shiroi koibito; 白の恋人

2012-01-23T16:58:00.003+08:00

So in the afternoon, we went to Changi Airport by MRT (the route from Pasir Ris is like making a U-turn lol) :D I love going to places by MRT lol.

Oh and btw, I didn't manage to find the Cash Cab in Singapore, which is just so unfortunate and very sad. Oh well, better luck next time! :p

Walking from the Changi MRT station. THE ESCALATORS ARE SUPER COOL.

Angry Birds! :)

I don't understand the craze about Angry Birds though...

We took the Skytrain to Terminal 1! :p

And here we are... in another section of Changi airport.

I LOVE THE LIGHTS.

EH THIS IS SUPER CUTE! I think if these are everywhere, the public would perhaps be more encouraged to recycle :p

Poshhhh!

Angry Birds again HAHAH. What's with Changi airport and Angry Birds? LOL.

I waited freeeeaaaking long to have this whole tiny place to my camera! Really annoying and slow people took their own sweet time to pose and pose and pose AND POSE -_-

Cute snowman! ;)

Attempted bokeh with my compact - which obviously turned out suckish.

Went to the toilet before boarding...

These are taken from the toilet LOL.

Even their toilets are so posh with super heavy glass doors. I'm not kidding about the 'heavy' part - you need extra strength to push them doors lol!

I'm in the plane!

Leaving... leaving... I don't wanna leave :(

I MISS SINGAPORE ALREADY.

I was bored so I kept snapping pictures LOL. Enjoy... the clouds ;p

One hour later and I'm back in LCCT.

It took me a while to get used to life here in KL! :)

2012-01-22T23:33:00.004+08:00

On the day when we were scheduled to leave for KL, my aunt took us down to Pasir Ris lake to have a look. It's very near my uncle's apartment - just walk pass White Sands mall, cross the street, and you're practically there! :p

There isn't much to see, really. It's just a big lake in the middle and jogging tracks surrounding it. It's popular for fishing though :)

Really strange roots! They're like... tiny people!

Hmm, I don't get what's so nice about fishing. You just waste your time staring at the water waiting for the hours to pass... sometimes you don't even get a thing. I don't get it o.o (No offence!)

Okay so maybe you could reflect and ponder on deep thoughts about life. And come up with some fabulous philosophy.

By the way, it isn't free of charge to fish here! Ooh okay I'm so outta this XD

And and they have a seafood restaurant! Crabs - I love crabs!

You can even fish for shrimps here. I'd be more interested in this :D

Next up: Leaving Singapore :(

2012-01-21T17:25:00.005+08:00

Haji Lane in Arab Street has rows of quaint little boutiques for you to shop to your heart's content. Other than that, it offers restaurants that serve Middle Eastern cuisine as well.

Interestingly, Haji Lane is at the no. 6 spot on the Singapore: 10 Things to Do list compiled by TIME.

It was drizzling slightly on the day we went there, so our spirits were dampened as we walked from shop to shop.

Furthermore, taking pictures was extremely inconvenient with the need to hold an umbrella too. raindrops splashing down.

The tiny lane that's great for tourists to walk at their own pace, and enjoy their window shopping.

However, there were vehicles that passed through occasionally which made us pause halfway in our tracks all the time =.= The government should ban all vehicles from passing through Haji Lane, to give tourists maximum ease and comfortability.

The boutiques here have different themes. One of it was a storybook theme, which I really like.

Keep your attention on the black fountain pen...

...its ink leads to the 'book'! :p

I love this letterbox :)

I love this too! The owners here are certainly very creative.

I went up to have a look because my curiousity got the better of me :p Yup, and I was attracted to the cute decorations too ;)

Almost every shop along Haji Lane sells cute accessories and stuff that I would really love to have. But I didn't get anything, as the price are quite expensive (after converting to MYR). Also, the apparels sold here are mostly Korean fashion which isn't my taste.

Too bad for that :(

I saw a camera shop but it was closed, unfortunately. They sell vintage polaroids which cost up to $250 (film included). O.O

After going to Haji Lane, I felt like studying business - then I'll open my own little quaint shop in the middle of the busy streets and sit there in front of the counter like a boss! And the best thing will be when it's raining heavily outside, and I get to immerse myself in my own little fairytale world :p /dreams.

Oh, I would definitely recommend Haji Lane to anyone! :)

2012-01-20T18:01:00.006+08:00

The next day, I met up with my online friends Foongy (I prefer to call him Earl) and Wan Ting! We've been online friends for like 4 years and that day was the first time we met up :D

I was a little apprehensive (2 Singaporeans and 1 Malaysian: I felt intimidated LOLOL) and nervous, but excited too.

We ate brunch at some Hong Kong restaurant in White Sands shopping mall, which is just next to Pasir Ris MRT station. So sweet of them to travel all the way from Clementi and Bukit Batok which are almost at the end of the line :') And they even treated me to brunch! Omgosh :')

I had no idea why we chose to pose in front of Subway. LOLOL.

~~I forgot to straighten my shirt so it's wrinkled which unfortunately made my stomach look like it has multi-layered fat so please ignore the lines thank you ver much.~~

Did you notice our shirts? (Read mine first!) Stupid sia LOL.

They were great company! It's so cool and it was such a pleasure meeting them in person :) Next time, hopefully Veronica comes along. Coz she was the one who introduced me to them :p

After the lovely brunch, I went to Vivo City with my mom, aunt and sis. Not really my kind of place, as it was really big with thousands of shops that sell expensive stuff! Saya rambang mata. And I've been there before, so... we just walked around for a while.

And then I spotted Logos Hope at Harbourfront! (It is 2 years younger than the Titanic and is the world's largest floating bookstore)

I visited the ship when it came to Port Klang years ago. It was called Doulos at that time. I didn't go on the ship when we were in Singapore though. After my A Levels, I would love to volunteer on the ship for 2 months :) I'll get to visit different countries!!!!! :D

Dolled-up "fairies" posing for the cameras. They were walking on stilts. (I would like to see them *cough* trip *cough*) LOL. They gave out candy canes to the shoppers but they purposely ignore me! =.=

We were only at Vivo City for a short while, then we went to Bugis Mall :)

I love the outside of Bugis Mall. I think the place is called Bugis Junction.

So many stalls selling cute stuff. I like! (My kind of place :p)

Camwhored in the room when we got back. LOL nothing to do =.=

The next day, we went down to Downtown East (Costa Sands Resort). As everyone knows, the public transport in Singapore is so freaking efficient - we just have to wait for the free shuttle bus to come and fetch us from Pasir Ris MRT station! :) And Downtown East is only a few minutes' drive away...

See that apartment in the distance? That's where my uncle and his family live.

And just across the street, is the MRT station. SUPER CONVENIENT. I envy Singapore.

I FOUND CHATIME IN DOWNTOWN EAST! Whooooooooooo! Well, I know they have Chatime in Singapore but I've never seen any Chatime outlet in Singapore the whole time I was there. This is the first.

After seeing the 3-digit number when it was in the (late) afternoon, I know then... that the demand for Chatime in Singapore is much lower than that in Malaysia. Maybe Singaporeans prefer Koi (according to my cousin, it's the best).

In Malaysia, you can practically see Chatime everywhere - it has become so overrated over here =.=

Well anyway. THE BEST THING WAS, they have a Buy 1 Free 1 promotion (for selected drinks) AND their Pearl Milk Tea only costs $2 per cup! Why Malaysia don't have! D:

Their Pearl Milk Tea is super nice weih! I don't know if it's because I'm consuming it in Singapore LOL, but somehow their milk tea is more concentrated with a thicker flavour and the pearls are more chewy. Hmm. Or maybe something's wrong with the IOI Boulevard outlet over here.

Or perhaps, the demand for Chatime is so high in Malaysia which unfortunately leads to workers becoming less and less productive, causing the standard to drop. Can I say that demand is inelastic?

Next up: Haji Lane :)

2012-01-20T11:18:00.005+08:00

We went to see The International Premiere of the Animated QING MING SHANG HE TU (A Moving Masterpiece: The Song Dynasty as Living Art) , which is displayed at the Singapore EXPO in Hall 3, from 7 Dec 2011 - 6 Feb 2012.

It's my first time at the EXPO :)

It's something like the KL Convention Centre, only much cooler :p

The ticket price is $18 per person.

It's cool that they have an audio guide device, to give you explanation at different parts of the exhibition.

The walkway leading in to the entrance of the exhibition, where the workers will pass you the audio guide device.

The recommended time to spend in the Pre-Show Hall is 20 minutes, and it consisted of Fire Zone, Wood Zone, Earth Zone, Gold Zone and Water Zone.

The ancient tea set. The tea drinking culture was widespread during the Song Dynasty and prompted the development of several forms of tea brewing such as steaming, boiling and steeping.

Song Dynasty utensils, priceless artifacts today, were generally made of porcelain.

My sister's selling wine! XD

My mom's selling tea. (One Pearl Milk Tea please!)

...And I'm helping the guy to push the cart containing sacks of rice and stuff.

Different kinds of calligraphy brushes. I hated calligraphy so when there wasn't anymore of that from Form 4 onwards, I was so elated :p

Old, wrinkled paper.

Ahhh! Pau! XD

Mini cardboard figurines.

With perseverance and respect, comes power. XD

Some Mandarin words of wisdom (名句精华) which I don't understand XD

Due to the low value of an individual coin, the Chinese have traditionally strung a thousand copper coins onto a piece of string.

The gold and silver ingots circulated as a form of currency during the Song Dynasty despite its size and weight.

Jiaozi (交子) is a form of banknote. Often regarded as the first form of paper money in history, Jiaozi started off as a proof of credit, before gaining official recognition and evolving into the legal currency in society.

Merchants generally use account ledgers to keep business records.

Xiangzhan (响盏) is an ancient advertising sound device. Hitting the Xiangzhan and capturing people's attention before reading out loud your message was a form of advertising in the Song Dynasty.

To attract customers, street vendors during the Song Dynasty would shake their rattle drums to produce a loud rhythm. This has gradually evolved into a street performing art whereby the street vendors would talk, sing and shake their rattle drums all at the same time.

The brass cymbals resonate when hit against each other and are an important alternative for the street vendors besides their own shouting.

Street vendors sold all kinds of goods all over the country. This cosmetic box with a bronze mirror was a typical item sold by a street vendor.

As they dealt in goods from all over the country, street vendors and their goods represent the prosperity of the fair trade system and commodity exchange in towns during the Song Dynasty. Song Dynasty street vendors used either shoulder poles or handcarts to carry many types of goods.

The highly developed navigation and shipbuilding technologies of the Song Dynasty made it possible to build larger ships that could carry more goods. A large ship was generally equipped with at least a dozen boatmen charged with the physical work of sailing: setting and taking in sail, and weighting and dropping anchor.

A model of a Song Dynasty ship.

The abacus was another great invention during the Song Dynasty and was an important tool for tax calculation. It is the most widely used calculation device before the emergence of Arabic numerals - due to its ease of use and affordability.

Because of their wealth and extensive free time, tax officials usually puffed their pipes to kill time.

That's my sis and I! :p We've become one of the citizens in the Song Dynasty, lol.

Porters were the primary means of transporting goods between the ships' holds and the warehouses.

Character cut-outs of a Song Dynasty citizen :p

It says 'Try me!'. These pails are light - you could lift them up easily.

But these are freaking heavy T.T What did they put inside? Stones? -__-

张择端《清明上河图》黄金卷轴版
Zhang Zeduan's Qing Ming Shang He Tu (Golden Scroll Version)

Finally, we came to the Main Hall, which holds the Moving Masterpiece and is the highlight of the whole exhibition. It's basically a long stretch of screen which depicts the hustle and bustle of the Song Dynasty activities, with cute animated characters. The recommended time to spend here is 40 minutes.

This is the night scene.

And the daytime scene. Both scenes alternate between each other after a few minutes.

Just by watching the characters go about their daily lives on the screen with the audio guide explaining further, visitors get to immerse themselves and feel what is it like living during the Song Dynasty times :)

For me, the bad part was that the explanation of the audio guide didn't go together with the characters' activities. Because initially I had no idea how to work that thing. LOL.

So it's like, when the device was explaining halfway what the characters do during the day time, the scene changed to night time so it was very frustrating -__-

After the Main Hall, came the Souvenirs, Food & Beverages section.

Costumes in vibrant colours were displayed.

The exhibition was quite interesting (but still not as amazing as the Titanic one :p). I would recommend this to anyone, especially those who are really into ancient China art and all that stuff :)

It's until the 6th of February, so you still have time!

Next up! White Sands, Vivo City and Bugis Mall.

2012-01-19T15:55:00.003+08:00

The end of Henderson Waves is in Telok Blangah (as I mentioned in my previous post), and Hort Park was nearby.

Hort Park is the first gardening lifestyle hub in Asia that integrates a plethora of activities together under one roof in a park setting.

One can find gardening-related, recreational, educational, research and retail activities here at this gardening hub that also doubles as a knowledge hub for gardening information, training & value-added services such as networking opportunities.

I'm loving this ;D

The toilets XD

I risked my life to capture this weih! There were so many huge black bees (yup, like the one in the picture) flying around the morning glories. I waited quite long for it to come out of the flower :p

Candy cane!

