Going Out on a Rainy Saturday

My sister and I planned to go to the Matta Fair yesterday and stopped by at Mid Valley when returing from PWTC. We would like to check out the competitive rates to Taiwan (we planned to go there next year) and some other destinations. Unfortunately, she received support calls from her dear colleagues and by the time we were about to set off, the sky was dark and the clouds were heavy. I prompted if she would still want to go ahead with the plan and she was adamant to proceed as planned.

It wasn't too bad as it was merely drizzling. The wind was strong, nevertheless. Hence, taking the walk to the KTM Commuter station was pleasant. Alas, the rain got heavier and we were forced to stop at Subang Parade. We had our lunch there and bumped into another friend. What a coincidence. We tend to bump into each other whenever we were at that place, especially when she was there for studies purpose. LOL.

Little did I know that Subang Parade had entered its 20th year in Subang Jaya. When I moved in to Subang Jaya about 18 years ago (gee, that makes me sound old. LOL), Subang Parade was the best shopping mall around. There was a small theme park adjacent to it. However, it was closed down shortly after. Luckily I had been there a few times. Otherwise, that would be a waste. The place was quite fun and happening actually. Uncertain why it had ceased operation.

Here are some pictures which I randomly snapped with my camera phone. I am not a very good photographer =p

Aiks, not a very good shot. The words were hidden (both 2nd and 3rd image). Pardon me as I was trying to take a few snaps before the little ones around start running about. LOL. Lame excuse, I know =p

We then headed to MidValley. The air-con there was unusually freezing. In normal circumstances, the air would be warm due to the crowd. Anyway, we seized every seconds we have by checking out what were new on the shelves - from food to shoes. Alas, the shopping spree was not that fruitful. I managed to get myself a top but my sister got herself nothing. Sales was over. Only some shops were still offering discounts.

While we were looking for a place to rest our tired feet, we came across this quaint cafe known as Sbread. They also have a website for you to browse through if you are interested. We were served by a beautiful lady, who I suspect was the lady boss. Sbread's specialty was Bamboo Charcoal Bread. My sister and I ordered a slice of Bamboo Charcoal Bread with Taro-flavoured kaya and another slice of white bread with Otak-Otak topping.

I actually forgotten to snap some photos on the Bamboo Charcoal Bread until I saw a couple who sat behind my sister, busy camwhoring.LOL. Immediately, I took out my camera phone (I don't have the habit of bringing my digital camera around unless there's an occassion) and started snapping a few photos. The result wasn't that desireable. We were in the midst of devouring the Otak-Otak topping bread and I told my sister to stop for a while so that I could take a photograph of it.

White bread with Otak-otak topping

At about 7PM, we went for dinner at a restaurant in SS15, Subang Jaya - Restaurant J.O

This is how the interior of the restaurant looked like. The business was quite good. There were several tables already been reserved and people started to stroll in as time passed by. The place was installed with air-conditioners and ceiling fans but I don't think they were needed as the weather was rather chilly.

Being a fan of beancurd (a.k.a tofu), I like the beancurd with fish paste dish but the fish paste didn't taste that good. It tasted rather superficial. This dish was priced at MYR12.

I think the star of the night was the sliced fish ginger and spring onions. Though the sliced fishes were fried, they were still tender and most importantly, the fish was fresh. The dish cost MYR25.

The sweet and sour sauce which the pork belly was cooked with tasted good - the sweetness, sourness and spicyness were just perfectly blended together. It was priced at MYR15.

Tofu with Fish Paste

Sweet & Sour Pork Belly

Sliced fish with ginger and spring onions

Fried lettuce(MYR 10)

Pulau Besar, Johor Photos

Here are more pictures from the trip. I was lazy to upload all of them as they are quite a number of them and the file size is huge. Not to mention, I have another batch of photos with my friend which I have yet to retrieve from her.

Please click on the images for larger view. This applies to all images uploaded to this blog.

We didn't get to see sunrise as it took place on the other side of the mountain. Anyway, it was great to have seen this view. Don't get to see it much in the city.

This is the boat which was used for island hoping and to transport passengers to the Mersing jetty. It's rather comfy. Small, quaint and capable of accommodating human as well as goods. They actually transport goods (such as food and frozen fishes) to the island along with passengers. A brilliant way to save cost considering the recent increase of fuel price.







Now, how can we not be lazy after staying for three heavenly days in this beautiful island. The pace of the things here was slow and lifestyle was simple. However, staying here forever would not be that appealing. Well, as the saying goes, too much of something is never good ;-) It would be wonderful to de-stress yourself here once in a while though. I hope the waters here will not be polluted like other islands.

This is the European Survivor's shooting site. We walked for about 20 minutes from our resort to this place. The construction of this site was co-ordinated by the General Manager of Aseania Resort (Mr. Jas), who so kindly brought us to explore this interesting site. The theme revolves around aircraft and it's made of Styrofoam. Looks real, eh? Good work


Another European Survivor's shooting site and according to Mr. Jas, it's this year's European Survivor's theme - revolved around temple. Again, some portion of the prop was made up of Styrofoam. Amazing masterpiece.

