GiLLie SpiLLs Da BeaNs

Happy 60th Birthday Dad!

2011-12-08T23:04:00.039+08:00

Today my old man turned sixty and we decided to throw him a little party with just close family members. It was a simple but yummylicious dinner that had our tummies bursting with calories so we had to 'exercise' those added energy away with ..... karaoke!

My Dad and his 2 younger brothers were having so much fun belting out old Chinese songs and dancing to the rhythm of the music. I never knew that they liked singing and this could perhaps be a new family activity. They were quite hilarious to watch and the best part is that I have it recorded on tape, in case, you never know, it is needed in exchange for something valuable in the future.

Heh heh heh.

Mom's side of the family sang English songs instead because they are mostly 'bananas' so it was a good balance of East and West.

Twas a good night and I'm glad everyone had fun. It is always good to have the family come together, spend harmonious quality time with each other and create good happy fun.

Happy 60th Birthday Daddy! Love ya!

Buuk Review: Ox-Tales (Earth) by Various Authors

2011-11-21T16:10:00.088+08:00

There isn't a synopsis for this book as it is a compilation of short stories by various authors written as part of a campaign by Oxfam to bring awareness on the various projects that they are involved in to reach out to the community. There are actually 4 books in the set, each highlighting an area of charity work by Oxfam; Earth for agriculture, Water for water projects, Fire for conflict aid and Air for climate change.

Authors of Earth include:

Vikram Seth

Rose Tremain

Jonathan Coe

Marti Leimbach

Kate Atkinson

Ian Rankin

Marina Lewycka

Hanif Kureishi

Jonathan Buckley

Nicholas Shakespeare

Aside for Vikram Seth and Ian Rankin, I have not heard of the other authors and thought that this would be a good opportunity to 'get to know' these authors. Plus, this would give me the opportunity to know what a short story should look like, feel like, pen like, read like, should I decide to dabble into this one day.

And ..... unfortunately this set of stories was not very inspiring, for several reasons.

First, I was reading this on and off during one of the peak-est (if there ever is such a word) time at work and so I would read for one night and put it away for the next week, and then pick it up again for a night or two and then leave it aside for a few more days. Therefore, with so many things occupying my mind in the day time, I do not have space to recall what I read last week or a few days ago and yet I was lazy to re-read the story to refresh my memory so I would just chug ahead and hope for the best. Which of course turned out to be fairly disastrous.

Secondly, most of the stories did not appear to have much connection to the theme of the book, which is about agriculture or about the earth. As such, I was not able to draw the link between the stories and the intent of the putting this book together for Oxfam to illustrate their efforts behind their causes.

Thirdly, I notice that most of the stories has an implicit meaning behind the storytelling, meaning there is another story within the story. And with my work-intoxicated mind, that was too much to handle. And because of that, I did not get the twist in the story, the reason why it was such a good read. To me it was kinda blah and I would finish reading one story and not really looking forward to the next for there wasn't a hook, an excitement that would entice me to flip the pages again and again.

That said, I should actually apologise for saying that the stories compiled are less than good since I was not able to fully appreciate the penmanship due to my many distractions. So perhaps I should actually give this book another go and PROPERLY read it this time round and give it a fair review instead. So, let's see whether there is enough pull factor for me to pick this book up again :)

Mwah New Ride

2011-11-18T17:23:00.047+08:00

All I did was post this message on my Facebook accompanied by a photo of my current ride -

Selling! PM me if interested!

What I received in return was not the expected questions about the age of the car, how much I intend to sell it for, is it accident free or anything remotely related to my current car, but instead I received a deluge of questions about what new car I am buying.

I even have an ol' high school friend who previously only calls me perhaps once a year suddenly called me up TWICE over a 3 week period harassing me to let loose of what car I have purchased. I have to give the guy credit for his attempt to wean the answer out of me for he tried asking questions from various angles in hope that I would slip some hints that would enable him to eliminate some options and narrow down the answer.

Another friend even called me past midnight just to ask me what car I bought. Oh, and not to forget the countless MSN and Facebook messages with the same query.

Gosh! I never knew that a simple post with the intent to SELL MY CAR would illicit such interest. But the funny thing is that when I did finally receive my car, the excitement died down and nobody seemed to bother anymore.

Then again, I take back my words, for those who knew were teasing me with statements like:

"The only negative thing about your car is that it does not come with a much needed ladder"

"Are you sure you can reach the pedals?"

"OMG, people may think that this car has no driver since you're ..."

"And Gillie, I am only saying this because I care a lot about you"

Yeah right, such fine and dandy friends I have. Like they say - With friends like these, you do not need enemies!

So, without any further hulla bulla, mwah new ride -

Words in Pixels: Yummy Enough for Humans

2011-11-14T21:25:00.045+08:00

The box on the left says -

Country Chicken & Apricot Dinner

Raw ingredients gently air dried for maximum nutrition. All natural with added vitamins and minerals. Over 50% of New Zealand chicken with the natural goodness of sweet apricots, vegetables and fruits rich in antioxidants and phytonutrients.

The box on the right says -

Herbed Lamb and Potatoes

Raw ingredients gently air dried for maximum nutrition. All natural and healthier. Over 45% of free range New Zealand lamb. Recommended for healthy skin and coat. With vegetables and fruits rich in antioxidants and vitamins.

Yups, you've got that right. This is packaged food for mutts! And yet it sounds so yummy! If only there is an equivalent for humans. Just add water and poof! the air dried chunks of lamb and potatoes will morph into real food that is as scrumptious as the real thing.

Oh yeah, they are called TV dinners.

Hrmmm.

Oh well. I guess the term 'living a dog's life' is starting to lose its relevance.

Paris - Day 5

2011-11-10T21:10:00.236+08:00

We agreed to sleep in a little today so I only headed down for breakfast by 9:45a.m., spent a good 45 minutes enjoying my breakfast before waiting for M and G at the lobby of my hotel. That little tub of yoghurt that you see there is cheese flavoured yoghurt and it tastes ..... unappetising to say the least. Think I better stick back to the usual fruit flavoured yoghurt. Would not want any upset tummies while travelling, do we?

Oh, and that huge mug of hot chocolate? That is one KICK ASS hot chocolate. It was lightly sweetened with a trace of bitterness that I like. Much better than the super thick and gooey version that M had at The Angelina. I was so tempted to nick a few packs of it back with me but it would be hugely embarrassing if anyone found out, so I behaved.

A well balanced breakfast

We headed out to the metro station the moment M and G were done leaving their luggage at the concierge. The plan for today was to visit Saint Chappelle, have lunch and take the train to the airport. We planned our route for the day, checked our plane tickets to be sure of the departure time and counted backwards to be sure that we are back at the hotel by a certain time to collect our luggage with enough buffer time for check-in and the whole nine yards.

Valerie, the guide told me that Saint Chappelle has the most beautiful stained glass so I simply had to check it out. And of course, it did not disappoint. This church is very different from Notre Dame and Basilica Sacre Cour. It is actually a holy chapel built in the courtyard of the royal palace to house King Louis IX's collection of precious relics of Christ.

Upon entering, there is a spiral staircase on each side that leads to the upper floors. Painted tiles adorn the floor. Small crown-shaped motifs on a royal blue background lined the ceiling. Brick red pillars with golden replicas of a palace lined both sides of the wall. A little brochure explained that the pictures on the stained glass tells a story of the Old Testament and the New Testament.

At the Upper Chapel, there were stone tiles that told the story of Christ. Though unfamiliar, I could recognise some of the more famous depictions like Adam and Eve with the forbidden fruit and Noah's Ark. Outside, high above the chapel roof were gargoyles looming over the walls. I have read about gargoyles in story books and this is perhaps the first time I am seeing a real gargoyle, though from really far away.

The upper chapel of Saint Chappelle

Across the road, pretty much almost at the Cite metro station was a small pet market. Most of the stalls were selling small birds of various colours, and bird seeds of all shapes and sizes. M told me that her father-in-law has a pet budgie that grew so fat that the poor bird could not really fly anymore. Sounds like a scene from a Disney cartoon.

Seeing the pets reminded me of my 4 hamsters back home. I hope they're all right and that Mom is feeding them. Well, I put an alarm on her handphone that would ring everyday at 8pm and remind her - FEED HAMSTERS! Good thing is she doesn't know how to turn the alarm off so hopefully the rascals are being fed and hydrated.

Birds for sale at the pet market

We sat down on a bench opposite these buildings (sorry, forgot what buildings these are) to rest our feet, checked out watches to ensure that we still have time to head to the airport, people watch for a little bit and then decide to head back to my hotel to gather our stuff. By the time we got back, we double checked our agenda for the day again to decide which would be the easiest and shortest route to get to Gare du Nord and therefore decided to skip checking out a morning market for the lack of time. Plus, it isn't easy lugging around a trolley luggage, a bag pack containing my laptop and a sling back for my camera. I may be tough when I need to be but I don't exactly have the strongest of stamina.

So in the train we went and upon reaching Gare du Nord, it was lunchtime so we randomly picked a cafe just outside and proceeded to order our lunch. This is when everything appear to be going downhill.

The waiter preferred to ignore us rather than take our order, and the food though fairly decent did not arrive as fast as we would have liked, wasting precious minutes. Once we were done, we briskly walked back into the train station to get our tickets to Charles de Gaulle Airport and there was a long queue of people in the line.

Fantastic.

By then we had about an hour and a half from our departure time and we still had about 30 minutes of train ride. M and my flight to London was earlier than G's flight back to Stockholm. During the entire time in the train, none of us said anything although we all knew what each of us was thinking - what the hell are we gonna do if we missed our flight? Yet at the same time we all tried to think positive and visualize a good outcome, however difficult it may be.

The moment the train stopped, we ran as fast as we could, which to be honest, isn't very fast when you have a trolley bag, a bag pack and a sling back on you, together with all the summer tourists getting in your way.

By the time we got to the check in area, the lady there told us that the counter has closed and we cannot check in anymore. Fortunately, after showing her our papers she declared that we have actually checked in online and can try and dash to the departure gate to board our plane. So, armed with renewed confidence that we can still make our flight, we started the mad dash again.

As we ran and ran, I tried cursing why our departure gate had to be the last one at the end of the terminal, but I was so out of breath that I was turning blue. I almost seriously cursed when the dude at immigration took his own sweet time flipping through my passport, looking up to smile at me, look at the passport again, then looked up at me again before he finally stamped it.

On the run again, we were met by another long queue at the scanning machines but at least we were comforted that we are not the last ones lining up for our flight. My heart was beating really fast because I have a bottle of perfume in my luggage that was over 100ml, there is a small bottle of champagne and I have several empty Coca-Cola glass bottles which is sure to raise eyebrows. When it was my turn, I pretended as though there is nothing wrong with the contents of my luggage but I have to admit that I almost stopped breathing when the scanner guy turned up to look at me for what felt like a VERY LONG TIME, before he looked down again and let the bags through.

Hallelujah!

But of course the story does not end here.

Though we passed the scanning machines, we were stopped for having more than one piece of luggage on us. The fine print on our ticket clearly states that we can only have ONE piece of hand carry and between the two of us, we have FIVE. Un, deux, trois, quatre, cing. FIVE instead of the allowable two. The dude with the constipated face said we have to pay 50 Euros for each piece of additional luggage. I tried to put up a fight and argue my way through but he was adamant. 50 Euros for each additional bag or we don't get on the plane.

Argh!

So we were ready to pay the fine when he tap tap tap into the system, made a call, said a whole lot of stuff in French and then told us that we have actually purchased one piece of check-in luggage each and he can check our large trolley bags in for us without any additional charge. The only caveat is that we have to condense our balance 3 bags into 2, so we stuffed whatever we could into 2 bags and hurriedly walk into the plane.

WE ARE IN THE PLANE! WE ARE IN THE PLANE! WE MADE IT!

Now shut those damn doors and get us up in the air!

By the time my feet touched Luton Airport, I could almost kiss the ground for having successfully survived that ordeal. M and I looked at each other while at the British Immigration and yelled softly under our breathes - WE ARE IN LONDON BABY!

The Indian guy who sat in front of me wasn't so fortunate though. That poor bloke had apparently left his passport somewhere in Charles de Gaulle Airport and now do not know whether he would be allowed to enter UK without his travelling documents. Doubt the in-flight beer helped.

Who cares ..... WE ARE IN LONDON BABY!

Paris - Day 4

2011-11-09T20:48:00.388+08:00

This morning, we laughed as we recall what E declared when she first arrived in Paris 3 days ago. She was halfway eating her baguette on that rainy morning when she said, "Wah, so much bread! How to eat bread everyday?" and now she just told us that she will miss 'Paris bread'! Yay, we have a convert! Although I think that the only reason she is eating so much bread this morning is because of the Nutella paste that she seem to have grown very fond of.

After breakfast, I packed D and E into their pick-up and bid them farewell as they headed to the airport. They're really nice kids and it was fun hanging out with them. It was fairly surprising that we got along so well and could already throw banters at each other although we have only known each other for only a few days. So it was with a sad heart that they are leaving Paris for Malaysia today.

Just as I closed the door of the cab, M and her husband arrived at the hotel and was just in time to bade them goodbye. We promised to look each other up on Facebook and stay connected.

Now armed with my new travel buddies, we walked to the nearest train station and bought us some tickets to Versailles, a suburb about 20km southwest of Paris, or about 30 minutes on the slow train. When we arrived, we walked into a travel agency of sorts and bought our entrance tickets to the Palace of Versailles.

We high fived each other for this smart choice because when we arrived at the palace gates (there was a huge piece of metal art in front that looked like cinnamon flavoured churros - either that or I was hungry), there was a humongous queue to buy tickets that stretched to the moon and back. Imagine, if it took us almost 20 minutes to queue up and enter, I cannot fathom the amount of time that we would have wasted lining up just to buy tickets. Security is pretty strict there too. We had to put our bags and other belongings through the metal detectors like at the airport.

Once inside, we each got an audio guide and started with the first room and by the time I have reached the third room, I arrived at a simple conclusion - everything was the ultimate in being pompous and grand. From the large paintings on the ceilings to the even larger hand woven carpets to the gilt ornaments glittering in every room to all the intricate carvings on each door and wall paneling and of course, to the sheer expanse of the palace and its gardens. It is almost a town by itself.

There was a ceremony or service that morning for we saw a group of 'noblemen' dressed up to the nines

As we moved from room to room, we learned a little bit more about the history of the palace, the people who lived there, why a certain room was built that certain way, the story behind the choice of paintings on the ceilings and all the ceremonial practices prevalent in that century. After walking for more than 2 hours, our tummies yearned to be nourished and our feet ached for a rest. Luckily, one of the ladies working there showed us the shortcut to The Angelina, a restaurant located inside the palace for us to grab some grub.

At The Angelina, I believe the tiles at the front entrance must be hand painted. The shelves of desserts and sweets lined on both sides leading to the front desk beckons to be salvaged from their loneliness sitting on hand crafted trays to the warmth of a belly. The solid wooden furniture, some with leather seats and chunky studs in each dining hall reminded me of those white mansions with a long driveway in a plantation county of Georgia belonging to the O'Haras. I almost expect to see the rooms patronised by gentlemen in top hats holding a cigar in their right hand and the ladies in frilly frocks teasing with their full bosom.