Some berries/fruits nestling in between the trees...

I spotted a two-tone millipede/centipede crawling on the floor!

Hmm.

Omgosh guess what's that? No not the flower!

...A FREAKING COBWEB! Stupid cobwebs always scare the shit out of me. I'll scream at the top of my lungs whenever I come in contact with them. Seriously! *shudders*

So many huge koi fishes swimming around in the pond :)

Later, we went to Tiong Bahru for breakfast. I was starved like crazy.

The food court is one floor above the Tiong Bahru market. My first time in this sort of place in Singapore! I usually see places like these in TV :p

The place is very clean, well-maintained and the best part is, it has many food stalls here (the food court is quite big actually) !

Tiong Bahru food is delicious. I especially like this "Tsui kuih" which my uncle recommended because it's one of the famous dishes here. AND we can never get this in Malaysia. :(

I'm so envious of the residences in Tiong Bahru XD

Next up, A Moving Masterpiece: The Song Dynasty as Living Art.

2012-01-18T23:09:00.005+08:00

Henderson Waves was the only place that we planned to go in the morning. However, my uncle drove us to Marina Barrage first :)

Nothing much up there, except for the astounding view AND the fact that it's a popular kite-flying place. (Y MALAYSIA NO PLACE LIKE THAT =.=) I wanna go fly kites the next time I go again!!!!!

I think here's the place where they separated the water into freshwater this side, and saltwater the other side. I think!

I love the Singapore Flyer from this angle! :D Coz usually it's hard to capture a perfect picture of it when I'm on ground level. Lol.

Marina Bay Sands hotel again :)

And yes, it's a REALLY AWESOME place for kite-flying. Spacious greens, high up in the air, strong winds. Now I really wanna fly a kite up there.

My uncle's idea LOL. Very cute!

My turn my turn! :) ...But my hand doesn't fit :/

So that's all for Marina Barrage. I wanna go for a picnic up there and FLY KITES (did I say that already?) ! Someone please take me there!

Moving on, to Henderson Waves :)

At 36 metres above Henderson Road, Henderson Waves is the highest pedestrian bridge in Singapore. It was built to connect Mount Faber Park to Telok Blangah Hill Park.

The bridge has a unique wave form made up of 7 undulating curved steel "ribs" that alternately rise over and under its deck. The curved "ribs" form alcoves that function as shelters with seats within.

Slats of yellow balau wood, an all-weather timber found in South-East Asia, are used in the decking. These are carvings on the slats marking the height I'm at on various points along the bridge.

A looong looooong way in.

My uncle's idea again LOL!

The wave-forms will be lit with attractive LED light from 7pm-2am daily, giving the bridge an illuminative glow.

This was taken from the picture on the board XD

My legs were tired after such a long walk, so I was very glad when we finally reached the bottom :p

Next up: Hort Park!

2012-01-17T18:26:00.007+08:00

In the evening - after we came back from Marina Bay Sands - my aunt took us down for a short trip to Pasir Ris Park. It's amazing how given the size of Singapore, "green lungs" are still set up (and well-maintained) in every corner of the busy concrete jungle.

The park is just a 5-10 minutes' walk from my uncle's apartment.

They have a mini jungle too which is just awesomely cool. It's like Kuala Selangor (which is very very far away from my house) !

Mangrove swamps. Because Pasir Ris is so close to the ocean, mangrove trees are great as a defence for, you know.. when tsunami comes.

There's a bird house! Now's the time when I wish for a pro DSLR with telescopic lens :p

I can totally imagine myself jogging here every morning. Or evening.

I spotted a... heron! Is that a heron? I don't know but it's realllllyyy big. It's very blur because I took this with my noob compact camera :p

Crossing the river. On the trees, we spotted quite a few of them white birds.

That's the road on the other side.

Back on the bridge.

And it's getting dark :/

Bigfoot! HAHAH ok lame.

Then we went to the beach! My uncle said they have lotsa activities here which includes horse-riding, barbecue-ing and etc. Must be fun to be able to invite your friends for a BBQ party at the seaside, without the need to travel too far.

The beach is kinda dirty actually... ;p

The birds were twirling across that same place for a while.. XD

Dark clouds looming up above us :o See, the park is just right next to the ocean! How cool is that.

Next up: Marina Barrage & Henderson Waves.

2012-01-17T16:14:00.006+08:00

Instead of taking the MRT home from the Marina Bay Sands station, my aunt took us sight-seeing around MBS first. We used this bridge (which is just outside the ArtScience Museum) to cross over to the other side. Very awesome bridge :p

The floating football field! Cool ass :D The players must have lotsa footballs to stand-by, in case one flies over the goalpost and into the water :p

Do you wonder how on earth can such tiny base support such a huge and heavy lotus-shaped roof?

I don't know either.

Note: The MBS hotel will appear quite frequently in my pictures. It's so photogenic. I don't know why, but I love to take Singapore's many famous landmarks from different angles.

We reached the other side! :)

In December 2009 when I was in Singapore, my uncle drove us out for night time sight-seeing along Marina Bay Sands. It was so fun! And I look LOTS of pictures containing the same subjects but from different angles.

The Esplanade, MBS hotel, Lotus, Fullerton Hotel, Merlion, Singapore Flyer are among the frequent ones I took ;) As it was at night, the lights were so beautiful. Singapore buildings always fascinate me! :D

And I didn't know they have a Youth Olympic Park.

Some kids' drawings hung up along the stone wall.

He wants to jump into the sea of green!

It says "...highest mountain in the...". I can't see :(

Took this (again) while waiting at the junction to cross to the other side of the road.

We walked all the way to Promenade MRT station. It's quite a distance from MBS.

Went home, and saw the news about the MRT breakdown along the Red Line, which connects Marina Bay Sands and Orchard Road. We were so lucky as we took the MRT from Promenade - using the Circle Line instead, and escaped being stranded in the MRT!

It was very unfortunate that SMRT experienced multiple breakdowns later. And it kinda ruined my stay in Singapore coz I wasn't able to visit Orchard Road and see the Christmas decorations :( And I thought of going up to the rooftop of MBS hotel too! Well, there's always next time I guess...

And to conclude my MBS post, here's my Boarding Pass on the Titanic :)
*I went to the Titanic exhibition here.

SUPER COOL LORH. I feel like I'm one of the passengers.

Printed at the back was some passenger facts. Each boarding pass has different names of passengers on them.

This is the most interesting one out of the five. She's 19, and she's married with the title Mrs. - woah I certainly cannot imagined myself being called Mrs. XXX when I'm 19!

Her husband must be filthy rich as she's a 1st class passenger. (She's the only 1st class passenger that we got on the boarding passes lol. The rest are all 3rd class.)

She's enjoying her life man.. going on honeymoon in Egypt, Italy, Spain and France! She also had $10,000 (which I think is equivalent to millions in today's economy) worth of jewellery! Wtheck I also want. LOL. /envious

However, I didn't check if she survived the sinking or not. (All the names of the passengers were displayed in the exhibition under each respective categories - whether they survived or they didn't). I hope little Freu Freu survived.

I still have the boarding passes! Planning to keep them. Hehe... memories :')

Next up: Pasir Ris Park.

2012-01-14T22:10:00.007+08:00

After admiring the beauty of Marina Bay Sands shopping complex, we walked out to the ArtScience Musuem opposite XD

I can't stop admiring Singapore's brilliant architecture, seriously.

The weather was crazily hot and I couldn't wait to go in to the Musuem for some much appreciated air-conditioning! But still, I sticked around to take some pictures.

Cartier Time exhibition and the Titanic one. I wasn't interested in the Cartier exhibition but my uncle bought the tickets for both!

At the ticket booth.

Some dangly swirly thing created by some art students.

Ze tickets are in my hands! :D :D :D Excited much.

Saw this humongous multi-coloured wedges just in front of the Titanic exhibition entrance. LOL.

WHOOOOOOOO I can't believe I'm going in.

Okay so I was really really disappointed that they prohibited us from taking pictures. Oh well. Here's one that I secretly took though! Yes, it's the Grand Staircase :) The replica looks so real huh!

LOL I hope I don't get into trouble for posting this up @.@ There were a few people secretly taking pictures too! *cough* I only took one..... :p

It's quite expensive if I convert the ticket price to Malaysian Ringgit, but I think 's worth the money! The exhibition really was an eye-opener, and it was mind-blowing getting to know all the historical facts and actual stuff that really happened. And scary too!

Anyway, GO GO GO if you haven't! The exhibition will definitely make you fall in love with Titanic once again. But I'm not sure when will it be until.. hehe!

We spent quite a few hours inside :p Then we came out and explored the ArtScience Museum (after you purchase your ticket, you can basically go and visit every floor of the Musuem). Oh and the Cartier exhibition was just watches and clocks in every sort of sizes and types imaginable! Nothing too fascinating about it.

Some slide thingy on the top floor of the Museum.

So many deep questions that make you ponder well into the abyss of life.

The Musuem's roof, aka The Lotus :p I'm sure you've seen this before around Marina Bay Sands. It's an eye-catching architecture! I'm impressed with the sketches and planning.

Went outside and took some more pictures.

It was late afternoon, and we haven't had our lunch coz we were too engrossed in the Titanic exhibition :p So, we went to this food court in MBS shopping mall. (Food courts are the only place we go for outside food in Singapore...)

I noticed something. If you literally translate 'Rasapura' (which is in Malay) to English, you'll get 'fake taste'. LOL!

I usually love Singapore's Prawn Mee. I think the best one is in Vivo City's food court (Food Republic). This was VERY disappointing.

A Narnia exhibition was going on too! Okay not interested XD

Next up: Walking along Marina Bay Sands to Promenade.

2012-01-14T20:30:00.004+08:00

I was in Singapore from the 14th-20th of December, 2011. But technically speaking, I was there for only half an hour on the 14th. LOL anyway! I was so excited because I was taking a plane to Singapore!

Coz normally we travel by cheaper modes of transport (bus, train) which comes with less comfortability too. But at that period of time, Air Asia was offering really cheap flights - zero fare actually, so we only paid for the tax. Which is equivalent to what we will pay if we take the bus!

Our flight was scheduled to fly at 10.30pm. Woooots I love late flights :p My aunt came with us and we arrived at the LCCT airport at around 7pm I think. Checked in, had our dinner at the food court (surprisingly the chicken rice tasted okay!), chilled out in McDonald's with my Oreo McFlurry :D and basically waited for the time to pass.

Finally, it was time to board the plane. While I was walking on the super long walkway, I was reliving the day when I walked that exact walkway with my new friends to go for the BRATs workshop in Kota Bharu, Kelantan :D

It has been 9 months since I sat on an Air Asia plane :p With my super pretty sis and I look weird here...

The flight took about 1 hour. I was reading in the plane and wasn't aware of how fast the hour went by! I looked out the window, and I saw so many beautiful lights shining back at me.

Attempted bokeh with my compact. Not bad :D

A clearer picture of the tens of thousands of lights of Singapore. Magical, ain't it? Me loves :D

Changi Airport! The airport is so nice, so comfy, so elegant, so huuuge (unlike LCCT - hehe ignore KLIA for a while). My eyelids were sort of wanting to droop then. One thing that Malaysia will never ever have - good-looking men at the immigration counter.

My uncle picked us up at the designated area for picking up passengers (Singapore is so organised). My uncle's family recently moved from Woodlands to Pasir Ris, which luckily isn't that far from the airport XD

I think I slept very very very late (or early) that night (or morning). Coz I was suddenly so awake when I reached the apartment - I don't know why but maybe coz I was too excited :p

The next morning, we slept in - like duh. Then in the afternoon, my uncle drove us to Marina Bay Sands (MBS) coz I wanted to see the Titanic exhibition :DDD

The MBS hotel is just opposite this building. Hmm, this may be the shopping mall... See, one whole row of expensive cars weih.

This is MBS shopping mall! First time in here :D The design and structure of the building exudes such modern feel. It's better than Pavilion - (can say) the most prestigious shopping complex in KL!

Me is jealous.

They even have a casino inside.

See what I mean when I say it's better than Pavilion? Like so bright and open and airy with glass roofs and everything glass XD

I LOVE THIS PLACE OMG. There's a skating rink inside there somewhere but I didn't see it. So wasted :(

Next up: Titanic exhibition!

2012-01-13T12:13:00.004+08:00

So here are some random pictures I took in Penang, before I move on to blog about Singaporeeeee. Be sure to check back! ;)

AWESOME AWESOME Penang food. I love this picture SO much. :p
(ABC, tomyam noodles, char kuey kak, rojak, coconut jelly, char kuey teow, yam cake, cendol)

The view from the multi-storey carpark in First Avenue. It's the newest (I think) addition to the small family of shopping complexes in Penang, so there weren't many shops opened for business yet. :(

I wanted to visit this cafe called Mews Cafe which is located along a narrow alley which intersects Penang Road and Love Lane. It was featured a couple of times in The Star so I figured, the food will no doubt taste good - right?!

But sadly, my parents insisted that street food will taste better and the price will definitely be way cheaper too. Typical of parents la sigh :/ I mean, they're not wrong but I wanna have a try!

The prices are quite expensive actually - compared to street food. Coz the area mainly targets foreigners and... you know how they make business.

