Pompano Beach, Florida

I spent this past winter break at Pompano Beach, Florida. It is a city just north of Fort Lauderdale and about an hour north of Miami. The place we stayed is right by the North Atlantic Ocean! We just have to walk out of the condo and we are on the beach!! Just like staying at Rasa Sayang.

View of the beach from the balcony...

The beach...

Unexpectedly, it wasn't as warm as I hoped so we didn't get to swim in the ocean or hang out at the beach much (although I should have remembered that when we went to Disney World in Orlando, it was actually quite cold). On the other hand, the clear blue sky and sunny weather makes being in Florida much more enjoyable than in Michigan. John and I still go out everyday to walk along the beach and do other fun stuff. I love the beach there! It is very clean, just like Taman Negara Pulau Pinang. Ooo, I also got my first pedicure!!

On the first day that we arrived, we went out to a park - Hillsboro Inlet Park - near one of the popular landmark of Pompano Beach - Hillsboro Lighthouse. It was very windy but I totally didn't realize initially because there was a pelican type bird that came by and I was super excited to be playing with my new camera!

With the unobstructed view, we were also able to watch the Sun rises every morning! It is definitely my first time lying on the beach and watching the Sun rise. From the multiple mornings that we were there, we figured out that it is only interesting when the Sun is initially rising, which started at like 6.30am or so and last for about 10-15 minutes. It was freezing on one of the days that we were out! Then the Sun disappears behind a thick layer of clouds at the horizon. At 7.30am, it gets interesting again as the clouds rise and disperse, you see the light rays cutting through the clouds. On the coldest day that we were out watching the sun rises on the east, we also get to see the moon shining bright on the other side. Definitely one of my favorite sunrise experience!

Even though it was cold, we would still go to a nearby ice-cream store - Razzleberry's Ice-cream. We went there 3 times! It is only about 20 minutes walk (on the beach) from the condo. We would also stop to take photos of the birds that hangs out at the beach. This one below must have its leg broken or sprained or something because it was limping and didn't seem to be able to have it spread out.

A 'sand pit' that we came across on the beach...

There is also lots and lots of coconut tree, just like you see in the movies!

At night, we also get to see the moon's reflection in the ocean and various patterns of the clouds covering the moon. It is just great to be out there! It feels so pristine and peaceful.

John took more cool panorama photos of the beach.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to mummy and daddy!

This photo was taken from the balcony just after the Sun had completely rised from the horizon. Every time I see the Sun rises, it makes me think of home...no matter how far away I am from home, at least I know that when you see the Sun sets in M'sia, I see the same Sun rises here in the States.

Kam siah for all the support that you have both given me!

Bunch of new toys

Am back in East Lansing! Fortunately, I get to come back to sunny Michigan with blue skies, which is very rare in winter. The cold is much more bearable when there is snow on the ground and you can feel a little warmth from the sunshine.

After all the housekeeping stuff and catching up with all the papers I missed during break, am now back to planning experiments for the coming week. This is the longest break I have ever taken and not gone home to Malaysia...hehe...

Over the break, I somehow inherited a bunch of new toys..wait, actually, it should be A LOT of new stuff, some of them happen to be cool toys. Crazy as it sounds, I have sooo many presents from John and his family! 超尷尬的!! 但也很感動. 他們真的很熱情. One of the gift I received from John was the most unexpected gift I have ever gotten...a Nikon D5000! 在開禮物的時候, 感動到熱淚盈眶. It is also very sweet of him to let me use his macro lens to play with it...hehe...until I go back to Malaysia for some shopping! Hehe, I guess somewhere in my Flickr, he must have seen a photo that shows I do know something about photography that got me this camera.

The first few photos I took with it...

It does not have auto focus motor so it took me quite a while to get sharp images. The weight of an SLR camera also makes it much more difficult to get nice macro photos so Ping has lots more to learn!!! This combination will be good for me to practice focusing with stable hands.

The other new toy...was acquired while we were at Florida. We went to Ikea one of the day to help John's parents get furniture for the condo. While walking through the toys section, we saw this huge and cuddly elephant...and it came home with me all the way to Lansing to join my elephant collection!! Hehe, another unexpected one...or maybe not...for those who have gone shopping with me. *bleh* Wei Qi is now my first elephant with tusks! 也是John 送我的第一個毛絨玩具!