Thankfully, that was not the requirement to dine at this restaurant or we would have to go hungry. I had smoked salmon salad that came with a whole avocado, a lot of beans and all the fibre to last me the entire week. M had a Croque Monsieur and the thickest hot chocolate I have ever sipped. It was so thick you can almost use your hands and mould it into any shape that you want. G satisfied his palate with a duck confit and some dessert. Surprisingly the tab came up to be a pretty decent amount considering the posh-ness of the place coupled with it being located at a tourist location.

Before continuing with our walk (G gently broke the news to us that the whole 2 hours that we have just walked, well baby, that was only about 20% of the palace. We have another 80% to go, and then there is the gardens, fountains and other buildings at the other end of the palace grounds. Ho boyyyyyy) we needed to visit the water house and I had my first Ally McBeal experience; a unisex toilet. Yes, it does feel a little weird knowing that G is taking a leak in the stall next to mine.

Moving on ....

The Hall of Mirrors!

One of the most famous rooms in the world

Truth be told, I have not heard of the Hall of Mirrors prior to this day. M was excitedly pointing to the photo of this room on the brochure and said that THIS is the must-see at Versailles and I merely shrugged. So it was only when I was standing in this spectacular hall at the central gallery of the palace commissioned by King Louis XIV that I understood why M was so hippety hoppety when we finally arrived at this hall. Sadly, the magnificence of this room was marred by 56 bus loads of tourists.

The most hilarious are the Japanese. They are always scurrying from one room to another because their guide is always hurrying them along. So they would converge at one corner of the room, spend 45 seconds listening to their tour guide, take 5 snaps of photos on fast forward mode and then disappear into the next room.

Chandeliers, huge portraits, gilt ornaments on the ceiling, carvings on the door and plush cushion furniture

A lot of hours later, we finally completed the tour of the palace and stepped outside into the fresh summer breeze. As we walked towards the gardens, I turned around and snapped this photo to illustrate how insanely huge this palace is. I can imagine playing hide-and-seek and not being able to seek for all my friends without at least a 3-months lead time.

The 'garden' is obviously not your average garden. The expanse of it made Central Park look like Oprah's backyard. As I walked along taking some photos of the flowers, I literally stopped to smell the pink roses and I was immediately intoxicated. I have never in my life breathed in such a fruity sweet smell from a rose before. I was SO IN LOVE and so addicted to the smell that I kept stopping whenever I see the same pink rose, take in a long deep breath and went to olfactory heaven.

Oh, I just remembered what triumphed over the Japanese tourist. I was reading the brochure about the Gardens of Versailles and it mentioned that there will be a musical fountain at selected times of the day. So I thought to myself, "Cool, let's find us a nice shady spot on the grass and wait for the fountain to start dancing along to the music." Several minutes later, right on the hour, all the fountains scattered around came to life and spewed water high into the air. And ..... that was all that it did. There was no performance, no water jumping up and down, nada.

There was, however, French instrumental music playing on loud speakers that can be heard at all corners of the gardens.

And then it dawned onto me. Music is playing in the background. The fountain is turned on. So what happens when you put two and two together? You get a MUSICAL FOUNTAIN ala 18th century!

The Palace of Versailles in all its glory

Pass the fountains we visited the Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon which is basically a smaller version of the palace and quite frankly, somewhat similar to the grand chateau. At least the Marie Antoinette's Estate's architecture is different from the other buildings. It reminded me of those old country houses with plain concrete walls, basic oil lamps hung at strategic locations and simple wooden furniture.

Some parts of the garden are more rustic with wild plants, century-old trees, swans swimming in a lake and some tiny weird bug that somehow stuck itself all over our bodies. It doesn't help that our arms and faces are all sweaty making it more difficult to flick those pesky buggers away. I even happen to chance upon a photo that I took of a few Westerners sitting in the sun and upon close inspection I realised that they were all also busy picking those damn rascals from their arms!

Huge shady trees, lush green grass, fluffy clouds, happy blue sky - what more could one ask?

By evening, we realised that we were stopping more to sit down and chat than we were looking around the place so we figured that we have done our entrance ticket fees justice and slowly trudged our way towards the exit. On the way to the train station, we stopped by a pizza place for dinner and each of us downed a whole large pizza ALL BY OURSELVES.

I'm not sure whether that would have made my Momma proud.

Oh well ...

After I got off at my stop, I slowly walked back the 500 metres to my hotel. Though it was past 8 o'clock but as the sky was still bright, it felt such a shame to just head back to my hotel room and waste my last night in Paris away. So I walked down to River Seine and took a few photos of the boats and some small neat restaurants tucked away by the river. There was even a miniature Statue of Libertie in the middle of the river. I contemplated walking over the bridge to get to the Statue of Libertie ..... but my legs are still tired from excessive use today so I decided to not be over ambitious and simply stood on a small pedestrian bridge to snap a few more photos instead.

So my last night was spent packing my luggage, watching some French TV and snuggling in bed with my book to give my short lil' legs the rest it deserves.

Bonne nuit Paris!

View from my hotel room, overlooking the River Seine

p.s. This trip was made in mid-June 2011

Paris - Day 3

2011-11-08T20:30:00.278+08:00

We opted for a Japanese breakfast today and had teriyaki mackerel with Japanese rice and other condiments. We took the metro to another part of town to the Basilica Sacre-Coeur. I was told to come in the evening to see it during daylight and also at night to view the magnificence of this building when illuminated but alas, there are other plans for tonight! I have a feeling, tonight is gonna be a good good night! *grins*

The cobble street leading to the Basilica held many shops selling t-shirts, paintings, macarons, sweets and the usual touristy souvenirs. There were some nice stuff but every time I convert Euro into Ringgit, I had to think twice about whether I want it bad enough. In the end I got myself a shopping bag made from a gunny sack sort of material. I thought that I could use this in lieu of a hand carry because the luggage that I brought had a wheel that got torn off just when I arrived at the hotel. Fortunately I have a smaller luggage housed inside the larger luggage but there would not be sufficient space if I bought anymore new stuff.

Just outside the Basilica there was a man wearing a white robe that reminded me of the ghost of Christmas. He had his entire body covered in white paint and stood suspended in motion, a busker performing for some coins to be thrown in his hat.

Inside we were not allowed to take photos so I bought some postcards instead. Unlike the Notre Dame that was filled to the brim with visitors, there were less people inside the Basilica and it was therefore quieter and more peaceful and calm. I lit a candle and wished that everyone would be well and happy.

Basilica Sacre-Coeur

We then randomly walked the pebbled streets surrounding the Basilica. There were cute little houses with wall crawler plants all over, unique shops scattered around, little gardens with summer flowers that you can't find in Malaysia and town houses with tiny chimneys lining the roof. At one of the gardens we even saw a young lady dancing and prancing around as her friends captured it on camera. We stood in a corner watching her. She was thoroughly entranced in her routine that she did not even notice us spying at her.

Despite it was a fairly chilly day that day, I got myself a tiramisu gelato and sent myself to heaven. Ahhhh, the bliss of eating ice cream on a cold day. Add that to the SMS that I just received from one of my bestie that she has arrived in the city of Paris and is now on her way to check in at her hotel nearby. So after walking a few more streets, I consulted my trusty map and slowly walked my way to where her hotel is located at Rue de Sofia.

I heart this place!

Thankfully it was nearby and I easily found the street. However, after walking from one end to the other end, there was no sign of a hotel on that street. Strange. I stopped by a butcher and asked for directions. The hotel turned out to be under renovation hence I did not notice it the first time round. I went in and asked whether there was a couple who had just checked in and she told that they are in room 6 on the 2nd floor. So I walked up the spiral staircase, knocked on the door of room 6 and shouted "Bonjour!" My friend opened the door and I immediately screamed and hugged her. It was so surreal to finally meet her in Paris after weeks of talking about it.

You see, my friend has moved to Melbourne quite a number of years ago and I only get to meet up with her at most once a year when she returns to Malaysia, so being able to see her again and in Paris no less was a huge treat!

So what do Malaysians do when they meet each other? They go eat! We went to a cafe nearby that my friend M has been to the last time she was in Paris and we tried escargots. Hey, you gotta eat some snails when you are in France! You should have seen the expression on D's face as he slowly pried an escargot from it's shell and gently placed it in his mouth. It was priceless! In the end, he loved the taste so all was good. No one died in the process of eating snails *phew*

Scrumptious!

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Montmarte - walking into churches, buying fruits, peeking into art stores, photographing quaint looking shops and graffiti on signboards, telling stories and laughing at each other, stopping to buy some crepes and witnessed a very loving gesture by an elderly man for his wife. There was a group of buskers performing on the streets and this old man went up to them and asked if he can sing a song for his wife. They said OK, he took over the mike and he sang an impromptu song in the middle of the city for his wife! After that they danced a little and went on their merry way. You definitely do not see this everyday!

This man sang a love song for his beloved wife, then danced with her in the middle of town

At the end of town, we looked at the map and said, "Hey, let's check out the Montmarte Cemetiere!" I've read that some of the cemeteries in Paris are tourist attractions as some very famous people are buried there. For me, there wasn't a particular resting place that I wanted to see, it was simply to know how a cemetery in Paris looks like as I was told that it is actually very well maintained and far from being creepy. So we arrived at a T junction and had a choice to turn left or turn right. I can't remember who said what and how we decided but we turned right and ended up walking an enormous round only to realise that the entrance is actually 50 metres to the left of that T junction! Oh well, nothing lost since it enabled us to explore the other side of Montmarte.

And the cemetery was actually a pretty nice and calm place. It was very well kept indeed and some of the resting places are really an architectural splendour in itself.

Cemetiere de Montmarte

Hohoho, the very reason me, D and E are in Paris is to attend the Black Eye Peas concert at Stade de France and tonight is the night that is gonna be a good night (not like the previous nights weren't, but you know what I mean!) Our pick up dropped us off at one of the entrances to the stadium and we told him that we'll wait at this same spot after we are done since we anticipate throngs of people leaving at the same time. The mistake that we did was to not take down his mobile number in the event that we could not find him and needed to contact him.

It has been a VERY LONG time since I last attended a concert. I believe it was Linkin Park some time back in 2003 / 2004, which is yeah, I know, a lifetime ago. So I was very pumped up to attend this. There was two opening acts by (I assume) local artistes. One was a black lady who sang some songs in English and the others in French. One of it was dedicated to her ex-boyfriend, and no, it was not some sad love song about lost love but it was more about her hatred for men fueled by this man who must have wronged her real bad. The other act was a DJ who spun some pretty good songs.

When the Black Eye Peas finally appeared on stage, the crowd went wild! They are indeed as great as their songs. It was one hit after another and the 3 of us danced the night away. The only weird thing is that because the sun only sets at 10-ish, it feels a bit odd being at the concert when it is still bright.

We even had a little girl who entertained us. She was this cute 4-5 year old curly haired blonde girl busy chewing on her gum and not knowing why she was there. Aside from just chewing the gum, she would take it out of her mouth, play with it and then pop it back into her mouth, eliciting shocked and disgusted looks from the 3 of us. This smart little cookie knew that she was getting our attention by her actions and continued to push the boundary with her chewing gum. Let's just say that I hope she has a strong gut.

My tickets to the Black Eye Peas concert at Stade de France!

After the concert, we were like a sea of human following the Pied Piper. Half way through we lost D but managed to locate him some 10-minutes later. When we finally got to the spot where we said we will wait for the driver, there was no one there waiting for us despite us being half an hour later than the time we quoted him. We thought that perhaps he could not stop there for long due to the cops and had circled round. So we waited and waited and waited, and kept looking out for a Toyota Prius or any signs of someone looking for 3 lost lambs but there was no one waiting to pick up 3 Malaysians in Paris.

There was no cabs at all despite waiting for a good hour. We had no idea where the nearest metro is and whether this line will be able to take us back to where we want to go so we decided not to risk taking the train. It was almost midnight and truth be told, I was getting rather worried that we might have to sleep underneath a bridge that night. So I decided to walk back to the stadium towards a small hotel nearby, thinking that perhaps they could help us call for a cab, especially since we are staying in the same franchise hotel back in the city (Stade de France is near the airport, which is about 20-30 minutes from the city of Paris).

When we got there, the guy was the least helpful. He just said that he couldn't help us call for a cab and asked us to hang around outside to wait for one. When we left the hotel, we finally saw a cab and it was empty but someone else had already hailed it. However, after a few moments, the guy walked away so I quickly went and ask if he can fetch us to our hotel. The cabbie was so ruthless - he said that he will only fetch us for a fee of 100 Euros. 100 Euros??!! That is RM450 for a cab ride! Although it sucked to hear that he was right - that there are no other cabs if we do not follow him - I was still initially hesitant to take up his services but seeing that we really had no other choice, we got in. 10 seconds after we got into his car, he demanded that we pay him the full fare of 100 Euros now or he'll throw us out of his cab. I bargained and said that I will pay half and pay him the other half when we arrive, just to be sure that he does not decide to drop us in the middle of nowhere but he was adamant. 100 Euros or we walk home. So I grudgingly paid.

Thankfully, the cabbie did bring us back to our hotel safely, but the idiot had the cheek to not drop us at the front entrance but instead at the main road. When we got out, he popped open his trunk even though we had nothing inside and he quickly sped off after we got out. Some 50 metres away, he stopped his car, got out and closed his trunk. I had zero clue what that was about until D said that the cabbie did that to avoid us knowing his car license plate and report him to the authorities. Now it makes perfect sense. No wonder he did not want to drop us off at the main entrance. Bugger!

Oh well, despite the drama, the important thing is that all of us were not harmed and we got back to the hotel safely. Well, at least now I have a story to tell!

p.s. This trip was made in mid-June 2011

Paris - Day 2

2011-11-07T20:14:00.215+08:00

Breakfast consisted of warm croissants, yoghurt, toasted bread with Nutella, mini pork sausages, bacon, scrambled eggs and hot cocoa. I need all the energy necessary for more walking today!

First agenda for today is Musee du Louvre to catch up with Mona Lisa and ask her whether she is really a dude as some has claimed, and find out, really, what is behind that demure smile of hers that has kept the world guessing and speculating for almost 500 years.

Yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised when the tour guide handed me a parcel and said, "I heard you wanted to visit the Louvre so I got you some tickets!" Hurrah! She also advised us to enter via the underground entrance at Carrousel du Louvre instead of via the pyramid as the queue would be shorter. So armed with good advise, we walked to the nearest metro station, bought ourselves a carnet (bunch of 10 single ride tickets) of tickets for 12 Euro and traveled 15 minutes on the metro to the world's most visited art museum.

The Louvre Palace and Pyramid

I read that the metro in Paris is one of the oldest ever built, which explains why it appears fairly old school, with a lever that you have to turn to open the doors. It is not air conditioned, merely relying on the fresh summer breeze for ventilation. I was not complaining for I was busy feasting my eyes on all the beautiful Parisians! Everyone looked as though they have just finished a photo shoot for they are immaculately spruced up and even though what they have thrown on is fairly casual but it just looks so classy!

And by golly, the Musee du Louvre is seriously HUGE. Wait, it is huger than huge. It is the huge of huge. So huge that it makes huge looks small. So immensely huge that even after 4 hours of random walking from room to room and floor to floor and wing to wing and my eyes went blind from taking in all the sculptures, paintings, carvings, weavings, wood works and what nots, I am sure that I have probably only covered 30-40% of this magnificent place.