Oh well. I'll try another time :)

Heritage buildings along the street... I like!

And lastly, my new cousin Clarice Ho was born! Welcome to the world :D
I can't wait to play with her :D

2012-01-06T21:38:00.011+08:00

I went to Penang Hill on a particular morning in December 2011. Honestly, there's nothing much up there, except for the super cooling air and breathtaking sceneries to enjoy.

Since I'm a student, I only need to pay RM4 which is half-priced from the adult's price (RM8). Senior citizens also get half-priced. However, it's bad news for foreigners coz they have to pay RM30 which is a HUGE difference lol. So remember to bring your MyKad (for Malaysian citizens) if you wanna go up!

At the ticket booth.

We were there at 7.30am and since it was a weekday, there wasn't a lot of people at that time. So we were the first at the queue lol.

Okay I got bored waiting for the gate to open so I backtracked to take some pictures. Here's the way leading from the ticket booth to the train.

They have stuff from the previous years displayed in one whole row of shelves along the walkway, kind of like a mini musuem :) Both trains below are the older versions.

Finally, inside the train :) I wanted to sit right in front, but since there were other people sitting there so... I sat right at the end instead!

It turned out to be a better choice (I guess), because I got to see bit by bit of the island while getting myself pulled up higher and higher :p

A small station halfway up. Last time, passengers have to change trains at this station in order to continue their journey up Penang Hill but now they don't have to - which is very convenient!

Going into the tunnel. Wheeeee!

Yay I've reached! The ride took around 5-10 minutes. You can see it was so early as the sun was rising halfway.. lol.

You gotta LOVELOVELOVE this! The golden (yes, golden!) sun rays pouring down, making the whole world seem so magical :D Ahhhh perfect moment froze.

Not so magical...

Can you see the Penang bridge in the distance? ;)

Sky Terrace is a restaurant that operates at night! They have a few restaurants open only at night so that customers can enjoy their meal thousands of feet above sea level, while basking in the night breeze and looking down at million spots of light. Romantic la romantic! :)

My sis and I! Love this pic!

Climbed up to Sky Terrace haha.

Let's go in :D

Well, I believe this rocky path leads to the rainbow.

A secret house hiding away among the trees! XD This is like the English cottage in novels which I always picture in my mind :p

Some cute flower growing out of the leaf. My mom was so excited to see this; she wanted to take the plant home =.=

Well, guess what. It's my house! Oh yeah!

Walked down a hill, and came to this.

Where you'll eventually see this.

After that, we went in the other direction. It was such a long long walk in, just to admire those English-syled bungalows. I didn't know why I wanted to do it.

On the way, I saw delicate pink petals lying trodden in the middle of the road! :'(

Those faraway mountains look like they're covered in snow :p

I think this is the first time I see such a thing like that! Sad right? Hmm.. why do they put the shape of a rooster there huh?

Haha, my second bungalow :D I love this more! Very private and lots of greenery :p

My sister's "piggy bank" lol. Cute la cute!

I think this is some ex-Penang chief minister's holiday home. He already passed away though.

While we were walking, this cat suddenly came and join our little party. Seriously weih, it followed us wherever we walked! Aww I guess it must have been lonely. Anyway, good company :')

Finally finally, we walked back to the main area and went to check out the hotel. Somehow, the name sounded super familiar.

(Hmm, Wechsler-Bellevue intelligence test that I studied in Psychology? LOL maybe...)

The hotel is actually more like a mini hostel. Right at the end of the small and crampy place, it opened up to this :D

These are peculiar flora! ;)

Okay, that's it from my Penang Hill trip! Hope you enjoyed the pictures because I enjoyed them very much ;p

LOL just kidding!

2012-01-02T19:14:00.006+08:00

Continued from the previous post! This is Part 2 :)
(Make sure you read Part 1 to know what I'm talking about!)

In one of the rooms on the first floor, a dazzling display of exquisite glass epergnes is showcased here.

Believe it or not, this is called a love seat! And I'm doing a love signnnnn. Well, according to our guide, the couple can talk while facing each other and turn away when they're quarelling. LOL.

I love this the most! I wanna learn how to use it! Btw it's an old-fashioned camera :D

A basin and a mirror in the corner of the hall.

This is one of the bridal chambers. That is the bridal bed obviously. Notice the small cage at the bottom of the bed?

According to our guide, a hen and a rooster belonging to the bride and bridegroom respectively will be put into that cage during their first night together. In the morning, the in-laws will come into the room and if the rooster is the first one to come out, their future grandchildren will be a boy, and vice versa.

However, if none of them come out, there will be no children for the couple. Haha very interesting! :p

(A few of the pictures below will be in red because of the lighting -.- So ugly lol. I used auto-colour to edit it but the difference is slight though.)

Bottles of perfume on the dressing table.

Wedding head gear. Can you imagine having a heavy thing like that being put on your head for the rest of the ceremony?

Some sewing did by the Nyonyas. Coz you know, in the olden days they didn't have Internet and Facebook and Twitter and shopping malls so yeah.

Beads for the shoes I suppose? I think the use it to decorate other stuff too.

The basin which the bride used to wash her face I think! I always see this in movies; now I'm really seeing it! XD

Enormous commissioned paintings of Kapitan Cina Chung Keng Kwee's parents and grandparents adorn its walls, bearing testimony to the Kapitan Cina's filial piety.

Impressive collection of the Nyonyas' jewellery displayed in glass cases. Everything is in pure gold, like seriously! :O

Our guide says that the people wore gold jewellery during happy occasions/events like during a wedding...

...and silver for a funeral service as a respect for the dead and to show their mourning.

Back downstairs again.

This is the long table where the "tok panjang" sits at the head of the table. The head of the table is a very special place, and I'll tell you why.

You're able to see everything that's going on in the central courtyard, who's coming in to your house, and who's coming down the staircase - just by sitting at the head.

That's because two huge mirrors are hanged on opposite sides of the wall! It's like the CCTV now lol! Pretty cool huh? ;)

Right next to the main dining hall, there's the western-style dining hall specially catered for the Chinese guests.

And on the other side, the chinese-style dining hall for the Western guests.

The reason they arranged it like that is simple: you don't wanna get bored eating the same food you eat everyday when you travel to foreign places right? :)

Crystal glass door handles. Super cool!

The back corridor has displays showing the history and crafting of beaded Peranakan shoes.

Beautiful and colourful decorations!

Old-fashioned fan and the gold-plated sign hanging above the door of the traditional main hall - which is to the left of the central courtyard.

The external annexe houses the kitchen. To go to the kitchen, you have to pass through what looked like a secret passage to me XD

A baby carriage on the left, and a barber chair on the right.

This is a baby cot I think. My mom says she had it when she was young! :O

Disover the quaint implements, kitchenware and cake moulds here.

The toilets! Lol :p

There's an ancestral temple at the back of the mansion too. You can see scenes of it in TLN. The Chung Ancestral Temple adjoins the Pinang Peranakan Mansion through a hidden passage between the two buildings. It was built by the Kapitan Cina in 1899 and is now fully restored to its original splendour by craftsmen from China - employing traditional methods and techniques.

The temple is ornately decorated with intricate Chinese wood carvings embellished with gold leaf. On the walls above, ceramic figurines in tableaux casting dramatic scenes from Chinese legends peer down at the visitor. A trail through a hidden passage leads to the infamous well with its unfounded tales and secrets.

(I didn't visit the well because the guide didn't take us there..)

So that's all! The Pinang Peranakan Mansion is LOCATED at:
29, Church Street, 10200 Penang, Malaysia.

It's a place full of history and interesting information! You won't regret it :D

For enquiries and reservations, please CONTACT:
Phone: 604-2642929
Fax: 604-2641929
Email: rmhbaba@streamyx.com / rmhbaba@gmail.com
Website: www. pinangperanakanmansion.com

FYI, they even offer the place for functions be it birthday parties, lunch, dinner, wedding, anniversary, seminar, product launch etc!

VISITING HOURS:
Daily from 9.30am to 5.00pm

ADMISSION:
Adult - RM10.00
Child - RM5.00 (below 12 yrs)
(Child below 6 yrs - free!)

P/S: They'll provide you a free guide to take you around the place to explain everything, so don't worry! It is optional though :)

2012-01-01T17:59:00.007+08:00

I'M BACK IN KL AND WILL BE STARTING COLLEGE TOMORROW! Geeeeez. So I'll be blogging as fast as possible. Heh.

When I was in Penang for the holidays in December, I visited the Pinang Peranakan Museum.

The Peranakans - or the Babas and Nyonyas - are a community of acculturated Chinese. They are also known as the Straits Chinese, having settled along the British Straits Settlements of Penang, Malacca and Singapore.

The Peranakans adopted local Malay ways and the British colonial lifestyle. These influenced its rich culture, customs, cuisine, language and lifestyle that are still evident in Penang today.

It may looked very familiar to some of you, as this mansion was featured in various TV shows including the more popular Singaporean drama series The Little Nyonya (TLN).

Some pictures of the casts and crew.

That's Qi Yi Wu (or Chen Xi in TLN) in white shirt, standing. Gosh he's so handsome!

The Pinang Peranakan Mansion, typical of the home of an affluent Baba a century ago is re-created to allow visitors a glimpse of the opulent lifestyle, customs and traditions in those days.

The Traditional Main Hall has a fine set of formal mother-of-pearl furniture framed by exquisite carved wooden screens gilded in gold.

The wives of rich businessmen usually while away their time by playing mahjong at this mahjong table in the next room.

We became one of them.

Two of these mirros are placed directly opposite each other in the mahjong room. They're brought back from Italy (I think) and are called The Infinity Mirror because, well - you see infinity reflections when you look into it. Which is super cool if you ask me.

The mansion was built at the end of the 19th century by local history's famous personality, the Kapitan Cina Chung Keng Kwee.

Though not a Baba himself, his Chinese courtyard mansion is reminiscence of a typical wealthy Baba house in eclectic style incorporating Chinese carved wooden panels, English floor tiles and Scottish ironworks.

They even had a grand piano!

Exquisite carvings in gold.

Having survived many decades of neglect, the mansion has now been fully restored to its former grandeur of a stately home.

Beautiful lantern :)

This green backyard brought back memories from TLN lol. :') I wanna watch that show again lah!

Over a thousand pieces of antiques and collectibles of this era are on display in this heritage mansion with its eclectic architecture.

The central courtyard with an open airwell leads to the Dining Hall with a "tok panjang" hosting festive occasions.

The entrance to the central courtyard.

To those of you who's a fan of TLN, I bet you can remember this place clearly XD

We proceeded up to the first floor.

This huuuuge and heavy chair is where people used to lie down and inhale opium during happy hour. Notice the "tool" for inhaling opium inside the box.

Some of you may remember this room where the "chor chor" (in TLN) was lying here sick :p On the bed, the dress of the bride and bridesmaid are displayed, complete with flowers.

Super old TV (not working anymore) :p

I think it's a radio. Those are golf sticks next to it.

Wah, old-fashioned potty.

Omg these are so cute! Bottles of perfumes and lotion and whatnot in all kinds of shapes and sizes. FYI, these are all brought back from different countries around the world.

Which is amazing! I mean, I don't think people do that now lol.

Suitcase/briefcase/luggage bags XD

Humongous grandfather's clock.

I'm delivering food to mummy. It's so heavy!

Those days, the women carried small purses (made of gold @.@) like these around. Definitely very opposite from the modern woman where she carries a huge handbag with wallet, phone, lipstick, tissue etc in it XD

To be continued in Part 2! :)

2011-12-21T21:00:00.009+08:00

Less than a week after the Reading Bus project, I went on a mission to do some community work again! This time, it's with the 8TV people! :DDD In conjunction with 8TV's 8th anniversary, they organised a charity trip to the Selangor Handicapped & Mentally Retarded Children Centre in Ampang. They posted this event on Facebook, and chose 8 lucky people who are interested to join them :)

Going on a trip with 8TV will give me some media exposure, so I jumped at the chance. And I got selected! Which was so so amazing :) Also, visiting the centre would give me an experience to help out those children, as I've always been interested in mentally retarded children - namely autism.

Anyway, it was a Thursday and I have Moral Studies class but what the heck I'm skipping it! So my mom drove me to Sri Pentas in Bandar Utama and we left quite early in case of any jam at 10 something in the morning.

Was walking in when Juliana called me and asked to confirm whether I'm going or not, and I told her that I've already reached! She sounded very shocked XD Then she invited me up to the office to wait.

But first! I lepak-ed around the building.. taking pictures hehe! Okay so now I'll give you a virtual tour of Sri Pentas :)

This is OneFM's studio! Uhm so sorry lah I don't know who's that coz I don't listen to OneFM :p

After acting so mysteriously (coz I don't know if I can simply snap pictures in the lobby lol after one second you see guards running after me).. I took the lift to the 3rd floor where the 8TV office is. Excitedexcited! I'm in the 8TV officeeee!

I sort of got lost but luckily a kind guy directed me to the right place. It was at the far end of the corridor and yeah I didn't expect it to be at the far end...

Colourful posters/painting decorating the walls of the corridor :) So beautiful right! You know it's a fun place to work at already :p

The Big 8 Family! Some of my favourite hosts are inside :D But 99% of them I do not know who.

