My Warm Nest

Birthday in HK ☂ The Journey & The Stay

2012-01-30T14:43:00.000+08:00

This trip wasn't initially planned to be my birthday trip, but somehow, thanks to CIMB online banking's inefficiency, Air Asia's ridiculous fight for cheap airfares and my awesome blurness, I somehow brilliantly booked a vacation across my birthday weekend.

Traveling with me was a secretive friend *LOL*, someone very dear to my heart but due to many complications, I won't be revealing her identity. Anyway, it was really great to spend spend my 28th birthday with her (thank you, you know who you are ^^).

* for those who know whom I went HK with, please... help me keep the secret, thanks zillions :)

I was on half day leave only on our departure day, because our flight was quite late in the afternoon. We arrived relatively early at the airport but waiting wasn't bad when you have your dearest friend with you.

The flight was on time, and the sky was super cloudy. Yes, the whole trip was a little wet and windy, that explained why I have this --> ☂ on the post title. But nothing dampen the mood of the birthday girl *muahaha*

We bought the Airport Express Travel Pass that allowed us two way rides on the Airport Express and 72 hours train services. Perfect for our weekend stay in HK :)

I like HongKong's public transportation. Very efficient, clean, punctual, convenient, tourist-friendly and affordable. Everything is clearly labeled and signboards are accurate and obvious. Makes it easy for everyone.

I've been to HongKong twice before this trip, the first was in 2005 which left a very bad impression to me because of the arrogant attitudes of the locals. However, I noticed a very big improvement in their service today! A pleasant surprise, I actually find the Hongkees much more friendlier during this trip.

We booked our accommodation together with the flight and chose the Silka Far East Hotel (远东丝丽酒店) in Tsuen Wan (荃湾). It was located within walking distance (via covered pedestrian bridge) from the Tsuen Wan MTR station, which is the last stop on the Tsuen Wan Line.

Personally I like to stay in Tsuen Wan despite it being slightly away from all actions in the city. The place itself is a small commercial area, with lots of food and shops around, but less hectic compared to the heart of the town like Mongkok (旺角). But that's just me, hehehe.

We managed to find our hotel without much trouble. In fact, it was quite a big building (to our surprise) visible from quite far. Not too difficult to locate and it looks grander than we expected :)

Well, at least the entrance...

... and perhaps the lobby with its crystal dragon hanging from the ceiling. Check-in was easy and the service was ok. We asked for directions and they were pretty helpful.

Oh, and I have to compliment them for the prompt reply to my booking inquiries via email and phone calls (to double check my payment and reservation). Thumbs up!

Well, if you want me to complain, probably the only thing I can say is the (lack of) room space but this is totally understandable, given the limited land in HongKong. But the room was clean and well-equipped.

Somehow we were thankful that both of us weren't really big size. See, the walkway... it's made for one person to barely squeeze through, I think the ang mohs might have problem sharing the room.

And we had to leave our luggage half-blocking the entrance because there's no where else we could dump them.

But they did plan the renovation well, making use of each and every inch of spaces possible. And whatever you need, you have it.

The bathroom is quite ok to me, at least much better than the one of First World Hotel Genting where I could hardly turn without knocking on the wall, or something, and have no place to hang my clothes without wetting them.

This is a very normal size bathroom and I am grateful for that.

This is basically our "nest" for the 4 days in HongKong and we both think the accommodation wasn't too shabby. And since we didn't spend much time in the room, other than sleeping at night, space wasn't too much of a concern.

Shall continue in the next post.

The Birthday Post

2012-01-25T08:55:00.004+08:00

Haven't been blogging for a while, partially cos I was busy (doing nothing) and mainly because I lost my blogging mojo (*cough* lazy *cough*).

Anyway, I am back to work today and since it's like 3rd day of CNY and the whole office is super quiet, I decided to blog instead. So here's a crappy record of my 28th birthday. Yea... 2 more years before reaching the "big 3" *horror*

Bear with the lousy photo quality, mostly taken by my phone camera, and grabbed from my "mobile upload" folder on FB LOL. Talk about being lazy, yea, I don't even have the energy to bring my camera out nowadays.

Due to some "foreseeable circumstances" YM celebrated my birthday slightly earlier this year. We went to Hard Rock Cafe again and ordered exactly the same food as last year @.@ but it was a great night.

No birthday cake this year, but he did made an effort to arrange for a brownie delivered with a candle but I sorta spoiled his surprise plan. Hahaha...

During the weekend, I went out for lunch + shopping with my colleague-cum-office BFF (LOL) Chloe and our usual "date crasher" Hubert and the nice duo treated me for a meal at Winter Warmers :)

My two crazy bitches, Hunny and Little Gigi gave me a small surprise at our fav hangout location Buckie Buck after my long OT day (ended work at 9.30pm FML)! Love my babes max!

A humongous cake, like seriously HUGE! It's my one and only proper cake this year.

This year I ate too many "birthday meals". Other than the above mentioned, my boss gave me a small treat at Tsuruya before my birthday, my IT colleagues gave me a treat at Kim Gary and my usual lunch gang paid for my lunch at Japin! Super nice people *muacks*

And of course, I appreciate all those who remembered (or accidentally found out) my birthday and sms-ed, emailed, fb-ed and whatsapp-ed me to wish me.

Now... moving on to the presents part... *nyahahaha*

#1 The earliest present I received (ok, I sorta forced her to give it to me before my bday after figuring out what she bought for me) was this ultra-cute-can-die Charles & Keith drawstring bag from my Hun, Steph.

No one knows me better than her muahaha, ok... cos I kept bugging her lar... But I was actually looking for a nice drawstring for ages and she managed to get me just the perfect one *muacks*!

#2 My boss, being my boss, gave me a book- "How to Become Women of Power" *sweat*.

Still think she is "hinting" something but I decided to pretend not to get her hidden message. Power... what? *ignorance is bliss* LOL.

#3 This is one present that came as a little surprise from a friend :) Yup, a mini Lego ghost!!!

Really love this minifig very, very much. I've always wanted it but never thought of owning it. It glows in the dark!!! It's just so so so so so cute! My baby ghost is now sitting on my office desk, accompanying me during boring office hours :)

#4 Quite touched when YM brought this back telling me that his sis, Chze bought this for me cos she remembered I said I like Sticky candies ^^ Super happy!

The bottle is almost empty by now cos I couldn't stop popping the candies into my mouth! Super yummy, except that they cut my tongue badly too :P Totally worth the pain though.

#5 Being super practical, I opted for "shopping cash" from YM this year and I bought myself my first Agnes b. :D

It's a simple tote in black and white tartans. Simple and versatile, totally love it!

This wasn't what I had in mind when entering the shop but the sales assistant was a very, very friendly chap who kept telling me this looks good on me (not sure if he is eager to clear the stock or what LOL) but the bag does look good, so I picked it.

#6 I totally busted the budget YM gave me after I bought this watch. Hahahaha.

I wanted a white watch and had been searching high, low, up, down, left, right for a suitable one. This wasn't the "most idealistic" one but it suited my budget and looks really nice on my wrist. No regret. And I'm loving it more everyday, whee~~~

#7 This Esprit watch is a present from Little Gigi :)

I don't exactly need another watch but it's nice :) Muahahaha...

#8 I counted this as my birthday present to myself. Totally burned a hole in my pocket but I needed a new phone (the old one has been serving me well for the past 4 years but it's time for it to retire).

Ya, finally signed up for my data package and now I can whatsapp and FB and iMessage anytime, anywhere. No more relying on stupid wifi :D

#9 Finally, a nice birthday trip for myself!!! Ok, it was sorta a mistake that I made, but it actually turned out to be a nice memory for my birthday. First time spending my birthday outside Malaysia.

Shall blog about the trip soon, need some time to get back my blogging mood after all these festive seasons and celebrations.

Confession: Although I always say "age is just a number" I am actually quite bitter about turning 28 hahahaha.

I don't know, maybe it's cos I always have the perception that we are at our peak in our 20s and getting towards the end of it made me feel panic because I know I wasn't ready, and I hasn't achieved the mentality maturity that I always felt is needed. I felt that I haven't made the most out of my 20s and I only have 2 more years to go.

Ushering in 2012

2012-01-05T13:12:00.005+08:00

Had been slaving myself a little too much recently, on an extended stretch of late night work and I could see my complexion fading into a dull grey and my eyebags expanded into eye"luggage" *horror* FML

But it's festive seasons! How can I not spare myself some happiness? So yea, I still had some great fun over the New Year weekend.

My last day of 2011 started with a wonderful brunch with Gigi at Delicious, Straits Quay.

It was a date postponed several times but ah well... we managed to do it on the last day of the year :)

I always like Delicious' interior decorations, very homey feel, and pretty.

Macarons spotted! So cute~ But I didn't try them. My appetite was kinda ruined now all thanks to my lack of sleep.

More sinful indulgences. Both of us were already full after the main meals so we skipped dessert for this round.

Thanks my babe Gigi for treating me on the last day! We had a slow lunch, chatting and snapping some photos. Love girly brunch so much.

It has been a while since I do a food post. I remember when I first started this blog, I kept updating it with food posts! No longer a habit, cos now I am so so so freaking lazy about blogging.

Happy last day of 2011! Muacks!

Mmm... yums!

We went Gurney Plaza for an unfruitful shopping trip but I enjoyed every second spent with her, giggling and joking. It's just like the good ol' time when we were roommates.

At night, I joined my colleagues for a countdown dinner at Cheers, Tanjung Bungah. It's a beer house kinda environment.

The place is not bad, just not those happening places.

There were 19 of us I think, separated at 2 tables. I don't know half the people there and I am quite an introvert especially when it comes to big group outings. I tend to fade into the background I don't know why. Just not very sociable I guess :P

Oh but the food was great and price was reasonable too. No complaints about the eating part :)

Some of the girls at the party.

Confession! I have to be honest (at least on my own blog, I WANT to be honest), I was bored to hell that evening! Mainly because I wasn't that close with the gang but I blame the non-happening atmosphere too!

80% of the time I was playing with my phone. Thank goodness I've got 3G now so I get to FB and Whatsapp my night away. No offense to some of my friends there, they are nice and fun, but they couldn't entertain me the whole night eh?

And the countdown was... marginally pathetic. Hahaha. Ok, sorry to say that. I am very very honored that my colleagues invited me along, I mean they are really nice but it was really boring. I couldn't keep my spirit high.

Ok, maybe more to do with me not sleeping the whole night before. But yay, happy new year peeps!

The group photo on New Year's Eve.

The first day of 2012, I still had to work (arr... sad life!) but in the evening, I went out for shopping with YM followed by a nice Japanese dinner at Sushi Zento, Priccint 10. It's a nice place near Island Plaza, relatively new.

Pardon my half dead face. I was really sleep deprived and super tired from all the long hours sitting in front of the computer reading and typing.

Trying my photography skill, and failed miserably.

We ordered quite a lot and I think YM ate most of them cos I wasn't really with great appetite without enough rest.

After dinner we went over to Straits Quay's Starbucks. Ordered my fav Greentea Frappe and shared a cake. Ah... diet... I know... But it's New Year!!!

I did feel a bit guilty for stuffing myself with fattening food late night but it's like giving my 2012 a perfect start :)

A Wonderful End, A Brilliant Start

2012-01-02T02:27:00.002+08:00

Two photos, taken a year apart... One on the last day of 2011 and another on the first day of 2012 :)

Time flies *sigh*

Don't think I need a recap of my 2011 since whatever worth recording probably had been blogged and for those not, it's either I don't want to remember them or not willing to share them.

Err... Happy 2012.

Shall blog about my new year eve IF I have the time and mood. Gotta get back to serious writing that brings me real money :)

Christmas Like Never Before :)

2011-12-28T22:10:00.008+08:00

I haven't been blogging for a while, sorry, seriously seriously busy with work. But I had the most crazy Christmas celebration ever and I had to (no choice!) to record it.

I had a Christmas date with my hun and we actually made reservation (we are very random people who never care to make plans) at Little Cottage for dinner. We both dressed up for our little celebration :)

The service was lousy but fast (in fact, a little rushed IMHO) and food was mediocre but it doesn't really matter, because it was great, to sit down with my hun and have a nice, cozy dinner.

Dinner ended a bit earlier than we expected (told ya we were RUSHED, they served damn fast, one course after another before we actually finished!). Next up was our main aim for the night- DRINKING! Yay~

I am not a drinker, in fact I don't fancy the bitter taste of alcohol at all. But I really wanted to do something fun this Christmas, something extraordinary, something crazy, something unusual, something that I will look back and laugh about.

And thanks hunny, for making my 2011 Xmas memorable *muacks*

We ended up at Overtime in Gurney Drive. The place was a little empty at 8.30pm, ah well, we were a wee bit early for drinking I guess.

Overtime has this early hour promotion "buy 1 free half" for their beers before 8.30pm, and so we happily ordered 3 pints of Starker each (buy 2 free 1). Steph recommended the beer, quite smooth, not bad.

Please pardon the lousy photo quality, snapped by my phone camera under super dim lighting with shaky hands...

We picked a dark corner and sipped our beers while doing really stupid camwhoring and chit chatting. It was fun, to have nothing in mind, just talking to your bestie over a drink.

Tonguezilla Steph... Her tongue is her... trademark LOL. But somehow this girl always look cute when acting goofy. Dang!

We drown the first pint quite fast and set off for the second one! Yay~ We knew we were "getting there" when we started giggling over really stupid things :P

Drink hunny, drink!

Hahaha, we started drinking some aggressive bottoms up hahaha. Obviously a little tipsy already cos our conversation gets more and more bizarre... such as the Christmas tree is not a Christmas tree but a plastic pine tree with lights and decorations. Hahaha.

Finally, the last pint!

I was seriously still feeling quite ok until a few sips into my third pint and suddenly I felt nauseating and embarrassing enough, I vomited =.= and Steph was super effing happy cos that is her aim after all, to get me drunk and vomit (psycho!).

But I was all good after throwing up a little in the ladies (and I didn't make a mess, I cleaned up and flushed and all! See I am not bad at all).

Back at the table, we continued drinking, laughing, joking and giggling. The place was slightly more crowded at that time. We snapped more photos and tried camwhoring but... failed tragically :P

And despite being quite drunk (I think I surpassed my threshold after second pint), I think I kept quite a good composure of myself, judging from the photos Steph snapped of me before we left the place. Hahahaha.

Err, ok I shall come clean. Nope, I didn't look good and nice, I am just a born poser when the camera flashed. In fact in reality, I looked more like this...

Hahaha. But it's still quite good, to let loose my soul for a night, and really enjoy the freedom and the remaining of our youthfulness hahaha. You know, just to have some girly fun, to enjoy and remember the night forever. I totally deserve a good night out after slaving myself for a week.

We managed to drive home safely too :)

Thanks hun for the beautiful night!!! And also a big big hug and thank you to YM, for always being super understanding and accepting, allowing me the freedom and happiness :) You are the best hubby one can ever asked for ♥

Blogging On The Go

2011-12-23T14:29:00.002+08:00

Yes, finally changed my phone of 4 years and waved goodbye to my pre-3G life :P

Why iPhone4s? No idea.

My verdict for Siri? Err, "like this lor"

My phone is pretty, should show u all my White Queen. She's super nice! Actually I got it on the launching date, 16 Dec, but I'm so busy and tired lately that I've no time to blog.

