Life's like a book...

Chinese New Year 2011 - 30 Jan 2011

2011-02-14T14:04:00.006+04:00

So happy that I'd got my request this year for CNY....

First thing was to meet up with my old buddies...thought could see little MAtt....but he was asleep.......here we are....Pacific Coffee....IOI Puchong Boulevard.......

Cheerio!!!

Meet up with Uncle Rictor - 8 Aug 2010

2010-11-21T21:03:00.005+04:00

I haven't seen uncle Rictor (mom's brother) think probably at least 8 yrs ago.....Uncle Rictor has toned up and lost some weight....but still looking good/ handsome :)

He brought me to Flushing (New York) for this delicious lobster.....mine mine....wasn't it good!!!! Brought some sweet cherries back.....good stuff!!!

Chicken....

2 kinds of lobster.......

Balitong.....

The last time I went to New York was at year 2000. But this hotel that we stay in.....omg.....in chinese saying we say "mo lei gong gum yuen" - BLOODY FAR!!! from civilisation in Long Island....Apparently it takes 45 mins to get to the city by train.....since I've been to New York before I didn't bother going downtown...thank god there's a mall which has quite some important shops like Bath n BOdy works and Macy's there.....

Thank you uncle Rictor for your time!!!

Blogs updated ....

2010-11-18T13:23:00.002+04:00

A lot of events came up....I'd finally had time to update some entries into the blog....From now on, if you didn't see any blogs in "Life's like a book" please do not hesitate to visit "new chapter in life" as I might update some events in regards to my wedding.....

Cheers!!

Met up with Anni's parents - 19 Sept 2010

2010-11-18T00:18:00.004+04:00

I haven't seen Anni's parents for ages, probably since I was a kid....Anni is my mom's cousin. So it was delightful to see them in Melbourne.....We had seafood dinner in Crowne Casino, Melbourne.....Yummy....

Me and "Kow Goong"

Me, "kow poh" and anni

Me and Boon - anni's brother

Thank you Anni and family for meeting up with me....

When Ms became Mrs... - 20.10.2010

2010-11-17T23:53:00.006+04:00

Agenda for the day : -

0600 Woke up. Make up done by make up artist : Amanda Siew
0730 Left the house
0830 Reached JPN, Putrajaya.
Attendees of the event :-
Winnie's Family, Jo Anne, Shu Lee, Pony
Jeremy's Family, Andrew, Chee Chuan
When couples and witnesses (Jeremy's and my dad) have all arrived...you go to the counter to a number....and submit the 04 Identity Cards. A number was given to us....Here we are....

While waiting for the number, of course it was photo session time...

(19 photos in the slideshow)

The session was quite quick...thought that it might prolong till noon...but we finished approximately 10am.......Then we thought some photograph sessions would be good....so we went to a place near the Pullman Hotel....where there's a lake and mini burj al-arab,led by POny......Jeremy and I had fun being photographed....while the rest of the family and friends waited patiently for us.....Thanks guests!!!!

After the photo session, we proceeded to Shah Alam area for Thai lunch.....Lunch finished approximately 1pm....Went back home to pack for Hong Kong trip in the nite!!!

Overall, it's a wonderful day accompanied by loved ones.....that's all which matters.....

Pampering Day - 19 October 2010

2010-11-17T23:46:00.005+04:00

One more day ...... before I change my status to "MARRIED" legally......

So started the day with some hairdo....recommended by Amanda in Damansara Perdana....great hairstylist - Ivan...did a soft highlight - purplish and blowed the hair, hoping that it would last me until the next day....Think the hair only survived 30%....hahaahha.....

Then proceeded to Klang for facial with mom-in-law in Herbalife....

Today was the day we'd decided to pay for the wedding venue - Grand Dorsett (Sheraton Subang before) Paid a downpayment of RM5k. And subsequently, another RM5k a month later....

So the whole day passed with events that I'd only my lunch during dinner.....

And packed for Hong Kong trip for tomorrow....

Slept at 1am...

Hunting-for-ROM dress-day - 18 October 2010

2010-11-17T22:54:00.007+04:00

After much thoughts, I felt that the blue dinner dress that I'd bought in Sungei Wang wasn't that suitable for a ROM and thoght that maybe I should just be conventional and stick to beige/white.
I'd started the dress hunt in September 2010, when I went down to Singapore. During this trip, I'd to thank Irene ( Kitson's wife), Jocelyn, Jasmine and Serena for their patience and feedbacks to hunt the dress with me. Irene took me to Marina Square where renowned Singapore bridal designer Daniel Yam is. I kinda like a white short dress there...but it was said to be simple....Was on the verge of buying it but Serena's opinion sort of made sense.....the dress is too simple.

And during this Singapore trip, I'd also manage to go back Malaysia to have a glimpse what Malaysia had to offer. Went to Tangs, they offered Daniel Yam, the price much cheaper after conversion. So if anyone is looking for Daniel Yam's range, it's better off in Malaysia. Tangs also offered nice dinner dresses. But none of them really caught my eye, mainly because they were all other beautiful colours other than white/beige ^-^

And then came the last minute excitement!! Because as of 18 October (registration on 20 Oct) and I'm still without a dress!!!! I'd read in the Bride magazine that this shop Marry Merry offered some pretty dresses. At that time was close to 4pm, I tried on a couple. Liked one of them very much, but there wasn't any for my size.....so in the end, I'd chosen THE ONE....which wasn't to my only 90% of my liking....but since it's a last minute thing, I'd to accept the fact that time is of challenge to me. On top of that, I'd to beg the seamstress to alter for me in that one day, as I'd to collect the dress tomorrow!!!

And Kelvin arrived from Doha, we met him in One Utama. Amanda joined. The whole family helped me in getting my accessories, shoes and even did manicure/pedicure there. Thanks guys for your time!!!

Here it is : Dress from Marry Merry in SS2 boutique
RM299

When Ho meets Ho.... - 17 October 2010

2010-11-17T22:24:00.008+04:00

Today is my first day of my leave which also marks a very important and anxious day, as both the in-laws are meeting each other...I don't know how other couples feel, but am I nervous....maybe it's the anxious feeling of whether there'll be "empty" moments where no one is talking etc....but it turned out quite alright....
We had it at Ducking in Jaya One....

Didn't take much pictures as we were concentrating on the conversations during dinner :)

My DIL and MIL ....

Brandon (Jeremy's brother) and wife....

Turning points in life....

2010-10-01T21:37:00.002+04:00

It's a wonder how certain incidents can change your whole perspective or direction in life.....

After coming back from a flight (CGK-AUH, diversion to SIN) yesterday.....I'm thinking to do a revamp after 6yrs of flying....what is it???hahaha...for you to find out and for me to know.....

Sometimes I wonder how people can sleep peacefully every night after telling lies after lies and being a backstabber....sigh...that's life...like god said....our fingers are all not the same size........but that's how life is.....

But this is a valuable lesson...this person has taught me a great deal.....will sleep it through.....and be stronger than what I am today....Thanks backstabber!!! :)
Don't worry guys I am not getting insane and perfectly alright....Just sharing my thoughts....

Another good movie - Echoes of the Rainbow

2010-08-30T23:46:00.003+04:00

It's been a long time since I'd watched a meaningful HK movie, full of family values - Echoes of the Rainbow - which won a couple of awards.....The newcomer Aarif Lee is GOOD.... plus he is goodlooking and very young - his look is a combo of Lam Foong and Lee Hom.... A word of advice for crybabies :p ....get some kleenex close by....

The story depicts how a poor family in Hong KOng in the early days make ends meet in their daily life. GOod watch!!!

Tokyo - 18 Aug 2010

2010-08-27T20:05:00.004+04:00

Being a Cabin Manager, since I'm the only one in the flight....I was quite sceptical on whether I would get my request with the girls - my ex-flatmate- Julie and Yen Nee...So I was sooooo excited when I got the request with the girls....and another Malaysian Jane got the flight too!!

Flight was long....but it was fun!!!Since we girls wanted some time together-just the 4 of us, we'd decided to tell a white lie to the rest of the team...It's a long stay - 52 hours...so crew would normally ask what you are doing etc....I told the team I'd to see my aunty, Jane said she'd to see her friend, the other 2 said they are going out but don't know to where....I hope that if any of our set of crew saw this blog....it wasn't too our intention to lie, but we just wanted some time together, that's all !!! There was a crew who was so desperate to go out until she asked Jane, if Jane could introduce her aunty to her....ahahahaha......

I'd cover quite a fair bit of Japan, and the only out-of-reach place which I haven't seen was Kamakura....so off we went....
Took Keisei Narita to Tokyo (approximately Y900. Direct exchange rate to Dirhams is at 4.2) - 1 half hour
Tokyo - bought a Kamakura Enoshima Free Kippu - Y1970 (another 1 hour to destination)

As we were short of time, we selected what we thought were worth to see....

1) Hasedera Temple - Y300 entrance fee
- One of the largest wooden Goddess of Mercy sculpture in Japan , standing at 9.18m (not allowed to take picture)

2) We proceeded to the Great Buddha (Daibutsu) - Y200 entrance fee
- Second tallest bronze Buddha statue in Japan

3) Hachimangu Shrine
-most important Kamakura Shrine

4) Kenchoji Temple - Y300 entrance fee
-the oldest Zen temple in Kamakura...on good days, you will be able to see Mount Fuji...well luck was not our side, so no Mount Fuji.... :( but it's a GOOD climb...up to see the views of the temple)....not worth the climb.....

25 pics :

We reached back in the city at around 5pm....All tired and exhausted after waking up at 5am to catch the 6.15am shuttle bus...We went to Shibuya, to see the little Doggy Hachiko statue which had such a touching story...

Chu-ken Hachiko (lit. the faithful dog Hachiko) was born in Akita in 1923 and was first brought to Tokyo in 1924. He and his owner, Mr. Eisaburo Uyeno, were inseparable friends right from the start. Each day "Hachi" would accompany Eisaburo, a professor at the Imperial University, to the train station when he left for work. Upon returning, the professor would find the dog patiently waiting, tail wagging. This happy routine continued until one fateful day in 1925, when the professor was taken ill on the job and unfortunately died before he could return home.
Despite the fact that Hachiko was less than two years old at the time, the bond between dog and owner was strong. Hachiko continued to wait each day at Shibuya station for a friend who was never coming back. At times, he wouldn't return home for days at a stretch.
The Akita became a familiar sight to commuters as he kept his vigil for over ten years. On March 8, 1935, Hachiko finally went to meet his master. He died on the very same spot he last saw his friend alive

We were dead hungry at 7.45pm....Looked for this famous ramen shop (Mensa Munshi) near Shinjuku station.....asked like 1001 people before we finally found the shop.....the Tsukemen (hot) - it has the cold as well just like Soba style.... it is in the Shinjuku JR station west exit (a good 400m walk)....just follow the main street - cross the junction...just keep on your right...( you will pass MOS burger on the right) keep walking until you see Sun - mart Convenience store...turn right...the shop is on your right....GOOD stuff!!! Ramen was a little salty though....but the Tsukemen (Y1000)was good!!

We travelled around Tokyo with JR 1 day pass@Y730...

We took the 2nd last train out at 2228. Reached hotel around midnight...

Thank you ladies!! It was an unforgettable trip....

Cabin Crew's Day-to-Day Whining - WHINE TWO

2010-07-29T15:32:00.002+04:00

Today was a short Dammam (Saudi) turnaround flight...
Flying time : 56mins

A young mom - probably in ther late 20's (covered with albaya without the "mask") boarded with 1 cabin bag and 1 shoulder bag.....with a 1 yr old son - who was being carried by the ground staff.....

Situation 1
So obviously upon reaching the aircraft, ground staff has to leave the baby with the mom...and so no one is carrying her son then as she had no spare hands. So she asked the ground staff to bring the son to her seat....Obviously since she's in the a/c we, the crew had to take over the responsibility....Told the crew to carry the son- which we are not supposed to- to her respective seat...

Situation 2
When we arrived in AUH, we had only steps, no connecting bridge...so how le??
As soon as she stepped out of the aircraft...she said...I need the stroller....Told her the stroller is only available in the terminal...not right here....so here is the surprise question!!!
"SO HOW AM I GOING TO GET DOWN?" (the stairs)

My crew and I were dumbfounded.....In my heart I was thinking...Should I carry you down then, by you asking such question??

So since we cannot have her standing there contemplating to "get down" to the bus or not..I told her...I'll carry the baby down for her....and she said she is going 2 rounds to take the bags!!!Please read the above description again....SHOULDER BAG AND CABIN BAG....(In the end, one of our ground staff assisted her to take down the other bag - he was also complaining that it is not our responsibility actually)

Conclusion :
1)These people are so used to a domestic helper that they are so helpless without them.
2) She can't even take care of her self, how could she take care of the baby??

In an unrelated matter, the other day, we had some problem with a local lady...I spoke to her earlier before the "problem" started....(So she speaks English, I know)...I always think that if the same nationality were to speak to each other...it will be better....so I sent someone who speaks Arabic to her....she said....to the crew..."TEll your manager I feel offended she sent someone to speak Arabic to me"... I feel offended....it feels like people are looking down at her...

TODAY, when a family boarded, my crew (Arabic) was speaking to the family in English...welcome onboard...seat XX...go straight...etc..... The head of the family, the dad/husband said to my crew...it's funny...we are Arabs and we speak English....

%^&#%# !!!!

What's happening to the world??

That's why wars happen...Simple things like this can be made to such complicated matters....

Cabin Crew's Day-to-Day Whining - WHINE ONE

2010-07-14T02:25:00.007+04:00

Sometimes the saying is true....Empty vessels make the most noise....

People try every way to upgrade themselves to another cabin....

But the most common replies you get from these passengers are "Check the list to see who I am" or "I know the Sheikh"
I don't care who the H*LL you are....cabin crew is not allowed to upgrade....or not we will be in deep S*%$ (ie demotion)...is that so hard to understand???

In the same flight...you have 2 First Class Passengers : THe ruling family of Bahrain : the Khalifas we call them....

Situation : Our flight was delayed. All pax in the aircraft. Doors closed.
One of the Khalifas asked the crew... Is it ok for me to use the mobile to tell my family the flight is delayed??

So isn't the saying true??