I'll readily admit that I am not much of an art enthusiast and my knowledge of art is pitiful but it does feel good to be able to be in close proximity and to witness for myself some of the great works of art that I have briefly read about. The Seated Scribe, Venus de Milo, The Lacemaker, Winged Victory, Haemaphrodite and of course, The Mona Lisa.

Mona Lisa was too shy to answer my questions and merely smiled at me

After lunch at a nearby cafe, and where I had a blonde moment in my head, we walked to the Tuileries Garden and witnessed people feeding pigeons, blowing bubbles in the air, sunbathing by the fountain and drinking beer at the garden cafes.

OK OK, I'm sure you were already distracted when I mentioned about the blonde moment I had in my head and would want to know what it is, right? Who cares about pigeons and bubbles, right?

Fine.

When I was waiting for my food, I looked around the cafe and noticed that almost every plate of food has fries as a side dish. I was about to make a comment to D and E when I managed to stop myself before I made a fool of myself. I almost said, "Wah, the French really like ........ *light bulb moment* French fries huh?"

So there you have it, not one of my proudest moments in life. Not the last either I'm sure. Hahahaha!

Cafes lining Jardin du Tuileries

From the gardens, we walked pass The Concorde and The Madeleine towards the Les Invalides that holds a hospital, war veteran retirement home and a military museum. When we arrived at the gates, we saw a troop of soldiers in full garb marching into the building and we followed suit. Much to our surprise there is some sort of ceremony going on and there were at least 100 soldiers lined up in several groups moving around in a rehearsed formation. We stood by and watched for about 15-20 minutes and poked our heads inside Saint Louis des Invalides and Napoleon's tomb before scurrying off as we have to be back at the hotel to freshen up and wait for our ride to the Moulin Rouge!

A battalion of soldiers attending a military ceremony at Les Invalides

As usual, when you are in a hurry, you are almost guaranteed to lose your way. We walked in a few circles trying to find a Metro station for the signs to the metro is really obscure! Thankfully we found it soon enough and had just enough time to get ready for the show.

Napoleon's Tomb just beside Les Invalides

The drive there took an hour due to a horrid traffic jam in the city but I took it as an opportunity to see more of Paris. There was even a point when the car stopped for a pretty long time and I was watching a fireman put some hoses together and I was trying to capture a picture of him at work. A passerby noticed that I was taking a photo and stopped for me to do so and then gave me the thumbs up when he saw that I was done with my picture taking. Too cute!

The passerby I mean.

Oh, and yes, the fireman too *grin*

Anyway, the show that we went to see is called Feerie and we had to dress up. Both E and myself wore a simple black dress and D looked pretty dashing in a tie and tailored jacket. Our package came with dinner and half a bottle of champagne per person.

The performances were really good! There were about 80 cabaret dancers with sequined dresses and feather boas and elaborate head gears dancing and prancing around on stage with little left for the imagination. No wonder we were not able to bring cameras into the hall. I actually had my small automatic Sony camera with me but decided to be law abiding and not snap any illegal photos. The 1.5 hour performance was so good that I forgot what I had for dinner! I recall there were some pan seared scallops and perhaps a fish dish and maybe some strawberry mousse.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is interested although I have to agree that the ticket prices are rather steep.

The REAL Moulin Rouge!

p.s. This trip was made in mid-June 2011

Paris - Day 1

2011-11-06T19:54:00.288+08:00

It has been a very long time since I have flown on a long haul flight and even longer since I was last in Europe. What made this trip even sweeter is that it is a work trip and my role is to take a couple of winners for a contest I organised to attend a concert in Paris and walk around the sights of this city of romance. This means that I get to tour around and have fun and call it work! Awesome possum!

After 12 hours of flight, me and the two winners, D and E, a young couple who had just graduated from their undergraduate studies arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport. The airport reminded me of this book that I read about the true story of an Iranian man who was stranded at this very airport for over 20 years due to some immigration issues; he could not enter Paris and nor can he return to his home country, leaving him no choice but to make a red bench at Charles de Gaulle Airport his home. I actually went and researched about him before I left Malaysia to find out whether he is still living here at the airport but my hopes were dashed when I found out that he has been transferred to a welfare home in Paris after he fell ill.

We were picked up in a Toyota Prius (it's the first time I've rode in a hybrid car and the electronics were pretty cool!) and we were greeted with the early morning jam as there is an Aviation Fair nearby the airport. On our way to the city, we passed by Stade de France where the concert will be held and it immediately cemented the fact that I am in Paris baby!

It was still raining lightly when we attempted to check into our hotel facing the River Seine so we were kinda stumped at what we should do. It would be a waste confining ourselves in the hotel when there is a beautiful city out there to explore. So we decided that we will brave the weather and walk to a nearby patisserie for breakfast.

Oh, the smells of fresh baked bread and coffee greeted us the moment we walked in. It made me instantly happy despite the bleak weather. I had a chicken baguette sandwich, a pain au chocolat and hot cocoa. Scrumptious! I can eat this everyday! Seriously!

Baguettes oh baguettes, how I love thee!

After checking out a local supermarket to tide the rain and freshening up at the hotel, our local guide Valerie arrived to take us on a half day city tour. It took some time understanding her accent and her pronunciation so there was a lot of puzzled looks, raised eyebrows and pretend nods. Hahaha!

She basically took us around the city of Paris and pointed out to us the best spots to take a photo of the Eiffel Tower, how to walk to Arc de Triomphe, the best street to do branded shopping, the patisserie with the most delicious macarons and stories about the history of France. She even showed us the entrance of the Ritz Hotel where Lady Diana was last seen and taught me that "soldes" means "sales" in French, and guess what, today is the first day of summer which means the summer sales has officially started! What are the chances of that?!

Our first stop is Hotel de Sully where she explained about the architecture of this decades old hotel and how each tiny window at the attic represents a small room that houses the maid, the cook, the gardener and other home helpers. I also asked her why all the chairs at all the little cafes scattered around town faces outwards, and she explained that there are so many pretty things to see, beautiful people walking around and the lovely sunshine that it is like watching a show with a good cuppa coffee.

Next we headed to Notre Dame Cathedral, the fame location that inspired the story Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo. Inside the cathedral, it was a whole different place and feeling altogether. Stained glass adorn the gray brick slabs, intricate carvings on the wooden furniture, washed out biblical paintings on the wall from years of exposure to the sun, crazy tall domed ceilings and classic candles offering light. Valerie explained that the curved struts holding up the domed ceiling was a new architectural design at that time that helped to disperse the weight from the roof to the pillars holding it up.

Notre Dame

From here we walked to Saint Sulpice. This was one of the church that was mentioned in Dan Brown's famed book, The Da Vinci Code. Our guide said that since the book and the movie premiered, there were many Da Vinci Code tours being offered to the buffs and it offered good money but she personally was not interested because there is apparently many flaws with the details of the book, as it is after all, a work of fiction.

That said, the reason she brought us to Saint Sulpice is to show us the "Rose Line", a fictional name made famous by Dan Brown which is actually the Paris Meridian, a brass line that helps define the exact time for Summer Solstice (if I'm not mistaken). And guess what, when Valerie flipped through some ancient book of history found on the stand in Saint Sulpice, it states that that the day we were there on 22 June is the exact day when the sun will shine through a little window at the top of the chapel (the window has since been bordered up) and onto the Paris Meridian! Now how cool is that?!

After a few more rounds around the city, our tour was up and we were brought back to our hotel, where we immediately armed ourselves with a map and headed out towards the Eiffel Tower. The weather was lovely, a slight breeze to cool down the early summer and it felt good being all touristy with my camera hung around my neck and a map in my hand.

Heeding Valerie's advice, we walked to an elevated square opposite the Eiffel Tower that gave us a splendid view of the man made marvel. On our way there, we saw some black men selling cheap replicas of the Eiffel Tower, key chains, fridge magnets and postcards. I stopped to purchase some key chains as souvenirs and even managed to bargain for 8pcs of key chains for 1 Euro instead of the advertised 5pcs! Hahaha! Then as I was about to pay the man, he started packing up and ran away as there were cops nearby. But as I walked towards the square, I managed to find the man whom I bought the key chains from and paid him for my purchases.

The Eiffel Tower standing tall and proud

Then based on my memory, I chose a lane that would lead us to Arc de Triomphe and once there, we were kinda stumped as to how we would cross the crazy busy road to the other side. Surely we aren't supposed to madly dash across the street and pray that we would survive the run, right?

Right.

Because we finally found an underpass that leads us directly to the Arc de Triomphe. Yay! I had wanted to go up to the top but the elevator was not functioning that day and we had to walk a lot of steps up and I wasn't sure that my feet is able to survive the walk. Now when I think back, I should have just walked up for I do not know whether I will ever return here again. Dang!

Arc de Triomphe, a war monument honouring the brave hearts who fought in the French Revolution

By then the time was past 8pm and it was still bright as though it was only 5pm! The long summer day definitely messed up my mind a little bit but it was definitely a good thing as it gave us more daylight to take in the city and photograph its beauty.

We then walked all the way to Champs-Elysees, the Orchard Road of Paris. Truth be told, the katak di bawah tempurung in me never knew that the Champs-Elysees is actually a STREET. In my mind, it was some monument *blush* Well, now I know!

We passed by many branded names which I only stopped at the window to look. I did check out the H&M and Zara outlets which were full to the brim with people which is exciting because it intrigues me as to what bargains lies in the store and yet the mess of clothes everywhere is a huge turn off so I walked away with NOTHING.

By then my legs were threatening to disengage from my body so we stopped by a snack shack, ordered a chilled lemon flavoured Fanta, sat on a bench as the sun finally begins to set and just watched the throngs of people passing us by. Remembering that the Eiffel Tower will light up on the hour every hour and as it was almost 10:30p.m. we decided that we'd better start walking back if we want to catch the lights. So yups, we trudged on and on and on and on and on until lo and behold, exactly at 11pm, from a fairly good distance away we saw the Eiffel Tower sparkled like diamonds!

Eiffel Tower all lit up

When I finally reached my hotel room, it was shortly before midnight and I was all tired out, but superbly happy for being in Paris, for meeting 2 new friends who are so much fun to be with, for having a spectacular day and for the soft bed waiting for my tired bones.

p.s. This trip was made in mid-June 2011

Buuk Review: Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

2011-10-31T20:33:00.001+08:00

The Plot --

When Savannah Lynn Curtis comes into his life, John Tyree knows he is ready to turn over a new leaf. An angry rebel, he had enlisted in the army after high school. not knowing what else to do. Then, during a furlough, he meets the girl of his dreams. Savannah is attending college in North Carolina and totally unprepared for the passionate attraction she feels for John Tyree. The attraction is mutual and quickly grows into the kind of love that leaves Savannah vowing to wait for John while he finishes his tour of duty, and John realizing that he's ready to settle down with the young woman who has captured his heart. Neither can foresee that 9/11 is about to change the world and will force John to risk every hope and dream that he's ever had. Like so many proud men and women, John must choose between love and country. And like all those left behind, Savannah must decide to wait or move on. Now, when he finally returns to North Carolina, John will discover that loving Savannah will force him to make the hardest decision of his life.

Rating --

The Review --

I think it is official. I am made of mush inside. Thick creamy buttery mush with a dash of black pepper.

Why?

I cried heap loads reading this damn book, just as how I cried buckets full when I watched The Notebook, a book that was made into a movie written by the same author. I do not know why my heart strings were pulled at all corners when this is just a simple boy meets girl, girl meets boy, boy falls in love with girl, girl falls in love with boy, boy had to leave girl, girl waited for the boy, boy came back for the girl, girl has fallen in love with someone else. Fast forward 10 years - boy meets girl again, girl meets boy again, boy still in love with girl, girl still in love with boy, boy wants to be with the girl, girl cannot be with the boy because she is married.

Typical huh?

So why did I used up a whole box of tissues is beyond me. Like I said, I think I am made of mush. A heap of warm mush who is perhaps looking for her own version of boy meets girl, girl meets boy, boy falls in love with girl, girl falls in love with boy story (minus the tragic ending).

Visualize visualize visualize.

The Punk's Wedding in KL

2011-10-23T21:05:00.047+08:00

Yesterday was a superbly crazy for the family, especially me.

I went and picked up an aunt and cousin from the bus station near Sunway Pyramid. Then luckily my other cousin's bus arrived at the same time so I picked him up near Inti College and bundled them all home. After that I took my old car for a wash, came back and took my new car to the bridal house to be decorated with ribbons as it will be used as the bridal car.

Shortly after I got back I headed out again with my aunt and uncle to pick up my sister-in-law's uncle from KLIA to drop him off at LCCT together with the other relatives who were being picked up by a large MPV to the hotel.

By early morning, I was up again to follow the bridal entourage to fetch the bride and take photos. When they returned home it was the tea ceremony with the groom side of the family together with a visit to the bridal room at my brother's new place.

Thankfully there was some rest before the wedding reception and I managed to sneak in a DIY mask session before I whisked myself and my mom to the hairdresser to get our hair done. I was one of the first to arrive at the restaurant as I have to help out at the reception and later when the dinner ended, to compile all the red packets together.

Twas a long day indeed but it was all worth it seeing all the huge big smiles and grins on everyone's faces. Tis great to be happy and jolly.

Happy Wedding punk!

Cute = Ugly, but adorable?

2011-10-16T23:39:00.009+08:00

I went to my regular facial place today and a new beautician attended to me. As usual, they would try to make some small talk with their clients whereas I would actually prefer to just enjoy the pampering session in silence.

So this was our conversation in Cantonese:

Beautician: So, are you still studying?

Me: Studying?! I have been working for many years already!

Beautician: Really? How old are you?

Me: I am past 30 already lah.

Beautician: Huh?! I would not have known that! I thought you are still studying!

Me: *secretly smiling inside*

Beautician: Do other people often mistake you for being a student?

Me: Erm, not really. Perhaps once or twice on some random occasions.

Beautician: Really ah? Well, I really thought that you are still studying!

Me: *still secretly smiling inside*

Beautician: Your baby fat is really cute hor?

Me: ..... uhm.

At this point, I wasn't so sure whether it is a compliment anymore.

I have cute baby fats?

Waaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!

:( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(

I have decided.

I shall laugh it off, like this Roti Ketawa and be thankful that at least I have CUTE baby fats!

Hahahaha!

Medan - Day 3

2011-10-12T20:36:00.065+08:00

A hearty breakfast later we drove up to Bukit Gundaling that gave us a better and closer view of Mount Merapi. There was a couple of horses being offered as rides.

Horsey

We took a few silly group photos and I even managed to buy a blue poncho from one of the souvenir shops (I think the driver that took us around is amazed that we could buy anything from anywhere. Then again, this is what happens when you have the Shopping Goddess on the trip).

Mount Merapi sightly shrouded by clouds

Back in Brastagi town, the guide dropped us off at a shopping square and needless to say, everyone left with at least a bag in their hand.

An hour of ride later, we arrived at Simarjarunjung, a small tea plantation famous for their local ginger tea and fried banana fritters. Despite just having lunch, we managed to still down a few banana fritters each. Dad and Uncle loved the ginger tea so much that they bought a pack each. Uncle even said that he has been to this exact cafe before and even pointed out to us which table he sat it.