And now I'm still busy, and will continue to be busy until end of the year I think. If not to try this Blogger app, I wouldn't blog too.

Oh, tried attaching screenshots of my phone. Asterix and Obelix :) Matched perfectly with my Snow White. So cute, loving it at this moment .

That's all for now, till I have more time and after I have more rest ok? Muacks!

The Muppets

2011-12-13T23:00:00.001+08:00

If you are the 80s babies like me, you probably know the Muppets... err or at least you saw them on the then-very-popular educational program Sesame Street.

The Muppets are something we grew up with, something so familiar and something that carry a lot of our childhood memory so you can imagine our excitement when the movie was released.

The storyline might be a little too predictable and even at the edge of boring, but the movie itself is not a disappointment at all! Especially if you like musicals, like happy songs, it's very likely something that will bring a smile to your face by the end of the movie.

The movie was starred by Jason Segel ("Marshall" of How I Met Your Mother) and Amy Adams and boy, the duo can really sing and dance real well!

There are many funny scenes inside, that is if you get their jokes. I super love the "travel by map" joke :) Well, not gonna be a spoiler here.

And the characters in the movie, they are so so so so adorable! My favorite is of course NOT Kermit (who likes ugly frogs btw...). I love Miss Piggy!

She is so cute and her Parisian sense of fashion... TOTALLY AWESOME! Hahaha.

But the character that left most impression to me has to be Animal! I don't remember him from last time but in this movie, he is so outstanding! I like his crazy ways and his maniac actions. Super hilarious.

I had been watching movies consistently lately because I've got some new movie buddies (colleagues) and sometimes it's nice to hang out in a bunch and enjoy a movie with the gang. Something different from my usual routine.

Shall end this post with a clip of this really nice song from the movie. Can't wipe the smile off my face everytime I watch it :)

Starbucks · Obsession

2011-12-04T22:23:00.002+08:00

Hanging out occasionally in Starbucks is always something I like. To me, they are not selling drinks, but lifestyle. So it's acceptable to once in a while fork out my blood money for their overpriced drinks.

However, I've never had any obsessions over the brand. Never... until... this Christmas.

It all started with my hunny Steph getting me their limited edition Xmas Starbucks Card. OMG the snowman version is so freaking cute I can die! And suddenly spending at Starbucks seems to be triple the usual fun *bimbo mode on*!

All these years I had never have the urge to collect the Starbucks planner, but this year, I really really wanted to get it. 15 drinks... it sounds quite impossible to achieve it alone. Definitely need some "help" :D

So I sorta cooked up a "scheme"... nyahahaha.

And despite all sorts of objections, I still manage to end up in Starbucks with a small "entourage".

*Pics from Chloe's phone :)

Hahahaha, my victims and their overpriced "teh peng" and "kopi o" LOL.

Muahahaha... THANK YOU people! Believe it or not, I've got 7 victims in a night! Not bad eh? Let's not go into details how I've managed to get that done. All I can say it's all worth my effort :D

And of course, one night won't get me my planner. I've somehow conned more people into contributing to my quest for the planner. Thank you YM, Little Gigi and Junni! Muacks!

And finally, yesterday in Cameron Highlands' Starbucks I got the Starbucks 2012 Planner!!! Super happy max!

The planner's cover is really beautiful :) Nice eh? Nice eh?

Since this "thing" doesn't come easy, I shall post more photos of it :P

Ok I have to admit, it's actually a very common planner. But somehow the excitement sometimes is not about what I get, but how I get it. It does carry many funny memories in it :) Seriously *like*!

I'd been looking for a nice Starbucks tumbler for a while because I think I am regular enough to make the "RM2 discount" worth it. And I've been wanting to get an Xmas edition tumbler because... because I like Christmas.

Couldn't see any around Penang but last night at Cameron's I found this!!!

How not to fall in love with this pretty thing? See the shimmering tumbler with white snowflake prints!!! It's too nice to not own it!!! Thanks YM for getting this for me! The one and only one left on the shelf *lucky*

See the polar bears at the bottom of the tumbler. Aww.... don't you just love them?

The only problem with this tumbler is that it's a 10-oz one, which is too small even for a Tall size drink. But... ah well, whatever... can deal :) It's still the prettiest tumbler I've came across so far. No complaints.

Whenever I see anything Christmas, it reminds me of Little Gigi. That girl is an Xmas freak! She simply loves everything about Christmas. So I had to get this for her!!!

I would say it's a slightly less glamorous version of mine hahaha. But it's still very pretty, with nice Christmas trees and snowflakes. She simply LOVE it (better do!)!

And since I'm on the Starbucks topic, might as well show you my personal glass at home. It's also a Starbuck's. My ex-roomie Joanne got me many years ago, so far still my favorite cup to use at home :D

And there's another mini Starbucks cup, YM's last year birthday present from Steph dear.

My obsession over Starbucks need to take a "break" right now because I realized I'd been overspending lately and probably suffering green tea overdose. So, yea, that's all for now, I should take a stop though I'm tempted to bring my tumbler for a drink again soon *stupid*

Sawasdeeka: The Pattaya Floating Market

2011-11-29T18:16:00.000+08:00

Continuing my travelogue before end of the year...

We couldn't fit in a half-day trip to the famous traditional floating market in Bangkok, so when I accidentally found out that there's a "man made" floating market in Pattaya, we decided it would worth a visit.

The Pattaya Floating Market is a new attraction in Pattaya, located on Sukhumvit Road, on the way to Sattahip district. It's a little out of action but from its website I've learned that there's bus services at an affordable 20 baht to and fro most major destinations in the city.

Since we had a bike, we didn't need to figure out transportation to the place. After a nice shower at the hotel, we set off to Floating Market. It was quite a distance from the Beach Road, but it wasn't difficult to spot it.

If you see many tour buses lining up the road, you know you are at the right place :)

Unlike Damnoen Saduak which is a real market set up on the river, Pattaya Floating Market is a tourist attraction that was built to "showcase" this special "Thai floating shopping experience". So you can expect less chaotic, more organized and well designed buildings.

Though losing a little of the authentic touch, the place is still ideal for a leisure walk and tasting some traditional Thai food.

Once entering the market, it's like a wooden maze on top of the water. There are many wooden bridges/ walkways linking all the traditional-looking buildings, and some hawkers selling from their boats.

They sell all types of things and food there. Popular Thai snacks like Koh Kae (the peanuts) and Tao Kae Noi (crispy seaweed) have their own outlet there.

The landscape of this floating market was carefully planned out. I really like how they try to maintain the Thai feel of the place, even in details like using coconut shells as pots for their flowers gave this place a wonderful local twist.

Almost every corner of the floating market makes a good backdrop for photos. No wonder since its opening in late 2008, this place had been attracting many foreign tourists.

And for us, the main thing to do there is of course trying some local Thai snacks!

The first boat we stopped for is my favorite coconut ice-cream. The lady seller is so friendly and when she saw us taking photos, she turned and posed hehehe. So cute! Thais are generally friendly, no wonder they called their country "the land of smiles" :)

The coconut ice-cream here comes with more toppings. It was a great dessert on a hot afternoon, love the thick coconut taste!!!

Right beside the coconut ice-cream, there's another boat selling barbecue seafood on skewers. The smell was so nice that we couldn't resist the temptations.

Fresh, big, succulent scallops, the ends were a little crispy but the flesh remained juicy and chewy. Dipped in the Thai sweet chili sauce, I swear it's really the best scallops I've ever tasted.

Drinking plenty of water is a must in Thailand, because the weather is seriously hot and most of the food are heaty and spicy. We saw this stall selling sea coconut drink, I like I like! So we bought a cup.

The drink is really nice, not overly sweet, and is cooling too :) Thumbs up! A good replacement for fresh coconut drinks.

There are too many food selling along the way, including things that you don't expect to see like deep fried duck's chins. Err... erm... *gulped* I didn't try that.

Many of the food looks appetizing though. A lot of yummy deep fried stuff, but we couldn't try everything. And mind you, this is only barely at the entrance area! We must leave some stomach space for the rest.

Other than walking around the Floating Market, visitors can also choose to take a ride on the pedal boat.

We went there quite late in the evening, almost near to their closing time (the place is open till late but most of the shops and vendors close around dinner time) so the place was a little deserted. Most of the big tour bus departed by the time we walked in.

More exotic food were found! Crocodile meat satay! Argh! I thought crocodiles eat human, not the other way around? Dare to try? Not for me, I still prefer to victimize those tamer animals hahaha.

Thai sausages! The fat sausages looked extremely inviting. We ordered one spicy one and I've got to say, it's so delicious!!!

The sausage was stuffed with I don't know what exactly, but it's some chili and spices stuffing, melted perfectly together with the chewy sausage texture. An upgraded version of Taiwanese sausages. Argh! I am craving for them now!!!

We continued to walk along the wooden walkways aimlessly, looking at shops and things along the way (without any intention to buy hahaha). Without the noisy crowd, the place is awesome to linger around.

We spotted more interesting food along the way but we need to save our stomachs for proper dinner later. Could only stare at the nice food, swallowing our saliva hahaha.

From their website, I've learned that there are free cultural performances everyday. Probably during the peak hours only, so we didn't get to watch any.

Other than food, there are also a lot of shops selling interesting souvenirs and t-shirts. I am not sure about the price, I think they are quite standard though.

Saw some funky spectacles on sales so I tried a couple of stupid looking ones and YM managed to snap a few photos for me before the seller told us "no photo, sir" hahaha. Too late, I've already taken them!

We walked and walked and then YM spotted some plump squids on the grill and he was so eager to eat them.

There, fat squids cut into smaller pieces, drown in a pool of sweet and sour homemade chili sauce. Woots!

I am not a big fan of squids (unless deep fried) so I only tried one piece. Judging from YM's contented face, I could easily conclude that it tasted really good.

That evening's weather was great, cloudy and breezy. When the sun started to set, I saw most vendors preparing to call it a day.

The Floating Market also has some fun activities for the visitors such as the "sling adventure" where you will be secured in a harness and flung across the lake. This can be found at the Swing Bridge there.

When the sky dimmed, the place started to light up. It'a a nice view seeing the wooden huts glowing in warm lights and the reflection flickering in the water. Lovely.

Just as we were about to leave, we passed by a shop selling some really "interesting" snacks. Deep fried crickets, silk worms and grasshoppers. Game for a try?

I would imagine them tasting like some crispy snacks and I heard they didn't taste weird except the fat worms might be a little disgusting with juicy, soft flesh inside *eww*. I am not risking my stomach for anything exotic. So nope, I did not eat them.

The sky was actually quite dark by the time we left the place. Took a photo with the giant Koh Kae before leaving. OMG so big, hehehe.

We had a fun evening exploring the Pattaya Floating Market. Although the place might come across a little too commercialized for some, I still think it's worth a visit if you happened to have some spare time in Pattaya.

"Investments"

2011-11-23T23:30:00.000+08:00

I'm quite hopeless when it comes to beauty stuff (sorry, it's just not my forte) but as age is catching up, I started to feel the pressure of needing to "preserve" my remaining youth. WTF.

It doesn't help when I have evil friends who kept reminding me that I am nearing the BIG 3 :( and if I don't start taking care of my skin like IMMEDIATELY, I will regret terribly in future. Fear is the best motivator and so I started to be more kind to my poor face.

I've tried some different brands, Origins, Clinique, Hada Labo, Khiel's... and to be honest, I haven't found anything that made me swear my loyalty to the brand. Recently I've heard many good things about Biotherm and is tempted to try them out.

YM got back from his business trip from Philippines and got me my early Xmas present from Singapore airport!!! Guess what it is? Yay~~~

The Biotherm Aquatrio Balance set :) Super freaking huge bottle (400ml) Toner!!!

Free samples that come with the set includes the travel size cleanser, Eye Perfection and Travel Recharge (femme and homme)! Can't wait for the next vacation to try out the Travel Recharge thingy!

And since YM had gotten me the basics, I decided it's time to splurge a little to make the set complete :)

My ultimate skincare guru ZH recommended the Skin Ergetic Concentrate to me, and after checking out her flawless skin *jealous* I decided that her words are worth listening to! Hahaha. So, there... money gone!

I am a sucker in writing beauty posts so to save time (for both me and you), read more about this on ZH's post and if you can't read Chinese, too bad. Hahaha. Ok lar, you might want to read it on the Biotherm's website instead.

This product is relatively new so currently they are giving out some free samples with the purchase. Ended up bringing back the UV Supra D-tox, Aquasource gel and another tiny tube of cleanser.

Since the "investments" was done, I hope that the return is at least favorable. Now, I've made a vow to do the basic 4-steps skincare regimen daily in exchange of nice skin:

I seriously hope I can be less lazy and continue to take good care of my face. After all, this is a long term commitment, not something you can just do occasionally or "recreationally" and expect to see glorious results.

Finally, err...

Two total irrelevant photos, just because I slaved myself on Saturday to dress up for Andrea's church wedding and reception, and thought "why waste the makeup" so I camwhored a bit :P

Yes, I Did It Again!

2011-11-21T20:57:00.001+08:00

People claimed that "women are hard to understand" I never beg to differ because often enough in my life, I couldn't really understand myself.

Year after year after year I did it, and every year, I complained about doing it, yet the next year, I will probably sign up for it, yet again. Like... WHY? I don't know.

So yeah, I went for the Penang Bridge Marathon 10km yesterday. An auspicious day 20112011, and this year, we'd got fairly good weather. I guess the real torture is not the run itself, but waking up very early for the run.

This year the official vest is in a hideous shade of pink *puke*

I wasn't as well prepared as last year but I do jog consistently, so it wasn't really too hard for me to complete the run. I am not sure about my timing but it doesn't really matter, let's wait for the official results.

And yup, again we've collected our "Finisher" medals :)

Not very sure, but I guess next year in November you probably will see yet another similar post :P Hahaha.

The Scary Night + Random Updates

2011-11-17T10:01:00.006+08:00

"My Warm Nest" had somehow transformed into a travelogue (let's not discuss whether it's lousy or not), so today, something slightly different, shall just record what happened to me last night.

I was out for late dinner with my hun Steph and when we were about to pay we realized we both have limited cash in hand and they only accept card for payment above RM30!

Seriously embarrassing, cos we were already standing in front of the cashier!

It wasn't really a graceful moment fiddling our bags, pouring what we have out from our purses, counting coins at the counter. But phew, we managed to pull enough money for the meal.

That is not the end of the story, else it wouldn't be worth recording it here! Happily we skipped to Starbucks for a drink, knowing well that we could put that on credit card. So we sat there, sipping our green tea frappe, chatting and chilling.

Slightly after midnight, we noticed that most of the shops were already closed (we sat outside Starbucks) so we decided to call it a night. And that is when the scary night begun...

WE FOUND OUT THAT WE FORGOT WE NEED TO PAY PARKING IN ORDER TO GET OUT!!!

There's no ATM machines at E-gate and we walked over to Tesco opposite, only to find that they had already closed too!!! Seriously panic!!!

There's a 7-11 there (without ATM machines) and we considered using credit card to cash out some money but the lady there happily told us "tunai sahaja" and we went like FOL FOL FOL FOL FOL x100.

At that split second suddenly felt so helpless. WHY? WHY this happen when YM is too far away to save me? And why... why did we drag till so late to realize we didn't have enough to pay parking? Argh.

