‘Cause even if you take away the fashion, the witty jokes, the sex scenes & nudity,

men who know SATC also know a thing or two (or three) about women.



It is amazing how brutally honest, and pin-point accurate, their issues discussed in the series are!

So my advice to men out there; who still find women confusing, a mystery, and maybe just absolutely crazy.

Just watch the series :) i tell you, it’s the quickest, funniest, and most entertaining way to do your homework.




Currently listening to: Cat Stevens - The Wind ♫
(♫ genre: slow sunday)

Remember, a long time ago, i asked you people what do you do with the songs I’m currently listening to that I write at every end of every post?

Your answer was YES you do look them up sometimes! But NO to an auto-play music player on my blog because really, sometimes those things can be annoying.



If part of the reason why you visit my blog is for the music recommendations, I’ve finally gotten organized and found a quick solution

I’ll be adding links to the songs I’m currently listening to, with it’s [♫ genre] underneath it.

That way, you can click to listen to the song if you’re interested, but if say, genre: electro is not your cup of tea, then you can give it a skip. Or come back next time when you’re up for it :)


But bearing in mind that I’ve always been quite rubbish at categorizing songs to its specific genre, so I’ll keep it broad and general ok? So far I’ve already edited 2010’s posts. So you’ll find mixtures like:

• dance, electro, indie, rock, psychedelic - This would be the sounds of MGMT, la roux, metric, daft punk, crookers mixes etc; basically stuff you might find at Barsonic
• alternative, rock, pop - For sounds of coldplay, keane, U2, the killers, kings of leon, etc
• slow sunday - people might call it soft/slow/emo music, but it’s generally the slower indie stuff i listen to on lazy days. Like landon pigg, death cab, adele, the bird & the bee, feist, kate havnevik, etcetcetc other lesser known names
• local - because, if you don’t know by now, the Malaysian music industry is only getting better & more impressive ;)

And that’s pretty much the kind of music I like listening to.


If you wonder why I bother doing all this, it’s simple. Because if you’re anything like me,

finding new music, & discovering that new favourite artist - feels just like falling in love again.

Well. For me, at least. :)

Enjoy!




Currently listening to: Two Door Cinema Club - Something Good Can Work ♫
(♫ genre: indie-rock, indie-pop, alternative)

From the industrial warehouse-esque entrance, to the towering rock gods/models styled by Cris Yong, to head-banging to rock bands Naked Breed and TwoSidesToAStory,
every meticulous detail made this party a huge success. And had us partying like rockstars all night long, “backstage” at a glam rock concert.






You could even get makeovers to look like a real rockstar ;)





To be completely honest, i had only known about the party - and that ive got an invite - on that day itself.
Didn’t quite know if there was a dress code, so i dressed as, well, myself.


navy vest: An Old Flame
transparent blue striped top: Asian Avenue, Sunway Pyramid
high waist shorts: Bangkok
shoes: Singapore
vintage bag: Singapore
dog tag necklace: party favor @ Absolut
chunky bangles: everywhere


Clearly, dressing as yourself has its benefits because i managed to win Best Dressed. :)

My prize was the fabulously studded and highly celebrated, bottle of Absolut Rockstar.



Alda, me, & Rom!

Not this giant one, though! This is just a comically large mock version that’s been floating around the party ;)
Mine is a properly sized, 750ml bottle and well, with actual vodka in it. Lol.



Alfie & Alda | Eujin@TwoSidesToAStory & girl hiding from the photogs!



Hunky model & Cammy | Lydia@MSN, i love her shoes!



David & David | i found a BlushBerry ;)



Our vision towards the end of the night

Feeling properly tipsy from the freeflow of vodka, champagne, and various unidentified concoctions served by the Absolut waiters, we mosied over to Barsonic later that night to continue the party of mayhem.

Unfortunately, our night was cut short by a false alarm of yet another raid -_- but some of us were calling Saved by the bell, because of borderline overdose of alco, and generally starving for supper :)

It was a great night, nonetheless.



Karen@TiC, & NASAsisstic!



Shengmae & Brian | Amelia & Justin



ShannonRedSaltydogg, me & Nasa :)

xx




Currently listening to: The Whip - Trash ♫
(♫ genre: electro, dance, indie-rock)

Me: “A competition about shopping? I’M SO THERE!”

Goes well in line with my haggling superpowers i was telling you not long ago, during my trip to Bali
But of course it is near impossible to haggle prices at these established mega-stores at Singapore’s shopping malls,
but even with that said, we did manage to get 1 store to give us extra discounts during the competition HEEHEE.

Ok im getting way ahead of myself, let’s back up a little bit.


Pre-Race

Also fondly known as “The Shopping Challenge”, or “The Shopping Race”, here are some official stuff you should know:

Rules of the game: We operate in teams of two. Each team is given SGD$1000 spending money and $50 for transportation. Purchase anything we want - the goal is to achieve the greatest dollar savings. Savings = Original price - Sale price.