Another hour or so later, traffic started to get heavier and we knew that we are finally back in Medan town. Our last touristy stop for the trip is the King's Palace. The local guide there could speak very good English and I was thoroughly impressed. He told us that the King had unfortunately passed away in a plane crash and now his young son has taken over the throne.

There were about 5 bus loads of school kids that made is near impossible to take any decent pictures without some kid being in it. This was shot when they were still sitting down listening to their teacher.

The King's throne

Ho well, this marks the end of the trip. Good to have re-visited this place and carved new memories with my family. We are already make some plans to go somewhere together again next year. Can't wait!

Medan - Day 2

2011-10-11T20:30:00.162+08:00

The morning sun was the perfect weather to go on a boat ride over to Samosir Island. You definitely don't get blue unpolluted skies like these in the city.

The boat in itself is not the greatest. The smell of diesel at the lower deck was really strong. Indonesian songs was blasting on the radio, making conversations rather difficult. Many locals are smoking cheap cigarettes. Some grandmas were selling some unknown vege in baskets while chewing beetle nuts turning their teeth to an unsightly shade of red. Others just slept all the way through.

There are some resorts located on Samosir Island itself

I could not remember how many villages or tribes there are on Samosir Island but the one we were brought to is called Tomok (coincidentally this is the stage name of a local Malaysian artiste whom I have signed on for my upcoming project - coincidence?). Right at the jetty are local women selling fresh fish in plastic baskets. I have to admit that hygiene is obviously not a critical factor in this place for I would never buy fish here looking at how a lot of the fishes are simply placed on the ground, next to a pile of rubbish.

There we were met by a local guide who took us to see some traditional houses. I have some recall of these houses from my previous trip 17 years ago. I need to mentally remind myself to search for those old photos. These houses has similarities to the Negeri Sembilan Minangkabau houses due to its high pointed roof. What is probably different is that these houses has VERY small doors, which would mean that obesity is not tolerated in this village. Heh heh heh.

Oh my, what tall ceilings you must have in your home

After that we were brought to a burial ground and were told a story about the King who lived on this land. The guide also mentioned that the bodies who are buried with the lava stone does not decompose and rot over time, and that once when the tomb was opened, they found the dearly departed still in fairly pristine condition. Surrounding the tomb were carvings of lizards and female breasts. When prompted he explained that the lizards represents the versatility of the people from this village; that they can survive wherever they go and make a good living for themselves. As for the boobies, it represents nurture and to remind its people of their homeland (or something like that).

The only portion of the story that got my mother excited is one of the tomb has some special powers that will help singles to find love and their soul mate. Of course my Mom immediately pushed me there and ask me to rub the tomb as instructed by the guide. Oh well, no harm done, right? So as long as I do not have to sell fish by the jetty.

After some more shopping for local handicrafts, we got on the 30-minute boat ride back to Parapat. From there we headed to lunch before continuing our journey to Brastagi.

Along the way we stopped at Sipiso-piso waterfall. Even before this trip, I have deep memories of this place because the waterfall was really tall and majestic. However, when we got here, I am not sure whether it has dried up over the years or is this another case of "When I was young, and Christmas trees are tall. Now we are tall, and Christmas trees are small ... " for the waterfall was a bit of a let down.

When I was small, and Sipiso-piso waterfall was tall

Now I am still not that tall, and Sipiso-piso waterfall is small

What made up for this minor disappointment is the breathtaking view from this scenie spot of Lake Toba. The clouds, the clear sea, the different hues of green of the volcanic mountains, the contrast of texture from the tall trees ... it was indescribable. Such a postcard perfect scene. I just stood there taking it all in. I really need to find more time to smell the roses once in awhile. All these endless meetings and working late is not gonna do me any good.

Postcard perfect scenery

It took us another 2 hours of country driving to reach Brastagi. I was surprised to see many churches along the way, houses in all shapes and sizes, little shacks selling gasoline in mineral water bottles, endless cigarette and telecommunications posters plastered on every provision store, children playing in the fields and oh yes, fruit stalls to replenish our supply of fruits for our fruit party tonight. On the menu today is strawberries, mandarin oranges and a purple and black zebra-like fruit the shape of a mango that tastes like cucumber with the texture of a honeydew.

Again, after checking into the hotel, we freshened up and went for a walk around the pool and the garden surrounding the hotel. We had a pretty clear view of Mount Merapi that spewed ashes 6 months ago. Even today we could see some smoke from the volcano but it looked pretty harmless so we continued on our jolly way.

As the sun started to set, Mother Nature took her paintbrush and her wonderful set of water colours and painted the sky. Beautiful does not even begin to describe this wonder.

Medan - Day 1

2011-10-10T20:18:00.098+08:00

The first and last time I was in Medan for family holiday was 17 years ago, or thereabouts, so I have a pretty vague memory of the place. Along with me on this trip are my parents, my aunt and my uncle with his wife. My brother came with us on the same flight but he has done his share of sightseeing in his previous trips.

I was in uber shock when I found out that the drive to Parapat, our destination for today, is going to take 5 hours. FIVE hours?! I don't remember it being such a long drive the last time. Apparently the road there remained the same but the number of cars has increased exponentially making it a longer drive than what it would have been before.

Thankfully we stopped once for lunch and I got to savour some pretty yummy local food and my ultimate favourite drink in Indonesia - Teh Botol! We stopped several more times in between to buy some snacks and water, some fruits and of course, the mandatory bio break. Add that with some hilarious conversations, the ride turned out to be pretty manageable after all.

Teh Botol - a must drink in Indonesia

We first stop at a shack up on a hill that gave us a splendid view of Lake Toba, the biggest volcanic lake in the world yo! I had forgotten how big the lake is and how beautiful mother nature can be. We had a few chilled Coke while overlooking the splendour of the lake. Next was the holiday home of former President Suharto. It's a cute white picket fences type of home with a view of the lake, of course. Surrounding it was fir trees, some shrubs with flowers, an outdoor pergola and pine cones littering the road.

Deep breath.

Feels so good inhaling the scents of nature.

We headed to Parapat town and spent a good hour walking the few shops and bargaining for hand made batik bags, hand sewn pashmina and calf skin handbags. We also bought a whole load of fruits - rambutan and mangoes. After dinner we had a fruit party, something that I've never had before! At least it was a healthy party and good for the gut if you know what I mean *wink*

View of the pool from the garden

Look at the mountain and the big beautiful trees swaying to the dance of the wind

Post that we checked into our hotel and after freshening up, we walked the grounds of the hotel. Again, it was full of greenery, the weather was slightly windy, it was peaceful and perfect for a chillaxing getaway after months of putting in crazy hours at work. This break is a much needed holiday and I'm fully thankful for these few days away from the office.

The reflection of the sunset on the lake onto the sky. Mother Nature is awesomesauce!

The Punk's Wedding in Medan

2011-10-09T20:55:00.031+08:00

The little punk became a local superstar in Medan when boards after boards of these wedding greetings and wishes are put up all along the road leading to the hotel where his wedding reception is taking place.

This is apparently very prevalent in certain parts of Indonesia as I recall seeing these when I attended my friend's wedding in Jakarta some 5 years ago as well, although I don't recall it being a mile long (literally!)

The wedding dinner is equally as elaborate as these giant billboards. There were performances all the way from the appetizer till the dessert including a magic show! I was so entertained that I forgot to take pictures!

Whilst there was also some karaoke singing on stage by the guests, what is different in Indonesia is that the brave ones who go on stage will receive red packets from the other guests! So one could actually make money from impromptu singing at a wedding, hahaha!

Definitely unique!

My Pseudo Daughter, Mariya

2011-10-02T23:33:00.029+08:00

I was pleasantly surprised to receive a "report card" and an updated photo of my sponsored child, Mariya, a lovely 8-year old girl from Mongolia. She definitely has blossomed from the first picture I received 4.5 years ago with her short pixie hair to now a lovely rosy cheek girl with 2 side pigtails.

My my, time really does fly. It has been slightly more than 4.5 years since I decided to sponsor a child via World Vision and I sincerely hope that the money went into a good cause to help Mariya educate herself, have access to clean drinking water, enough food on the table, a sturdy roof over her head and warm clothes to keep her comfortable. Hopefully, being a sponsored child will enable her to grow up and contribute back to her people and her society.

Pay it forward.

Seoul - Day 2

2011-09-30T23:35:00.228+08:00

DMZ -- Hungsik University area -- Dongdaemon

Today we booked ourselves on a half day tour of the DMZ - De-Militarized Zone that separates South Korea with North Korea. To be honest, I do not know much about the history behind the separation of one nation into two separate countries so I was very much looking forward to this visit, especially since it will be a breath of fresh air from shopping for skincare and eating kimchi.

After being picked up at our hotel, we were dropped off at Imjingak where rows and rows of tour buses awaits visitors. No one is allowed to visit the DMZ sites on their own. Everyone has to take the bus from Imjingak and once inside the bus, you will be greeted by several tour guides with their own brood of clients speaking in several different languages all at once, which is really distracting.

At Imjingak itself is the remains of this shelled train that was found at Jangdan Village. This steam locomotive was initially carrying supplies to South Korea but was blown up fearing that it would be commandeered by the Chinese. The poor train has more than 1,020 bullet holes and is currently registered as one of the Cultural Heritage of Korea. There is also a mulberry tree planted next to the train and it is the original mulberry plant that was found still living and growing from the train after the explosion. It is re-planted here as a reminder of the resilience of life despite challenges.

The steam locomotive from Jangdan Village

There were countless strips of coloured ribbons lining the fence on Freedom Bridge leading to this locomotive; each of the ribbon containing a message of hope, a prayer for loved ones and faith that one day the reunification of the two nations will become a reality.

From here we went to Dora Observatory where I dropped in a coin and viewed North Korea from the telescope. There were many white buildings but I could not see any signs of life. The tour guide told us that the houses and shops were built as a facade to show the South Koreans that the North Koreans have good facilities and that their people are living comfortably in nice houses. I saw also the battle of the flag poles, with North Korea having won the competition.

Ribbons of hope, peace and reunification

The highlight of the day for me is the visit to the 3rd tunnel. It is believed that there are more than 20 tunnels dug by the North Koreans to invade Seoul but only 4 has been publicly declared by the government. I told my colleagues that the North Koreans must have been damn sore that they spent so much time digging this tunnel with the use of dynamites for over 1,635 metres only to be found by the South Koreans and turned into a money making tourist attraction. I cannot imagine the amount of time spent manually blasting the rocks and shoveling it away with wheel barrows.

There is a 45 degrees sloped walkway built to enable access to the tunnel 72 metres below ground, and for once I am glad that I am vertically challenged for it was much easier to walk through the tunnel without bumping my head on the wooden structures supporting the tunnel, having water dripping down my hair and suffering a backache from bending down for too long. The walk back up the 45 degree incline is NO FUN AT ALL and can prove to be fairly difficult for many who feels claustrophobic and has weak stamina. All I can say is that when I finally saw light, it was the same triumphant feeling I had when I reach Laban Rata after 7 hours of climbing Mount Kinabalu.

This picture of me is at the Dorasan stop at Gyeonggui Railway Station. This is the last railway stop in South Korea before heading to North Korea. It has been built 5 years ago but does not carry any passengers and again, this railway station remains as a beacon of hope that reunification will happen and the Koreans can travel freely. Only a handful of South Korean workers ride on this train to North Korea to assist in the setting up of factories but they are only allowed to enter the factory and nothing more.

There is a ticketing guy who sells commemorative tickets to tourists as souvenirs for having been to Dorasan.

Me at Dorasan

After the heavy morning, we asked to be dropped off at the Hungsik University area. Apparently shopping is more affordable here due to the students. I can definitely attest to that as our lunch is the cheapest that we've had. It's like a hot pan of super spicy broth with various types of fishballs, nissin noodles, rice sticks and vegetables that costs like RM20 for 4 persons. It was super spicy but was damn good on a chilly day.

Just looking at this again is making my mouth water

The biggest trend that I notice in Seoul is the abundance of couples wearing the EXACT SAME CLOTHES from top to bottom. It is horrendous! They would wear the same shirt, the same pants, the same shoes and sometimes even the same hat or same socks! And they are everywhere! Like dust in the air!

*shakes head

Sample of couple wear - blegh!

Last destination of the day is Dongdaemon. It is another shopping area where I managed to snag myself some earrings, necklaces and a few blouses from one of the malls that houses small individual boutiques; a pretty good concept. Hope someone introduces this to KL soon!

Dinner is another random location. We just looked at photos on the menu and made judgement based on the crowd in the restaurant. So we ended up with this glass noodle dish that came with soft and succulent braised pork. The flavours were really good. The only issue I had with it is that the noodles are cold, as in, it was swimming in an icy broth. There were literally crushed ice in the broth that made it feel a little bit odd. I like my noodles piping hot so icy noodles ain't really my thing.

Can you see the crushed ice?

The 6 of us split into 3 groups; my colleague and her husband went in search of a laptop bag, my Boss and his mom wanted to see Seoul Tower whilst my agency friend and me preferred to shop. Shortly pass midnight, we decided to head home before the trains stop its services. So we hopped back on the train and re-traced our route back. Halfway through the ride, there was an announcement that I obviously did not understand, the train stopped at the next location and everybody got out. Not knowing what is happening, we continued sitting in the train until a train conductor came and shooed us out.

Great.

We are now at an unknown train station in the middle of the night, we have no idea where we are and whether we are near or far from our hotel, we do not speak the local language and there are no cabs in sight! So the two of us sat at the bus stop nearby together with the other train passengers and have zero clue what to do. We realised that even if we managed to hail a cab, we do not know how to tell the cabbie how to get to our hotel for we do not even have the hotel address with us. All we have is the hotel room key card with the name of the hotel and a phone number at the back.

After waiting for almost 30-minutes we figured that we will not be able to improve our chances of making it back to the hotel alive by sitting at the same spot. So we looked around and saw that there is a hotel nearby (with the term "nearby" being very subjective) and rationalise that perhaps we could get a cab there plus get help from the hotel staff to get the address of our hotel. After walking a few streets the hotel was still not in sight and we decided to stop at a Paris Baguette outlet (the concept is similar to DeliFrance) to ask for help. Surprisingly, even though the owner do not understand English he was able to gather from our sign language that we needed him to help us call our hotel and get the address. So the owner of the Paris Baguette not only assisted us to get the address of our hotel but he even came out to explain to the cab driver when he saw that we managed to flag down a taxi.

THANK YOU Mr Paris Baguette at Yisan. We are forever thankful to you for ensuring that we got home safe and sound. Kamsahamnida!

p.s. This trip was made in mid-May 2011

Seoul - Day 1

2011-09-29T22:20:00.103+08:00

Provista -- Insadong -- Gyeongbokgong Palace -- Myeondong

I actually arrived in Seoul at about 9pm the night before. We were split into 2 flights and mine was the earlier to arrive so the 3 of us walked around the hotel looking for food options. Finally, after meeting up with the other group of peeps, we headed to a local joint for dinner. There was no English menu, the owner could not understand a single word we said and the pictures on the laminated menu were ..... let's just say, fairly misleading. One of the dishes that we ordered, we thought it was a Korean popiah but it turned out to be this huge ass steaming pan of some animal intestines stuffed with more animal spare parts that was enough to feed half of Seoul.

