WE'VE MOVED

Just an announcement that this blog has moved to 

www.ashleyev3.wordpress.com

After encountering so many problems with Blogger, I've decided to move houses to WordPress. So let's so how that goes and hopefully my pictures stay intact this time! So yeah, remember to make the change in your bookmark bar! *wink*

Much hugs and kisses to my followers and readers. Thanks for supporting The Pink Times for 4 years now. It's just a continuation, but in a different space, with more possibilities! Much like moving from the small pink room to the bigger pink room!

See you at my new home. <3

xxx,

Ashley M

Kayaking, NZ Tattoo & Art Festival & Horse Riding

Hi blog!
It's been hella long since I've last written - sorry - just busy with life and sorts. Just wrapping up my Travel Diaries before proceeding on more updates. The last bit of our big vacay last year was the NZ Art and Tattoo Festival, kayaking and horse riding.

More of New Zealand's postcard beauty to share with you all.
First, kayaking. Also check out my fabulous outfit - it was raining on the day.

After putting that on, we were out in the water. It drizzled on and off,but it made the tour all the more fun! I'd take my parents kayaking next time, although I think my mom would hate getting her hair wet.

The water was amazingly still, like glass. It was so beautiful!

That's our tour guide - smiling and laughing at our noobness. Did you know Doug hit me over the head with his paddle? -_- It really hurt. Just glad our kayak did not capsize.

The tour guide took us to a small glow worm cave at first, then we kayaked to these hot pools.

The jetty - look at the water! Dang. You're not gonna find that anywhere in Malaysia - definitely not at Port Dickson.

The hot pools were hot. But I wasn't really a fan of the leaves dropping everywhere and mud and bugs and dirt - I'm a princess. Nonetheless, I enjoyed kayaking like crazy back to our little lake - where we came from. Doug is surprised I could paddle so much. *flexes muscles*

The whole tour took about 4 hours, and right after, we made our trip to New Plymouth. Not a good idea to have a 3 hour drive after a 4 hour kayaking session.

Our next stop was the long awaited NZ Tattoo and Art Festival.
Check out the line of people waiting to enter!

The fun just begun! Tattoo artists from all over the world - even Pink Tattoo Studio from SS15, SUBANG JAYA omg small world much?!

And then I got a picture with New York Ink's Megan Massacre! Was so starstruck, although I didn't get any ink from her! Haha just not now, I guess, not until I've decided what I really wanted.

Good weather in New Plymouth! After the festival, we proceeded to Fitzroy Beach.

The view was breathtaking. But it was insanely windy.

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So, I've not been horse trekking before - let alone trying to record while staying on the saddle. So far, I think the Toshiba Camileo X-Sports Camera has been pretty good! Just would prefer having the head strap so it wouldn't be so difficult to hold it. After all, it ain't a GoPro. Quality-wise, I'm pretty happy with.

I managed to stay in the saddle - which was great. But at some point, Peaches got kinda over excited and started galloping really fast and jumping over water puddles. So I had a mini heart attack. Otherwise, she was a really good girl.

Me & Peaches and her trainer. :) 

The whole trip was a really good experience. I'm so glad we made it back in one piece, but aching, and so very tired. For the most part, just happy we got to get out and experience more of New Zealand's beautiful scenery and have some R&R. 

Looking forward to more travels!

xxx,

Ashley M

15 Weird Facts about Me

It was my birthday last week. Thank you all for your lovely wishes! Missing all of you back in KL, I'll be seeing your faces soon! 

Looks like I still am a little girl (with bushy hair) to my dad.

He meant this :

When I was 5. My hair was so thick it would snap ordinary rubber bands.

And my awesome brother told me to go flip a cow on my birthday, cos I'm in New Zealand, see. Hahahah always cracking me up. 

Thanks for all your birthday wishes, also on Fb, making me feel warm and fuzzy inside, especially Shu Run (and her amazing family) and Doug, you guys spoil me! <3

Anyway! I came across this fun tag and decided to do it! Tag yourselves, continue this tag and link me to yours!

#1. What's a nickname only your family calls you?

Ah Ling! (my mom calls me that sometimes)

#2. What's a weird habit of yours? 

Putting Tabasco on everything.

#3. Do you have any weird phobias? 

I think so - the fear of stopping a flow of peacefulness, like I'm afraid to use the hairdryer when my sis is asleep in the room, although she doesn't mind it. Or breaking the silence with turning on the radio in the morning when anyone is asleep in the room.

#4. What's a song you secretly love to blast and belt out when you're alone?

Sherry - The Jersey Boys, even when I'm not alone. Gotta love Frankie Valli.

#5. What's one of your biggest pet peeves?

Being late. People with shitty time management never last long in my books!

#6. What's one of your nervous habits? 

Clenching my fists and jaw.

#7. What side of the bed do you sleep on? 

The middle.

#8. What was your first stuffed animal and it's name? 

Can't remember. I wasn't attached to one.

#9. What's the drink you always order at Starbucks? 