13 June 2010

2010-07-09T02:16:00.002+04:00

As Jeremy wasn't feeling too well, I went to have a look at more bridal shops.....Think I"m overdoing it....but somehow still didn't have the right feel yet......

I went to Touch - errrm.....somehow they didn't give me the feel at all....one of the bottom in my list......what feeling??....think it's the feel which makes you feel that it's safe to hand over a good photo taking session to them....plus a range of bridal gowns.......

Sophia - after discount...it still goes at RM4k......but so far my considerations are :-

1) Precious
2) Keep Gallery
3) Micasa

So let's see in my next leave....for the final decision.....Have to thank Pony for all her time and sharing her opinions with me on the bridal shops......

12 June 2010

2010-07-08T11:37:00.006+04:00

Another year wiser.....today marks my 32nd birthday.....like any other year, didn't feel any difference.....

The day started with receiving a bouquet of lilly from Jeremy....(after much of complains ....ahahhaha.....) tq dear!!!

The afternoon continued with a delicious home-cooked food by Aunty wah....TQ so much for your effort!!! The steam chicken was excellent...and so were everything else....

Later in the noon, we proceeded to KLCC to see the designer wedding bands......

Cartier : the design's tremendous and reasonable as well.....but it's too "thick" which makes it uncomfortable on the hand......

Bvlgari : almost the same design like Cartier....and uncomfortable :(

This year, request was to eat Western food.....

So Jeremy brought me to Nero Teca at Changkat Bukit Bintang.....

Good food......we ordered piggy.....poor piggy.....small piglet i mean...which costs RM180...omg...most exp piggy i've ever eaten!!!THis was a bit overpriced....

And a plate of Spaghetti Carbonara.....

(Both of us didn't bring camera)

Ended the day by going to Neway Karaoke Subang.....it was a great celebration as I got to celebrate it with all my loved ones....my family and Jeremy.....

11 June 2010

2010-07-08T10:50:00.003+04:00

Finally had the guts to "remove" my keloid on my chest!! Went to Ranjit Skin Specialist in SS15.....injection costs RM80....ouucch.....not as painful as I thought....but the after-effect of the injection was more painful of the injection....probably Jeremy's hands were numbed cos I was so scared of the injection!!!!! THe next is laser treatment after 6 wks....

Later in the noon, Jeremy and I went to have a look at the bridal shops....

Casamia : The salesperson was really good....think she has the best service so far but the package is way too exp : close to RM5k. THe gowns were nice as well..

Micasa : The boss of this shop was there....Gosh, he can talk!!!!! The gowns were nice...but it's "separated" into "Rm2999 gown" or the "RM3699 gowns" They were having a bridal fair and if you were to sign up by that weekend...it's a reduction of RM300 which makes it RM3399...by far one of the cheapest in these big studios...but really felt uncomfortable with the boss talking.....makes me feel like "all talk but no action"...

In the nite, celebrated my bday in Tenji Japanese buffet restaurant in Solaris....

10 June 2010

2010-07-08T10:11:00.003+04:00

We went shopping for our hotels for dinner....

Sheraton Subang, Saujana : These 2 hotels look good.....

We went to Mid Valley to have a look at wedding bands again...

Love & Co : The range LVCpromise looks good as well....

Goldheart : Not our type.....

We ended the day by watching Shrek 3D!!!Nice....

09 June 2010 - Going to JPN in Putrajaya

2010-07-06T20:52:00.008+04:00

We went to JPN in Putrajaya to get ourselves registered.....
We are registering on 20 Oct 2010 - which marks 20.10.(2010)

Then we proceeded on to have a look at Equatorial Hotel, Bangi for our wedding dinner....Was quite interested in the Garden wedding but it could only fit 250 guests...The place is farrrrrrr.......with the help of Jeremy's GPS.....probably there's a shorter way.....

Since we were in that vicinity....why not Kajang Satay???

Our next itinerary was to look at wedding bands....Proceeded to Pavilion Tiffany & Co, DeGem and Schoeffel.....

Verdict :-

Tiffany & Co : Only platinum and didn't have the designs that we both wanted

DeGem : Tops our list in wedding bands.....our picks are http://www.infinity-rings.com/#/infinity?id=14/">Inifinity - Rio and Athens...

Schoeffel (by Poh Kong) : Somehow the designs were just ok....

Cuti-cuti Malaysia - 30 May - 03 June 2010

2010-06-30T19:11:00.007+04:00

As usual, every leave we go on a cuti cuti Malaysia trip, just to savour the food......and visit our grandpa and uncle.....

(around 20 pics)

Haadyai...
Think due to political issues and lack of tourism, Haadyai's tourism has died down....such a pity....there used to many rows of road side stalls.....but it's only left with 1 or 2 rows.....Besides the food, we also went for Thai Body Massage - 2 hrs for 450Baht...and Foot Massage - 1 hr : 250 Baht......We stayed in Lee Garden : the room was pretty basic,but in the heart of the city : 1150B....Parents brought us to this restaurant (same row with Siam City Hotel - corner shop) to have o-cean (mussels)yummy and cheap!!! (around 20 pics)

Meet up with ex-colleagues - Mahkota Technology - 04 June 2010

2010-06-05T12:24:00.004+04:00

It has been ages since I met a group of my ex-colleagues...Great to see their kids too!!! Fr L to R : Ying Ying (Alice's daughter), Alice, Me, Evan, Shirley, Jet (at the back), Steve

Happy Wesak Day - 28 May 2010

2010-05-28T20:34:00.005+04:00

Today was another adventurous day.....
I started the day by going to the Subang Jaya temple. Hot and hot is the description of the weather.

Next event was a new "adventure" for me.....(I would prefer to put this "event" into another blog of mine, which is coming up soon!!Keep a lookout :P )

Due to Wesak day, both of my good friends Jo and HS are back....We met up for dinner in Italiennies in Empire....food's great.....I wanted to have Fried chicken in CHilli's but the waiting list was for 1 hour....so thanks, but no thanks!!!!

After food we wanted to see the new hotel in Empire. So we went....the adventurous us....There were some staffs from Empire : think it's a marketing campaign, all wearing red T-shirts which read "opening march 2010", and with that campaign, think they were supposed to show potential - guests like US (hahahahhaha - who's staying only 5 mins away from Empire) around the hotel.....

First Comment from Jo : (as she was looking at the stairs up the hotel - which was around 20 steps up): How come there's no escalator??? What if I'm a guest who's 70 yrs old can't climb up the stairs......(Jo , jo...:P )

Second Comment came from me :- How come in your t-shirt says opening march 2010 but it's not open yet? :P (according to the staff, it got delayed, it's opening in july)

And so they brought us to the rooms......
Third COmment (this was hilarious) came from the frequent Starwood Preferred Guests Top Tier Card Holder ( Han San ) and soon to be Ms Khaw (Jo)as Jo now requires to travel more often :-

(The room which they showed us targeted at business travellers )

Jo asked : If it's meant for businessmen, where's the desk?? ( in every hotel it should be near the bed , but in here it's a round clear glass table - some of us might even have this table as our dining table and to top it all it's at the entrance of the hotel room, separated from the "room" and facilities ie the telephone etc.....

Then came another reply from HS who told the hotel staff : Ini salah, the table shouldn't be here......it should be in the "room" area......ahhahaha.....

I told the staff : We are giving valuable ideas...he (the staff) should propose it to the management..... :P

After viewing, I told the both HS & JO that they were like wanting to buy more of the hotel property than viewing it as a guest....so many comments :P

We ended the day with some ice blended dessert in SS15 called snowflake......Han San told me to accept back the culture that Malaysia has...which is QUEUING. OH MY GOD!!
The reason is AGAIN, there was a queue of close to 10-15 people ahead of us to buy the dessert!!! never mind the queuing.....after that we were given a beeper ufo thing (which I haven't seen before - will post the photo soon) which beeps when the dessert is ready - which was another 10 - 15 mins of waiting time.... in total, we waited for approximately averagely 20-25 mins just for dessert at 11pm!!!!UNBELIEVABLE!!!But to be on the fair side, the dessert was good lah....BUT STILL!!!!

Had a great day especially on the hotel viewing and dessert :P.....Thanks guys for your time!!

The Adventurous "Us" still..... - 27 May 2010

2010-05-27T22:25:00.003+04:00

My best friend, Li Min and I and the gang aka HS, Jo& Lili and I have always been known of doing "slightly" adventurous stuffs.....we will just drive down to somewhere for pics, food, you name it....but mostly for food and pics.though....

This time round Li Min sneaked out from the KLIA airport and left her husband in the airport....hahahaha....not that she sneaked lah....she has a malaysian passport and a transit mah....so.....

Hahahha...that sounded adventurous wasnt' it??? But that was just an exaggeration.....I just got to know yesterday that Li Min will ask if it's ok if she comes out from the airport for a 3 hour transit, so that we can meet up...She was travelling on MAS fr NZ to TOkyo.....(I'm on leave from 25 May - 15 June)

And yes...we did it!! She arrived at 8.20pm...Came out from the airport at 9pm (Honey wasn't keen on coming out) and we chatted till 10.30pm...Her departure was at 11.30pm.....pheww......Honey was so scared that I will take Li Min away that he kept asking if he doesn't see Li MIn by departure, what should he do??ahhahhaha......

Took some pics...will upload our pics soon!!! Miss you....S Li Min!! Safe journey to Tokyo...

Following the Chinese tradition - 26 May 2010

2010-05-27T22:18:00.003+04:00

I believe it's a usual tradition in the Malaysian culture that after the proposal the groom seeks the bride's parents consent of a suitable date of the registrar of marriage.

Obviously girls will never understand how petrifying the feelings are cos we will never go through the whole ordeal!!! On this date, Jeremy seeks my parents' consent for his proposal for the registration / marriage in my house, after we'd dinner in Serdang....Well done dear!!! Proud of you....

Ip Man 2 - 17 May 2010

2010-05-20T16:50:00.004+04:00

Watched Ip Man2!! So inspiring.....feel like learning martial art after watching it!!! This sequel was equally good.... Plus the supporting actor Huang Xiaoming not bad juga!!!hehehe....

What's been most popularized is the phrase from Ip Man's movie in the scene where he says, "I wan to fight 10 people - and after that he puts his sweet potato aside " ahahhahaa....damn hilarious.....the "scene" was used in All's Well End's Well 2010 and also 72 tenants of Prosperity...

Thumbs up....promise you won't fall asleep in the cinema....

Capetown - 08 - 11 April 2010

2010-05-15T14:23:00.009+04:00

I was waiting for a 4 days off (without requesting )to go to visit this sceneric city. Finally in April, I'd 4 days off and mom happened to be here too...Right timing.....

Unfortunately, the day when we arrived on 9 April, it was raining....Gee spoiled the mood and some trips had to be cut...ie the Garden route.

Transportation
We rented a Volkswagen GOlf at Rand528 (RM 223) for 2days - Manual. They don't have a map....In the daylight, it was relatively ok, but when night came, we got lost once.......the worse part is when it's slightly of the city, the so-called highway is not litted up......

Personally, I would rather take public transport but according to my little research, transportation wasn't that convenient. And yes, taxis are relatively expensive. Per kilometre around R5. For easy calculation R10=RM4. From the airport to the city is approx 20 mins. Not that far. No offense to anyone but I never suggest the Hope On/Off Bus to anyone. But in Capetown, I think it's worth it!!!

2Day Ticket : R200Adult/Kids R120
1Day Ticket : R120Adult/Kids R60
Go Cape Town Card : R360 (which includes 1D ticket, 2 Oceans Aquarium ticket, and access to Table Mountain Cableway ticket.

The Cableway tickets : Adult R160 (Return), Children R80
Etickets : R170 , Children R90
(We went up as early as 9am, there was no queue, but when we came down around 12pm, the queue was rather long, that's the reason why Etickets is R10 more expensive)

Parking in the malls/city centre : R8 per hour (minimum)

09 April 2010

DUe to rain, we visited the Malay Quarter, Bo Kaap, well known for its colourful houses along the slope of Signal Hill. Besides that there are a couple of mosques...Nothing much to offer, from there we walked to Green Market Square...where there are lots of shops and eateries. We proceeded to Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, a huge shopping mall, and as the name says, it has a waterfront. This place is quite pretty. It is the place where you can purchase ticket/take a ferry to Robben Island

Interesting facts about Robben Island :-
1) Served as a place of banishment, imprisonment, and isolation during the 17th - 20the century, prisoners included Nelson Mandela
2) Now a World Heritage Site

I missed the tour due to the weather :(

Approx 25 pics below..

10 April 2010

You could make a phone call to the Table Mountain hotline to know if the cablecars are permitted to go up (if it's raining, it will cease) Fortunately today, the day was beautiful!! A bright sunny day!!So we drove up halfway ( which was quite slopy also) to the Cable Car station.

Facts about Table Mountain :-
1) 1086 metres above sea level
2) Forms part of National Park

With its height, obviously it was a 1 or 2 degrees colder than when you are at the station. So remember to bring a jacket.

Then according to one tour pamphlets, we drove around South Peninsula. THink this tour the itinerary is pretty good as it was quite a sceneric route.

Chapman's Peak Drive covers a good 9km drive from Hout Bay to Noordhoek- it is a gateway between Cape Town and South Peninsula. In this narrow drive, there's a toll!!Something unexpected - R28 per car. At some point, when you driving in the mountain area, the rocks above you is quite scarry, if the weather is not good, this route is not recommended!!

1) Clifton & Camps Bay - beachside - eateries and pubs
2) Hout Bay - Good seafood place - fish and chips - there's a ranch restaurant looking - which has quite a good crowd
3) Noordhoek
4) Kommetjie - tallest iron cast tower in the South African coast (nothing spectacular - just a lighthouse)
5) Scarborough
6) Cape of Good Hope - Entrance fee (R150)
7) Cape Point
8) Simon's Town - penguins. In between Simon's town to Cape Point there's also whale watching.
9) Fish Hoek - didn't go
10)Muizenberg - didn't go - in between Simon's Town and Muizenberg, there are famous colourful dressing rooms near the beach though...

Approx 33 pics below...