After a good rest in our service apartment, we headed out the following morning towards Insadong for lunch at this small quaint shop that was full with a working crowd grabbing a quick bite. I had this spicy haddock soup that was TO DIE FOR. And their seafood pancake is the best that I have ever had. Perhaps the only item that was somewhat odd for me was the spicy cold raw crab side dish. The taste was pretty good except that I am not a fan of cold dishes and I did not like the slimy texture of the raw crab. Having a tummyache while travelling is never a good thing.

Haddock soup, just the right level of spiciness

Right after filling up, we just followed the crowd and headed towards Gyeongbokgung Palace which has very similar architecture to China. After all, they are neighbouring countries so it is not surprising that there is an influence in terms of culture, food and design. We were fortunate to be able to watch parts of a dress rehearsal for a performance slotted over the weekend. I love the bright colourful traditional costume worn by the women, it makes me feel happy.

I did not walk most parts of the building as I was happy chilling out underneath some shady trees and catching up on some girl talk with my colleague and agency friend. My Boss and his mom went on their merry way whilst my colleague's husband ditched us to check out electronics in another part of town.

The main hall of the palace

We walked back towards Insadong and stopped by this quaint looking cafe that is a perfect place to photograph cutesy ornaments for the cafe. It's almost like a schoolgirl's dating place with multi-coloured small wooden chairs and tables decorated with dolls, toys, teddy bears and pictures of cartoon characters from our childhood. There was even a Wishing Tree and I left a little souvenir of mine to indicate that I've been here. The drinks are actually quite pricey - almost RM21 for a cup of the tea and the snacks are nothing to shout about.

Small furniture for small people?

What I did like is walking the streets of Insadong for it reminds me of the night markets in Taiwan. There is a mixture of modern boutiques and endless skincare outlets that blended in with roadside stalls selling all sorts of snacks, souvenirs, hair accessories and decorative items. At one point when I sat on a bench waiting for my colleague there was a Turkish ice cream man who performs a little magic trick with his ice cream that was quite ticklish to see as a bystander.

Looks like a snack stall from Taiwan eh?

Next was Myeondong for dinner and more shopping. I think I have never bought so much skincare in my entire life. I had like 15 packs of face masks, a few bottles of nail polish, 2 sets each of toner and moisturiser for me and my mom plus a few other random items. By the time we were done, we were totally famished and just decided to head to the nearest restaurant which turned out to be a Western chicken diner. One of the more memorable dish was this sweet and sour fried chicken salad with vanilla ice cream as the salad dressing. Surprisingly it tasted quite good! We also had a good laugh when we found out that my colleague's husband did not have much luck with the electronics store for he was expecting a building selling mobile phones, tablets, music players and such but it was an ELECTRICAL outlet selling refrigerators, irons and washing machines!

The busy streets of Myeondong and bright neon lights everywhere

Other than skincare, shopping is nothing to shout about here. There was a mall nearby but the collection of clothes are quite dated. It reminds me of those 3-piece suits that my Mom used to buy 15 years ago. Perhaps this is the new trend in Seoul but I am not taking this trend back with me to KL. Nuh-uh. Plus the prices does not make it anymore enticing. Even my agency friend who is looking for kid's clothes was disappointed. So within 20-mins we were all standing outside and ready to go home.

My colleague was such a darling for helping me to wash some of my laundry together with hers. Ahhh, I love to be doted over!

p.s. This trip was made in mid-May 2011

To Mommy with Love

2011-09-24T23:47:00.000+08:00

I love going to flea markets and visiting thrift shops. My passion for 'old is gold' started when I was 9 and still living in the UK at that time. My parents introduced me to salvation army stores and on weekends we would go far and wide in search of car boot sales, a common weekend activity where people would take their 'junk' and literally sell it out of the trunks of their cars in hope that someone else would see value in what they do not need anymore.

Unfortunately, this has not caught on in Malaysia yet and the nearest that we have to such establishments / weekend fairs are flea markets (a lot of 'flea' markets in Malaysia are actually selling new stuff vs. old stuff) and the occasional 2nd hand book sale.

I was looking for a book to read and was flipping through some of my books to determine which would catch my fancy when a piece of paper lodge in between one of the pages of the (2nd hand) book I was holding slipped out. It was folded in a triangular shape, almost like a painter's hat. So I opened it up and was happily surprised to know that it is a note written by a daughter to her mother who must have been hospitalised for surgery.

It reads -

Dear Mommy,

I hope your sergery wentt well and I can't wait until you back on your feet. I thought a short letter would let you know how much I love you and I'm thinking of you. Just think we'll be able to spend time together a lot and when you're able to go on walks hopefully while the weather is warm.

Anyways, I hope you have a smooth quick recovery and I love you and I'll miss you until you're back home. Come home soon.

Love always,

Meagan

Try not to let the spelling and bad grammar get to you to much.

Too cute.

I don't know how long ago this letter was written and I'm sure Meagan's mommy would have love to keep this letter to remind her of the abundance of love that her daughter has for her, but I would also like to thank them for sharing this intimate moment with me.

p.s. Happy Malaysia Day y'all!

Signed, Sealed, Delivered!

2011-09-18T19:02:00.023+08:00

Mom has just returned from Medan with her younger sister and a friend to deliver the 'hantaran' to the bride's family for my brother's wedding next month. This is the loot that she came back with - all sorts of sweets and condiments to signify a happy and long lasting marriage. There was apparently a lot more but this is all that Mom could stuff into her luggage!

Mom said that they were treated like superstars the moment they arrived. There was a cameraman and videographer that filmed the entire occasion, they were whisked around with drivers, they were fed almost every 2 hours at nice restaurants and was introduced to many of the senior members of their family.

If this is just a preview of what is to come, I'm sure it's going to be a grand occasion come October 8th! Looking forward to the trip - it has been 17 years since I was last in Medan.

Words in Pixels: Survival Food

2011-09-09T23:17:00.001+08:00

When you work 55km from your house in a place called No Man's Land where there are more oil palm trees than there are human beings and therefore food is scarce, there is always the fear that one may die from starvation.

I am not kidding you. It is a real fear. Especially when phone signals are so weak that when a colleague sent a text message to another colleague to doggie bag some food for her, the text message never did went through until after that said colleague returned to the office.

So to safeguard my precious tummy from crying in emptiness, I did this instead -

Survival food!

There can never be too much biscuits and chips. Not when another colleague almost crashed her car into a stray cow.

That is how ulu-fied my new office is.

The only consolation is that food is cheaper here. Ice chinese tea is still 30 sen yo!

Buuk Review: The Last Empress by Anchee Min

2011-08-28T14:20:00.000+08:00

The Plot -

At the end of the nineteenth century China is rocked by foreign attacks and local rebellions. The only constant is the power wielded by one woman, Tzu Hsi, also known as Empress Orchid, who must face perilous condition of her empire and devastating personal losses. In this sequel to the best selling Empress Orchid, Anchee Min brings to life one of the most imporant figures in Chinese history, a very human leader who sacrifices all she has to protect both those she loves and her doomed empire.

Rating -

The Review -

Let me start with a disclaimer. The past month or so has been a whirldwind of meetings, discussions, deadlines, phone calls, emails, late nights in the office, shifting to a new working place in no man's land and ... the Cardinal Sin of working weekends. The reason for that disclaimer is because it means that I have been reading this book very sporadically, often with very tired eyes and with a mind that is not entirely focussed.

Despite that, I still liked the book. I believe that if I had read it with more conviction, I would love the book. Again, I had to remind myself that this is a work of fiction that is based on a true story but it still gave me a very good flavour into the history of China, how Empress Tzu Hsi became the last empress of China and why Emperor Pu Yi came to be the last emperor of China.

Now I seriously wished that I had known more about China, for even though I am not very Chinese (English is my first language and I can't speak enough Mandarin to save my life) but my ancestral roots are from China and it IS a country that is very steep with history and tradition.

This book placed Empress Tzu Hsi is very good light, which seem to be rather contradictory to some of the online articles that I have read about her. This woman has piqued a very deep interest in me about her and I am glad that I bought these 2 books. A good (hopefully not too deceiving) insight into the Empress Dowager, who was the de facto ruler of China for almost half a century and survived 3 emperors while she was living in the Forbidden City.

Time to find out if it is indeed true that she poisoned Emperor Guang Hsu with arsenic in view of her imminent death to ensure that he does not continue with his reforms after her death.

Words in Pixels: D-Day

2011-08-25T23:10:00.000+08:00

When your company provides you with a Blackberry that comes with phone and data plan, it can only mean one thing -

Kiss your work life balance days goodbye!

Gone are the days when you can pretend you did not receive that email when in actual fact you were trying to ignore it cause you are busy watching Masterchef.

*le sob*

Words in Pixels: Felt People

2011-08-21T10:55:00.000+08:00

Hah! I found this felt human thingabob from under the rubble of the mess in my room and had to take a picture of it.

The day after I got back from London, I attended a workshop about Effective Retail Messaging and there was one exercise as part of the 2-day training whereby we had to dress up the consumer using some art materials including this metal felt thingamajig.

Surely you know how it feels like in the afternoon after you had a huge lunch at the buffet spread, the weather is hot, the trainer's voice turns into some noise that does not register in your head, your thoughts start to wander, your fingers fidget and you damn wish you were home taking a nice nap instead.

No?

Go away you A1 student! Stop spoiling the market!

Anyways, I was feeling all of the above and yet I had to keep my eyes open and attempt to concentrate because the trainer shared the same first name as me and she was always looking my way. So what did I do? I made that felt human with my hands whilst my eyes were sort of looking in front at the trainer and proudly showed it around to my table mates.

Hey, at least I channeled my energy towards doing something creative.

Kawaii, yeah?

So here's a special shout out to my kawaii bestie who is celebrating her birthday today. Have a great one babes! Wish I could be there to celebrate it with you! *hugz*

Fossilised Fortune

2011-08-17T11:38:00.250+08:00

While I was packing, throwing and shredding stuff for the last couple of weeks in preparation for the office move, I came across a mandarin orange that has been sitting at my desk since Chinese New Year. It was given to me by the 'dragon' that graced our office to offer luck and prosperity to everyone during the festive season (it spewed 50 sen coins much to the amusement of everyone). And gosh, that was ..... no less than 6 months ago? And look at the orange! Yes, it has shrunk by about 40% and it is all wrinkled and coarse but it still retained its colour and some of its shape.

Now THAT is amusing!

I was chuckling to myself when I picked up the fossilised orange in the midst of my packing, and it suddenly reminded me of a tin of kuih kapek (called love letters in English, it is a sweet wafer-thin cookie folded in the shape of a fan that is baked fresh only during Chinese New Year) that is still stashed somewhere in the cupboard.

Woot!

(Slight diversion - do you know what the word "Woot!" - an online expression of enthusiasm is now in the 12th edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary? Coolness yeah?)

The kuih kapek has obviously gone a bit soft but that is nothing that a few minutes of being in the oven cannot solve. Aaaah, the joys of a hoarder finding a treasure, especially one like kuih kapek in the middle of the year. Loving the sweet smells that is wafting from the oven right now!

Words in Pixels: So long, farewell ...

2011-08-13T10:50:00.000+08:00

Yesterday we bid farewell to the place that has been my office space for the past 1 1/2 years and from next week onwards I will be relocated together with the rest of the organisation to a new office in a new township in ANOTHER FREAKING STATE where our plant is located.

So, to commemorate this very sad day (sad because instead of driving 25km both ways to office, I will now need to drive about 120km both ways and pay about RM10 of toll - such FUN), we had a group lunch in the pantry.

My colleague ordered these very cute looking bento shaped into cartoon characters like Angry Birds, Doraemon, Hello Kitty, Winnie the Pooh, Patrick the Dog and Snoopy. Truth be told, the bento was almighty cute but the taste is nothing to shout about. It is about as interesting as the office relocation. And at RM25 a pop I don't think there will be a return business for them.

My stuff has been packed into a carton box and all I have to do now is carry my laptop and my 'tree' and head to a new adventure. I think it is pretty obvious how I feel about this move for I would make a face every time anyone asked me about the move BUT I honestly do hope that it will turn out better than expected.

I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel yet, but .....

*think positive think positive think positive*

Bye Bye office. I will miss thee.

Jeju Island - Day 5

2011-08-09T23:02:00.172+08:00

Beach at Shila Hotel -- Jeju Folk Museum -- Mount Seongsan -- Manjanggul Lava Tube -- Jeju Airport

I purposely woke up early so that I could take a walk down to the beach. There was a slight drizzle and the winds were sometimes quite strong but I decided to trudge ahead anyway. There were lovely flowers planted all along the walkway and nicely constructed stairs to the beach . There was no one at the beach as the weather was not appropriate for a dip so I merely walked around a little bit and took another route back to the hotel.

There was a path littered with small little pink flowers that looked like someone sprayed the place with confetti. I spotted some lady bugs, pine cones, a windmill by the shores and many interesting looking faunas. I liked the quietness of the morning and the crisp morning air. Felt good to do some walking after 3 days of sitting cooped up in the meeting room.

Definitely worth waking up early for

After breakfast we hired an SUV, stuffed the trunk with our luggage and headed off on our exploration of the island. After more than an hour of car ride we arrived at the Jeju Folk Village. It was a HUGE place but because we were conscious of the time, we only managed to cover perhaps only 25% of the place. Regardless, it gave us a good flavour of traditional Korean village houses and ..... more traditional Korean village houses. Maybe it was because that was the only section that we managed to cover but all we saw was straw roofed houses of various sizes depending on the size of the family.

A huge plus point is that there are descriptions in English.

This is a horse stable, that actually looks very similar with a house meant for humans

Next stop is the all important lunch. It was another good recommendation by the hotel concierge. The place was house-like and the setting is similar to the Japanese styled wooden floors where you sit on cushions and eat from very low tables.

The lady who served us had worked in Singapore before and could speak some simple English. We had the chef's special of 'steam' pork which is actually braised pork and super crispy fish. The braised pork is so soft and tender, it literally melts in your mouth. You can eat it as it is or have it wrapped in pickled vege or seaweed. This meal has to be the most fantabulous meal I've had in Jeju.

Is your mouth watering yet?

Full from an awesome meal, our next destination at Mount Seongsan, a UNESCO Heritage site required some much needed walking. I read that this mountain is one of the best places to see the sun rise. At the foot of the hill is also where the famous women divers of Jeju strut their stuff. These female divers perform underwater harvest of abalone, seaweed and sea shells without the use of an oxygen tank, meaning they dive freestyle. Do they not rock? One of our planned stops is to see these women divers in action but the weather did not permit. It was so erratic. One moment the sun would be out and the next moment the sky is all gray and gloomy.

Trudging up the steps on Mount Seongsan reminded me of Mount Kinabalu where I had to hike up in the cold winds and rain. It was do difficult trying to capture a photo for the winds would be blowing my hand back and forth. The visit would have been more enjoyable if the weather was more cooperative.

HQ for the women divers below Mount Seongsan

Not too far away is another UNESCO Heritage site, Manjanggul Lava Tube. As Jeju is a lava island, Manjanggul is the largest lava tube in Jeju. I have no idea what to expect and some might find it boring for it look like any regular tunnels but I was fascinated by the lava formations, the various types of lava sediments and more importantly, how it actually formed a tube so big and long that a train could easily have fitted inside.

