10 things about the weekend

1. First Coach buses breed flies.

2. The water which seperates Singapore from Johor is called the Straits of Johor (formerly known as Straits of Tebrau).

3. Singapore is freakily clean.

4. Singaporean taxis are punctual and easily available.

5. Singaporean taxi drivers do not know how to drive.

6. HTC phones are apparently supercheap in Singapore.

7. CATS the musical has no storyline.

8. Rhinos are anti social animals.

9. I have natural talent playing wii sports.

10. Apparently according to Singaporean Immigration, I don't look like my passport photo.

numero dos

Actually I have millions of pictures I want to share especially in Facebook but since FB is being such a slow snail at the moment, I thought why not post some up in this soon-to-be-dead-if-I-don't-update blog of mine.

Today is the launching of Departure Lounge outlet number 2. It was such a wonderful opening event I personally thought. The cafe is very nicely designed, we all loved it so much. Congratulations to the management team for your new born baby :)

pad thai galore

After being stranded in a foreign land with no plans, no money and no idea what's going to happen the next day, I'm finally back home enjoying my own bed and pillows, mom's cooking, and my brand new car. Oh by the way, my car was partially submerged in the KL flash flood 2 weeks ago and it was in pretty bad condition.

As a birthday gift to myself, I went for a holiday in Krabi, Thailand, last week. The excitement was a wee wild as it was my first time stepping on Thai land. Before this, all I knew about the country were Thai Baht, Pad Thai, ladyboys and elephants.

Day 1 - Since our flight was delayed (very typical of Air Asia), we arrived at Ao Nang little town in Krabi in the evening. I was overwhelmed by the friendliness of the Thais around the area. They're all so petite, humble and very welcoming. I *heart* Thai people!

Day 2 - Thought of being adventurous so we decided to take up the Kayaking + Elephant trekking package. To think about it, I'd never wanted to go kayaking and now I had already done it!


This is the starting point of our kayak adventure. The total distance we kayaked was approximately 4 kilometers. That's a long way. But we all knew, even the kayak guide, that women's job when it comes to kayaking is to look pretty and behave like princesses. That's what I did most of the time except for the last stretch of the race where I paddled so hard to be numero uno to reach the finish line!

There she was - the princess and her all-that warrior :) Here we just passed a cave where many dead bodies were placed once upon a time. That's according to the legend. To find out how true it is, I guess anybody is welcomed to spend the night in there.

The monkey spot! Look harder into the picture. There is actually a monkey sitting on that wooden stick next to me. We stopped here to feed pineapple skin to the monkeys. I nearly got attacked by an angry monkey for picking up a piece of the pineapple skin from the ground. Dude, I wasn't going to steal your food away from you.


I touched a starfish!!!! Amazing isn't it? We saw lotsa crabs and starfishes on the wide piece of sand in the middle of the ocean. The day was full of human + animal interaction!

Elephants are my favourite animal right now! Just before our ride on this cutie pie, the tour guide pointed to this elephant and warned us that he's a little rebelious and likes to wander around on its own and disregard his fellow troop. The guide was all right. We were rather unlucky to be riding this elephant. But he wasn't that bad.. he pees like a leaked water tank and poops anywhere he wants. I love him to bits though.

Day 3 - Relaxing day after the tiring activities on the previous day. Walked along Ao Nang beach and bumped into a lady, amongst many, who loved saying "Thai Massaaaage?". She offered us a slice of pineapple and informed us what's on her menu. I was making small talk with her when I asked, "I see there are a lot of pineapples here. Where can I get the whole fruit?"

She responded, "I gib you for free. Come to my massage place at number eleben". Good marketing strategy. I ended up spending some 3 hours at number 11.


One full body massage with milk. One facial massage with aloevera. And a free manicure!

That night we wandered around and bumped into our old time friend - Ronald. Sawadee ka!