Go Travel! The host Xiao Yu is the one who inspired me to become a travel show host because it's the perfect job in the world! You get to travel and get paid for it! What's not to love?

More paintings.

More more paintings. Oh I love this place already.

I waited for quite long.. because I arrived so early :/ Anyway, I love the office so much! Yellow lights, orange walls and their cubicles look so cosy :3 Aww man I would love to work here someday! XD

When it's time, Juliana took me out via a secret hallway at the back of the office (ooooh) and at the moment Owen Yap was standing in the corridor looking all smart and handsome with his briefcase and talking on the phone! When I went out, he looked up and smiled at me ohgosh I'm swooning! (Okay so maybe he was smiling at Juliana and then saw me and kept his smile)

On the bus, I sat with Adrian who's graduating this year from university. He's quite nice to talk to! Sigh but he asked me to add him in Facebook (he gave me his email address to make things easier) but it turned out there weren't any results from his address. OMG. I feel so bad; he must have think that I've forgotten him :/

Arrived at the destination half an hour later!

Helped to carry (heavy) stuff from the bus. Really heavy! 8TV brought all of these including mattresses for the kids.

We helped them to lunch first. Lol KFC snack box! My first time tearing meat for people. They were all munching on happily :) So okay no they're not kids.. but I wonder what is the "children" word doing there in "Selangor Handicapped & Mentally Retarded Children Centre".

After their lunch, some guy was shooting Baki and whatz-his-name-but-he's-handsome with some of the "children". Did it went on air? Did it??

I dunno what is whatz-his-name doing but it sure is funny!

Bakiiiiiiiiiiii ! ;)

Getting ready to pose for the cameras.

Group photo #1 Can spot me? ;p

Group photo #2

Group photo #3

Inside the house. The volunteers helped to carry all the stuff in. I hoisted those mattressed until my arms ache :( Yeah I know what you're gonna say next so stop.. Don't say anything! XD

In another section of the house. Something like a playroom I guess.

Later, we were all separated into groups namely the Painting group, Gotong-Royong group, and Playing with the Kids group. I was in the Painting group and Gary, Mei Sim and Baki were in the same group as me! :D

Sketching for the drawing on the wall :)

Our materials! There were limited colours of paint so someone had to drive out to get more colours lol. I think there were only pink and orange here.

Unleashing their creative sides :p

...While the volunteers stood back and watch lol!

Working with them requires communication. They speak such fluent mandarin and sometimes I had no idea what they're talking about! Even Baki speaks mandarin more fluently than me, and even adding in some bombastic vocabulary @.@ #embarasssedmuch

And talking to them, made me speak mandarin in the Chinese slang (if you know what I mean) because they were all speaking in Chinese slang (except Baki). It sounded really weird coming out from my mouth coz all the time I speak mandarin in the Malaysian slang :p

They were painting halfway, then they went off to shoot a video LOL. I was wondering why the girls were wearing make-up and were dressed so nicely when they're out doing community work haha!

Baki is so cute :3

They talked so confidently in front of the camera! Years of experience.. wow. I wish I could be like them someday :) Words just flow out spontaneously from their mouth and they were just having fun joking around!

They looked so relax there.. :p

Picture with them! :D From left: Dennis, Baki, Gary, Mei Sim and Wind.

Continuing their work... in pink and orange :p

And then, it's time to shoot Megan and Prem from the 8TV Quickie!

I regretted not taking a picture with them :( I so wanted to! (Megan was standing right next to me and I wanted to ask but she seemed so cool lol) She's a hottie alright! :p

Some of the 8TV people playing with the "children".

Finally! After 3 hours of drawing and ruining and painting and restoring it, the blank wall is finally completed with bright colours of pink and orange (oh I think that's 8TV's theme colour lol) with Pow Pow (8TV mascot) in the center :)

Gary high-fived me btw! :p

The 8TV chinese group!

Add in the 8TV english group!

Facebook winners! (The guy in the center is from 8TV) We missed out the rest coz I think they were already in the bus.. Oh and we took the 8TV bus back! *proud*

Another shot!

Shooting again. LOL.

It was a fun time out with the 8TV team helping the less unfortunate people. Another badge of experience added to my sleeve!

Ahhhhhh omg Owen Yap's smile.

P.S. If anyone has seen any videos regarding this trip on TV or on the Internet, kindly give me the link thanks! :D

2011-12-20T18:45:00.005+08:00

Have you ever heard of the Reading Bus project? Well if you have not - no, it’s not a moving library nor is it reading in a bus, literally. It is however, a community service whereby volunteers bring in books to the less fortunate children and educating them in fun ways.

A couple of weeks ago, a group of us A-Level students from Sunway University went to a small Indian community in Balakong, Selangor for the Reading Bus project, which is part of our Moral Studies assignment.

Our Moral Studies class which comprised of 3 A-Level classes (S1, S2 & A1) were separated into 2 groups for this project, namely Bubblegum and Mint. I'm in the Mint group, thank goodness XD According to our lecturer, Sunway University is by far the first university participating in this project.

In the bus, departing from Sunway.

My sampat friend Mel and I were (obviously) sampat-ing at the back of the bus. Only 2 of us at the back row so yeah :D Even small and stupid things can make us burst into laughter which was darn crazy. This photo very cacat though :(

We arrived at their flats a little after noon (after getting lost for awhile), and were greeted by curious children together with the intermittent ringing of the bell from the ice-cream man.

So this is where the Indian kids stay!

All of us were blur on what to do and just stood there outside while some of them got ice-creams. Even our lecturer got one! -.-

There were about sixty Indian children, their age ranging from pre-school to secondary school. They're not orphans so don't be mistaken! Although some may have lost either one parent..

Most of them were at a very young age which means hyper activeness, so imagine the chaos that ensued as we stepped into the community hall. These kids were running towards a small bookshelf and crowding around it, each grabbing a book that interests them.

Their enthusiasm struck me, because even though they are not enrolled in a proper school with good classroom environment and quality teachers, they cherish knowledge and are eager for it.

Those guys look like gangsters bullying the kids huh :p

As we were thrown in the middle of a bunch of excited kids, we felt like fish out of water at first and were unsure of what to do. But luckily for us, the person-in-charge managed to calm the children down and got them to sit in order.

We started with icebreakers, playing ‘Kumar Says’ (as in ‘Simon Says’). Some of the young kids did not understand simple English, so we pitched in to help by demonstrating the actions.

It was a fun time connecting with the children before we started the Reading Bus.

Basically, the aim of Reading Bus is to guide these underprivileged children in reading.

Heheh, the two shy-iest guys in my class :p

After each of the children settled down in groups with a book that was sponsored by Reading Bus, we made ourselves comfortable in between them.

Each of us had our own creative ways in teaching them how to read, and the children were eager to follow after us, pronouncing each word clearly.

Here's Jolene with the group of kids she was in-charged of. I assisted her :D Notice that boy?

He's the 5-year-old boy whom I “took under my care”. Unfortunately, he did not understand a single word of English but only Tamil, as I saw a hint of comprehension in his face when his elder sister spoke to him in Tamil. I kind of gave up reading to him halfway through since he was uninterested in the book, and also to prevent him from running away from this weird girl yakking away in gibberish.

In the end, I immersed myself in his world and started doing all sorts of actions while making animal sounds. Well you know, to keep him entertained. And he reciprocated by crawling over my lap, doing a spider-crawly thing with his fingers. I am truly touched!

Now is my turn with the kids :D See his blank face!

He became my favourite kid, and during break time where all the children munched on cupcakes provided by us, I made sure to keep an eye on him. Yes, I am biased like that. I found him a book about T-Rexes from the bookshelf (I got to know he likes dinosaurs), and I was pleased to see him get entranced by the colourful pictures as he flipped through the pages.

This photo is blur and I think I wasn't ready lol :/ He loves the T-Rex book so much! :p

Moving on, we played more games with them, sang nursery rhymes complete with actions and generally having a great time bonding with the kids. Later, we had a spelling competition and the words were extracted from the books we read to them. The kids were extremely enthusiastic as many hands shot up once a word was asked to spell out, so we did not know who to call first! They received colourful stickers as a reward for spelling the word correctly, which most of them did.

Since we had leftover stickers from the spelling competition, we decided to give them all to the kids but the catch was that they had to do whatever we asked of them, for example singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars. The kids did a great job, and the stickers were gone merely in minutes. For the last part, we handed out boxes of colour pencils to the children in hopes of colouring their lives - figuratively speaking of course.

My honest opinion and thoughts about the project:

All in all, it was my first community service (yes, after eighteen years of my life…) and I had a pretty good experience. It warms my heart to see the faces of the children light up, and to hear the sounds of their laughter while they were enjoying themselves during games time.

These children, they do not have much but they are easily contented. A little lesson that I have learnt from this project is that, sometimes we need to take a step back and truly appreciate what we have; not constantly demand for materialistic goods that we do not need. Besides that, these children are hungry for knowledge even though they are financially challenged. I know kids who are studying in expensive private schools but sadly, they do not fully grasp the importance of education and take their parents’ efforts for granted.

I know all these sound cliché, but really, after seeing those kids living in conditions which are lacking in basic necessities, I felt a sense of gratitude surging through me. I think all of us who are capable of helping should really humble ourselves and give back to the society with a willing heart. Only then will we realise the true meaning of lending a helping hand to those in need.

2011-12-11T10:11:00.007+08:00

Watching 'You are the Apple of My Eye' was kind of a trend among my circle of friends, and most of them were anticipating the movie. I wanted to catch it on the first day, but due to some circumstances I was only able to watch it after the first week. Oh well, at least I watched it right! (But later someone uploaded the whole movie on Youtube =.=)

I was so eager to watch the movie at Sunway Pyramid and I was freaking bored at home. So I didn't wanna wait for the rest of my friends (hehe) to make an appointment on another day.. but Hui Ying was available at that time so we watched together :p

After buying our tickets, we went to Pasta Zanmai (just opposite Chatime) for lunch. The individual meals are quite expensive, and they are around the same price as the sets. So obviously we decided to go for the set as it is a much better option considering the price.

The environment is wonderful, and they have an open kitchen where customers are treated to the chefs' cooking and preparation. Moreover, we will be comforted by the fact that their kitchen is hygiene :)

Sumptuous-looking posters of food decorated the walls. The lighting provided a cosy ambience, where customers can take their time to enjoy their meals.

I can't remember exactly the name of dishes in the set we ordered.. But this is rice with chicken cutlets topped with half-boiled egg. The flowing yolk provides a substitution for gravy, to prevent the rice from getting too dry.

This is Lala Noodles. It is just ordinary noodles with a few lalas added into it. The warm soup is definitely perfect for washing down the noodles. Lala lovers (like me) will love this.

For dessert, we ordered Green Tea Macha Crepe (or something like that). It's a little bit pricey, but once you put a scoop into your mouth, everything is worth it. It's best not to eat all the ingredients separately as you will not get to taste a mix of everything. This is definitely a must-try! :)

Overall, Pasta Zanmai is a good place to go if you'd like something different. They have Japanese food (duh it's a Japanese restaurant), Chinese food.. which I think will suit everyone's tastes. After settling the bill, we rushed to the cinema for fear of arriving late for the movie. (Yes, we were enjoying our lunch that much!)

To those who have no inkling of the movie 'You are the Apple of My Eye'.. well basically it's a mandarin show based on a novel by Giddens. The storyline is actually Giddens' real love life but not everything in the movie is similar to the novel. I love the story and also the movie because it is not your typical romance movie. It shows us the harshness of love in real life, which do not neccessarily have happy endings all the time.

The ending was sad because the girl didn't get together with him after all but chose to marry another guy instead. So 8 years of courting wasted just like that. But in the end, the boy realised that true love means seeing the love of your life be happy - and that's all that matters. Although I'm sure everyone would want the boy and the girl to be together lah...

While waiting for my mom to fetch us home, we went to the main concourse of Sunway Pyramid to look at the Christmas decorations! I'm definitely in a Christmas-sy mood right now :)

The next day, I met up with (most of) my gang for dinner and Snowflake :D Snowflake recently opened a new outlet in IOI Boulevard, Puchong which is just yay yay yay and more yay! They had an opening ceremony just last week with a Buy 1 Free 1 promotion for their bestseller. Unfortunately, I was stuck at home packing for the trip to Penang :(

Anyway, we went to Snowflake right after our dinner. We were obviously quite full but still we ordered 5 bowls of Snowflake! Which is basically one bowl per person.. (But we shared out to try different flavours :p)

Looks very mouth-watering eh? ;)

My favourite is the Taro Series.. I absolutely loveeee the taro balls; so QQ which is just perfect for chewing! Mom tried to imitate their taro balls but failed miserably (expected) and she had to throw them out because none of us wanted to eat. x)

P.S. I'm currently in Penang basking in glorious food and will be back tomorrow. I'm movie-deprived so I'm going for a movie marathon tomorrow and Tuesday before I fly off to Singapore. Who's with me? :D

2011-11-26T20:12:00.004+08:00

Last weekend, something BIG happened at Tropicana City Mall! *drumroll* Yes that's right! The Star Online Carnivale !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was only available on the last day of The Star Online Carnivale, so imagine my excitement as Sunday drew near. The things that I have read in the newspaper and the tweets from Twitter got me all hyped up for the event. Plus, I have never been to Tropicana City Mall…

I invited two of my friends at the last minute, and (yay) they were able to make it! :D

Getting there was a bit of a hassle as we had to take the LRT from Sri Petaling, interchange at Masjid Jamek and then get on a (free) shuttle bus from the Kelana Jaya station to Tropicana. So here we are on the train!