Anyway, it was all good after I finally got my good friend Javios who scolded me "walau eh, kanasai" but still drove over to pass me RM10. Thanks lar bro, you are such a good friend *hugs*!

End of my scary night :(

Back to some random updates about my life. Since YM is not around I couldn't bully him so I have some extra time on hand every night. I ended up rewatching "How I Met Your Mother" from Season 1.

What can I say, the series is totally legen... wait for it... dary! Hahaha. It's like the most freaking funny (and good) series ever. Totally worth the time! And so many classic jokes, omg, super entertaining. Can't wait to download Season 7 once it's complete.

On the other hand, I had been really slacking in my reading. Argh. Not good. Blame the tv!

Should finish up "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest" soon. It's the last book from the Millennium Trilogy, a brilliant read.

That's all. Err... ya, I have a boring lifestyle, else why do you think I seldom blog about my life?

Home Alone... Again

2011-11-13T15:18:00.002+08:00

Maybe is time for me to get used to being alone (once again). No, not having any problem with YM, he is just away for work :)

Damn, independence is totally overrated!

Shall survive my one week. Thank god I have friends *phew*

Sawasdeeka: Off to the Beach!

2011-11-08T10:30:00.001+08:00

Warning: Obscene photos found in this post. Hahaha.

Intending to make our little getaway more interesting than just shopping in the city, we've decided to slot in a full day at Pattaya- an east coast beach town 165km away from Bangkok.

To fully utilize our day, we woke up relatively early and hopped onto a cab to the Victoria Monument BTS station and bought our van transfer by Pattaya Van. The ticket cost 97baht one way per person and there's a van every 15 minutes from as early as 6.30am.

We boarded the 7.30am van. It was a comfortable ride, but we noticed that we were sharing the van with all locals. No tourists at all, guess this is a more popular transportation for the Thais. The traffic was quite smooth at that hour and I dozed off not long after the journey begun.

Soon, at 9 something we reached Pattaya. We were dropped off somewhere near the famous Walking Street and we took a song-tiao (pick-up truck) straight to Nantra de Boutique.

We rented a motorbike (arranged by the hotel's receptionist) for 300 baht a day. Highly recommended renting a bike if you are to stay in Pattaya for at least a day. It's cheap and convenient.

Whee~~~ Vroom~~~ It was quite exciting for me because this is the first time YM took me on a bike hehehe.

Our room wasn't ready yet, so we left our luggage at the reception desk and set off for our Pattaya adventure. First stop, Bali Hai Pier!

Our destination for that morning was Koh Larn, a smaller island about 7km off the coast. We've heard that the island's beaches are far better than Pattaya city's, less polluted and quieter.

There are a few ways to go to the island, day trip and chartered speedboat were out of our considerations, too expensive since we only wanted to spend half a day there.

Instead, we bought our ferry transfer tickets (to and fro, 150 baht per person) from the counter at the pier. There's another cheaper way (30 baht per trip each) by the local boats, but they only stop at the Na Ban Village pier.

There are several beaches at Koh Larn and the ferry we took stopped at the famous three - Tawaen, Samae and Tien. Tawaen, being the most developed, is also the most visited one. Most of the big tour groups stop there and the beach is usually busy and crowded with tourists.

We boarded the 11am ferry, together with many, many other tourists.

The ferry ride was about 40 minutes, and it was quite fun.

There's nothing much to do along the ride, so we just sat back and relaxed. Many ang mohs chose to sunbath on the front deck (damn, many chio ones in bikini!) but Asians like us, prefer to stay in the shade hehe.

When the ferry reached the beaches, it couldn't go too near because the water is too shallow. Instead, we would have to hop off onto small boats that transferred us to the beach.

The beach we stopped at was Tien Beach. Unlike Tawaen, this is a smaller beach not accessible by road. It was a little more secluded, quieter too. No big group tours stop here, making it less hectic to my delight.

We paid 100 bahts for the rental of two beach chairs under the shade and another 50 baht for a towel (genius, we forgot to bring our own!).

Facing us, was the comforting ocean :)

To be frank, it wasn't one of the nicer seawater I've seen. I'm not sure was it because of the gloomy weather, the sea looked a little dull in a greyish tone of green. However, the water was really clean and clear.

We dumped our things on the beach chairs, changed into our new swimming attires of waded into the water. The water was warm from the sun, and it was actually quite nice to take a dip at the cordoned off area.

*Ahem*

This is one of my favorite photo in the sea, one of the rare ones that I don't look disgustingly fat in.

We had a great time fooling in the sea. Look at how happy YM was! Hahaha.

Tien Beach is only a very small stretch of beach, but I liked it there. It was far away from all the noise and large crowds, and we got to enjoy an afternoon of peace. The beach was surrounded with green hills and the scenery was calming.

We put aside the camera and splashed in the water, letting waves washed over our bodies and feeling the sands beneath our feet. It was a pleasant day by the beach.

We played in the water until we felt hungry and went up to the beach to rest on our chairs. YM ordered lunch from the restaurant by the beach and food was sent straight to our beach chairs! Nice!

We had seafood fried rice and pineapple fried rice, and shared a large cup of freshly blended pineapple juice. The pineapple juice was extremely rejuvenating, quenching our thirsts immediately.

I'm loving it. Still wet from the sea, in our swimsuits, eating our delicious lunch while enjoying the sea breeze and ocean view :)

The food was great, I like the seafood fried rice with generous serving of prawns and mussels.

There's a bridge linking Tien Beach to Samae Beach but we were too tired to walk. After eating, we rested on the chairs and fell asleep to the soothing sounds of waves. Ya, we were both tired after two days of non-stop activities in Bangkok.

We actually spent our whole afternoon snoozing by the beach!

Here's another photo that I like, took while we waited for our lunch to be served :P

The return ferry comes three times a day, 3pm, 4pm and 6pm. At 3pm, we woke up, packed our stuff and hopped on to the small boats and got back on the ferry. Guess what? We forgot to pay for our lunches!!! Sorry :( We didn't do it on purpose.

Bye-bye Koh Larn, thank you for the great afternoon.

We returned to Pattaya city, a tone darker, a little more energized, definitely much happier :)

ps: The flood situation in Bangkok hasn't improved much. It aches me everytime I see the condition of the city. Let's all pray hard for the weather to turn better, the water to subside as fast as possible, and the people to be safe.

Sawasdeeka: Top of The World

2011-11-03T11:30:00.000+08:00

Sirocco Rooftop Sky Bar in Bangkok, I've heard so much about this fancy drinking place even before planning for our trip. Of course I wouldn't miss out this "standing on top of the World" experience :)

This special bar is located high up on the 64th floor of the State Tower, together with the luxurious open-air restaurant Sirocco. Well, we couldn't afford to splurge on an expensive meal in Sirocco, but still, a drink at the trendy bar is a must.

Oh, and a friendly reminder: they have dress code- so put aside your shorts and flip-flops!

We arrived at the State Tower by taxi and was welcomed into the beautiful lobby. The chandelier reminds me of Beauty and the Beast hahahaha.

There were ushers in uniforms waiting at the lobby and lift area. They greeted us politely and ushered us into the lift. Off we went straight up to the 64th floor of the building.

Once stepping out from the lift, we informed the waitress that we were there for a drink, and immediately we were led out to the open-air.

The view that welcomed us was jaw-dropping-ly awesome! We came out from the golden dome, and walked down the stairs straight to the dining area.

No photos are allowed at the stairs area, probably due to respect to their customers. But once you reached the Sky Bar, you are free to snap as many as you like. We sneaked a picture of the Sirocco restaurant. Real swanky place!

We were attended by a different waiter who brought along a drink menu. We quickly picked two drinks, too distracted by the surrounding views to concentrate on what to order :P

Mine was a mocktail, with coconut, pineapple and who knows what else and YM ordered a signature cocktail recommended by the waiter. The waiter disappeared for a while, and came back with our drinks.

The Sky Bar is actually a very small platform across the restaurant, overlooking the illuminating Bangkok City. They have a funky color-changing round bar in the middle, with bartenders preparing drinks behind.

The place really spells "glamorous". However, I felt that it was a little overcrowded.

We stood there, admiring the gorgeous views of Bangkok city from high up there. Lights shining and shimmering down there, everything looks unbelievably beautiful. It was really a very, very charming view.

This is definitely not a place for those with acrophobia. It's very windy up there so it's hard for me to take a decent photo. But I seriously love the magnificent scenery.

It's really difficult to describe the feeling of standing up there, but here are a few photos captured from the top to share with you.

Isn't this simply amazing? To see the dazzling city, the other buildings, the busy streets, zooming cars, everything so tiny and so small, so insignificant. And suddenly everything else melted away, all I could focused on was the twinkling lights over a dark sky.

I guess you would have to step foot here to really feel it. The feeling of being high high up there, it was really extraordinary.

It was a magical moment for us, just standing there, sipping our drinks, enjoying the cool breeze, listening to the nice live performance and looking at the fabulous scenery beneath us.

This is a place not to drink, but to enjoy the special atmosphere it managed to create- a mix of something chic, elegant, sultry, posh and classy.

Happy first ROM anniversary, my dear YM. To many more years of arguments (can't avoid that!), laughters, tears, happiness and most important love :) May we still enjoy each other's company as much despite all our differences.

Whether or not the experience is worth you paying an average of RM50 per drink, it's totally subjective. But the view is undeniably beautiful.

Sawasdeeka: The Thai Afternoon Tea

2011-10-31T11:46:00.000+08:00

We almost canceled the idea of having Traditional Thai Afternoon Tea at Erawan Tearoom to give way for more shopping but last minute, we decided to go with the initial plan. It was already past 5 when we scurried from Platinum Mall to Erawan Bangkok.

Erawan Tearoom is located at Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok, it's easy to find. If you know where the famous Erawan shrine is, the mall is right behind it. Accessible from the Skywalk linking all the major malls in Siam area.

The Erawan Tearoom is at the 2nd floor of the building, if you come through the Skywalk, go straight in and you shall see it.

We did not make any reservation, luckily we arrived at an "in between" time (too late for tea, too early for dinner) so we managed to get a place. I heard that the booking can be quite full at times, so reservation is highly recommended.

And of course we ordered their specialty "Traditional Thai Afternoon Tea Set" (THB260 nett per person).

While waiting to be served, YM took some photos of the restaurant. It has a very posh interior, with teak wood floor and heavy furniture. The room has just the right amount of lighting to feel bright yet comfortable.

The interior adapted a minimalist approach, keeping things simple, clean yet classy. The choice of antique-feel furniture gave the place a touch of Thai culture *thumbs up*.

There are also some comfortable sofas in the restaurant, in bright cheerful colors (orange and red) that spice up the mood, injecting a surge of young spirits into the overall feel.

Other than their afternoon tea, the restaurant also serves main meals and ala carte desserts.

And of course, they sell their tea leaves.

A sample of different types of tea displayed near the entrance.

The environment is very soothing and comfortable, it felt really good to finally sit down and rest our tired feet, while enjoying a nice afternoon tea. Good place to doze off too zzz.

The service was prompt and proper, their waiters and waitresses were all courteous but somehow felt a little distant. They don't have the usual Thai friendliness in them.

I love their plates in the shape and shade of a leaf, so pretty!

The afternoon tea set comes with a drink each (picked from menu). I chose the lychee ice tea and YM went for the traditional Thai tea. Our teas came in huge glasses and syrups were served separately so you can control your own drink's sweetness.

Here comes the food! A plate of savory delicacies and a plate of sweet desserts... Yay!

The savory delicacies: Grilled marinated pig skewers, steamed flower-shaped dumplings with crab meat fillings, Thai salad in crispy baskets, chicken curry puffs, deep fried chicken with chili and mint leaves and crispy rice biscuits.

I remembered the satay (grilled marinated pig skewers) was extremely good.

The sweet desserts: Fresh fruit skewers, sweet bean paste in mini fruit shapes, crispy sesame roll, sweet potato kuih, young coconut puff, crispy rice pudding with corn and spring onions and scones.

Served separately was my favorite Thai dessert, Mango with sticky rice. But hell, the portion was pathetic!

There were clotted cream and ChiangMai strawberry jam for the scones and Thai chili sauce and peanut sauce for the savories.

The food presentation was excellent! Everything looked so beautiful on the plates!

I couldn't help but appear very excited when I see the colorful desserts spread out in front of me. Couldn't wipe away the greedy expression *epic fail*.

Verdict for this meal? Overall everything was ok, with a few pleasant surprises in between that made us go "wow, not bad!". The portion was adequate for afternoon tea, not too much but enough to satisfy the appetite.

Oh oh, and I must show you this "fake" cherry! Omg, looks so real that YM kept arguing that it's a cherry. No it's not! It's a sweet bean paste kuih, like our "ang ku" (red tortoise? hehe), but much cuter. Kekeke.

Sawasdeeka: I ♥ Chatuchak

2011-10-25T10:15:00.002+08:00

I've heard so much about the gigantic Chatuchak Weekend Market (locally known as JJ Market) and there are quite extreme reviews about this place. Some people love them but some complained that this place is horrible because of its crowd and heat.

Whatever it is, I certainly must see it! Imagine 27 acres of land, 27 sections, 15,000 stalls. Like... seriously?

We woke up early and took the BTS to Mo Chit station.

Once alighting the train, just follow the crowd and from the station I could already see taxis making a bee line under the pedestrian bridge. Yes, Chatuchak is just nearby!

That's me (see red arrow) battling the morning crowd towards the market.

Gosh, I hate crowd! I think partially is because my previous job always need me to be at crowded places, that's why I have an unexplainable hatred towards crowd. I felt slightly suffocated. That explains my expression LOL.

We walked through the Chatuchak Park, a so-called "shortcut" to the market.

The park is big and actually quite beautiful. When we came out of the market around 2pm, there were many people resting at the park (don't know how they could stand the heat!).

The Chatuchak Market was divided into many sections and different section sells different things. I've read that Chatuchak sells everything you can, or can't, imagine hahaha. I couldn't testify that because I only walked a very small part of the market.

My aim was to shop for clothing, shoes, bags and accessories, all those girly stuff. I've done some survey before going, and knew that Section 2 and 3 is probably the best place to shop. There are many local designers, and though the price might be slightly higher, they offer better quality and more unique designs.

I concentrated only at this two sections and indeed, I found many nice clothes. There are also a lot of interesting accessories and nice handmade stuff.

It was quite early that time, so the crowd was actually still manageable (to my standards). I had so much fun browsing the stalls, digging good bargains and negotiating prices along the way. What was YM doing? Snapping random photos hahaha.

Nearby Section 2 and 3, there were also a lot of food stalls selling all sorts of food :)

While I was busy shopping, YM spotted hawkers selling Miang Kham (a type of Thai salad) but all wrapped up, in bite sizes too! Noms! Nice, but why no chili inside?

Something you must not miss out in Chatuchak is their very famous Coconut ice-cream. It's not hard to spot the stall because it is near the entrance of Section 2, and you will see many people surrounding it.

It is super duper delicious. Highly recommended!

The refreshingly fragrant ice-cream, served on a half coconut shell with sweet, crunchy young coconut flesh. You can choose two toppings and we picked nata de coco and sweetened palm seeds. Yumz~~~

And while waiting to be served, the seller will generously give out cups and cups of fresh coconut juice. The best drink to cool down our bodies on a boiling day.

I continued shopping for a while but the heat was getting more and more unbearable. I could feel sweat trickling down my back, and waves of hot air attacking me when I maneuvered along the tiny alleys lined up with stores.