There were several languages of audio available that explained the various parts of the lava tube and how it came to be. There was one lava rock formation that resembled a sea turtle, which is believed to bring good luck if you rub the head of the turtle. Apparently Jeju Island itself is shaped like a sea turtle. I actually stood in front of the sea turtle lava formation for a pretty long time, trying to figure out which end is the head. I finally decided to rub the part that I could actually reach (there was a barricade around it) and hope for the best. Hahahaha!

The lava tube was well lit up with explanations and even some emergency telephones

The last destination on our list is this place simply called Mysterious Road where water flows upwards and cars can move upwards on free gear. We were actually only about 10-15mins away but had to turn back and head to the airport instead for fear that we may miss our flight to Seoul. I was actually quite crushed that we missed this for I was very curious to understand what it was all about, how it worked and what led to this phenomenon.

Thankfully we made the right decision to u-turn to the airport for when we arrived, we realised that one of our luggage was missing! My colleague's husband's black trolley bag was nowhere to be found in the SUV. Fortunately the driver understood our sign language and called the hotel to find out whether it was accidentally left behind. Apparently, what happened is that there was another luggage in our group that looked very similar to his piece and when that went into the car, he immediately thought that he is all set, but the truth was that the bag was never with us right from the beginning. Luck was also on his side because the call to the hotel was made in the nick of time just as my boss was leaving the hotel after his day long meeting and was on its way to the airport.

The sad part for me is that my black cardigan which I clearly remember was left on the back seat of the car (I moved from the back seat to the middle row) vanished out of sight and was never to be found again. I vividly remember that I left it on the back seat.

Mysterious indeed.

Boooooo.

p.s. This trip was made in mid-May 2011

Jeju Island - Day 2-4

2011-08-08T22:08:00.127+08:00

The next 3 days in Jeju comprised mainly of the conference and the highlight of the day, as always, are the meals.

I kicked myself for not bringing my camera along for the group dinner on the 2nd night as it was a camp side BBQ dinner. There were about 10 units of 4-men tents pitched on the grass area within the hotel vicinity with individual BBQ pits fired up in front of each tent. Inside each tent was a table and chairs for 5-6 people, a heater, a pitcher of local beer and utensils ready for a sumptuous meal.

Chefs from the hotel were stationed at each pit to grill pork, chicken, beef, abalone, rice sticks, sweet potatoes and sausages for the hungry guests. The Malaysia-Singapore team decided to be anti-social that night and stayed within our own tent but oh did we have a jolly good time indeed. For most of the night, the joke was on me for my teamates were having a ball of a time teasing me with a dude from the Japanese team. The funny thing was, it was my boss who thought that the guy was cute and just because of that the entire crew decided that I should hook up with the guy.

Sheesh.

Even on the following day when we had a team building activity involving a trip on a yacht, my wacko colleagues were hoping that I would be in the same yacht as the Japanese dude (we had to split in groups of 3 as each yacht could only fit about 20 people). When they found out that I would not be on the same yacht as him, they then devised a plan involving me falling into the sea and my boss pushing the Japanese guy into the water to save me.

*rolls eyes*

The yacht trip on a beautiful sunny day

Luckily, none of that actually happened. Instead, we sat around and chatted, did some fishing and was served a hot pot of spicy seafood. I tried a bit of fishing without knowing how to manage the rod and so when my bait got caught, all I did was yell for help but before the yacht crew came to assist me, the strong fish pulled away and I was left with a limp rod with a missing hook. Bummer. Well, at least I brought my camera along this time and took a few lovely photos of the lava formations on the island.

In the evening we headed to another local restaurant for dinner and was glad that the owner could speak Mandarin (he moved to Korea from China some 20 years back) as that made ordering food THAT much easier.

The restaurant owner manning the BBQ pork. Very nice guy. Even gave us a ride back to our hotel on his van.

After the last day of the conference and we bid our adieus to everyone, I heaved a huge sigh of relief for there was a LOT shared in that 3 days and I would need some time to digest everything that I have learned. But before that goes through my gastrointestinal tract and is absorbed into my head, this yummylicious hot stone pot of ginseng chicken with fresh abalone warmed up my belly instead. It was especially good because it was a rainy night and nothing soothes the soul better than a good pot of hot soup. Mmmmm.

Samgyetang at its finest

After that hearty meal, I spent some time in the casino within the hotel and played the slot machine for a bit. I honestly had no idea how it worked. I basically just put in some money, pressed some buttons and hope that I would leave a millionaire. Well, at least I did win RM1.50 for about 45-mins of entertainment.

Not too bad I'd say, not too bad at all.

p.s. This trip was made in mid-May 2011

Jeju Island - Day 1

2011-08-07T22:07:00.002+08:00

KLIA -- Incheon International Airport -- Gimpo Airport -- Jeju Airport -- Teddy Bear Museum -- Shila Hotel

I departed from KLIA at about 11:30pm and arrived at Incheon International Airport at about 6:30am local time. I was on the same flight itinerary as my media agency partner but I was taking my own sweet time getting to the departure gates at KLIA that I was probably one of the last 10 passengers to board the plane. So I did not get to catch up with her before we departed and I never saw her on the plane either (I was travelling Business and she was on Economy).

So when I arrived in Seoul, I figured that I would definitely see her at the baggage claim section. I looked around and waited for a good 45 minutes and could not locate her. I tried calling but got some weird message and could not get through. So I decided to head to the Information Counter and ask for directions to the Train Station as I needed to get to Gimpo Airport for my 10:30am flight to Jeju.

My train ticket from Incheon to Gimpo; ride was about 30mins

Gimpo Airport was filled with a stadium worth of chatty school girls on a school excursion. A bus load of them were in the ladies washroom putting on mascara, lip balm, blusher and a few thick coats of paint on their faces. It was so difficult concentrating on reading my book when there is a surround sound system of screeching teenage girls.

An hour of flight brought me to Jeju Airport and with that I have created a personal history by being in FOUR airports within a span of 12 hours. About 20-mins after I arrived, I was joined by my colleagues from Singapore. Together we boarded the Airport Limousine, which is actually a bus that drops passengers off at the major hotels in Jeju Island and in about 45 mins we arrived at Hotel Shila, which is a chain of hotels under the Samsung Group. It was then that I received a text message from my agency partner that she had missed her flight and would be boarding the next available flight out of KL to Jeju.

Gimpo Airport

First stop after checking in is to have lunch! The concierge recommended a very local restaurant that is a 5 min drive from the hotel. The base of the tables were made from metal drums with olden rustic metal stools. We had the local delicacy of black pork seasoned with just coarse sea salt barbecued over hot coals. The chef created a dip made from garlic, hot green chilies, soju, fish sauce and some other stuff that tasted absolutely divine!

Beautifully barbecued black pork over coal fire

Of course a Korean BBQ dish will never be complete without all the condiments. There was kimchi, a spicy vegetable, some salad and a seaweed dish (my favourite).

After lunch we decided to be adventurous and walk back to the hotel since it was such a short car ride. What we did not realise was that the road we had to take was sloping upwards and we probably burned all the calories we just consumed on that incline walk. The great part though was that I got to see some wild roses blossoming along the grass patch, some orange trees with uber huge Jeju oranges growing from them and the weather was nice and mildly chilly.

After buying enough water and snacks to feed the whole island of Jeju from a nearby 7-11, we stopped by the Jeju Teddy Bear Museum. There were old bears, new bears, big bears, small bears, furry bears, cloth bears, bears in clothes, naked bears, patch work bears, bears with a missing limb, bears impersonating famous figures, bears in expensive couture and jewels, clay bears, melamine bears and basically bears in all shapes and sizes. Being a teddy lover since I was a kid, it was beary happy day for me to be in the company of so MANY teddy bears.

A teddy bear wedding

We had wanted to visit the Chocolate Factory just to buy some chocolates but the guy at the reception said that we have to buy entrance tickets to enter the place to buy chocolates which we thought was quite silly so we abandoned the idea and headed to a nearby skincare shop instead.

The sky turned dark at about 7pm and there was a Welcome Dinner organised by my Korean colleagues. It was good catching up with some of my colleagues from other markets whom I met last year at Cebu, Philippines. I even won a bottle of red wine for taking the funniest (I think it was funniest, I can't quite remember, although I personally think it should fall in the category of wacky instead) polaroid with a male life size cut out poster with fantastic abs. Regardless, it was all for good fun, there was plenty of great food, loads of laughter and I'm all energized to face the next 3 days of definite information overload.

Anyong haseyo Korea!

p.s. This trip was made in mid-May 2011

Buuk Review: Empress Orchid by Anchee Min

2011-08-06T01:17:00.000+08:00

The Plot -

To rescue her family from poverty and avoid marrying her slope-shouldered cousin, seventeen-year-old Orchid competes to be one of the Emperor's wives. When she is chosen as a lower-ranking concubine she enters the erotically charged and ritualised Forbidden City. But beneath its immaculate facade lie whispers of murders and ghosts, and the thousands of concubines will stoop to any lengths to bear the Emperor's son. Orchid trains herself in the art of pleasuring a man, bribes her way into he royal bed, and seduces the monarch, drawing the attention of dangerous foes. Little does she know that China will collapse around her, and that she will be its last Empress.

Rating -

The Review -

Although a work of fiction, I liked that it was based on a true story with true pieces of historical facts and the author added a few imaginative strokes of her brush that delved deeper into the thoughts of the last empress of China that made the book such a good read.

I have always been intrigued by the life inside the Forbidden City and the many rules, rituals and traditions that comes with being one of the many thousands of concubines in the royal palace. This book allowed me to have a better peek into a slice of their life and it has now spurred me to read up more about this powerful woman who created the term 'dragon lady' for no one epitomes it better than she does.

Yet, despite her cunning ways, Orchid is also a woman foremost, and I found myself being able to emphatise with her when she was discarded by the Emperor after she became pregnant and could not carry out her wifely duties. That was the rule of the game in that era. It was never about love, it was only about lust, and for the women, it was also about knowing how to play the game to gain the Emperor's affections.

Definitely a page turner and can't wait to read the sequel.

Words in Pixels: Italian Hearthrobs

2011-07-30T23:41:00.023+08:00

I saw Piero, Ignazio and Gianluca live on stage today courtesy of some VIP passes from Universal Music Malaysia. They sang 4-5 songs from their self titled album including Il Mondo, O Sole Mio, Smile and Painfully Beautiful much to the applause of shrieking girls at the back of the hall. I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and the only disappointment is that it only lasted 25 minutes.

I first saw these trio when they performed as a guest artiste on American Idol season 10 and was blown away by their talent. Similar to when I first saw Josh Groban some 10 years back, you never expect such powerful voices to emanate from these young chaps. They are so unassuming and they make singing pop opera so effortless.

The icing on my cake for the day is that I got an autograph copy of their album. Woot!

Words in Pixels: What the .....

2011-07-23T10:58:00.001+08:00

Hahahaha.

Saw this sign at One Utama that would have obviously caught a lot of attention from the shoppers.

In case you are not aware, Fourskin is the name of a fashion / apparel chain with contemporary, edgy and somewhat hip hop sort of style. They have pretty cool stuff but now their range seem to cater more for the boys rather than the girls.

I remember many years back I had a casual sling bag that I bought from Fourskin and my boss at that time had asked me where I bought the bag from for the design was fairly unique. You can imagine how big his eyes dilated when I said the brand name until I spelled it out for him.

Glad that they are still making people do a double take with their advertising.

Words in Pixels: Go Electric?

2011-07-15T21:59:00.000+08:00

There is a Tenaga Nasional building a few blocks away from my office and I have to drive pass it everyday to get to my office building. However, it was only TODAY that I realised the billboard on top of the building and the message on the billboard.

Elektrik Gaya Hidup Masa Kini - Go Elektric

Seriously?

Have they not change their company tagline since .... I don't know ... the turn of the previous century? Electricity is such a basic necessity nowadays, even in the outskirts that their tagline should not still be about electricity being the lifestyle of today. Yes, it was probably relevant before the era of the Japanese Occupation but definitely not in the 21st century where everyone grew up with electricity in their homes.

I did a quick check on their website and realised that the first power generator was used in the mines in 1894 and the nation's first power station was built in 1900. These are facts that we should be proud of as testament that we have evolved over the years, and therefore their corporate tagline should move on with time as well.

Buuk Review: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

2011-07-09T10:26:00.066+08:00

The Plot -

When Marilla Cuthbert's brother, Matthew, returns home to Green Gables with a chatty redheaded orphan girl, Marilla exclaims, "But we asked for a boy. We have no use for a girl."

It's not long, though, before the Cuthberts can't imagine how they could ever do without young Anne of Green Gables, but not for the original reasons they sought an orphan. Somewhere between the time Anne "confesses" to losing Marilla's amethyst pin (which she never took) in hopes of being allowed to go to a picnic, and when Anne accidentally dyes her hated carrot-red hair green, Marilla says to Matthew, "One thing's for certain, no house that Anne's in will ever be dull." And no book that she's in will be, either.

Rating -

The Review --

Anne Shirley of Green Gables, how I have missed you!

The first time I met Anne was on a TV show .... almost 20 years ago and I immediately fell in love with her carrot hair, her non-stop chatter, her interesting choice of words, the unexpectedness of her actions and her stubbornness that makes you want to smack her and hug her at the same time.

The second time our paths crossed was when I borrowed the entire set of the Anne of Green Gables series from a classmate back in high school and just devoured the pages as though it was made from chocolate ganache.

I learned the word 'bosom buddy' from her, as well as her flair for being very descriptive. I liked how her relationship with Gilbert Blythe turned from hate (because he called her "carrots" after her red hair, and we all know how Anne wished her hair is any colour but red) to love. Oh, Gilbert Blythe. Played by Jonathan Crombie in the movie series, he was oh so handsome, how could anyone not fall in love with him?

Thank you Lucy Maud Montgomery for introducing Anne Shirley to the world.

Words in Pixel: I was in London baby!

2011-07-03T16:54:00.015+08:00

I just arrived home at about 9:30 this morning and fell into a coma at about noon. Nobody was home and I would not have woken up and would not have known that I slept for more than 4 hours if my Mom had not phoned me and ask me what my dinner plans are.

Still in a state of groggy, I hope that I would not suffer from too much jet lag. Oh, Paris and London was SO MUCH FUN. I can't wait to tell the stories but I have a feeling that it might take awhile for me to get there for my crystal ball says that there is a lot of work waiting for me.

I think I need another holiday ....

Words in Pixel: Egg-citing

2011-06-30T20:52:00.036+08:00

[Scheduled Post]

Check out these cute little things from Korea!

The white egg on the left is called Egg Pore - Blackhead Out Oil Gel. As blatant as the name of the product suggests, what it does is remove the blackheads from your skin. It has some tiny little beads inside and has an oily gel texture. Basically all you have to do is massage it onto your blackhead prone areas, leave it on for 15 minutes and then wash off with lukewarm water.

The brown egg on the right is called Egg Pore - Tightening Pack. It is a clay-like masque and similar to the other egg, you apply it all over your face, leave it on for 15 minutes and wash off with lukewarm water.