Venue: Teams must cover 3 precincts (ie. Orchard Road, Marina Bay, and Southern Waterfront) at selected participating malls. Minimum 3 items must be purchased from each precinct.
In addition to that, 1 challenge (out of 2 choices) must be completed at each precinct. Total time to complete the whole race is 4 hours!

Prizes:
1st prize: $10,000 plus all items purchased
2nd prize: $4,000 plus all items purchased
3rd prize: $2,000 plus all items purchased
All consolation prizes: All items purchased




Malaysia representin’!
Team Msia 2: Karen@TiC, & Syats@TiC contest winner
Team Msia 1: Nasa@The Star Newspaper, & I


Basically, STB assigned us our team partners, so all 4 of us representing Malaysia pretty much had just met each other like, a couple of days before the competition



Nasa & I! Team Msia 1 woohoo

Despite that fact, I couldn’t have asked for a better partner
Nasa’s a real trooper, and just like me, hell bent on bringing home a prize. I mean, we really could have just spent the $1000 to buy ourselves a nice designer handbag each, no?
(which we heard, some of the other teams did! tsktsk)

And not to mention, SHE’S A RIOT! :D
We were devising our strategy before the Race and one problem came up.
“Just so you know, Cynthia, i drink 3 litres of water per day, which also means i have to pee quite often. I hope that won’t slow us down during the race……”
“……I’ll bring along empty water bottles, just let me know when you need to go.”

All teams were given a bit of time before the race to recce the sites. This was especially crucial as this was when we could conduct proper on-ground research, like roughly which shops to hit, which to miss, plan our routes strategically, etc.
Although, recce-ing time given was a measly couple of hours to cover over 7 giant malls, spread over 3 disperse precincts. Ergo, not a whole lot of recce-ing time -_-

But we worked with what we had! With our trusty notebooks and calculators in hand, we scribbled furiously any useful information & prices we needed.


The Race!

Had a bit of time right before the flag-off. Took some pictures and mingled around with the other teams from all around the world! Some from neighboring countries like Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines; others hailing all the way from China, Dubai and UK!



Team Msia 2 & their chaperon; Team China’s outfit is so cute!


Oh right, and each team is assigned a chaperon, who will handle our money, hold our receipts, and pretty much make sure everything’s alright.

I handed my camera to our chaperon to take candid pictures of us throughout the race - my god, the pics he took turned out to be some pretty random pot of gold!
Was laughing myself silly studying the pictures after the race If i can’t manage to post all pics here, I might do a separate “outtakes” post just on silly pictures.



Starting line frenzy! Hahaha that guy at the back damn kiut




…aaand WE’RE OFF!

You don’t see us at the front of the line, because we were right at the back ;) along with a few other teams, which we noticed was part of all our strategies. The first shop we wanted to hit was behind us.

And here comes the 1 and only mistake we made, because while our target shop was behind us, we were concerned whether we MUST pass through the starting line in front of us? Or just dash backwards straight to our target shop.

The whistle blew, and for a good 2 seconds Nasa and I were hand-in-hand, yoyo-ing back and forth towards the starting line and backwards DAMN BODOH!!

2 precious seconds later we saw other teams dashing backwards so we snapped out of our seesaw-ing stupor and dashed straight to our target shop. Haiyoh, epic fail moment.

When we got to our target shop, we were the 2nd to reach - Team UK had beaten us to it.
Followed closely by Team Indonesia behind us, all of us 3 teams scoured the shop like kids (on crack) in a candy shop.

I think all of us knew that this “magic” shop was our winning ticket. Selling brands like Anne Klein dresses & blazers marked down from $980 to $70. Thus, the name “magic”, in a good way because of the crazy savings! Say if we bought 10 of those dresses, we’d have spent $700 out of our $1000 budget, and already managed to save a whopping $9100.

But the name “magic” in a bad way, too, which is a story for another day.



Whut!

Like a hurricane, we swept through the shop, leaving the racks empty and everything else in a total disarray.

That’s Diana of Team Indonesia on the right :) RAWR!



Nasa: Tired! Me: i seriously dont remember doing that but yea ok sure at some point i was randomly huddled in the corner


Lining up at the counter behind the UK Team; Nasa, whom I’ve never heard speak a word of Malay before this, turned to me and suddenly spoke in (formal & slightly fail) Malay.
“CYNTHIA, awak pergi ke sana dan ambil barang lagi”
(CYNTHIA, go over there and get more stuff)


I nodded and ran off, understanding her motive was to make sure Team UK didn’t understand what she was saying–

It was only AFTER the race that we both realized WADAHECK, Team Indonesia could VERY WELL understand everything we were saying, HAHAHAHAH FAIL MOMENT STRIKE #2


Now i only wish before i nodded and ran off, i should have replied, “BAIKLAH”

This competition is nicknamed a “Race” for a reason: We were practically running in a rushed frenzy EVERYWHERE!
Maneuvering our way through the solid weekend shopping crowd, holding our tags up high calling out, “EXCUSE ME SORRY WE’RE IN A RACE MAKE WAY MAKE WAY!”
The only times we weren’t running was in the MRT train, and in elevators. Where we could thankfully gasp for air and analyze our strategies again.



