My Christmas Dinner

Steak, Potatoes, Brocolli and Wine

For Christmas, Louis has very nicely decided to cook dinner for just the 2 of us.

Unfortunately, the Christmas songs that I spent a whole day downloading causing my netbook to go cuckoo was with my cousin (he din manage to give them back to me when he rescued my netbook) so the music playing on the background was a bit high strung, I mean what do you expect? it was the Celine Dion Christmas CD......

Cherating – Part 6

Cost of the trip

Disclaimer:
This is just a rough calculation based on my ageing memory…

Accommodation : RM60 for 2 nights
Toll : RM50 round trip
Petrol : RM75 Kancil full tank
Food : RM160 (inclusive of beer and Kenny Rogers Roasters meal at Mall
in Kuantan which cost RM47)
Total : RM345 for 2 person


P/S: Cost of Beer is RM 10 per can at Payung Café and the cost of cocktails are between RM18 to RM14. Food price is similar to KL prices.

Cherating – Part 5

What did we do there?

o Sports Illustrated photography

One of the pics

We dedicated one morning which was basically 2 hours at the beach to shoot some “Sports Illustrated” pics of my sis. I thought I was gonna get denggi from the amount of mosquito bites that I got that morning from staying stationery once in a while to just shoot the photos… it turned out that the mozzies were actually sand flies and now the back of my thighs look like a cheetah with pink spots….The consolation was that some of the pics turned out quite nice.

o Waves jumping
After breakfast, we went for a dip in the sea. Water is NOT crystal clear… reminds me of Tanjung Aru beach in KK. The beach was sandy and the waves were quite strong, currents were strong too. Lucky for us the tide was coming in. We had a marvelous time jumping the waves like we used to at Tanjung Aru.


The beach in the morning

o Exfoliating
As efficient as ever, my sis made sure that the sand was put to good use by rubbing it on our backs and feet. It was rough but the after effects were smooth skin that lasted for errr… 1 day?


Beach separated by a sand bank

o Sun tanning
The morning sun was strong for the 2 days we were there but by lunch time, it became cloudy and short showers were expected… we were tanning and by the beach and eating cheese flavored roller coasters at the same time… really fun activity. We probably were at it for about an hour the most before we decided to go get some lunch.


Pretty sandy pattern

o Jogging at the beach
Our room was a great place to nap after lunch and since it was raining, the nap was even sweeter. When the rain stopped we went to the beach for a 20 minutes jog. According to my sis, 20 minutes of increased heart rate per day is all we need and I would listen to her as she is a fitness freak since secondary school. We went jogging at the beach the next morning too for what else? 20 minutes of course. Will I incorporate this healthy activity into my existing lifestyle in KL? Let me be an irritating kiasu bitch and a half and ponder over the logistics of this incorporation like so many other activities that I do on a daily basis eg. do I shower before dinner or after dinner and what are the pros and cons of each argument…..

o Chilling
Now this part is the best… the loitering around on the balcony and lying about on the bed just chatting or having a beer or a cigarette (only my sis, I am still officially cigarette free since 27th Sep 2008 and will still be counting like the maniac that I am) Just catching up with each other and just enjoying each other’s company like we used to when we shared a room together growing up.

All in all, this 1st trip was awesome enough for us to decide to continue this new tradition – now we just need to think of the logistics of where, what, when and How for the next trip! Which is something that we will just leave until the last minute or until we absolutely have to… Of course us being who we are had to stop in Kuantan and traipse around the Mall there before coming back to KL.

Cherating – Part 4

The International Surfing Competition

Most of the local food/accommodation operators thought that we were joining in the surfing competition – must be the board shorts that we were in… but I thought judging by our complexions especially mine, they must have been thinking of snow surfing or something…

It was a bit strange though that this event din get the whole place packed with people as most of the guest houses have loads of rooms available, most restaurants and souvenir shops were not really open… it still had that chill factor like it is off season or something…


The competition environment and spectators

The exact amount of time that my sis and I spent at the competition was 1 hour the most. The waves were not as huge as the ones you see on TV where people surf in Hawaii or Australia or even animations like Surf’s Up. I guess unless you are really like into surfing you would probably think it is not such a big deal after all… the surfing looked pretty good and I got quite a few shots of the contestants surfing (don’t ask me which category)






The hubba factor was not sky rocketing…mostly pilak looking surfers (Van, so no winking from me) or little kids for that matter. Mat Sallehs looked like they have gone through A LOT of summers so it was not surprising that we din go for the party at 9 p.m. and preferred to chill in our balconies.

