Cuti-cuti malaysia : Melaka

I cannot deny I was pretty disappointed about not going to Japan. And we don't know what to do with the Kch-KL-Kch tix.

Oink said we can still go and have a cuti-cuti Malaysia. And so we did. Our first destination was Melaka.

We reached KLIA via firefly on the 8th April 11+ am. I thought there's a bus to Melaka from KLIA, bt they moved to LCCT. So we took a bus to LCCT. There, we bought Transnasional bus tickets at Rm21.90 each. The bus will depart at 2.30pm. So we found somewhere to sit while I read my book, and I bought Oink newspapers.

The bus was ride was ok , we arrived around 4 at Melaka Sentral. We didn't leave for our hotel straight away, we wanted to get a ticket back to KL first. It was there we bought Nice Coach ticket at rm22 each.

We then took taxi to our hotel, hotel hallmark at Jalan Kubu, which is quite near to Jonker Street. My first choice was Jonker Boutique Hotel, but it was fully booked. The room was quite cheap, around RM100 with breakfast, although the room is small, it was clean and has LCD TV + DVD player ( I was surprised).

We walked around 5 mins to Jonker Street, and arrived there sweating. I did my research on Melaka's good food by reading KY's blog. He recommended Jonker 88 for the cendol.

I had mango special and Oink had Durian something. There's alot of customers in the shop. I would say that they tasted nice, only a bit too sweet for us.

After that we felt hungry, and wanted to find Hoe Kee Chicken Rice Shop or Chung Wah as recommend by KY speaks. Come to Melaka of course need to eat their Steam Chicken with rice balls right?We found Hoe Kee, but it was closed :-((((. And we couldn't find chung wah :-(((((. At times like this, I wish I have a smart phone to go online and search info with. So, like 2 hungry ghosts we wondered around and walked into the first chicken rice shop we saw. Famosa Chicken Rice Shop and ordered heaps.

And its not yummy :-((((( I would say the best tasting of the whole lot was the roasted pork 'x' Even the normal Chicken Rice at Kuching tasted better. Somemore the staff was a bit rude. We can't finish the all the rice balls.

After the bad dinner, we walked around Jonker Street. The street was filled with stalls selling food, trinklets, hair accessories, toys, clothes, etc. I bought 2 mini egg tarts and we went back to the hotel.

We woke up early the next day and wonder what should we do for the day 'x'. we decided to look at the simple map we took from the airport (if you want to buy a more comprehensive one, you will need to pay rm5..yeah..MALAYSIA BOLEH!!!'x') and just walk to the tourist spots nearby. It was a hot day. And my wedges were killing me. I told oink I MUST buy a flip flop or something that is more comfy.


RM10 purchase that saved my life. I love them so much, I even wore them at KL malls when we were at KL 'x'




We went to Cheng Ho Museum. RM10 per person. Guided tour available in both english and mandarin.



It was there I found out that Laksamana Cheng Ho was a eunuch. 'x'


Famous Red buildings. Alot tourists here. There are stalls selling souvenirs too.

There's alot colourful trishaws here too. Rm40 for an hour. Rm25 for 30 mins. We took the latter just for fun.

Then its time to look for lunch! I wanted to try some baba nyonya food. And we found a shop at Jonker Street that offers Baba Nyonya food.


I ordered Ayam Ponteh out of curiousity. Oink had Pineapple fried rice (What a boring choice 'x', so it I won't post photo of it). And we also ordered shrimp paste brinjal.

And it was delicious. So nice I tell you. Just looking at the photo makes me hungry now. We then walked back to the hotel to rest a while. It was a very hot day.



After that, we walked out and bought tickets for the duck tour. Its a special amphibian vehicle that can be driven on land and also serve as a boat on water. The tour took around one hour. We are brought around the city and a short cruise on the melaka strait.



I never seen people trying to fish like this before.


After the duck tour. We then walked to the nearby Dataran Pahlawan mall for some shopping. The mall is quite big and surprisingly, I bought more stuff here than at KL.

For dinner, we went to Ban Lee Siang Satay Celup at Jalan Ong Kim Wee as recommended by KY Speaks. The place was packed. We were at first in awe on the amount of food all those people can eat. I think a table full of young boys that sat near us ate hundreds of those satay celup. It was then we found out its 60 cents each. WTF so cheap 'x'. Where to find in Kuching??? No wonder those people eat like its free 'x' We left the place contented, full and satisfied. Sorry, there's no photo for the satay celup. We were hungry 'x'.

The next day we woke up a bit later. Laze around, took our sweet time with breakfast. Then we walked again to Jonker Street to buy some souvenirs.