Not a fan of Starbucks now but I like Lattes.

#10. What's a beauty rule you preach, but never actually practice? 

Moisturize? I don't moisturize enough. Hehe

#11. Which way do you face in the shower?

I face towards the shower.

#12. Do you have any 'weird' body 'skills'?

Yeah, I am double jointed so I can bend my fingers backwards, my thumb can touch the back of my hand and my knees and bend backwards a little more. I also can pop my thumbs out. So gross that my violin teacher told me that he never wants to see that happen again, but he did - I can't help it when my fingers start locking!!

Oh, here's a picture.

#13. What's your favorite comfort food thats 'bad' but you love to eat it anyways?

Instant noodles. I love my instant noodles. Especially the Thai Tom Yam ones. <3

#14. What's a phrase or exclamation you always say? 

What's that? Kill it!! (when I'm playing games)

#15. Time to sleep, what are you actually wearing?

Oversized T shirt and Boyshorts.

I actually found these kind of tags to be quite fun to do! Might do more next time, when I'm a bit bored of taking care of back logs. Heh. :) hope you enjoyed it!

xxx,

Ashley M

Travel Diaries : Swimming with Dolphins, Petting Alpacas, Eat Street, Rotorua

I still can't get over how amazing the Dolphin Seafaris experience was. I honestly have never been so excited than when I was on the boat, surrounded by pods of dolphins! Dolphins everywhere! Their sounds can be heard if we listened carefully. These are wild dolphins in their habitat, not in some aquarium or zoo... we are in the open sea, baby!

Good morning! Got up at like 5am and drove to Tauranga. Super sleepy..

Beautiful weather but was a bit cold in the morning! Can't imagine how cold it must've been in the sea. We're gonna swim with dolphins!!!

Discovering a dolphin pod and our awesome tour guide is making a beeline for it. Everyone getting their wetsuits ready!

I am not a fan of wetsuits. So uncomfortable lol I couldn't breathe! But it fit well, I'd think. Just super tight.... I only fit the one for 10 yr olds. Lol

Ever been so close to a dolphin? My first time! They're so sociable and friendly! I just wanted to hug one! <3 You can see more of them on the videos I took, which is at the end of the post.

So we made a stop near the pods and went down to the sea. Freezing cold and couldn't feel my feet! Hung on to some bars they put out and wore snorkeling gear to look down in the water to see the dolphins. Our batch were so lucky to have 2 dolphins swimming just next to us (LITERALLY) for like 5 minutes! Unfortunately we didn't capture them up close on camera because it was a challenging task to be able to breathe/hold on to the camera/not swallow salt water/hang on to the bar. I swallowed so much seawater. Yuck. Worth it!!

 We did it! One thing on our bucket list, checked!

What an amazing experience. I would love to do it again if I could. It was $140/adult, but it is really worth the money. the facilities were proper, and you are well taken care of. And for a person who hasn't swum in the sea before, I never felt unsafe or anything. It was fantastic. Stay tuned for the Youtube videos at the end!

Next stop, Agrodome!!

Me buying tickets. It was $33 for each of us (student price) for a farm tour. Weren't really interested in the animal show. Not a fan of animal shows anyway.

This was our tour bus/vehicle!

Went back to change. Fresh from seawater!!

Everything and everywhere was beautiful. Enjoy the pictures. Spammed by camera until my battery died. Well worth it though.

Did you know this cow = your expensive Angus meat/burgers? Hehe you learn something new everyday. Also, black and white cows are milking cows.

Holding on to my hat cos it was so windy!

<3

Reindeers??!

Sorry, I don't have any food on me, buddy.

So many sheep! They're so cute but they pooped everywhere so I didn't really leave the vehicle.

Kiwis, feijoas , olive trees.

Had a taste of Kiwi juice and Kiwi wine. Yum!

Mom's favourite drink.

This uncle likes antlers.

X RATED IMAGE OF MISBEHAVING ALPACAS

So cute!!! I've never been so close to one.

Making the Alpaca pose for his picture.

I don't think this one likes people but he let me pet him. Lol

This picture... just so epic.

Turkeys. Some China uncle was like "NI HEN HAO CHI!"

"NI YE SHI HEN HAO CHI. HA HA HA"

<3

Omg Pony!! <3 and Donkey! Lol

The trip to Agrodome was a relaxed, fun one. Just what we needed after our tiring dolphin tour!

Eat Street, Rotorua. One of the places to visit when you're here! Lots of restaurants and cafes and bars! http://www.rotoruanz.com/eatstreat/

We also checked out the Rotorua Night Market and we were quite amazed at the variety of food there! http://www.rotoruanz.com/nightmarket/

 Lake Rotorua at dusk/night. :)

Enjoy the videos! I put them at the end just because it was easier to embed.They're not like top notch stuff or super pro edited ones, but the best I can do. These are on my YouTube channel with some other noob videos of me, so if you are into that kinda thing, subscribe maybe?

That's all for this post! Stay tuned for the next one!

xxx,

Ashley M