The Animals in our Malaysian Zoo...

Here's a pictorial series that I hope will shed some light on recent events, reported in the Malay Mail a few days back.



Story here.

So...friends of hubby's had decided to take in the sights at our zoo. I agreed on his behalf (I'd picked up the call) and off we went. Keeping in mind that I've never been particularly proud of our national zoo, I went in with a massive chip on my shoulder.

WHOEVER'S IN CHARGE OF OUR ZOO...SHAME ON YOU!!! AND TO SEVEN GENERATIONS OF YOUR DESCENDANTS HEREIN!!! :p

I just want to clarify that statement above... I don't doubt that the parents of the injured child were severely neglectful... no. I'm extremely disappointed, and angry, that the care of the animals is so lax, and the environment they're being kept in is distressingly unkempt. Somebody...please! FIX OUR ZOO!!



A sign clearly saying: "DANGER, STAY AWAY FROM THIS FENCE"


This dude is an employee of the zoo. He resorted to flinging pebbles at a chimp that didn't want to enter the inner enclosure with the other chimps. There was a fight between 2 males over a female, and things got very raucous... this poor bastard rightly refused to enter the enclosure to be further tormented. Zoo officials, however, had a different idea. I object to their method of trying to scare him to do their bidding via that particular form of force.


A persistent parent, intent on patting the deer. His son, showing more sense and decorum, begged him repeatedly to pull out of the enclosure.


Parents, encouraging their children to pat the giant tortoises. Of course, only a child's hand could've fitted through the mesh...


Another example of exemplary parenting. Parents actually lifting this child onto the top of the wire mesh in hopes of getting him closer to the animals within.


And in a slight juxtaposition... a funnier breed of animal found wandering around...

Danny, hubby's friend. Guess who was watching whom??


Hubby, impersonating his favorite cartoon.

Welcome Home, LeiLani!!!

What do you do when you wanna get acquainted with your new pet on her first day home?






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You have a marathon sleep-fest, and bond over kitty dreams....

Her name's LeiLani (we had much difficulty coming up with a suitable monicker for her...) and that's like a triumph, considering some of the names she would've had to answer to. Eg: Snagglepuss, Poofy, Custard, Cheetara and many, MANY more...

Full name? LeiLani Lean, aged 11 weeks. She's a healthy, adorable, head-strong Maine Coon, and she's ours this Christmas. Whatcha think? :)

3-Way Fuck...

On Sunday evening, we became the "Other People Bad Things Happen To On A Rainy Day..."

After a couple of Toffee Nut Lattes from Starbucks @ Bangsar Village, the hubby opted to take me for a drive to some mystery destination, in lieu of heading home with our purchases... a couple of cupcakes from D'Lish... intending instead to head for our usual DVD supplier.

Wow, was that ever a bad decision. I was just commenting that someone should probably start building an ark, earlier in the day... and with KL drivers, who are notoriously useless in wet road conditions, something was bound to go wrong.

Boy, did it ever.

A sudden jam on the express lane had people braking rather abruptly...hubby, who's a good driver, anticipated this, and started tapping on the brakes a ways off, to indicate that we were going to slow down. Still, with the wet road, we stopped a little too abruptly for comfort (yet didn't jam on the brakes as the ones in front of us were doing)...

I heard hubby exclaim "Oh, fuck!!" before turning the wheel vigorously and starting to aim for the divider, where there was a small strip of grass large enough to accommodate a car in an emergency. I, who didn't have a clue what was going on, started to panic, wondering what the hell he was up to.

The next thing I knew, there was the boom of impact from another car hitting our rear, and we rolled forward, now to the side of the road. Which was a good thing, as we would've hit the car in front of us if hubby hadn't maneuvered us somewhere safer.

As it was, we got out of the car and into the drizzle, and found a hapless looking man get out of the Iswara Aeroback behind us. I was pissed! I think I must have muttered something in the line of: "Stupid drivers... if you know you're going to get into an accident, just aim for the divider lah, next time! Then you won't have to involve other people..."

I know, it made lots of sense to me at the time. But I'll admit it sounds cold right now :p

I had focused my irritation at the guy directly behind us, then realized a while later that there was a 3rd car involved, and that he was the one who had been speeding, thus hitting the guy behind us, who subsequently hit into us.

Hubby was feeling awful for not avoiding the accident sooner (although I don't know how he planned on accomplishing this... in typical Malaysian-driver conditions, all cars in front and to the side of you don't leave enough space for other cars to cut in...) but I believe we were very lucky.

Anyway, as it is, our boot is crumpled in, and we can't open it without difficulty (it's a Hatchback), our rear bumper needs to be totally replaced, and hubby believes our rear chassis suffered under the impact.

What I really hate is how the tow trucks and claims adjusters were all on hand within seconds of impact. It also didn't help that our claims adjuster, a "good samaritan who happened by at that very moment", complete with a form from the workshop he represents all filled out, kept smiling all the way to the police station.

And I find it really dodgy that the mysterious traffic jam was cleared up 5 minutes later.

I really hate these scammy workshops that generate business by causing accidents. And I mentioned to hubby that the true victim in this 3-way fuck (never mind that he shouldn't have been speeding while it was raining) was the last guy in the fender bender... the Wira Aeroback. He's gonna lose his NCB, and it's a strike on his driving record.

But, he really shouldn't have been speeding....

Well, we're car-less for the next 3 weeks, tops (I hope)... if all goes well, we'll get the car in 2 weeks, but I'm not holding my breath. Bastards. Scamming bastards.