To get us accustomed to the dos and don’ts of being on-call, we tag-call with a senior who will show us the ropes. I am very lucky because both my seniors were very patient and even let me have a go at doing some simple lacerated wounds. But I get tensed up easily and when we’re on-call, we’re expected to be doing these procedures at the bed side which means no comfy dental chair to work on and good posture just flies out the window. Just last night I was suturing a laceration wound and because the lighting was bad, the bed was so low I had to bend almost 90 degrees to finish up my work and each time I tried to stand up, it was almost impossible. You know like when you’ve done one too many sit-ups you just can’t do another one? Yeah imagine it in the reverse. I found it so hard to straighten back-up. There was a puddle of my sweat on the floor next to the patient’s bed. I’ll need those sweatbands for my next round of calls. Even in the clinics I can sweat a river during particularly difficult extractions.

My first trip to the red zone was quite an eye opener. We were supposed to tend to some wounds on a trauma patient’s chin area but we had to stand aside as the medical team was trying to resuscitate her. That was particularly scary especially seeing how it is done. My senior said that would take awhile so we went home first. And for the whole evening my senior did not call me….which means that the patient didn’t make it.

I’m babbling so much because what I am trying to say is that I have been busy hence the neglect here.

SO ANYWAY. I was in Manchester back in July for Mervyn’s graduation! And I think this is the first time photos from my Olympus E-PL2 are posted here.

Just trying to be artsy-fartsy with this round of photos.

Even though it was summer, the weather was still too cold for me!

A starbucks cafe, like it’s not a big deal there.

Palace Hotel was just opposite our hotel!

Oxford Road was also just behind our hotel!

The road that we were staying on was Oxford Road which was just a straight road down to Mervyn’s uni.

In Manchester, everywhere is within walking distance.

A rustic old street sign on a brick wall. <3

Why not!! (

Dad’s best impression of an old monkey.

Chinese visiting Chinatown.

Mervyn showed us the particularly dodgy establishments around the area. Somehow, Chinatown everywhere is associated with dodginess.

it looks as if this poor pigeon got shot. (

We arrived very early on Sunday morning and were just in time to see the remnants of Saturday night’s mayhem. We went before the riots took place so this is just a normal weekend in the UK.

The shopping heaven that is Market Street!

Mother and Son oohing and aahing.

Overlooking some pub area.

That shop on the lower left right hand corner is Jigsaw which was the company that Kate Middleton used to work at!

The wheel of Manchester!

This looks like a mini Picadilly Circus right here!

Balloons bobbing along a river near Manchester’s gay district.

It’s like a party road!

With pretty pink doors. <3

Gay Sparkle!! The sparkle fonts are made from super glittery cardboards which totally had me staring at it for a good 10 minutes or so, with my mouth wide open in wonder.

Don’t know what it means..

More of the streets along Manchester.

There are random space invaders all over the city. Mervyn mentioned to me that it is done by a group of artists where they try to incorporate space invaders at the strangest of places. Here a link to see where else that one can find them space invaders.

Under an overhead bridge.

Some random graffiti..

That’s part of Mervyn’s uni and that’s dad crossing the road. Why did the father cross the road?

Another view of the old campus.

Cute surfaces at Costa Coffee!

Archie’s!! I didn’t get a good picture of the snack bar but it’s basically trying to be like Pop Tate’s Choc’lit Shoppe in Archie Comics and this is their delivery car.

Manchester at dusk.

The tram tracks at night – so beautifully illuminated.

I love walking around manchester at night because it’s just so damn cold! Something I don’t get to do often and always want to do more of whenever I’m in a cold country.

Mervyn brought us to a pub on our first night there.

Having a pint like the locals.

A fruit stall down the road from our hotel.

Old architecture + bluest of skies = <3

this looks like an old theatre! It’s a building near my brother’s apartment.

Mervyn walking home.

Potholes, just like back home!

Love sticking my camera into the grass and going trigger happy.

This is when I switched to my telelens!

Mum and the superbokeh at the back.

Oh puffy dandelions, how I miss thee!

And lavenders! I can’t get enough of it!!

That’s Mervyn’s common kitchen which he share with his other flatmates.

Found this on the window of a laundromat that we wanted to go to. Thank god we came too late.

Ya I know I’m one lousy tourist – this is obviously a historical monument but I don’t even know its name.

Artsy shot of the historical monument.

Dad and his trademark eye roll.

There was a pub next to the historical monument that serves Monday lunch at 505 off! I think all four of us ate like £20 in total. For such a filling meal too!

I don’t know la hah I’m not that good at describing my meals. But I do have moments when I want to grow up to be a food blogger.

Mashy tomato on something green and something yellow. Cheese maybe? Who knows. It tasted goood!

