Denver Denver

Labor day weekend what to do? We went to Denver.


The city life is a lot different from Boulder, finally saw some big buildings after 3 weeks. Did you know Denver is called the mile high city? Actually its because there is this one step in one of the buildings that is exactly 1 mile above sea level. And the tall buildings creates like a tunnel for wind to blow through, so we were slightly shivering the whole time.


Anyway what did we do? First thing we did was have a French breakfast which cost 10 bucks. Why? Because it was cold outside and we were there too early so the other shops not opened yet.

We walked along the 16th street mall (and coincidentally its a 1 mile stretch in the mile high city) and go window shopping and people watching. People say that Boulder is one of the skinniest city in America, and after being to Denver I understand why they say that.

Next we went to the Colorado foodfest at the civic center park. You know what we saw? Gula Melaka dessert. Raymond and Suresh bangga already. But apparently on the banner, gula melaka came from Indonesia. ?????

Lego Lion at the foodfest

Then is the Denver Art museum. Damn huge. 2 buildings, 1 building 7 floors. We only managed to cover 1 building. The lady at the tourist information center in town said that it was "phenomenal". And to me it was. Really enjoyed it. The stuff there was art from each continent from different eras. And of course stuff from the wild west.

From the "Dirty Pictures" section. Big footprints on a sandy mountain. Aerial view.

Deep. Meaningful. Sad.

Tribal art.

Our last stop was the Denver Downtown Aquarium. KLCC Aquaria feels more grand to me but still this one was fun. We got to touch stingrays!

Cleaning the tank.

Jellyfish 1

Jellyfish 2

Jellyfish 3. Looked at it for quite some time. Hypnotizing.

Still got more things to do in Denver. Maybe next time. Anyway more pictures soon on facebook I think.

Hike Hike 2

Red Rocks, Boulder, CO

Old man?

This is my second hike, not far from Mt. Sanitas, can walk there also. The red rocks loop that we took wasn't very challenging, less than 1 hour to the top. But the view was very nice so we lepak for quite sometime on the highest rock we can get to.

That's where we're going

Now we need to climb up the rocks

I don't know how those rocks got up there on the hill but it looks like God just stacked the rocks on top of each other. The arrangement made it look like it can crumble at anytime but it was solid enough for us to climb up.

View from the back macam muka

Macam gaajah

See the arrangement, we can still climb on it though

The view

Another view

Wanna know high we were? compare with the people on that rock

It was really sunny at that time, no clouds in the sky if you see all the pictures.

The whole Red Rocks is burning bright!

Since it wasn't a long way up, on the way down we took a detour and found a river, which was very cold even under the summer sun. And we walked and walked and came to a forest fire prone area and we went through the ash covered forest without knowing that it was off limits. Quite dangerous and slippery the path, going downhill somemore.

Sejuk

My phone can take panorama shots.. haha

Anyway, lil wayne will be performing somewhere near Denver on Hari Raya. 45 minutes from Boulder. Too bad I can't go. Damn. Keri Hilson there too. Double Damn.

Hike Hike

Mt. Sanitas, Boulder CO

So this is my first hike here in Boulder. Quite near to CU campus actually. We walk all the way from home to the mountain and then walk back home again. Exercise everyday, boulder lifestyle.

On the way to the start

Mt. Sanitas took us 3 hours plus to go to the top and back down again. Going up was fun, quite steep in a few places especially near the top. The path up was not bad, a lot of big solid rocks to step on but going down there were more loose stones so if your shoes no grip then jaga a bit lah.

Going up

A boulder

Once we almost reach the top the wind was blowing real hard and the sound it makes is just like the sound of a small waterfall. Exactly the same. Made me think, takkan lah got river on the mountain. Then of course from the top, the whole of Boulder can be seen.

The view

Another view

Floria Floria

So, I went to the Putrajaya Flower & Garden Festival 2011 recently. Also known as Floria, it is a place for you to see flowers. That's all I can say about it, nothing much was going on when I was there, so less talk and more pictures for you to enjoy.

Yes, I Was Here

Everybody wrote something like: " ... was here"

Must have in any events now

A bed of flowers

The bed again.

Hot stuff.

Cool stuff.

A small bird house.

A small man's house.

There was a section where we can see gardens from around the world.

American inspired garden.

Close up. American?

Japanese I think.

Now let's go inside where there's more stuff and... AIR-COND! On the inside you can see exhibitions which comes in many sizes made by various artistes around the world. And again, AIR-COND!

Floating flowers makes a floating flag.

Minimalistic.

Another one.

From Indonesia. See the 'leaf' on top? The artiste got skills man.

From Korea. Simple, symmetrical, stylo.

It wasn't as aromatic as it should be.

And then there is one thing which doesn't seem to fit in with the whole event. I wonder what's the story behind this thing here.

Some homemade tribal thingy.

Actually, this kind of event is not my thing, but when you're bored, impossible is nothing. So me, Sam and Rouffy left after a short while and found other ways to kill time. Still it was quite beautiful, except for the really really hot weather.

Lari Lari

Chi Liang, for you...
After so long i'm writing again, so here goes.

26th of June 2011 was the day I went for the Standard Chartered KL Marathon in Dataran Merdeka. Running around in the heart of KL was a new and interesting thing to me I must say. I ran in the half marathon because the full marathon would have killed me. The half was murdering enough. 21.5 km in 2 hours 41 minutes (official time). The first place guy took just one hour plus. Less than half my time. At least I completed my first half marathon.

Before the race 6 a.m.

So how was it? The first 2 I ran really slowly, just to warm up. Then up to 10 km it was not bad, still ok, still going strong. Maybe because I have ran that far before. But after that my legs started to give way, had to take a lot of walking breaks and I found my self anticipating the distance markers even more. 11.5 km... 12.5.... 13.5... Damn... The distance markers can really psycho you when it takes its own sweet time to appear even when you felt that you ran for so long.

When I saw the 16.5 km marker, I thought "enough lets just run until 19km, then walk the extra 2". So I ran and ran, lari lari and must have missed the 17.5 km distance marker and before I knew it, I was like "aik, already at 19". Suddenly got semangat so I upped the ante and continued running (and walking) till I crossed the finish line.

Finally back here again

Prize giving, top spots kena sapu by Kenyans.

Haha.. kids zone

Really challenging I tell you, physically and mentally. Distance markers can really help you out in the beginning and the end but in the middle it makes it seem like you're not making any significant progress at all. Luckily there were a lot of people so you're never lonely. Plus the cheerleaders cheering you on halfway through brings you back to your senses.

So what I saw on the way? We passed the old KL KTM station, little india (Brickfields), KLCC, Pavilion, and some other not so memorable places. And we even saw a rainbow on the way. Would I do it again? hmmm.. Hard to tell.

Blingy.. finisher medal... The most solid and heavy medal I have