Brazilian Wax...

Never have I thought I would go for such a thing much less blog about it but I found the experience to be quite interesting...
One fine day as I was shopping with a fren, she mentioned she had an appointment later on in the day.... I was intrigued... So I just asked her, could you book me a slot as well... If I ever was to try, might as well try with a fren... haha!!
So when we arrived, the place was packed!! I didnt know this was such a popular thing in Malaysia as well.. then again I might have been a hermit.... haha!!
So I went into a cubicle... The specialist asked whether it was my first time.. I said yes.. she said dun worry bout it... Asked me to change and lie down...
Then she came back in.. asked me what type of wax I wanted... there was a soft was and a hard wax.. didnt know there were types did ya? Neither did I... haha!! so I asked.. what was the difference... Basically, the soft wax after being applied requires a cloth as a tool to strip the wax and hair along with it...Where else the hard was can be held on to and stripped off the skin after application... Supposedly, the hard wax is less painful but is more costly.. I obviously chose the hard wax...
The first few strips were bearable in pain... but after about 5 times or so... it was increasing and I was really hoping each yank would be the last one...
The end results was a smooth and clear surface.... after a bit of suffering... Lucky for me, this place was known for their speed so everything was done in 15 mins... Pheeww...
Did I feel a difference? Hmm... I can see the difference but everything feels the same.. it isnt particularly more breezy or anything.... haha!!
So there I was, as smooth as the day I was born... contemplating whether I would ever go through it again... Well, I havent quite made up my mind yet....

Often judged and misunderstood...

It seems that I am cursed to always be judged and misunderstood by others... ppl who dont know me and some who have not even seen me has made a judgement over me and the person whom I am... as much as I try not to let it get to me.. It still hurts to find out....
It has come to a point where I wonder whether is it that I have a certain look that makes ppl straight away pass judgement that I would always be the one in fault and not others...
People seems to always think I am the one hurting others and not the other way round...Do I look like I got no emotions? I reign them in coz i feel that I do not need to show the whole world how I feel... but it doesnt mean I dun feel it... It is just real mean of others to think so....
At least get to know me before you judge me... I may not be the greatest person but I am not a mean person either... :(

Light at the end of the Tunnel....

Finally.... it looks like my KK climb is finally being materialized... after the long wait... Mount Kinabalu here I come!!! hehe!! In about 7 weeks I shall conquer or be conquered... haha!! Definitely need to start on some intensive training or I will be doomed...
My journey towards this trip was long and hard... haha!! Bought the flight ticket last September I think.... but when we wanted to book the rooms at Laban Rata they said reservations can only be made in 2008... So we waited...
Come 2nd week of January 2008 we tried booking... and guess what? We were told the dates chosen were fully booked... What do all the climbers do? Wait for the clock to strike midnight on 31 Dec 2008 and start booking... Then it just went downhill from there... tried all the options and all the contact I could get my hands on and to no avail... A month later we gave up and decided to just join another group of ppl who have extra bookings of rooms but were climbing a week earlier.. means we needed new flight tickets... haiz...
Luckily we didnt book the new tickets yet coz bout 3 weeks ago I got a call from a travel agent which a good fren of mine called in a favour for... he said he managed to get a place for us at Waras Hut... better than nothing... called my fren told him what was being offered and we confirmed immediately... yaaay!!!!
This was the beginning of multiple phone calls for booking, payments, hotel booking at the foot of the mountain... (got then dun have then got then dun haf...) transportation up and down... For once in my whole career with Isuzu, where I worked at actually benefitted me. The travel agent said he didnt know I worked in Isuzu and coz of that he slashed the transportation cost from RM300 to RM100... Wow!! a RM200 discount just coz I worked in Isuzu? Wonder why? When I find out I shall update this post... haha!!
So now that everything is almost confirmed.... the one thing left to do is Shopping!!! hehe!! I need to get a proper bag, proper shoes, a walking stick and whatever else that will complete my hike!! I definitely hope there will be more hikes to come in the future or I would have spent all the money buying the stuff for one single hike!! Yikes!!! haha!! Oh well... have been wanting to climb Mount Kinabalu for quite some time now so it's worth it (or maybe I should save the statement for after I the trip)...
For now it should be intensive training for me... my fren say target is to be able to go up and down Batu Caves 8 times minimum... I havent even tried going up once... haha!! We shall see my fitness level when I attempt it for the first time.. see see half way puncture already.....hee hee!!

Taiwan in 8 days....