The Little Lost Rat

"Where is my cheese?", the little rat asked. It wandered further into the jungle. There was no sign of other beings around except for the tall trees surrounding the little rat. Afraid, the little rat stopped moving and rationalised if it should continue to look for its cheese. "Is it possible to have cheese in this huge forest?". "Will I be starved to death before I could find any cheese or before I could find my way out?". The little rat then decided to continue its effort. "If I continuing searching, I would have at least some chance of surviving, whether I find my cheese or I find my out of the forest", the rat thought to itself. To the little rat's delight, it found a piece of cheese not long after. It ate the cheese and hope was what the rat felt.

The above is somewhat my thoughts for the past few months. I could not see what would be lying ahead of me and I was confused what I should I do as I wanted to achieve more (because I felt I didn't have much achievements in life which I am particularly proud of. Perhaps I was demanding too much or that's the truth) but the situation at that point of time was not to my favour. The fact that I was not able to picture my future did startle and scare me, as I am the type who prefer things to be planned and organised. I am not much of a spontaneous person though I would leave some things to have nature takes it course.

Thank God that now the situation was slightly better and I wasn't as confused, depressed and lost as I was. Probably, in another year to come, I would be faced with similar situation. Anyway, things would then be to my favour the next time perhaps(I hope). I believe I might be in a better position to handle as I could be in better control than before and I would have grown up a little by then =p

P/S: Rat was used as illustration because I am borned in the year of Rat, according to the Chinese Lunar Calendar.

Reminiscing The Good Days

Today is my first day at work after a long stretch of holiday. I am somewhat thankful that I still recall the passwords to all the systems. It took me a while to adjust to the pace of work and not to mention to catch up on all the emails which left unread during my absence at work. Every now and then, the image of the blue sea came to my mind. Not very helpful, though. It made my heart fonder thinking that the island is about 7 hours apart. I will be back. Just look out for me! =p

Little did I know that a number of my fellow colleagues bade goodbye while I was away. It's sad to see so many left the company. One of them is my very own teammate. I only heard of her resignation the week before last week and by the time I am back from my vacation, she's gone! How fast. I didn't get to say goodbye to her.

My colleagues and I switched to our usual craze after working hours. We were discussing about mooncake festival gathering. That sounds great. One of my colleagues volunteered to have it at her place this Saturday as the following Saturday is my other colleague's wedding! Gosh, I am so unprepared to be the zhi mui (it means "sister". Every wedding, the groom would have his pool of buddies, one of whom would be the groom's best man and for the bride, she would have her own sisters. Similarly, one of them would be the brides maid. The role of buddies and sisters are to be loud and get things heated up. The sisters would come up with games for the buddies and only after the buddies successfully hit the "passing" mark, will the groom allowed to see the bride. It's then continued with the wedding reception and ceremony). This is the first time I am given the honour to be a bride's zhi mui. I was asked to be zhi mui for another friend's wedding. Alas, I can't make it as I would be on business trip then. What a pity.

The sudden boom of wedding bells ringing somehow jolted me to reality. My biological clock is ticking and I am ageing. Staring at the reflection in the mirror, I could still see the childishness in myself though there are some fine lines around my eyes, which is a sign of my body telling me I am getting old. Gone were the days when I was just an innocent student whose only concern was to pass exams. Becoming some one's wife is something I have never imagined. At least not now. I am always slower compared to my friends of the same age ;p

Pulau Besar, Johor

It feels good to have a vacation with friends occasionally. I just came back from my trip to Pulau Besar, Johor with my friend and 3 of her other friends. We only reached Pudu bus terminal after about 6 hours. The driver did not use the highway but the alternative routes and we passed by lots of greenery.

We had taken lots of photos and I missed the island after looking back at the photos while transferring to laptop. It's only been a day after trip! The entire vacation package, inclusive of 3D2N accomodation, 3 meals per day and boat ride from Mersing to Pulau Besar and Pulau Besar to Mersing only costs MYR290. MYR150 is paid as deposit upon making reservation.If you opt to take a bus to Mersing, it would cost you MYR46 for return tickets. We bought the bus ticket from Transnasional and the place to board the bus was none other than Pudu bus terminal.

You may take a walk from the Mersing bus terminal to the jetty. It's only about 10 or 15 minutes walk.

On the 29th August 2008, the 6 of us took the night bus (10PM but it was delayed to about 10.40PM) and arrived at Mersing bus terminal during the wee hours of 3AM or so on the 30th August 2008. My eyelids were so heavy when we were told to get off the bus. The boys went to look for a place where we could kill time and we were lucky to have one. It's a coffee shop but the food sold were mamak style. With backpacks resting on our shoulders, we headed to the coffee shop. It was pleasant to have chilly air kissing our cheeks as we marched on the quiet streets of Mersing.

