在颠沛流离的世界里，你还有我啊！- Book Review

I am definitely not the target audience. The good thing is it is a breeze to read through. One can even say it is fun to read as every chapter is paired beautiful travel photos. Story-wise though, I just don't find it very gripping. Most of them are stories from the author's experience from his travel, with some thoughts and feelings mixed in. Some might even think that the stories are very moving and motivating but I guess I am already jaded. Now that I'm older, my heart's colder, this kind of stories is just something that I no longer find riveting. To brag a little bit, upon finishing the book, I realized I could have written a book of this genre as my travel experience is quite substantial too (may be with way fewer beautiful photos 😅).

Although this book is not my taste, when I decided to read it, I was partly driven by the curiosity about the author as clearly there is a market for his books (the actual main reason is it was recommended by her 🤭). Peter Su, an author from Taiwan, apparently is relatively well-known in Malaysia as well. I could see that it could quench the wander lust of many people. I could also see people find his books comforting. But I am just not part of them. To me, his strong suit is no doubt his photography skill, just check out his Instagram @peter825. Writing skill is just ok lah. The silver lining is 

"No subject is terrible if the story is true, if the prose is clean and honest, and if it affirms courage and grace under pressure."

to quote Hemingway from the movie "Midnight In Paris". 

Goodwill or Rubbish?

While more and more people are getting into hiking, especially after the pandemic, what I notice more and more is the "trail markers" in the form paper people leave all over the trail haphazardly. One could argue that intention is good so that people wouldn't get lost in the forest, but I have always been taught to leave nothing behind when visiting the outdoors. The sheer amount of these so called "trail markers" is getting ridiculous. During my hike this morning, I could already spot 4 "trail markers" with different types of prints along the trail. To be honest, the trail is so well defined and so easy to follow after being trampled by visitors everyday that there is no need to put marker anymore. At this point, are these trail markers still goodwill or rubbish? 

Kampung Agong is overrated

I didn't want to use the word 'overrated' because it is so over-used that the adjective itself is overrated. But it is the perfect description to Kampung Agong. It strikes for the traditional 'kampung feel' but it fails to match SukaSuka Lake Retreat. If you want the perfect view of paddy fields, the paddy fields behind the Butterworth RMAF could have offered the same thing (in fact this is my favorite spot for a jog).

The fact that it was really crowded when I visited the site, just further downgraded my impression of Kampung Agong. What we always see are the idyllic pictures. What we don't normally see are the chaos outside the park flooded with cars and buses. 

In the end, Kampung Agong is just like many so-called museums in Penang. They all claim to offer an unique experience. But it is just a place for people queue up to take that one picture from that one angle, post it on social media to get some dopamine rush from the likes gathered. To put simply, it is not a place I like to visit. 

Barbarian review - 真係估你唔到!

The amount of twists and turns, unpredictable yet a plot that makes total sense, emotions ranging from dread to wtf to lmfao, Barbarian is wild roller coaster ride. Not the ones in Genting Highlands but those in Fuji-Q highlands. Dan Murrell puts it the best. "Barbarian is really like a dark theme park ride. As you hurtle around blind corners, screaming until the ride comes to a screeching halt and you find yourself laughing simply because you survived the journey."

If you haven't watch Barbarian, go watch it, even though you are not a horror fan. Don't be stupid and find any spoiler, or any info in that regard, not even the trailer. The mystery is the main driving force of the entire movie. Just go in the movie blind and I assure you will be pleasantly surprised. To be honest, I am not a horror fan. I half covered my ears throughout the movie because the tension was just unbearable. But the plot is so intricately structured, it is rare to see a craft at such a caliber. Highly recommended!

Suffolk House gives off a colonial vibe (in a bad way)

Being fascinated by the architecture of the building, and the fact that it is located right in the middle of Penang, just hiding in the garden beside the road I've passed by numerous times, my family and I visited Suffolk House last Sunday. I was prepared to spend a fortune there for an overpriced afternoon tea set and surprisingly I ended up beyond disappointed.

Not sure we were late or not, we arrived there at around 3.30pm. While I guessed it was a perfect time to have a tea time, apparently not. We were not alone. There was some sort of event on-going there. We were the only one who were there specifically for afternoon tea. We were immediately being told that the afternoon tea timeslot would be ended at 5.30pm. Our waitress was the main reason that I ended up disappointed. She gave off a vibe that we were not welcomed at all. The fact that she had to mentioned there would be another event that evening in the room we were sitting in and they would need time to cleanup after us, I was like: "what the hell do you have to mention that?", while we still had about 2 hours left until then. 

As expected, the whole experience was pricey. The tea set was average. The building was ok, I have seen better. Although the room we were in was very cozy, the rudeness of the waitress, the very well-dressed customers of the event happening in the adjacent room, just made us not very comfortable to stay any longer. After we left, we went over to the public park opposite the building. It was here that reminded me of Parasite the movie. While the Suffolk House and everyone there were the rich, there were homeless folks camping in the park just a bridge away. And what was even stranger was that there were many ordinary folks oddly choosing to picnic beside the very little bit of greenery between Suffolk House compound and the busy main Jalan Ayer Itam. The contrast of the rich and the poor was just eye-opening because I would never expected to see this in Penang itself. I have seen this kind of contrast in Mumbai before and this is almost on a par with it. 

My verdict is, if you have extra money and want to get a glimpse of how our ancestors felt during the oppressive English colonial times, Suffolk House can definitely deliver on that end 🤣

Suffolk House viewed from the public park opposite