Day 4 - Phi Phi Island trip! There are so many photos, I don't even know which to put up.

This isn't THE Phi Phi Island. It's actually called the Bamboo Bay. To be frank, all the bays and islands we visited on this day were breathtaking. The water was green and the sand was soft. Everybody enjoyed the sea looking at fishes swimming around them and all aimed to be tanned.

Snorkeling with sea creatures! I fed bread to some school of fish and they sure did love it. I didn't get sun burnt on my body. Only my scalp and it hurts real bad :'(

Day 5 - Check out day. NOT. Airport was closed due to some anti government demonstration. They ain't going to let any tourist go unless Samak, the Thai PM, steps down. We had no choice but to pay for another night in our hotel. Also realised that I only had less than 200 Baht to survive with. Wished that airport would reopen soon.

Day 6 - Still in Krabi. Depended on cheap road stalls for food.

My favourite portable food stall which serves the best Pad Thai in Ao Nang. Only costs 35 Baht!

Fell in love with Chocolate + Banana Pancake. It reminded me of crepe with banana and nutella from the German market in Edinburgh. It only took 30 Baht to make me happy ;)

Day 7 - Krabi airport resumed its operation, although Samak is still PM! We dared not say anything until we were on the aircraft. Thankfully we were only trapped in Krabi for no longer than 2 days. Phew.

So there... In conclusion, the trip was the craziest I have had to date. I'm all tanned now and my body itches like hell! I have panda eyes no thanks to being glamourous for wearing shades in the hot sun.

God knows when my next post will be. Khob Kun Ka!

retreat once again!

I have spots on my wrists as a result of playing beach volleyball yesterday morning. It was a short 10 minutes game for me because I couldn't stand the 11 o'clock heat. I was literally showering in my own sweat. It wasn't sexy.

I sacrificed my weekend for a 'free holiday' a.k.a. company retreat, yet again. This time it's a little different as the crowd was smaller and the people who attended were more familiar to me. I guess it was also better because I had no pressure to sound smart (didn't have to emcee this time!).


While waiting for all to arrive and this includes the VIPs such as the Head of Departments and of course our dearly young and handsome CEO. That was my original seat before we were shuffled around. I ended up sitting right in front of the mic-stand. So I could see all the freckles the CEO has on his face. Woot woot.


Together we CAN make it! This was the exact spot where all the CBKians performed 2 songs for all the audience. The performance was real funny considering that we didn't have proper practice for it. I hope no one took a video of the performance because its something that I don't want to hear again.


Guoman Beach - my room was overlooking the beach and golf course. The view was breathtaking. However the weather was a bit too hot that weekend.


Guoman Beach at sunset. And that was the pool I kept wishing to jump into. I didn't because I don't have the proper attire and I ... erm.. can't swim.


Gala Dinner food feaaaaaaaaast! The stupidly-themed 'Sports Night' Gala Dinner was a blast with great variety of food and many crazy headed drunken men. I was pleased that many knew my name and who I was. And ooh, I was nominated for best dressed thank you very much! Just so you know, I didn't wear anything fantastic. Don't ask me why I was up on the runway parading my outfit.


There! What was I wearing? I don't know but supposedly a tennis attire. Haha. So that got me nominated as one of the best dressed. Those things in my hands were prizes from the activities we had earlier that day. Yippee!

Overall the retreat was fun. Guess it was an opportunity to bond a little closer to the people I work with.

pig out

Tonight I have completely pigged out. I ate everything that was placed on my plate and drank everything that was in my glass. Whether it was beef or chicken, meat or vegetable, soft drinks or iced water. For RM50, I have managed to get myself 5 months pregnant once again.

We had our department's annual dinner at a Brazilian BBQ restaurant somewhere in Damansara Jaya. There were so much food served - unlimited beef, lamb, chicken, fish, prawns, vegetable, breads and soft drinks for all of us bankers. My personal favourite was the garlic bread which was sinfully delicious. It was served from the skewer fresh from the oven. The texture of the bread was so soft that it was melting in my mouth. Pieces of garlic were generously sprinkled on the bread and a little flavour of mayonnaise gave a whole new experience to the taste.