We ended the day in this spectacular Shopping Mall - Canal Walk, but it was quite out of the way. Dinner at Cattle Baron, Steak Ranches. Pork ribs - R99,Chicken - R89 - The Ribs was GOOD STUFF!!

Brussels - 24 April 2010

2010-05-03T13:02:00.004+04:00

An appetizer....famous fries from Belgium.... Euro 2.2 with any sauce....without sauce will be Euro1.8

Yummy mussels!!! At Euro10 you get mussels, fries + beer....the mussels were so fresh....had it in street - Rue des Bouchers, Galeries St Hubert....where there's too many choices to pamper yourself....

Godiva ice blended chocolate - Euro4

To end the day : Hoegarden citrus flavour Euro 0.6

Move to single accomodation - Etihad Plaza - 07 Feb 2010

2010-05-01T15:32:00.006+04:00

It was a long wait to move to a single unit accomodation by the company. Finally....after 1 half yrs....Thanks to my specially escorted "maid" all the way from Qatar, my kind brother, the movers (by the company) we moved like 28 small boxes and luggages.....

Outside the apartment (hallway)

Entrance to the apartment...

Kitchen....

Balcony.....

Hall....

View from balcony... me staying in 8th floor...

Manila - AGAIN - 27 April 2010

2010-05-01T14:32:00.007+04:00

As usual Manila delights me with its' bread!! Love the Gardenia and its' Ensaymada.....ensaymada is basically bun with grated cheese and top. But of course it has its different flavours like ube(tapioca)paste, ham, chocolate filling....

This time, it was a pleasure to fly with Shevron.....We first started the day with breakfast at Jollibee (Greenbelt)- the famous fastfood chain store in Manila.

Barbeque chicken rice value meal - Peso 129 = RM9.2

Spaghetti P42 = RM3

Then did some shopping around the area and we had fish n chips in Fish & Co (Greenbelt 3). I had the New York Fish & Chips (Cheese inside the Fish) ; P415 =RM30. Good stuff!!

As I would love to go back for the pork, we had "siu yook", which they call it Liempo in Landmark foodcourt in the Baliwag Lechon Manok stall. P81 = RM6

The Ensaymada which I conquered...think altogether there were around 15 from 2 different shops.
Goldilocks - in Ayala Metro station, next to SM Makati building,
Ube Ensaymada; P27

I just discovered this Muhloch Ensaymada, in Landmark Foodcourt, which is not bad as well but kinda smaller than GOldilocks.
Cheese Ensaymada = P18 = RM1.2

Shevron and I in flight.....

Good trip but tiring.....

The Malay Movie - Sepi

2009-10-24T00:02:00.003+04:00

Honestly, I can't remember the last time I watched a Malay Movie. Yes, a Malay movie!! Jeremy passed this dvd to me, but looking at the cover(I thought it would be some kind of comedy) - but when I watched it today.....I'm AWED!!!

The storyline was good, cast was good....and I think the director was superb - Khabir Bhatia....It might be a little slow movie...but 2 thumbs up.....I'm honestly very proud that it's actually a Malaysian production!!!!

It revolves around 3 main casts' love story - The characters : Adam, a chef who tried to find the love of his life in his singlehood status. There's Sufi, who lost his wife.....who then finds a new love....Last but not least, is Imaan's unexpected storyline.... you would have to watch Sepi ( released in June 2008) in order not to spoil the surprise.....

But DEFINITELY a good show!!!

Sydney 18 Sept 2009

2009-10-02T20:27:00.006+04:00

This Sydney was quite enjoyable as the timing of arrival was quite right. So managed to walk around to enjoy the fresh air and some food....Caught up with Goofy&Karen.....While I was walking on the street, I saw my SECONDARY school friend, Racheal Chan!! Wow...totally surprised....what a small world!!!! & this is not the first time I bump into frens like that in overseas....

And my flatmate, Julie happened to arrive in the evening, so we went out, took some photos, had some good food....

Since I've tried Lindt Cafe, thought of giving Guylian Cafe a try, in Harbour Side : Some Coffee special with chocolate something :)

Good!! But expensive.....Around A$10...

After some photo shoots, we went for Pancake on the Rocks......which is opened for 24 hrs!!!.....

This is some savoury pancake, with chicken&mushroom feeling inside....nice....Bacon & cheese Pizza...Double chocolate pancake with Vanilla ice cream.....

My best fren's wedding 09 Sept 2009

2009-10-02T20:26:00.011+04:00

Some facts about Li Min & I :-
Knew Li Min when we were both 5 years old.
Friends of nearly 26 years.
She stayed in NZ & me in Abu Dhabi now...

I find that our friendship was one of those which we find hard to come by in anyone's journey in life. Probably you will find a handful throughout your journey. And she is the ONE in my journey in my life. hahah....it might sound as though we are lovers, like she and I always joked.

When I heard that she was preparing to get married, I was more than happy. But it also took me to reality as she is now moving on to the next "stage" in life......She and I were always "separated" as she had moved to New Zealand during University days- but distance never kept our friendship apart. Occasionaly, she does come back for her holidays, had fun times, driving down to Melaka with Han San, kena saman for "fast driving"..... :)

There were lots of beautiful memories but in this blog I just want to highlight some unforgettable ones which I think will be remembered for good.....There was a time where both of us just "had" enough of our employers and we called it quits. I flew to NZ for 3 weeks, we went holidaying in Christchurch, Wellington & Queenstown. That's where I learned to be a bum....Nice !!! :P

Then when I was in Gulf Air, she flew to Bahrain. My parents, she and Ivy (one of my GF friends) we all went for holidays Cairo (Egypt) trip. It was also another unforgettable trip. I always laughed at her for the way she was looking down at taxi driver's shoes and pitying him and the very next day, the girls refused to pay an extra ONE Egyptian pound to another taxi driver...ahhahaa.....that was a personal joke which I think she and I will never forget....

One of the years when she & honey came back to M'sia for holidays....Enjoying themselves with Cheese Crab near Kepong area...

School days was even more fun!! She was my walking partner to school. We had stories to share everyday. What is growing up without sharing boys' stories. Thinking about it is putting a smile on my face now....... Unfortunately I didn't manage to bring to Abu Dhabi some old pics....She and I will also chat for hours on the local phone cos the phone rate was RM0.20 flat for unlimited hours....we will just have toilet breaks in between and continue talking!!!!! My mom often asked, how come we see each other in school but yet we still have so much to talk......

Our latest meetup one month before her big day.....in Melbourne August 2009....

Me, Li Min & her cousin...Me, Limin & both of her cousins... enjoying ourselves with Pho in Richmond...Taking every opportunity to snap pics...even in the car....

On the 08 Sept 09, the couple & I went through some final rundown of both the chapel & dinner event. Spent some quality time together...

Then finally, it's her big day..... 09 . 09. 09. Like many other couples, she prepared her wedding way ahead.....

I happily donned my "Chief Bride's Maid" lilac dress bought by Li Min....This was the second piece that she got for me as the first one didn't fit.....Thanks Li MIn!!!

The day started off with "cip san leong" - think the hurdles were kinda "easy" for honey to go through...was expecting of more dramatic actions....ahahhaa....so cruel of me...hopefully honey didn't see this...by the ways....all of her close frens in Kl calls her husband a.k.a Kevin - honey....

Then the tea ceremony between both of their families, and then we proceeded to the Chapel ceremony in Nikko hotel....which everyone has said was so romantic!!!!......the chapel facing the sea & all....& the highlight of the ceremony was when they exchanged vows.......when a number of us were close to tears....YES ....CLOSE...hehehhe.....The weather was lovely.......with blue skies...it went on well with releasing of baloons, photo taking....

The event ended with a wide spread of buffet choice dinner in Westin Hotel....And I loved the "surprise" event where the guests were not aware of Li Min's & honey's performance......it was a dance they've prepared for half a year!!! Their live performance were even held in Ipoh & Hong Kong!!! (during their dinner event in Hong Kong)Both of your effort were worth it!!

Overall, I hope the rest enjoyed the romantic wedding as much as I did,I sincerely wish them happily ever after...Once again, my heartiest congratulations!!! Huggsss & kisses!!!....

Beijing - 24 - 27 June 2009

2009-09-02T14:08:00.005+04:00

This time to PEK felt very touristy as I'd visited Great Wall. Went there around 13 - 14 yrs ago. The feeling was the same. Great Wall is not EASY TO CLIMB!! Bloody steep!!

The only difference was :-
1) the set of crew was MUCH MUCH better
2) I'd my SLR !!! It was my first time bringing it abroad.... :)
3) Weather was nicer around 25 - 30c
4) this time with Jeremy

We started off the trip to Xidan, shopping place...but all are just daily used ornaments - hair clips, t-shirts,shoes (not -so-interesting ones)

around 31 photos

And finally....

2009-08-31T12:29:00.005+04:00

I don't know if there's anyone who's reading my blog who will think...when is Winnie going to finish her blog for Japan. It's like nvr ending!!!.... :P...... yes yes this is the last part of the Japan trip....gosh...took 3 months to finish it!!!

Last meal in Japan...

My dessert.....

Before saying sayonara to Limin's Dad, Tq aunty & uncle for your hospitality!!!!

And why not some photos of MAS ' meals ??

In flight I was so happy when the Flight Deck from Tokyo actually said that we are going to pass by Mount Fuji on the right!!! I quickly went down to the back and recorded this. No need to take helicopter to see Mt Fuji after all .... :)

Sayonara Japan.....

Part 14 - Nikko

2009-08-31T07:53:00.007+04:00

*In 1616, the dying Shogun Tokugawa leyasu made it known that his final wish was for his successors to "Build a small shrine in Nikko and enshrine me as the God. I will be the guardian of peace keeping in Japan" As a result, Nikko became home of the mausoleums of the Tokugawa Shogun, which are on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Unlike most Japanese temples & shrines, the buildings here are mlticolored carvings & plenty of gold leaf and show heavy Chinese influence. It is a forest of over 13,000 cedra trees, covering the entire area. *info from wikipedia Getting a Nikko Pass makes life easier, as it covers transportation and entrance fees. There are quite a variety of Nikko Passes though. I took the World Heritage Pass. I didn't go to Lake Chuzenji (waterfall) Had I chosen to go as well, just add in another Y1,000 (I think)

Toshogu : Th burial place of dynasty founder Tokugawa. The shrine took 2 years to complete with the efforts of 15,000 workers.

Name of the whole stretch of carving : Tozai SUkibe

Futarasan Shine

The most famous symbol in the Sacred Stable is the carving of 3 wise monkeys : Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil - Curious series of carvings about life cycle of a monke, from childhood to fearful old age. Interesting!

Shinkyo - is a much photographed red bridge that separates the shrines from the town of Nikko. In feudal times, only the shogun was permitted to cross the bridge and even today it's barred from pedestrian traffic. To set foot on the bridge, you'll have to buy a Y350 tickect. Our bus just passed by.

(around 30 photos in slide)

(around 18 photos in slide)

Part 13 - Noboribetsu / Tokyo

2009-08-30T20:54:00.007+04:00

It's time to head back to Tokyo after fully utilizing my 7days JR Pass. But on the way back, we stopped by Noboribetsu ( In English is called Hell Valley )town.
I haven't tried the onsen before in Japan and since in Noboribetsu is considered "the best in the Hokkaido" region, why not give it a go??? And it was really worth it. Even mom liked it too.....Don't miss it if you are in the Hokkaido region!!!

Noboribetsu gives you a listdown of the spas found in this little town, the prices & what kind of spas available. Mom and I gave Daiichi Takimotokan a try & IT WAS AMAZING. Being the most expensive in the list, it is definitely worth the money. Only at Y2,000 (RM74) - this is some sort like a "day pass" for non hotel guests who wish to use only the hot spring.it has 7 different kind of hot springs which has different functions. If you go into the webpage just look for their Hot Spring Heaven. It explains which spring for what... - rheumatism, skin diseases, eases high blood pressure, allergies.....

And the facilities are excellent!! Their With facilities just like a clubhouse, shower, soap, towel, locker, water to drink.......think would be even better if you stay in their hotel/ryokan.......so that you can take your time to enjoy the spring.....

Those who've been for this hot spring in Japan knows that you've to strip completely in order to go into the spring and that explains why I've not taken any photos for the spas!!!

You just feel so refreshing after this.....hmmm.....

One sightseeing day in Tokyo, photos taken from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.....

Part 12 - Sapporo

2009-08-27T18:31:00.003+04:00

And finally, Sapporo....

In Sapporo, the streets are organized in terms of grid system. The address goes like "North x West Y". Sapporo is the capital and largest city of Hokkaido. It is one of Japan's newest & nicest cities.

Sapporo always reminded me of the Snow Festival....which I hope to have the opportunity to see in future...

Sightseeing time :
Asahiyama Koen - One of the places to view Sapporo from the top

Ishiya Chocolate Factory - One must not leave without the White Lover - Shiroi
Koibito - white chocolate. This chocolate is only found in Sapporo - Not bad!

Tokeidai / Watch Tower - symbol of Sapporo - oldest building still standing. Built in 1878.

The Seafood market here in Sapporo is not impressive at all like the one in Hakodate. Advice : If you wish to buy any food souvenir, buy it in Hakodate.

Part 11 - Hakodate2

2009-08-27T17:51:00.002+04:00

The places of interests include Motomachi - it is a traders residential area, which include Chinese, Russian & Western.

We went on a day trip to Lake Onuma, approximately 20 mins by train from Hakodate. Mt Komagatake dominates the whole lake. We took the option of walking the 50 mins circuit from the map that the Tourist Office offers. Very defined map, with bridges between the lakes all clearly named, so definitely won't be lost. Though at first wanted to rent a bic, it is not recommended because of the uneven ground.

Part 10 - Hakodate

2009-08-20T17:18:00.007+04:00

OOhhhh.....Hakodate is just a seafood heaven!!!! If you ask me what's one word to describe Hakodate it's definitey SEAFOOD!!! ....heheehhe......just wish that we'd a kitchen to cook...and prepare more money too..cos it's not cheap etiher... :)

Hakodate is the largest region in southern Hokkaido. As one of the cities to open to trade like Yokohama and Kobe, Hakodate has some signs of influence especially in architecture. As you all know, Hokkaido is separated from the "main" big island. *Therefore crossing the tunnel was pretty exciting as I've seen quite a lot of documentaries on it but just want to know what it feels. The tunnel is called Seikan Tunnel. With a total length of 53.85km, the Seikan Tunnel is currently the world's longest railway tunnel - although in 2018 the Gotthard Base Tunnel, under construction in Switzerland, will surpass it by about 5km. The Seikan unnel also claims the title of the world's longest undersea tunnel, with a 23.3km secttion under the waters of the Tsugaru Straight.