It was almost lunch time so we picked a food stall and sat down for some food.

We sat down and quickly made our orders. Err, I decided to post a photo of YM else it would feel like I was there alone. Hahaha, my pity camera man.

I ordered beef noodle soup, it tasted really really good. Slurp slurp. The beef was cut into thin slices, sweet and tender. The broth was thick and flavorful, and with some chili flakes, the taste was really awesome! Wooo... I want more!

The Pad Thai comes in a more generous portion. Chewy, translucent vermicelli fried with crunchy bean sprouts. Stirred together with the crushed peanuts and squeezed some lime juice for a tangy taste. It's another plate of happiness :)

I finished eating first so YM sent me to get him ice-coffee from a stall beside. I suggested another hawker but he insisted me to get it from this.

Reluctantly I went, there were 3 other customers waiting when I made the order. And guess what? I waited for more than 15 minutes, and it wasn't even my turn yet!!! The longest wait for a cup of coffee! The auntie who manned the stall worked really slow motion. She measured and checked many times all the ingredients before finally stirring them. It took her about 10 minutes to make a cup *faint*

After lunch, we went for another quick round of shopping and decided to leave before we faint (hot hot hot!). No chance to see the furniture and pet sections, and I was already tired and unwilling to search.

We left around 2pm, with my giant black bag filled with happy purchases ♥ hehehe.

Oh, an irrelevant photo. We saw this colorful fruit juice stall at one of the BTS station, the colors so nice. The seller put a sign saying "10 minutes break" and left the stall unattended. If it's in Malaysia, I am not sure how many bottles of drinks would be left after his break. Hahaha.

Documenting our Honeymoon

2011-10-22T13:36:00.003+08:00

I've always been thinking of printing a photobook to document my travels so when Hun told me about the Pixajoy deal on I♥Discount, I decided to give it a shot.

(This is a screenshot I did today, the deal I bought back then was a 20 pages one costing RM58)

The bad thing about buying online "deals" is that they always come with an expiry date. I almost forgot about the deal until I saw the email in my inbox *panic*. So I decided to get down to work immediately.

As usual, you need to download their editing software. After fiddling a while with the editing tools, I nearly cursed! Damn it! It was one of the most user-unfriendly tool, and everything is so limited. And their templates suck, big time!!! Geramnya~~~

I have no time to slowly figure out how to use it so I resorted to something I am more familiar with- Photoscape!!!

Freaking tedious work :'(

Photoscape is simple. But I still need to choose the photos among thousands, adjust the colors and brightness, pick the layout and try to fit in the photos. Luckily only 20 pages to worry about *phew~*

And once done, I just have to upload onto the Pixajoy's editor and make sure everything was ok.

Then upload the complete album layout to Pixajoy and sent my orders. Tadah, done~

I placed my order on Monday and was informed that it would take 6 days to reach me. True enough, on Sunday, I received a mail and later that afternoon, my package from Skynet arrived! Yay~

The box with the cute Pixajoy sticker :)

Carefully packed with bubble wrap.

My first photobook!

Yup, it's about my Honeymoon. I've chosen a kissing shadow photo for the cover. To be honest I was hit with a pang of disappointment because the cover wasn't as nicely done as I expect it to be.

Inside the front and back cover, there's a protective layer.

Luckily, the inside printing was awesome :)

I chose the matte lamination over gloss, and I really like how the printing turned out. Nice. The color and everything were accurate too.

Here are a few pages that I like in the album:

I've chosen all the photos that I personally like very much, mostly photos that can best depict the sweet memories we had during the meaningful travel.

A photo with my hard work hehehe. A compilation of the special moments ♥

I am considering doing more photobooks now *addicted*, seriously, should do a book for our wedding. Hmm...

Sawasdeeka: The Backpacker's Heaven

2011-10-20T09:05:00.002+08:00

Khaosan Road is made popular by Leonardo Dicaprio in the movie "The Beach". I never watched the movie but the novel- which the movie originated from, is one of my favorite readings to date.

I remembered first reading the book when I was 15 year old. A little too young to really understand the gist of the story but the description of Khaosan Road in the book left a strong impression in my mind.

Finally, after more than 10 years, I stepped foot onto this place in Bangkok- Khaosan Road.

It wasn't exactly what I imagined from reading the novel. A little less mysterious and dangerous, a little more happening and fun-packed.

Touted as the backpacker's heaven, it's not a surprise to see this place swarmed by foreigners. Along the road, there are many shops and stalls selling everything. Price wise, I think it depends a lot of your bargaining skills.

Khaosan Road is actually just a stretch of road with many shoplots, cafes, restaurants and cheap accommodations. I think what makes it so vibrant and attractive is the people gathering here, that comes from every part of World.

There are also many hawkers at Khaosan Road, selling all types of local food and delicacies. I was eager to try their famous Pad Thai, , but our stomachs were still full with the seafood we had earlier.

We spotted so many interesting food there! Look how cute the mini fried quail eggs are!

Mmm... roadside barbecue. I can feel myself drooling when I walked passed the many many barbecue stalls, the nice smell of the food in the air... mmm!

Thailand is blessed with a lot of delicious tropical fruits and you can find all kinds of interesting fresh fruit juices there.

We walked through a small lane with many stalls and ended up in adjoining road (which I don't know the name). The road was filled with many cafes, pubs, clubs and restaurants with great atmosphere.

The road was as busy as Khaosan Road, but is a little more laid-back. Most of the people were relaxing with their own group, enjoying a drink or having a nice meal. I took a peep at the menu and surprise, surprise, the price was very reasonable.

Other than the usual pubs and bars, there are many makeshift hawker-style "bars". It was something unique that I'd never seen elsewhere. I find them fascinating :)

Khaosan Road is really a place with its special charm. If you've never been there, it's worth spending a night to experience the "backpacker's lifestyle" and indulge in some nice street food or have a drink at one of the bars.

There are also many cheap massage shops there. After walking around, it would be quite comforting to sit back and give your tired feet a good rub.

Probably because there are many farangs here, you can find most of the big fast food chains- KFC, McDonald's, Burger King... and some of them are even open 24 hours.

If not mistaken, there's no BTS to get to Khaosan Road but worry not, there are many taxis around Bangkok. It is best to take a meter taxi (starting rate 35 baht), but some drivers will prefer to negotiate a fixed price instead.

Sawasdeeka: One Night in China Town

2011-10-17T09:00:00.001+08:00

P.S: Back to my Bangkok post. Bangkok is currently combating a terrible flood, hope that the disaster will be over immediately and everyone will be safe :(

Some time ago, I read in Eugein's blog about seafood in Bangkok's China Town and already secretly made a mental note to myself to include it in my itinerary.

After checking in to Ecotel on the first evening, we walked to Central World and took a tut-tut to China Town. And I have to say... TUT-TUT IS SCARY!!!

After what I would like to imagine as an "Initial D-experience" on that bike-like vehicle *wiping cold sweat*, we arrived at the China Town. It was congested with a lot of cars and people.

We found Nam Sing Bird Nest once entering the street where the tut-tut driver dropped us.

My dear M Yvonne highly recommended this place in her blog so we decided to drop by to try. Afterall, China Town is famous for its Bird Nest and Shark Fin.

The interior of the restaurants reminds me of those old-fashion, traditional Chinese restaurants and they display a lot of their products- bird nests and shark fins.

Bird nest is actually the saliva of the swifts (sounds gross, I know!) and is said to be very nutritious, especially good for "preserving beauty" (养颜) wakakakaka. Why does it sound extremely comical coming from me?

And since we have zero knowledge about bird nests and was just trying for fun, we ordered two bowls of the cheapest "4th class"- one white, one red.

The two bowls of warm desserts come with some longans, ginkos and red dates.

I was wishfully hoping that by drinking these would help me turn prettier *ignorant* but I guess it takes more than two bowls of low-grade bird nests to salvage my looks :P Hahahaha.

Stupid jokes aside, I do think they tasted quite nice.

There's a slight difference in taste and texture between the white and red bird nests. Personally I prefer the white one but YM insisted that the red one is better (whatever!).

It's time for a proper meal. We were already quite famished. It wasn't difficult to find the famous China Town seafood, in fact it was just around the corner where Nam Sing Bird Nest was located.

The only problem is there's a stall on each side of the road (at the junction) and we couldn't decide which to go to. Both the pink and green stall (distinguished by uniform colors LOL) were packed with diners, I guess both are equally popular.

We ended up "going green" (lame pun) because I think I saw a few other bloggers recommending them. Yes, the green one is T&K Seafood.

We were attended by a worker who asked the number of people and handed me a number, asking me to wait for our turn.

The place was really crowded, but the service was prompt. We did not have to wait too long before being ushered to our seats.

It didn't take long for us to decide. We ordered a crab fried rice, stuffed crab, belacan kangkung, Thai style steamed squid, shark fin soup and of course, my favorite char grilled big prawns. Yums, I can feel my stomach growling as I type.

The food was way better than good. They were really extraordinarily awesome! Ok, that might be a little exaggerating but I couldn't help but praise them. Everything tasted superbly delicious and the prawns, what can I say? It's hellishly yummy!

Why does some of the prawns have this scary, long err... crab claw thingy??? Prawns have that? Maybe they are a "mixed" between lobster and prawn *curious*???

Oh ya, read my t-shirt... "I AM NOT FAT" (delusional!), I purposely wore this to feel less guilty when I stuff food greedily into my mouth :D *genius*

All these goodies washed down with a large bottle of local Thai beer. Lovely!

The bill came up to less than 1000 baht (RM100), very reasonable indeed!

Our only regret was to not order their TomYum soup (thinking that it's only the first night and we would have plenty chances to try authentic TomYum later). Argh, stupidest decision ever! We didn't have any proper TomYum during the whole freaking trip!!!

Anyway, we finished all the food on the table *burp*, feeling so contented and happy!

Our stomachs were so full that we decided to stroll a little.

There are some roadside sellers selling clothes and shoes but nothing really particularly attractive.

But I did find some funny slippers, cute eh? Crabs on leaves LOL.

Tea Party @ Delicious

2011-10-13T15:17:00.000+08:00

I'd been longing to meet my lovely babes- Yvonne, MoMo and ShanShan. Finally last weekend we've made it to an afternoon hi-tea together :)

Thanks dearie VonneVonne (LoL, I know she hated me to call her this wakakakaka~) for helping us get the 50% discount groupon for hi-tea at Delicious, Marc Residence. It was a really beautiful afternoon spent with the girls.

We ordered two sets of hi-tea for 2 and only paid the price of one! Yay, happiness~ *stingy*

The environment of Delicious is very comforting. I love the minimalist approach white theme, with their signature birdcage decorations. The place is perfect for a girly meetup.

To be frank, food wasn't our main focus that afternoon. I would rate them "average" for hi-tea, not too bad but nothing to make me really excited too.

On the bottom tray of the classic three-tier rack was three different flavor sandwiches (2 sets), savory crispy baskets and egg sandwiches.

Personally I always prefer sweet over savory, so obviously the second tier of the hi-tea set appeals to me more.

They have scones (with clotted cream and jam), truffles, spice cookies and fruit fondue.

As for the top tier, we were given a choice of a cake from the counter per set and we picked a chocolate banana cake and bread and butter pudding. The chocolate banana cake was not bad, but the pudding was a little bland.

What does a group of girls do when they get together?

Ok, I mean besides chatting, gossiping and bitching. Yes, camwhoring! Like nonstop camwhoring until our food turns stale hahaha. But if you think we are terrible, wait till you hear about the next table. They literally took photos for HOURS without touching their food. I kid you not!

I super love being with the girls, doing all those girly stuff, making vain talks and laughing over silly jokes. That is a kind of happiness you cannot find elsewhere.

I always insist that no matter you are attached or not, you should never abandon your own girl friends. Because the joy they bring you, it's irreplaceable Trust me! It's fun to ditch your partner once in a while, just to indulge in a girly date with your own dearies.

I laugh everytime I look at the photos, remembering how we boycott poor MoMo just because she is too petite and fair (jealous, cannot?), refused to take the place nearest to the lens (to avoid looking fat), shared tricks to look taller/slimmer in photos, cursed and bitched, gossiped and shared everything (insider stories, don't ask!).

Thank you babes, for filling my weekend with so much fun and laughter *big hug* Muacks muacks muacks!

Sawasdeeka: Retail Therapy

2011-10-10T09:13:00.000+08:00

Bangkok is really a shopping heaven! Now I finally understand why most of my girl friends are so addicted to this city and must make it an annual pilgrimage. It's really awesome pawsome!!!

My personal favorite shopping place is Chatuchak Weekend Market. Seriously, even given the unbearable heat and crazy weekend crowd, I still would want to go back (and gosh, hell knows I hate crowded places).

But I shall dedicate an individual post for that place.

In Bangkok, there are many of big, luxury malls like Siam Paragon and Gaysorn where you can find almost all the designers brands from Hermes, LV, Gucci, whatever you can name of. Since I cannot afford anything, I didn't bother going.

And there are also malls like Central World with popular international brands such as Zara, Forever 21 and so on. Personally I like this mall a lot!

One thing about malls here, they are really very nicely decorated especially if I am comparing them with malls in Penang.

Central World is clean and comfortable, with bright lighting and everything is so neat and classy. And they offer a lot of Thai designer brands other than well known International brands. The mall is so huge and given its size, you would never feel claustrophobic inside.

Even if you are not up for shopping, the mall is a great place to just walk around to avoid the outside heat, and sit down for a cuppa because they also have many nice cafes and dessert place at reasonable prices.

I wasn't up for mall-shopping (here to look for bargains) yet I still find it fun to roam around Central World.

MBK is probably the only mall that really attracted YM because there's a shop selling car accessories inside. And they also have many electrical gadgets and camera shops. My husband is a geek (FML).

I *heart* MBK... NOT! I never really like this mall but I had to accompany YM since he has been such a darling, patiently standing by the side while I shopped.

Siam Center is a mall with mostly Thai designer brands (or I think so). They have some really unique designs but the prices are not cheap. I only walked past this place. Oh and they do have really creative decorations.

Loft is a Japanese brand if not mistaken inside one of the malls (I got confused so I don't know which), selling all sorts of interesting stationery and toys that are really cute but also ridiculously pricey. Hahaha.

And of course there are places for cheap bargains like the Pratunam Market. Really dirt cheap I would say. Imagine denim shorts/ skirts at 70 baht, dresses around 100 baths. But the designs and quality was... how shall I put it? Err... equally low as it prices. Hahaha.

This place did not attract me at all.

Platinum Fashion Mall was highly recommended to me by a few girl friends. Personally I felt that the new building was quite a good place to shop in. They have some nice little boutiques and prices are cheap. Most importantly is the mall offers the comfort of air-condition, which is like the greatest thing in the super hot city.

But the older building (I think they have three "zones") did not appeal to me at all. It's a bit difficult to explain why but I guess I just don't like it.

And of course the many, many night market stalls in Bangkok. I went to the one at Siam Square (which is another shopping place filled with small boutiques, slightly more expensive but some are affordable). It was actually quite fun to browse the stalls, some of them sell really nice things too.

Shopping in Bangkok will need you to put your bargain skills to test. It was actually quite a fun experience because most of the Thai people are friendly and smiley. And, the more u buy, the better discount you will get.

