I must look like a big tasty red blood cell. I've been sitting here uploading photos onto my blog for the past half hour and I've already been bitten by mosquitos the size of canned hams about a hundred times.

The next time you see me I'll probably look like a raspberry, my mosquito bites will have swollen up so much. Either that or I'll have DEET poisoning from all the mosquito repellent I've stupidly applied to myself AFTER being bitten.

Apologies in advance if the following post takes on a bitter, resentful mood. It's hard to be happy when you're itchy :(

Today's post is a mixture of lots of random events. The last few days have been crazy hectic - today is the first day I've actually had a chance to sit and do nothing. Well, do nothing is an understatement. But I'd like to think it was a possibility :( hahahaha

The whole reason I'm in Malaysia is because on Thursday it was my maternal grandpa's 80th birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA SIM!

Turning 80 is a pretty big deal in asian culture.

Anyway, the following post is again full of random photos which don't really follow any particular thread except for my train of thought (which is a bit squiggly wiggly like the photos i've chosen to post)

The morning of my grandpa's birthday I had to eat a boiled egg, long life noodles and sugared water. It was a terrible combination and I don't suggest you eat this without really having to but it's supposed to symbolise birth, longevity and the sweetness of life.

We had to take my brother to the doctor cuz he broke out in hives. He had these red, ugly welts all over his body, the poor thing. I probably shouldn't be sharing this photo with people but he seemed quite proud to show it off...

the only reason i'm posting up this photo is because i'm so sick of our whole house smelling like durian.

More people should adhere to this sign. The damn things smell like cuss. My grandpa absolutely LOVES them and brought home 30 (no joke, I counted) the other day. Our whole house smelt like absolute cuss, and the cars STILL smell like durian. At least they make him happy.

HEHEHEHE i HAD to take a photo of this, it took my mum a good 5 minutes to figure out why my brother and i were laughing



Fat naked man in the newspaper


I went to an orphange for disabled and mentally handicapped people to visit some of the residents. This place is basically the only place that takes in orphans or people who have been disowned by their family because they're severely disfigured etc.



It was probably the saddest but most inspiring place I've ever been to. Some of the more severely disabled patients had to be tied to their beds to prevent them from harming themselves. Others seemed to be quite capable and were in a common room doing some pretty intricate craft and needle work - even though half of them had disfigured hands or had to use their feet to sew, their needlework would beat mine hands down.



The saddest thing I saw though, was a completely limbless person with mental disabilities. They were literally just a torso lying on a bed covered in sheets made out of baby nappies, cuz they couldn't control their bowel movements. And the worst thing was that they had no idea what was going on around them. An empty shell of a person. I guess in a way it's kind of a blessing that they didn't have the capacity to understand what was happening - the world can be both cruel and kind in that way.


Oh, and under this person's bed was another resident who had crawled under the bed and was curled up in a ball and was rocking back and forth and making noises.

The home was beautiful - wide corridors, open wards and a large communal rehabilitative swimming pool in the middle of courtyard.

Nuns in white habits bustled about, tending to the residents.


This poster made by the residents broke my heart into a million little pieces. I think it was the word happy written on all the little photos and next to the giant loveheart in the centre of the page.


It's moments like this where I feel like love is such an all encompassing emotion.



Their ability to be happy and still love each other despite having been abandoned for who they are. As soppy as it sounds, I feel like there is so much we can learn from them.



My family threw a massive dinner for my grandpa's birthday. The 200 person guest list only included my extended family and like 5 of my grandparents' best friends.



I have a big family.




My brother was originally planning to wear a flannel shirt to this dinner. I cracked it when I found out and dragged him to the shops when we were in Kuala Lumpur.




Sometimes I feel like I'm playing queer eye for the straight guy with him - but doesn't he look nice? :)

I put on my best face for the night

My favourite grand uncle has the most awesome beard

He's my grandpa's youngest brother, and is the wild child of the family. He spent the night drinking beer out of a jug ahahahaha

I think my grandparents were a little overwhelmed by the whole event!

My grandpa is wearing a traditional native Malaysian shirt, which was supposed to reflect part of my family's inidigenous tribal heritage

This is one of my favourite photos of the night, because you can see my grandma laughing in the background. I think I was giving my grandpa a big fat kiss

For those of you wondering, my grand aunty on the far left is responsible for all the tailor-made clothes that I wear to class/clinic

The girl cousins from my mum's side of the family plus my mum's cousin on the far right. We're all really close in age so we've all kinda grown up together.

My mum's core family

My family - my mum is wearing some sort of traditional native tribal dress

let's not judge but the wings on my dress seem to add an extra 10 pounds to my frame

my cousins minus one

My brother and I were standing being my grandparents making faces and my dad managed to get it on camera

Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPAPPY!!!!!!!!! What a wonderful 80 years of life, and I hope you have a hundred million more :) love you

On Friday, my family decided to go on a trip. At least I thought it was just going to be my family. Another 25 members of my extended family turned up...

And like this, about 30 of us went to a Crocodile farm.

Because we were such a big group, my mum had to keep track of everyone by waving around an umbrella

One of my uncle's used to work as a tour guide at this place, so he was self-appointed group leader.

This crocodile had no tail

CRIKEY, IT'S A CROC!

Sometimes I feel a little bit like a crocodile: big head and tiny arms.

DEFORMED CROCODILE!!!

bear doing a poo

this bear cat came right up to me

i felt kinda sorry for it cuz it was so lonely, and was tempted to stick my fingers inside the cage and pet it

But i think that's how people lose limbs.

my brother walked round like this the whole day

My cousin and I trying on all of my grandma's jewellery. It was fully bling bling.

I met up with my friend Jelly for the first time in about 3 years! She's one of the funniest people i've ever met!

Anyway, Jelly makes a LOT of faces. She showed me her new 'domo kun' face, which is not. nice. Hahaha I've posted a picture of a domo kun below for those of you wondering what it is.

domo kun

It's the first time in my life I've seen Jelly out of the house in glasses and no makeup. She's normally got more cake on her face than me (hahaha, sorry jelly!)

I went clubbing with my uncle (left), brother (right), a couple of my cousins and some friends. Kuching club life is absolutely appalling - it's a complete sausage fest.

My uncle is crazy. He's actually my mum's cousin and is a year older than I am. Anyway, when he was 15 he modified a gameboy charger into one of those tattooing pen things and tattooed his arm

Crabby (Caleb) and I go way back. It's been a hell of a long time since I've seen him or mentioned him on my blog. I've missed you and your wierd, wonderful ways!

cousin x cousin x uncle x brother