I mingled around with my colleagues, superiors and my big boss discussing every single thing. My big boss brought his nine year old son to the function and ooh what a decent boy he was. After pigging out, I got the opportunity to have a private chat with this little boy who I thought was very smart with his words. At nine, he could explain in detail on how he scored his first goal in his school's football tournament. He also told me that hummingbirds migrate from China to Malaysia during the winter time. I have no clue of the truth behind this statement but I was sure that the whole department were checking out on me when I chit chatted with the big boss' son! Heh.

All in all, I think my batchmates and I have done a good job in organising this event. Food was good, ambience was nice and cozy, and everyone was happy.

historic city

Malacca was beautiful on the day we went there. It didn't rain and it wasn't too hot. As you can see in the picture below, the skyline in Malacca on Saturday was amazing. Cloud patches were everywhere and the we could feel the sea breeze blowing against our bodies.


The drive to the history city didn't take too long although the traffic towards Malacca city centre was heavy. The journey from the exit toll booth towards the city centre was around 10 km ride apart and it felt like there were traffic lights every 200 meters.

What amazed me the most was the trishaws. They were excessively decorated and each trishaw has their own loud music on. Any music you want, you can definitely get it. From Malay ballads, to Malay dangdut, to English rock, and to RnB hits.


There were a million and one kind of musuems too. I was tempted to go to the Stamp Museum mainly because I was very curious how fast I could fall asleep in there.

During the day, we manage to see the A Famosa fort, hiked up St Paul's Hill to see his church, and walked to and fro on Jonker walk. One question: Is Jonker the English name for Hang Jebat, one of the warriors of Malacca? Anybody knows?


Finally before we headed back to KL, this caught my eyes. First I saw it from a distance and I thought my eyes were playing games with me. I went up close and confirmed that it was written London on it.

Malacca is a place worth going even for a day trip. I really recommend it!

sayonara

It's scary how time flies so quickly. Today is the first day of December and in 30 days we'll be saying goodbye to 2007. An exciting year I have to admit but let's not talk about it until the end of the year.

The last few weeks have been very hectic for me. There was too much going on until I didn't have the opportunity to get enough rest. Because of that, now I'm unwell and I suspect it's the viral fever which is circulating around.

Last weekend I went to Damai Laut, located just across Pangkor Island, for our bank's CBD retreat. I had to forgo my cousin's wedding just because of the compulsory attendence for this business trip. And let's not forget that I was the emcee for this successful event.

To be honest, it's not so much of a retreat. It's all work, work, work for me and my CMT10 colleagues. What made it even worse is that we had to take the old road to reach our destination. Let me tell you something. My team leader isn't a safe driver.

He had a little too much to drink the night before our departure back to KL. No thanks to him, we were short of one driver, so I stepped up and offered to drive. It was a honourable thing to do i.e. to let my other colleagues sleep during the journey back. I conked out right after I reached home.

Last Wednesday before our 4 months attachment, all of us went for a hike up Bukit Melawati. I was already sick by then, but I had missed the first hike last Hari Raya so I told myself I'm not going to miss another one. The hike reminds me of Mount Kinabalu but obviously it wasn't like it. Hiking was fun but later that evening, my body temperature went up, up, up.

After all these outdoor activities, I am now very tanned and my skin is full of mosquito bitings. Don't get me wrong, I still love being outdoors but for the love of God, let me get some rest. Honestly, I don't think I'm going to recover from my fever anytime soon.

all set

My luggage is all packed.

My script is all written.

My camera is fully charged.

My iPod is updated.

The adventure begins. Lets go soul searching!

mall hopping

I can now confidently say that I am a shoe addict. Although it sucks when you have to share the shoe cabinet with the rest of the family.