For those who urged me to show my haul, here they are (these are only things for myself):

Cheap clothes: 12 tops, 3 dresses (gave away 1), 1 cardigan, 3 shorts, 1 skirt. Not that many, right? I think the most expensive thing in this pile is my denim shorts at RM38. LoL.

I was wishing to buy a few more bags and was actually looking for drawstrings for Hun and myself but I couldn't find any nice ones :( Ended up buying a blue bag just because I like the vintage buckle.

And of course, shoes! Stop asking me why I need so many shoes, it's an addiction and I don't want a cure.

I got myself 4 pairs of flats from Bangkok. Totally irresistible not only because they are lovely and cheap, they are like super duper comfy max until I want to cry! I don't understand how come these below RM30 shoes are way more comfortable than the flats I paid RM80+ or more in Malaysia!!! No blisters or cuts even wearing them for the first time!!!

Would've bought more if not because I ran low on bahts (and insisted not to overspend by NOT bringing any RM there)!

I was also hoping to get some nice and cheap accessories there too but I couldn't find many. Ended up only buying 2. I really like both of them a lot, so cute!

I've planned to buy a medium size luggage there since I spoiled my huge luggage during our honeymoon. I fancy polka dots a lot and actually spotted this but in a nice orangy red color. Too bad they don't have that in the size I wanted.

Ended up purchasing this really bimbotic pink polka dots one because YM and the seller kept convincing me that it's cute. I know it is really not me, because I've always detested pink. Until today, it beats me why I dragged this home. Maybe there's a bimbotic self in my real personalities (eww~).

And my proudest purchase was a luggage filled with Pocky (banana choco and lychee flavors mainly)!!! Really love love love max especially the lychee flavor.

And of course I bought something for our mums (his and mine) and other family members. And poofffttt~ all my hard earned money... GONE!

But it was really a great shopping spree!!! Walked until both my feet were super tired (worse than after a 10km run!) but totally worth it. Hopefully I can make another trip there again once I recover financially hahahaha.

Sawasdeeka: Street Food Affairs!

2011-10-06T09:16:00.000+08:00

In Bangkok, street food and hawker fares is the KING! Why? Because when you are so absorbed in your shopping, all you wanted is grab something fast and convenient so not to waste your precious time.

You can never be starved in Bangkok, food is aplenty and everywhere. Most important, relatively tasty and inexpensive.

Pratunam Fish Ball King

We noticed this stall outside Ecotel (the place we stayed for the first two days in Bangkok) swarmed with diners almost every evening and we already planned to find a time to try out this place.

So on the second night, we went there for late dinner.

We got to choose the type of noodles we wanted. I went for "hor fun" while YM picked beehoon. The noodle soup came with fish balls some crispy things that tasted like wanton skins. Yum yum!

I noticed that all the hawker stalls will prepare these condiments for diners- mainly consist of sugar (I know, wtf right?), chili flakes (a must!), fish sauce (Thai specialty) and marinated chilies.

The noodle soup is actually like our "kuey teow t'ng" but I have to say, it's really one of the best clear soup noodle that I've tried! Really, really yummy!!!

And the fish balls are very bouncy and tasty while the hor fun is very smooth. Of course I added chili flakes, the chili gave a special kick to the soup, me love!!! Totally satisfied with this steamy bowl of noodle.

Food Park, Central Festival (Pattaya)

We went to Central Festival Mall to eat dinner. I was craving for some authentic Thai food and after much consideration, we decided to go for the food court at the basement.

Food Park offers quite a lot of choices and I picked Tom Yum Kung. It didn't really tasted like tomyum to me. Maybe because the food here are meant for foreign tourists, it wasn't really spicy... or sour. But luckily it doesn't taste bad, just not like tomyum *confused*.

I made YM order pork leg rice (wakakaka) because I wanted to try. I love this a lot, the meat was tender and not too oily but YM complained that they didn't have the type of chili sauce he liked. Overall, I still think it is good.

Oh ya, almost all the food courts here has a "prepaid card" system where you have to put a certain amount into a card at the counter and "swipe" the card at the stall while purchasing. The remaining amounts will be refunded when you return the card after dining.

Food Hall Food Court, Siam Paragon

Our initial plan was to go to the famous Thai restaurant Somtam Nua in Siam Square but unfortunately they were closed on that day (darn!). I was utterly disappointed, since the mood is already spoiled, we decided to simply eat at the food court of the nearby mall.

Green curry is my favorite! But maybe I'd waited too long before I ate, it was cold :'( The taste was good though, if the curry was a little thicker (and warmer) it would be perfect. But ok, still edible.

The Pad Thai here was good too, and the portion was generous.

I was craving for fried chicken (because I was expecting to try the famous deep fried chicken wings in Somtam Nua) so I ordered a set. It was very flavorful and crispy! Like it like it! Yummy!

Pratunam Night Market

There's a night market right below our hotel Budacco with hawkers selling all sorts of things and food. We've seen a lot of roadside hawkers selling some big, blackened grilled fish everywhere and out of curiosity, we bought one from the stall below for dinner on the last night in Bangkok.

It was a pleasant surprise to find the flesh buried under the blackened skin juicy and fresh, soft and mildly flavored with pandan (stuffed inside the fish). It was such a refreshing taste and of course, the specially made chili sauce with lime added taste to it!

The fish tasted so well that we couldn't help but rushed down to buy another one. This time we tried a different stall and the fish was almost as good, but slightly different in taste because the seller stuffed in some extra spices.

We also bought some chicken wings (not bad too but the one from the mall's food court was better) and a fresh coconut each. The food was great, but because the place was crowded with tourists, everything was also slightly more pricey than other hawker fares further in town.

Now... I can feel my stomach growling :'( Craving for some nice Thai food!

Sawasdeeka: Daily Dose of Sugar

2011-10-03T09:27:00.001+08:00

This Sawasdeeka trip was mainly to unwind and priority was given to shopping and eating. I've set aside my diet plan for the five days, allowing myself the luxury of gastronomy fulfillment.

I had compiled a few of those random sweet (literally) moments into this post. I just realized that we had dessert at least once a day in Thailand :)

Day 1- Gelate

On the first evening in Bangkok we went for a brief visit to the biggest mall in Thailand- Central World Plaza. I wasn't aiming to shop there but just to have a look at the gigantic mall.

Ended up stopping for dessert even before dinner (faint)!

Had a tough time making up my mind what flavor to choose.

You can't blame me when there's so many attractive choices right?

All look equally delicious, how to choose?

I was attracted to Gelate mainly because they have this very nice "princess" feel store. But surprisingly, given the location and the nice set up, their price is very, very affordable!

And which girl can resist the word "low fat" especially when it combines with the tempting word "ice-cream"? Indulging without guilt, how nice!

Love the white shop (I realized I have a soft spot for white decorations) and did you see the color of the seat cushions? It's in this really beautiful baby blue (omg, fainting in love).

Oh, my choice of flavor? My personal fav Choco Mint and Mango Peach. The Choco Mint was very common, but the Mango Peach flavor was surprisingly good. And I love their ice-cream because it's creamy and thick.

Even YM loves them loads.

Day 2- Bangkok Crispy Biscuits

On the second night after our drinking session at the Sky Bar, we went to MBK and of course I wouldn't miss my favorite Thai snack!

I had been missing the Bangkok crispy biscuits since I tried them in December last year. But, I'm not sure whether my taste changed or their recipe changed... this time I found them a little too sweet :(

Day 3- Swensen's

Swensen's like a "must eat" in Thailand, because it is much cheaper compared to Malaysia. The evening in Pattaya we roamed around after dinner and finally settled for Swensen's.

The nice interior of the ice-cream parlor. There were not many people here, well, most were out there partying in the bars and clubs hahaha.

We ordered a two-scoop sundae in waffle to share. Guess what? This cost only 99 bahts (RM9.90) and without any tax or service charges!!! Luckily Swensen's not that cheap in Malaysia, else I would die a fat fat ghost. Hahaha.

Savoring the moment :)

Day 4- Mango Tango

I read a lot reviews about a special dessert chain in Bangkok called Mango Tango, specializing in mango desserts. Mango is my favorite fruit of all time, of course I would not miss this opportunity.

When we got back to Bangkok, we went to Siam Square to find a restaurant. Too bad it was closed that day but as a consolation, we found Mango Tango at the corner of the road. So I decided that dessert should come before a meal hehehe.

"A mango a day keeps the doctor away"!

The creative decorations of the tiny outlet. It was packed with customers but we were lucky not having to wait too long before we were ushered in.

The signature dish "Mango Tango"- A half mango, a mango pudding and a mango ice-cream.

The presentation of the food was perfect, really beautiful but I have to say, the one we ordered was just so-so. The mango ice-cream wasn't creamy enough. But the pudding was quite good. Should've tried a few other famous orders such as the mango sago ice.

Ah well, next time then! But it's still worth trying. They also have a branch in Chatuchak apparently.

Day 5- Black Canyon Coffee

On the last day, we checked in at the airport and had a few hours to spend before boarding. We had a quick lunch at Black Canyon Coffee because YM was craving for their coffee.

I saw them selling gelato and I couldn't help but order a scoop of mango ice-cream here. Much nicer than the one from Mango Tango, in my opinion.

Happy me enjoying my cold dessert while YM had his caffeine fix (addict!) hehehe. A sweet end for our vacation.

I actually have more desserts than these during the trip but I shall leave them to other coming posts. That's all for now :)

Sawasdeeka: The Accommodation

2011-09-30T10:32:00.003+08:00

Hiya, I am back from a short hiatus. And yup, I went for a short vacation "again". This time it is a small holiday to Bangkok with YM, to celebrate our first ROM anniversary (obviously that is just an excuse for another trip).

I was a little wary about the weather because it has been raining heavily almost daily there. As our flight descended into Bangkok, I saw the most incredible view. Sun rays breaking through the thick clouds, shining at the city like some angel rays or something. I don't care, I am taking this as an omen that we would be blessed with great weather (super optimistic)!

Anyway, indeed, we were blessed with great weather. Some drizzles on days we were out shopping, but nothing intolerable. In fact, the cloudy weather took away some heat from the hot city, which was excellent.

Oh, this is not what I intend to blog today. I am gonna start my Sawasdeeka travelogue with the accommodations first.

The Ecotel Bangkok

For the first two nights in Bangkok, I booked the Ecotel Bangkok in Pratunam from AirAsia Go. The hotel was fine, except that it was located in a darker alley and not many taxi drivers are aware of it.

They actually have great customer service. The staff speak good English and are always helpful with directions to places.

And I have to say it probably has the best looking lobby among budget hotels at the rate of approximately RM100 per night.

Ecotel Bangkok has a fan page on Facebook and you can expect prompt reply on everything there, including confirming reservations etc. Really useful. Our room was at the 5th floor and somehow the photo of the corridor looks scary in this photo that YM took. It wasn't that spooky in real life.

As for the room, basic but clean. No complaints about that. Our room didn't come with breakfast but we were ok about that since food is abundant everywhere in Bangkok.

The bathroom was clean too but the water pressure from the shower was a little too small to me. Yet, I don't think is the hotel's problem cos all three hotels I stayed in had the same issue.

Nantra de Boutique

On the third day, we traveled down to Pattaya and stayed in a boutique hotel along Beach Road. It was on a small lane off Beach Road actually, but only a stone's throw away from the beach.

The hotel doesn't have a lobby like most. Instead, it has three wooden huts, one with a reception desk, one with two computers (with free internet services) and another a "lobby". I find it really interesting.

That's the living room style "lobby" :) I like the Thai's creativity.

The hotel has a tiny pool too!

Our room is a spacious studio with a kitchen area. I like this room a lot. The only problem was a saw a frog on the second floor in the evening and it haunted me the whole time, thinking that a frog might spring out of nowhere anytime. Gosh, me hate frogs!

The room came with breakfast and we chose to dine by the pool since the weather was quite beautiful the morning after a storm the night before.

Choices on the buffet table was minimal but I do love their pork curry, rich in coconut milk. So fragrant and so perfect to go with steam rice.

They also served us a plate of Western breakfast each with eggs (done the way you request), sausage and bacon.

Budacco

On the last night in Bangkok, we opted for a different accommodation. I came across Budacco while researching for Bangkok accommodation online. The vibrant color of this building totally attracted me. And since the review is good, we decided to give it a try.

The hotel did not fail us. A very modern building with interesting interior decorations.

A minimalist approach with a touch of fancy colors make it a very comfortable place to stay in.

The hotel was tucked away in one of the smaller pedestrian alley right behind the bustling Pratunam Market. It is a short walk away from the Platinum Mall and there's a night market right in front of it every night.

The rooms are renovated using different theme colors and I requested for a blue room while booking. Room 33, on the 3rd floor :)

Our beautiful blue room. Love how they paired pastel colors up with white, making the place so clean and contemporary! They even folded the towels into elephants! Love love love MAX!

Love the white wooden bench with soft, comfy blue cushions. I could just laze there reading a book or watching the tv.

The room is smaller than the previous two hotels, with a tiny bathroom. But I love it the most, nonetheless. Probably the color, makes it so comfortable.

Breakfast was included, at the restaurant right beside the lobby.

The environment is really nice, the place look really beautiful.

The simple buffet spread.

Somehow the toast on the right photo tasted really good with melted butter and a thin spread of strawberry jam.

Overall, we are very satisfy with all the hotels we stayed during this trip. They are all budget accommodations costing us not more than RM150 per night yet with impeccable services and considerably good rooms.

Winter Down Under ...✈ Sunny Perth Part 2 (FINAL!!!)

2011-09-20T09:21:00.000+08:00

Here's the last post about the Perth trip, and I just realized while choosing the photos, I have nothing much left to talk about in this post.

After visiting the zoo, we came back to the city centre and dedicated our whole afternoon to shopping. But first, we need to feed our hungry tummies. Hungry Jack's!!! Yums!

Hungry Jack's quite popular among Asian students, well at least during our time. We missed this fast food chain so much! Thanks Gigi for buying me lunch *wink*

We picked the Jack's Pack for 2. Mine was their famous Whopper and Gigi chose the Grilled Chicken. The set came with drinks, fries and onion rings as well as desserts! Whee~~~ Happy can die!

One thing awesome bout Hungry Jack's is that the burgers look exactly like the one in their menu, fluffy buns, thick patties, generous condiments... unlike our McD here, the real thing always look so pathetic.

We didn't take any photos after that. We walloped up the food hungrily and then started our shopping spree.

All I could say was... it was a great let down. I was expecting to splurge a little at Supre at least, but even there I couldn't find anything at all! Gigi bought a few stuff from Billabong, but nothing exciting too. We were so unsatisfied :(

Ended up getting some nougat and macadamia nuts from Woolsworth as souvenirs. Sad case! Good news for our purses though!

We then rushed off to catch the CAT shuttle as we planned to reach King's Park before the sun set. The bus dropped us off at some residential area and we were given a direction to walk to. It was very quiet in the evening and the walk was pretty long.

But finally, we managed to find our way to the park before it got dark.

King's Park is big but we didn't have a chance to really see it because the sky dimmed real quick and the whole park was pitch dark.

Why are we rushing to a dark park? Well, of course was to have the best bird's eye view of the beautiful Perth City. King's Park is famous for this.

I have to admit that, although it was a tiring walk from the free shuttle stop (you can actually catch a bus to the park), the view was quite worth it. We were there to witness the city lighting up. Awesome!