I can't believe it.. we took more than an hour to arrive! Reached quite late around 4pm... (was planning to help R.AGE as a BRAT for a while but then I guessed it was better to forget about it :p) I wore my BRATs shirt though! *proud* In the end, I walked around with my friends to check out the booths :)

Thanks again to Breena's mom's friend whom we met coincidentally on the train to Kelana Jaya! She offered us a ride to Tropicana so we didn't have to wait for the bus. It was God's planning, I knew it ;) So thank God for her!

It would be an understatement to say that the carnivale was packed with fun games and activities suitable for everyone in the family. No wonder it was such a huge hit over the three days. I was only at the carnivale for a little more than an hour, but boy did I enjoy myself immensely!

The crowd was attracted to this game by MaGaCon (Malaysian Games Convention) where the screen has a sensor which detects your movement. Seen here is a sports game!

Yummy treats fresh from the oven prepared by the Malaysian Institue of Baking - to satisfy the ever-hungry stomachs of Malaysians :p

Videogames Challenge by TechCentral. The prizes were soooo attractive! But you have to play all 3 games and get the highest score to win.

Boys were obviously engrossed in MaGaCon’s computer games.

The one thing you certainly cannot miss was the dodgeball court located right smack in the middle of the atrium, to hold dodgeball demonstrations and workshops conducted by the Malaysian Association of Dodgeball. Not to forget dodgeball matches!

Young people showed off their dancing moves or challenged a friend in a game of virtual sports in MaGaCon's booth :)

I'm sure fans of Star Wars enjoyed the lightsaber demo and dueling performance by FightSaberMY. I didn't stick around to see the performance but I'm sure the choreography must be cool :)

Michele dancing to Lady Gaga's Poker Face!!!! She and Breena were darn hilarious hahaha! I can see they enjoyed themselves very much XD

Wow, the men are all so into the card game! Looks interesting :p

Nerf fans also had a blast at the carnivale! They got to join a Nerf-shooting competition :p Those who didn't know what a Nerf gun is, they will definitely know what it is after visiting the Nerf booth.

From time to time, people dressed in costumes (some with colourful hair) mingled with the crowd. Well, it was perfectly normal for them to do so as they were vying for champion in the cosplay competition on Sunday.

The were selling albums too :) RM25 only for Best of the Best and Malaysian Edition albums.

Minute Maid Pulpy was there to quench the thirst of the crowd. They were promoting their new Citrus Mix Fruits flavour, which is really refreshing. Planning to buy a bottle of it :p

Animal lovers were in for a treat as well, as Clove Two’s booth was displaying Henry Cats & Friends collectibles that range from pillows to iPhone cases, all with pictures of (cute) cats and dogs printed on them.

I spotted a guy assembling robot figurines from bits and pieces of scrap, and painting them too! Wow I tell you, this guy is a talent.

For Twilight fans, the highlight of the carnivale would definitely be the movie tickets giveaway for the premiere of Breaking Dawn: Part 1. They also had a chance to win some limited edition Twilight merchandise during the Q&A session.

I can't believe I actually went up on stage to answer the question "What happens when Edward goes out into the sun?"... Oh please kill me x( But it was so asdfghjkl simple and I got some free stuff just like that! After my friends and I each got the bag of freebies, we left the area. I know lah, we're so Chinese XD

But it turns out, inside the bag laid a Limited Edition Breaking Dawn laptop skin and four Breaking Dawn coasters. Erm, it's still on sale you know so are there any die-hard Twilight fans reading this and goes "OMGOMGOMGOMG I WANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" ???

I will happily sell them (at any price)! :)

The three of us embarassed ourselves (a great deal) when we did all sorts of poses at the huge Breaking Dawn backdrop. Hold on before you jump to any conclusions! We, are not Twilight fans okay!!?!?

We just did it for fun.

The characters are cut-out, if you're wondering :) And she looks just like one of them, dontcha' think!? ;)

My Taylor Lautner...... :(

THIS. IS. EPIC.

Not a Twilight fan, not a Twilight fan...

Go go go Breena! The new Bella :p

It was a fun time together with my friends, and the only thing I regret was I did not have my picture taken at R.AGE’s photo booth…

We stopped at Royce' chocolate shop on the way out. Arghhhh expensive chocolate :(

These caught me in my tracks. They actually have chocolate potato chips?!? WOW!

Walked around Tropicana for a while.. before we board the bus back to the LRT station. This should be a art-and-craft shop selling homemade cards and stuff like that? I absolutely love the decorations outside! Imagine what you'll get when you step inside O.O Unfortunately, the shop was closed :(

Love this quote.. (:

Took this from the top floor. The Star Wars lightsaber performance woot woot!

So that's all for today!

To be honest, Tropicana doesn't offer much to see. Shops are kinda limited, compared to bigger malls like Sunway Pyramid. Oh well, at least I can say I've been there now! ;)

We were kinda lost and in a hurry to catch the bus from Tropicana. People had pointed to the same direction; told us it waits near 7-11, but we walked from one end to the other and still weren't able to find it! In the end, I finally saw a small 7-11 sign at the very end.. where construction works were going on.

But it was weird because there wasn't any 7-11 there, but anyway we saw the bus waiting so we didn't bother about it...

So yeah! I'm selling the LIMITED EDITION Twilight merchandise so spread the word okay?

P.S. If you're an avid reader of R.AGE, you may find that some of the photos look familiar.. 3 photos of mine were published in last Wednesday's R.AGE pullout and a very tiny part of my article also came out! So if you haven't check it out, what are you waiting for?! Teehee ;D

2011-11-24T20:34:00.006+08:00

On top of a hill, ex-FGA Puchong members gathered together.

It's Aunty May's house at Puteri 12! (Which is in Bandar Puteri) It's very deep in, and also very breathtaking! OMG the view is absolutely surreal especially at night!!

This is just awesome. It's waaaay better than Broga Hills. OOPS. Don't mean to insult Broga climbers/fans but, just so you know I'm not a fan of climbing hills (like Broga).

The wind is cooling, the scenery is perfect, and the best thing is: all you have to do is drive your way up!! Save your time, energy, sweat, and... basically everything. Heee x)

It's a good place to watch the sunrise/sunset too! Seen here is my sister.

The sun is setting! :p

Big golden sunset halo :3

I thought places like this are already extinct in KL :') *sniff

Beatrice, Bryan and I decided to act all emo x) Note: Complete with beer bottles and all that :p

After absorbing in the scenery, we walked back to Aunty May's house for food. Yum yum! The dog staying next to her house looks so... pitiful. Maybe it's because of its eyes. *feels heart melting and turning soft

After stacking (not literally) our plates with food, Beatrice and I decided to walk back to that magical place and have our dinner. It's a first! And really peaceful, just having the world to ourselves.

Talked about God, talked about life, talked about love - while sitting at the top of the world at night watching fireworks burst into sparkles below us was a pretty great experience :)

Beautiful memories, sealed ♥

Puteri 12, a place that I would visit again. It's perfect for camping hehe! Oh I'm in love with the night scene. I envy the people staying there in huge houses...

2011-11-21T18:38:00.004+08:00

Okie, prezzie time! Hehehe ;)

The card on the left is from Mel, the one on the right is from Mean Shan! Cute cards aye? ♥

Inside Mel's card, haha very funny lorrr :)

When I opened Mean Shan's card, I had a really huge surprise! The picture with Busco, and everything! AWWWWWWWW..

Her card and her effort really made my day; she is so sweet ♥

I received a bunch of Smurfs merchandise from Galaxie magazine one or two days after my birthday. So I take it they're my belated prezzie? :p Gave the door hanger to The Kid :p The Smurfs' car sticker is stuck to the back window of my car now :) So it only takes cute smurfs on board :)

I find it amusing... I actually bought that particular issue of Galaxie because they have autographed David Archuleta albums up for grabs.. so I tried my luck. And then I saw the Smurf contest and I thought 'Hmm.. why not?' In the end, I got Smurfs instead of David Archuleta :( But argh what the heck, it's better than nothing!

A pair of bracelets from Diva! My sister bought it for me... willingly :p *hugs*

A collage of all my beautiful presents :)

On Friday (2 days after my birthday), homefellowship was at my house and we also celebrated the birthdays of the November babies: Eugene, aunty Cindy (not here) and I.

From left: Eugene, Gabriel, Trinity, me, Beatrice

Dad came down from Penang, and he got me a freaking Baskin Robbins ice-cream cake!!!!!!!!!!! Pretty package there!

I've been longing for a Baskin Robbins ice-cream cake for like, more than a year already haha! x) It's chocolate cake with chocolate ice-cream lol..

Notice any difference between the right and left picture? Hint: Chocolate heart.

HAHAHA ;)

Family photo.

Me, blowing the candles and cutting the cake.

Thanks again to all the wonderful people out there for your warm wishes, presents, and simply being there to celebrate with me. Although this year's a very simple celebration, I still thank God that I am blessed to be able to step into the 18th year of my life.

I LOVE YOU ALL xoxo !

2011-11-17T23:06:00.005+08:00

This was 2 days before my birthday :)

Friends wanted to celebrate early and we planned to SING K THE WHOLE DAY. Sounds fun? :) So after booking our room at Neway (in Puchong), we walked all the way to IOI Boulevard to this (very) desserted Melody Zone Cafe to have our lunch.

Yup, desserted. Because you see, it's so empty other than our table! It must be a warning sign... Okay I'm not that mean. It's an "infant industry" so have to give chance.. fine.

I love the tables and chairs - the colour combination actually! It's red and blackkkk :D Oh and they have fluffy red love-shaped pillows!

We were taking pictures with it after ordering our food. Teehee ;)

See?? The pillows just had to be in our pictures.. lol

I ordered this Honey Lemon drink which is just RM1 provided you order a main course to go with it. Mmmhm not bad. Come during lunch hour as they have this promotion.

Mean Shan and I shared this sizzling lamb chop. Honestly, it's not one of the nicest lamb chops I've tried. So the lesson is, never go around eating lamb because only the experienced people know how to cook it to perfection. "Ahhh perfecto!"

This butter milk chicken chop was shared between Hui Ying and Phoi Yih. The butter milk was too oily and it just makes you feel full within a few bites. Oh well typical. That's why I'm not a fan of butter milk...

Other than the peaceful ambience (too peaceful actually) and the red pillows, another thing I love about the cafe is... THIS!!

Rows and rows of cute miniature electric/acoustic guitars in all shapes and sizes... And don't forget the mini drums too! Hahah I just want them all! *greedy*

At about 1pm, we came back to Neway. Yeay so excited! Here is the food/drinks section. They have so beautiful lightings! :)

We went for the Happy Hour, which is from 1pm-7pm (that's a total of SIX hours!) with free flow of drinks and one tea set, only RM30 per person! Darn, it's so worth it. And they have quite a few variety of tea set to choose from like noodles, 3-layer french toast (nice!), nuggets etc.

Haha this is just too cute. Love the decorations!

Makes me think of my cello..... *heartbroken*

These are the few types of cakes/cookies...

After getting our drinks, the waiter led us to our room. The room's super big compared to Redbox! And everyone has a mic and so is contented. It's different compared to Redbox where we have to share mics :(

So we spend the whole afternoon and evening singing. Wow great experience eh, I never sang for so many hours straight in my life before :p

And I can't believe how the six hours just flew by like that, it was time to go back :( So we ended our singing session with pictures!

Ahhhhh good day spent with my gang :) ♥

Oh and I'm not sure if I want to go back to that cafe again. But Neway, definitely!

2011-11-12T15:46:00.014+08:00

After sitting for two papers (Maths 6 and Econs 1) on the last day of October and knowing that I screwed up both papers terribly, I choose to forget about the whole misery. Because - as cliched as it may sound - it's no use crying over spilt milk.

And I was looking forward to Saturday, where Juwita Suwito and Busco will be performing in Full Gospel Assembly KL! I brought my gang of besties with the exception of Veronica cos she couldn't come :( And it was a blast!

I fetched all my friends in my very small car, and the weather was perfect for me to drive without much worry. Praise the Lord, because the sky pours heavily practically every afternoon.

We had lunch at the kopitiam just next to my church, and both my friends weren't too satisfied with the homemade soya and cincau there...

The concert was due to start at 1.30pm, but it was around 2pm when we were finally being led into the main sanctuary. :/ Counters outside were selling Juwita and Busco's album/EP and tickets too!

The main sanctuary entrance.

Fuhhhhh it was so packed. :)

After settling ourselves comfortably in the front seats........

Wheee excitement!

Juwita performed at YC before and she's seriously a good singer. It was quite an intimate performance at YC and I was blown away :O And hmm I've heard of Busco before - they rocked out during Rockaway Fest just weeks before, but I didn't go to the fest :) And I didn't really know much about them then. Hehe!

Here's Anand welcoming the visitors and doing the introduction.