However, that was just my unprofessional opinion, for more reliable info on the competition; you can refer to these websites:

http://forum.surfermag.com/forum/showflat.php?Number=1504185

http://all-about-malaysia-info.blogspot.com/2008/01/catching-surf-at-cherating.html

Cherating – Part 3

Accomodation

We stayed in Cherating Cottage because:

It was within our budget – RM30 for a double room with fan fitted into our budget perfectly for an impromptu weekend getaway … in fact we brought along a 2 men tent just in case we din get a place to stay. That was the main reason initially until we found out about the additional plus points below:

Additional plus points:
o The service was above my expectation as they are closed by 11 p.m. but they were willing to arrange for the room keys to be held by a guest and for us to call the guest (Kak Ani) to give us our keys… really nice people

o We found out that the beach was just opposite the road and the hostel is situated 200 m away from the road leading to the beach – woohooo!

o The room was pretty clean and the bathroom, toilet and sink facilities were done logically that my sis and I need not fight over the bathroom, toilet or sink as it is separated and managed to get ready on time – yes my sis even managed to put on makeup :)(see 1st pic at the top)

o They have a rattan towel rack built on top of a rattan shelf which was very convenient to dry our towels

o They gave us 4 chairs at the balcony so we could sit anyhow we liked :)(see 3rd pic at the top)

o There was also a clothes line at the balcony… only thing is we din bring any clothes peg….

o There is a convenient shop just next door, very handy for buying mineral water – RM2 per 1.5 litres, quite standard price

o The restaurant serving all day continental breakfast (great for people who loves breakfast like us) is also the hotel reception

Not so good points:
o The toilet sounded like a few gremlins lived in it after flushing… the noise can carry on up to 10 minutes … my sis was pretty worried that the boys staying next door will think that some one in our room has developed a horrible diarrhea by the sounds coming out of the pipes and/cistern

o The faucet at the sink would suddenly come alive and sprout water even though it is tightly screwed shut … no not ghost just minor plumbing issues
The bathroom and toilet lights are a bit too romantic aka not bright enough. But it is good for the body conscious as you won’t be able to agonize over your flaws imaginary or otherwise

o There are also no hooks to hang your clothes or towel in the bathroom, so be sure to go stay with someone you trust not to peep at your naked form or someone you don’t mind having access to seeing you in your birthday suit

o The walls are quiet thin, we heard all the conversation going on the next room so if you wanna get jiggy with it, as this may not be the most suitable place unless you don’t mind heheh.

o The blanket/duvet given did not smell very nice … anyway my sis brought her blanket and I used my pareo to double up as a blanket so it is not too bad. Even though it is a room with fan only, it can still be quite cold especially at night and dawn.

o The staircase going up to the 1st floor where our room was situated can be very steep… my sis measured the height of the one of the more horrendously steep steps, the height is slightly more than her size 6 foot… If you are young and nubile and are looking forward to toning your butt and thighs it would be a great plus point… if you are having knee problems, our advise would be for you to get an air conditioned room which are conveniently situated on ground level.

o There is a pub about 500m further down the road that plays music quiet loudly into the wee hours of the night, if you are an insomniac, this may not be a good place for you. My sis and I slept soundly both nights… of course we had a can of beer each on night no 2 ….

Overall, that Cherating Cottage was fun to stay in. Check out this website for more budget places to stay in at Cherating http://www.backpackingmalaysia.com/hostels/cherating

Cherating – Part 2

Sometimes I wonder if I am growing too tense and need to relearn the habit of relaxing and chilling….

