i-city!

this weekend (well, TODAY), the inaugural "malaysia women marathon" was held in i-city, which is located in shah alam. i will get to the race in a separate first, but this was my first time exploring i-city. shah alam is about 35 km out from klcc, so i decided to spend the night out there. i had to go out saturday to pick up my race pack, and today to actually run, and it just seemed like a better idea. it turned out to actually be a really better idea, as my taxi out there was 100 ringgit, and back today was 60 (executive taxi vs budget taxi).

i-city is kind of like a couple of amusement parks in one. not quite like sunway lagoon, but close. i found sunway lagoon to be more cohesively laid out, whereas i-city was a bit disjointed and the maps didn't really make sense. there is a snoworld, a funworld, the city of digital lights, and a waterworld. there's also lots of carnival-type rides just out, and an arcade section with a few different "fun" (i.e. 5d, 6d) theaters, a trick art museum, and a little dinosaur exhibit.



waterworld has a few different slides, which looked fun, but i was not there for water rides. of course, i am always amused when i find disney where disney doesn't belong.





snoworld is an indoor fake snow.....world. erm. it had little games you'd play in the snow, lots of ice sculptures (although most looked to be melting, or broken), and two big slides to go down. it would be fun i suppose, if you're not accustomed to winters full of snow. i was wearing a skirt and a tanktop, but equipped with rented boots and a jacket, and it was cold. let's face it. i came to malaysia to get away from the cold.



the trick art museum was very neat. lots of people were in crazy poses next to the various arts, which created fun photos.



i could have done without the dinosaur display, but it was only five ringgit. just a big warehouse room with different dino displays and info about the dinos. "the straw that broke the camel's back" about the dino extinction was humorous though. at least, it was to me.






the city of digital lights was very neat. i only stayed just past sunset, but i'm sure it's even more beautiful in the dark. and there were sunflowers! those are my favorites, of course, so i was excited to see them in digital form.



i stayed at the "hotel de art," which was nice and clean, although the room was a little small. i also had breakfast included, but as i filled up on post-race goodies i didn't see what the offerings were. all of the rooms at the hotel are themed. i was hoping for one of the girlier (i.e. breakfast at tiffanys) rooms, but ended up with this one. it was alright alright. the front desk staff were also very helpful!

in all, it was a good quick overnight trip. if only i could say the race was just as good. you can read about that here!

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holi festival

a belated happy easter! i spent easter at the same church i talked about last year, only this time i went to an earlier mass at 9:30 and found it much less overwhelming as what i had walked into last year.

following mass, i met up with meagan and we headed out to a local holi festival. holi is a hindu holiday, celebrating several different legends in the hindu religion, and also marking the start of spring. we weren't quite sure what to expect from it, but it certainly turned out be one of our better experiences!



this is what we looked at just after walking through the welcoming committee. and this was only the beginning!



see how happy she is? EVERYONE was that happy. i have never giggled so much, nor been surrounded by so many people who were just genuinely celebrating their religion and acting so completely carefree.




essentially as you walk through the crowd (who are all dancing or just enjoying themselves), everyone blesses you by marking you with the colored powder. we eventually got our own color and were able to walk around spreading the love to others. generally on the street, if someone were to come up and rub your face you'd probably be quite concerned. that was not the case here. it was all happiness.



this is what we looked like nearing the end of it. it was interesting, to say the least, to hail a cab and hope that he wouldn't mind our colorful selves in the backseat.



of course when i came home i had to share some of the colored love onto snuff, as well. he didn't enjoy it. i think he was a little startled when i walked through the door.

last easter i wrote about how amazing i found it that right next to the church, there was a chinese temple, and it signified to me exactly how culturally diverse malaysia is. this easter i had the same experience, only more first-hand than last year. it's just quite amazing to see. i'm a firm believer that one cannot blindly follow their own religion without lending themselves to experience the traditions of others. i'm all the more thankful that my opportunities here are giving me firsthand experiences. i had much to be thankful for this easter.

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twin towers @live 2013

i have been putting off writing this post, mostly because it still makes me SO EXCITED that when i start looking through the photos and videos to pick out what to put on here, i get stuck watching my videos and reliving the evening.

to add to the build up of the formula one races held in malaysia, petronas sponsors a free concert held at the base of the twin towers, spanning two nights. the concert itself is free and viewable by all, but you can purchase 150 ringgit of petronas merchandise and receive one ticket to the "fan zone" which immediately surrounds the stage, limit two tickets per person. as soon as i saw who would be performing on the second night, it wasn't even a question as to if it was worth it to pay for a ticket. it was definitely. definitely. DEFINITELY. worth it.



this is the second day, the day we went to. the first day had a few local artists and demi lovato.



