Tea Time

Apart from lunch (and brunch, or dinner and maybe supper), tea time is my favorite time of the day, regardless of when that may be - early in the morning, after lunch, late afternoon, or after supper at night before bed - I just looove tea! I love it so much that when I went to London I brought home a whole collection of tea!

Do not be fooled - I actually have a lot more! Those are just my Whittard collection. I have a few more from tourist tat shops. All were purchased for personal consumption, but I decided that I should share and gave away some of those with nice tins, like the one the shape of a double decker bus. Despite that, I still kept this one with me. It's loose leaf tea, but still...



Sherlock Holmes London Tea! And yes, I bought it just for the awesome tin! There's some 'back story' on the back:

It says: "This delightful blend of a Secret Victorian recipe known only to Mrs. Hudson, could have been served to Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson in their study in Baker Street whilst foiling the exploits of Professor Moriarty".

I certainly wouldn't mind the fictional taste of tea made for fictional characters! Also, I have opened this tin yet. It's currently decorating my dresser xD.

Tonight's tea is Whittard's Afternoon Earl Grey.

My favorite tea is obviously Earl Grey. I have about...five or six Earl Greys of different brands and made it a point to taste all the Earl Greys of available brands. My favorite daily Earl Grey is from Dilmah because unlike these British teas Dilmah is not as strong. Or perhaps because the packets are smaller so the tea doesnt get bitter towards the end. Either way. My 'Tea Service' tonight:


I kept forgetting about those two pieces of cookies in the fridge so I included them there. Here you can see the stool doing what it's meant to be - being a tea table. While I was drinking this, I was going through my London pictures and some Norway pictures...well basically I was going though my camera memory card! So I thought I would include some very well overdue London pictures. Just a bit, though, don't be dissapointed.


Here we were, drinking hot chocolate with the London Bridge in the background, waiting while my older sis and bro went to the London Dungeon. I skipped out because I was a wimp xD.



Here's me again, I think we just came back from Paris. Tired. Probably hungry, and needing to poop. Or maybe just fart. Travelling makes me gassy.



And this is the very, very friendly hotel porter whom we nicknamed Mosby. (actual name Gabriel) He is French Nigerian. Took this pic after coming back from shopping one night, and was waiting for dad's cab to arrive. Apparently daddyo's cab arrived earlier and they were already lepaking in their room. Either way, very friendly guy this Mosby.

Oh, and of course. Can't blog about tea and London without finishing with this. xD

Feel like a Sir

Ta'ra! xD

Norway Trip ~Initial~

I've been back for approximately one week now, but I've been too occupied with recovering from jet lag and the tons of laundry. I've only started doing my KL-used clothes laundry today! I am not going to seggregate my blog entry into part 1, part 2, part 3 etc, like how most people like to do because I will surely never get past part 1! So I'm going to start with the highlights of my trip, followed by whatever that came to mind. Also, I do not work for Tourism Norway though I wish I do, but I hope my entry would help more tourists go to Norway *ahem*.

First off,

Welcome to Norway in the SPRING!

Yes, I was expecting pretty flower buds too but I was greeted with piles and piles of snow. Temperature was around -7. Yay!

First let me tell you the premise of my trip. I was in Norway for exactly 3 weeks. I arrived from Amsterdam in Oslo, and stayed one night in Hamar at my friend Farah A's study home. Hamar is in the mountains two hours away from Oslo and of course, colder than Oslo. However, the bulk of the trip is spent in Kristiansand, way down south of Norway, which can also be said the most southern tip of Norway, thus the least cold. Of course, least cold being around -5 to -1 for the first week alone. Refer to map below.

I really just went there to escape reality (was in the thick of doing my survey and I fled). I never in my life have thought of ever going so far north for holiday, but I thought why not? I've heard so many nice things about it and I was not disappointed! I worked my ass off at Kinokuniya accumulating funds for a holiday trip to Japan and I ended up on the opposite side of the world instead. The tsunami hit Japan the day I left for Norway. Is it a sign?

Anyway, I was quite tired of the over-rated touristy locations ie China, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Venice, London, Amsterdam etc and I longed to go someplace nobody had even thought of going, thus, Norselands! I had a really great host and I am therefore eternally grateful to them! I was a pineapple in Polar bear lands and they went out of their way to make my stay as comfortable and pleasant as possible! Thank you very much my venerable hostess!

In the next post I will talk about the places I went to. The bulk of the pictures are on facebook, as I'll only be talking about the interesting bits here hehehe. Ta'ra!

The Time Has Come!

I have chronic laziness to blog lately. But anyway, it is finally time! Time for what?

Time for my Norway holiday WHEEEEE!

