A short and sweet half-day trip to Pulau Aman

I first went to Pulau Aman with my parents. It was a sudden idea of my father. Too bad we were quite late when we went there. It was already 5pm when almost everything on the island had closed and the last boat trip back to mainland was at 7pm. So we didn't get to explore much of the island. Two weeks ago, I decided to brought my grandma to visit Pulau Aman again. Glad to say, she loves the trip very much, especially the short speedboat ride to and back from the island.

Pulau Aman is really miniscule. In fact there is no tarmac roads on the island at all. So as one can expect, there is nothing much to do on the island. One can rent a electric bike and explore the island in less than 15mins. But I think walking is the best, immersing oneself in the general kampung feel of the island. While strolling, it is so peaceful that I seem to always forget that I am in Penang. It is hard to believe that it is just opposite of Batu Kawan where so much development is on-going. The other thing that I like about Pulau Aman is that it is still very much under-developed and there is hardly any tourist at all. 

When my grandma and I were there, we had mee udang for our lunch. As much as the prawns were very fresh, the mee udang was too pricey to worth it. Since there were only 2 of us, we couldn't order and tried out many other food items such as oysters, fishes, etc.. They seemed pretty good, judging from what the other people ordered while we were there.

In short, visiting Pulau Aman is the perfect short getaway from the city life.

Impossible picture

This is not a sponsorship by White Castle. I just want to point out that the picture on the box doesn't make sense. The castle in the picture is Château de Chenonceau and the background is showing snow-capped high mountain range. This is geographically impossible as Chenonceau is one of the Châteaux de La Loire in the centre of France. The snow-capped mountains are, I guess, more towards East side of France where it borders Switzerland.

While researching, to my surprise, White Castle is a Malaysian local brand. Furthermore, the factory is situated in Penang! The brand using Chenonceau as packaging makes total sense to me. Unlike some other renowned European castles, such as the Neuschwanstein Castle which inspires the Disney's Sleeping Beauty castle, or Carcassonne which a board game is named after, Châteaux de La Loire are not as well-known among Malaysians. Imagine that White Castle decides to use Neuschwanstein Castle as packaging, people would immediately recognize it and people would just perceive the brand as a bit desperate to be a high-end product.

Although they are not as famous, I would argue that they are just as magnificent, and the high concentration of castles in just one area, along La Loire river makes them even more remarkable. If I have to pick a favorite, too bad Chenonceau is not my pick. My pick is Chambord 🥰

Time to read more

I've always liked to go to a bookstore and searched randomly for books. I like the word serendipity and I like the idea of it. This time while I had some time in the shopping mall, I went to a bookstore and I bought this book - Last Stories, a compilation of short stories by William Trevor. I instantly bought it when I saw the discounted price, at almost 80% off the original price.

New book always creates a spark in me, a spark to read more. I got this feeling whenever I purchase a new book. And then I realize that last year I hadn't read much at all, which is sad. In some way, short stories is good to kick start again the reading habit as it requires lower commitment.

The thing is I don't know much the book, nor the author William Trevor. So far I just read the very first story - The Piano Teacher's Pupil. It is a melancholic one, which is just the way I like. I've got a feeling that it is going to be a good read. 

2022 World Cup Final - The Greatest World Cup Final Ever

I can say that this is the greatest the world cup final ever and nobody would disagree. I am writing this weeks after the final simply because I still couldn't get out over it. From time to time, I still look over the Youtube to watch some live reaction video to the final. Every emotions, every ups and downs, it seems like every human on Earth was watching it together.

I still remember vividly that night. To be honest I wasn't planning to watch the final. I was baking some burnt cheesecakes. At around midnight while I was waiting for the cakes to cool down before I put them into the fridge, I was scrolling mindlessly through the Facebook. I was thinking, no way France could came back from down 0-2 with less than 10mins left. I was preparing to sleep. But then the miracle happened. First I saw the news 2-1, France finally scored with a penalty. That still didn't peek my interest yet. And then literally a minute later when I refreshed my news feed, it became 2-2! EQUALIZED! From there on, I was hooked. I jumped out of sofa and opened up the final livestream. 

From the 2-2 equalizer onwards, the match really heated up. Both sides constantly attacking, from one end of the field to another. It was already late at night, but I could still hear people shouting of excitement from the mamak stall nearby my house. It was nail-biting to say the least. I don't think I was sitting still for the rest of the match. For the penalty shootout at the end, the stakes were so high that I had to turn my back against the screen. I just couldn't stand the tension.

Although I was rooting for France, the match was so good that in the end it didn't matter to me that who won. Both teams gave us the match to talk about for centuries. I was just glad that I was able to witness the greatest sporting event ever.

Climax Fucked Me Up

It's been days after I watched the 2018 film Climax by Gaspar Noé, I still can't get over it. The imagery has burnt in my memory, even yesterday night I had some really strange dreams (although I can no longer recall them) and a rough night sleep. I had heard many compliments as well as disgust towards Gaspar's filmography and Climax is my first Garpar Noé's film. Out of morbid curiosity I checked out Climax a few days ago. OH BOY! It is an experience, to say the least.

To be honest, as much as how horrifying the film depicts the effect LSD could be, deep down inside, the film somehow convinces a part of me, just a tiny part of me, to try out LSD, to check out the my inner demon, to find out what kind of person I truly am. The film shows how exactly LSD would peel off the outer shell of a person, tear down all the phoniess, all the pretentiousness, so that the truest desire reveals itself. But then curiosity can kill. This tiny thought that the film manages to give me is damn dangerous, I have to admit. 

It is hard to recommend this film. It is unique, it is vulgar, it is a horror film, and it assaults your senses. At the same time, I also feel a certain sadness for the characters among many are merely victims. The slow descent to hellscape, a trainwreck happens in slow-mo, is unbearable to watch but I am morbidly fascinated. It is like what people like to say, it is just hard to look away from a car accident.