The JR train which passes the tunnel educates curious travelers like me on diagrams which are found on each seat, and with the accuracy of the departures of each train, the diagram even tells you exactly at what time we are expected to go through the tunnel, and mind you, it's exactly that time!! So lesson to learn when travelling in Japan, the train never waits for people. When it says it leaves at that time, it does!! This is one of the things that we have to educate our passengers on board man!!! If you don't arrive on time, that's it for you buddy!! Errm, well conclusion : of course the tunnel was like any other tunnel :) nothing special but going through one of the "WORLD'S..... longest" always makes a difference lohhh..... :) *Info courtesy from wikipedia

Well i think the video's file is too big again, loaded it twice......couldn't load so again, here are the pics taken in the seafood market!!

Mount Hakodate, 334m offers the Three Best Night views of not merely Japan but the entire world...well according to my schedule, I didn't make it in the night, but the view is equally amazing.... It says that we could take the bus up, but apparently the service is only in the night. So we took the streetcar ( tram equivalent ) and took the ropeway ( cable car ) up.

Part 9 - Useful websites if going to Japan

2009-08-18T17:30:00.006+04:00

Hokkaido wasn't exactly in the itinerary as we were quite unsure whether JR Pass could be utilized till Hokkaido and from what we understood from the Terms & Conditions, it needs to be a green pass (reserved seats) According to Uncle Chong's advice (Aunt Peggy's hubby - they went to Japan last November) they told us to reserve the seat as soon as we reach Japan - which I did.

A lot of websites were very useful. I just focused on using these few websites and with the updated version of all the Japan's website, the basic information that you need is just within your fingertips.

Tokyo Metro - If you are just going to Tokyo, this provides information on the subway, prices of the passes, the limousine bus from the airport etc.

Japan Rail Pass - this explains clearly on the types of pass, price, how to use etc We've got our Japan Rail Pass for 7days at around RM1100.

Japan Guide - this is exactly what you need to plan out the whole trip. It is as good as any Lonely Planet. Cos it even tells you bus schedules, entrance fees, entrance time, distances. I give it 2 thumbs-up

Online train timetable - this is a very powerful tool as well cos this timetable is exactly the one in Japan and the best part of this website is it can exclude the Nozomi train - which the JR pass can't use. So it is EXTREMELY accurate. I got all this planned out before arriving Japan.

And like I was mentioning, upon arriving in Japan, you can go to any JR counter, "reserve the seat" though it's just an Ordinary Pass and have your tickets ready. If in any case that you've decided to change the date/time, you are supposed to return the tickets (which I didn't do many times:) and you can just ask for the new tickets.

Toyoko Inn - thanks to Aunt Peggy, we found this hotel most reasonable and very worth it. Their selling point is they are pretty close to JR stations and value for money - which I find it true to their words. Most of the rates are around RM320 per nite for 2people. And with that price you get a free breakfast (buffet style but of course limited choices), free internet and depends on some of the branches, you get free dinner too!! Thanks Aunt Peggy for the great discovery...

Chain in Hakodate.....
Our breakfast....The chain we stayed in Hakodate had a free dinner : Curry rice

Part 8 - Matsushima Bay

2009-08-18T08:08:00.003+04:00

Our next trip was up to the north of Japan - Hokkaido. But in between, I made a brief stop in Miyajima. This is one of Japan's 3 most scenic view. Ermm.....totally disappointed.I didn't find the view "wow" at all....Maybe because we didn't have a car to drive up the hill to view the little 260 islands - covered in pines.....anyway, it's just a few hours stop...so it's ok lahhhh.....but it's not worth to purposely make atrip there...

Oshima Island used to be a retreat for mons, and decorated meditation caves can still be found on the island.

Fukuurajima (Fukuura Island) - not much to see on the island - with a botanical garden.

Zuiganji temple is the most important temple in the Tohoku region. A line of cedar trees for around 200m before reaching the temple.

Godai-do Temple is a small charming temple dedicated to five gods and is a symbol of Matsushima. People walk across the red bridge to pray here. It was 1st erected in 807 and the present reconstruction was built in 1604.

Part 7 - Nagoya

2009-08-17T17:46:00.003+04:00

On our way home to Tokyo, we stopped by Nagoya for few hours just to look - see Nagoya. Obviously with that few hours we didn't try enough food :( but managed to do some sightseeings. Nagoya is around 2 hours from Tokyo.

Some interesting facts about Nagoya :-

1920 marked the beginnings of the automotive industry. At the heart is Toyota Motor Corp
Is home to head offices of Suzuki Motor, Yamaha, Honda Motor
Booming economy has brought foreigners ie the Japanese - descent Brazilian immigrants

As we came from Kiso Valley, we arrived Nagoya around 4.30pm. Sadly the castle is closed :( We only managed to snap a very - far photo. But since it's not listed as a to-see castle, never mind....... :)

Sakae is the name of Nagoya's downtown district. The district's old landmark is Nagoya TV Tower, the oldest of its kind in Japan. Completed in 1954, the 180 meters tall TV houses an observation deck 100m above the ground.

Sakae's new landmark is futuristic looking Oasis 21 complex. It accomodates Nagoya's highway bus terminal and also shops and restaurants. The "Water Spaceship" roof is one of the unique thing about the building, where this is a clear glass deck. And in the centre of deck there is a fountain.

JR Central Towers lower floors are just like our KLCC shopping centre but theirs is Takashimaya. The building consists of 245m tall Office tower.

This concluded my trip to the Chubu region for 4days 3nights..... and next - the Hokkaido region....

Part 6 - Kiso Valley

2009-08-16T08:33:00.007+04:00

This is another part of our 1 day trip on our way home to Tokyo. Kiso Valley is about 1 hr away from Nagoya. Upon reaching JR Nagiso Station, you still need to take a shuttle bus to Tsumago city, which is approximately 10 mins away from the station.

*Kiso Valley runs alongside the mountains of the Central Alps. An Ancient 70km trade route called Kisoji was developed along the valley and served as a very important means of commerce in the area. This route was important from the beginning of the Edo period. It was one of the 2 means of transportation between Edo & Kyoto. Because of the restrictions by the shogunate, travelers were almost forced to make their trips on foot. As a result, "post towns" developed every few kilometers to provide travleres with placese to rest, eat and fight accomodation. Among the few preserved towns were Magome, Tsumago and Narai.But between Magome and Tsumago, it's only approximately 30minutes by foot. I went to Tsumago.

*Tsumago is one of the best preserved post towns in Japan. The residents go through great lengths to recreate the ambience of the Edo period. Cars are prohibited on the main street in the day and phone lines are power cables are kept concealed. In all post towns, Honjin was the principal inn and served government officials who were travelling through. When more lodging was required the Wakihonjin served to accomodate the travelers of lower status.

*Info from Japan Guide

I found the Notice board the most interesting. Well it was actually to disseminate info from the shogunate. It was written in the guide saying the reason it was " higher up " instead of on the ground level because it was meant to "look down" at the public, with a sense of authority. But it's only a notice board..... ????......so that meant status level was very important back then...

Part 5 - Shirakawa - go

2009-08-15T15:00:00.005+04:00

It was quite a decision to make whether to make the trip to this part of the region, as the main purpose was to visit this World Heritage Site.....Was advised by my world-travel-peer - Han San that he's visited and said that this place was even more fabulous in winter....one of the Hong Kong series was filmed here - some "7days" series...which I heard wasn't nice....
Anyway back to Shirakawa-go( declared UNESCO world heritage site in 1995) it's famous for their traditional gassho-zukuri farmhouse, some of which are more than 250 years old. Gassho - zukuri means "constructed like hands in prayer". The roofs are made without nails, exceptionally strong as it withstands heavy snowfall in winter with a large attic space used for cultivating silkworms.

I went to this village - Ogimachi. Shirakawago is approximately an hour away from Takayama. As there is no direct train from elsewhere, it's better of if you were to come from Takayama or Kanazawa city, there will be a bus to Shirakawago. Direct translation this means "White River Old-district"

As I'm always excited about World Heritage Sites, I took lots of pics!!

As we were only guests at the minshuku ( a budget hotel compared to a ryokan - japanese inn ) minshuku has similar experience to ryokan but a simpler version as minshuku could be because there are "spare rooms in a family house". This minshuku wasn't as nice as expected.....as we booked late....there were only few left....and it wasn't worth the price....about RM550 per nite plus dinner for both....Our dinner....
Our yukata before taking onsen...

Part4 - Furukawa / Takayama

2009-08-15T10:18:00.006+04:00

Takayama was pretty close this "ghost" town - Furukawa....well, because there was hardly anyone there when we arrived around 5pm.....it's quite empty...What's amazing the carp fish!!!!! They live in the Seto River.....loads of them...and I thought...if this river is found Malaysia, there'll be all dead fish instead.....or otherwise...there'll be none left as you will see this fish in their aquariums......

Another day in Takayama.....we visited the morning market - nothing much except for veges, I was expecting FOOD!!!!mind me.....the usual me....We stayed in this J Hostel - which was pretty good...so far it has only 3-4 branches in Japan.

Part 3 - Takayama

2009-08-15T07:36:00.011+04:00

Takayama is actually located in the central of Japan. Part of the reason of the stopover in this city was because of going to Shirakawa-go, one of the World Heritage Site....
Takayama's old town has been beautifully preserved, with many buildings and whole streets of houses dating from the Edo period (1600 - 1868), when the city thrived as a wealthy town of merchants.

The Takayama festival is ranked as one of Japan's three most beautiful festivals. It is held twice a year in spring and autmn in the old town of Takayama. Obviously I didn't manage to catch it but managed to go the Exhibition hall.

p/s I was so happy when Irene (uncle Kitson's wife)taught me how to use photobucket to do this slideshow.....thought it's much better than just uploading photos, this way I could put more pics....thanks Irene!!!

Beside the Festival Float Exhibition Hall there is another Exhibition hall on miniature of famous temples / shrines in Japan. I'm very impressed on the detailed and similarity of the buildings. Very nice.....

Well since Takayama is an old town, so wanted to see the preserved private house. It was quite a disappointment though. Well, cos there was nothing much to see. There were a couple of private houses, and I visited the Kusakabe Heritage House. They were succesful merchants, active in lending business. Admission : 500 yen

Part 2 - Tokyo

2009-08-03T11:57:00.010+04:00

The previous time I didn't manage to go Tsukiji Fish Market. So this time we woke up at 4.30am, took the 1st train at 5.25am and reached there around 6plus.

The early wake up was worth it though....cos it's very pretty interesting....

Tuna auction....

I tried uploading the video several times, but think the file was too big....

I guess the freshness of the tuna is checked through the tail of the tuna as we saw the buyers keep looking at the tail...

THe guy standing on the stool is the auctioneer. He was mumbling (like prayers... ahhahaha...) in a very fast motion and just like any auctions, the buyers will just raise their hands....

In the big market, there were lots of seafood...by just looking at them, makes me happy :)

And then time to eat in the market....yummy yummy.....

I tried loading the video several times but doesn't seem to want to load...so i'll just post pics loh.....

A comeback after 2 months.....

2009-07-13T17:28:00.002+04:00

It felt so long ago since I last wrote in here.....I've yet to complete my Japan, Beijing (2nd time) trip....awww......dunno how long will I take before I complete the above blogs.....That's due to the refresher (annual exam) in a few days time....then I have an onboard evaluation....n a training to go....this month is rather busy.......

Well today seemed to be rather an interesting day....Today I did a Doha turnaround (40 mins flying time)...usually short flights like this have weird/interesting things happening.....

As we were about to land (20 mins before touching ground) - that's one of the most "critical period" as we need to secure the cabin as soon as possible so that we can tell the captain it is ok to land....

Cabin senior came up to me saying there's a man down the back who harrased one of our crews...while the crew (A) was alone, tried to hug her.......so i went in n tell the captain...captain suggested that it's her decision if A wanted to take it up to the police, cos if she does, we'll just ask the police to be there when the door opens....

So after talking to A, she doesn't want to make a big fuss out of it, as there's a possibility she might need to go to police station etc..... so she said no. Then
I went to the man and said to him "Are you aware of wat you were doing?"
HIm : I was just trying to get a beer
Me : You tried to hug the girl and you said you were trying to get a beer?
Him : No I didnt

(Gosh I wanted to slap him at that time!!!! If he's a man, he should own up man!!!)

I replied : We could've just handed you over to the security...but bcos the girl didn't wan to make a big fuss...so you better not repeat what you've just done, do u understand me?
He kept quiet....

When we landed, I sort of felt that wasn't enough with just a few sentences to him...ought to scare him a little bit more.....

Then when he disembarked, I took him aside n said....We've informed the security (which we didn't ) and you better not misbehave again....
The next sentence even shocked me more....

HIm : I didn't try to hug her. She was trying to flirt with me!!

What an A$$&*^#!!!! And he just walked off as a happy man....

Geez,if A could've just reported to the security!!!!!I would've happily handed him over to the police!!!!!!

These people are so daring bright daylight man!!!! Our colleagues were saying that she should've just kicked him up the *&^&^ at least since she didn't report.....ahahhahaa......

Japan 2009 - 27 May - 07 June 2009 - Part 1

2009-06-30T16:04:00.003+04:00

Guess I was meant to go Japan this year. Wanted to go South America - Brazil but Swine Flu came up....so diverted to Japan instead.....Getting the visa wasn't easy for Japan - as usual..... You've to provide damn a lot of documents...Those who've been personally would understand what I mean.

If you are visiting your relatives, you've to provide your relatives' documents in Japan which includes their ID, the company's letter...