AND IT WAS TIME FOR BUSCO!!!!!!!!

This is Sam - frontman/lead singer of Busco. Ahhhhh he's cute. In my opinion, he's the best looking guy in the band! :P

Busco got everyone hyped up - well, at least everyone standing at the front! OMAIGOSH I was sooo close to them :)) Their music was reeaaaallllyyy LOUD it kinda drowned out Sam's voice most of the time. It's good to know that a Christian indie rock band is making their mark in the local music scene. Hope they go international some day!!!! :D

To those of you who have no idea who they are, I think you might have seen Busco in the TM/Unifi commercial, with their song "R U Ready?" playing as the background music. That's my favourite song XD

They performed a few songs, including "Hold Your Horses". I was not familiar with the songs they sang, and I was waiting for "R U Ready?" only! Thankfully, that was the encore yeayy :)

Time flies super fast when you're having fun, and next up is Juwita Suwito. The hyped up feeling died down, and everyone was waiting for Juwita to appear. She finally came on stage and belted out a few soulful songs. It's so easy to fall in love with her voice!

Other than singing songs which she wrote, she also sang "Stitch by Stitch", which was originally sang by the winner of The Voice. Me likey! :D

So after all the singing and stuff, Pastor Rose came on stage and talked about the art of listening. What's the use of communication if nobody's listening at all? Hmm.. something to ponder about.

After the service, we walked out and smelt the fragrant satay smell. Mmmmhmm! *hungry* Oh but first!! Have to go meet Busco!!!!!! Okay well yeah I fell in love with the band (and *cough* Sam) after the concert. Note of warning: Don't jump to conclusions that local bands aren't good enough - listen to their music first!

My gang and their gang! But Eugene was missing! Arghhh where did he go :( Take two yeahhh!

Oh and erm, originally I wanted to take a pic with Sam only..
*gathers courage* , *taps Sam's shoulder* , "Hi, can I take a picture with you?" :)
"Oh! Yeah yeah hey come come take picture!"
*the other members came*
*ka-chak* "Hey take another one!" *ka-cha*
"Okay, thank youuuu!" *beams*

Hmm... I haven't take an individual pic with Sam yet! Wait, I'll buy their EP (it's for my friend actually) and their exclusive guitar pick (!!!!!!). Suddenly I got a brilliant idea - I'll let them sign my guitar pick (and also the EP lah) ! YESSSS.

I also wanted Sam's signature only - on the pick. LOL.

"Hi, can you sign this for me?"
*takes the EP and pick* "Oh sure, hi what's your name?" *extends hand*
*shakes it* "Hi! I'm Phyllis!* :DD
"Phyllis, nice to meet you!" :)
*signs EP and pick and passes it around*
"Thank you. Thank you!" :)

Few minutes later... *gathers up courage again* OMG this is embarassing...
"Hi, can I take a picture with you again? I'm so sorry..."
He must think I'm this annoying fangirl haha! But anyway...
"Hey! Yea sure!" :)

And... there you go!!!!!

:DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD I CAN'T STOP SMILING. Oh notice that we have matching shirts :D

Ahhhhhh I'm still not over it :D And yes, I know he has a girlfriend already geez. But I'm still allowed to support him (and his band) right! :P

Okay, time for makan makan! The satays were so darn mouth-watering. And we were allowed to take as many sticks as we want without waiting for it!!!!!! Gosh it's just too awesome. Of course, there were other food as well, just not as delicious XD

We left earlier as I have to fetch my friends back and rush for theory class :( Geez if it wasn't for theory class, I would have stayed longer and stalk Sam.

Okay lah, I'm not that creepy... *cough*

Busco's EP "in search of"! I think it's a really nice title :) Unfortunately, it's for my friend so I can't keep it. I really wanna go to their EP launch! (and hopefully get their EP and signatures for myself, teehee)

MY GUITAR PICK!!!!!!!!!! Yep.. all five signatures :) Actually I wanted to ask them to sign at the back of it since it was fully plain, but they were too fast -_- See, it looks imbalance lol..

BUSCO BUSCO BUSCO. ♥

Oh and sadly, Juwita was inside practising for the evening service, otherwise I would have taken a picture with her and get her autograph as well!!!!

Till next time, Busco.

2011-11-01T08:54:00.006+08:00

On Sunday (30th Oct0ber 2011), there was an adoption carnival by Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better (MDDB) in Bandar Kinrara 5, just outside the Kinrara Veterinary Centre.

MDDB project is a canine welfare initiative spearheaded by non-profit outfit Community Development and Integration Initiative (CDII) and dedicated to the rehoming of rescued and abandoned dogs.

MDDB operates a half-way-home for dogs in Klang. One of MDDB coordinators also maintains cats at her residence in Subang Jaya. Besides rescuing and rehoming, MDDB also advocates canine and feline welfare and promotes the Trap-Neuter-Release-Manage system of curbing strays.

The one-tent carnival was from 10am to 6pm, so we went there after church to have a look!

Dog food and shampoo and stuffs.. They were probably on sale.

The carnival also offers free basic grooming and veterinary advice, so some people brought their pets along :)

Celebrity Miss Angel Wong Chui-Ling was there to adopt a dog as well!

There were only a number of dogs and cats for adoption; really not much to see :/

They had posters on animal cruelty D: Which is very sad.

And also articles on dogs that were being put up for adoption.

I think he/she is smiling at me :)

The cats are under the Malaysian Cats Care Project. This feline is pretty!

And has attitude too. Ooh I love the eyes XD

Screaming "adopt me, adopt me!" silently.

I spotted this handsome terrier!!!! But unfortunately it's not up for adoption :(

MDDB T-shirts blowing in the wind...

They say "dogs are man's best friend". So show some kindness, you humans.

GAHGAHGAH A FREAKING DALMATION!!!!!! ♥♥♥

It's someone else's dog so yeahh.. :(

He's so cute! ♥

Read more at http://malaysiandogsdeservebetter.blogspot.com/. Or visit Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better on Facebook!

MDDB operates on public donations and would appreciate any kind of help from members of the public.

Cheques in favor of:
Community Development and Integration Initiative Bhd (654290-T)
and mail it to:
c/o No 48, Jalan Jeriji U8/75C, Bukit Jelutong, 40150, Shah Alam, Selangor.

Or bank into:
Community Development and Integration Initiative Bhd

Public Bank Account Number: 3151793708

Contact details: 019-3576477, 012-3739007, 017-2081844
Email: malaysiandogsdeservebetter1@gmail.com

2011-10-23T11:31:00.009+08:00

After the 3rd Wave concert featuring Brian Joo and former U-KISS member Alexander on the 15th of October, FGA KL is organising another follow-up concert, specially for non-christians to enjoy :)

This time, the concert will feature local artistes namely Juwita Suwito and Busco!

Juwita's journey in the professional music scene began in her late teens, and now she is known internationally, making Malaysia proud of her :') More info at http://juwitasuwito.com !

Busco is a local band formerly known as Bus Company. The band, which is made up of members Samuel Oh (Vocals & Guitar), Shaun Xavier (Guitar), Darren Ashley (Drums & Vocals), Larry Chew (Bass) and Eugene Goh (Keys & Vocals), recently made their appearance at Rockaway Fest 2011.

Details on the concert:

Date: 5th of November, 2011
Venue: FGA KL Main Sanctuary
Time: 1.30pm - 4.30pm

Tickets are RM5 for two person, which also includes a sumptuous feast of high tea. So you see, it is definitely worth every cent! :)

Anyone who is interested but do not know how to get there, kindly leave a comment :)

Matthew 17:20 Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

So here's a simple prayer - for our CG's prayer project with Beatrice being my partner :)

Father God,

I pray that every person in YC will be able to invite at least one non-christian friend. I pray that we will all be persistent, and not simply take "no" for an answer. At least one friend will do, and I pray that You'll work your miracle onto that one person. I pray for thousands of non-christians to come and experience your greatness O Lord.

I pray for the salvation of each and every one of them, I pray that You'll touch them in ways they can never imagine. Lord, I pray that You'll break down any barriers and walls around their hearts, and that they will experience Your joy, Your love and Your peace.

And Lord, I pray for good weather on the 5th of November so everyone can attend the concert, without any trouble. I also pray for the organising committee O Lord, and especially for Anand who is the head and chairman of the committee. I pray that You'll grant them good health and strength to be able to get everything in order.

I also pray that the technical and sound system will go well on that day, that there won't be any glitches and everything will go smoothly. I pray for the artistes Juwita and Busco O Lord, I pray that You'll give them good health, and use them in mighty ways. I pray for Pastor Rose who is going to be the speaker on that day, I pray that Your annointing will pour down on her as she speaks.

Last but not least, I pray that the concert will be a highly enjoyable event for everyone. In Jesus' name I pray, AMEN!

2011-10-19T18:17:00.004+08:00

My generous neighbour gave us a bag of mangoes the other day. Since they're kind of bland, mom decided to make mango pickles.

Mango pickles are extremely healthy, and easy to make!

1. Slice the mangoes according to preferred thickness. (For me, I prefer it thin because it's quite hard to chew on when it's a few mm thick.)

2. Marinate it with salt, then wash the salt off.

3. Sprinkle sugar to taste.

4. Leave it in the refrigerator for the sugar to absorb into the mango slices.

The mango pickles will have more flavour if the mango itself is sour. If not, perhaps try adding a few cili padis in, for a hint of spiciness.

Take it as a snack, rather than chips and cookies :p Yummeh!

2011-10-06T08:54:00.009+08:00

So I came online and saw the devastating news: Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, has passed away. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it on Facebook, and then I saw more 'RIP Steve Jobs' tweets on Twitter, and reality started sinking in.

From the Apple website:

Steve Jobs, 1955-2011

Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

If you would like to share your thoughts, memories, and condolences, please email rememberingsteve@apple.com

Here are some of the tweets on Twitter:

@TIME BREAKING: Apple says Steve Jobs has passed away

@tyrabanks As I type on my iPhone, tears spring2 my eyes4an amazingMan I never met. His genius has touched us all. Steve Jobs, you will b/with us 4ever

@CNN CNN BREAKING NEWS: Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, has died, according to the company. He was 56.

@TIME "The world is immeasurably better because of Steve." Read more of Apple's statement on @Techland http://ti.me/oOxha4

@TheGRAMMYs #RIP #SteveJobs, thank you for revolutionizing the way we listen to music. Your vision will not be forgotten.

@JinnyBoy Rest in Peace Steve jobs u turned a fruit into a phenomenon

@JereSays RIP Steve Jobs. Your genius will be missed.

@nikicheong I first saw one of those tiny Macs as a kid and always wanted one, but couldn't never afford it. I bought my first last year. #RIPSteveJobs

@Starbucks Thank you Steve Jobs, you made the world a better place. You will be missed.

@smashpop Maybe the last thing we can do for Steve Jobs is buy the iPhone 4s?

@CNN Apple founder Steve Jobs dies; had battled cancer for years. http://on.cnn.com/pqgb1p

@TIME Top 10 Apple moments http://ti.me/r5NTqQ

@BarackObama Rest in peace, Steve Jobs. From all of us at #Obama2012, thank you for the work you make possible every day—including ours.

@smashpop Why should a man like Steve Jobs die at such young age? Sigh. I'm tearing.

@TIME Statement from Jobs' family: "Steve died peacefully today surrounded by his family" http://ti.me/oOxha4 (via @Techland)

@smashpop iPhone4S is iPhone For Steve

@MyStarTwo Steve Jobs.. Co-founder of Apple & Pixar. Father of the iPhone & iPod. Visionary. World-changer. May you rest in peace.

@Lord_Voldemort7 RIP Steve Jobs. He's amongst the iclouds now....

@YouTube Honoring tech visionary, Steve Jobs: http://goo.gl/TUr3s. You will be missed.

@ParisHilton So sad to hear about Steve Jobs. He was a genius and one of the most innovative people on earth. He changed the world in so many ways. RIP

@Churp2 R.I.P Steve Jobs, you are a legend and an inspiration to us all.

@winterwhiteice This is seriously sad. What a day to start the morning with. The maker of my iphone has passed on :'( #ThankyouSteve #RIPSteveJobs #iSad

Sad news aside, here's a video of the iPhone 4S. So perhaps you could buy one as a tribute to Steve Jobs.

2011-10-01T13:04:00.005+08:00

In response to the global Moving Planet movement, Green Grenades organised a freeze mob to create awareness of the arising climate crisis and promote an environmental friendly lifestyle.

Basically, a freeze mob is when a large number of people gather in a public area and freeze in whatever stance they like, for a few minutes before quickly dispersing from the place.

The event was on 24th of September, and the freezers were gathered at the freezing point which is the entrance to Orange Atrium for a final briefing, time synchronization and registration at 4 pm.

Green Grenades prepared small cards and cardboards that hav messages written on them, for the freezers to be shown when they freeze. The messages consisted of fighting for environmental causes such as recycling, carpooling, global warming etc. The public also signed petitions to improve our public transport in order to reduce carbon dioxide emission.

The freezers were asked to gather at the concourse area and start freezing when Black Eyed Peas' I Gotta Feeling was played at exactly 5pm.

In action :)

There were a group of people planking! Aww planking is like the easiest way to freeze right? :P

But still, it's cool!