Southern Waterfront checkpoint: jigsaw puzzle! Was fairly easy, this one :)

More shopping & bargain-hunting ensued.

Marina Bay checkpoint: Find the Merlion!

xx

Our sweaty faces, & our chaperon, Han!
I like this picture and how we’re out of breath & sweating bullets but Han’s all like, “no sweat yo”



Orchard Road checkpoint: Decorate a cake, lol :)

Steadyyy hands, now

Success :) now we’re home bound!
And after this we shall consider a career in cake-decorating because WE ROCKED IT OH YEAH



We made it to the Finish Line with about 1.5 hours to spare! Not too shabby eh! ;)
I didn’t manage to get an accurate count on our savings, but it was definitely well within the range of $8000-9000++



At the tabulation counter

The Race took place from 2.30-6.30pm. The winners would only be announced much later at 8.30pm, so Karen, Syats, Nasa and I killed time by resting, mingling with other teams, finding food, chilling out, and even managed to do a bit of shopping at nearby malls we is hardcore shoppers yo



Post-Race

The winners were announced,
3rd prize went to Team Indonesia with savings of $10,000+
2nd prize went to Team Vietnam with savings of $12,000+
and 1st prize went to Team UK with savings of $24,000+!!! that’s doubled the 2nd prize winner’s savings!



Team UK overjoyed!



Cheering for the deserving winners. Hey we’re no sore losers ok! :)

Oh btw my cheeks are extra rosy here because we had just gotten back from (proper) shopping and clearly i had just gotten out of Sephora.



Group picture!

The Controversy


Basically, even before the Race began, a lot of teams caught wind that last year’s participant and grand prize winner (Amanda Zuydervelt of Team UK) is also competing in this year’s Race. This in itself already presents an unfair advantage for them, as the rest of us are first-timers having to develop our own strategies from scratch.

To make matters more complicated, there are further suspicions regarding UK Team’s receipts in the “magic” shop. In that their receipts were found to be crossed out in pen ink, thus overstating their savings. Although, STB has confirmed that written receipts (instead of printed) is allowed…

This is just the gist of the controversy, we have our side of the story too (only Team UK, Indonesia, and Malaysia1 were in the “magic” shop) but we feel we shouldn’t publicly disclose our side of the story yet, until the matter is resolved with the authorities.

But for now, you can read (Team Indo) Hanzky’s story here, rather lengthy but worth the read,
check out the comments too, as Amanda Zuydervelt replies with her say as well.

All controversies aside, it really was an amazing experience

But like i said earlier, Team Malaysia was in it to win it!
And that meant not buying anything pretty for ourselves (pretty = expensive). So all we had at the end of the day were fugly, weird-sized items on a mad sale, and hideous dresses not even worthy to be made into curtains.


We went back to our hotel room and analyzed what we could salvage for ourselves, and the rest we decided to give to charity. :)

I swear i nearly fell backwards (actually i did fall sideways) laughing my backside off when Nasa put on our best dress. Priceless ROFLMAO moment!




Let’s wear this to Zouk tonight



It was a fun, wild ride around Singapore. Not just the shopping part, but the challenges ensured that we all had a Uniquely Singapore experience. My favourite was definitely visiting the Merlion, outdoors and away from the hustle and bustle of the hectic malls. The view was breathtaking, and surely we needed that breath of fresh air :)





We got to keep all our junk stuff purchased, but this souvenir is surely my favourite one :)

Those who follow me on Twitter or Facebook, would know by now that unfortunately, Team Malaysia didn’t win the Top 3 prizes of the Singapore Shopping Race (aww!).

I’m trying not to think about it, but according to my calculations, there’s a very high chance that we came in 4th place T__T but i don’t want to believe my calculations because it will make it cry.

It was a wild, tiring ride. My legs were aching so badly by the end of the trip, i was limping all over the place. David referred to me as his Grandmama once, gee thanks.
And the moment i touchdown in KL, i went straight for a foot reflexology, and passed out that night for a good 12 hours -

but it was all HEAPS of fun and i’d do it all over again. Will blog about it real soon!

During our trip, we even got to hit Universal Studios Singapore, the gorgeous Marina Bay Sands, and other recently-launched awesome places thank you, lucky stars.

But for now, i want to talk about something related to a night that, we girls now refer to as “Singapore Butter fail”.