My objectives for this trip are as follows:

1)To shoot some pictures of my sis for her Sports Illustrated calendar – hopefully my half baked skills as a photographer would be enough for that
2)To check out the surfing scene and oogle at some hubbas
3)To chill and relax with my sis to see if we will be compatible as travel buddies

We had a rough start … at least in my kiasu mind as we din leave at 6 p.m. on the dot as I have planned (yes… I am a maniac nowadays when it comes to these things… even I hate myself for it… but what to do, am getting old so time is running out, therefore, must be more efficient)

We left KL at about 8.30 p.m. and reached around 1 a.m. which was pretty good timing considering we don’t know the way that well and it was in the middle of the night. Missed the turning to Pantai Cherating coz the signboard was facing the other side of the road and was too dark for us to see. Luckily, we were logical enough to stop at some Tom Yam restaurant that was lined up on that part of the road to ask for directions, made a U turn, travelled about 1 km and found the turning. We got to Cherating Cottage safely after squinting at all the road signs along Pantai Cherating, when we could have just drove straight along the road happily as the signboard for Cherating Cottage was pretty big.


My sis posing at the big signboard by the road side

You could say the moral of the story is we should have taken more time to research on how to get to Cherating a lil bit more … but as you can see even by just following the simple directions given by Farah from Cherating Cottage over the phone which goes like: “From the highway, follow the road sign to Kemaman, then Cherating, then Pantai Cherating and watch out for our signboard” we got there in one piece after a couple of heart attacks. For all you kiasus and OCDs out there,here is a link to a site that has a satellite map of Cherating..hehe. http://www.backpackingmalaysia.com/hostel/cherating-cottage/cherating

Cherating - Part 1

Sister Sister

Yay!! I am going to Cherating with my sister this evening to the International Surfing Competition. Not too sure whether the surf competition is confirmed happening tomorrow and the day after... but it will definitely be a trip to look forward to even without the hubbas (as my sis calls the surfers).

This is the first trip that I am having with my sis after being siblings for ... yikes! 27 years! I have packed my swimsuit etc and also my camera (am doing a calendar photo shoot of my sis) and a tent just in case we can't secure a place to stay for the night... Which reminds me I have got to call the Cherating Cottage to confirm again coz it didn't seem like they quite got me the last time.....

I can't wait for the day to end so that we can get started on the road trip :)

Dreams & Ambitions

You remember how in primary school every year the teacher will be asking each and every one of us what are our ambitions? I remember I always used to say something standard like teacher, doctor, policeman, shopkeeper and probably the most creative one inspired by Famous Five was to be a Scientist.

Then in secondary school we all got so sick of it towards the end of our secondary school years the ambitions became stuff like: Professional Caddy and Professional Hitman...

But what are our true dreams and ambitions then? Have we truly managed to reach our goals so far? Is our life really heading to where we want it to be?

I think I am going towards that direction, I may have reached it in a way... I have always expected to be such:

1) Earning my own money
2) Living in the city in my own place
3) Doing adventurous stuff
It all din turned out to be exactly as I dreamed it to be, but I won't change any of it either, maybe add to it as I go along

What I din manage to do in the long run despite having managed to do it the minute I turned 17: DRIVING

What I managed to get along the way that is priceless:
1) Love and support from my family
2) Great friends
3) A compatible guy

Maybe my dreams and ambitions were not sky high... but it could also be time to dream up some more!

Of Celebration and Ageing

Last friday I had dinner with my ex-boss who was leaving her company. Finally after all these years she can now celebrate! Needless to say, the celebration came with a bottle of wine at La Bodega Pavillion.

After that I had teh tarik with another friend from 12 midnight till 3 a.m. The next morning? Woke up early with a flu... the whole weekend in fact was dedicated to recovering from the flu....

Itulah pasal, old people should not prasan that they can still party all night...

Voting Day Part II

I remember seeing all the campaign banners and posters with 2 or 3 different people all under 1 party. If there should only be 1 candidate for each party in each constituency (Thank goodness in my area there is no need to vote for DUN as well, otherwise lagilah pening) there should only be posters and banners of 2 persons representing a contesting party each around my area... but NO, the whole place is plastered with different faces but from the same parties... Am I supposed to really know who is the right person with these kind of confusing marketing techniques....