Yeap, freezing. You can't really see them freezing in pictures though haha.

I like how it rhymes :)

After the freeze, everyone was scrambling for a huge group photo.

The event was a successful one. I hope more freeze mobs would be organised in the near future. AND THIS TIME I WILL FREEZE. I didn't freeze cuz I was taking photos, for my blog :(

Go to Moving Planet for an international feel and check out Green Grenades registered event!

By the way, my T-shirt says: Save the planet. It's the only one with shopping malls :)

2011-09-29T14:56:00.002+08:00

STICKY is awesome! Although it hurts after sucking on it real hard.

My long-lost obsession ♥

2011-09-29T14:02:00.004+08:00

Some time ago, I bought some stuff from Sheabelle - a blogshop which sells all-things Korean. Which are all priced reasonably too, I might add. :)

It is owned by Michelle's sister, so it's easier as she could COD to me at my college.

I bought a pair of headphone winder which cost RM12. Finally! No need for trouble when I ALWAYS need to untangle my phone wire -___-

Next, I also got an owl (long) necklace for RM12. Super cheap lah OMG! I think the cheapest you can get from outside shops is at least RM15. Some even selling for RM20+. @@ And btw, the owl is soooo pretty with shiny gems! :D

Oh and I had a pleasant surprise when I saw another extra (short) necklace in the package! So sweet of Sheabelle to put in a gift :')

If you're much interested in Korean stuff, head on to Sheabelle! Their items are all imported from Korea. You wouldn't regret it :) However, they're on a break now and will be back in November 2011.

2011-09-23T16:47:00.004+08:00

A few weeks ago, it was the Mid-Autumn Festival. Think: lanterns, candles, mooncakes. Hmmm it was a reaaallllyyy long time ago since I played with candles and lanterns. I remember my primary school having this mid-autumn party where I would just meet up with old friends while having fun with candles.

Ahhh old memories. :')

Since my secondary school days, this year was finally one to catch up with memories :) I went to the Bandar Kinrara Chinese Methodist Church's party, and that was also where I met up with long-lost friends Michele and Breena. HOMAIGOSH especially Breena! Haven't seen her since Form 1! :')

We went parading around the shoplots with paper lanterns. It was so fun!

Then 2 days later, I had the opportunity to go out and play with lanterns again :D Sigh I'm young at heart :) Little Isaac - the boy whom I tutor who is also my neighbour - suddenly turned up at my house while I was having dinner, with lanterns and all, desperately calling me to go outside.

So off I went. Very happily :D

My mom and Isaac's kakak lighting up the lanterns in my garden. His lantern is the battery-operated type. That kind of lantern not fun at all leh seriously.

The three of us lol. The biggie sister :')

Mom trying to hang the lantern on the tree branch.. but to no avail :( It'll be nice if the lanterns can be hung up. Ahh so magical :P

Random placing of candles. I actually wanted to do a heart... or something nice. But with kids, it's hard to get your way.

After we got back, Isaac's mom was kind enough to invite us to go over for some treats :) I like the pandan mooncake!

And then Isaac brought out his Angry Bird playset. OMG that little guy is darn freaking crazy about Angry Birds, I dunno why :/ I'm tired of seeing them everywhere =.=

But I gotta admit, the catapult thing is kinda cute. It actually emits the exact bird song in the virtual game when you place a bird on it. Haha!

Out of a sudden, the adults got excited talking about a lost chicken out on the streets. They decided to let it in. (But they let it go afterwards) Oh wow it's a kampung chicken! I've never seen one before!

We were so curious, we spent the whole night (okay, exaggerating a little) watching the chicken's amusing antics. Like trying to climb on to a pail but falling into it.

Yeap, our attention were all on the chicken, instead of on the moon.

Isaac and Ah Kang, the two mischievous boys, were doing all sorts of things on the poor candles.

Like, "Oh yeah, let's burn the middle part of the candle!"

Busy at work...

They built a mini campfire...

...which was cool but then the wax was so, so thick and it became a long trail. Which was not cool.

The end result.

Now, I'm looking forward to next year's Mid-Autumn Festival - hopefully celebrating it with more friends :D

2011-09-09T23:39:00.007+08:00

Soooo after all that food from Jogoya, it is only right to go exercising the next morning :P So here we are at Lake Gardens, KL! As everyone is still in the festive mood, the city center is expectedly quiet especially so in the morning. Luckily for me, cuz I was the driver ._.

Lake Gardens, or Taman Tasik Perdana in Malay, is probably Kuala Lumpur's most popular and scenic park.

A green lung in the city center with many must-see attractions: Deer Park, Orchid Garden, Butterfly Park, Bird Park, National Planeterium, among others.

The 92 hectares of land provides facilities like children's playground, jogging tracks & exercise stations and rowing boats.

Lake Gardens has come a long way as it was started in 1888 by State Treasurer Alfred R. Venning, with the support of British Resident Frank Swettenham.

The Sungai Bras-Bras swamp was converted into a botanic garden with an ornamental lake, and the name came from Sydney Lake, wife of Swettenham.

The is the Brazilian Nut tree. It can grow up to 30-45 metres tall, with a 1-2 metres trunk diameter. It is among the largest trees in the Amazon Rainforest, and it is known to have reached an age of 1,000 years. The seeds are edible and the extracted oil has many commercial uses.

Out of the blue, a guy who was running while carrying a huge Jalur Gemilang flag with some other runners, paused and lent us his flag for us to pose with it.. lol! Very patriotic huh :P

OMG! I didn't expect to see bottle trees in Malaysia! This is way too cool XD

This is the Deer Park. A note of warning: You are able to sniff the very strong foul smell emitting from inside.. from where I'm standing. Don't ask me where that comes from lah. And still so many people went in :/

The amphitheater.

Steps leading to Oasis Garden!

And here it is...

Nothing but rocks and water. Very tranquil. *hop* *hop hop* to the other end :)

Rainbow!!!!! Sooooo pretty :')

After our morning walk in Lake Gardens, we went to town to have breakfast. Then we walked around Sungei Wang Plaza. I can't remember the last time I went there, I think I was a toddler back then (as I have been there before according to my mom). But why, now not anymore? :(

Anyway, we just browsed through the shops lah. It's a really old shopping centre; not much market value like Mid Valley or 1 Utama. So I guess that's why the clothes (and practically everything, especially electronic gadgets) selling there are so cheap. A piece can cost ONLY RM12! That, is so freaking cheap. Some of the clothes are quite nice; they're even in fashion!

I should go there again someday (:

Then, we passed by this dessert shop called Snowflake. I vaguely heard of the name before, as one of my friends mentioned it previously. Hmm..... okay we'll give it a try! It was 11.45am then, and the shop only starts serving at 12pm, so we waited for a while.

Snowflake sells wonderfully natural and authentic desserts of Taiwan (cue: OMNOMNOM). Snowflake always "guarantees the use of the finest and freshest ingredients to create unique desserts of the highest quality". All of their desserts are "handmade and freshly cooked for hours daily to ensure that the natural flavour of each ingredient can be tasted in each and every spoonful."

Whoaaaa. Just makes you wanna eat everything they have right? ;) Hahaha sorry lah, I'm a bit outdated, because apparently a few of my friends already know about Snowflake. They go to the branch in SS15 Subang, which is just opposite Taylor's College, Subang Jaya.

The menu alone is like heaven. There are so many mouth-watering choices to choose from!!!! Arghhh it's hard to control myself :P In the end we settled for Sea Amber Jelly and this month's special, Sesame Sensation.

I paid at the counter, and the cashier gave me this.

I was like wha-?? I saw the girl in front of me took it, so I took it only lah! LOL. It wasn't until I sat down at my table that I inspected the thing. It's a "Beeping UFO" and the "UFO" will light up once your order is ready. How cool is that!

Sesame Sensation contains "peanut ice", sesame balls, baby pearls and red bean. It's awesome and worth worth worth the money; it is RM6.90 per bowl (Just think of Chatime - now I feel I don't really love Chatime anymore LOL). The "peanut ice" is just soooo yummeh!!

Sea Amber Jelly is so-so. It's the same price as Sesame Sensation, but I don't feel it's worth it. It is topped with sea amber jelly (that's not bad) and pearls. Below, it's one whole bowl of ice. Can say that I'm a bit dissapointed.

Note to self: Don't ever believe the "Must try" label on menus anymore. Lol.

Oh gosh, I want to go to Snowflake again! Open more outlets lah, for example at Sunway Pyramid or IOI Boulevard, then I can go there everyday :P For now, the "nearest" outlets from my house are at SS15 and Mid Valley :(

# So sorry for the bad quality of close-up shots. I used my sister's smartphone camera that day because I didn't bring my compact :/

2011-09-08T18:13:00.007+08:00

On National Day (and also the second day of Raya), I met up with my Ji Muis and we went to KLCC (: Well, we wanted to go to the KL Bookfest which was held at KL Convention Centre during the week-long holiday, other than hanging out with each other :D

I drove Mean Shan, Hui Ying and Phoi Yih to Sri Petaling LRT station (teehee!) and we began our journey!

Changed trains at Masjid Jamek. I love this photo lah (:

OMG the station was sooooooo crowded! Oh well, it's a public holiday after all. But I never thought it would be this bad! The first train was too full of passengers so waited for the next train. The worst part is, people were squeezing with all their might in hopes of getting into the train - one nearly got squashed between the automatic doors.

The next train came and thankfully, we managed to squeeze in. It was overloaded but still people were pushing and pushing, until I heard someone said "Enough, enough!". Ughhh so scary! Where is the courtesy and politeness of Malaysians T_T

We finally reach KLCC station, after - getting all sweaty and nearly suffocating - for a few stops. Met Yie Kin there, and we walked around to find something to eat. We couldn't decide yet, so we went to the cinema to see if there were any movies available.

Sadly, Cars 2 wasn't showing at a suitable time. The others wanted to watch Final Destination 5 but Mean Shan and I weren't interested. I dislike watching horror movies. Luckily too, because Yie Kin was saying that the movie is almost as horrible as The Sanctum. Gosh that is one nightmare, a regret, and from then on I will never watch 18-rated movies again -.- (and I'm not even 18 yet LOL)

Mean Shan got some cookies from Bisou bake shop. I love the shop!

Sooo many delicious-looking cupcakes and cookies and cakes.

We ate McDonald's (after much consideration -.-) and the rest left in a hurry to catch the movie, leaving Mean Shan and I with lots and lots of fries. Oh well, I love fries ;) After that we walked around seeing stuff. Mean Shan said she wanted to eat ice-cream so I suggested...

...this place!

I saw the pictures of the ice-creams and they all look soooo inviting! They have a whole lot of yummy flavours to choose from, we didn't know which to choose!

In the end we ordered chocolate ice-cream, my favourite flavour :D IT IS SO YUMMEH! It's full with chocolate chips, small chunks of brownies, and rich chocolate syrup! So creamyyyy~

After that, we had a hard time meeting up with the others. The whole KLCC was practically packed with people :/ Finally, they found their way to us :D And we camwhored for a bit at the lake.

Then we made our way to the convention centre.

Arrived at 3 something, and we were hoping that Nicholas Teo will still be there!

And we managed to catch him at Hall 2 ;) I'm not a big big fan of him, but yeah I like him.

He's kinda cute and he's soft-spoken heehee. He looks like a real gentleman lah :P Here he is with host Cheryl Lee.

Then we went on our separate ways, spreading in each direction. I immediately went to the English section, and literally grab every book off the shelves. Hahah kidding but yeah, I can't stop myself from taking so many books! There's Jodi Picoult, Cecelia Ahern, Sophie Kinsella, Agatha Christie, Nicholas Sparks and some classics like Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and Tale of Two Cities.

I'm quite the bookwor- wait no, bookaholic sounds better! :P

I would buy a few more actually, but *cough* I still have some self-control lah. I mean, I sat down at one corner and calculate how much were all the books and I got a shock. In the end, I parted unbearably with some John Grisham novels :(

I did spend quite a huge amount of money actually, and it's quite frightening. If I could spend this much on books, I wonder how much more would I spend on clothes/accessories lol.

At about 5pm, I met up with my family and we head down to Jogoya for buffet! Wheeee so excited :D

Omgosh, memories coming back :'( Of the time David Archuleta was here signing for the fans!

I last came here during the World Milk Day celebration last year where I represented the Girl Guides' in my school for the event. And this was where I took a picture with Amber Chia also! :P

Ahhh haven't got the chance to go in there yet! Must go there! Oh and I heard they have a sale.. whether going on or not yet I'm not sure... :/

Inside Starhill Gallery which is inside JW Mariott Hotel. (Did you know Starhill is a direct translation of Bukit Bintang? I just realised this last week, #fail)

So cool weih, with so many different tea flavours xD

We went and explore the place before heading to Jogoya. The lanterns are so pretty!

Beautiful lights.

Another cool thing. "Pillar" made out of glass bottles glued together. Now this is called "Go Green" :P

Okay we admit, we got lost (lol) and after getting directions from the receptionist, we head up to the 4th floor, which is known as the Relish floor. Each floor has different, elegant names and I'm like wow. Relish.

The buffet's RM110 nett per person (for children, if they are below certain height they can eat for free). For lunch and supper (they even have supper! O.O) it's cheaper, which is RM98 nett.