Well, maybe Malaysians have always been lucky cos there are a lot of countries which we go to which we don't need a visa, so doing a visa is like a HASSLE!!!If you are visiting there by yourself, you've to provide your 3months' bank statement, your company's letter, your ITINERARY.....this is what I really don't understand....you are to write out where you are going in Japan and hotel's contact. I could just write wherever and not follow the itinerary after all. Can the country track me down?? Anyway that's always the frustration I have when I visit Japan....other than that, the country is SUPERB....one of my favourite destinations in the world!!!.....This is my 2nd time to visit the Land of Rising Sun...

Kelvin & I in Paris (CDG) - 4th May 2009 - Part 2

2009-05-10T16:47:00.009+04:00

This video shows the room where Mona Lisa is kept, together with some other paintings. The first large painting is Wedding Feast at Cana by Paolo Caliari, better known as Veronese. The below explanation is described in the Louvre's museum's webpage in regards to the painting :-

This huge canvas once adorned the refectory of the monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice. Here, Veronese, acclaimed as a colorist and for painting vast, multifigured scenes, chose to depict Christ’s first miracle, performed during the Marriage at Cana.

Working the perspective so as to draw the spectator into the scene, he transposed the biblical episode to his own era, rich 16th-century Venice. Note the splendor of the fabrics, the sumptuous jewelry, silver and silver-gilt tableware, and the elegant Palladian architecture, which set a magnificent stage for this story, which is supposed to have taken place in the home of poor people who ran out of wine during a wedding feast. I

n the center, on Christ’s right, Mary holds an invisible glass in her hand to show that there is no wine left. In the right foreground, the figure in yellow pours water that has turned into wine from a jar, a miracle witnessed by the two figures behind him. A man clad in green hurries toward the newlyweds, on the left in front of the columns, to ask why the best wine was kept for the end of the banquet.

Another reading of the work moves vertically from the symbolic image of the butchers chopping up meat to the hourglass on the musicians’ table and the dog chewing a bone: it heralds the "sacrifice of the Lamb," the death of Christ, who revealed his true nature by performing this miracle. But the dogs are also an allegory of fidelity, that of Christians whose faith will sweep away the clouds

Wedding Feast at Cana

The most talked-about painting in Louvre Museum...

Outside Louvre Museum....

At Champs - Elysee Avenue......

I brought Kelvin in LV....ahahhaha....again, he saw the craziness of how these people buy.... He related the ambience like Jaya Jusco.....hahaahhaha.....

Dinner was at Chinatown - it was very far!!!!!!!If you look at the Metro map - it's the southest - east.....and we are staying in northest east (in the aiport).....we stopped at Metro stop : Port Ivry, but dun worry, we didn't have Mcdonalds :) We'd chinese/vietnamese buffet : E$12.50 .....nice nice....Overall, great day out with Kelvin, till we meet again in XX... :)

Kelvin & I in Paris (CDG) - 04 May 2009 - Part 1

2009-05-07T22:59:00.015+04:00

Yes yes!!! Unbelievably, Kelvin and I are meeting in Paris!! Of course, Kelvin always has a better luck in getting a better layover. He has 72 hrs, while me, the usual 26 hrs. Staying near the airport, makes the journey to the city a little bit expensive compared to Gulf Air's hotel (in La Defense) as 1 way costs E$8.60, which makes it E$17.20 or 1day pass = E$18.50. As the summer schedule is a bit different, and I am arriving in the morning, took the opportunity to visit Louvre Museum. Though I've been to CDG many times, everytime I took things for granted and said museum,errr...next time....Since I don't know when's my next CDG, I better see Mona Lisa this trip!!! Entrance to the Louvre is at E$9.

Right below the pyramid of Louvre....

Some of the famous works in Louvre..... I feel so cultured for one day..... :)

The Coronation of the Emperor Napoleon 1 and the Crowning of the Empress Josephine in Notre-Dame Cathedral by Jacques Louis David

It took David three years to complete this vast painting. Amidst the 150 portraits of spectators, his skillful lighting effects play up these central figures, lingering over the brilliance of a jewel, the richness of a fabric, or the softness of a velvet cushion. David was the precursor of modern-day photographers who immortalize celebrity events in magazines where luxury is supposed to feed the dreams of the public.

Odalisque by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres Courtesy from Louvre Museum's webpage.....

Here, Ingres transposed the antique theme of the female nude to the Near East, a place he had traveled to only in his dreams and the pretext for the sensual image of a naked woman in a harem — hence the title, The Large Odalisque — set against an exotic background. Until the end of his life, Ingres continued to paint exotic scenes and female nudes, one of his favorite subjects — as in The Turkish Bath — drawing on influences as diverse as Raphael, the Mannerists, and Persian miniatures.

Whereas Ingres, like his master David, was a classical artist in terms of technique and his interest in antiquity, which he showed in other works, he distanced himself from this trend by giving priority to draftsmanship, pure lines, and sensual curves, distorting anatomical reality if necessary. This odalisque has three vertebrae too many. Likewise, her right breast and left leg are joined to the rest of the body in a curious fashion. In contrast to this physical deformity, the heavy blue drapery, the turban, and the nargileh are treated in an illusionistic manner.

The critics of his day, completely nonplussed by this chimerical combination, berated his singular style. On the other hand, Ingres would have a strong influence on modern artists such as Picasso, who gladly borrowed his ideas and his manner of recomposing bodies to suit his own purposes. Besides, doesn’t the somewhat cold blue and gold tonal harmony lift this image permanently out of reality into an artist’s pure fantasy?

LEONARDO DA VINCI'S WORKS.....

Below is Salai - name of Leonardo's student - in this picture his student portraying as John the Baptist

Another important work of Leonardo - Virgins of the Rock - an eerie beauty as the graceful figures kneel in adoration around the infant Christ in a wild landscape of tumbling rock and whirling water.

La belle ferronniere
Others.....

Egyptian antiquities : Tuthankhamun

Winged Victory of Samothrace

An excerpt from the Louvre Museum's webpage...
An original Greek statue probably destroyed by an earthquake, this work was found in countless pieces in 1863 on the island of Samothrace, in the northeast Aegean. The right wing is a plaster copy of the left wing, the only one to have survived. The cement base beneath its feet is also modern; the statue initially stood on the sculpted prow of the ship.

It loomed out of a hilltop sanctuary at an angle, which explains why less attention was paid to carving the right-hand side. The Victory — “Nike” in Greek — is shown as if she were just alighting on the prow of the ship to which she is bringing divine favor.

Discovered in 1950, her right hand enabled her original gesture to be restored: with her raised hand, she announces the coming event. Staged in spectacular fashion very much in keeping with Hellenistic taste, she could be seen from afar by ships approaching the island. The proportions, the rendering of the bodily forms, the manner in which the drapery flapping in the wind is handled, and the expansiveness of the highly theatrical gesture all bear witness to the search for realism in sculpture dating from this period.

After examining certain stylistic details, scholars believe that this monument might be a votive offering from the Rhodians to thank the gods for a naval victory around 190 BC, but André Malraux was delighted with the accidental mutilation of this statue, which turned it into a timeless icon of Western art — “a masterpiece of destiny.”

Aphrodite, The Venus of Milo - The Goddess of Love & Beauty, in Greek's mythology - born out of the foam of sea. She "gave birth" to Western's art's females nudes.

Some arts / sculptures....which I didn't manage to capture the names....

Somemore random shots....

Taken from one of the windows of the museum......in black & white mode....

From another window.....

Lunch on 21 April 2009 - Yacht Club, Intercon

2009-05-06T22:31:00.006+04:00

It's time for lunch again!! This time it was great to have Pony's parents and a thorn-Justin to join us....... Pony, Sheila, Juliet, Jen,Me and Julie... at the entrance of Yacht Club, Intercontinental. We get 50% off the main menu on ala carte, 25% on drinks.....But the food...so-so only....If it's the night.....the view outside is very nice.....Juliet and I.....My order : Lamb with blue cheese sauceI think my drink is called Titanic.....

Our dessert....Ice cream...with strawberry dippings ( ithink)
Creme brulee....

The group photo....

After Pony's parents went back, the group went for a tea session at Le Meridien. It was wonderful to have Angela (also ex Etihad) and her little baby during the tea session....Her boy's soooooo cute....

The nannies of the day :P, Mr Justin Ong....and Ms Sheila Choong..The mom of the handsome boy.....

Minsk (MSQ) - 9 & 10 April 2009 - Part 1

2009-04-15T22:51:00.013+04:00

This is one of the trips which I look forward to this month because :-
1) I've requested this flight with Pony & Juliet ( but Juliet didn't get the flight though)
2) it's a country which I haven't been
3) the rest of my roster sucks!!

Minsk -
Where is that??

It's the capital of Belarus - and WHERE IS BELARUS ? :) It has borders with Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, Poland. It got its independence in 1991. The city was 80% destroyed during WWar 2. The city was rebuilt in 1950's. That would explain a couple of pictures later and some BIAS opinions of mine :P

The flying time from AUH to MSQ is 5 hrs 40 mins. The currency which they use is Rubels. RM1 = RB800. The notes amount is HUGE - just like Indonesian rupiah.

View of the airport.....

From the airport to the city centre....

Pyramid with a spaceship which is about to launch??

In Belarus, if you don't have time to go for tour, it's ok cos 90% of the sightseeings are by the main road from the airport to the city centre..... :P

The National Library

Victory Square.....

Circus.... (When it finished construction in 1959, for that moment it was the biggest and most beautiful circus in the USSR. The circus seats 1668 people)

Palace of the Republic....( a multipurpose building with a total of 3500 seats. This palace is situated on the axis of October square. It is the last monument of the former Soviet architecture. The main official holidays of the country are celebrated here. In winter, the square in the front of the Palace turns to a city skating rink)

As we weren't tired, we excitedly headed out straight to the streets. The city area was within walking range, so as we walked, we saw quite a lot of people walking in and out from a 19th century building - with grand staircase - if you've got the imagination right, it looks like those old parliament with some arts hanging on the wall..... we were still standing at the entrance of the building-still wondering if it's a "Supermarket". The reason why my friends and I are wondering still...because :-

1) things are sold "over the counter" - even to the cheapest ie toiletries & stationery etc....

2) there's no segregation of goods, like back home, 1st floor - men's/women's, 2nd floor - children etc.....this supermarket has like 3 "stalls" or more selling stockings in different floors, and yes stockings here should have very high sales turnover because every single "mall" you enter the first thing which they sell is stockings ( the women's range. The design looks pretty interesting with lots of designs and colours, but we were jokingly telling each other that if we Asians wear it back home, we'll be labelled as the "La-la mui"...hahahha...or if worse still, the ....ahem... ) Well, as you could see in the context above, I've used lots of " " , as I find it hard to find a real definition for things/situations.
Yes....we are inside the supermarket now......not museum/art exhibtion....

As this was the 1st supermarket we went, we had a thought that maybe this is going to close down soon that's why these things are in this manner. Hahah...but guess what, it's the same througout all the malls where :-

1) there's no fixed department on each floor

2) and stockings are always the first stalls!!!! ahhahaah....

Random pictures......

One of the sweet shops which we passed by.....look so yummy...but we don't know what are those as it's in Russian...

I love their hats......so UNIQUE!!!Very Russian!!!My Thai friend - Rose

Pony modelling one of the Russian hats!!!!

Guess what's written?? :P

On the main street - Main Avenue.....

The Holy Spirit Cathedral.....
Church of St Mary the Virgin.....

Minsk City Hall...

Pony and I - photo overlooking the city....(lake at the background)

One of the murals at a building of a mall...

I wonder if he'll scare people away.....though his job was to give out pamphlets...... I honestly think that IT IS NOT CREATIVE AT ALL lohhhh......

What size do you want for Carlsberg??? M or L ??? Haahhaa....well....I saw this one XL... it's ONE litre....interesting....

Dinner time.....with a glass of Belarussian beer (the non-clear one) and the Russian beer ( clear )

Sorry, i think I pressed the wrong function on the camera - which makes it a bit unclear. Below is Borsch soup - a vegetable soup in Eastern Europe made from beetroot base. White colour thingy is cheese(8000 RB = RM10)

This is Pork Shish Kebab....hhahaha...

Pork Ragout (RB22890 ) - We tried to ask the waiter what was Ragout - Well, after his explaination, we were still pondering. After eating, I figured it's Pork Stew served inside the bread....
Before.....

Ta - dah.....after opening the cover of the bread....

Potato Pancake -Overall, the food wasn't FANTASTIC....but at least we tried POTATO - something they are famous for, but I've to admit the Belarussian bear was GOOD stuff!!! It's so smooth....one of the best I've drank.....

MINSK (MSQ) - 09 & 10 April 2009 - Part 2

2009-04-15T19:58:00.014+04:00

We were at a shopping mall - on 2nd floor, as it was drizzling, I was looking at my guidebook - looking outside as well.... thought this building looks familiar........ aha.....SS Peter and Paul Church - is one of the 1st stone buildings, constructed on a narrow street Rakauskaja, it was the only orthodox temple in the city. The building was started in 1611. We didn't go in. Just snapped the photo from the next-door mall.
We were at the supermarket and found the take-away food corner selling interesting food stuffs. This looks like agar-agar/jelly.....but with meat inside??? Interesting...The curious-me bought the small jelly with mushroom..... it's exactly like agar-agar. As the button mushroom was tasteless - it made the whole jelly tasteless....
Brinjal with stuffings.....Pizza lookalike???
Tea time.... recommended by wikitravel - Bege on Main Avenue

Cottage Cheese Strudel with Strawberry Sauce - RB7660 (RM10) - looks nice but ok only...

Cherry Milk Shake - RB12480 and Banana Milk Shake (Right) RB13220

Three Chocolate RB11770 - this is a THUMBS UP!!! Excellent!!
The delicious Three chocolate cake....

Sightseeing time again.... at Independence Square - 7 hectars - is the biggest square in Europe. Underneath the square (where we are standing - is a shopping centre (Stalica) - 4 stories)

Independence Square in the night.....taken from Pony's room....

Catholic Church of SS Simeon and Helena

Random pics....Cute traffic light...

The dolls wearing traditional costume I guess......

Dinner time at TGIF!!!
Potato Skin.....

Chicken breast with something....

Our Drinks.....guess who's drinking the beer??? :)

This beer not as nice as the 1st day's beer....

Jack Daniel's Pork Ribs!!!

Another Pork Ribs with some sauce....All in all the food was ok - but wasn't hot enough.....