Fortunately, I calmed down and started thinking coherently, I thought of looking at the logo (actually, if the logos were as prominent as they were displayed in all the campaign posters, I would not have panicked). Finally I recognised the logo that I wanted to vote for (the colour scheme of the logo was definitely not as bright as they appear to be on the posters and banners) and went towards the voting booth wondering if I need to bring my own pen or pencil....

At the booth, attached to a white string is a pencil that looked like it has seen better days... For another moment I had the wild instinct to put a tick next to the party logo that I wanted to vote for because ticking is the norm in society for saying something is good right? But NO, we have to mark X for the party that we wanted to vote for, it's like logic terbalik, but thank goodness, I managed to curb my instinct before I do something stupid and marked a big X on the box next to the logo of the party that I wanted to vote for. Then I walked to the ballot box, and while trying to stuff in the ballot, I saw that many of the people before me has voted for the party that I voted for... so I guess it is reassuring after the ordeal I went through the last 1 minute or so...

Then Lo and I went for Pan Mee in KL (so much for the nasi lemak, come to think of it, I may never have a chance to eat that nasi lemak ever again despite still going past that stall every morning)and went to Bukit Bintang to buy a digital camera. I started to get a mild headache by that time and when we got home by 3 pm I went straight to bed thinking that I will wake in time to watch the counting of the votes like I have done almost at every election. No such luck, I actually slept until 8 am the next morning, sleep was dreamless and felt like I have just lost consciousness for a couple of hours and woke at 8 am the next morning... So things never go as we planned it, just like the results of the election as well.

Voting Day Part I

I always imagined for the past one month that on my 1st time voting day, I would wake up early and be at the polling station at 8 am to be done with voting before the queue starts and will be happily having breakfast of nasi lemak (there is one stall that operates opposite the school I am supposed to be voting at that I pass by every morning in the car but never got a chance to try).

In reality, I woke up groggy and disoriented because the night before I was at a bar opposite the KL Tower hosting a farewell dinner and drinks for a client after a long day of meeting and travelling between KL and Shah Alam. Got home at midnight with many glasses of beer in my stomach and God knows how many sticks of cigarettes as well....

I squinted at the alarm clock and noticed that it was already almost 10 am,... so much for my wake up early for the election thing. Then I had to announce very loudly that it is 10 am already before another voter snoozing away slowly got out of his dream state and got his eyes focused but still staring blankly at me....

Whilst Lo is in the shower, I ran straight to the internet and logged into a local newspaper and read up on the latest news... I was unfortunately, still undecided on who to vote for, of course my conversations with various taxi drivers in the city has convinced me that I should vote for a change, still I need to read the news to maintain an unbiased stand point (bloody hell, come to think of it, voting is a biased thing, what was I trying to achieve then?)

After the shower etc. and dressing to ensure that I look like a responsible malaysian citizen ie. tank top, cargo pants and selipar jepun with a bag slung across from the left shoulder to the right hip, we got into the car and arrived 5 minutes later near the school compound. Lo in his usual malaysian driving and parking style (lebih-lebih lagi since the 4 wheel drive) squeezed into a parking spot so small that he (yang kurus kering) need to get out at the passenger side... It (The voting)should be over in a matter of minutes, no point being too picky. By the way, there were many traffic cones allocated in the parking spots (at least 20 of them) so traffic jam jugalah that road because everyone is waiting for someone to get out of their parking space and when they do, they can't get out into the road... which is so silly...

Moving on, we walked into the main gate there was a long-long table with loads of people and computers and little pieces of paper (about the size of a square post it) with big numbers on them from stacks with 1 to 16 or so printed on them. I gave my I/C number, they did the check on the computer and gave me a piece of those paper with 15 printed on them and told me to go to a classroom marked 15. They were quite helpful, pointing the way and so on...

Both Lo and I were at the same classroom so I went in first, there were only 2 voting booths (tables with the aluminium thing covering it, looking like we should be cooking maggi mee there rather than voting) at the end of the classroom and in the middle of the room there is 1 transparent box half full of ballots. At the other 3 sides of the classroom, long tables were set all along the walls again as 6 to 8 people are working mostly checking and cancelling your name as one of them calls out your name after getting your I/C and you move on nearer to the voting booths and another person will tear out a ballot and hand it to you and gesture that you should be going over to the voting booth after receiving your ballot. I din immediately go to the voting booth, I stared at the little ballot and saw that it is very plain without instructions written on it and since my mind was trained on looking for words, I saw that the names of the candidates were written there and at that very moment, I panicked because both names sounded alien to me....I don't remember who is who and don't think the person I wanted to vote for was here.......