A disclaimer note first and foremost; I am NOT generalizing all Singaporean guys.
I feel that this issue goes out to EVERYONE who enjoys a party or two, regardless of music genre (the infamous R&B vs. indie, etc), country, or gender. The title only depicts that unfortunate fail-incident that occurred to us in Butter Factory (nightclub), Singapore. But I’m sure this is happening everywhere, all the time.

I share this with you, not with the sole intention of amusing you, or to insult anyone. Just to warn you that such douchebaggery exists, and/or if you are one of them, well, cut it out!


So what happened was, the girls and I wanted to check out Butter Factory during our visit to Singapore last weekend. I stumbled into a friend outside the club (let’s call him Ryan) and we decided to hang together, share a table or something.

Ryan & his guy friends were very sweet with us! In that they bought whiskey bottles and poured drinks for us, making sure we were alright, etc etc etc.

Karen, Gwen and I, well, we appreciate the sweet gesture, but we are also perfectly comfortable with buying our own drinks, taking care of ourselves, etc etc. Furthermore, we only stumbled into Ryan & friends just that night, they shouldn’t feel obligated to provide us with drinks all night long!!

But anyway we accepted the 1st glass politely, and resumed back to our beers and such.

The earlier part of the night was great actually, Ryan & his friends really are a funny bunch


Then came along *one* of Ryan’s friends, (let’s call him Bob)

So us girls went to the dance floor. All around us were girls dancing on the podium,
couples dancing closely, some were bump&grinding, others were making out violently.


Nothing wrong with all that, of course. Everyone’s just having their fun!
But Karen, Gwen and I were dancing to ourselves, layaning the music, having our own usual fun. :)

Bob came along and said this to us. “Are you girls lesbians?”


Karen, Gwen and I stood dumbstruck for a moment at this dude.

Karen: “Are you gay?”

If i were drinking at that moment i would’ve spewed everything out in a burst of laughter, preferably aimed at his face.

Bob: “Ha-ha, very funny. Of course not. But if you girls are not lesbians, why don’t you dance with other guys? You only dance to yourselves.”


I could tell that Karen and Gwen had no more patience for this ignorant fool, (hello can you blame us -_-). But i figured, out of respect for my friend Ryan, i’d be a little more patient with Bob. So later on, i sat Bob down for a little chat.


Me: “There’s a club in KL called Barsonic. Over there, we layan our friends, and the good music. Boys don’t really disturb girls there, or at least there’s no cheesy bump&grinding. Everyone there is a friend, and all for a good time.”

Bob replied with a simple, “Oh ok.”
He seemed to be trying to digest this new information, either that or he just doesn’t care.

Bob: “So, do you have a boyfriend?”

Me: “Yes.”

Bob: “DAMN!”

(oh my god i am not kidding you he said that. wait til you hear the rest)


Bob: “So, where is he tonight?”

Me: “I told you earlier, i am here for work over the weekend. He’s back home in KL.”

Bob: “You mean he lets you club by yourself???”

(-_-) Me: “Err, yes. And i let him club all by himself, too.”

Bob: “Aren’t you worried he will cheat behind your back?”

Me: “No.”

Bob: “How long have you been together?”

Me: “Not that it’s any of your business, but close to a year now.”

Bob: “Oh……” He nodded his head in stunned silence.
His shocked face tells me he’s never met anyone who’s in a relationship for longer than 2 months.

I kept telling myself, He’s Ryan’s friend, he’s Ryan’s friend, be nice, BE NICE.


Bob: “Ok just between you and me, ya. Have you cheated on him before??? TELL ME THE TRUTH!!”

*mental facepalm*

Me: “No.”

I swear my fingers were curling into a balled fist right about now.

Bob nods his head in silent contemplation again.

Bob: “So, you’re in love with him?”

Me: “Bob, it’s starting to get a bit personal now (like 10 questions ago) but…”

Bob: “Oh. So, what, you’re gonna MARRY him, is it?”


And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my limit of patience for educating idiots for the night.


I walked away from Bob and rejoined the rest. And let me tell you, THAT IS JUST THE GIST OF THE CONVERSATION.
There was a whole load more of really mindless, unrelated, IQ-reducing questions that i decided to spare you from.
I swear, i should have slapped him after the first 2 minutes of mind-boggling stupidity, but god has apparently cursed blessed me with a lot of patience.


But oh no, that’s not the end.

Later on, i was casually chatting with Ryan blablabla nothing important.
Bob, who was hovering nearby, decided to pipe in unwelcomed and said, “Aaah, don’t listen to the LESBIANS!”

o_O


You really shouldn’t be hovering too closely if you decide to say that to a girl, RIGHT after she went through great pains trying to talk some sense into you.

Otherwise, you WILL get what you deserve, which is a proper palm to your face.