Monopoly time in TGIF?? .....

Hehehhe....as it was our last day...we didn't want to keep any of the Rubels, so we took out all our CASH!!!

About to depart - in MSQ airport.....Our team....

Near Turkey...

As Pony's going to resign....guess this is the last time for a photo session in uniforms....

Scanning project

2009-04-06T22:37:00.005+04:00

After getting the scanner (which has been sitting in the cabinet for HALF a year!!!) from Jeremy, I finally put it to good use..... So I'm starting to scan some pics from parents' times. Too excited....so have to share some pics on my little project....

Some pics on my great-grandma, grandma, grandma's sis (those in group photo) mom, dad.....Just in case it's too small to be seen, the couple are my parents. The pics were very small, errmm, I still wonder if I can enlarge the photos on the scanner. Anyway, I've put it to large in the blog here, so hopefully, can c my great grandma :)

Dad's & mom's wedding pics.....

More pics to come ( if laziness doesn't kick in :P ) ....

Please rescue me from immature people.....

2009-04-04T23:38:00.002+04:00

It's one of these flights again, where I meet immature and argumentative crews. Sometimes I wonder where my patience comes from or should I ask how can we recruit such people!!!! After becoming a manager, I always asked myself if I was that pain in the a** as a crew. I remembered when I was a crew, whatever my senior says I just acknowledged and apologized, if I did something wrong, and if it's something I didn't know about, I will be glad he has taught me something new.
But here, even with Safety Manual - black and white - pertaining to safety, just to speak out their thoughts, he will go " Yeah I see the point ( in the book) , but I'm very confident about my thoughts (which is against the safety manual)" .......What the Heck???Does it make them happier by speaking their thoughts, even if it's wrong. To me what is written in the manual, you just bloody follow. I don't WRITE THE MANUALS OK, the company does!!!!
You can very much tell which bangsa will behave like that......Gosh.....I just feel like jumping out of the plane, if I could!!! No wonder all the Cabin Managers become cuckoo....thanks to these children.....please remind me if I do ever turn to a cuckoo Cabin Manager too, but at least you will know the cause of me being like that.....Sigh....

5 days off in KL - 13-17 Mar 2009

2009-03-20T17:28:00.008+04:00

As I'd 5 days off after SIN / BNE, happily flew back to KL. New discovery by mom's fren in this Nyonya restaurant.
Restaurant Tanjung Bunga - location is close to Chow Yang
117, Jalan SS2/6
Tel : 7877 4531 / 016 331 8376

Taste is thumbs-up!!! Everything's so appetizing...we ended up ordering 10 dishes!!! 5 of us finished all of them.....ahahahhaha...... You wouldn't guess how much is it!!

My favourite dish - "paku vege"
Fish in some assam gravy....Petai with prawns....
Beer pai kuat....errrm...i know it looks like a burnt object...but it really tastes GOOD!!!!

Perut ikan....But Irene (Uncle Kitson's wife does it better ) - maybe Irene should share her recipe with us...hahahaha....It's also to celebrate Gu Ma's (Dad's eldest sis) birthday...Happy 68th Birthday!!

Another of my favourites - Chicken Mushroom Pie in DOME's ...but the taste has deteriorated though....with Honey Comb Ice Blended....

Jeremy and I were checking out this Japanese Restaurant when we rounding to look for food - which we find offers quality Japanese food...And there were quite a lot of customers too - which proves that it's value for money.... They offer buffet (where the meals are the same from the menu) too during weekends. Price around RM50 - free flow of Tiger beer...

Umai-Ya

49A, Jalan SS21/37

Damansara Utama

03-7726 4410
This unagi/soft shell crab sushi worth it..... at RM14 A famous dish in Japanese Restaurant nowadays - varieties of mushroom steam soupJeremy enjoying his usual - Katsu Don

SIN - BNE - SIN (04 - 12 Mar 2009) - Part 3

2009-03-20T16:29:00.008+04:00

Back to SIN.....
10 Mar 2009 - Dinner with Aunt Peggy, Uncle Kitson & family, Alice
Aunt Peggy bought dinner at Lao Beijing in Plaza Singapura. Thanks Aunt Peggy for the yummy meal!!!!

Our "aquarium - with fish swimming inside!! WOW..." table in Lao Beijing....Sisters and brother....Cousins......Home cooked Green Curry specially cooked for me by Alice.....Thanks Alice!!At one shot for the outing before leaving for dessert!!!!We took the advantage of Gelare's (think that's the shop's name) Tuesday promotion. 50% off on the WAFFLE. Yes only the waffle!! - As they have a variety of waffle. With double scoop, the waffle + ice cream = S$9.60....Sophia enjoying herself....A "woman's" night out.....

11 Mar 2009

Met up Jeremy's aunt - Aunt Aileen in Clementi. She took me to this very nice place to have spaghetti. Apparently the shop also serves pretty good western food.Asparagus mushroom spaghetti....

A visit to the Cartel in Plaza Singapura is a must!!! How can I leave SIN without eating St Louis Pork Ribs - S$13.90....

Set Lunch Promotion : Pan Fried Black Pepper Seafood Pasta - VERY WORTH IT....at only S$9.90 you get a soup, free flow of bread, ice lemon tea, Pasta, Dessert (cake)

Met up with Jo, Jodie, Johnie (Jodie's hubby) and little Jayden. He's just so handsome - believe to have a lot of ladies queeing up in front of his house next time!!!!Watch out Jodie!!!Anyway, Tq Jodie for the nice dinner at Ajisen Ramen!!! I had Volcano Ramen. Yummy....
Met up with Jocerlyn (Taiwanese) but didn't manage to catch a photo with her :(

This is my ex-housemate in Gulf Air, Jasmine Chang, now in SQ.
Photo taken from our hotel - Swisshotel 44th floor

View at daytime....View at night time....nice hoh.....beautiful....Take note of the construction of the casino-to-be....

Till then, hopefully I'll be back to Spore to visit my relatives and friends.....Thanks for everyone who has spent some quality TIME with me......

SIN - BNE - SIN (04 - 12 Mar 2009) - Part 2

2009-03-20T14:06:00.008+04:00

We were supposed to do lots more things in BNE besides strolling around in just the city and eating. Mom and I overslept :P

07 Mar 2009
Had dinner in Eagle Street Pier. Lots of good restaurants there according to the internet. Mom and I chose the famous Fish & Chips, and Calamaris & Chips. Nice nice. Around A$16/RM35

City Hall, next to my hotel - The SebelQueen Street Mall.....My long-lost "friend" - Midori. Introduced by my best friend - Li Min, close to 10 years ago when a group of us went to Australia. She has a story to share when she sees this....hahahaha......08 Mar 2009
Chinatown...is a must for me when I'm abroad...dunno why.....weird...
South Bank - Good place to capture the skyline....

Brisbane EyeSouth bank is such a family orientated place as it has a man-made beach, swimming pool - free of charge along the bank and many restaurants as well....And we found our restaurant which overlooks the swimming pool.....Pretty good ambience. I'm sure it's of Greek origins due to the name and food served - Kapsalis, South Bank Parklands Our Seafood Platter (A$23.90/RM57). Felt a bit cheated as we were promised 2 oysters, but it was replaced by 2 prawns.But the portion is HUUUGGEEEE!!!
Lamb Shank (A$29)

SIN - BNE - SIN (04 - 12 Mar 2009) - Part 1

2009-03-19T19:24:00.010+04:00

March's roster has been a 1year 3months' effort. After much of complaints and ridiculous emails reply from Planning, finally my wish was granted to fly to Singapore - Brisbane (BNE)!!! The reason why it's so hard to get this block is simple : - as the layover is good - the longest layover that Etihad has so far - 9 days , with a combo of 2days in SIN, 2days in BNE, 3 days back in SIN!!!It really felt like a holiday!! Mom joined me in SIN and BNE.

It was a really good block.....Lots of bonding session with my cousins, aunts and friends..... :)

05 Mar 2009

We call it a Crystal Jade (name of a chain restaurant in Spore) day....As we had lunch and dinner in this restaurant.....Crystal Jade has a few segmentations in terms of their restaurants. We had our lunch in a Fine Dining Concept.

Taufu....
Nice dish - shitake mushroom...

The famous Singapore Chili crab, with sharkfin soup....

Then we proceeded to do massive shopping in the Si-Lai favourite shop - S$2 DAISO - The biggest was here in IMM.....Wow......compared to the one in AUH....this one is so nice to shop!! At least everything was S$2....In AUH only 80% of the stuffs were S$2 /DHS6.... Bought lots of soba!!!!

Isaac & Sophia enjoying themselves too..

Then it's tea-time at Tong Shui Cafe outside Daiso....time for 3 generations - grandma, mom & grandchildren bonding time...

Maternal grandmother....
Alice (cousin sis) and Isaac - enjoying his peanut butter toast..Awwww....so sweet Sophia's smile...

4 generations (with Alice's youngest son - Thomas) photo....

The 3rd generation cousins.....

And dinner time at Crystal Jade again.Tq Christy.....for the delicious dinner.....also to celebrate belated birthdays of Christy (Alice's husband) and mom. Alice bought this super yummy cake from Perla's Pastry Boutique.

Add : 9 Jalan Bingka, Spore

Tel : 9673 3095

Apparently the ingredients are all imported!!!!

The birthday "boy" and "girl"...hehehehe....

An ice wine from Germany to finish off the day....

Meeting up with friends - 01 Mar 2009

2009-03-19T19:19:00.003+04:00

Marceline - Etihad office in KL was here.....Dinner at Soba restaurant in Le Meridien Hotel......

Darren, Juliet, Marceline...

Our tempura(2 prawns, 1 carrot) udon/soba - DHS75 / RM75!!! A bit disappointed with the quality .....was expecting more OOMPPHH in the soup....but tak ada....sigh...Since we were in a Japanese restaurant-we ordered Japanese Green Tea - thought at the very least it would be an authentic green tea at least, but guess what??? TWINNINGS!!! Duh!! I could've bought it myself....

The Malaysian-Gathering again - Lim, Darren, Nesh, Geo, Juliet, YiShen, Me..

Beijing - 17 - 19 Feb 2009

2009-02-28T12:33:00.020+04:00

For the first time, rostering has decided that I'm a LANGUAGE SPEAKER since Beijing has been opened last March 2008. And this is my first Beijing- layover for 55 hours....Amazing sometimes how rostering works.....Well thank god, I was flying with my friend, another Malaysian who speaks Mandarin. Everyone knows how "fluently" I speaks Mandarin!!!! As Kelvin had PEK as well from 20-23, parents decided to join us as well.... Good to know that he is the staying in the same hotel as well!!! Saves all the trouble of moving luggages for parents.....

After 1 hour of power nap, went out with parents and my fren Yen Nee to Wang Fu Jing - like Chinatown in KL with lots of food in small stalls....yummy yummy..... It's freezing cold!!! -6degrees....

Day1 : Wang Fu Jing....(17 Feb 2009)

Dad and I...

Yen Nee and I.....Dad enjoying the snow at night in Wang Fu Jing still!!!....trying to capture the snow but dun think successful :)

Mom buying chestnuts at Wang Fu Jing....look at all the food...yummy yummy....most of the food items are selling at the price of RenMenBi(RMB) 5 - 10 -equivalent to RM2.5 -5

After all the temptations, we tried the octopus & also sweet corn...
Dad posing for me for a photograph....

Then time for dinner. Guess what's for dinner??? What else but the famous PEKING DUCK. Apparently there are 2 famous places to eat duck. I only had the opportunity to eat in 1 of them - QUANJUDE (as there were many branches) I had the one in Wangfujing... It was good experience as normally we thought that dinner will start around 7pm, but told by my friend that the previous time she went at 5 something, the restaurant was FULL!!! So at 4.15pm we reached the restaurant, there was already a queue infront of us...Oh my god...As the restaurant is on the 2nd & 3rd floor, at SHARP 4.30pm...the queue dashed to the lift. We were like....Is this free of charge??? Is there a need to fight for duck!!!! Hahahhaa...apparently it's a normal affair in these 2 restaurants...Half a duck goes at the price of RM50. Whole duck RM100

Address : 9 Shuaifuyuan Lane, Wangfujing St

Tel : 010-6525 3310

The other competitor is DaDong

Address : 22 Dongsishitiao, Dongcheng District

Tel : 010-5169 0328

After the delicious meal, we went to Silk Market. Didn't manage to snap a photo...It's a huge building full of small little stalls. They sell mostly clothings. Those who have been will share with you the experience that it's worse than our Chinatown. The price is soooooooo ridiculous, sometimes that you really how much is that thing worth. For example, I bought a chinese doll - those with traditional costumes) When asked the first time, he started with RM100. I went, NO WAY....RM100!!!To be fair, I bought my Japanese doll in Japan for RM50. Then after a few times of PRETENDING to be not interested - I wasn't actually, cos I was just trying my luck, she sold me at RM15!!!!! So I was told by crews to give only 10% of the original price they offered. Well I tried a few times, but it doesn't work all times, mind you!! Was scolded a couple of times actually by such a low price. That's why I mentioned, I really don't know what's the actual value of the item!!!!

On day 1, we ended with a supper outside Silk Market......
With snow outside, it's always nice to warm your tummy with a bowl of soup noodles.....

DAY 2 : Lama Temple (Yong He Temple) / Olympic Stadium / YaSiow Market (18 Feb 2009)

In the taxi going to Lama Temple..... was impressed with the touch screen interactive TV...it has places of interest, products in China - all in Mandarin of course.

Entrance to Yong He Temple. - one of the most important Buddhist monasteries in Beijing....and inside the temple housed an 18-m Buddha carved from a single piece of sandalwood. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take picture of the Buddha.......entrance fee is RM12.5/RMB25

Snow on the leaves....

Next, we took a train to the Olympic area. Train in Beijing is very cheap. RMB2/RM1 from any point to any point!!! But the trick is you must remember not to buy in advance ie, if you are planning to go from A to B and then B to C. Don't attempt to buy B to C ticket in A station as well. Cos the machine doesn't accept the ticket.

Olympic Park is a huggeeeee area....easily few kilometres walk....

At the train station.....

How creative are the Chinese!!!