This was taken at dusk, while the sun was setting. Love the sky's color so much. The city was all lighted up already.

The sky changed color every few minutes and we snapped away happily. With the help of my flimsy tripod, I'd managed to get quite some interesting photos.

Perth, at night.

This was also the first time in life I witnessed a "moon rise". There was this really huge golden globe that appeared from the water. It was so huge and bright that it looked almost unreal!

It was a magical moment for us, watching the globe rose from the water, slowly, while shinning it's golden ray like a glowing ball. It was so bright and its reflection on the water created a shimmering carpet of twinkling water.

We sat there admiring the beautiful scenery until the weather turned chilly. We packed our stuff and made our way back to the city. This time we hopped onto a bus, but surprise surprise, it was free too (ok, we don't know why)!

Time for dinner!

Gigi and I spotted a Japanese restaurant by the corner of one of the roads near the main bus station, always packed with diners. From experience, a restaurant will only be always crowded either because it is really good or really cheap. Either reason is good enough to attract us.

So, dinner at Taka!

We had Thai food, followed by Korean food, and now... Japanese nyahahaha~

Since I don't have much left to share on this post, I am going to post all the food photos hahaha. Just to fill up the space so the last post won't appear too short.

We ordered a Teriyaki Grilled Fish set.

And a chicken katsu set.

Each set comes with a bowl of plain rice.

And Miso soup.

We shared our food as usual. The food portion here was big. Not bad not bad. The fried chicken tasted good except that it's a little too hard. Slightly crispier would be better.

I love love love the grilled fish. The teriyaki sauce was very salty but if you eat with the plain rice, it was ok. The fish was soft and sweet, me likey!

We had a great night savoring our last dinner in Perth before we walked back to the backpackers.

Our initial plan was to go clubbing after we showered but the both of us were already too exhausted so we decided to call it a night and just rest and chat in our room since we had an early flight to catch the next day.

That's all of our small Perth trip. It was one of the "ah well, we did nothing" trip but both of us did earn some great memories together :) Can't wait to travel again with my dear Gigi *wink wink wink*

Winter Down Under ...✈ Sunny Perth Part 1

2011-09-15T13:22:00.000+08:00

It was our last day in Perth. After the wet previous day, we woke up to find... HURRAY! Blue sky and sunny weather! Yay~ An instant boost to our happy spirits!

We showered, grabbed some toasts from the kitchen and off we went. The weather was perfect that morning and the city was, for once, not as dry. Thanks to the rain the day before.

I kept seeing this City Sight Seeing Double Deckers in most of the major cities around the World. Maybe one day I should give it a try, seems fun :)

It was a pleasant walk to the city and everything looked so much nicer than the day before although we took exactly the same route hehehe.

The cool CAT shuttle. We didn't really make as much use of the free transportation as we should. I don't know why, we just prefer to torture our poor legs hahaha.

The fun thing about walking is we can stop anytime we wanted along the way, when we find something interesting. Such as this statue of... err... I forgot who :P

We were heading towards the Swan Bell Tower but this time we paused at the Stirling Gardens.

A very tidy looking park :)

They have many interesting bronze statues outside the park, so we decided to snap some photos there. Gigi with the HUGE kangaroo.

Me riding a baby kangaroo... I hope I didn't kill it with my weight, hehehe.

Aww... this one is so cute! Drinking from the (fake) river.

There are also other statues beside kangaroos such as these babies.

Sun is our best friend! It just make everything looks so pretty in photos!

See the ray? Nice!

*Tadah* The odd-looking Swan Bell Tower again! I think it looks so much better under the bright sun.

Our destination that day was not the Swan Bell Tower, we were going to the Perth Zoo!

There were several ways to reach the zoo located at the South Bank of Perth, and we chose to travel by ferry just for the experience.

After we got our tickets we waited at the jetty.

While waiting to board the ferry, we took lots of photos at the jetty. See the transparent glass painting behind? So pretty!

All the animals' paintings because most of the people here are to take ferry to the zoo.

There comes the ferry, there comes the ferry! Whee~ Let's go to the zoo, to see the... katak pulu? Hahaha.

While we were boarding the ferry, the friendly captain came out from the boat and offered to snap a pic of Gigi and I :) So nice of him!

Bye-bye Perth City!

The ferry wasn't very packed. We took a seat by the window and snapped some awesome photos. You must love the scenery, it's so pretty.

The ferry ride was a short one and soon we arrived at the South Bank.

A photo with the nice Captain before we alighted the ferry. Thank you Sir! He is so cute.

The scenery at the South Bank was breathtaking! From here, you can have a nice view of the Perth City skyline. Nice right?

South Perth was a little less busy than the city centre. Smaller roads and less tall buildings, but also prettier in my opinion.

The duo, all set to go!

Some street views of South Perth. If only we have more time here, we probably would sit down for a slow brunch.

Gigi and her favorite place in the World- the Post Office! Too bad it wasn't open that morning.

Finally, we arrived at the Windsor Park. Walk through here and it will lead you to the zoo.

Let's go!

Oh ya, they have a magic tree there of course I must pose with it before I leave. Hahaha.

Perth Zoo, finally.

Our first plan was to visit the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctury but we scraped the plan due to the bad weather. Instead we went to Perth Zoo which was nearer in the vicinity. It wasn't really a great idea at all, because at the zoo, we couldn't touch the animal and it wasn't that fun.

However, being us, we made the best out of everything (and sometimes nothing hahaha~). We still had a great morning laughing and fooling around.

And since the zoo is... ah well, a zoo, I guess there's not much description needed. So here's a collage of photos from the zoo trip.

Why must we visit an Australian zoo? Of course, to see the Aussie animals!!!

We met a kangaroo lying across the pedestrian path instead of being inside it's exhibits with his gang. Gigi was a little scared of this lazy-looking animal.

And of course, the koalas! There were a few of them there but all very, very uncooperative! They either hid behind the leaves or turned their backs everytime we pointed a camera towards them. So camera shy!

And since Gigi failed to fulfill her dream of hugging a koala and we didn't want to go home with any regrets, we...

*Tadah*

Err... ok, fake is better than none.

This concluded our visit to the zoo. Bye Perth Zoo, you are actually quite boring hahaha.

We opted for the bus to go back to the City Centre.

A sneak peak to what's up next.

I think the next post will conclude my Perth trip in July. Phew, it does feel great to finally finish off my overdue travelogue.

Winter Down Under ...✈ Rainy Perth Part 2

2011-09-13T07:30:00.000+08:00

I've been very busy lately. Would really love to complete the Perth travelogue as soon as possible because I'm starting to forget the details (sigh, getting old dy!).

Continue from the last post... After the fulfilling lunch, we went to downtown to visit the famous London Court.

Yay! Finally reaching London Court. We were both quite excited about this place because I love European buildings and Gigi loves... Harry Potter hahahaha.

London Court is beautiful, really reminded me of London especially on rainy days (I am missing London!!!) BUT...

It was actually quite disappointing because it's just a lane, nothing more. Basically what you see in the below pic is all it has at London Court.

There are not many interesting shops there but all of them really pretty, like what you expect to only see in movies.

"No minute gone comes ever back again; Take heed and see ye nothing do in vain"- says the Clock :)

Despite not having anything much, the place is perfect for photography. And being camwhores, we had quite a lot of fun hehehe.

Although we were still full from the heavy lunch we decided to go with our plan of having afternoon tea at London Court Cafe :) Girls Trip ROCKS!

The cafe is pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, PRETTY!

Scones and Tea? Nah, we were a little too stuffed to have anything too heavy.

I really love this cafe a lot because it has exactly the same mood of cafes in London (OMG I miss London!!!). Cozy yellow lighting, comforting smell of coffee, tempting food displays and simple decorations. Perfecto!

Mmmm... Need I say more?

It was cold and wet outside. Hiding inside a warm cafe was the most wonderful thing we could think of.

Hot chocolate is a must for cold weather. The soothing warm cocoa just made me melt in love.

Sharing a Lemon Creme Brûlée. The tangy and sweet jello like dessert was great too.

Good mood is when you have your lovely darling to share everything you love. Even doing nothing on a rainy day turned out to be a beautiful memory. Friendship is magical!

Waving goodbye to London Court, we continued our journey to... nowhere in particular haha.

The streets nearby London Court is the main shopping area of Perth City. We weren't really shopping, just walking around snapping some photos.

Finally reaching the City Centre! Sky scrappers, modern buildings, not exactly what I expect from Perth.

We walked to Perth's landmark, the Swan Bell Tower. It was supposed to be a building designed to look like a swan but both Gigi and I think it looks weird.

The sky was still gloomy with intermittent drizzles.

The wet weather made it difficult for me to bring out the tripod because it would be too troublesome. One of the rare few (I think 3) photos of us together, reflection on the Swan Tower hahaha.

The other side of the tower.

After taking some photos, we hopped onto the CAT shuttle to go shopping! Yes, you heard me right, shopping at night in Australia, how uncommon right?

When we read that there's a Harbour Town Factory Outlet and it was open till late on Friday, we were freaking excited. So we purposely planned for a shopping trip.

However, it wasn't really fun. Nothing much caught our attention :( Good thing bout it? Save our money! Hahaha.

We shopped until 9pm and walked all the way back! I still couldn't believe how much we walked in Perth and I don't really know why, because there are actually alternatives but we almost all the time chose to walk.

We didn't know what to have for dinner and along the way back to the backpackers, we saw a unique Korean restaurant with a graffiti-covered wall and packed with Koreans. We both like Korean food so we decided to give it a try.

First Thai, now Korean. Hahaha, we were just too random when it comes to food :P

I love rice, hmm yums!

Our favorite- Kimchi Stew!!! The taste was authentic and good. Oh great, now I am drooling. I miss Korean food.

Seafood pancake, with so many shallots!!! The sauce, a little like soy but sweeter, was really great great great to go with the pancake. Err... hungry now!!!

Yummy yummy yum yum yummy yum!

On our way back to the backpackers we saw a happening limo passing by with a loud partying gang inside. So... playboy-ish!

That's all for the day!

Winter Down Under ...✈ Rainy Perth Part 1

2011-09-07T14:10:00.000+08:00

We woke up to a wet wet Perth City :( Actually it wasn't a surprise since the forecast had been indicating rainy weathers for our entire travel period.

The gloomy weather made us cancel our initial plan to visit a wildlife park, instead we decided to just check out the city in the rain. First we made a stop at the Western Australian Museum which is along the way from our backpackers to the city centre.

The museum was very packed with visitors, not sure is it because Australians love their museums or because it's a free place to avoid the rain hahaha.

My favorite section is of course the animals exhibition.

We just wandered around a little, snapping some photos here and there and soon, we got bored and decided to leave.

At the other side which I guess is the main entrance of the museum, we found this! Any idea what is it? It's the 东南西北 (East South West North) paper origami thing that we used to fold and played in primary school!!! Wow, I couldn't believe the Aussies too have this!

It's a giant one too! So cute!!!

Oh that is the main entrance that I mentioned- a combination of modern architecture (left) and heritage building (right). Very interesting eh?

Gigi looks so tiny in this photo hehehe.

We only had a very simple breakfast so we decided to get lunch once we entered the city. We already had something in mind... and that is...

Penang food... NOT! Hahaha, of course not! We saw this restaurant and was kidding about eating there. Wakakaka!

We walked past the China Town where you can find quite a lot of Asian restaurants but the opening hours are usually from evening to early morning (about 4am).

We saw this sinseh (Chinese Medicine) place. Is there ANYTHING they aren't specialized in?

After some map reading and searching, we finally arrived at our lunch place- Hog's Breath Cafe. It's an Australian homegrown franchise promoting "friendly, party atmosphere". The shack-like cafe looks so cute.

The one we went to is in Perth City, located in a quiet lane.

I like the casual approach of the cafe with dim lighting and a lot of unique memorabilia adorning the walls. Nice nice nice!

The real reason behind our search for this restaurant is because of the "Buy 1 Free 1" coupon we found in one of the tourist brochures we got from the backpackers. Highly recommend people who travel there to flip through all the free brochures to find some real great deals!

How can we missed out such great deal right? OMG we were super excited! And yes, it's a real deal, not some promotional gimmick because we were allowed to pick ANY main dish from their usual menu!

Hog's Breath are very creative in their decorations. Even the pepper and salt were served in empty beer bottles, so nice!

We tried the BBQ Pork Ribs. Lovely! Every rib is coated with thick meat and the curly fries are quite nice too. However Gigi commented that it was a little blunt but probably because she ate the steak (which has a strong flavor) first. To me it was ok, I love the smokey bbq sauce.

Of course we must try their prime ribs, which is their specialty after all. We chose the Byron Bay Chilli Prime Ribs and the taste was heavenly!!! So yummy I wanted to faint!

The steak was tender and juicy and THICK, char grilled to perfection and the special sauce was so flavorful and *drools* I don't want to describe anymore cos it makes me so hungry now!!! Grr...

Our drinks. Mine was cranberry juice, Gigi's was... apple I guess (couldn't remember)!

Happy happy happy us! It was pouring outside so we just hid inside the cozy restaurant for a slow, nice lunch. Savoring every bite, happily munching and chatting. Err, notice us wearing the same top? Hehehe *love*

We were lucky that the sky cleared up after we finished eating. It was still very gloomy (so grey!) outside but at least it wasn't pouring anymore.

We went out to a CAT bus stop to wait for free shuttle to the town. That was Gigi waiting for the bus to arrive.

Will continue blogging about the rest of the rainy day in my next post. Argh, it has been a month since the trip and I had yet to complete it. So slow can die.

囍

2011-09-05T22:36:00.001+08:00

A short break from my Aussie travelogue, so that I can record other part of my life other than just travel hahaha.

Ok, this is a misleading blog title. It wasn't any wedding dinner but it certainly felt a lot like one. YM and I joined a bunch of my fun colleagues for an 8-course Chinese dinner at Fisherman Wharf, Sunshine Square last month because they were doing the 50% promotion for Sunshine Card members.

It was a great night out, lots of fun and of course... GREAT FOOD *wink*

The dinner started with Shark Fin Soup with Scallop.

The star dish of the night - Boston Lobster Thermidor. The lobster was cheesy and good but the portion was small. Luckily they have some "side dishes".

Salted Pork Trotters was great! I am not a pork lover, in fact I avoided pork most of the time but the crispy skin and tender meat was too awesome to be missed! A tad oily though.

One of my favorite dish that evening was the Vegetarian Delight. Shredded mushrooms, broccoli and Chinese cabbages stewed in gooey sauce, mmm, heavenly!

The Siamese Style Steamed Red Talapia was good too, especially the sour sauce with a tinge of minty flavor.

My all-time seafood favorite- Crispy Pan Fried Prawns with Garlic. No explanations needed, prawns are the BEST!

The Anchovies and Salted Fish Fried Rice paled in comparison, nothing special about this but a rice dish is a great way to fill the stomach.

The 8-course dinner ended with Chilled Longan with Sea Coconut dessert. Nothing great about this too, and I felt that they were quite stingy with the ingredients.

And since we have an August birthday boy in the group, they gave us a cake.

Here are a couple of photos of the lovely bunch :)

Min Fei brought along his dad's camera and acted pro. Hahaha.

Attack the food! Go go go!!!

My colleagues are all funny and nice people. It is a joy to hang out with this gang, sure a lot to laugh about :)

The dinner came with a bottle of red wine too! Yum seng!