I was really pleased when I see Nice Coach bus arrived at the platform at Melaka Sentral. It was really pretty with purple colour exterior and the seats were all in purple. It was the nicest bus ride I have ever taken. Free drinks were offered. So I enjoyed my book reading while eating chips in the bus. It was really relaxing.

Next post= Cuti- Cuti Malaysia : Cameron Highlands

Betrothal 过大礼/纳彩 (05.11.2007)

I have run out of stuff to blog. And also lazy 'x'

So I will blog about events from the past. Memories that were meant to be blogged, but was too lazy back then.

Today I am going to talk about one of the Chinese wedding tradition.

I copied the title from wiki.

Now, according to wiki :

Betrothal 过大礼/纳彩 Up to a month and at least three days before the wedding day, the groom and a friend or a matchmaker will deliver the betrothal gifts on the auspicious date chosen.

Western and Chinese wedding cakes and peanut candies, together with two bottles of brandy, at least six tins of canned ham and even number of oranges are included in the wedding gift baskets. Two pairs of dragon and phoenix candles 龙凤烛are also included. Also included is gold jewellery from the groom's parents to the bride, such as the Cantonese Dragon and phoenix bangle 龙凤琢 or the teochew's four items of gold四点金.

Mine happened about a month before my actual wedding day (26.11.2007).

Oink came with his brother in law to my house, with 2 beautiful hand-decorated baskets done by my mother in law.



I don't remember much. But from the photo you can there's red wines, canned goods, oranges, packed teas, and gold.



And there's also a big pork leg. According to my MIL, its a Hakka custom. And I'm a Hakka girl.


And of course the "deposit" for me, the mas kahwin. I don't remember why there's 2 different ang pau packets 'x'. But we got the red packets from 688. So we just use it 'x'. Oink's mum must have told him to use those two.

Now, we were suppose to return half of what we received. The wine, the canned goods, the oranges are easy. The money we also returned almost half back. But the pork leg gave us a headache. Its too big, how do we chop it into half? So in the end, my mum just cut out the meat as a gesture.

So, that's it. Hope its useful information for anyone who is getting married 'x'

It is pure coincidence?

or is it FATE?

About a month ago, my mother in law ask us whether we wanted to go NZ or not. We were still deciding, and Oink was about 80% sure to join my MIL, when NZ is hit by earthquake.

Although the places we wanted to go is not including Christchurch, but Wellington was issued a warning on the possibility of another earthquake affecting the area. So we just forget the idea.

Then, we considered Korea/ Japan.

Honestly speaking, Japan attracts me more. The idea of visiting filming sites doesn't really attract me much 'x'

So after paying visits and calling up to the various travel agencies, we decided on, lets call it agency A, a new, small agency, just because the Japan tour package has one extra day in it and its ex Kuching, instead of ex KL. But 1 wk later, they called us, to tell us the tour was cancelled because the rest of the group has changed their tour to go KOREA.

So by then, I was quite annoyed already, and insist on staying with the plan. So I made calls here and there. And decided to join agency B, a big company who has a branch at KL. Their itinerary has one less day, and we need to go KL to meet the rest of the group. So after paying deposit and everything, I came back to book tix to KL. 3 hours ago, i saw 0.01 fares on fireflyz. Just 3 hours later, it goes up to 39.90. GRRR.

After that, for 4 days, we prepared the various docs needed for the visa. Went to renew passport even.

The very day we submitted the docs, is the day, Japan got hit by earthquake, tsunami. And now radiation leakage.

Japan, I have no fate with you..OHH~~

I hope Japan will recover soon. Its sad to see such a beautiful country turn into this.

I don't need flowers

when I can have this!



This is just normal maggie mee, and my lovely husband made it into a culinary art for me as breakfast one day! I was so amazed and in awe, I don't where to start to dig in. Just looking at it makes me all lovey dovey inside and also hungry 'x'

Hmm, I have a feeling I ever post this photo in this blog before. Or not? Can't remember. Never mind. If I did, just show-off again niah lo..WAAKAAKA..

Happy Chap Goh Mei and Chinese Valentine's day!

Blogs

There's a few blog that I visit everyday cos I know they update everyday.



But today, I found an interesting blog. Becci owns a blog called Kira Kira ♥ Dreams. I think she's a very pretty fashionable ang moh blogger that loves "gyaru" (japanese for gal) style. I just love her style!