I just came back from a trip to Taiwan.... Went for a 8 days 7 nights tour... but in actual fact, it was only 6 days... One to go and one to come back... See la how these travel agents cheat us... haiz...

My journey began in Taoyuan and subsequently Ilan-Hualien-Taitung-Kaoshiung-Tainan-Chiayi-Nantou-Taichung-Taipei... Shocking huh? I cover more states than I have days... haha!! Hence why I didnt really enjoyed it... The trip involved too much bus riding... basically we will go to 1 or max 2 spots in a state before proceeding to the next one... so sometimes we dont even put a night up in the state that we went to... Distance travelled was 2350km of bus which is equivalent to about at least 24 hrs on the bus...

The only destination which impressed me was Taroko Gorge... This was a natural formation of rock, marble and mountain which was really quite scenic.
But as my sister says... if you have seen the Grand Canyon, this is nothing... That is why I was disappointed also at the whole trip... we went up to the mountains, we went to the oceanside, we went to see waterfalls, we went to Sun Moon Lake, rode the Bullet Train, saw the cherry blossoms etc.... Since the mountains and oceans in Australia were more scenic , the Niagara Falls were more spectacular... and the Japan Shinkanzen was faster, Sakura in Japan more breathtaking, it all just came short...

Worst of all, I wanted to shop and eat... for the first 6 days, there was nothing to buy and the food was really just porky.. eww... actually all 8 days of food was porky... Yucks... only got to shop the last 2 days.... :(

Would I recommend Taiwan as a destination... depending I suppose.. If you havent been to much places it would still be worth going but the schedule is grueling... but if you can speak mandarin (unlike me) then I would highly recommend that you not take a tour but go free and easy and just plan your trip yourself....

The one and only saving grace... the hotels.. I chose the package with have 4-5 star hotels and they were all great except the one in Taipei but it is expected since capital city would be more costly.. there was one night that we had 2 king size beds in the room... one each!! sweet... hehe!!

What I did like about the trip? I liked Chiufen which is along the coastal line of Taipei... it is this quaint little alleys full of small small shops selling anything and everything... :) This place I really liked... I tot Shihlin Night Market was worth a go too but the food is really nothing to shout about... the shopping is cheap there...

One very interesting thing happen which was that we got to invite a beetlenut seller onto our bus... In Taiwan, all beetlenut sellers are only dressed in their lingerie as that is the only way they are able to get ppl to buy the beetlenut... apparently in the earlier days...they were even naked... interesting huh? hehe!!! Imagine all that just for a NT100 box of beetlenut...

Oooh... I nearly forgot... they got the cutest cup noodle ever... haha!! It had little piglet faces on the fish cakes...

Well it is a mixed review from me about Taiwan... it might "Touch Your Heart" (their tagline) although it didnt touch mine... :)

Sentimental me...

Was packing my stuff for a long holiday with my family and my mum and sis were being paranoid bout the house being burglarised.. so insisted that all jewellery be kept... of course my sis then said..."small small ones no need to keep la..." I said nope.. all must keep then... With that said.. I realised I am one heck of a sentimental person when it comes to my belongings... Even little pieces of jewellery that I have, be it big or small has some sort of memory etched within it... memories of past birthdays, anniversaries, valentines, graduations etc... which I am not willing to part with and will be very sad to part with...
I remember the time when my first Swatch watch stopped working... I was sad for a week... Even when my first Perlini's Silver earring got lost... I was also upset with myself for so long for being so clumsy and losing it.. They may not have any monetory value but they were high in sentimental values which I cherish and keep close to my heart... each item will bring me back to a moment in my past...
The funny thing was, as I was thinking bout all this... all of a sudden, my mine started running wild... "What if the burglar was a father with kids... and he saw my rack... and decided to ransack it as well" (btw, my rack is filled with soft toys of all kinds and other decorative items...) Just having the thought of the possibility of losing or breaking any one of those items actually started to make me tear a little... Gosh...!! I have never realised that i was such a sop... haha!! I will probably cry buckets if that actually happens... I have kept everything that was ever given to me which had some sort of memory attached to it... on my racks, in boxes, in my table etc....
It has never been a habit of mine to keep everything away tightly sealed in some boxes based on certain times of my life... I still leave everything out where it has been from before... I believe that every bit of my past makes me who I am today and therefore there is nothing to hide of keep away about it.. I know many may differ in their thoughts on this.... but for me, it just seems right.
Well, last nite really made me realised (I mean I have always known but...) how extremely sentimental I am... I think this would come as a shock to many of my frens who are not very close to me... My persona and character does not despict such a nature in me I think... Well, I suppose you cant really judge a book by it's cover coz I am really a big Softie inside.. :D

Bangkok 26-29 March 2008

Went to Bangkok for a business trip a couple a week ago... Was there to catch the 2008 Bangkok Motorshow as well as visit some suppliers...