My flight is today at 2359 hours. I have another 20 hours 39 minutes! I have to get my pants trimmed first though and get a new memory card for my camera today. I wonder how I'm going to KL Sentral. Or rather, when? The flight to Amsterdam takes 13 hours or so, and another 1 hour 50 minutes to Oslo. I am not good with long flights so I come prepared! Here's my list of preparation

Comic x1

Book x1

Pistacios x3

Cheezel biscuit x1

ipod x1

vaseline x1

eyedrop x1

tootbrush x1

Pirate bunny x1

I think that should be enough? Wheee~ overpacking!

Ta'ra!

Redang Trip

I know I said I would post up pictures two days ago, but I got lazy. Anyway, here we go. From KL we took the overnight bus to Kuala Terrengganu; a journey that would normally take 7 hours including rest stop, but was only 6 hours and 20 minutes (the driver drove like a madman). But despite arriving early, our ride was already waiting there for us. I arranged this trip through a travel agent and we were picked up by a sightseeing van (van persiaran that's typical of travel agencies). Throughout our trip, our land rides have always been punctual. So this is a very good travel agent and I reccomend it to everyone on their first trip to Redang! This is their website: http://www.pinganchorage.com.my/.

Between arriving at KT and getting to the jetty, we did nothing much but have breakfast and took a nap at the agency's backpackers' inn. Anyway, when we finally got to the jetty, we were greeted by this:
Yup, that's our boat. Not very big but everyone and everything fit in there, surprisingly. The left walkway actally leaned sideways and creaked like it was going to collapse anytime. When I first arrived, it freaked me out because I was walking freaking sideways! But surprisingly, when we returned from the island, it didnt bother me at all. I must have gotten my sea legs by then hehe.

When we arrived to our jetty, the operator said we have another 45 minutes before the boat leaves so we could go and have a look round first before we leave. Each resort operates their own boat in Redang so there's no issue of being left behind. So, while we waited, what else to do but...shop? xD


The jetty was littered with stalls selling souvenirs like these, in addition to t-shirts and island themed shirts. I bought a pair of colorful pants and a shirt to wear for our snorkelling trips and some souvenirs for people at work.

When it was time to board, the journey to Redang took about 45 minutes. It wasn't unpleasant, and I wasn't seasick, but it was incredibly boring. But we finally arrived!

It was almost noon by then so it was pretty hot. The boat was at the direction of the sun so I couldnt take a good picture of it. We got off the boat at a jetty by the beach, but we had to trek up the beach to where our resort is, and that's where they dumped our bags on the beach, which was quite thoughtful of them. Since we won't have to haul them all they way in the hot sun.

The legends are true. The beaches ARE BLUUUUUE!

After lunch we went snorkelling. My friend rented mask and life jacket while I only rented life jacket because I have my own mask. Snorkelling gear and snorkelling trips are all organized by the resort's Snokeling Center. xD

The first island we went to was THE BEST! It was my first time snorkelling and conditions couldn't have been better. The water wasn't too deep and the sun was shining brightly, giving great visibility. We were hauled to the snorkelling sites on an old fishing boat and it was...weird. But at least it has no barrier which means you can jump off the boat from whichever spot you like! Hahahaha.

The resort staff were very helpful. They told those who can't swim to leave last after they have prepared the floaters. My friend couldn't swim, so I had to wait as well. :P But unlike other resorts who just tossed the floaters out there for non-swimmers to cling to, they stayed and guided the floaters in addition to teaching them to swim. One of them is a man we now call Pakcik (Uncle). He's really not that that old, but with that overly tanned skin he might as well be.

Anyway, since my friend couldn't swim, I hung out around the floater alot, as he gave the hanger ons a tour of the coral reef. After some time, he dove down into the water and produced a large, black, and pointy S-shaped sea cucumber! I was freaked out! Not only did he raise it out of the water, he put it to his ear and said "hello? Hello?"

Me: "WTF IS THAT?!"
Pakcik: "It's a telephone. Hello? Hello? There's a call for you." puts the sea cucumber on the floater.
My friend and I screamed. You should have SEEN that thing! BIG BLACK POINTY! RAAWR.

It was the only time my friend who clung to the floater like her life depended on it, let go of it. I asked him again and again what it was, and he insisted that it was a telephone. It was hilarious, but at the same time freaky. After he was done freaking out everyone around him, he dove down and put back the sea cucumber on the sea floor.

On our last day he finally admitted that it was not a telephone, but a sea cucumber. In fact, the one that he held was a male and has a very fragile nature despite its hard exterior. It can die from just a simple cut.