The waitress led us to our assigned table. It's 5 something and it's so empty in this section. Dinner time is from 5pm - 9.30pm.

Went around taking pictures of everything (first!). They have sooo many choices of food! Mostly Japanese food, and there are also seafood and Western food. Enjoy the pictures!

Some of the food we ate lol.

Oh do you see the fish on the right with big white eyes? That's called Ice Fish and it looks really weird and abnormal. But surprisingly the meat tastes nice! I don't know how to describe it but the meat's not that soft like ordinary fish meat. It's just different.

Crispy salmon skin with mayonnaise :D

Oh I love this. It's Lala in warm herbal soup. Naise!

My whole face literally lit up when I saw this - Haagen Dazs!!!!! Next to it is DIY Ice Kacang xD

Coffee and Tiramisu flavour :D

HOMAIGOSHHHHH I LOVE THIS PLACE. Been wanting to try one of those, but never got a chance. Wahahahahaha I ate a lot of marshmallows :P

Marshmallows are pretty and colourful. Hmm how good if they were to have strawberries too. Oh heaven.

Gloriously glorious.

Just opposite Haagen Dazs, there's New Zealand Natural too! Omnomnom.

Rum and Raisin plus Hokey Pokey on a crispy wafer :D

There are so many different types of cakes and kuihs and puddings too!

Not to forget cookies...

Green tea pudding.

Snail coated with baked cheese. Mom kept asking me to try T_T Oh well, I love trying different things, and I gave in because of the cheese too. Errrrr still, really not my thing haha.

It's around 7pm and it's fuuuuuuuuull house XD

Rested for a while, cuz I was quite full already. And yet I haven't stuff myself enough! :P

A tip: DO NOT EVER take cakes and desserts cuz they're not worth the money and they easily make you full. Not that I ate them lah =__= Btw, that's red wine.

They have macaroons! But my delight evaporated instantly when I saw the "For Sale" sign. Whyyyyy can't they give it out for free?? Okay not free but you know what I mean. It sucks to have to pay extra for them, otherwise I would have "sapu-ed" them all :P

Japanese Mochi!

Hahah. Just for fun ;) The bigger one is the Black Sesame Mochi, I quite like it!

Errrrr, last helping? Parents said, "Take more oyster! One oyster is so expensive, if you eat about 10, it will totally be so worth it" Errrrrrr..... =.=" I felt like puking when I ate the oyster, even if there's lemon juice on it! :(

We finally got out of Jogoya, and it was almost 10pm by the time we came out. Surprisingly, they didn't ask us to leave at 9.30pm :D We should have just stayed all the way into supper :P

We heard some jazzy music, and we made our way here. Cool stuff.

Giant statues! :P

Two words alone which bring elegance, class and expensive to mind. And I'm in the middle :)

The interior design of JW Mariott looks so British, so posh. Like the Victorian era. I love!

Cool beans leh!

So, that's all for the Jogoya experience! I know I won't be going there for sometime lol. But for those who love Japanese food and all kinds of seafood (think oysters, snails, escargots and all those yucky things - no offence), it's a good place to eat and just chill out with friends or family!

For the money, I think it's quite the market price for a buffet. And Jogoya isn't just your normal ordinary buffet what with food ranging from this end to that end. Furthermore, it's located right smack in the middle of Bukit Bintang - the most happening place in the country! What more can you expect? ;)

2011-09-06T09:56:00.002+08:00

On Tuesday, we decided to go to Cheras for western food. Again, another place where my parents took me to when I was a little kid, and then we never go there again, until now. I don't know what happen in between lol.

I know Cheras is really big, and I'm sorry I didn't get the name of the area :/ But anyway, there's like this whole row of western food restaurants which is quite cool. I've never seen anything like it before. And it's hard to choose which one to go to when there's so many!

Finally, we settled on this restaurant called Kaki Corner Cafe...

...because there were so many people.

Yeah my parents are like that - they opt for whichever restaurant which has the most people cuz they reckon the food will be good. -.-

My sister ordered brown sauce chicken. Looks nice huh? ^^

I ordered spicy ham chicken with cheese. I love spicy food! And cheese! Anyway, not often do I see western dishes with red hot chilli flakes. And the taste is great too :D

Then there's this cheese-baked rice. Yummm cheese again :P It's not bad but somehow I still feel the ones in Wong Kok Char Chan Teng are better :)

Yup, whole row packed with western restaurants. It's like in overseas :P

The food is nice, and Cheras might be a perfect alternative for western food if you'd like a change from all those expensive restaurants in shopping malls. It's good food for a good price (:

2011-09-05T15:23:00.007+08:00

After spending the day at Putrajaya, we went straight on to Subang New Village (at around 5 something in the evening) for dinner.

Kwai Lam Seafood Restaurant is the place where my parents last went like 10 years ago with small little me, and they highly recommend this place for seafood. It's located further in from TUDM, Subang and you can spot the white sign along a row of seafood restaurants.

For people staying in Puchong, it is quite far given an average of 20-30 minutes' drive. But for me, (I drove from Puchong to Subang, yesterday) it took me about 45 minutes. T.T LOL.

You have to be there early, meaning from 5pm-6pm as people will start crowding the restaurant as early as 6pm. It's easier to secure a place for parking too, because there is limited parking space beside the restaurant. Unless you don't mind parking a distance away, it's still okay to come at 7pm.

The sea coconut + lemon drink is the way to go on a hot day! It's just so refreshing :D

Their Fried "Dong fun" or "Winter noodles" (when it is directly translated) is like the best one I've ever tried! It just makes me want to eat more and more :P

The portion is quite huge for one person. But I guess it'll be perfect for big-eaters! :D

"Kam heong" Lala next :D Soooooo tasty! Can't stop myself from sucking the sauce from the shells as I feel it's such a waste not to. The sauce is extremely salty - just by eating it like that, duh of course it will be xD

Then came the crab. We ordered the sweet and sour sauce flavour, however, I saw many tables having the butter cream one. Should be nice :) We requested for some "man tous" (soft white bread) to go with the sauce.

Mmmmmhm delicious~ :D

The last dish will be the sotong bakar (grilled squid)! Again, it's the best-est sotong bakar I've ever tried (: It tastes so well, and it's even better if you dip in chilli sauce.

All in all, we had a very satisfying meal. Thumbs up yo (Y)! The price is quite reasonable too. We went again yesterday, and ordered other dishes: Hokkien mee and fried chicken wings.

For me, the Hokkien mee tastes ordinary - it may vary according to different individuals because my mom said it's nice. The fried chicken wings is good and quite a number of people ordered that too.

Y'all should go and have a try! However, they are closed on Mondays. Warning you first to prevent disappointment ;)

2011-09-04T15:44:00.005+08:00

My dad came back from Penang and was here for the holidays, so during the whole week he took us out to places and also to hunt for food! Which is like, my favourite hobby lol.

So after The Geographer Adventure (read my earlier posts), on Monday we went to Putrajaya and visited this hotel called Pullman Hotels & Resorts. My dad was the project manager (or something) for this project, so it's kind of like, he's involved in building this hotel (:

The hotel has a few cultural designs like, Malay, Chinese, Indian. It's quite cool.

A place for chillin' out. We came in through here not the lobby lol (:

Camwhoring already! -.-

We went up to the lobby, and explored the place.

The drinks bar is kinda cool! :P

I think this part is the Malay design.

Right right? The mini roofs are like the ones you see in Malay kampungs :P

Interesting designs. Very intricate too.

Moving on to the Chinese design. They're just next to each other actually.

It's like in the olden days during the Chinese emporers' time lol.

Looks familiar? It's the symbol that is usually associated with the Chinese palace in the olden days...

Moving on to.. I'm not sure what design is this. Heh. It looks.. Balinese? *shrug

Me and sis were busy camwhoring only.. LOL :P

Back inside the hotel! We sort of sneaked up to the first floor..

And then we went out to the rooftop...

The sun was too hot, eyes cannot open :/

They have a rooftop swimming pool!! Arghhh it looks so fun! Oh and there was this "ang mo" aka foreign family playing catch in the pool and they were speaking in mandarin! Awww so cute.. :P

A bird's eye view of Putrajaya.. (:

The streets were really quiet - usually it already is, but since it is the Raya holidays, it was even quieter. (Y)

That's the Maritim Center with the Putrajaya bridge at the background.

Inside the gym. There were practically mirrors glued to every surface of the wall. They certainly make the gym look like there's no ending to it huh xD

After that, we went to Alamanda for a movie. We could have explored the whole place - it was huge - but we didn't have enough time as I wanted to catch The Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

It was a great and awesome movie. The story was so moving that I teared up a couple of times. I want to download the movie OST :D

I think there's a small park outside Alamanda if you walk further down the pathway.. I love bamboo trees - they give a serene and relaxing feeling. So Japanese too :P

I remembered this poem "The Road Less Taken" by Robert Frost which we studied in Form 4. I love that poem so I edited this picture in remembrance of it hehe...

And I saw this advertisement which I thought was cute :P

Have you tried Saxbys' ginger beer? It's good. Real stuff there.

2011-09-03T18:26:00.004+08:00

So y'all know that I'm a Volkswagen fan. Okay if you don't know - well, I am. ;)

And I'm getting so pysched up about..... *drum roll*

The Volkswagen. Das Auto. Show 2011

This unique and dynamic show will be held in a one-of-a-kind Dome, specially built for this event. Come and bring your friends, you're all invited for a Volkswagen experience like no other.

Discover and learn about all things Volkswagen. Our cars, our brand, and our global presence.

September 10-11, 2011. Bukit Jalil Stadium. 10am-10pm. Admission is free.

SEE YOU THERE! :D

Only when a company sells its vehicles in more than 150 countries, it is The Car.
Only when a brand delivers this much innovation, value and responsibility to the people, it is The Car.
Only when today's car is anticipating tomorrow, can it become The Car.

2011-08-29T22:33:00.007+08:00

The Geographer restaurant at IOI Boulevard, Puchong seems like a great place; it's always buzzing with vibrant atmosphere and chatter. Everytime I pass by it, the huge signboard in front and the whole set-up just fascinate me. So I decided to try it out!

It's more like a pub, with people drinking beer under a very very low-light condition inside. Lol. So we sat outside, enjoying the cooling weather (thank God for that) - like what people do in overseas xD

All the table and chairs are high up from the ground, so perhaps it's not suitable for old people.

But of course, there are a few sofas too, which is okay if you just wanna have a drink and chit-chat with friends. However, it will be a bit difficult to eat your meals.

Don't you think it's a fascinating name for a restaurant? :P I mean, I won't think of an eatery if you mention The Geographer Adventure..

See the reaalllyyy tall glasses there? That's for the beer - and for customers to serve themselves after the waiter brings it to the table - so it has to be super tall to hold large volumes of beer!

We opened the menu, and found out that we have to wait for a freaking whole 35 MINUTES for the meal to be served - for all main courses. Oh maaaaaaaaaan. I just had the urge to leave the place right there and then.

Maybe there is only the one Italian chef (that they featured at the back of the menu, like WOW) that is doing all the work =.=

But anyway, we didn't leave. Since we came here to try the food right.. so never mind, patience patience! *Italian chef!*

We ordered.
And waited.............

Smoked bacon pizza came first.

It's thin crust, and the bacon goes well with the cheese. Not bad, but still normal; nothing to shout out about. Note: Ask them for chilli flakes; it's always nicer to sprinkle some on your pizza :)

Oh and I noticed the button mushrooms are different from the ones you get at Pizza Hut. They're certainly not from cans; they actually taste quite genuine! :P

Next was oxtail soup.

Can you see a layer of oil on top? The colour is like curry lol, and yes it's so darn oily. The verdict is simple: I don't like it. But maybe oxtail lovers would enjoy it...

The last one is pork knuckle.

It's a whole pork knuckle, thus very huge. It was not sliced or anything, so we have to cut it ourselves. Quite troublesome, if you ask me.

Like in The Pork Place (Sanbanto) which is just a few doors down, they actually slice their pork knuckle for you no matter if it's half or whole. And their crispy pork knuckle skin looks so delicious; it's like 'siu yok' ;) But I'm not being biased or anything, as I haven't tried it yet.

In The Geographer, the pork knuckle is served with sauce (above), mashed potato...

...and pickled vegetables.

The pork knuckle by itself is tasteless. Only after dipping the meat with the sauce, then there's some flavour. But all you will taste is the sauce (mayonaisse with lemon) as it sort of covers up the dim taste of the meat.

The only thing I like about this dish is the mashed potato.

For the amount we paid for our food, I think it's not worth the money. (Although we already had 20% off because we ordered before 9pm)

At around 9pm, there were performances (mainly singing) to entertain the customers.

And one more thing, my dad asked for refill, and all of us thought that the waiter is gonna bring a jar of water and refill for everyone of us. Much to our surprise, he brought only one small cup of water to our table.

Now, what kind of service is that?? I was thirsty after all the food, but whatever, *happily heads to Chatime which is just next door*

Sadly, I give a rating of only 3/10. The Italian chef is honestly a huge dissapointment :/

P.S. There is 50% off on all western food and non-alcoholic beverages everyday from 11am - 3pm.