The happy working family ^^

The dinner cost us RM350 after discount. Well worth the price!

Winter Down Under ...✈ Billabong Backpackers

2011-09-02T13:31:00.004+08:00

Backpackers in Australia is a good choice when it comes to budget accommodation. After some quick survey online, Gigi and I settled for Billabong Backpackers. It turned out to be a great place to stay.

Billabong is located at Beaufort Street within walking distance to the city. We can testify this because other than the first night upon arrival, we basically walked all the time.

I would highly recommend this place for those who has a tight budget but don't want to compromise on their accommodation location. They have great service, prompt reply on email and the reception is open 24 hours for easy check-in :)

Billabong has everything we can ask for, the only small downside is no free wifi provided but you can purchase their internet services, which OBVIOUSLY I did.

Backpackers is a great place for young travelers to meet new friends from all over the World. The common area of Billabong is at all time filled with friendly guests.

I love the facilities provided by the backpackers. They have a tv room and some recreational rooms (table tennis, reading corner etc) on the second floor (which I didn't snap a photo cos when I went in there are people all over and I am a bit shy LoL).

Here you can also get many useful travel brochures and maps.

They even have an "employment" corner where long-stay guests can find some part time jobs to earn some travel money. Great eh?

They have a small outdoor pool but of course it's a little too cold for a dip in Winter.

I really like this place because the staff on duty are always very helpful. They provide all types of information and even help us arrange for airport transfer. Really efficient and friendly too! For the price we pay, it's definitely worth the stay!

Oh and one more thing I absolutely love about the backpackers are the many many colorful murals! Almost all the walls are covered with interesting and colorful paintings, lighting up my mood wherever I go.

Here are just a few of my personal favorites:

Our room is at the top floor- the Bunyip floor.

What is Bunyip? This!

Every floor has a special name and a mural dedicated to the name. Ours has a huge Bunyip chasing after an aboriginal woman. Hahaha.

Every floor is painted in a different color, Bunyip floor is in lemon yellow. So pretty! With blue trimmings and blue doors :) Love the contrast.

We booked a double room with a private en-suite. The room is spacious with a double-decker that can fit three and two sets of tables.

We came in finding clean bed sheets stacked beside the bed. We had to make the bed ourselves but all the sheets were clean.

That is Gigi's little corner with her things piled up.

The bathroom was a tiny space but it has all the basics. No complaints except that on the second night the exhaustion fan started making some loud noises and we kept forgetting to inform the front desk until the day we left! Hahaha. So typical us.

Breakfast was served at this eating area that reminded me of school time with its long wooden tables.

We were asked to pick a set of our eating utensils packed behind the reception table.

My eating "set" hehehe. We got to wash and keep these for the whole duration we stayed there and only returning them before we left.

Food was in the kitchen, very simple food only. Three giant containers of cereals...

Bread and butter/ jam/ peanut spread.

Toasters.

For people who don't emphasize much on breakfast like us, it was enough. I only need some cereal with milk or a few pieces of bread and a cup of hot tea.

You cannot expect hotel-like services or environment when staying in a backpackers but overall I would rate it highly for a budget stay. The place might not look very new or posh (well, that's not what we expect anyway!), but it's clean and complete.

If you have a higher budget this might not be your place. But for us, we totally enjoy our short stay there. No regrets :)

Winter Down Under ...✈ Cottesloe

2011-08-26T15:57:00.000+08:00

Beware! Excessive beachy photos ahead!

Many people gave me the @.@ look when I told them we spent a whole day at the beach doing nothing. Hmm, all I can say is that everyone has a different definition for vacation. And luckily, Gigi and I shared the same philosophy :)

Cottesloe is said to be one of the best place to view the Indian Ocean sunset. The long stretch of unpolluted beach, the clear seawater and the unobstructed panoramic ocean view is good enough reason for us to stay for a whole day.

It's therapeutic to watch the waves washing over the shores, listening to the seagulls and strong splashes of seawater. Everything so calm and beautiful.

The water is so clean and clear that I couldn't help but walking into it, even if it's freezing. Hey, it's winter!!!

The chilly weather and cold water didn't deter beach goers at all, especially little kids who had so much fun playing in the water.

I especially like this cute little boy, who stood patiently and waited for the waves to swallow him up, repeatedly. Hahaha.

Come what may, I shall not be afraid.

This pair of siblings are cute too, screaming and shrieking when the waves splashed over them but again and again they walked towards the waves.

Toddlers having a ball of a time, playing by a puddle of water by the beach, giggling and laughing.

Have to thank Gigi for taking lots of very natural photos of me while I wadded into the very very cold seawater. Love them!

There, my talented photographer cum best travel buddy! Muacks!

Another seagull photo I took :)

Cottesloe beach's sand is soft, fine and white. And up the slope, there are some green patches with benches for people to rest on. The entire beach promenade is stunning!

We walked up to the embankment and took a photo from the usual angle seen on postcards. The view is really picturesque.

On the other side of the embankment, the water color looks really different! It's in a much darker shade of blue. Probably because it's deeper.

Friendship forever! Yay~~~

Can't get enough of the beautiful ocean view!

It was already near 3pm when Gigi and I realized that we were too captivated by the beauty of the view that we forgot to eat! We couldn't find anything we wanted at the beach front so we decided to wonder back into the town.

We settled for Thai food at Wrap n Rice, a tiny corner restaurant.

Iced tea to quench our thirst after a whole day exposing under the sun.

Believe or not, this is one of the best Thai food I ever had... or maybe because I was starving already :P But Gigi agreed that their food is really super yummy max! We ordered two dishes to share.

The pad thai is really good! We requested for more dried chili flakes and I have to say, yummy max!

And of course, my all-time favorite- Green Curry Chicken! The curry was thick and fragrant, mmm... I want more! Damn, my stomach is growling now!

Bon Appetit!

We were so contented with the meal and decided to pack our dinner from here too. Our plan was to stay by the beach to watch sunset before going into Perth City. The wraps there look delicious!

We lingered around the town a little and snapped some photos of the artistic statues around. I like this one the most! Reminds me of Stephen Chow's movie scene 巴黎铁塔反转再反转. Hahaha. Ok, ignore my stupidity.

We walked to Woolsworth to grab some snacks and drinks for our dinner :) Miss grocery shopping in Woolsworth.

After we were done buying our dinner, we strolled back to the beach. The sun was already starting to set. I really love this photo Gigi took along the way.

Hello Cottesloe Beach, we are back *wink*

Attempting taking a photo with the sunset. Not easy!

We picked a spot on the grass overlooking the ocean and laid out our dinner- Thai BBQ Chicken Wraps, potato chips and iced teas.

The sunset was spectacular. We snapped hundreds of photos (trying out different modes and settings on our cameras) so I randomly picked a couple to post here.

What a romantic dinner, watching the fabulous sunset over Indian Ocean!

We sat there until the bright orange ball sunk into the sea and watched the sky turned into a magnificent purple curtain with some remaining bright orange trimming at the edge of the ocean.

An unforgettable view of the deserted beach after the crowd left.

The end of our day trip to Cottesloe Beach. Bye beautiful, you shall be missed!

Winter Down Under ...✈ Bye-bye Fremantle, Hello Cottesloe!

2011-08-24T02:05:00.002+08:00

The second morning in Fremantle, we checked out from the B&B after breakfast and decided to visit the Bather's Beach again before we bid farewell to this beautiful town.

The Whaler's Tunnel was closed the evening before but this morning, so we walked through it. There isn't anything impressive there despite being the first underground tunnel in Western Australia. It's a short tunnel leading straight to the Bather's Beach.

Bather's Beach in the morning. The weather was great and the sky was clear, without a tiny trace of cloud.

Ok, this is a random photo of the weeds by the beach. I just like how my photo turned out because of the beautiful sunshine.

We walked up the stairs from the beach to the Round House again, just to check out what it is.

It was a prison! Err... weird. Why build a prison at a place wish such beautiful scenery? We didn't go in to visit because we only have a little time to spare since we already have a plan for that day.

Awww~~~ beautiful Fremantle. I love your pastel color buildings!!!

The travelers and their luggage :) Off to the train station! Don't you love my Mickey luggage *wink*?

With the help of the friendly gatekeeper, we bought our train tickets to our next destination.

There comes the Transperth train. The timing was perfect!

The train was very comfortable and clean. I really like how Australians maintain a very high standards for their public amenities, including public transports. Always spick-and-span and in top notch condition.

Last glimpse of Fremantle from the train's window before kissing it farewell.

I couldn't remember how long we traveled but it wasn't a long journey. Destination for the day- Cottesloe!

Our decision to spend a day in Cottesloe came about when a friend who traveled Perth before told me his favorite beach is Cottesloe, which is the beginning of the stretch called "Sunset Coast". A quick check on Google showed that it was located between Fremantle and Perth City, and so we decided that a "stopover" would be excellent.

Getting off the train, we were both blank about our next step. Should we check out the town first or head straight to the beach? Dilemma.

A quick discussion later, we made our choice to head town first thinking that we would first find a place to store our luggage because dragging a huge baggage to the seaside didn't sound like a good option.

The Cottesloe town was tiny. With a few stretches of shops and that's about it. No hotels or locker services at all!

The slow town somehow reminded me a little of Toowoomba, the small uphill town where we spent our last year in uni.

We wandered around and realized that there's really nothing much up here. I went up to a flight centre to ask about baggage services and was told all the hotels, motels, hostels are located at the beach area.

Saw a zebra along the way hahaha.

The small town has nothing much to offer except several restaurants. We had lunch here that day but I shall come to that later cos I am blogging chronologically.

On our way to the beach when we saw this car parked by the roadside. What a cool plate to own! I want my "BORN2EAT" plate too!!!

We walked back to the train station and went the opposite direction from there. We didn't know our way but we saw a small crowd heading that direction so we followed :D

To reach the beach, we have to walk up the slope. It sounded like an easy task, oh well, it might be an easy task if we weren't dragging the heavy luggage. We were already sweating and panting half way.

It wasn't exactly a long walk (but still super exhausting) before we could see the beautiful blue seawater flickering from a distance. And there, all the tiredness just wore off, because it's well worth the energy!

The glee inside me expanded to the size of an elephant (ok, I am exaggerating!) and I just couldn't hide it anymore. Part of it is because the scenery was unrealistically beautiful but more importantly because finally we were no longer walking uphills. Double yay!

Another random shot, just because I like the composition of this photo hahahaha.

We decided to try our luck with the Cottesloe Hotel so I popped in casually and asked a favor from the front desk to allow us to deposit our luggage there. Surprise surprise! Instead of giving me the "wtf" look, the nice receptionist smiled and said "of course!". Oh, tell me how not to love the Aussies? Such nice people.

Mind you, we didn't have to pay a single cent. They willingly lent us the space in their luggage storage until late evening. I couldn't tell you how thankful we were, it was such a relief because the idea of dragging the heavy bags around is really scary.

And finally, we could enjoy a wonderful, carefree day out in the awesome Cottesloe beach ♥

Here is a quick preview of what to expect in the coming post *wink*:

Winter Down Under ...✈ Fremantle Part 2

2011-08-22T13:06:00.008+08:00

Continuing from where I stopped. We hopped onto a Fremantle CAT to go for a ride around the town.

Did I mention about CAT? Yes, that is the Central Area Transit, a free shuttle that goes around Fremantle (and Perth City but we shall come to that later). Key word - F.R.E.E! If not mistaken they have 2 routes in Fremantle and covers almost the whole city.

After a round on the comfortable shuttle (we were tired of walking!), we alighted at the Maritime Museum.

We went in to have a quick look (entrance by donation), and it's basically all about shipwreck.

Saw two cute doggies waiting obediently under the tree for their masters. So cute!

Outside the museum.

It is only NOW that I am looking back I realized we've only visited the "Shipwreck Galleries" of the museum. Epic fail! Hahaha. So people, if you don't plan your trip, that's what happens! LoL.

The weather is super duper nice! Can't describe how beautiful the sky was.

We crossed the road from the Shipwreck Galleries and continued our journey towards the seaside.

What else I can say?

Walking to the more commercialized area, time for lunch!

We've read online (ok, we did some survey also alright? While waiting for our flight in LCCT hahaha) about Cicerello's so we decided to check out this famous dining place.

There are many other restaurants at the pier area, all packed with happy diners.

But we decided to stick with our original plan, to go to Cicerello's. Afterall, it must be so famous for some reasons right?

"The Original & Still The Best"... or as it claims! Hahaha.

The place is really packed with people, mostly tourists I think.

We don't actually needed a menu since we've both agreed to get the most original, most basic Fish and Chips.

We picked a seat at the landing, right beside the sea to enjoy the sun, the breeze and the crystal clear water.

Condiments that shouldn't be left out- Tartar sauce for the fish and salt and vinegar for the chips. Mmm...

The food. Thick fish fillets, deep fried into golden pieces. Crispy on the outside, tender and warm inside. The fish was fresh and tasted good. The fries? Err, just like other fries. I am never a great fan of fries anyway.

The portion was generous, and we had a great time. Eating, chatting, relaxing. C'est la vie!

The only downside of eating at the landing area... There will be many pairs of envious eyes staring at you (ok, maybe not "you" but "your food"). Yes, the greedy seagulls!!! Waiting for every opportunity to attack.

We couldn't finish our fries and once we stood up...

Scary eh? I find them quite... violent, especially when they fought hungrily for the remaining food and finished off the mountain of fries in a few minutes. Yes, they swallowed a whole fry in one gulp! Such a tiny bird, but with a monstrous appetite.

Well, when they are not attacking food, they can look quite pretty. My favorite photo in the whole trip!

After lunch, we decided to take a walk around the jetty area.

It was a leisure afternoon, just walking around and snapping hundreds of photos because the scenery was absolutely breathtaking.

We met a family from... err... Spain? Portuguese? Italy? I don't know. All I know is they speak foreign language and the father is a friendly man who insisted to help us snap a photo using Gigi's bigass camera. Hahaha.

We must have taken hundreds of photos here. Really grateful that we live in the age where cameras no longer needed films. Hahaha.

My "Welcome to Fremantle" photo! Like this photo a lot, the whole combination is so pretty *kiss Gigi*

I think Gigi looks like some rich heiress in this photo! So Paris Hilton-ish hahaha.

Met some really cute kids there. See how the twins (I assumed) posed? Hehehe, so adorable. Kids are cute when they are not yours.

The awesome blue sky!

Lazing around the pier area and taking lots and lots and lots of photos. That is what we did the whole afternoon in Fremantle :)

Before leaving, of course, my signature pose! Hahaha. Ok I know I am stupid! Actually I didn't do it on purpose but everytime I don't know how to pose anymore, I automatically do this @.@

The Jetty, I like this place :)

We went back to our B&B after that to check in our luggage and rested a little. Then we took off our leggings because we are heading to the... beach!

While on the way we saw this "Freemantle" signboard at the railway and decided that we NEED to snap some photos :)

Crossing the railway and up the stairs bring us to the Round House. It was already closed that time.

Arthur's Head, right beside the Round House is a great place to have a spectacular areal view of the Bather's Beach.

The small stretch of beach not far from our B&B.

Photo time! Thanks again, Mr lousy Tripod!

Can't get enough of the blue sky and sea!

We walked down to the beach. The sun was starting to set, and the weather was a little chilly but we were still in our super joyous mood.