There were still CNYear Deco when were there....Cute hoh??? Lights in the park....Aqua Stadium....The famous Bird Nest....Surrounding Bird Nest.....

We finished off the day in YaSiow Market - a Silk Market equivalent. People say that YaSiow market is more for the locals and hence, don't need to bargain so much. Yeah Right!! It's the same philosophy, they offer, u try to leave, they pull you back at least 3 times and ask you to give them the best price....hahahaha.....the only difference is there are more designs in terms of clothings i find in Yasiow...but silk market is much bigger in terms of size.....

Parents in Dubai - 12 Feb 2009

2009-02-21T09:59:00.013+04:00

As dad hasn't been to DXB, so took the opportunity to take him and mom to tour DXB for a day. Started off in Madinat Jumeirah - the usual Arabic heritage style - where there's man made lake / river (then you will have the arabic "gondola" to stroll you around) - coupled with 3 hotels in different locations and some shopping. That day was quite foggy so unfortunately Burj Al Arab couldn't be seen quite clearly. If you squint your eyes in the pics, probably you could spot it :)

Inside Madinat : souk design...
Gondola : Hahaha.a....the arabic name is called ABRA...

Dad and I....final shot in Madinat Jumeirah.....

What a BIG CROCS !!!!!

The part-of-the-must-see tour for my visitors : BURJ AL ARAB....a bit foggy that day....so not so clear...

Dad enjoying inside Jumeirah Beach Hotel....

At the entrance of Atlantis . Atlantis is located at the crescent of the Palms......The hotel honestly doesn't look too impressive outside, maybe of the fading colour.....but the aquarium inside is fabulous....At the centre after the entrance of the hotel.....

But I"m totally impressed with the Lost Chambers : the Aquarium....Well according to people who have gone in Lost Chambers (entrance DHS 100) it's not that worth it to go in. This aquarium is viewed from outside...saw a couple of fishes upfront which was totally nice.....
Also Atlantis has a themepark, equivalent to Sunway Lagoon costing DH285 (RM270) and if you would like to be PERSONAL with the dolphin for 45mins, yeah the cost is also very personal :P (DH 840)

The KING and QUEEN....

Big Stingray!!!!

Outside Lost Chambers

Blog setting back to normal!!!

2009-01-26T03:13:00.002+04:00

What has happened???My blog setting is back to normal!!!! "My profile" is finally back to the left hand side of the page!!! Wow...Chinese New Year brings miracles.....(ahahha..just like how a kid believes that Santa Clause gives presents every Christmas!!!)

Pre "Gong Xi Gong Xi" - 24 Jan 2009

2009-01-24T23:50:00.004+04:00

Since I didn't go back this CNY, thought should make myself happy by making som
ething new-lasagne. Well as you could've seen it didn't look so successful, but nevertheless, will try again the next time. It's too dry and it doesn't seem to sink in.

New Frankfurt hotel - 20 Jan 2009

2009-01-24T23:23:00.003+04:00

I was awed with the new Frankfurt Hotel - Radisson because the size of the room could easily fit 20 ppl inside!!! In FRA I got this "Business Class" room. Normally I usually get extra priviledge like free internet. Sorry ah, cos very seldom I see such big room, so hence the "suaku" ness. Hahaa... The room is separated into 2 parts. 1 is the "hall", the other the bedroom.

Bedroom.....

The "hall"....The door at the background which connects between the hall and the bedroom...

Lunch@Chilis - Khalidiya Mall - 18 Jan 2009

2009-01-24T23:18:00.002+04:00

It's time to use the coupon again!!!

Hahaha.....This time it's in Chilis - Buy 1 Main Meal get 1 Main Meal free. See how happy we are grinning :)

The usual patrons - Me, Juliet, Pony & Jen (anti clockwise)

A Good 8-days in AUH!!!

2009-01-16T15:08:00.006+04:00

Call it a blessing in disguise to be in AUH for 8 days!!! Started off with 3days off, 3 days sby (wasn't called out), another 2 days off.
Blessing as I manage to COMPLETELY rest for 8 days, so well rested until I caught my cough :P . The downside of not being called for SBY ?? I will feel it when the salary comes out nx mth end!!
So what did i do??? Of course, like the rest of the crews' hobby in AUH, I was catching up with my Hong Kong series - Last One Standing.

Conclusion : Very exciting as Roger Kwok (Left) seldom plays the role of a bad guy.

Then next : Catch Me Now

Conclusion : This series gets me thinking whether : if these robbers (robbing the villain to give to the poor) are to be caught, and I am the judge, what is the verdict? I still haven't decided. What about you, if you have watched?

As I was down with a cough, didn't have much appetite to have just vege (my usual stock in my fridge ) And I had this craving for Japanese food......and I saw some chicken breast meat....so why not Oyakodon - Chicken Cutlet Rice Bowl?? As I don't usually cook something SO EXCITING :P, I looked up in About.com

4 cup steamed rice
3/4 lb chicken thighs or chicken breasts
1 onion
1 2/3 cups soup stock (dashi)
7 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp mirin
3 tbsp sugar
4 eggs
Preparation:Cook steamed rice. Cut chicken into bite-size pieces and thinly slice onion. Put dashi soup stock in a pan and heat. Add soy sauce, mirin, and sugar in the soup. Put chicken in the pan and simmer on low heat for a few minutes. Add onion slices to the pan and simmer for a few more minutes. Beat eggs in a bowl. Bring the soup to a boil, then pour the eggs over chicken and onion. Turn the heat down to low and put on a lid. After one minute, turn off the heat. To serve, first put steamed rice in a deep bowl, then place the chicken and egg on top of the rice.
*Makes 4 servings

That's the actual way of cooking lah, but since I don't have dashi soup stock-will go look that up the next time I'm back to KL :) and mirin, i just used my own creativity and utilized all the relevant sauce that I have in my cabinet !!! :P

Turn out ok!!! Edible...
Then I've gotten the Japanese craze in me!!!! Few days later, I made SUSHI!!!!! Sushi is not something new, cos I occassionally make it......

So that's how I celebrated my 8 days off!!!! It's been 1 wk I'm off, it felt that I was on leave... starting to have this - laziness to work.....

Blog setting gone haywire :(

2009-01-12T20:23:00.002+04:00

After a few tries from my blog expert friend, Li Li, there seems to be something wrong with my blog setting. We can't seem to figure out why the "profile" of my blog still stays at the bottom (usually it's at the side)...after several tries of changing the template. This is really upsetting as I'm not used to see my blog archive at the bottom. If there is anymore blog experts who knows the answer, please help !!!! sob sob....

Buffet Dinner - 09 Jan 2009

2009-01-10T00:40:00.003+04:00

The girls and I have decided that every month we should pamper ourselves with one good dinner....and try out nice restaurants around in AUH. This month, the pick of the month is in Beach Rotana - Rosebud.

Pony, Juliet and I...before dinner....All of the crews have been distributed a thick booklet with lots of vouchers inside with lots and lots of restaurants to choose from. Good!! Goes according to our "eating" roster !!! :) So it's buy 1 buffet and get another free!! The buffet original's price is at DHS157 = Almost RM140. This time, we managed to gather - the "frequent diners" - aka Pony, Juliet, Jen, Sheila, Lee Hin (just gotten to know her today) and last but not least - the thorn among the roses, Owen (new joiner for the buffet family :P) Sad Owen's wife - Diana couldn't join us as she's in KL. But since we've the WHOLE BOOK with close to 100 pages to choose from, there's always other times!!! Here's the family photo....

L to R : Owen, me, Jen, Juliet, Shiela, Lee Hin, Pony

Till then...let's wait for the next buffet!!!!

Kelvin and I in Johannesburg!!! - 05 Jan 2009

2009-01-10T00:21:00.004+04:00

Hahaha...for the 3rd time without requesting...Kelvin and I are meeting again!!! This time in Joburg - South Africa...We didn't do much...just had late dinner at 10pm, as my layover is pathetic...just 13 hours....if to be exact (after deducting time from and to airport) it's close to 09 hours....So as soon as Kelvin reached, he arrived 01 hour later after I arrived...we rushed out......Good he's staying in the same hotel.. Holiday Inn. He's staying in room 629, me 626. Perfecto!!! We went to Bullrun - close by.... to have the famous Pork Rib....yummmy...... (Rand 100 - close to RM50) and we'd mussels (Rand 50)...and also spinach..... The bill came up to Rand240....all sponsored by my generous brother :) No wonder dinner was nicer that nite...:P I heard that because there are so many crews staying around that area, BullRun gives free flow of wine!!! I didn't know ler....anyway I couldn't drink anyway that nite.....cos next day had to work :( Next time....

800gm Pork Rib...

Mussels in Garlic Sauce...

New Year's Eve - 31 Dec 2008

2009-01-03T16:07:00.002+04:00

On the 30Dec 2008, I'd a night stop in Amman, Jordan. It was raining that night and also the next day's morning. This hotel that we are staying in Kempinski, it's not too bad. Below are some of the shots I took on the 31st morning. This last day of the year will be one of the more memorable ones. I'd a bad crew working with me, someone who's solely irreponsible and lazy. Never mind that. It's a long day as it's AMM - AUH - DOH - AUH. When we landed in AUH fr AMM, there was fog. With the guests on board, and doors closed, we were delayed for 45 mins. You can imagine how agitated they were.

In this kind of situation, usually it's normal to have some "scenes"on board. So this time is no exception. As it's such a long wait, I told the crew to start with service on the ground. From AUH - DOH, we usually just serve 2 choice of sandwiches. That day it's beef and vegetarian. Crew came to me and told me that a lady wants a cheese sandwich-she can't take beef and she doesn't like vegetarian. I went to her asked her what's the problem. She said she wants other food ie a cheese sandwich. I told her the above choices are the only choices. She said there's a delay, there should be some food offered. I was wondering if the sandwiches is not being offered, then what is food? she said she wants refund for the food, cos she's not getting any. She's travelling with her son. Said that her son is hungry. Told her as much as I would want to get the food for her, the door is CLOSED and even business class doesnt' have cheese sandwich. And told her that our crews even offered her our own sandwich. She said she doesn't want to know if it's the crew's sandwich. BUt I told her IT IS OUR SANDWICH!!!! Somehow she calmed down and just took the crew's sandwiches. Why Lord, why do we have such people?? This is another thing which I don't understand until today. If it's only going to be a 40 mins flight, with 120 passengers on board?what do you expect to be served? Rice?? Pasta??

Then after an hour plus...we were ready to take off. A crew advised a local to put on his shoes cos he's sitting in an emergency Exit. He said he'll put in on when the aircraft takes off. I told him he has to do it NOW. He repeated himself. Then I told him we will not take off cos I will not pass the cabin secure to captain or otherwise he can take another seat down the back. He got pissed, he put on his Cinderella slippers and yelled "Go to Hell"....I went back to my seat...inhaled in a deep breath, and wondered what I was doing here!!!!!.......If it's not because of the delay and New year's eve, I would've just told the Captain to offload him!!!
And thanks to the fog, we were taxiing on the runway for another 45 mins....and by then it's already new year......That's how I celebrated my 2009 new year...... :) All in all, the flight's delayed for 5 hours due to the delay....Reached home at 5am...

Anyway, hope that what's happened it's all in the past, and hope 2009 will be a better year.......Happy New Year 2009 everyone!!

Trivandrum - 28 Dec 2008

2009-01-03T15:41:00.010+04:00

During GF Air times I've been to Trivandrum many times but we were staying in the city. This time round we stayed near the beach. Not bad ler the sea...quite clean....I was told that the name of this place is called "lighthouse". I'd my Ayurvedic masssage....different from the usual Thai massage...but pretty interesting...as I was "bathed" with oil....500 Rupees for an hour (RM50) but good as I'd finally gotten my massage since my BKK's cancelled early this month....

Then after massage, we visited Leela Hotel, heard that it's very pretty - until I saw it ....wow.....always see these pictures in brochures but finally get to see it with my own eyes...can imagine weddings being held in these kind of

places....or even honeymoon....awww...so romantic......The interesting thing is we stay NEXT to this hotel....believe it or not...hahaa..not literally NEXT but it's like a good 15mins walking distance lah.....And since it's such a HUGE DIFFERENCE I didn't have any mood to even take my hotel's pic....ahahhaha......

Nice hoh????

Damascus, Syria - 26 Dec 2008

2009-01-02T18:15:00.039+04:00

Damascus International Aiport

This month was lucky in a way, cos there's quite a number of destinations which I haven't been before, like Damascus, Syria. Flew with Owen - First Officer Malaysian, and met his wife, as well, Diana, who came along with us to DAM.

Our hotel - Rotana .....outside it looks like a rundown building...but inside it's not bad ler....

Taken from my room....

On the way to city... As I didn't do research, my colleague Yara and I just followed Owen and Diana to the Old City. We followed the "right" person, cos Owen and wife printed the places of interests!!! How great....

I'm surprised to find MILO in Syria, cos there's none in Abu Dhabi.....

And Cactus!!! People keep asking me if I see cactus in Middle east cos it's a desert...errrm.......nope, it's quite rare that I see cactus in Abu Dhabi, but yes, here is Cactus.....The taxi dropped us at the wrong "entrance" to the Old City, but it's good cos we found all these discovery....Just take note of how they like to extend their "houses".....errm...just wondering how much "extra" space can it be for the "little" extension... :P

Some kind of dessert....nice....dunno what it's called...it's made of flour...it's deep fried...sweet....gluish..a kind local offered us to eat cos we were all staring at it..for so long.....hahaha..

Random Art shop at one of the streets.....

In Old city.....amazed with the ruins...

Diana, Owen and me....

Diana and I preparing to go inside Umayyad Mosque. We paid 50 lira (RM5) to go in. As I was wearing a short jacket, I was given an "albayah" - the "long cover" and we'd to use our shawl to cover our head...Diana's jacket is a longer one so she was pardoned for wearing the albayah....so how do we look? heheehhe...

Umayyad Mosque is supposed to be one of the oldest mosques in the world....the interior is very nice as well.

Diana and I chilling out...

Inside the Mosque....

As we passed by the souq, Owen said this is a very famous ice cream shop....

Name of shop - Bakdash....the gelato style....with pistachio....50 lira (RM5) per bowl....