Wait Till I Have Time

Last night as I was about to go off from the office, I got a call from an old friend from college, she called to tell me the good news that she is getting married and would like to invite me to her wedding. She was one of the last ladies standing unmarried like myself among our college friends besides this other guy. Of course I was happy for her and asked about all the wedding preparation, as usual I feel very happy for the people who dare to take the plunge and happily sign the rest of their lives away to another person.

Of course when I got back home, I informed my dad who was also invited to the wedding. The shock of my life was that (although I managed to control hensem and didn't sound at all like I was shocked) he asked me "Daughter, other people are getting married, what about you?" in the most conversational tone, that brought me back to the time when I was six and my dad using the same tone asking me why I din want to go to school. Looks like my dad really wanted to know this time (usually it is my mom pestering me till no end about this matter). Of course I laughed and gave the usual reply that I was too busy and I will get married when I have the time. And that was the absolute end of this sensitive topic in the conversation.

Of course, getting married for me is the ultimate step. If I cannot imagine myself being married at all up till today means that I am not ready in one way or another, right? Not willing to make the sacrifice as some people would say or have yet to see the blessings of being a married person. Now of course, I would be missing out on things that are important to me like being pregnant and having kids. This feeling was recently brought on by meeting up with another friend who is pregnant and looking so happy and contented that when you see her, you will go "awww" like a sitcom audience during a touching moment.

The final verdict is that no matter how "awww" it can get on the motherhood front (of course I only like the thought of having a baby but realisticly, tearing my hair out is more likely when thinking of taking care of little children while working fulltime) it is still not possible for me to tip the scale to the marrying side at this moment in this relationship no matter how many external factors appear to be giving me pressure. Ask me why? You will get my standard reply "Wait till I have the time"

Voting Anxiety

I went on the Suruhanjaya Pilihanraya website to check on the voter's infomation. Wow! I was impressed because the minute you type in your new IC number your registered information and which centre you are supposed to be voting at will pop up immediately.

However, as Murphy's Law would have it for the 1st time voter... one part of my name was spelt wrongly, instead of a "z" they put in an "e". So I sent in a query to the e-mail address for more information and asked if I can still vote with this miniscule problem... of course I have not gotten a reply as yet...so I have to wait anxiously for a reply that may not even materialise before the 8th of March.... Arrrgggghhhhhhh

Gunung Angsi - A picture story

View from the peak of Gunung Angsi

Gunung Angsi was the second activity in the training schedule for EBC Nepal this October.

The climb took me about approximately 4 hours... I just couldn't get warmed up enough to just breeze along the trail going uphill as there was a cool wind blowing all the while and it got quite misty as well at 9 in the morning.I reached the peak at 11 a.m. where the whole group of people were already relaxing and enjoying themselves and eating an early lunch. After lepakking at the peak; eating and having a ciggie later, it was time to get down. Took another 1 hour to go down the same way we came up from. To go through the Hutan Lipur way would mean that we will have to pay the park entrance fee..... After that it was bathing by the roadside in a sarong and going off to Seremban for lunch. It was a good training :)

Misty mountain look at 9 in the morning

Some plant looking like corals except it is green

Leaves of some of the trees turning red...macam autumn pulak

A twisted vine hanging down from a tall tall tree

One of the more picturesque part of the jungle path

Leaves that look like butterflies or bow ties

Interesting plant looks like a chinese fan

The dog that beat everyone to the peak....

Mamak stall in the middle of the jungle? This place was actually built by some very frequent hikers as a rest area

Loggers trail just behind the DIY rest area

This is the starting and ending point of the climb...somewhere along the Highway....

Did'nt Know I had a Blog...

This is weird, I was browsing through a friend's blog and decided to make a comment on one of her post and suddenly I discovered that I have a blog.... Talk about not being technology savvy at all!