Love how the setting sun played wonderful effects with the water, the shimmering rays on the waves, it's just so enchanting.

The beach was quite deserted, except for us, there's a gang of four sitting there, eating, chatting and laughing away. It was such a beautiful picture so I took a photo of them.

The long legs that we both craved for. Hahaha.

Ending the Fremantle post with a super nice photo by Gigi. The gorgeous sunset. Life's wonderful when you have the time to slow down your pace and enjoy the place :)

Winter Down Under ...✈ Fremantle Part 1

2011-08-19T15:25:00.001+08:00

Traveling is often not about the destination, but the journey itself.

I truly felt this way during this vacation to Perth. I don't really know what we did in that short getaway, in fact we didn't do much. But I remember every single happy moment, and to me, it's already worth the trip.

The truth is I had been struggling to start this travelogue, because I have so many photos and fond memories about this place and yet, nothing solid to blog or share about. If you are looking for some Perth traveling info, I probably have none.

Anyway, I shall start. We arrived in Fremantle at dawn and took the Fremantle shuttle to our B&B. It was too early to check in, so we left our luggage at the lobby and wonder down town.

Fremantle was very quiet at this wee hour of the day. We enjoyed the stroll in the cold wind and the friendly nods and smiles of the rare passers-by.

We walked to the famous Cappuccino Strip which is just a corner away. It was quite deserted because the breakfast crowd had yet to pour in.

We picked The Merchant Tea & Coffee Co to have our first meal.

I like the Indochina-kind of interior. And see the "fans" on the ceiling? Cool eh?

I love marveling at the desserts and pastries on the display panels. Everything look so delectable, so yummy.

They also offer a huge selection of coffee, too bad I am not a coffee drinker :)

The restaurant is comfortable, and as usual, we picked a corner seat to enjoy our breakfast.

Hot drink is a MUST for cold weather. I ordered hot chocolate while Gigi went for Mocha.

Soaked the soft marshmallows into the warm, thick chocolate, a melting pot of love. Aww...

We shared a breakfast- "Thai Pla Dang" (Crumbed Tuna Pattie served with Salad). I don't know how to explain this dish, a very unique texture but the taste was ok. The salad was served just the way I love, with vinegar dressing oh yummy!

Fremantle Market should be a nice place to explore but too bad we were not there on a weekend. Yes, it's open only during weekends.

As I've mentioned in the beginning of the post, this trip wasn't packed with sightseeing or activities. Instead, what we did most of the time was roaming the city, and enjoying whatever we encounter along the way.

Many things might seemed very common to others, but with a relaxing mind and a light heart, we did enjoy every little sight.

A small surprise, like a mysterious pair of sneakers hanging high up on the electrical wires, kept us giggling like school girls for a long while.

Perhaps, it's the company I have, that makes the little trip perfect. To be able to hang out with your bestie, catching up with each other about every tiny aspects of life that we missed out during busy working days and laughing at stupid jokes and reminiscing the good ol' days!

The beautiful sunny and windy weather added credit to the wonderful trip.

What defines a good trip is not what we get, or see, it's what we actually feel. The pure, simple happiness that was attained because we enjoy every step we made.

We walked to a beautiful park near the pier.

Started camwhoring nonstop. In case you're curious, yes, we brought along a flimsy tripod that I contemplated throwing away along the journey because it's just too heavy!!!

But I guess without it (the flimsy tripod), we wouldn't have so many nice memories captured. So I unwillingly carried it back.

Can you feel my happiness? A smile that came within the heart :)

Lazing on the soft green grass, checking back our photos while enjoying the gentle sunlight on my skin. Happiness can be easy, when you are in the mood for it.

We continued with our journey to explore Fremantle, more like roaming around aimlessly while chatting about everything under the sun.

Came to this shop near the Fremantle Market- A Maize Home Wares.

The shop sells all types of whimsical stuff, so pretty that we went ooo-ing and aww-ing like little girls in candy shop *sweat* Too bad most of the stuff are either too expensive or too impractical to bring home.

But we each bought a tiny tub of lip gloss. Owl shape, oh so cute right? Can't help but :) whenever I see this. And it's in this really tasty chocolate flavor, I can't stop licking my lips hahaha.

I realized I've been babbling nonsense instead of writing any proper description or information about traveling. But I guess this Perth travelogue will remain a mess of blur explanations and random thoughts hahaha.

I can't remember how we got here, but we finally reached this place which is the main shopping area of Fremantle.

There's an free exhibition at the Town Hall, about psychological treatment so we went in for a quick peep.

Adelaide in Perth @.@

"Gigi and John"! One of our favorite things to do is making each other do stupid poses and take a photographic evidence :P

A small church in town. Nice!

A pedestrian shopping street. There's nothing interesting, as expected from a small town.

The good thing of traveling with your best buddy is that you have the leisure to do practically everything you like. Browsing at second hand books or aimlessly walking into shops without any shopping intentions. You get to follow your heart!

Street performers are very common in Western country. We happened to meet one really good singer! His voice is so soothing and so beautiful!

Gigi's favorite place in the World- Post office! Don't ask me why!

We walked all the way to the Fremantle Railway Station to find out the train timetable for our next day's travel. Look at the sky, don't you just want to say "life's beautiful"?

This will probably be the worst travelogue that document NOTHING much about Perth, but I couldn't find a better way to compose it because this is what it really is. More about Fremantle in the next post!

Winter Down Under ...✈ Fremantle B&B

2011-08-17T09:03:00.000+08:00

So, Perth travelogue. Let's start *rubbing palms*

Finally after 7 years, Gigi and I completed our dream of traveling together (again) and of course we must choose a country that means a lot to the both of us... Australia!!!

Gigi and I spent our last year of uni in Australia, and we were roommates back then, so that sorta summarized why we both have a special love for this country. We grabbed a pair of Perth tickets during the Air Asia sales without so much of a wink ;)

It's such a nostalgic feeling stepping foot into Australia once again after so long, although we were visiting a different city. It felt so strange yet so familiar, but all I can conclude is that- we've had a hell of a good time there!

Actually this trip was a mess because we were both too busy (and lazy) to sit down and plan a proper itinerary and we decided that we shall go with the flow. A lot of last minute decisions, including putting a night in Fremantle before heading to Perth City.

So we looked at a few accommodation options and finally picked the Fremantle Bed and Breakfast.

The location of this B&B is great, it's in the city and within walking distance to the beach.

The interior of Fremantle B&B hit me right on my soft spot. My weakness for English Country style interior!!! Cream color refurbishment and vintage-like furniture went absolutely gorgeous together.

Our room was on the second floor of the building.

We booked the Evelyn Room. It isn't very spacious (fine, you can call it small!) but very comfortable and complete with all the amenities.

The room doesn't come with an attached bathroom. The whole floor (4 rooms) shared two bathrooms, but it wasn't a problem at all. The bathrooms are big and sparkling clean.

And the bigger bathroom even comes with a jacuzzi! Oh well, not that we are up for a soak in winter but it's still awesome to see that they have such luxury for their guests.

Personally, I felt that Fremantle B&B is a perfect place to put up a night after an exhausting night flight and a whole day walking. It has everything we need, and it's comfy and all. But the price could be a little steep if you are planning for a budget trip.

We woke up feeling very fresh, the next morning. Self-service breakfast was included so we hopped downstairs.

See the pretty table setting? Well it just gives you the appetite, no matter what you are eating!

Actually, the breakfast selection was very basic but I have no complaints since they have a few types of cereals to choose from. Me love cereals!

Bread, for those who prefer to have more carbohydrates to fill up their tummies.

Various types of condiments and spreads to go with the bread.

Inside the fridge, they prepared chilled milk and orange juice.

And surprise surprise! They made some cute berry yogurt in mini glasses for the guests! So cute!

Not only that, there were also fruit jellos, oh yummy! Happy start of a morning :)

We were the only ones at the dining hall that morning so we managed to have a quiet, undisturbed breakfast (and also shamelessly snapping away many photos LoL).

Will come back soon with more posts about our day in Fremantle :)

Shop Shop Shop! Till I Drop!

2011-08-14T09:58:00.000+08:00

Friends who raided my wardrobe before always felt like knocking my head because they've never seen me wearing half of the clothes. Well, I reckon it's wise to "stock up" when we see the right thing, no?

Here's a post sharing some of my recent (and some not too recent) purchases. And... to the "someone" who threatened me to do this post, please make sure you also do what you promised me ok *grr*?

More than 90% of the clothes in this post were purchased online and I have to say, most, if not all, of them are really cheap stuff. Err, like really CHEAP type of cheap. And of course the quality varies too.

Peach Sundress (H&M) ★★★★☆

I like this flirty little dress quite a lot (but it's a actually a size or two too big) and the only complaint that I can say is that it's a little too bare for Malaysia. I will need a beach vacation overseas to be able to wear it :P

Yellow White Stripe Bareback Maxi (H&M) ★★★★★

Oh I effing love love love this maxi dress! The vibrant color, the cutting, the material. Everything is perfect! All I need now is a hot body to carry it :S

Blue and White Thin Stripe Tube Maxi (Singapore) ★★★☆☆

YM got this for me! I really love this dress, but the quality is just so-so. The material wasn't bad but the sewing wasn't done really nicely. Still consider acceptable :)

White Espadrilles (Vincci) ★★★★★

I have to say, Vincci did improve a lot on their shoes quality! A very comfortable and steady pair of wedges, and I love white, because it's so versatile!

Floral Sundress (H&M) ★★★★☆

I know some might think this looks like pajamas, but I think it's quite good for a day by the beach. It's light and comfortable. No complaints on its quality. As for the prints, I shall say it's debatable :P

Tiny Flowers Sandals (M)phosis) ★★★★★

This is quite an old purchase but I seldom wear them. It's quite comfortable, and beautiful too.

Oversize Printed White Tee (Online Shop) ★★★☆☆

I always like oversize tee and I think the print is quite cute. Overall the top is quite ok, but the material is really thin.

Ribbon Rolls Baby Pink Flats (Tiamo) ★★★☆☆

I really like the unique design, using ribbon rolls as decorations but it wasn't really a comfortable pair. Wearable, but not for long distance walking, at least not for now.

Green Faux two-piece Dress (Online Shop) ★☆☆☆☆

I don't really like the wordings on the dress, but the chiffon skirt is in a really lovely green. The dress is a little too short (for my height) and the lining for the skirt is ridiculously short.

Tiffany Blue Patent Flats (Tiamo) ★★★★☆

The color is irresistible! I love the strap and the heart-charm on it, so cute! It's not very comfortable but the prettiness is already a good enough reason for me to love it.

Light Denim Dress (H&M) ★★★★★

My favorite (and the most expensive piece, too) among all! It's made of soft denim material and it's really girlish and beautiful! The details are all perfectly done and the cutting accentuates the body, giving me a better shape.

Black Tunic Dress with Golden Buttons (Online Shop) ★★★★★

For the price I paid for this, I would say that it's super worth it! Nice cutting and comfortable material. Nothing I can find fault with :)

Grey Peep Toe Ankle Boots (Aldo) ★★★☆☆

This is also not a new pair. I like the design and it's made of great leather, but I have to admit I seldom wear them because they somehow has this cropping effect that makes legs look much shorter even with its heels.

Nude With Black Lace Dress (Online Shop) ★★★☆☆

This dress looked extremely pretty from the blogshop photo and probably because of the high expectations, I was a little disappointed with the real thing. It's in acceptable quality, I can't really tell what's wrong with it. Maybe it just doesn't suit me that much.

Beige Chiffon Tunic Top (Online Shop) ★★★☆☆

I like the top a lot, simply gorgeous! The pleats are really great design for people with flat bodies like me. And the length was just right too. Quality of the material is average but definitely acceptable!

Faux Leather Flats (Charles & Keith) ★★★★★

One of my favorite pairs of flats currently! YM bought this for me from Singapore recently. I love how it pairs up perfectly with my bag :) Very comfortable too!

Cute Statement Tee (FOS) ★★★★☆

Bought three of these statement tees and this is my favorite. Like the witty statements a lot. Comfortable, thin material, this is something I will wear everyday. And most importantly, really affordable.

Bling Bow Baby Blue Flats ★★☆☆☆

This denim material flats is so pretty but the comfortableness left a lot to be desired. It cuts mercilessly into my skin and left me with painful blisters everytime I wear them :( But I still have to say they're beautiful. Very.

End of post. All I can say is doing this post took up all my energy. Not going to do a shopping post anymore!!! Too exhausting. I have to admit, fashion is really NOT my thing as much as I love it.

Authentic Thai Cuisine. Yums!

2011-08-13T00:46:00.004+08:00

I am taking a short break from writing travelogue, but I promise I will be back with that soon. For the time being, I shall share about one of my current favorite restaurants- Annathai-Kitchen.

The restaurant is in Pulau Tikus (near the market), a very basic and homely place It was highly recommended to me by my two colleagues who are pretty picky when it comes to things they pop into their mouths so YM and I decided to give it a try.

We ordered Tomyum Kung, a vegetable dish and crab meat fried rice, with Mango sticky rice to seal the deal and I have to say I am hooked immediately! I had been wanting to go back again and finally last night, we went back, this time with Gigi on tow :)

Annathai has one of the simplest menu, not much choices in fact, but the food was really scrumptious. The owner of the restaurant was a friendly chap who always come out with recommendations so we didn't even really have to read the menu!

And because I did not look at the menu, I don't really know the name of the dishes we had. But I would say, you can trust him for recommendations.

The meal started with a traditional Thai Appetizer.

Chopped up spices and ingredients - onions, lemon grass, chilies, ginger, peanuts, whatever else I don't know, wrapped in a special leaf and chew away. We all love the spicy taste of this.

Spicy Clear Soup Chicken, tasted very much like Tomyum but the restaurant owner insisted that it is different.

This is Gigi's favorite. If you like Tomyum, this probably would suit your taste buds. The sour and spicy soup is perfect to go with steamy white rice. The amount of chicken and mushrooms is quite generous too!

Thai Leaves Omelet with Sambal Belacan.

The "Thai leaves" (as told by the owner) gave the plain old omelet a Thai-twist, went awesomely well with the homemade sambal belacan. Another way of eating it, as suggested by the owner was to dip it into the spicy soup above. The omelet absorbed the soup, and it was surprisingly tasty!

A vegetable dish to balance up our diet :) Kangkung in Bean Paste Sauce.

I like kangkung! The sauce for this was really good. I know it seemed to be a very basic dish, but it's definitely not boring. I actually like this a lot.

My personal favorite for the night- Claypot Prawns and Glass Noodles.

I always love prawns. LOVE. The glass noodles that had absorbed the sweetness of the prawns and the soy sauce was pure delight. And the succulent prawns, oh boy, I want more!

We were already stuffed after dinner, but we insisted for dessert before putting a full stop to our wonderful dinner.

Tub Tim Krob- Water Chestnut with Jackfruit Dessert.

Slightly different from its usual version, Annathai's added in chendols to this coconut milk base dessert. Crunchy water chestnuts cut into tiny cubes, wrapped in chewy tapioca-flour, sweet Jackfruit and the fragrant chendols swimming in a pool of coconut milk syrup. Pure heavenly.

It was one contented meal *rubbing rounded stomach*. The bill came up to RM72 and we find that quite reasonable for a nice dinner. Would definitely go back again! I am craving for their crab fried rice actually :D

ps: Good food is the key to diet failure FML!