This pic is from our last snorkelling trip. There was a sudden influx of people, so the fishing boat was not enough.We had to use this baot too. This boat couldn't go to the jetty, so everyone had to board from the beach. xD I asked Pakcik what the delay was about, he said the trip is canceled and we're going hiking instead. "With life jacket and snorkel?" He said yes. My friend stayed in the boat coz she was not only unable to swim, but is also afraid of the water. Sighs.

So we spend our days snorkelling and eating, what do we do at night? Why, we go sightseeing of course! Along our stretch of beach there are seven resorts. Our resort is at the end of the beach and we could easily walk to the four resort during high tide. But during low tide at night, we could go all the way to the end of the beach!

We met this sister in one of the neighbouring resorts. She works in the gift shop and was making a bracelet for her friend. We stood around admiring her work for a while and took pictures. She was seriously very good at it. She should sell her own bracelet instead of those manufactured ones in the shop!


On the second night Pakcik escorted us all the way to the end of the beach where we took pictures, had tea and snacks and talked about kueh lapis! IT WAS TOTALLY FUN! It wouldn't have happened if he hadn't tagged along with us because the bend that connects the two parts of the beach is dark and too dangerous for two girls to traverse alone. PAKCIK YOU'RE AWESOME!
Not only that, he has turtles for pets! YEAH!


Our resort may be the cheapest and the most minimum, but its strategically located at the end of the beach, above the rocks, which give you this kind of view 360 degrees. I left Redang with a heavy heart. I looked forward to going back to KL, but I did not enjoy the thought of going back to KT. It was a miserable place for me. I wanted to just go straight from KL to Redang.

One of the reasons was because we made a lot of new connections there. There was a group of students from PTPTL College during our trip and we met a Sarawakian and immediately hit it off. And then there was Pakcik who was one of those rare genuinely nice people out there. My friend sms'd him on the first day of fasting and he called back. It was funny because he was in the middle of shopping and I just blathered on about crap. He said the most words when he was going to hang up because he had to pay for his stuff hahahaha.

I am definitely planning to go back there next year! I don't know yet if I'll be staying at the same resort. Depending on my company, I may go to Laguna Redang instead of Redang Holiday, simply because the resort was cooler and has ice cream shops and coffee shops. But the beach is not for swimming as it is an active boating area. But I doubt we'll get the same sort of 'old friend' feeling with the staff. Whatever it may be, one thing is for certain; I am not going to take the bus there ever again! RAWR 7 hours is enough to drive anyone crazy, especially with a selfish and inconsiderate bitch sitting in front of you! I'm flying there next time around.

I'll post up more pictures in facebook. Ta'ra!

p/s While doing this post, I did the dishes, cleaned the table, cleaned the stove, and had dinner. Just goes to show how low my interest in blogging has become.

p/s/s My feet was so tired last night that I decided that I was going to soak it in some relaxing concoction. At first I thought of buying some salt from the Body Shop, but then I didn't want to spend any money on it so I thought of maybe tea? I found some old earl greys in the pantry and used two tea bags. It took a while to get the temperature right, but it was so worth it! I soaked my feet while watching CSI, so it was about 45-50 minutes, which I think is really more than enough. But it was SOO relaxing! Not only that, when I took out my feet, they did not smell of earl grey! Hahaha. In fact, they didn't smell of anything at all! Usually even after I shower there will always be a faint lingering of damp socky smell. If I am bothered I would put foot cream, but after the tea, the smell was completely gone! Tea is deodorizing. I knew that, but to see it worked is amazing! xD So if you have smelly feet or you just want to relax your feet cheaply, just use the cheapest tea you can find and soak your feet in them. You'll get fresh feet for sure! XD

Redang Prologue

Yes, I've been too lazy to update my blog these days. No reason. I am simply lazy. No wonder my mental state has not been very good lately too. Anyway, I ralized my two-year dream of going to Redang the weekend before Ramadhan. I'm just wasting time before going to class, so here's a picture of me holding up a baby turtle. O_O <<--my eyes. My eyes aside, the baby turtle is just too cool. It kept on swimming even as I held it up out of the water. It was like *swim swim swim* *looks* *swim swim swim*. Too cool. I'm still vigorously attending my Japanese classes. I must have spent a fortune on it I think. But this year just when I thought I was ready to finally take on JLPT, a new syllabus presented itself and I just HAD to register for the brand spanking new level N3 instead of N4 which is a guaranteed pass at my level. But noooo, I just had to burden myself unnecessarily. So in order to help me pass, I signed up for the prepatory class and was smashed down to earth by the realization that it was probably out of my league. Probably. I was practically shot dead and became a zombie throughout the class. We did three tests. At least I know as long as it doesn't involve reading (kanji) I actually did well in listening.