Another heritage which shouldn't be missed out - Jabri HOuse - (I didn't realize that the photo wasn't clear) Anyway, what was so special about this place was : this is a an old house built in 1737, and this house was being converted to a restaurant now. As you could've seen, I've purposely made these few photos in a larger size just to let you see the inside of the restaurant....it's really amazing and it'll never cross your mind that it could be so beautiful inside. We just snacked in the restaurant as we wanted to go somewhere else for dinner... Address of this place : it's quite a tricky location as you have to pass by small alleys to reach here. It seemed that this house is quite famous cos you just need to ask the locals in arabic (Jabri House) and they'll know where.....Thanks Owen for bringing us here!!!

Yara outside the restaurant...look at how small is the entrance is....Inside the restaurant...I'm just amazed with the small little pool in the middle...nice...Turkish coffee.....Overall, nice trip thanks to the company of Diana, Owen and Yara....

Merry Christmas 2008!!!

2008-12-24T13:56:00.003+04:00

Though not a Christian, I always enjoyed Christmas mainly because of the happy and joyful decorations all around the world. And everyone seems to be in a happier and holiday mood. As for this year's Christmas, I was off. Did nothing much, just stayed at home and watched DVD. Yeah yeah, how boring...but as I'd a morning pick up on 26/12, hence, stayed at home.
On 23/12, I met Irene's (Uncle Kitson's wife) cousin. We met at Al Wada Mall. Everyone, please meet - Lucretia from S'pore. She is here for 1 month to look-see Abu Dhabi, before deciding whether she'll be here with her hubby.Decoration at Al Wada Mall.....

Moscow - 11 December 2008

2008-12-16T14:52:00.021+04:00

I was absolutely shocked when I was pulled out from an airport standby to do Moscow. First of all, I was cameraless. 2nd of all, I only had a pullover, no jacket. Thank goodness there was a kind Cabin Manager who lent me hers. Besides all these shocks, I was excitingly looking forward for Moscow. I was telling myself even if I'd to freeze to death, I had to visit the "Red Square". That's one of the places I wanted to cross out in my Travel Map, but not willing to go there personally just to snap a picture of the "Kremlin" ( the Disneyland lookalike)and apparently you need to get visa and travellers say it's expensive... So it's a blessing that I am there.... As it's December, it's freezing...without snow....as guess, there's no sun at sight...making the place gloomy....and it gets dark at 4pm...

As I was cameraless, all these pictures are a courtesy from the crews. Was quite disappointed...but what to do....

All these photos are Red Square...with lightings up due to Christmas...

Lenin's Mausoleum....

Ice Skating ring...

Kremlin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dinner before calling it a day....

View from my room....20th floor...

Part of the hotel lobby......... we are staying in - Holiday Inn

It's been quite a while since I felt so excited as this country is a part of the world which I didn't expect to visit. A couple of points which I gathered in this trip :-

1) Please learn up Russian language cos there's hardly anyone who speaks English. On top of that everything's in Russian. Part of the example was, we counted number of stops when we were taking Metro (LRT equivalent) cos all the stops' names look like Tounge Twisters.

2) If you wish to buy some overcoats/jackets, Moscow has one of the most fascinating/nicest jackets I've seen with nice furs and designs

3) And the airport is bloody far from the town. Close to 1 half hrs to the city.

4) As part of the security measure, we were advised to bring out passports and disembarkation card when we leave the hotel. Policemen do lots of spot checks.

5) This is another country which I would include in my "not-to-travel-alone-country" list as the people were rather unfriendly.

Girls' Day Out 10/12/08 and 23/06/08

2008-12-16T13:25:00.022+04:00

Girls' Day out in Abu Dhabi 10/12/08
... Photos at Starbucks Al Wada Mall and Bambu Restaurant.... Jen and I

Juliet and I...

Shu Lee, me and Juliet...

Bambu Restaurant....

Geo and I who have come a long way......very hard to invite this long time friend out....thanks to Pony...who's doing the consistent invitation :)

Another girl's day out.... 23/06/08 (half a yr ago, I know...better late than never mah... :)) at Shangrila Hotel, enjoying the buffet dinner.....nice....

Noelle and I...
Pony and I...

Louis Vuitton - Here I come - 4 Nov 2008

2008-12-10T00:12:00.003+04:00

I've targetted an item from Louis Vuitton very long ago..ever since I started flying... telling myself that I'd to purchase one before I quit....How can a crew not have at least A BRANDED GOOD???yes....I'm stressing "A" cos I'm only planning to own only 1 - ONE.... Well am I quitting then?? since I mentioned "before I quit".....No I"m not quitting yet...cos after 1 half year of flying with Etihad, this is my only 2nd time to Paris, and I'm staying in the airport, which is like close to 45mins from the town...I'd rather not go out if I'd to travel that far just walk around....since I'd done all those sightseeings while I was with Gulf Air.... So, so, so...back to my LV story....let me tell you about my "conquering" and experiences in LV.....

I spent ONE HOUR in the shop just to decide on which one is within my budget and which colour.....I really don't know how these people could walk in and just grab and pay....Hello??? This is not like somekind of spinach or long beans you buy in market..... Each item easily costs E$100!!!! And it goes without saying, there are heaps of Asians especially Japanese and Hong Kong-er. There are 2 floors.....the Ground Floor selling mostly handbags...and the 1st floor selling more personal stuffs like clothes, shoes etc.....

Arrrr....you'd probably want to know the juiciest detail....how were the salespeople in a branded shop??? Yeap, you guessed it right!! As it was a busy time, the salespeople couldn't care less if you wanted something....whatmore for like ....yours truly, who's standing there just to purchase AN ITEM??? yes, you might be wondering....what the heck I'm doing there...as I'm from the customer service industry, those who know me well, will know that I can't take BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE.....but why???? what kept me there???? yes - I WANTED TO BUY LOUIS VUITTON BECAUSE I know that when I'm back in Malaysia, I can never afford one and priorities will certainly change in few years down the road......

People who came in before me - bought and left...and I was still in the shop....but...WHICH ONE????? After much consideration, I finally decided....SPEEDY 35 @E$430...

After buying.....hmmm....the wallet looks good too.....Should I???hahaaha....Did I just mention on the first paragraph...I wanted only ONE??....ahhahaha probably you read it wrongly or I typed it wrongly.......

Li Li's Wedding - 29 Nov 2008

2008-12-09T23:05:00.010+04:00

Another good friend of mine is categorized in the "married" status now - Pang Li Li. As we were counting the the years that we knew each other on that wedding itself.....it's close to 17 years!!! wow wow.....Li Li recalled we knew each other in tuition centre - which I've totally forgotten about!!! She was in a different school then...then eventually we were classmates....we went through lots......from cycling - to squash (ask her - she'll tell you more :P) - to our road trip to Australia...and the list goes on....Li Li's always well known for her laughter....when you are not happy, just make sure you go near her....when she laughs...she spreads to the world!!!! The bubbly and happy-go-lucky Li Li has wedded Darren Koh-her colleague in Ernst n Young.

Here are some of the happy moments on the auspicious day.....

Li Li in the hotel room preparing to go down to the Ballroom.....

The couple walking towards the Sheraton Ballroom....

Outside the Ballroom.....

Inside the Ballroom....

Kok Loon carrying Zoey, Jen, Jo, Me, Han San, Shew carrying Adelea....

Elaine, Ames carrying Adelea, Shew, Jo, Li Li, Darren, Me, HSan

Jo, Shew with Adelea, Me, HSan

Photos at random.....

Jo and I..........

Happy parents of Li Li.............

Johnny, Jodie and I

The Happy Bride at the End of the Night......

Heartiest Congratulations to Li Li and Darren...Wishing you guys happily ever after!!!!

Aunts in Abu Dhabi/Dubai - 17 - 21 Nov 2008

2008-12-09T22:35:00.007+04:00

I was lucky to have my mom, Aunt Linda and Ku Mah to visit me before they left for their road trip to Italy...though it was quite an experience for them cos they tried 3 days from KUL before they managed to get on a plane to Abu Dhabi.....god knows why is the flight always full from KUL...

Jumeirah Hotel....Ku Mah and Mom

Aunt Linda, Ku Mah and Mom

Mom at Burj Al Arab

Trying to be professional :P but don't seem to work....will try again :)

I was trying to capture Burj Dubai - the best I could from the bus...though it looked a bit scary with the hand at the bar...dun worry you are not seeing things......ehehheeh....it's really a hand...

Ski Dubai at Mall of Emirates.....

Mom at Gold Souq..... psssttt.....secret...My mom and Aunt Linda lingered in the Gold Souq for a good one hour.....but didn't buy anything....hahahhaa.....

At night - Bur Dubai....

Taking one of the boats across Deira...you should try it when in Dubai...it's only DHS1 = RM1 to catpure photos.....

Kelvin and I in London!!! - 25 Nov 2008

2008-12-09T22:24:00.006+04:00

This is the 2nd time that Kelvin and I get to meet downroute without requesting..hahaha...1st time was at Geneva.....Though our hours are limited...but at least get to meet mah....In Kelvin's Hotel - Renaissance - Heathrow...

Kelvin took me to this yummy restaurant called Pheasant near Marriott Hotel...though it's quite a cold and freezing walk from his hotel and mine.....the portion is hugeeeee.....and it's cheap too...P$10...Kelvin had stir fry lamb and white rice...

I had minced lamb ball with potatoes....

Eric Ng's Wedding - 11 October 2008

2008-10-12T21:36:00.010+04:00

Eric's my Citibank ex-colleague....He's the few last guys that you would think he'd settle down.....It was a coincidence that I was rostered operating KL flight for 24 hrs that day.....So I attended his "Cip San Leong" ceremony - the morning ceremony....This is more interesting as we get to see how inovative the Chee Mui's can be....ahahahaa.......

Eric - the bridegroom - so cute his "flower"....

Eric's parents

Pang, Me and Kelvin

Chi Mui's settling up hurdles for the Heng Tai's......The first hurdle was hilarious...no-pain hurdle...each Heng Tai had to tie a rafia string around their waist...and a banana attached to the string...facing front....i''m sure you understand how it looks like....couldn't get a better view..so didn't manage to capture the obscene view..hehehe......then in the 2nd picture where the Chi Mui is standing....you've to swing the banana from bottom and let it hang on the rafia string.....hahahaaha....hilarious......

The 2nd hurdle...was the usual torture-to-the-stomach hurdle.....god knows what they put inside the pot (the1st picture- where the Chi Mui is holding) and they'd to use a hose - YES a HOSE...you heard me right.....to drink it.....innovative hoh???heheeehh.....

And the third hurdle was very easy indeed...just a big packet of bananas to be eaten.....I wonder why's all the hurdles bananas.....

The usual playful Eric......and his beautiful wife....Cindy....

Kelvin and I....We used to be in the same team in Citibank...

Pang and I - I was forced to hold a cigarrate thanks by him....so don't be mistaken....I don't smoke... :) Pang is also the few whom he'd marry last but now he's a father of a cute 2 year old girl...

Jeremy and I....

Application of US Visa for work - 6 Oct 2008

2008-10-12T21:15:00.003+04:00

The most dreaded time came....When I saw that some of my colleagues who's my junior who were called to do US, I thought phewwww......It's not that I didn't like US, but because we are only staying in US for 24 hrs, and to fly there, it's 14 hrs!!! And the pax are from........well....I will tell you personally when I see you....and when we are flying there, in flight there's quite a lot of documentations and procedures.......yucccksss!!
And I thought I was skipped....Where got so lucky lah...On 6 OCT i was asked to do my US visa in US Embassy.... We were given a package with documents inside to fill in...and there was a to-do list...

One of the many questions was "List the countries you've entered in the last 10 years".....Honestly, I've never been bothered to count or cross out the countries I've been to these 4 years of flying...I just did a mental note that there's XX countries I want to visit in future...
So finally I listed them down ......and I counted them....40!!!And they've asked us to attach a paper to write down the countries......

Once you hand in documents, obviously there would be some interview questions....I didn't have any but I've heard quite INTERESTING ones......like..... Is your grandma terrorist???
They do ask questions regarding the aircraft as well....Well, that's quite understandable but...your grandma???....... :)

As it's only work visa and not a personal visa, I wasn't too enthusiastic on the number of years that I'm getting. I've got a 5 yrs visa.....

Manila / Abu Dhabi - 15-19 September 2008 - Part 3

2008-10-12T19:25:00.007+04:00

Manila.....

I was operating to Manila, and Jeremy followed...As we'd only 19 hrs (due to delay) there we didn't do much....just ate and we went to Makati....

Manila in the night.....
Jeepney...
GreenBelt....

We had our dinner in Landmark's food court.....That's where we can try their local food cos in Green Belt it's all international food.....To get here we took the Metro (LRT equivalent) - the amount of people who were commuting were scary.....they were basically lining up to get into the station....there's no space inbetween them......good experience...We stopped at Ayala - near Shoe Mart...costs 25 peso each... (RM2 )

Barbequed Pork with rice

Grilled pork - The bowl of sauce was good....it's a mix of peanuts and some lime...My friend told me wat it was but as usual I've forgotten...The name starts with S i think...ehehe.....a must-try...very nice when it's dipped with grilled pork (siu yook)

Grilled chicken with rice...

Barbeque pork stick....

Back in Abu Dhabi.....

Due to Ramadhan, it was difficult to find food daytime. Unlike M'sia, restaurants are all closed until evening time. Even shopping malls, many shops are closed as well. So we'd to cook. Let me present the cooks' dishes...

Fried Fish with ginger slices and soy sauce ...ahem...cooked by yours truly...

Potato with mince pork....also cooked by yours truly....

Ko Lo Yook - Errm....I forgot how to translate this.... it's Fried Pork lah basically....this is cooked by the chef specially escorted from M'sia....Jeremy...Taa daaa........lunch for the day.....
I'm not exaggerating when I say that the restaurants are closed!!!! This picture was taken at Abu Dhabi Mall at 5.30pm....The waiters were still setting up the tables....

Emirates palace...Our equivalent of "Burj Al Arab Hotel"Above : the opposite of Emirates Palace....

Below : Still Emirates Palace....

Inside Emirates Palace....Errmm...no offense but to me it's not so impressive....like Palace of Golden Horses loh...in M'sia...