Mind you, it was very crowded and there wasn’t enough arm-swinging space, so all he got was a light tap to the cheek. But still, not surprisingly, even that can send him into a frenzy of whining like a little b—

I hope my story has amused you, for that is the EXACT conversation that took place. Nothing was exaggerated.

But i also hope that this story gets some of you thinking. For those of you who THINK you can have absolutely zero manners not just once, or twice, or 123456789 times, THINK AGAIN.
Or at least do it from a safer distance.


But later it also got me wondering.
Considering the possibility that maybe JUST MAYBE he didn’t wake up that morning and think, Hmm let’s be a royal arsehole to somebody tonight,
Let’s say maybe he’s just *always* been that way.
What kind of girls would ALLOW him talk to them like that?
Can you imagine how little respect does he have for women, or how little self-respect do these women have for themselves??
These are questions that im not sure i want answered.


Lastly, i cannot stress enough that i am NOT generalizing on all Singaporean guys.
Im sure this breed of ignorant fools lurk in the corners of every country.
Unless, if Bob over there wants to generalize that all Malaysian girls are crazy, then im sorry Malaysian girls, i have done my best.




Currently listening to: MGMT - Flash Delirium ♫
(♫ genre: indie, psychedelic-rock)

Been working on that AOF New Arrivals update on overdrive and yesterday was my mad deadline, which had me working ALL DAY & NIGHT (went out halfway for a meeting and came back straight to resume work, etc.) til super late last night i wanted to die.
Had to write a short update-email to our AOF mailing list also i was like half-asleep, im surprised my brain could cough up any more words to write at all.


This morning i opened my Gmail inbox and found an email from a reader - and although i do get the occasional happymail, this short one really made my day :)

She basically scolded me for working late, haha. But at times like these, it’s nice to have your hard work noticed, let alone inspiring other people :)







Thanks Gwen! xx

I’ve been invited once again by Singapore Tourism Board to join in on yet another Uniquely Singapore experience

Last year, i was there for the launch of ION Orchard

But this round, well - what is Singapore best known for during the middle of the year? WHAT ELSE!

The Great Singapore Sale is happening from 28 May to 25 July 2010.

Perfect timing too, i need a weekend break to refresh my system.


Most of us would think that just means discounts all over Singapore.
But a little birdie told me that’s just the least of it! There’s a whole load of other aspects too, like extended shopping hours, lifestyle events, etc.
And one key event being a contest, about - wait for it - shopping.
And the winning team will get - wait for it - $10,000 plus all items purchased.

HOW CRAZY IS THAT!

And yours truly will be participating :) Will fill you in on more later, so stay tuned.
Pray for me to come back home next week slightly richer ok please and thank you :) I’ll be flying off tomorrow morning, phewh!




Currently listening to: Regina Spektor - Fidelity ♫
(♫ genre: slow sunday)

Digital cameras are awesome, don’t get me wrong; and i own a pretty decent one too.

But there’s still something magical about instantly captured moments, reproduced in the form of hard copies. The simplicity of a white frame where you can scribble notes over. Limited films. No delete button, no do-overs. And the ‘imperfect’ photo quality. I mean to say, a polaroid photographer can’t manipulate the images in Photoshop, therefore retaining its charm and purity.


What you see is what you get - the real moment captured.

Now that’s the bit of magic that the digicam can’t reproduce.



@Heineken Green Space pres. CCH, @Nike x Leftblock


But then i think about the price - the camera itself AND the film…… GAH.

I’ll just put that on my Expensive-Things-I-Lust-For-But-Dont-Really-Need-Right-Now List.

My my, what an ever-growing list that’s turning out to be -_-”

But for now, we’ll just have to make do with my digitally-captured-and-maybe-enhanced pictures, won’t we? :)

My new favourite quote, is this. “Too Little Too Late, or Better Late Than Never?”

This applies to alot of things in life. But today, I’ll relate it to my many (many) backlogged posts that i intended to blog, but didn’t have the time to. :p

So i’ll look at the glass half-full and say it’s Better Late Than Never


Bali (part 3)

[Read Part 1 and Part 2 first]

Glitterbug chilling in our hotel ‘backyard’!

David called me over to see this pretty but strange (pretty strange) looking creature stuck on our glass sliding door one morning. I was convinced that it was just a sticker - i mean, it’s glittery and shiny and has a rounded clear surface and all!

He dared me to go touch it then, and i promptly said “ERR No Thanks.”


As mentioned earlier, common sense will tell you that touristy spots like Kuta will sell very expensive souvenirs.

So we headed to the markets in search of cheaper treasures and boy, did we hit jackpot.

David wanted to buy some paintings for his apartment,

So I hovered nearby and listened in on their haggling conversation,
because, lord only knows, David can’t haggle for nuts (but i still love you hun!!)


The first time i saw him haggle for something, at a place where my gut feeling tells me that the price can be lowered to HALF PRICE, (and my gut feeling is always right)
the seller initiated the haggle with only a few bucks off, and David went, “WOAH so cheap!”

hooo boy.

