Malaysia

Hello everyone! I just came back from Malaysia earlier today. I figured I'd better post the pictures here before my lazy side gets the better of me.

   I told my brother to look annoyed and angry. He ended up looking somewhat sad instead.

Strangers.

A random street.

Amusement park ride. I quite like the vibrant colors.

Genting Highlands.

That one ride I was too afraid to try.

The view from my aunt's apartment.

The devil stare.

 My crazy little cousin. Although we don't even look related (I look nothing chinese)

The streets of Penang. Having a heated argument with my brother whilst enjoying the sunset.

 Another beautiful sunset.

My fingers.

Me dancing in a dark room.

Malaysia is where I grew up, hence making this trip quite the stroll down memory lane. For the first few days, I was plastered to the window of the car, going, "Oh, I remember that restaurant!" and "I remember when I used to pass this street everyday!" It felt good to fall back into the familiar sights and sounds of my country. It was like finally being able to fall asleep back in your own bed after a long holiday somewhere. Sometimes (mostly when I'm eating the local food), I'd wonder why I was so happy when I left 3 years ago. There were so many things I missed!

 But in my melancholy haze, full of nostalgia and childhood memories, something was wrong. Not everything was as it was. Things had changed while I was gone. Suddenly, I could no longer walk confidently in the streets anymore. I started to feel a little lost. Even when I was younger, I used to feel a bit like a tourist in my own country. Now, I felt it more than ever. I went back to my old house which I grew up in. It didn't feel like home any more. Home wasn't the cottage-like house, crumbling and breaking apart bit by bit. Old paint fading away into the walls, vines and creepers clasping onto the roof. That wasn't home. Home was the modern suburban house with a well manicured lawn, large trees, and a pool in the backyard. My old house looked a bit like a shed, it did not gleam of life like it used to. It was being neglected.

That got me upset for a bit. I realized how much things had changed. Some for the better, some for the worse. But deep down inside, I knew the change would come. There was no denying it.

The during the final days of my visit, I grew weary. I felt pretty content when I finally took the taxi back to the airport at 3am. My flight was slightly delayed, but I couldn't care less. When I finally reached home, I fell into a hot bath with a cup of hot chocolate, and my favorite book. I later decided to have a look through the pictures I took (there weren't that many), and before I knew it, I was typing out the content of this post.

So there we are.

Much love,
Alysha. 

Something about Night.

Pictures from my first film. Shot all of this at night. Got Nicole to model for me, which was amazing.

Night is weird. It is forgotten by people who live for day, and long await the stretch of darkness to be melted away by the rising sun. Seeing a soft blue, pink and orange in the sky, a sign that the blackness of nightfall has come to an end. People no longer have to hide in the comfort of their homes. They seize the day, and forget about night.

Night must be lonely.

It is weird. It is weird that something as abstract as night could provoke so many fears, so many thoughts. People fear night itself, rather than what lurks in the night. (let your imagination run)
I used to fear night. It was only during the nighttime, when fear would crawl inside my head, and submerge itself into my subconscious. I laid ever so still in my little bed, jumping at every creek and crackle our old house made. It was only when I was 12, did I realize that the monsters did not lurk in the nighttime. They lurked in our heads, and lived inside of us, rather than in our closets.

Now, night and I are friends. I sit on my roof with a journal in my hands, documenting all the adventures night and I have had. When it rains, I make a cup of hot chocolate, sit out in my porch, and listen to the rhythm of the falling rain, like it is a song. (It actually is! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmF_bG5IVnM )

I feel the most inspired when it is night.