Why Do We Kill People Who Kill People To Show That Killing People Is Wrong? (credits from a protestor's sign)

Image courtesy from google.com

I don't usually write or comment about political topics but this particular subject gave a huge tug at my heartstrings.

About more than 24 hours ago, the British Parliament had voted into a decision regarding how to make UK safer after a 10-hour debate. The verdict? Yes in starting airstrikes in Syria. Merely within a few hours after David Cameron announced results of the voting on UK's national television, the British Royal Air Force had carried out their first airstrikes in Syria.

What is the most sickening thing is how the decision was made based on votes. Deciding to start airstrikes upon Syria is not something as simple as deciding whether the prices in oil should be increased or not. These are innocent lives, we are talking about. Do they really think that their bombs are so highly technologinised to the point there are GPS targetting only ISIS? Yeah, I hardly think they are that stupid, which just proves that in the back of their mind, they KNOW innocent lives will be at risk. If they didn't learn that from the war in Iraq in 2003, then they have been living under rocks. No, not even JUST under rocks. Under rocks in PLUTO. 

And don't they dare say "oh, well, that's just part of war. There will always be collateral damage."

They won't be saying that if it's another country voting in favour to bomb their homes, now will they?

And please stop trying to defend them by saying, "oh, well we can't just sit back and do nothing! Why don't YOU come up with a solution?"

So it's not their jobs to come up with the best solution? Heck, if all it means being in the parliament is voting for the most violent and easiest way out, then I also can surely enter the parliament. Piece of cake.

I applaud the British public for standing up and publically protesting the decision their government made. Which just shows every government is the same. They never listen to their people. The good people of Britain even started a trending hashtag #NotInMyName to show they do not support this atrocious decision, and this proves that whoever agreed to this decision have no concious whatsoever.

For the 397 British Parliament that voted for yes, including the dear prime minister of Britain, what do you think about after that long debate, when you are tucking your children in for bed that night, them safe and warm under the covers, while 3000 miles away from you, Syrian parents are tucking in their children, kissing their foreheads, and placing a hand on their child's heart, with the thought that this may be the very last time they feel their child's heart beating, anticipating for the bombs to come, just because all you did was vote yes?

Wow. It's that simple to take out an innocent life. That's even worse than being cold-blooded murderers. Do you guys even sleep at night?

To the victims of this evil war, I pray that God will protect you and you are all martyr. Aamiin. 

My Travel Adventures Part 3 - Georgetown, Penang

As mentioned in my past posts before, I just LOVE street art and where better place to find all kinds of street art in Malaysia other than Georgetown, Penang. The street arts there are AMAZING and what's so fun about it is that they even made it into a street art hunt where there are maps you can refer to to find these street arts.

I went to Penang with Ayuni, she was the one that planned everything (I told you, she's good at planning these things) and I was so excited because I knew Georgetown was famous for these street arts so I had google ahead to find which street arts I wanted to see.

We went to Penang for 3 days 2 nights and I guess that should be enough if your main purpose there was to hunt down for street arts, haha. But If you go there not only for the street arts but for the many other attractions they have such as Bukit Bendera or Escape Adventure Land (initially, Ayuni planned to go to this escape place but then I read online about all the activities and said, umm..no thank you. Lol) or to Bukit Ferringhi and Penang's beaches, then maybe 3 days 2 nights is not enough. As for me, I went there for the street arts while Ayuni went there for the food (I told you, Ayuni takes her food very seriously).

So from Johor Bahru, I took a morning flight to Subang Airport where Ayuni was waiting to pick me up and from there, we headed straight to Penang with her car, which she drove but when we reached George Town, we swat roles and I drove because she said she hated driving in George Town due to the small roads and traffic and a lot of motorbikes.

We reached George Town around noon and I have to say, I immediately fell in love when I laid eyes on this city. There is so much of a heritage feeling to it. It reminded me a lot of Jonker Street in Melaka. The small roads, the many old, antique shop lots to your left and right, the old aunties and uncles riding their bicycles without a care in the world, the antique kopitiams with their antique window shutters. I really hope Malaysia will preserve these towns for a really, really long time. I hate to see us lose these precious gems in our country.

It was raining a bit when we got to the Penang Bridge.

We decided to check-in into our hotel first before starting our sightseeing. Ayuni booked us at this small, funky hotel called Glow Hotel. And I meant funky as in literally colourful with bright colours and not in funky as in, you know, weird. It was just a small hotel, nothing fancy, costing us around RM100++ per night, I think. I can't exactly remember the price. But it was perfect for us because it was located in the city and easy for us to get around. You can find out more about it at their official website here.

Anyway, Ayuni turned on Waze to help us find the way to our hotel, and Waze led us to the seaside, away from the city, to this huge, fancy hotel and as we turned into the entrance of the hotel, I asked Ayuni was she sure this was our hotel because it didn't look like it from the price we were paying, and she said she was sure because she typed in the name of the hotel in Waze and Waze brought us here. So I parked the car, we brought out all our luggages and as confident as ever, walked into the lobby of the hotel.