Both products are from a chain of skincare products in Korea called Tony Moly. Somehow that name does not befit a skincare line. Rather it felt more suitable for a hair salon. Don't ask me why.

It costs about 8,500 Korean won each (about RM25.50) which is pretty reasonable. They are cute to see but not easy to store because of its shape. What is more important is that I hope it does what it says! Come out you for horrible blackheads!

Note: Will write more about my trip once I get my bearings in place. It was a whole load of gastronomic fun!

Buuk Review: Sundays at Tiffany's by James Patterson

2011-06-21T12:19:00.003+08:00

[Scheduled Post]

The Plot -

Jane Margaux is a lonely little girl. Her mother, powerful Broadway producers, makes time for her only once a week, for their Sunday trip to admire jewelery a Tiffany's. Jane has only one friend: a handsome, comforting, funny man named Michael. He's perfect. But only she can see him.

Michael can't stay forever, though. On Jane's ninth birthday he leaves, promising to help her until she was old enough to manage on her own, and now there are other children who need his help.

Years later, in her thirties, Jane is just as alone as she was as a child. And despite her own success as a playwright, she is even more trapped by her overbearing mother. Then she meets a man, a handsome, comforting, funny man. He's perfect -

Rating -

The Review -

I read this book whilst I was travelling and though the story is simple and somewhat expected, I actually enjoyed it. I liked that it had big fonts, I did not have to hurt my head following the story line while trying to catch a plane and I suppose it was a good change from the other more intense books I have been reading lately.

This is the kind of book that would appeal to those who enjoy chick lits, and many of you know that it isn't my kind of thing but I guess, there are always exceptions to the rule. I appreciated the fact that I could still remember what the story was the last time I picked it up because what usually happens when I read on the go is that my mind may not be fully concentrating on the story and I am merely flipping pages, so, a good a simple read.

Words in Pixels: Taste of Memories

2011-06-18T10:28:00.001+08:00

[Scheduled post]

The first and last time I had Teh Botol was back in Jakarta in 2006. It brought back a lot of memories of how I met a lot of great people who are still my good friends now, and the crazy times that we had together; travelling down to Bandung for a weekend food trip, an insightful trip to Borobudur, attending a stand-up wedding with more than a thousand guests and jokes over an apotek and some stone bowls.

Ahhhh, missing my Indo chinoz ...

Words in Pixels: World Domination!

2011-06-10T09:59:00.003+08:00

Hahaha!

EVIL PLANS - Having fun on the road to world domination.

I just bought this huge ass ring the size of a quail's egg just the other other, and was telling my Dad that I can now dominate the world (insert evil laugh) and some ding dong beat me to it by actually writing a book about world domination and that you can actually have FUN while you are at it?

*pffffttt*

Words in Pixels: Statement T

2011-06-04T09:51:00.018+08:00

Saw this at one of the small boutiques on the top floor of the bridging area between the old wing and new wing of 1Utama. I should probably be wearing one that says Worker + Dying = Working, because that is pretty much all that I have been doing since I got back from Korea.

Wait, let me take that back. I was working in Korea as well, replying emails till midnight for 4 out of the 7 nights I was there. I will blog about Korea but it will likely only happen when I return from my other trip at the end of this month - Paris and London!

So hang in there folks, and please, don't kill yourself working / studying.

Words in Pixels: The Art of Seducing a Naked Werewolf?

2011-05-28T17:05:00.018+08:00

HOLY MACARONI.

You mean such books actually gets published?

If you can read the small print at the bottom of the book (which I just did and slapped my forehead real hard) it says - Author to "How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf".

Gee wheeze.

You mean there is actually a SERIES of these books? This got me curious so I Googled the author and found out that she dished out the following books too:

Nice Girls Don't Date Dead Men

Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs

Nice Girls Don't Live Forever

Well, this nice girl is currently in Seoul, South Korea and she may be doing some shopping and some eating and some flirting and hopefully spotting some naked men but you betcha that she will definitely be steering clear of dead men and werewolves!

Words in Pixel: Buatan Malaysia

2011-05-22T22:53:00.000+08:00

A colleague of mine pointed out an interesting fact with this establishment. It is called Little Taiwan, that of course, served Taiwanese culinary and delights. I have personally ate at this place several times before and truth be told, I don't really fancy its food for it tastes nothing like the real stuff in Taiwan.

And I found out, only very recently that this eatery is a Malaysian born restaurant. *light bulb moment* No wonder it does not taste authentic!

I'm not sure whether the owners are aware that by stating that the food is of Malaysian origin would actually reduce its credibility in serving up real lip smacking Taiwanese food. Plus, what you can't see in this picture is that there was a life size Malay lady cut-out poster at its front entrance which I believe must be it's owner. What this means is that this eatery is a halal restaurant.

Seriously?

Taiwanese food without pork?

Definitely no more imitation food for me!

Words in Pixels: Skewers

2011-05-14T12:34:00.030+08:00

Located at Subang Avenue, just beside Carrefour Subang, Skewers serves hearty meals to those who are seeking a fulfilling meal for the portions are pretty sizable. Then again, our party of 7 ordered 9 portions of food and by the end of the night, we were all lying comatose amongst the pillows.

Lesson learned: Do not be a glutton and order everything on the menu.

A bigger lesson: Do not place 3 orders of their Ultimate Skewers Glutton Burger that comes with chilli con carne, cheddar cheese, tortilla chips and fried egg with a side dish of country fries and fresh salad because you will end up with way too much food, not enough space on the table and a belly that threatens to pop the button on your jeans.

Food was good, not great. As usual, it was being able to catch up with ol' friends that made the experience worth the calories.

Buuk Review: Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

2011-05-07T00:09:00.087+08:00

The Plot -

When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10, 1996, he hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. As he turned to begin his long, dangerous descent from 29.028 feet, twenty other climbers were still pushing doggedly toward the top. No one noticed the sky had begun to fill with clouds. Six hours later and 3,000 feet lower, in 70-knot winds and blinding snow, Krakauer collapsed in his tent, freezing, hallucinating from exhaustion and hypoxia, but safe. The following morning he learned that six of his fellow climbers hadn't made it back to their camp and were in desperate struggle for their lives. When the storm finally passed, five of them would be dead, and the sixth so horribly frostbitten that his right hand would have to be amputated.

Krakauer examines what it is about Everest that has compelled so many people - including himself - to throw caution to the wind, ignore the concerns of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship and expense.

Rating -

The Review -

The first half of the book was pretty easy going and educational. There was some history behind Everest, the locals who lived nearby, the pioneer climbers and character building of the group of climbers who were on Mount Everest in the same season.

The second half of the book was intense. Although I have never experienced extreme colds and chills and nor have I lived in a pitched tent in the open or climbed higher than Laban Rata at Mount Kinabalu (which I wrote about here, here, here and here) to experience high altitude sickness, I could still, in a way, understand the gruesome pain required to attempt the summit of the tallest peak in the world and more importantly, to return alive.

I saw first hand how some of my former colleagues really struggled with the Mount Kinabalu climb and had wanted to give up half way for the end seem so in vain. What made Mount Everest even scarier is the proportion of people who had given their lives (and a lot of their money) to be able to stand atop the window of the world. As I was turning the pages, the pictures in my head rolled like a Hollywood blockbuster. But this is not a movie. This is real. Real fingers and toes that were lost to frostbite. Real aboriginal guides who fell screaming into crevasses never to be found again. Real human lives suspended in motion like a frozen piece of meat in the freezer, left on the mountain as a reminder to others who will continue to scale the summit.

I think I need to move on to a more light hearted piece of literature after this.

One Five One One

2011-05-02T16:31:00.000+08:00

Dearest Pornstar,

Yesterday you became someone's wife and I was fortunate enough to be a part of your journey. I hope you were able to fully enjoy your special day as much as the great effort that you have put in to make it extraordinary, for yourself, for your soul mate, for your beloved family and for your wonderful friends.

I must say that your wedding is indeed a celebration of love for I have never seen two individuals who are just brimming with so much emotions for one another.

When I was told that there were some mix up with the itinerary for the dinner reception and hence I would not need to embarrass myself going up on stage in front of your 1,000 guests to give a bridesmaid speech, I was partially relieved and partially disappointed. Relieved because I can now down my red wine and just enjoy the balance of the night. Disappointed because I really wanted to share a few words about you and officially wishing you a great married life ahead.

So here, I am reproducing my portion of the speech (slightly revised as it was initially meant to be combined with IC's speech as well), dedicated specially for you and your new strapping husband:

Dear Guests,

My name is Gillie and it is my pleasure and privilege to be a part of this union between CY and M.

So, how do I know CY? Well, I HEARD CY before I even saw her! We were former workmates and I was walking out of a meeting when I heard this hearty laughter vibrating from behind our 5-feet tall cubicles. I walked to where the “HAHAHAHA” came from and I was pleasantly surprised to see this tiny little girl as the owner of this jovial and amusing laughter. I’m sure many of you have been in the presence of “The Laughter” so you would know that it is obviously not difficult at all to like someone like CY.

Her warmth, her caring nature, her bubbly personality and her absolute kindness in always laughing at my lame jokes made her even more endearing to me. Also, the biggest and most important reason why I love CY for who she is, is because she does not make me feel vertically challenged whenever I am in her presence.

*grin*

{After IC talk about how M is so fortunate to have you as his wife}

Yes! I definitely agree with IC on that note. I remember the first time CY spoke about M, and this was before they became a couple. She told a group of us girlfriends that she had a phone conversation with this really nice guy until 4am the night before, and that was how one of our friends nicknamed M "The 4am Guy".

Once I was even put on the spot when I asked her to show me a picture of M, for I have never met him before at that time. She whipped out her laptop and showed me a group picture from one of her cell group sessions. So I asked her, "Which one is M?" and she cooly replied, "He's the cutest guy in the picture!"

OKKKKKK ..... So let's just say that CY and I have never fought over boys before! So yes! M is indeed one very lucky man, for not only is CY a wonderful person inside and outside, in her very own words, she married "the cutest guy"!

Michelle Amand once said, “Love is not a matter of counting the years, but making the years count.” I believe the two of you personify that statement in every way. You love so easily and make the most of every moment. I know in my heart that you will have a beautiful, full life together. I feel so fortunate to be a part of your special day today and I can’t wait to see where you will go from here. Thank you so much for including all of us in your journey.

So, before we end our speech, we would like to make a toast to M and CY.

Cheers!

Love,

Words in Pixels: Bieber Fever

2011-04-29T23:02:00.000+08:00

Hahahaha! Hilarious, no?

Apparently the hair tossing teenage heartthrob performed at Stadium Merdeka last week to a sold out crowd of screaming tweens. I'm sure you can hear the girlish screams even from 100 miles away. Some girls who had the luxury of touching his hand vowed not to wash their hand every again.

When I saw this billboard from afar, I was wondering what it was all about. It made perfect sense after I saw what was written at the bottom.

Bieber fever is in the house!

Are you a Belieber?

(Me? I'm just tickled by the creative execution of this outdoor billboard. Cute.)

Buuk Review: Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? by Peter Walsh

2011-04-25T23:03:00.002+08:00

The Plot -

Diets don't work. Why not? Because they focus on what foods you should and shouldn't eat and completely ignore everything else that makes you fat.

Peter Walsh knows the secret to successfully losing weight is to forget about calorie counting and weekly weigh-ins. Instead you need to focus on how, why and where you eat. Using his expert techniques honed from years as a clutter expert, Peter will show you how the clutter in your kitchen, your pantry, your home and your life is directly related to your weight.

Rating -

The Review -

I bought this book for several reasons:

1. I have seen Peter Walsh on The Oprah Show several times

2. I think my butt sticks out too much, unnecessarily, and yet not in a celebrated way like JLo or KIm Kardashian

3. I do think I have quite a lot of stuff in my room

The content of the book, however, was not rocket science and was as interesting as sawdust. It felt to me that Peter Walsh has a mild case of amnesia for he kept repeating what he had written earlier in the book over and over in the proceeding chapters. He kept on going about why he is not a weight loss expert and his role is not to provide you with healthy food recipes or an exercise regime.

His theory is simple:

1. The clutter in your home is most likely a reflection of some emotional issues that you are facing and hence food and clutter becomes the supposed antidote to those woes

2. An environment that is not conducive to eating healthy and living healthy will inevitably lead to an unhealthy lifestyle

3. One should fully focus on doing one task at a time to wholly appreciate what you are doing ie. do not multi-task eg. eating while watching the TV because you may not realise what you have stuffed down your throat during that 30-min sitcom

4. For every new item you bring into your home, you need to remove one item

As I've said before, not a new mind blowing theory so M, I won't bother lending this book to you as there is nothing there that I'm sure you don't already know.

Bugger

2011-04-22T23:28:00.017+08:00

A few weeks back, I bought a one-month trial package at Fitness First from Groupon Malaysia for only RM30. That was the only way to get me to go to the gym:

1. Super short term membership because I have exercise commitment issues

2. Super near to my office (3-min walk away) so I have less excuses

3. Super cheap because I am cheap

There, I have gone and said it. I am a self-proclaimed al-cheapo. And proud of it!

The dri-fit cap that came complimentary with the RM30 package

It has been AGES since I last stepped into a gym or done any exercise or picked up any sports for the simple reason that I hate to move my muscles. Or whatever stringy movable tendon thingabob that is in my arms and legs.

I have just completed my month-long stint at the gym and I am proud to say that I went a total of TWELVE times, working out an average of 1.5 hours collectively on the treadmill and cycle each visit and yet ..... wait for this ..... you would definitely want to hear this ..... I GAINED weight!

Grrr! Can someone remind me again why I do not like to exercise?

NO, I did not eat any more or less than I normally do. The only hypothesis I have is that I would eat dinner pretty late on the days that I hit the gym, at about 9-ish at night, though I consciously take a smaller portion due to the lateness.

Still.

My other pet peeve about gyms is that I do not understand why certain people has to parade around the changing room without their clothes on. Several times I looked up after tying my shoe lace and BOOM! a pair of boobs are blinking at me. Or once when I opened the door of the changing room to exit and BOOM! a lady was wearing her black lacy undies in all her glory. Or the other occasion where a lady with deep set cellulite was slathering body lotion from the tips of her fingers to the ends of her toes BUCK NAKED. In slow motion no less.

Why do people do that? I know some will say that hey, I have what you have, and you have what I have but yo, it is called PRIVATE parts for a reason, no? So please keep it private!

Drives me insane!

Words in Pixels: twentyone Tables + Terrace

2011-04-16T11:48:00.052+08:00

Good food always tastes better with good company.

This meal was in conjunction with a farewell of a colleague, organised by my media agency. So on the table was 7 girls and a boy. So it was almost like the Prince Charming *hack hack* with his 7 little damsels.

I would think that this is perhaps the very rare occasion where the client-agency relationship was abolished and we just met up as friends, enjoyed some good food and had a lot of laughter.

I really enjoy working with these bunch of peeps. I like it that they have passion in what they do, always willing to listen and co-operate, asks the right questions and behaves exactly like how a business partner should. I'm glad to have them as my extended arms and legs.

I'm a firm believer that that if you provide your partners with the right level of background information so they understand why they need to push harder, treat them as the experts in their field, have respect for them as individuals and be respected, the relationship will definitely be more flavourful.