My poor tree

got cut by the grasscutter. Damn sad now. Got 感情 with the tree one you know. And now its gone. :-(((((((((((((((((((((((((

I'm becoming so aunty

As usual before CNY, Boulevard is packed with humans. Us included. We went there to stock in for CNY.

I was at the vegetables rack when I saw that the oysters mushroom are selling for so cheap. I was picking some of it when an aunty older than my mum appear next to me.

Real aunty: how much is it?

me : 98 cents.

Real aunty : wahhh so cheap. Rm1 cheaper.

me : ya lo.. ya lo....

(continue selecting..)

Real aunty : Why are you selecting?

me : I want to find some fresher ones.

Real aunty : ohhh ..(proceeded to selecting some for herself)

dong dong dong chiang

I wonder if anyone still reads my blog :-p But still I will pen my entries here from time to time. It will be wonderful to read back what I wrote in the distant future.
The CNY mood seems not as happening compared to previous years. Maybe its too near to christmas?

Anyway, its a very happening CNY for me. I recently bought a 50lt brand new elba oven. And I promised myself that I must put it to good use. So I won't buy any cookies at all this year. I shall bake them! Of course with the help from my mum. :-p I don't have the confidence yet to do it all by myself. Usually every year I will buy 2-3 types of cookies. But this year, I made 3 types of cookies with mum! I feel proud.

They ain't pretty but they are all home made.



We also started to clean the house last weekend. Starting from upstairs. I discovered some pest (don't want to mention here or else you guys will ewww at me) starting to treat one of my drawers as their home. URGH. I have this habit of keeping my old receipts and now it has become their nest! URGH. OFF WITH THE OLD RECEIPTS!OFF WITH THE DAMN PESTS. and I am very happy that the drawer now is clean and pest-free. While I am sorting through the drawers, taking out stuff from containers and boxes and wipe/ vacuum the containers and boxes, wiping surfaces, wash bed sheet and quilt cover, vacuumed the floor, my dear hubby is wiping the windows and the window frames. For 6 hours 'x'. He wants to clean it perfectly. He even uses the free toothbrush you get in hotel rooms to brush the unreachable corners. AHHH, that's my husband, when he's onto something, he wants it to be done perfectly. That's one of the traits you can find in a Virgo.

And this weekend, we shall do downstairs. By just thinking about it makes me tired already. But then, that is what you do before CNY right?

Happy Chinese New Year everybody. May the new year be prosperous and joyous. GONG XI GONG XI!

Farewell my friend

I lost a special friend today. She was 38. Farewell, Diana.

(T.T)

26.11.2010

I am in such a good mood now. Thank you PM najib for declaring tomorrow as a PH. I am so happy that I've decided to blog 'x'.

I have been meaning to blog about this since afew weeks ago. But I got lazy, then a string of events happened.

26.11.2010 was our 3rd wedding anniversary. I can't believe we are married for 3 yrs now. 3 yrs of ups and downs, mostly ups :)

Of course to celebrate the important dates, we always do it by "MAKAN". This time I suggested we go to Raintree at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK). Jackie raved about this place to me. How great the wait staff was. How great the food was. And since I have never been there, I think why not?

After we pan leng leng, we left for BCCK. Along the way, we got lost a few times (it was a rainy night), but end up oso manage to arrive safely (THANK GOD) 'x'

Hi there! *wink wink wink*

Jackie didn't tell me got live music too! What a surprise. The lady can sing really well. While waiting for our order to arrive, the friendly staff gave us some mini-bun-thingy. There are 2 types, poppy seed and wholemeal.




I chose poppy seeds. Oink took the whole meal one. This little bun looks small but tasted great! but we don't dare to eat too much, afraid that we won't have enough space left for the main course.

Oink's drink. Mocha something. Forgive me for I can't remember. :-p

I remembered mine! Ginger-ale.

I ordered lobster bisque as appetizer. Oink didn't order any.



But the staff are so thoughtful, they divided it into 2 shares.Again, yums!




Ok, this is what Oink had for his main course. Lamb something 'x' Again I can't remember. AHAHAH! Done medium. Tasted OMG-ly yummylicious. Tender! Juicy! Flavourful!

And this is mine. Fillet Mignon. Can only remember own order 'x'. For the first few bites, I think Oink's lamb tasted better. But as I continued eating mine, the meat gets tastier and tastier. YUMMS! Oh! have i told you that their mashed potato was the BEST i ever tasted? Simply creamy! I love how it melts in your mouth.

No dessert after that, too full already 'x'

The total bill came up to RM180+, can't remember exacty how much. But its soo worthed. Great food, great ambience, great service. Waayyy better than Jambu. Will definitely go again.