we arrived around 8 pm (gates opened at 5) and soon were watching caprice and his dancing boys as they rapped and entertained the crowd. he was really great. we started a bit far out from the stage.



right in the middle of the concert was earth hour, so the event catered to that. they shut off the lights on the towers (which is truly a sight to see), and all the other lights on the surrounding buildings. the concert, however, went on. the hour started with a touristy video of malaysia, which went on a bit too long. then the stage was filled with drummers in local cultural dress, and they were fun to watch. then we experienced the beatboxing of shawn lee. he was ADORABLE. and i was so, so impressed by his beatboxing skills. it's really amazing to see that in person. following him was a show of dancers decked out in glow lights, illuminated by UV lighting. they danced to madonna and lady gaga. they were okay. and THEN, there was a drumline. more amazingness. i love a good drumline.



one nation emcees took the stage next, and they were interesting, to say the least. i'm not quite sure what they do other than run around and sing and dance other people's songs, but they entertained. no one else was dancing though. i danced.



finally, one of the two acts we were so excited for! mizz nina! she came out sparkling, of course. however, her performance was disappointing. for being a local artist who has international fame, i would expect more than two songs. especially given everyone who had come before her did at least three-fiveish? i don't know. maybe there were time limits. she left quickly.



as you may or may not notice, we kept creeping closer and closer to the stage. when the k-pop group 2ne1 came out, the crowd went crazy and we were able to get even closer. it seemed that the majority of the crowd was there for them. and the crowd was CRAZY.



we continued to sit and wait patiently for the main act, or did we?



quick answer: no.



i can officially check one item off the imaginary bucket list: elbow my way to the front row of a concert. but what concert is worth of such physical straining?



i'm dead. can't even resize these.






i mean, honestly, i am dead. every time i look at these photos i cannot believe it happened. as soon as i saw the backstreet boys were reuniting as a force of five at this concert, i about passed out in the office. ALL FIVE OF THEM. IN MY TEMPORARY CITY. i could not believe it. i saw the backstreet boys in 2001, just before the end of eighth grade. my darling dear friend (whose wedding was mentioned last september), another friend, and i made shirts, sprayed our hair black and blue, the works. and NOW, my thirteen-year-old self was reawakened and i just knew i had to be in the front row of that concert. and i made it so. my friends were right there behind me. and we had so much fun. we could hardly walk afterwards, and i spent most of the next day in bed, but it was so worth it. they were excellent. they sang everything. every. thing. they did the only version of "gangnam style" i will ever approve of. i came home and skyped my boyfriend and he asked if i was drunk. NO. just drunk on my love of 90s boy bands.

this was truly a perfect day. one of my very best, favorite days living here, by far. i'll go back to being a respectable 25-year-old now.

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future music festival asia 2013

a couple weeks ago, future music festival asia came to town. i missed it last year (as i had just arrived), but everybody said it was fun. in looking at the line-up, i was most definitely not excited. still, i wanted to experience it with my friends. there were four stages, so lots of music going on all the time but we stayed at one of the main stages.



first, of course, we had to feed ourselves with the most deliciously authentic barbeque you can find here in malaysia. andy's bbq is run by americans, and seriously delicious. a nice taste of home. we also found some amusement in the cigarette girls.



there was a ferris wheel, but we didn't try it, and a seriously beautiful sunset. you can see the ATC tower at the airport, something to make my dad happy :)



the first artist we saw was rita ora, from britain. she was pretty good. there were several problems with her mic that caused some issues, but she powered through it. we managed to squeeze ourselves right up to the front of the stage.



second we saw psy. yeah, THAT psy. he performed several korean songs and then "gangnam style" not once, but TWICE. i caveat this with the fact that i really dislike him. i won't get into the reasons why, but i don't find him to be genuine. that being said, he performed his one-hit-wonder song twice for the reasons that people would want to take photos/videos, so he wanted to provide them an opportunity to take photos/videos during the first performance, and then fully dance and enjoy the second. i thought that was admirable. he has to be completely tired of that song, and i'm almost positive his dancers are equally tired since one of them looked so unenthusiastic throughout the whole show i thought she might fall asleep on the stage, so to perform it twice purely for fan enjoyment says something. still, he peeves me. i'd post a video, but youtube has changed its settings such that i can't access my account and that's all a big mess.



after that, fun. took the stage. they lived up to their namesake. i also have a bone with one of their songs, but i let it go because they were all such great performers. the lead singer was so ACTIVE on stage, he was just fun to watch. they were pretty great live as well.

we left after that, as we were tired and there weren't really any other artists we were interested in seeing. it was a timely exit as well, as i had a little sinus issues and they miraculously disappeared for the five hours or so we were out there, and creeped right back in during the last fun. song. ah well, the concert made for a nice weekend!

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