But that's little to celebrate about. I have to memorize 600 kanji characters, which is double the amount of the previous JLPT 3 now JLPT N4. The sensei already warned us that its not going to be easy, and the classes only help little, and we have to put in the effort EVERYDAY. With NO BREAK. She told us to go buy the kanji workbook ourselves seeing as we don't have enough class time to cover kanji. Only Kino sells those kanji workbook and I have staff purchase to cushion the price.

In addition to the kanji workbook I also bought a new Japanese-english dictionary. I wanted only Japanese words you see. Now that I think about it, maybe I should buy a kanji dictionary too, pending I could learn how to use it. Raaawr. I'm SO glad I decided to forfeit my cousin's wedding for this. She is so not worth it.

Okay time for class. I'll post up Redang pics later tonight. Ta'ra!

p/s I need a new theme for this blog. The sushis have gone way past expiration.

Yeah, So?

I like it when other people are miserable. Especially people I mentally thought to be superior than me. Superior in a variety of ways. I have an inferiority complex, okay?

It's a bit late to be excited about, but I finally made my first online payment! Yay me! Celcom operators have been nagging me to pay my outstanding postpaid bills on my second account. The problem is, the billing address is my Kuching home, so I am oblivious to it. And besides, I kinda assumed it would be swept along with the other bills but apparently it didn't. Sighs...Miss Tan is a very prudent secretary indeed.

But since my credit card bill is among the one that gets swept along automatically, I charge it to my credit card instead. We do this often. Charge bills to credit cards so they get paid together in one bill. Not reccomended for everyone.

Anyway! I was in Penang over the weekend to attend a wedding. Daddyo was feeling nostalgic that's how we ended up at the USM guest house. I have nothing positive to say about the guest house except that it has nice tiles in the bathroom. Everything in the room screams 1970s from the bed, to the TV (which was less than 15"), the smell and the rattan furnishings. Only the bathroom was new, except for the door which was some fake wood material. From now on, I don't care what people say about lodging should be as cheap as possible, and that comfort is a luxury. Bullshit! I want my room cheap and comfortable! Damn the rest!

Rawr!

I was so wary of that room I couldnt sleep when I was alone. It was a good thing my sisters came along. Bad memories, that room.

I will post up pictures later. The wedding was kind of nice. When Earth Hour hits, we were at Gurney Drive, and it was raining. So can you imagine we were sitting in the dark, in the rain, eating. I suppose I should applaude those hawkers for the support to Earth Hour, but really...

But of course, I did my part too, since all the switches in our room had to be manually clicked off. :D

Just as I was about to make some positive on the mountain goat, I swear he was protected by some mountain deity, because the very same day, I was suddenly hit with a fever. Not really sure what the cause was, but it was pretty bad. I didn't have food in the house so I couldnt take medicine, and when I called for delivery, they couldn't deliver because the Bukit Bintang area was rained in. See? It must be the work of some mountain deity.

Sighs. And now I have flu. I will shower, then pray, take my meds and indulge in porn while the meds kick in.

Ta'ra!

CNY Holiday

Happy year of the ox! May the new year bring you lots of proeperities and rich boyfriends! XD

I had just returned from my CNY holiday in Ipoh, for the second year running! Well, I won't be going back there for next year's CNY, though. I think Ipoh people have had enough of me, hahahaha!

Like the year previously, we stayed at my friend's house who also got us a car for our use. It's really liberating having to drive ourselves around! We went to two waterfalls! As of now i've had it with waterfalls and their inhabitants. and I'm talking about the local organisms of course. But I get to shampoo my hair in a waterfall and we had our picnic. Really fun. Though I had a hard time removing the local organisms stuck to my pants afterwards. Four people in a Kancil is pretty cool hahahaha. I drove all the way from town to the waterfall, which was about a one hour plus, almost two hours drive, non-stop. My foot ache by the end of it, but it got to soak in the cool water afterwards, so reward well-earned!

Of course, we change drivers on the way back.

There was practically no proper facility at the waterfall. So although my friend paid 50 cent each for three people to get into the toilet, I was too bummed by the queue that we just changed clothes at the car. We just got out of our wet pants and into dry ones and drove away. On the way to town, we stopped at a petrol station and changed the rest there. Pretty genius if I may say so myself. XD

We also watched two movies while we were there. Seems like my friend couldn't watch movies in decent cinemas in Shah Alam that she had to go all the way to Ipoh to watch movies. I'm not complaining, though. I love the cinema at Pavilion :D.

I'm happy to be back to an empty house, but I pity my friend who's living in Ipoh. Her next door neighbour is a psychotic spinster, who is quite literally, crazy. She banged on our door just because we parked the car several inches too deep into her plot. Even though even if we remove the car, our plot would be bigger and there's no way her relative could park there without getting into our plot. But of course, she wouldn't listen and went and called us idiots. Moral of the story; never argue with a psychotic spinster. Throw eggs at them. :P

Ta'ra!