When the sky was brighter, we walked to the Mersing Jetty. There's still plenty of time to kill as the boat would only be picking us up at 10AM and it was barely 8AM when we reached the jetty. Fortunately, one of the boys brought board games Risk.We played while listening to some Brazilian songs from the MP3 player connected to a mini stereo owned by one of the boys. It did give me the vacation "feel". The boat did not come when our watches read beyond 10AM. We were later told that the boat would only arrive at about noon as there was another group arriving Mersing at that time. Furious by the excuse given, we demanded for compensation and the agent as well as the boatman agreed to treat us lunch on that day and we could play all the water sports available in the beach resort for free! This actually saved our travel expenses ;p

View at the Mersing jetty

Lovely, isn't it?

The resort we stayed for 3 days and 2 nights were known as Nirwana Beach Resort and it's renamed to Famosa Resort. It's a good bargain if you are in for a budget stay. All facilities available are essential and really down to the basics. Although it's normal that water supplies at beach resorts would have a strange taste, I really must say the mineral taste of the water supply in this resort is really strong. It has a heavy metallic taste. My friend also lamented the same. We almost threw up when brushing our teeth with it. Anyway, fret not, you may purchase mineral water at the cafeteria.

There's air-condition and 2 power outlets for you to recharge mobile phone or digital camera, however, the electricity was generated via generator which would only be activated at 7PM daily. You would not need the air-condition, though. Stay out and enjoy the breeze by the beach or lay on the lazy chairs outside the room.

Bedroom view - with air-con

bathroom

I enjoyed the beach game we had - beach volleyball, captain ball, kite-flying, freebie, kayaking. Thanks to my lack of activeness in sports, I am having aches all over. LOL. It seems like my face was a favourite target for balls. First, my right eye was hit by the ball when my teammate passed the ball to me. Then, it hit the left side of my face. My left eye was not spared :S Earlier, the freebie hit my head while I was playing it with my friend. Er,...my face can't be that irritating, eh? LOL

Among all the activities mentioned above, the most unforgettable experience would be kayaking. As I didn't know how to swim, I dared not venture further to the middle of the sea. It was embarassing that the boat went into the pillars of the jetty because we didn't know how to turn the boat to the right and a family of four was right in front watching us (my sis and I were in the same boat). Not to forget the other 3 boys were also looking ~____~" One of them teased us. Anyway, I gave myself a pat on the back as it was a departure from my usual timidity. After this trip, I made a resolution - to learn to swim and to be more courageous and adventurous.

The water is clear and the sand is as fine as flour!

The jetty

Breath-taking view

Woohoo, the machos are in action to jet-ski

There are 3 more resorts next to Nirwana and they seemes a little more luxurious - Mirage, Aseania and D'Coconut.We visited the 3 resorts and couldn't help but snapped some photos. The pub in Aseania was rather happening. If you are a huge fan of extreme water sports, you may go jet skiing at Aseania or D'Coconut.The waters there are deeper. To those who would like to snorkel, try the walking all the way to D'Coconut. We were told the best place to snorkel was the area after D'Coconut. The rest went snorkeling at Aseania except for my sister and I.

During the night, we played cards and watch TV at the common area, which happened to be the caferia as well. It's very breezy and chilly when night fell. It's adviseble to bring a torchlight or get one from the reception if you intend to walk to the other resort's pub at night. It's complete darkness once it hits 8PM. Sunset was about 7.30PM and we could not see sunrise from our side as the sun rose from the other side of the mountain. Anyway, we got a nice shot of sunset.

Sunset at Pulau Besar

The rocks

Fortunately, we brought repellent spray as there were sandflies and mosquitoes at the beach. It would be also useful if you plan to hike or jungle-trek. We visited the sites where European Survivor episodes were shot and the mosquitoes there were really hungry. They were practically waiting to sink their needles into our skin for blood.

The pictures of the Survivor site are with my friend. Shall upload them once obtained from her.

All in all, I was indeed destressed for 3 days. Kudos, my mind was not even thinking of work. The beach and sea are magical ;-) One downside is the process of unpacking and doing laundry. LOL. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the trip.

Beauty Butt Shaping Cushion from Japan, with love

Have you ever thought that your bottom is not in good shape (ladies, especially)? There's extra fat which finds its way to the absolutely wrong place! It makes you look fat and ugly in your evening gown or your party dress. How you wish to get rid of it, eh?

Well, fret not. Found a quaint butt shaping cushion which would do the magic for you while you are busy at work or glued to the television and computer.

Looks cute and comfortable? Check it out here.

A rather good gift for your mom,sister,girlfriend,or even yourself;-)

Air Asia offers 1 Million Free Seats!

Yes, you read it right! Air Asia is offering free tickets again. (Thanks to 白 for the info) Please check out at http://www.airasia.com/. However, do not hope to get seats for popular destinations such as Gold Coast, Hong Kong, Melbourne, and some China destination. They have already been taken :/

What are you waiting for? Get connected and book your seats now! Good luck.

P/S: Nay, you have plans coming to some islands in Malaysia, right? Here's your chance to minimize the travelling cost. You may opt to stop at Kuala Lumpur or Johor, depending which island you would like to visit ;-) Oh, this is important - book by 31st August 2008. You have about 2 more days if you read this post tomorrow.