The "Queen"

I'm sure you've all heard the news, it's the major headline over here as you may have guessed Kim Yu-na did it! She put on two amazing performancs that I've seen too many times to count on repeat on SBS. I still watch it though, she did a fantastic job!




There's more pictures here:

http://www.nbcolympics.com/photos/galleryid=448354.html#kims+golden+night

And... I just read this on the Korean times. You can read more about Yu-na and marketing here:

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/sports/2010/02/136_61563.html


"No one can escape Kim Yu-na in South Korea. The 19-year-old has just dominated the skating rink in Vancouver, and is now raising her share of the advertising market to another world-record level.

There was more than enough advertising and merchandise featuring the sensational figure skater even before her winning of the gold medal at the Winter Olympics; there was Yuna milk, Yuna bread, Yuna SUVs, Yuna air-conditioners, Yuna supermarkets, Yuna facial cream and Yuna teddy bears."

Yuna milk? Sign me up! ^^

Here's a commercial I see ALL THE TIME at the gym. She's the new Nike face in Korea. If you search in YouTube for her commercials, there's dozen! I like this one and the lipstick commercial best.

Malaysia Trip Day 8~ The Last Day

On the last day, I had until around 8:30pm to goof around and see even more of the city. I spent the night in a comfortable bed (the bed in the private room was so uncomfortable, but the bed in the dorms were much nicer!) and slept soundly.

The first sight I saw was the National Monument, which is located close to the Lake Gardens in KL. It was designed by the same person who created Iwo Jima and is the worlds largest freestanding bronze sculpture.



The Lake Gardens themselves are very scenic and it's hard to believe its right in the middle of a huge city. I saw the hibiscius and orchid gardens, which were very pretty and the smells, oh, it smelled so great! The hibiscius is the national flower and wow, so gorgeous!



These are some orchids that were for sale in the Orchid Garden:



In the Lake Gardens, there is also a bird park. It is the worlds largest free-flight bird park. It is 3.2 hectares and there are about 2000 birds roaming about freely. I spent about 3 hours there! It was a lot of fun and I couldn't believe the amount of birds. Here are some of my favorite pictures:



I'd probably be pretty pissed too if I had this on my head:





This bird wanted some of my sandwich



Here's some birds sunning themselves:



It was a great end to a wonderful vacation, one I'm sure to never forget! ^^

Malaysia Trip Day 7

Today was pretty much all travel by the time I got going... 5 hours on a bus!

Before I left, I stopped at a McDonalds for a quick lunch and accidentally bumped into someone from Lacrosse, WI! It's such a small world!

I didn't have any problems with the bus, yay! It was such a relief! It was an incredibly scenic ride. For 5 hours, all I saw was palm tree after palm trees. It would be like driving through the WI northwoods if all the pine trees were palm trees. We also got to see some of the Cameron Highlands, basically limestone mountains. Here's a view of some palm trees with mountains in the background:



Back in KL, I stayed at the same hostel, Red Palm, in Bukit Bintang. I did some shopping in the many malls in the area. I had to restock on some English books, I've gotten 4 new novels already. I know I've purchased a lot on this trip, but most things are presents for some people back home~ Happy Birthday, Mom! :)

Malaysia Trip Day 6

I was really excited to get back out on the motorbike this morning for the last day on Langkawi, so I forced myself to get out of bed early. When I got out on the road, I didn't have to make as many stops today because I knew where I wanted to go and how to get there without getting lost.

My first stop was Seven Wells Waterfall. I asked at the hotel which waterfall was the best, because I had a limited amount of time. They said Seven Wells, because there is a total of 7 waterfalls, including one large one. Compared to other waterfalls I've seen, this one wasn't too special. Not to high, not too wide, but it was still pretty. There were tons of large rocks at the bottom, which the water had smoothed over many years. I had to concentrate as I walked over them so I didn't slip!



This is above the large waterfall, where the other 6 smaller falls are located. I felt like I was on the edge of the world here. It was really slippery in this area!



For lunch, I went to a Thai restaurant on Chenang Beach, Sawadee Thai Seafood Restaurant. I really wanted to get just a basic Pad Thai, but they didn't have any. I opted for lobster, but because it wasn't fresh, as in caught that day, the waitress recommended the King Prawn. King it was! There were only 2 of them, and they were so huge! I got the kind with a pineapple glaze and it was delicious. Look at how big they are!



Late in the afternoon, I took a three hour ferry ride to Georgetown. On the way, I enjoyed some of the chocolates I bought in Duty Free. Langkawi earned duty free status a while back, and you can find good deals on perfume, alcohol, cigarettes, and chocolate. Since chocolate is very expensive in Korea, I decided to get MnM's and Whoppers... yum!

By the time I made it to Georgetown, it was dark and I was ready to crash. I had a few problems locating where to buy a bus ticket to Kuala Lumpur, thankfully I managed to get one for 12:30 the next day.

I stayed at the Hutton Lodge which is right next to the biggest night market in Georgetown. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time and was exhausted by the time I made it there. I was just hoping that I didn't have nearly as many problems making it back to KL as I did leaving KL!

Malaysia Day 5

I spent most of day riding on the motorbike my hotel hooked me up with. It cost about $30 for two days, which is a ton less than taking taxi's all around the island. I put two liters of gas in, and that cost about $1.50, so pretty good.