Just wanted to share some photos of the trip...

First up... the Volvo C30....Quite a queer looking hatchback... not in Malaysia yet I think... but it will come soon.....


Next was Ford... Erm....cant remember it's name... only wanted the picture of the car itself but the girls just refuse to move away.... :(

Now this one is a newbie in the pick-up segment... The Xenon by Tata... their previous pick-up which was real ugly bombed in our malaysian market but this new model might give they a little boost...
On to the quirky concept cars.... Almost all of the concept cars were hybrids... seems like the whole world is becoming more and more concerned for the environment... and they rightfully should.. we have only one earth...

Overall the motorshow was kind of a let down... it was very similar to the Malaysian motorshow which I felt lacked anything really interesting... according to my colleague, this year was not as good as the past years... well just my luck to be sent to the lousiest year wan... :( Can you imagine, even the brand ambassadors were not pretty... some were downright frightening... looked more like hookers than ambassadors... (oops... hope none of them read this... hehe!!)

Well, apart from the motorshow I also visited some suppliers... found a real cute stone elephant at one of them... just wanted to post that pic too... heheh!! Isn't it adorable? hehe!!

Cookie came through with its fortune....

Yesterday, the fortune from the fortune cookie came true... well not exactly as how I expected it to be but nevertheless... It was a fortune come true...
Expectations of me are now higher than ever.... It just builds on every year.... hopefully I can surpass the expectations every year too... but without burning out my candle... :)
Gambate to me!!!

Busy, busy, busy....

Wah... my schedule is packed this month and next... wont have much time to blog so forgive me...
I just came back from a business trip to Bangkok and will be going again next week... Following week I will be going off for a 8 days Taiwan Tour (this is personal obviously) and after that going to Guangzhou for another business trip...

Lets just hope I dun fall sick in between... ;)

Another yummy place...

Once again I had the opportunity to try out a new place on other ppl's expense.. hehe!! so nice.. :)
But once again not to embarass myself I was not able to get a visual representative of what I have eaten...

Where did I eat?



Yup... the place is called REUNION and it is situated in Bangsar Village II on the second floor on the opposite end of MPH.... This place was highly recommended and it has live up and above its recommendation... They served supposely simply home cook style cantonese food but excellently executed... :) Once again I shall attempt to whet your pallete with a written description....

We started of the meal with seaweed soup cooked with seafood and egg flower (direct translation)... this was just nicely done... not too salty or full of Ajinamoto nor was it too fishy tasting coz the seafood was fresh... a refreshing soup to drink.. just like mum's cooking literally.. Next came a platter of "Char Siew & Siew Yok"... This also was particularly good.. the Char Siew was really tasty... Althought some say it is better than the Oversea one but for me I would put them on par which was still good since Oversea Char Siew is most wellknown... The siew yok was without the thick layer of fat which was really good... Next came the Roasted Duck... The skin was crispy but surprising the meat was still tender and succulent... a far cry from the rough and dry meat you usually get when the skin is too crisps from over frying.. Up next was the vegetable.. nothing much to say... all vegetables are about the same but I must say they didnt serve up some super fat and bitter tasting kailan.. theirs were thinner which is to my personal taste... After that, a stir fry beef dish came our way... now this was really tasty and tender.. yum yum.. :) Next came something that was very special.. it is not something you find in a high end restaurant or the larger establishments. We had steam mince pork which is a typical home cook dish which usually you find in the 'chap farn' line up as well... Although a normal dish, it tasted much better than the ones in the coffeeshop... but of course my mum's one is better no doubt.. hehe!!

We then went on to have a seafood claypot which was filled with scallop, fish maw, sea cucumber and broccoli... This was also stewed to perfection.. the fish maw and sea cucumber was not chewy at all (reasons why I dont usually eat them...)... they were tender and to a certain extent have the effect of a melt in your mouth kinda feel coz you didnt need too many chews to swallow... We also had a braised abalone, fish maw and fish stomach dish... once again cook to just the right degree making it easy on your jaw but not losing the original taste inherent of it... Next up we had steam prawns with egg white... the prawns were really fresh... it was a simply dish that showcased the freshness and sweetness of the prawns itself...

Everything was not too overbearing or powerful in taste... I suppose that is why it is supposedly like the home cooked version.. free of Ajinamoto.. hehe!!