Busy December

This december had decidedly been my busiest yet. I did the same amount of flying as I would a semester. Normally I would just sit at home for the whole month eating, sleeping, having fun and wearing the same clothes everyday. But it's the holiday season so why waste it?

I went home at the beginning of my holiday, then came back to continue my Japanese lessons, then went back again for Raya Haji, then came back to KL with Totchi. Then I went to Singapore with my fmaily and went straight home to Kuching after that. I stayed for a little over a week and had just returned to KL tonight. Singapore pictures.

We went to Clarke Quay during Christmas day. Very pretty place. Went for the cruise. Nice view.



There were a couple of belly dancer performers at the Persian restaurant we went. Nice food, nice entertainment. hehehehehe.



Orchard Road on Christmas Eve. Foam spray wars abundance. Didn't get sprayed this time so was lucky.

Getting showered on the streets, indeed.

Some of the decorations at the malls. Really, we go to Singapore for Christmas solely for the decorations.



Oh and my sleeping place for the first two nights. I volunteered to sleep on the floor for two nights since there were only two beds for three people and there wasnt enough space for an extra bed. I was comfortable enough since I have my lover with me. You can see him poking out of the sheets.



And what else to do in Singapore but shop? I bought two PSP games there. Tekken Dark Resurrection sold for only $33 at Mustafa Center while I could only get Crisis Core for $60 at Lucky Plaza around Orchard. I didnt plan to buy it, but since I wouldnt be satisfied unless I buy at least one more game, I got that one even though Watashiwa-san gave me her pirated copy hehehe. I did say I wanted to get it right?

Their Esprit is awesome. And next time, before you leave singapore, make sure you either convert or spend your Singapore dollars because you get much better exchange rate in their home country. After all, logically, everyone wants to maximize their own currency right?



Ipoh for Chinese New Year!
Ta'ra! XD

Holiday Blues

It's the holidays so let's seeee what I did.

I chopped my hair, I went on a movie marathon, I went shopping, I do chores, I fast, I exercise, and I eat and sleep till kingdom come.

The movie marathon was especially fun. It started Tuesday night and progressed to Thursday and progressively had more people. At first it was only Totchi and I. Then, Totchi, Ezra and I. And then Totchi, Ezra, Sponge and I. We watched, in order of succession, Kung Fu Panda, Incredible Hulk and Made of Honor. Next week we will watch Get Smart. Movies are fun.

And yes, shorter hair is definitely easier to handle. Before I felt like I was hanging on to three years of my life. I do not like hanging on to the past and it felt like unrequited baggage. Having chopped them off and letting new hair grow feels so liberating. I am tempted to keep it at this lenght, which is above the shoulder, but try different styles. Got a good deal at the usual place. Chopping is fun.I want to make it a habit to chop every six months or so. It's good therapy you know.

despite it being the holidays, Kuja has been working non-stop. I was really inspired and the story practically writes itself. I started another series and so far had five stories. I found it easier to do a story when it is cut into several small chapters to concentrate on. Kuja only got turned off twice since about two weeks ago and both was due to a localized black out hehehe. I wanted to harrass Mull or Kujong this holiday but I left Kujong in KL and since I haven't got a decent copy of FFXII yet there's no point in playing it since it's only going to get stuck again. I seriously need to get my ass to Singapore soon.

Mull has since stayed a virgin.

sighs.

Somehow I can't wait to go back to KL and get my hands on some porns. Free porns are so mafan. On that note, I'm going to attend a Japanese course properly now. The center is at KL Plaza and I shall register for their Saturday class. Hopefully I wont have any Saturday class this sem. I never had, though this being my final year I hope nothing funny happens.

Well that's all I have to ramble for now. Ta'ra!

:D

It's not that I was too sad to blog or anything. My connection kept being crappy on me. I guess paying late on purpose is not helping either.

Anyway, exams are over!

Last paper was on Friday. After that Khaye invited me over for lunch, which we ate about 4 hours later. sighs. Before I left that night, Khaye and Mary played with my veil. Much fun.

The next day we went to the zoo. Honestly speaking, it bored me out, but Khaye wanted to see tigers. The lions greeted her well. They raised their heads and stared in interest at her when we passed by. They can recognize people from back home it seems.

Yesterday, my dad came by for a surprise visit but ended up getting surprised himself - by the state of the house which would put a shipwreck to shame. He was not supposed to come and I was not supposed to clean. I was supposed to clean today. But I ended up cleaning yesterday, which frees up today to go shopping. Err wait, it's already 2 am, so today is Tuesday...I am going back to Kuching today. Oooh plans all lined up. In addition, the sponge promises to go out with me. And Totchi. But that is just a technicality. The sponge will go out with me.