Once I got used to the bike, I rode up to Telga Harbor Park, which was so beautiful. It was windy but the bright blue water made up for it.



There was also the prettiest hotel on the bay, called Berjaya Langkawi Beach Resort. I would have loved to have stayed here, too bad the room rates were through the roof!



Later on, I cruised up to the cable car and oriental village. I was excited to see this so called Oriental village. To me, it looked like something you'd find in Disneyworld.



I had to wait about 2 hours to get up to the top, by the time I waited to stand in line and then stand in line and take the car up. I was lucky and met 4 fun Malayan young adults my age. We rode up together and hung around up top. Once we got to the top, the view was incredible! It was hard to tell where the water stopped and the sky began, it was all the same blue color. There was a rumor about it being cold up on the top, but it was still really hot! Here are the guys I met:



This is what part of the island and mountains look like:



Here's a view of the water and sky:



After taking numerous pictures, I got back on to the road and went to some beaches. I had to stop a few times to look at the monkey's sitting on the side of the road:



I relaxed on an almost-deserted beach, Tanjung Rhu. There are three small islands that you can walk to on the sandbar during low tide. I did that and as I was walking, I saw a gorgeous sunset. Here I am on the sandbar on the way back from the smaller islands.



I did a lot today, and had an awesome time on the motorbike. On the way back to the hotel, I got it up to 80 kph on the freeway. I'd love to have one of those back home!

Malaysia Trip Day 4~ Pulau Payar Marine Park

I'm not sure what kind of hotel doesn't have a clock in the room. Mine definitely didn't. I had to get a wakeup call at 6:30 to go on a snorkeling tour I'd booked yesterday to Pulau Payar Marine Parke.

The tour started about 8:30 am from the Jetty; I sat next to a sweet couple for north of Perth and had a good time talking to them during the one hour ferry ride to the island. We had great weather for the trip, clear skys and hot. I was suprised though at the amount of people on the tour. I knew right away it would be incredibly different than going in the Philippines!

When we got to the island, only the people with the orange and purple wristbands were let off. I got kind of frustrated because mine was yellow. Why couldn't I get off? I was loosing valuable snorkel time! It turns out that the beachfront area is divided up by different companies that book tours. Our company's spot was just a bit further down the beach.

The water was so blue! The contrast between the light blue and dark blue water looked like something you'd see in a postcard. It really was picture perfect! This is the area where we snorkeled when we first got there. The darker patches are coral.



Here I am, ready to snorkel!



There were lots of families with small kids near the shallow water. Most of them were on vacation for the New Year I suspect. Therefore the shallow area was pretty crowded and it made for good entertainment while eating my lunch on the beach. Once you got out to the deeper water, there were a lot less people, which were nice. One of the great things about the trip was that there were so many fish, and they came in their huge schools right up to the shore. This little kid was pretty scared of the fish, it was adorable!



I think this guy looks like he's having fun, look at all those fish!



Overall, snorkeling was lots of fun. I saw some of the biggest fish I'd ever seen, and the fish were swimming in whole schools. Instead of just seeing one fish, you'd see 30-40 of them. My favorite fish was the Idol Fish. Looks similar to Gil in Finding Nemo, huh?



I also saw lots of these fish close to the shore:



The coral wasn't nearly as colorful as it was in the Philippines, but it was still an amazing day trip!

Malaysia Trip Day 3- The rest of the day

So we eventually made it to Kuala Perlis around 9 am. After buying ferry tickets at the jetty, we had an hour and a half to kill. We grabbed some mango and honeydew, and tried the traditional Malay breakfast of roti canai. It is a pancake that sometimes includes an egg, and you dip it in a yummy curry sauce. It was tasty, but not very filling. This is kind of what it looked like:



We had no problems on the ferry; it took about an hour to get there. The boarding process seemed to take forever though! I thanked my new Iranian friends before leaving because without them, I'd probably still be in KL! I had successfully made it to Langkawi, an island off the west coast of Malaysia, so far north it is practically Thailand.

The island was a lot bigger than I was expecting. The taxi ride to the airport was about 30 km! I stayed at Hotel Helang, which isn't on the beach, but the only hotel I could find for 4 nights in a row at the same place. Apparently everyone, even non-Chinese people, take a holiday during the New Year, so most places were packed. And with the $50 a night price tag, I could hardly beat that!

After a brief shower, I was off to Chenang Beach on the west coast of the island. It is one of the most popular beaches, and is where most of the "life" is. Here, you can swim, jet ski, ride a banana boat, parasail, or just relax with a book and beer in hand at one of the many beachfront cafes. I bought a chair for myr 10, kicked my shoes off, and enjoyed the scenery:



Once the wind changed directions, there were tons of people out parasailing. Most of the time, there were 5 different parasails up in the sky. It looked like a ton of fun, and even though I was pretty nervous, I gave it a shot. I'm so glad I did! It was fantastic! I could see everything it felt like. The surrounding islands were gorgeous, and I could see all of the 2km long beach. I've never done anything like it before, and would have loved to have gone a second time. I'm the one that is up the highest in the picture:



It ended up to be an excellent afternoon and evening, despite the stress earlier on! After having some dinner at one of those beachfront cafe's, I called it a night and headed back to the hotel. The lack of sleep and the sun made me completely exhausted!