And O M G.

The hotel was huge and the lobby looked so elegant and I was so so so sure at that time we were definitely in the wrong hotel. I looked at Ayuni and Ayuni looked at me. I could tell she was also having doubts. As we were walking towards the receptionist desk with our luggages wheeling behind us, I noticed the sign behind the desk that said G Hotel.

Then I turned to Ayuni and said, omg, we are at the wrong hotel. This was G Hotel and not Glow Hotel. We immediately turned around and quickly scrambled back to the parking and into the car before anyone realised what a couple of fools we were. Lol.

Thanks, Waze.

So this time, we made sure to Waze the name of our hotel correctly, and lo and behold, we finally made it to Glow Hotel. Haha. It's actually a pretty nice place. Ok, it's nothing like the big, fancy G Hotel but we didn't need anything fancy and big. Glow Hotel is a really modern hotel and I think young people would really enjoy it.

This is the lobby of G Hotel (picture taken from agoda.com) Compare it to the lobby of our Glow Hotel below.

This is the lobby to Glow Hotel. See the difference? Now you can see why we were so surprised? Haha. (picture taken from tripadvisor.com.my)

After checking in, we were starving because it was around lunchtime and so because Ayuni was in charge of the food hunting, she led us to the famous Nasi Kandar Line Clear. There was a loooooooong queue when we arrived and I know some people say the place is quite overrated but in my personal opinion, the nasi kandar was really good. Okay, so the place may not be a 5-star restaurant or something and hygiene-wise--let's just skip that--but if you close one eye and taste the food, you kind of forget about everything else. Lol. But seriously, I really enjoyed the food. And they gave in such big portion and I finished everything so that really says something about the food.

Ayuni and me with our nasi kandar and iced lemon syrup (hahahahah sirap limau ais, it sounds so weird saying it in English)

And what coincidence it was to find Ruhil and her husband, Fitri, queuing up at the nasi kandar place! Okay, it wasn't exactly a coincidence. I already knew that Ruhil was coming to Penang with her husband, their baby and her parents. And it was lunchtime in Penang. Where else would you go if not to Nasi Kandar Line Clear? Hahaha.

After lunch, we wanted to burn off some calories so Ayuni suggested to start our street art hunting. I downloaded the PDF version of the street art map but it wasn't so useful in the end. We found the hard copy of the map at one of the tourism places which was so much more useful.

I love this map so much. It had all the pictures of the street art, the names, the street names they were on, and numbering on the map of where to find them. We used this map so much until it got ripped in the middle. I still keep it though.

There are so many street arts in George Town. Before I went, I thought the street arts were, like, next to each other or something and we could easily take pictures of them one by one. Hahaha. I was so naive. It wasn't so easy finding these street arts. Yes, some of them were on the same street and were walking distance from one another but some were sort of loners or in another group at another street where we have to get there by car. And not all of the street arts are so accessible to take pictures. Like sometimes there was a big truck parked right in front of it. Or sometimes the street arts were so close to the main roads that the photographer have to cross to the other side of the road and quickly take a picture before traffic starts pouring in and you have to wait for some time before you get a chance for a perfect view. 

If you are the kind who hates walking under the hot sun through a throng of tourists and having to keep an eye on cars and motorcycles and old uncles and aunties riding their bicycles while crossing the road, then street art hunting is not the thing for you. If you are the kind that don't mind the sun, the people, the dust and debris from the busy roads, then please do street hunt all you want because it is so worth it. The street arts there are beautiful. 

Anyway, Sheena Liam is one lucky girl. She's dating Ernest Zacharevic, who is the artist of the popular Kids On Bicycle, Boy On Chair, Old Motorcycle and many more street arts. Lucky, lucky girl.

You can download the PDF version of the map here. 

That night we ate at this restaurant called Jawi House located at 85 Armenian Street, and wowwwww, the food was to die for. They cook Peranakan dishes and there was this one desert, I forgot the name, though, Ayuni was the one that ordered it, it was this type of red velvet very soft cake, and when you take a bite out of it, it just immediately melts in your mouth and tastes like heaven. I think the owner just recently won an award given by Chef Wan or something. Well-deserved, I must say.

Sooooo delicious.

The next day, we went to a 3D Trick Art Museum located at 10, Lebuh Penang, and there was no other visitors there so we had the place all to ourselves. That was fun. Now I know how 3D trick art museums work.

That night, we picked up Ruhil at her hotel and drove up to Hard Rock Cafe which was actually quite far from the city centre, around a 30-minute drive, and because it was up on a hill, the roads leading there had a lot of turns and twists and actually quite dangerous so make sure to drive within the speed limit. Anyway, Hard Rock Cafe was the usual, dark and loud, haha. Not really my style though, and the food was okay.

The next day, Ayuni brought me to a cat cafe. The food wasn't that great, to be honest, but at least we got to pet some cute cats. But most of them were really sleepy. Most probably we came during their nap time.

Ayuni and her cat mug ^-^

Sigh. Penang was awesome. I would definitely go there again some day.