I haven't packed and my flight is at 12:55 pm. I plan to leave at 10 am. It's no longer cool to leave home 2 hours before the flight. Even if you arrive with a one hour margin and fully acceptable for check in, the line will keep you occupied up to 15 mins before the flight which is not cool. I don't like waiting in lines and I want to eat. 2 hours should be fine since too early and the gate won't even open yet.

Today I got Sarah her birthday presents. In fact, coming back to Kuching, I seem to carry a lot of presents. Birthdays from February to July are all accumulated to this month. Birthdays from August to October will get prezzies in October and November and December in December. Jan I leave again for new sem and so on. Despite my lack of wrapping skills, I like wrapping them up. I even got myself a present; a 1000 pieces One Piece puzzle. I always wanted a really cool puzzle as a present. It would keep me crazy and occupied this holiday.

On another note, I am feeling like such a slave to my hair. I am tempted to go cut it the moment I reach Kuching. Straight to the saloon from the airport. My ying yang is balanced. Now if only I would get rid of all the excess hair.

I am suddenly very hungry. See you guys in Kuching. Ta'ra! :D

Freaking Good Holiday

I GOT A PSP! It's 'felicia blue' and his name is Mull. This has been my only target purchase in Singapore. I have been saving my money for this thing and finally on the last day, I got it!! This is Mull with his family. I got the pouch and earpiece in KL though. It was a pretty darn expensive earphones too. Karol convinced me branded ones are well worth the price so since I plan to play Mull on the plane ride home I decided to get one. You can also see the extra battery in the background. That battery lasts for up to 10 hours++ (I think). And a lucky thing I got that in Singapore. The longest battery life I could find in KL was 7 hours. And even then it was crap. The salesman 'warned' me that I won't be able to cover the battery lid back if I insert a battery of any bigger size. But honestly I don't care. It's not like you see the battery at the back anyway. Consider the extra battery as a cooler pad for your laptop. Your lappy will work just fine without them, but with it, it's 'supposed' to last longer.

And of course, an original first game! It would be accurate to say that I bought a PSP just to play this game. The salesman, whose name is Ash, or Ashley tried to convince me to get a 4 GB memory card and he'll add 10 free games inside for me. Including FFT. But you know, I refused the offer because I just wanted FFT and nothing else? Some would call it stupid, but I honestly do not plan to clog my memory stick with games. My PSP is modified, but I decided to buy the games that I really want. Tthere's a pride to be had when owning an original game XD.

Singapore was shopping haven. I mostly visited stores of the brands I normally go in KL because their Singapore selections are different. All the while, we are flagged by Japanese students in almost every mall, especially DFS Galleria, a big mall just for duty free goods and souvenirs. It's not enough that they conquer the whole of our hotel floor, they have to be EVERYWHERE too! In the hotel floor we stayed, except for our two rooms, all the others are occupied by Jap students and their teachers.

A few are fine, but when you get overwhelmed by them in the lifts it does get kinda intimidating.

Anyway, we returned last Friday and tomorrow I'll be going home - FINALLY! Am getting a little bored of shopping malls now, but for some reason, I can't stop spending! XD I still need to get a strap for Mull.

When I get home I shall celebrate christmas with chocolates, DVDs, and games. Ha~ I can't wait!

Ta'ra!

p/s yesterday I saw the Power Rangers fighting against some evil villains in Sungei Wang. It was pretty cool how they went in formation hahaha!

Power Rangers @ Sungei Wang

Hi! I returned from Singapore last night and now I'm enjoying my moment of peace before I leave again tomorrow. I shall talk a bit about my trip later, but first - POWER RANGERS SIGHTED AT SUNGEI WANG!

I was relieved off my tour guide/tour leader duty today. Some sucker decided it's about time she takes over. I mean, you know how Malaysians are. "Woo! Blonds! Whitie! I'm gonna score BIG to be seen with them!"

True, you score big, but the attention can be annoying. The only sort of attention I liked was the one that made the shopkeeper appear nicer to you. The one that actually made them smile as you leave the store without buying anything. HAH!

Anyway, since I finally got me to myself, I decided to go browsing around and have Japanese food. Sungei Wang is in a real festive mood. They had a big christmasy stage in the center court. Today the celebration was Power Rangers. Since Bandai is holding a booth to sell Power Ranger toys, they thought it would be a cool idea to have the Power Rangers themselves appear to sell the toys!