So I hovered closely for this painting purchase, he did manage to get a okay-ish price, but I felt like the price could go lower. So I stepped in.

A few strategically placed haggling moves later, which might include some smiles and eyelash-batting, the price did get lowered. By a lot.
And I could feel David’s stare at me in awe. Ok la maybe not in awe, more like in shock wtf

“Omg, you were merciless. Poor fella, I don’t think he even knew what hit him! My goodness la, you crazy Chinese people with your haggling……” *shakes head*


He might have meant it as an insult to tease me, but I took it as a compliment. *beams*

Stick with me, and you might learn a thing or two, heh heh.



Market ladies. I find these pictures very melancholic.





Quite a number of times, I saw the shopkeepers sprinkling water onto their merchandise (like above) with some offerings in hand, while saying a chant or prayer.

I finally asked one of the market ladies why they do this, and she said it’s sort of to bless the shop. Praying for prosperity, good business, thanking the gods for good business, etc.

















We did some more touristy stuff, one of which was to watch the kecak dance @ Uluwatu.

And so i was expecting some traditional dance of ancient Balinese warriors or something, not unlike our own Malaysian traditional dances. But this was really something else.


I still don’t know what i think of it, it’s a funny mixture of strange + fascinating + trippy as hell + impressive.
At the very least, im very impressed that not a single musical instrument was used, the “sounds” were created by the performers themselves throughout the entire 45-minute show!

Here’s quick video i took:



Triptastic.



Ended with the white monkey kicking around balls of fire. Madness!


Had seafood dinner at Jimbaran on the beach. Quite a great ending to a great trip

Oh, and the waiters kept asking if we were on our honeymoon. We kept saying no. We figured that’s what they ask all couples for the sake of conversation - but they still gave us free glasses of wine complementary for honeymooners. Aiyo :)

xx




Related posts:
Bali (part 1) - Bali Beautiful!
Bali (part 2) - Bali Nights!


Currently listening to: Keane - My Shadow ♫
(♫ genre: alternative, slow sunday)

Besides the obvious work, recent affairs with real estate agents, and pretty much just my same ol’ shenanigans,

I’ve also finally organized my thoughts, and figured out the reason behind my quickly-diminishing blogging habits!

All will be explained in due time. This epiphany of mine only happened quite recently, so i’ll make a decision on my action plans soon. Instead of venting and whining aimlessly to readers now :)

xx


On a lighter, less ambiguous note,

Just like what i did with my previous short hiatus, here’s another quick list on what’s new with me! Or more accurately, my current craves & addictions.

• Secret Diary of a Call Girl [series] - The title says it all: She’s a London high class hooker/call girl/prostitute/whore, and damn proud of it. (Played by Billie Piper - yes the ex pop singer). It’s a British tv series, i reckon slightly indie and low-budget, so it’s not surprising that not many people know about this one. But after i watched it - and i finished all 3 seasons in 2 days, fyi - i find it VERY SURPRISING that not many people know about this one! I even spoke to Shervin and even she doesn’t know about it, and she LIVES in London! Anyway, it’s smart, sexy, witty, and i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again: Thank god for British humour, otherwise my life would be so incomplete. In a nutshell, people who liked Sex and the City (which is pretty much everybody) will enjoy this one.




• Cracked.com [humour website] - There’s probably a lot of these around, like the famous fail blog etc, but i recently found Cracked, and well, literally could not stop cracking up. Been hooked ever since! Their comedy articles are full of witty dark humour and in-your-face sarcasm, which sent me howling with laughter every time. Another type of humour without which, my life would also be incomplete.
  Current fav lol-articles so far are “5 Shockingly Powerful Kids Who Make You Look Like a Coward”, “The 7 Most Disastrous Typos Of All Time”, “15 Unintentionally Perverted Toys for Children”, and most definitely, “35 Most Insane Halloween Costumes from Around the World”.
  But really, once you get in there and find the lists of other equally awesome headlines, it’s hard to stop.

In case you haven’t seen me around in a month, this is what i look like now.

Do i look different!
Well. Here’s a hint: This perm cost me a fortune so you better tell me i look fcuking nice.




Currently listening to: Florence + The Machine - Dog Days Are Over ♫
(♫ genre: electro-pop)

Similar to our Changkat Bukit Bintang, restaurants, bars, and nightclubs lined the streets.

On our first night there, we decided to visit the nightlife, and chanced upon a 3-storey bar/club called Sky Garden.






“Brought to you by Bintang Beer” NO LAH ONLY JOKING

Tourists and their rented bikes are not uncommon in Bali!

Ok here i must also tell you about, literally,
one of my very favourite hotels ive ever lived in.


The price - reasonable to cheap. About RM200 per night.
The service - excellent. I am in love with the hotel receptionist (Pipit), she’s so polite, friendly and helpful. And cute too! Memang macam burung pipit.