A friend lost

Just soon after lunch yesterday, a close friend of mine suddenly message me. She said just now someone claiming to be X's wife called her and told her X has passed away and now X's body is at GH. O.O! I was shocked, I still asked her are you sure? How sure are you??!!She then said she has a briefing to attend and ask me to investigate the matter. I called another friend and she seemed shocked too and asked me not to simply scare her. But because she works in the hospital, she can get info easier than me. After waiting for my hp to make any sound anxiously while hopping the news is untrue, my friend called me back, to confirm the news. Its so sudden! I cannot believe it! I just saw him 2 wks ago! At another friend's wedding! This can't be true! He just got married one year ago! Still so young! Life is soo... fragile :(

Up Mango Up

Mango willing to do anything for food.Well, almost everything I think.

When you have a piece of food on your hand, you can do this.

When she sees the food, she will automatically be in her "stay" mode. But as you can see in the photo, she can't resist the temptation, eyes on the food already, ready to grab it.

Oink lift up his hand while saying "UP" and Mango trying to balance on her hind feet so that she can reach the Jackfruit.

Bravo to Mango!

Shortest ever in 10 years!

I think long and hard before I made this decision. The last time I took this step, it was when I was 15 I think. And I really regret it. But recently, I have an urge to do it again.

I wanted to change my hair style! I grew really bored of it. I wanted to do something. I don't want to rebond anymore!But at the same time, I am scared. What if whatever I did, doesn't suit me, and I'm stuck with it for a few mths?HOW?

I google for blogs of where people in Kuching do their hair, and came across this :
Essensuals by Toni & Guy

And I like what they did for the bloggers like Rose & Anna. And the best thing is, its at Jln Song, damn near my house. No need to go far far.

But yet, I still feel like a chicken, so I dragged Oink to go with me.

I always wear my hair long. And this time, I m ready for changes.

I am surprised that my hairstylist talks in a british accent. When I looked up, eh, 'ANG MOH' ! So the others told me he is here as an exchanged stylist kind of thing for 3 mths. And he will go back to UK by the end of Nov. So lucky me i guess? Dave the ang moh hairstylist took a look at my long wavy hair, and gave me two options. One is to keep the length, but he will take the weight away, and the other is to cut it shorter. After thinking for a while, I told him I wanted to try the short one.

When he chopped off my hair, surprisingly I didn't feel anything at all. After he is done. I told them I wanted to try colour my hair. Another first for me. I never coloured my hair whole. I did highlights before and that's it. That's when Jacqueline came in. She is the stylist for hair colour. She suggested that for a first timer like me, I should go for the deep brown colour range.

She looked at my hair and ask me am I sure I never dyed my hair black?To give you an idea how black my hair is, I put a photo here, this is the photo before I cut & colour my hair.















She joked that my hair is the virgin hair. 'x'

Well, because my hair is so black, she suggested that I choose the lightest shade for the range of deep brown I chose.

And the end result is....


















Nice?I know its not very short, but it is indeed the shortest in 10 yrs! And the colour don't look much here, but it looks different under the sun.

But overall, I am really happy with my decision. And the best thing?I don't need to rebond it, it looks better wavy and messy.

I'm not a boy

From time to time, people will ask me how is my Mango.

Then got one time, long time ago, I can't remember how was the actual dialogue, my friend misunderstood that Mango is a HE. O.O! I asked her what made her think so. She said your Mango behaviour not gentle-like, tomboy-ish! Oh My! So it made me think...ya...my Mango indeed not that lady-like.

She is not friendly. Absolutely hate strangers. And she bites! And she can bark non-stop for at least 2 hours if she found there's a stranger in the house. I don't know what happened. she was so friendly when she was a puppy. I think the next door's fierce dog was a bad influence to her.

Go away before I bite you!

But if you open your heart, and slowly try to be friend with her. She will gradually and happily accept you. Once she's familiar with you, she will be happy to see you around. :-)

ONG CHENG HUAT @ PENANG

We went to Penang & Langkawi in August.

And on a Sunday, my bro who is working at Penang brought us "Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan".

He said there's a place, only the locals know, and served the nicest steamed fish he ever tasted. Before that, we went Kek Lok Si, I've been to Kek Lok Si already, but my poor hubby never been to Penang yet.

This place my bro is raving about is NOT on the island, you have to cross the bridge and go over to mainland. Is it still call Penang there? I am not very sure.AHAHA! How to call myself a Malaysian like this.

The thing is, my bro is not very familiar with the route. So he asked his friend to draw him a map.
