I was quite impressed at the number of people queuing up for the photoshoot. The ticket for one photoshoot is 10 ringgit. The announcer said it in three languages; Chinese, Malay and English. So I caught all three. And if you ask me, those Power Rangers just look like regular cosplayers. Though cosplayers would take more care than them. I thought the pink and yellow rangers were supposed to be women, but why are they flat-chested there?!

It just felt a little wrong for guys to be in that pink and yellow costume...

But in spite of myself I quite enjoyed watching those kids and the rangers on stage. 'Course, all they did was pose for the photos, but it was fun getting all the attention. I'm a proud person you see, so I thrive on attention. Enough about me. Anyway, it must be tiring for those rangers to be posing for three hours straight. They went for breaks every hour I think. So even saviors of the world need rests eh?

Overall it was a rather relaxing and interesting day.

So, my Singapore trip. It was a seven and a half hour trip on train to Singapore. I went half of the way on reverse because my seat was facing the opposite way. Next time I'll know; on the go trip, pick seats numbers 8 and above. On the back trip, pick seats numbers 7 and below. I said on reverse because we sat at a different place after the train took off and had to return to our original seats when the rightful owners came hehehe.

I spent most of the journey reading a book. I finished it about a couple of hours to arrival so I had no other choice but to take out Sasarai for abuse.

I don't like eating while I'm reading because I don't want to smudge the pages, so after I was done with reading, I reluctantly took out my Rocky. We bought a set of five each the night before. Karol and Nad apparently finished theirs last night so I was the only one munching on it that day. At the same time, I also sat at someone else's place. I was supposed to sit in front of the duo, but I sat behind because there was someone in my seat. So I got the place all to myself. I even talked the guy who's seat I'm in to trade places with me! XD

Nadja bought a sketch book at KL Central. By the time we reached Singapore she had sketched almost half of that book! ...she's also darn good at it!

It was well into 10 pm when we reached our hotel. Karoline said she had got our hotel covered but I didn't get scrutinize the hotel voucher so I didn't realize it until the receptionist told us that our reservation was for 7th-9th December!!! And we arrived at the 6th!! I gave Karol a certain kind of look and she went on to say how it was impossible her friend Jessie who booked it online for them to get it wrong since they discussed the dates a lot. Honestly, about that time I've had it with 'Jessie'. She kept feeding them wrong information about this trip and now she screwed up our hotel reservation.

But no, Karol and Nad, being the good people they are, defended Jessie saying she was nice enough to help them and tried three times to book them the hotel and it was late at night and she was tired and bla bla bla. But that's not going to help our current predicament is it? Since Nad was hinting we'd better not be on the streets tonight.

I was keen on dissing Jessie more for being careless but I swallowed it ((If you can't do things properly then don't offer to help damnit!!!)). There will be other times. So since the check in time is 3 pm, there's no way for us to wait that long. Looking at our dire situation, my two companions were too numb with shock to react. So I asked the receptionist what our options are. He said we could stay one extra night. Tonight. Since it was only $75 a night, I took him on the offer. We got a small twin room and everyone was happy.

I wanted to diss Jessie some more, but I already expected what reply I'd get so I stashed it. A good thing Jessie's in Kuching and they won't see each other for a long while.

Anyway.

The three of us put the twin beds together for the night. Not exactly cramped, but the second night was cramper because it was a queen bed and we almost literally piled on top of each other x. Not very nice because my legs kept rubbing against someone's legs whos hair had just re-grown.

...I can still feel the sensation on my legs...*shudder*

But the days are fun. We actually have only one full day to explore Singapore so I took them to the only place I know best; Orchard Road. It has a dazzling array of shopping malls. My only spoils were a shower gel, the Chronicles of Narnia book (for the train ride home) and snacks (also for the train ride home). Oh and a DVD. But Karol got a lot of hats and pants and other things. Not bad for someone who said clothes shopping was boring :P.

There were a lot of Japanese youths roaming around Orchard Road that day, especially at Far East Plaza where we're at. Those people can't speak English and they spoke Japanese to the shopkeepers.Were they expecting the people to understand?? When a bunch of them came to this cramped little shop where Karol had an extended stay trying on hats, I told the shopkeeper what the Jap boys wanted when they looked so clueless. After that the shopkeeper thought I was fluent in Japanese. I had to make it clear to him I understood them but I don't speak much Japanese. I mean, how hard is it to say '30 Singapore dollars' anyway?

Singapore apparently is a popular spot for Japanese students on school trips. Everytime I go to Singapore I always find at least one group of them either in the malls or at the airport. Maybe it's due to the direct flight thing. JAL goes direct from Singapore to Japan's major airports.

Even when JAL goes to KL it will make a detour to Singapore first before going to Japan.