Looking forward to a great and definitely, intense year.

Words in Pixels: Pastis Cafe

2011-04-09T13:17:00.047+08:00

It's been a long time since I sat down and had tea with some friends, as in, having real brewed tea with some mini bites on a Saturday afternoon. Aaaahh, the bliss of aromatic freshly brewed tea on a chilly day.

Located in Gardens Midvalley near the entrance to Isetan, I have to say that I never noticed this place before despite walking past it several times before.

What you see here is their 3-tier tea set that comes with 2 teas of your choice. I chose a fruit tea of peach apple elderberry that had a lovely cognac sort of colour. The selection of bites was nothing much to shout about. The mini tiramisu was really dry, the bruschetta was hard and the grilled ham and cheese sandwich was simply ... sad. The only saving grace was the dark chocolate mousse cake and the scones.

I did have a good time there, listening to two very different and super interesting proposal stories by 2 of my good buds who are tying the knot in the near future. It is comforting to know that there are still romantic men out there who puts in a lot of effort to make that special moment extra memorable.

So happy for the both of you darlings! *muaks*

Words in Pixels: El Cerdo

2011-04-03T15:09:00.046+08:00

I finally braved the infamous KL traffic on a Friday evening and arrived at El Cerdo, a Spanish porkalicious joint along Changkat Bukit Bintang for a farewell dinner in honour of my most favourite colleague.

Not surprising that my boss chose this location as we calculated that he consumes an average of one whole pig a month and that he should perhaps just have his own pig farm!

To be honest, I had very little clue as to what I really chowed down as my boss did all the ordering and I merely did all the nodding and eating. What I do know is that I had pork overload. There were bits of bacon in the mushroom soup, pig stomach in one of the tapas, there was pork in the paella, air cured ham on bruschetta and of course, the half suckling pig that came with some history lessons and a plate smashing repertoire.

Thank goodness the desserts were pork free!

All in all, it was enjoyable only because some of the dishes were fairly unique in its combination, but (and it's a big but) it was not memorable as the taste in itself did not leave me salivating for more. Perhaps it was the expectations or perhaps they are just over rated.

Well, let's just say that El Cerdo would not be top on my list of places to re-visit in the near future.

Buuk Review: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

2011-03-30T21:07:00.046+08:00

The plot --

Mariam is only fifteen when she is sent to Kabul to marry Rasheed. Nearly two decades later, a friendship grows between Mariam and a local teenager, Laila, as strong as the ties between mother and daughter. When the Taliban take over, life becomes a desperate struggle against starvation, brutality and fear. Yet love can move a person to act in unexpected ways, and lead them to overcome the most daunting obstacles with a startling heroism.

The rating --

The review --

I absolutely loved Khaled Hosseini's first book, The Kite Runner. The story felt so real that I literally cried at certain pages of the book because I could feel the pain that the characters were feeling. Reading it almost felt like I was reading a piece of non-fiction. It was intense, yes, and even leaves me feel mentally drained but boy, was it a DAMN GOOD BOOK.

The same goes for A Thousand Splendid Suns, although it did not invoke as deep a feeling as the first book. The author successfully weaves you into its story as he made it very believable. I could feel the harshness of Rasheed's words as he spat it at Mariam and Laila. I could feel every single slap and kick that he blew onto his wives. I can almost literally see the bruises on their arms and legs.

That, to me, is how a great story should be. When you live in the same house, walk down the same street, eat off the same table and transformed the same way as the characters did. Definitely looking forward to his next novel.

Words in Pixels: Huck's Cafe

2011-03-26T17:04:00.039+08:00

I stumbled upon this place while randomly reading some foodie blogs in Malaysia. Never knew that there are home dinings here as well, and so near where I live and work. So when a colleague suggested a team dinner I took the chance to recommend this place after browsing through some of the lip smacking pictures in their Facebook page.

So we made reservations and between the 4 of us, we had daun kedok coconut for our appetizer (the leaves were harvested from their garden), pumpkin soup and wild mushroom soup, a basil pesto salad for sharing and our main course consisted of baked fish coated with oats and cheese on a bed of pasta, cordon bleu apples, wild rocket chili chicken spaghetti and a dish of mushrooms, potatoes and chicken breast called Sealed with a Kiss as it was nicely wrapped in foil to maintain the juices and aroma of 5 various mushrooms. For dessert we had chocolate banana brownie, creme brulee, chocolate mud pie and mango mousse.

Needless to say, we were stuffed beyond words. The food was good, the company even better and the private setting was a refreshing change from the hustle and bustle of a regular restaurant. The final bill was quite a bit higher than what we expected but it was all right, since we are charging it to the company! Hurrah!

Words in Pixels: Plan b

2011-03-24T20:37:00.001+08:00

Last week I had lunch with a few of my lovely media agency girls at Plan b in Bangsar Village after a media event. I've been here once for lunch a few months before with my creative agency boys and was not impressed with the food but today, the spread was more appetizing and the taste much better than what I last remembered.

Between the 5 of us, we had a caesar salad (with yummy toasted cheddar crisp), an aubergine salad with multi-grains, a big breakfast that was really BIG, eggs and smoked salmon on toast, pasta al-funghi cooked with a few slices of lemon (interesting indeed) and a chicken and mushroom pie.

Ironic how just half an hour earlier we had a lengthy conversation about detox and diets and exercise and here we are stuffing our face silly with too much food for our own good. Ahhhh, the foibles of a glutton!

Pongezi!

2011-03-22T20:55:00.000+08:00

That's Swahili for Congratulations!

The pesky little skunk of a brother darn gone and got himself legally married today! Now he can legally have all the sex he wants! Hahahaha! OK, not that I need to know more *filter filter*

Anyway, here's welcoming Yenty to the Loh family. I hope you know what you are getting yourself into girl! This is one funky and psychotic family you're dealing with!

And to my lil' bro (who ain't very lil' in size anymore with his growing paunch) CONGRATULATIONS! I heard from my friend just yesterday that she will have to walk underneath her elder brother's pants if she were to get hitched before he does, so does that mean that you have to walk underneath my skirt?

I'll make sure I choose a nice one OK?

Kidding aside, here's wishing you and your blushing new wife an abundance of love, a lifetime of joy, a barrel full of kids and a home that is always filled with laughter *hugz*

Buuk Review: Microtrends by Mark J. Penn

2011-03-19T23:57:00.000+08:00

The Plot --

Mark Penn, one of the most respected and sought-after analysts in the world, reveals the real trends wielding large influence on society today and tomorrow. In every case these are small patterns of behaviour involving as little as one per-cent of the population, yet they can transform a business, tip an election or spark a movement. These are the microtrends. There are more then seventy microtrends in religion, leisure, politics and family life that are changing our lives. Among them are how people are retiring by continuing to work, how the geeks are the most sociable people around and how even some of the most basic trends are being overlooked - like how women are driving technology and how dads are older than ever and spending more time with the kids than in the past. Microtrends is an invaluable tool in the quest to better understand our work and a remarkable portrait of the twenty-first century.

Rating --

Review --

This is the very few non-fiction books that I actually kinda enjoyed. I think it got me absorbed in the few first chapters about why there are more single women vs. single men, which is both the cause and effect of how the cougar trend came to be, or why gays tend to come out of the closet later in age and interestingly that geeks are actually the most social people around. Most of the microtrends are something that we have personally experienced in our everyday lives but may not have actively thought about how it has changed the way we reacted to it so this book helped to put it into perspective. It's a surprisingly simple read and this may perhaps change my perspective on non-fiction books and give 'em a chance. Like a friend asked before, "Why did you buy it if you don't feel like reading it?" and so now my answer would be, "I'll read it. In time, I will read it."

Ang Tau Mui

2011-03-14T21:55:00.000+08:00

I've been reading in the newspapers that as part of this year's 100th Celebration of International Women's Day, Kakiseni and its affiliates is participating in the celebration via 100 Hours of Performing Arts, of which some of the performances will be open to the public with free admission.

I have not been to a play for a VERY long time and I was very interested to go check out this one-woman cast theatrical performance titled "A Modern Woman called Ang Tau Mui". The major drawback is that it is held at the Annexe Gallery, Central Market and KL isn't exactly my favourite place to hang out.

Then, out of the blue, my brother said he and his wife-to-be is heading down to Petaling Street and asked whether we want to tag along. I immediately turned on my laptop and check whether I could still reserve some tickets to the play.

Hola! I managed to reserve tickets for everyone!

The story tells of a girl selling red bean soup in Malacca who is a big fan of Lin Dai. She dreams of becoming an actress and writes to Lin Dai frequently. She learns to act and occasionally indulge herself in the movie, imagining herself acting together with Lin Dai. She is eager to run away from reality, imagining herself becoming another person through acting, and thinks the stinking reality will soon transfer into a dream stage. But in the end, does she find what she is looking for?

The hour-long performance turned out to be really good! The actress played multiple roles, could jump and roll about the stage without losing her breath, sing ala opera and remembered so many lines! I also really liked the Malay guy who was the lighting + sound technician + back-up actor + harmoniser all in one. His voice was really nice that even Mom was impressed.

It feels real good to be in touch with the artsy world once in awhile, so peeps, call me if you're interested to catch any of the shows yeah? Oh, and the Ang Tau Mui show is still on at the same place on 17, 18, 19 and 20th March if you're interested.

Words in Pixels: Inter-galactic Craftsmanship

2011-03-12T01:01:00.000+08:00

Spotted this bunting in a furniture shop over the weekend while looking for some stuff for my brother's place. It was the last shop of the day and I was tired out so I sat on a sofa and that was how I noticed it.

World's first cosmic-powered furniture? You're kidding me, right?

Well, according to their website, there is real science behind the technology of their furniture. Apparently, they transfer cosmic power energy from the principle of molecular resonance onto their furniture in the hope of improving one's quality of life and bring about a better and healthy lifestyle.

Unfortunately, the explanation behind the 'first in the world' technology reminded me too much of my physics class that I zoned off after the 2nd sentence. Since when looking for a few pieces of wood glued/hammered together became so complicated?

IMHO

2011-03-09T23:09:00.012+08:00

This morning, the radio deejays were talking about children who are rude and they asked listeners to call in and share their stories of kids who either had no proper manners, no respect for others or simply just intentionally being defiant. Of course the phones were ringing non-stop over at the station as everyone would have at least one experience where you would like to have spanked the child silly due to their bad behaviour.

This got me thinking. Kids are taught to respect others, especially elders, simply because the seniors have consumed more salt in their lives than we have consumed rice in ours (as the Chinese saying goes). Whilst on the most part I do respect others, regardless of age, gender and status, as part of my upbringing, I am not in full favour of the unspoken rule that all elders must be accorded respect, regardless of whether they are deserving. Cordiality and good manners I fully agree. Respect ... that is a little bit more tricky.

Respect for parents, however, is non-questionable

Wisdom, I strongly believe, does not come with age. Wisdom comes with maturity and sensibility. A good head on the shoulders, some would say.

I’ve recently had a bout of friction with a certain someone in the extended family (an older person, of course) whom I feel had malicious intent towards members of my immediate family. Even if I gave them the benefit of doubt that they did not have ill intentions but whatever that came our of their mouth left such a bitter aftertaste that no amount of mouthwash would get rid of it.

It started with respect (what else!) that my Mom invited this person to represent our family to conduct a very simple task meant for a very joyful occasion, all-expense paid. However, instead of joining us in our celebration, this person together with the spouse spat uncalled for statements to negate the happy atmosphere, throwing curve balls, giving us unnecessary headaches and basically, attempting to create non-existent complications for my family. They had an opinion in almost everything my parents said and it felt as though they intentionally looked at the side of the fence where the boogeyman lives instead of hopping to this side of the fence where the party is in full swing.

Just as there are a million and one ways to skin a cat, there are a million and one ways to approach a single matter. The lesson here is therefore to be accepting of other people’s opinion and not always imposing what you think is right and then shoving it down other people’s throats.

I admit that I have a much shorter fuse with this particular person only because this person and the spouse has continuously, over the years and decades, imposed their thoughts and actions onto others. Sure they are not always entirely wrong in their ways. In similar fashion, they are not always entirely right either. Hence, I feel that I should be able to interject and tell them upfront that they are not Mister or Miss Know-It-All. BUT, piping up in front of an elder is considered disrespect in our culture.

In this particular scenario, I am of the opinion that respect ought to be earned and not handed on a silver platter. I mean, what if they had asked me to jump off a cliff? Should I act upon it merely out of respect? Do I not have the option to decline it because I love my life? Or is that also considered disrespectful? I doubt that the jury is still out.

I am aware that this person had its feathers ruffled the wrong way with my choice of words but I am unafraid. My conscience is clear. I sleep like a baby every night. I'm not entirely sure that they are.

This song by the Dixie Chicks could not have summed it up any better:

I’m not ready to make nice

I’m not ready to back down

I’m still mad as hell

And I don’t have time

To go round and round and round

It’s too late to make it right

I probably wouldn’t if I could

Cause I’m mad as hell

Can’t bring myself to do what it is

You think I should

Words in Pixels: Expose Your Gorilla Self

2011-03-05T22:39:00.001+08:00

Hmph.

I'm not getting this.

This is an outdoor ad for office space rental at a prominent location along Federal Highway next to the Cycle and Carriage showroom. I can understand the intended aspirational end game of "Be the landmark of Federal Highway." I can't, however, connect that to the tagline of "Expose Yourself" and coupling it with a visual of a male gorilla perched in a somewhat sexy pose.

The gorilla is not the mascot or logo of Sunwaymas. It has nothing to do with the theme of the office space. It is not near any gorilla or orang utan sanctuary. It is not intended for animals. So why did they choose a gorilla?

Baffling indeed.

Well, OK, unless it is because a male gorilla is the leader of the pack and that was what they wanted to portray. That if you rent this office space, you'll be the leader of the pack. But, they could have chosen a male lion or a male tiger, who are also leaders of their packs and they are more beautiful creatures who are also higher on the food chain.

So, why a gorilla?

Buuk Review: A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon

2011-02-28T22:06:00.001+08:00

Plot --

At fifty-seven, George is settling fown to a comfortable retirement, building a shed in his agrden, reading historial novels, listening to a bit of light jazz. Then Katie, his unpredictable daughter announces that she is getting remarried, to Ray. Her family is not pleased - as her brother Jamie observes, Ray has 'strangler hands'. Katie can't decide if she loves Ray, or loves the way he cares for her son Jacob, and her mother Jean is a bit put out by the way the wedding planning gets in the way of her affair with one of her husband's former colleagues. And the tidy and pleasant life Jamie has created crumbles when he fails to invite his lover, Tony, to the dreaded nuptials. Unnoticed in the uproar, George discovers a sinister lesion on his hip, and quietly begins to lose his mind.

Rating --

Review --

I've read Mark Haddon's other book, Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and both books share a similarity in its main character; they are both interestingly out of whack in their itty bitty heads. This story really epitomes how a dysfunctional family can get even more, well, dysfunctional. This is also one of the stories that should not be made for the big screen because I don't think the part about George trying to snip off what he thought is a cancerous lesion with a scissors and then creating a huge bloody mess would be a sight for sore eyes. Well, unless you have a thing for blood splatters.

So, if you think that you family is a nutjob, this book will make you feel blessed. A peculiar but entertaining read.