And the room - IS. SO. NAIIIICE.

It’s white, and spacious, and miminal, and so cozy. AND GORGEOUS.

Not quite like your standard typical hotel rooms, ya know?? ok i just show you the pictures, my excited rambling words cannot do justice.







Flat screen TV, whee!


And just when i jumped into bed and dubbed it my favourite part of the room,

I look around and see THE BATHROOM SINK.




*cue angel chorus HAAALELUJAH*


OMG FORGET THE BED, now *THIS* is my favourite part of the room. *big wet eyes*

And i love how the bathroom is separated by a white, sliding wooden door :) SO PRETTY!

But i never thought a BATHROOM SINK would catch my eye. But HOMAIGOD LA WOULDJA LOOK AT THAT.




PRETTY BATHROBES TOO, TEEHEE. WHY AM I SPEAKING IN CAPITAL LETTERS.


I quickly unpacked my toiletries bag and placed my bottles of cleanser, toner, moisturizer, perfume, and everything on the sink - all in one tidy little row <3

It really felt like my dream home right there <3 <3 <3 (bathroom at least)

And after i super layan diri in my new dream bathroom, i whipped around and checked out the balcony view.

I WANT TO MOVE IN RIGHT NOWWWWW <3 <3 <3

Our room was on the 2nd floor, but we thought Hey if we were on the ground floor, our balcony door would open right out to the swimming pool. And how awesome would that be!
Waking up and jumping into the swimming pool “in our backyard”

So the next day, we requested if our room could be switched to one on the ground floor,
and hey presto, request accepted :)



Later that night, it started to rain! Really heavily!
Dampening whatever plans we had for that night.
So we decided to stay indoors in our white, very cozy, sanctuary of a hotelroom. :)

AND HAVE ROOM SERVICE DINNER, FOR THE FIRST TIME OF MY LIFE.

*jakun moment*


I’ve never had room service dinner before!
Because obviously hotel food can be super expensive
Well, our hotel is quite new, so they didn’t have an in-house kitchen,
but they had a menu of a neighbouring restaurant that does delivery.
So we placed our orders with the hotel receptionist, (Pipit!)
and about an hour later the food arrived at our doorstep, nice and piping hot :)

And i tell you.

Munching on crabs with your fingers, and sucking ‘em bone dry,
while lying in your lush white bed,
watching TV,
taking all the time you want, no restless waiters waiting for you to be done,

IS DIVINE.

BEST. PAMPERED. GLUTTON. FEELING. EVAAAR.


But you can imagine i was being quite anal with the white bed sheets la.
Thwacking David whenever he spilled sauce on the sheets,
and then wailing in terror whenever *i* spilled sauce of the sheets T___T

Im not even sure if im ready to say the name of the hotel yet,
‘Cause i dont want everybody to go there yet. *selfish*
MY SANCTUARY!
But if you’re my friend and you ask, i’ll tell you la :)
Aiya who am i kidding, if people ask of course i’ll tell.
…some day. :D


But then to be fair, i was told there’s really a lot of nice hotels all around Bali for cheap prices.

So. Maybe the next time i go to Bali again i might end up raving about another hotel like a deranged madwoman,
and dub it BEST HOTEL EVAAAR too!

Part 3 coming soon lah!




Related posts:
Bali (part 1) - Bali Beautiful!
Bali (part 3) - Bali Markets & Kecakcakcak!


Currently listening to: Keane - Somewhere Only We Know ♫ (no pun intended)
(♫ genre: alternative, slow sunday)

Wow, that was one of the craziest weekends I’ve had in a reaaaalllyy long time.
Now usually “crazy weekend” means mad parties and chockful of events,
but in my case, it’s mad deadlines and chockful of WORK, is what it means!

Not sure if many people know this, but besides AOF, im doing a bit of writing on the side.

And so on this auspicious weekend, all (and i mean ALL) deadlines happen to fall here.
And the auspiciousness only grew when my body decided to fall sick at the same time thus rendering me useless less productive -_-


Oh well. Not that im complaining though.
Can’t say i don’t thrive on stress even just a little bit.

But nevermind, now that’s all done and out of the way, i wanna de-stress and sift through happy Bali pictures :)

So instead of 1 giant long-ass post, ive planned this to be a 3-part miniseries

Because im merrily editing pictures and reliving happy Bali moments and then i realize,
Homaigod i have SO many pictures! and soooooo so many stories to tell you.

Not necessarily in chronological order, alright. Just, stories. :)



2 big luggage, 2 laptop bags, and a beach bag. :D
Neither of us could bear to leave our laptops at home. Hopeless workaholics, we are.


Back home in KL city, you know when you see a really nice woodeny home and you say, “what a nice Balinese house”
or a cozy wood-adorned restaurant and you say, “what a nice Balinese restaurant”


Well, in Bali, you don’t say that anymore because EVERYTHING is super nice and well, for lack of better words, Balinese!