I thought we were done since that was all that was ordered... but apparently I was mistaken.. as another 2 dishes were serve... apparently they were ordered later on additionally.. funnily... the first dish was shark's fin soup with crab meat... something that usually comes in the beginning of the meal rather than the end... This is one of my favourite.... It didnt have all those rubbish which restaurants like TT like to put in... it was just simple... sharkfin and crab meat in the broth... and it was delicious... Last dish of the day... salted egg prawn... this has never been my favourite dish coz I dont like the yolk of the salted egg but one bite and I was surprised... there was this thin coating around the prawn which makes it crispy and it wasnt heavily ladden with the salted egg which made it really quite good...

So that was the end of my yummy meal.. I ended it with a bowl of 'gwai leng gou' which was not so great... I am a fan of the "Kwong Woh Tong" version so this one just didnt do it for me.. it was overly bitter... I think they tried to prove the point of 'quality ingredients used' too much in this dish... haha!! it tasted like the black drink that you get when you go to a chinese medicinal shop and tell them you have a sorethroat... haha!!

Oh.. we had wine too.. apparently good wine.. I cant tell how good is good.. but it tasted good... however I think I prefer the one in Nero Teca...

All in all a great meal.. highly recommended... should try....

We each had a fortune cookie at the end and my fortune was aptly timed...

Dont you think so?
Bonus is coming up... heheh!!

Really Good Italian Food...

Where? At a place called Nero Teca along Lorong Ceylon...

Too bad I didnt get a chance to snap photos during dinner coz it was a business dinner... whatever that was ordered would have been rarely repeated since everything was off the menu and recommended by the chef... Food is really good... the quality of it is superb... and what else is good is that they are not stingy on the portions.. everything was ample except for the desserts which were a bit on the tiny side...

Lets just see whether my description would make you salivate.. It was seafood day so be prepared....

While ordering we had the usual basket of bread... there was forcacia, panini and some crackers served with olive oil/vinegar/chopped garlic... the dip although normal tasted a tad different in a good way...

For appetizers, we started off with a platter of deep fried seafood... it had jumbo prawns, soft shell crabs and squids... Then we had a bowl of black mussels directly from Italy cooked in a generous pouring of white wine... the mussels were just nice bite sizes and juicy with every bite... the white wine truly complimented the mussels (this is really something coming from a person who doesnt eat mussels)...then we had a ham, cheese and antipasto platter... there was some ham, salami, 5 selections of cheese and 3 antipastos... the ham and salami were all real good and I especially like the sun dried tomatoes with anchovies...finally we had aglio olio tagliatelle which was a hint too spicy to me as it overcame all other flavours....

As our food was served, we also opted for a full body red wine which was quite good.. dont ask me the name.. it was way too long to remember...

Then our mains were served... first up was this huge platter of seafood tagliatelle which was full of mussels, clams, jumbo prawns and topped with a lobster cooked in white wine again.. the seafood was good but the pasta was a bit too drenched in seafood taste for me.. it became seafoody (my term la..)... second up we had another giant platter of grilled seafood... This time we has a large serving of red snapper, loads of mussels and clams, jumbo prawns and 2 lobsters... fuuh!! this platter was huge.. I really wished i could have whipped out my camera and snap a photo... this dish was really good... grilled to perfection, everything had a hint of grilled flavour without overpowering the sweetness of the seafood itself... along with this we also had a smaller portion of tagliatelle with funghi!! This was my favourite... I just love mushrooms and the combination of cream and mushroom was just nice... not too overbearing or too heavy that you cant take more than a few bites...

Somewhere in between, we ordered another bottle of red wine with an even more heavier taste.. but it was better than the first....

Now, for desserts... since there was only 6 of us and a mountain of food... we were stuffed when it came to desserts but not wanting to leave without trying the desserts, we decided to share...we ordered a portion of creme brulee which was really nice... it has a nice refreshing hint of lemon which was not common in most creme brulee elsewhere...we also had a tiramisu which was just nice... and a chocolate cake ala mode which was not too great...

Last off... we were told not to leave without trying their coffee so we did.. I had a cuppucino and surprisingly... I liked it.. I am not much of a coffee person so I just ordered something for the sake of it but lo behold.. I was surprised.... the cuppucino was really good.. :)

As we asked for the bill, we were given a final treat... a shot of lemon liquer on the house... this one I liked.... the lemon kinda difuses the hit of alchohol when you down it in one shot.. so it was quite soothing to drink...

All in all.. this place in highly recommended.... will make sure I take some photographs next time I go... for more details... visit www.neroteca.com