It should go without saying that Karol gets popular wherever she goes. I don't mind the attention, so long as it's the good kind, like the ones I said earlier. But when people get too friendly I have the tendency to just slip away for a while. Sometimes people say weird things to them that just makes me go "uh..." (coz of course they look at me, asking for an 'interpretation'!) like how an old guy on the train said Nadja has strong shoulders.

Oh oh Nadja has a fan! During one of the stops on the way back to KL, a man strolled about the side of the train and stopped beside Nad's window and peered in as she was sketching! It was funny. Some of the train conductors also stopped by to see her sketch. The attention is fine, but it does kind of make you wonder if you did something wrong at first. sighs.

The next day our train leaves at 1300 so we have to check out early and bring our bags along as we head out for breakfast and roaming around.

Throughout the trip to and back, I got asked a few times if I study overseas. I wonder what their reaction would be when I said I actually study at a dump of a university at Puchong? Another thing that happened often is how people asked me who they are in front of them! I find it a little rude. Why don't you just go and ask them directly? I mean, the moment I mention 'They are from Norway', they understood anyway.

sighs.

I'm glad this sucker volunteered to take them out today. Not that I want to be rid of them, I liked to imagine her babbling away with her bad English with them. I was on the phone with her once when Karol and Nad moved in their condo and man, she spoke like a true KLite! Broken English and 'cutesy' act all in one!

Well yeah okay, I already disliked her before I even spoke to her because she was the one who told Karol that Puchong was not safe and that Old Klang was a good place because it's in-between KL and Cyberjaya. Local or not, the latter alone is just stupid.

Yeah the apartment was okay, but she forgot to mention that there is no public transportation available except for the train which is about 10 minutes away on foot and you can't go there alone. And the fact that the location is convenient if you have a car (like a local)!!!

Pissed me off. If we met we would not become friends. She, though, might claim we're friends, but unless she really impresses me (and I am hard to impress) then I doubt we'll ever go further than 'some friends of Karol's'. People only become my friends when I let them. I hardly become friends with people 'by chance'. As you can obviously see, not everyone can get along with me. I take firts impressions very seriously. So whatever first impressions I make, it is a reflection of how I will appear to a particular person for a long time to come. Unless, of course, they impress me in some ways and make me change my opinions of them.

I apologize :P. It's just the way I am.

Man I was so relieved to be going back to an empty house today after I went out. Funny isn't it?

Ta'ra!

p/s Is it just me or does that guy in Ashley Tisdale's video looks a lot like Oli Pettigrew from Technomax?

Going Online For Nonsense

I hate going online for useless nonsense. Printing tickets, for example. But this is the first time I'm taking the train to Singapore so I'm allowing myself some lobaness. Anyway, yeah I'm going on my first of two Singapore trips tomorrow afternoon.

Karol and Nad arrived from Kuching today and tomorrow we go Singapore together coz they have to renew their tourist visa. Quite mafan, so might as well go sightsee while we're there. Their condo at Klang Lama is nice, but transportation is HEN MAFAN! I called all three cab companies and they all turned me down! In the end we had to walk under the drizzling rain to the nearest KTM station and took the train to Mid Valley. While boarding the train I accidentally stepped into the gap between the train and the platform. On my way down I grabbed onto a small woman in front of me. The poor thing.

Anyway, those two were so culture-shocked that I was shocked! I've told them there are a lot of people in KL but they weren't expecting it to be such a melting pot of people and cultures. I would have stayed over at their condo tonight but I didn't want to get smack in the way of their cleaning XD. Besides, I have my own chores to do at home. I pressed daddyo's shirts, for one. Tomorrow I still have to sweep the house before I leave.

I want to arrive early to the train station so I could spend some time eating before we leave. I used to spend 5 hours on the train from London to Edinburgh and all the food they had were snacks and sandwiches. Not that I'm complaining much, but you can't really expect a hot meal on the train can you?

My blog is seriously lacking pictures. Not my fault Sasarai sucks at taking pictures. I'm thinking of replacing him. That transvestite! If I get a new phone I'm going to name that one Sasarai too and pretend this one never existed.

To prepare for my 7 hour journey, I uploaded some songs from my Maroon 5, Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears CDs into Marimo the Third (that's my ipod by the way). Yes you read right. I still listen to BSB and Britney. 'NSync too in fact. I love them classics. I also bought snacks from the supermarket when we went shopping. I had some trouble getting a suitable bag for my trip, but I finally decided to get this pulley laptop backpack that my mom bought for us to stuff groceries XD. Hehe...only my mom would buy a bag designed for heavy laptops especially to lug heavy groceries home.

Right, so, I need sleep. And my shoe strings are not in place yet! Ta'ra!