The oat building on the map is actually a quaker oat's factory. You can't really see the quaker oat guy by the road, its actually behind a wheat/ flour mill. You will see him once you turn into the junction.

I don't think there's a clear signboard indicating where the restaurant is, but I remember a tiger's beer logo signboard and something something restaurant by the roadside, you just turn there. The restaurant is NOT by the roadside, you still need to drive through ppls' houses.

















I remember asking my bro is he sure or not. Looks more like housing area then a place for restaurant ler.

















AND BEHOLD! Look at the cars!

We quickly scanned for a table and quickly sit down.

Just look at the crowd! By the way, the ah pek looking guy in green shirt is my bro. :-D!!

We are quickly then served by a waiter. Bro being the one who had eaten there before made the order. I noticed on every tables, they all ordered basically the same thing.

Our beverage came almost immediately after our order. Its home made liang teh in recycled mineral water bottle. 'x'! i hope its clean. But at that moment, I didn't care much. All I see is ICE COLD DRINK in a VERY HOT WEATHER.

Food came very soon after that also. I was very surprised. Its like less than 10 min wait.

The steamed fish my bro kept raving about. They steam it just nice. The meat was soft and tender and juicy and very fresh. The gravy was just enough salty to complement the meat. Yums!

My bro calls this "kappa" I have no idea what's the real name is. I just eat them as long as its not too ugly. Not bad! Chewy and a bit "sweet" tasting. Yums!

Fried Chicks. My bro's gf favourite. But she didn't come with us. My bro's car can't fit all of us (there's 5 of us including my bro).AHAHA. But we saved 2 to "tapao" back for her. Some people over fried this kind of dish, but this one is just nice, still juicy and tender. YUMS!

Fried beehoon. They didn't even wait for me to take a photo of it first! cis! But I have to say, there's nothing special about this fried bee hoon. Almost tasteless to me. I think they only fried it with soy sauce. If you go there, I think you can just give this a pass. No need order 'x'

-no-idea-what-to-put-as-title

Once a upon a time (actually just last friday), 3 stooges ladies (Selina, My sis-in-law, and I) took a flight to KL for 3d2n short trip. It was a last minute decision, and we wanted to do some shopping & relaxing. I was just happy to get out of work. It was kinda rush, although its a 3 days 2 nights trip, we actually only have a total of 2 days and 2 nights time to spend, which also includes sleeping time, eating, showers, etc, minus all those, we are left with only 20+ hours.

We stayed at Cititel Midvalley, joined the single beds together and shared. We saw a brochure on cititel's Japanese buffet, and was intrigued by the photo used and MAN! HOW WE got CHEATED! Our plan initially was like this, day 1: BB area, day 2:wan utama and ikano, day 3: Midvalley (so that we won't need to rush). BUT! because of this buffet, we had to change our plan to put BB area on the last day. Its not WORTH the RM60 LORRRR! The sashimi was ok. The almost-non-existent sushi was a disaster, dry, and almost tasteless. The tempura was soggy and super oily. Almost all the meat was cooked in the teriyaki sauce. Like this also called Japanese buffet? Was totally disappointed. Did a little shopping at Midvalley, and Bel(my SIL) paid for 2 pairs of earrings I picked as my Birthday present..KEKEKE..damn happy!

The next day, after a heavy breakfast at Cititel. We left for Wan Utama. We arrived at 11am. Then shopped and shopped and had a late lunch around 3pm at Nandos. Just imagine! Shopped till no proper lunch. AAHAHAHHA. Then we left for Ikano at around 6pm. Didn't dinner, and left Ikano at 10pm! ELEVEN HOURS OF WALKING! We were all groaning and whining about how painful our feet were and yet we can still walk and check out shops. :-D!! We had late dinner at Secret Recipe in Midvalley, only to be served by a grumpy waiter.

The last day, was the most hectic! We went to BB and didn't manage to get anything much, I at least got a pair of shoes. Then we had to rush back to get our luggage, and ALMOST didn't make it to the airport on time. Imagine that!

While waiting in the boarding hall, I still manage to grab a pair of heels at Carlo Rino! AHAHA!

So for this trip, I manage to grab 3 dresses for myself, 4 pairs of shoes, 1 hair band, 2 earrings (bday presents from Bel), 3 t-shirts (1 for Oink, 1 for bro in law, 1 for myself), 2 bags ( 1 for mum) , 3 tops ( 1 for MIL, 1 for cousin), a nice top for Oink, and some stuff from Ikea.I think that should be all. 'x'

P/S No photos. None of us brings a camera. :-p Where got time to camwhore?