Today's new place to explore was The Gardens at Midvalley. Honestly I never knew that it was being constructed. I only found out about it two days ago and I thought I must pay this place a visit.

The Gardens was expectedly posh, somewhat like StarHill when I went there ten years ago. There were gazillion of people walking across the path which connected Midvalley Megamall (yet another shopping mall) to this newbie and I felt as if I was entering BEP's concert hall. Once entered, the interior of the mall dropped my jaws as it was beautifully designed. The line of shops sell things which was beyond my budget so I only had a good window shopping session.

Since the selection of restaurants were still very limited, I had to return to the shoe-heaven-Megamall for some food to break fast with. It was more than an hour before the breaking fast time but oh-my-lord, the queues were crazy at all eating places. I was even thinking of settling for snacks from Carrefour but thankfully there were some empty tables at this pricey italian restaurant. At least I didn't have to delay dinner.

At the restaurant I sat across this family of three just a meter away from me. They ordered their food just before I did mine but somehow my order arrived first. Both the family and I were waiting for the time for break our fasts and when it was time, their food still had not arrived. It is of course not advisable to delay breaking fast but I thought I was being rude for eating in front of them considering that they sat on their table first. The thought of offering my food to them popped up my mind but do people actually do that? So I ate my pizza quietly.

When their order came 10 to 15 minutes after we started eating, I noticed that their pizza was the exact one we ordered! Oh the horror. The scary part was that I was facing the man of the family. I could see clearly the dissatisfaction upon his face, his anger reaching its boiling point. I sped up with the food and left the place as soon as I could.

Then I happily headed to the old sweet One Utama.

back to school

For the Edinburgers, today is their first day of a new academic year. I was not sure what went on in my head but today was also the first day I stepped foot in a university after I left the 'Burgh.

I actually had never planned this so-called road trip beforehand. The next thing I know, I was on the way to Semenyih to visit the University of Nottingham, Malaysia Campus. It was a long journey away from where I live and the traffic was quite bad. I made a mistake of wearing black jeans because today was exceptionally hot and I felt as if my legs were in a sauna.

The scenery on the way there was different from what I'm used to. In fact, I felt as if I was far up north of the country rather than being near the capital. I finally reached my destination approximately 50 minutes after leaving home and wow, I was actually quite impressed with the exterior of the university.

I have been to the University of Nottingham in the UK four years ago. I might be wrong but I thought the Malaysia Campus looked similar to that of in the UK. Then I was told that they were actually trying to build it similar to the one in the UK. After stepping out the car to explore the campus, I realised that I have made a huge mistake for not bringing my camera.

The first stop of the tour was the library and thankfully it was fully air-conditioned and worked well. Once I stepped in, I wished I need not leave the room. I explored the EEE sections, I guess the geeky electronics girl has not left this body yet. It was funny that I still found the books interesting even when I have bitched a lot about the course.

Next was the triple E building. Nothing can beat The King's Buildings in my former university. There was nothing much to see at the Malaysia Nottingham's triple E building but it was still exciting being in a place where I know what the fancy equipments do.

I went around the Student Union and then noticed that there were a lot of Nigerian students. Most of them were well built and I felt very intimidated walking pass them. They were indeed very stylish and no doubt an eye-catcher. I apparently bumped into one lad and he nodded his head in the "How're you doin'" style. That was quite funny.

The layout of the university was nicely done however with the tropical weather Malaysia is having, I personally don't think many of the chill-out spots can be utilised. There was this beautiful lake in front of the main building with ducks swimming around, but I highly doubt that students would appreciate walking around the lake in this heat. There was also a nice big fountain somewhere in the campus but because the trees were only being planted, they couldn't provide shelter from the burning sun. Whereas indoors, I saw the potential of a great chill-out place and it was still under renovation.

An interesting place to go to today. I don't regret any single bit of it.