Everywhere, and every place is decked up in wooden, earthy decor, traditional carved out timber, plants and greenery. Every corner of Bali is so picturesque.

As this was our first time in Bali, we were given quite a bit of recommended places to visit, including restaurants.
But now that i’ve seen the place, i think you can’t really go wrong with any of them. Just throw a rock, you’re bound to find a decent place to eat at, with charming art & decor.



Lunch @ Delicious Onion, Seminyak

My spicy seafood salad, yum!

Random stalled truck passing by, oh no!


Next up, we went to Kuta to shop around look at the shops.

Your quintessential touristy spot. Long streets with bars, restaurants, massage spas and even tattoo parlours. And of course, shops selling everything from clothes & souvenirs to tour packages!

I refrained myself from buying too much from here. Extensive shopping experience and common sense has taught me that tourist spots = expensive.

But it was nice walking around amongst the hustle and bustle!





There sure were a lot of cars, but i think there were way more motorcycles than anything else.
Motorbike rental seems very popular amongst tourists, because it’s so easy to maneuver around trafficjams. Plus, cabs are pretty expensive!
We spent a fortune on cabs during our 5d4n stay in Bali. Will definitely consider renting a bike there next time.






Didgeridu’s!
This musical instrument shop was damn cool, i think everything in it was hand made.

Had to take a break halfway - weather was super hot!











We passed by this one shop and I started laughing like a mad woman.

“HAHAHAHAAH OH MY GOD I HAVE TO SHOW THIS TO DEBBIE”



DOES THIS SEEM FAMILIAR TO YOU. YOU BETTER SAY YES.


I ran across the road and scoured the shop for that Bikini T-shirt (ie. Robin Scherbatsky’s bridesmaid dress) in How I Met Your Mother. *click!*

And walked out in a huff after seeing the price tag.
“270,000 rupiah for a shirt, a bit mad right!” (about RM100)


We walked and walked, and politely said no to every peddler trying to sell us all sorts of gizmos, manicures and tattoos. Eventually we ended up on Kuta Beach.


Everyone told us not to bother going there. But we figured, well since we were here, and it’s out VERY first time in Bali, we should try out every place, even the mainstream tourist spots. Who knows, maybe we’ll like it there!

So after my first time at Kuta Beach, I can proudly say - I WILL NEVER GO BACK THERE AGAIN.

Super packed with people, peddlers, surfers and tourists, and the beach was quite dirty. Just wanted to sit on the (dirty) sand and stare at the waves also cannot, 2 peddler ladies came up and tried to sell me damn expensive manicures. And they kept touching my hair too, wanting to braid my hair GAAAAH STOP INVADING MY PERSONAL SPACE.

We spent like 7 minutes on Kuta Beach, and then we left beh tahan man.

I’m looking through my pictures and didn’t find any of Kuta Beach. Yeah, ’cause it was just that uninteresting.

Ok besides the pushy peddlers,
really, everyone there was super nice Tourists are funny, and the locals are super polite and helpful!

We wanted to spend a full day at the beach, and couldn’t decide between Sanur and Dreamland.
We spoke to a couple of taxi drivers, and of course our hotel receptionist. Both beaches are supposed to be great but the verdict landed on Dreamland it is!

I was praying a million times hoping it wouldn’t turn out like Kuta. Because Dreamland was about an hour away from Kuta and Seminyak, which was where out hotel was.
(will talk about our hotel in Part 2 - IT DESERVES A WHOLE POST TO ITSELF)



DREAMLAAAAAAAAAND! <3

Homaigod it’s so bluuuueee. And green. And purdyyyy. And the waves there are MAD!

David and i raced to the water like 2 children would, and already the FIRST wave knocked us back!
And my bikini bottom flew down to my knees

“Waaaah babes evil waters, im getting out!” *yanks my bikini bottom up*









Sigh :)

Brought 2 books with me this trip - How To Walk In High Heels, and The Memory Keeper’s Daughter.

The first is clearly the light, fun, frivolous one. So then once i think i’ve had enough bimbo and airhead-ness in me, i’ll switch to the sad, serious novel! And then if that depresses me too much, i’ll just switch back! :D



Found a stray doggy chilling under my deckchair :)


Went exploring and taking pictures with David after that.

Camera in one hand, and a Bintang beer in the other!



Waves are damn strong!

The waves made pretty swirly patterns in the sand <3

When in another country, must try their local food. :)








And tapao back to eat in our hotel room. MMM MMMN.

Best. :)




Related posts:
Bali (part 2) - Bali Nights!
Bali (part 3) - Bali Markets & Kecakcakcak!


Currently listening to: Evenstarr - LIES ♫ (via cravecharts.com)
(♫ genre: local, slow sunday)