get to the opening of the cave

N was very excited when she saw this huge 'umbrella'! if u've watched
the cartoon 'my neighbour totoro', u'll understand this...

gua kandu is very different from the dark cave in batu caves. the whole feeling of the cave is different. for one, there weren’t any ‘adventure route’ for us to creep and crawl through. secondly, the smell of guano is minimal. thirdly, the chambers and ‘halls’ in gua kandu are huge! we felt like we were in a whale’s stomach!

also, there are more loose sand and dirt in this cave. according to ah ngah, if we were a group, the air will get very dusty from the trampled loose dirt. unlike in the dark cave, the inside of this cave is mostly dry. so instead of mud, we get a lot of dust on us.

an opening at the opposite side of the cave...

rock curtains... don't this reminds u of davy jones'
"octopus beard" from pirates of the carribean?

another cave opening... this opening is
actually very big, with a long drop below

one for the record! we were here!

with ah ngah. at another opening at another part of the cave...

haha... i made N do this! to show that the stalactite and stalagmite
are nearly touching! but they would still need a few more hundred years
to actually join into a column

there were also no regulations whatsoever in gua kandu. visitors are allowed to touch the cave walls and rock formations, which will actually erode and spoil them. and we are allowed to take flash photography wherever and whenever we like. no worries abt scaring the bats! i think the reason for this is because there weren’t any body managing or guarding this cave, unlike the dark cave, which is managed by mns. here at gua kandu, anyone is allowed to come and go as they please. we went in equipped with only our flashlights, without any safety helmets! and there were even rubbish scattered here and there, especially plastic water bottles.

water bottles left by some irresponsible visitor...

also, i think the resort can improve on this package by providing a more expert guide. the orang asli guide is a good guide, in the sense that he made sure of our safety and knows all the route to take. but on top of seeing the cave, we were also looking to learn more about it. so it would be great to have a proper guide to explain to us the facts abt the cave.

the communists hid here in the 1950s...

i don't read chinese but according to N, it said
"long live chairman mao!" and "long live the communist party!"

we emerge from kandu cave via this huge opening...

to get back to the road, we need to go through this path in the undergrowth...

back at the resort

no, i wasn't taking N's bum. i wanted to capture the menu
for today's dinner! ok, so i lied. i was taking N's dirty bum. so sue me!

sweaty and dusty, we went back to the resort for our afternoon tea. as we still had some 2 hours to kill before dinner, N and i decided to take a short trip of our own to explore the area around the resort. we heard that there is a waterfall nearby, so we drove up the road from the resort entrance in search of it, even though it had started to rain.

we got to the waterfall after abt 15 minutes of driving. it’s not everyday we get to see a waterfall, so we jumped right in! ok, not really… we just waded in up to our knees, just to soak our feet. and yes, in the rain! N was even wearing her poncho! what a sight we were! luckily there were only the two of us…

see, it's really rubber ler!

getting back to the resort, N the city gal excitedly went to examine the tapped rubber tree next to the resort car park. this was her first time seeing a real life rubber tree and she announced loudly that she’ll wake up very early the next morning to see the rubber tappers at work!

dinner!

after taking the coldest shower in my life, we went to the mess for dinner. there, we found that dinner for that night was barbecue! each group had our own bbq pit and portions prepared according to the number of person in our group. i think this was done very well. everyone gets their share and we don’t have to crowd around a huge bbq pit. other than the raw meat and vege for bbq, the resort also prepared some fried rice, chicken curry etc to make sure big eaters do not starve!

night jungle trekking

after dinner, N and i went back to our hut to change back into our dirty caving clothes for the next activity --> night jungle trekking. personally, i did not enjoy this. normally i like jungle trekking, but it being night, we can’t really see anything other than the small area lit up by our torchlights. and because the group was very big (50 of us!) with a mixture of adults and kids, the trek was very slow. some trekkers who were ‘not so deft’, kept stumbling and slipping on the muddy and slippery jungle floor, slowing down the ones behind. N and i were right at the back (roll call number at 40 and 41), and we got pretty bored after awhile.

and because there were only 4 guides spread along the long line of single file participants, we did not hear anything the guides say. again, we were looking to be ‘educated’. so it would be great if the groups were smaller and the guide can explain things to us as we go along.

but N and i enjoyed the river crossing near the end of the trek. initially they had wanted to cancel the river crossing, because there were kids in the group. but N asked if we can be split into 2 groups, with one group going for the river crossing. so that’s what we got! of course, the river is not very wide, but the water was very rapid! and cold too! the water level came up to our chest and we had to cross it by holding on to a rope tied across the river. i would say it’s the only interesting part of the trek.

we got back to the resort at about 11.30pm. another cold shower ensued! brrr… if only they had hot water for these nighttime showers!

goodnight!

after shower, we were dead tired. those who know us would expect us to talk into the night, but nope! we just rolled out our sleeping bags and fell right asleep!

read also:

1) caving at the dark cave