Thin crusts pizza are ALWAYS THE BOMB.

Everywhere you go in England you’ll definitely have chips.

A rustic pub somewhere in town.

Balls around town.

My fit brother!

Dad’s my dad.

Mervyn introduced an Indian restaurant to us called Zouk, which is off Oxford Road.

Cute decors!

basically it’s a little middle eastern mixed with indian cuisine. So here is something grilled.

And you have the sour salad!

Grainy rice!

Curry something

Curry something else?

Another curry dish!

Piccadilly Gardens!

I love it how the streets are always bursting with colours and personalities doing all sorts of things!

For one of the dinners, Mervyn had a pint of pie. Sounds nauseating right? So much pie!

Dad and I had pork ribs!

Man eating pork.

MUm had…I think a fish dish.

The fish dish.

Aku tengah konpius nih!

Oh so good…….

Saw a sticker on the side of a bus stop.

More of the sights we took in during one of our long evening walks in the cold.

Trainers are on because I’m still wary of the cold weather.

A river that my brother walks along almost every other day.

So romantic right?

A bridge across the river.

Their judgemental stares..:P It was meant to hurry us along.

My brother holds his gaze.

Look what I found!

This is Mervyn on his graduation day.

Been quite  awhile since I last camwhored. Still got it I see.

My brother, the law graduate, who still has to slave for 1 year and 9 months before he is a full fledged lawyer!

Mervyn and some of his coursemates.

Awww… mum doing something she always does.

Thought I’d help out by capturing Mervyn’s final moments with his friends.

The hall where the commencement ceremony took place.

Paparazzis with so much love in their hearts.

Hahahahha! I love this shot of my brother. He looks utterly ecstatic.

One of our few family photos. Thanks William!

And of all people that I bumped into in the UK.. Li-Lynn!! My kindergarten classmate!!

Love love love this shot of the mortarboards in the air.

I do think my skills are improving..hehe.

One of our nicest family photos.

Mervyn and more of his buddies.

Mum insisted on getting him a graduation bear.

Love this shot of dad and mum!

To all my fellow dentists, you know what i mean. “Ambil coupland.”

Mervyn says goodbye to his beloved uni.

And I happily camwhore away.

I feel this photo would make a good poster for the play “How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying”.

For his graduation celebratory dinner, we had it at a fancy restaurant called San Carlo!

Apparently plenty of celebrities have been there before.

So fancy.

But super cramped too.

Me amidst the clutter of glasses and plates.

Another beautiful walk back to our hotel in the cold summer night.

This bar is called Taps I think! Very amusing because the alcohol is literally served from the tap!

No idea what St. George’s House is but I know it looks quite nice.

Another pub behind our hotel.

The next morning, we were lucky enough to spot the Red Bull entourage!

Over at Picadilly Gardens, a flock of pigeons wait for the next jet of water from the fountain for their bath time.

Always in awe of these street performers!

Saw this on a wall in a music store.

So big!!

This is one old building. I was taking this photo from a Subway sandwich shop. How times have changed eh?

On our last day, we went to Lake District! It is apparently the largest lake in the UK and it rains all the time there.

Why did the swan cross the road?

The swan is so cute!

*gulp*

No  I didn’t eat the swan.. I had something else. Fish and chips!

Dad and Mevyn enjoying their meals too.

Awww..he wants some! He really likes chips.

A seagull floats aimlessly.

Saw his friend kot.

We rented a boat which we could drive out on our own to the middle of nowhere.

Mervyn and I making the “Mmmm sweet lemonade” face. Can anyone guess where that face is from?

Mum at the wheels.

Spotted a fellow sailor in the distance. We waved.

Found a wall with a heart spray painted on! <3

My FB profile pic which has received so damn many likes!

Mervyn has a go with the heart on the wall.

Heart balloon!

I like this one.

I think this looks like something right out of a movie.

Some pretty pipes along the sides of a house.

So old fashioned! Would be even cooler if they had milk bottles!

Not quite the believer.

Pretty chalk written menu!

Chocolates!

So cute right?!

I had to climb this little hill to get to the blue flowers.

The blue flowers!!

It’s like they reach right up to the heavens!

Me and the blue blue flowers.

My favourite shade of blue.

More of the boats bobbing along Lake District.

A judgmental crow.

And I end this long overdue post with a pretty duck.

We arrived in the adventure capital when all was dark and we didn’t even know that right in front of the bach that we were staying at was the magnificent Lake Wakatipu. The whole of Queenstown is situated around this beautiful lake!

The impending mess of two families.

One brother with a blocked nose.

There was a fireplace! But due to everyone’s inexperience with lighting a fire/Uncle Dan’s claims that the logs were wet, we didn’t use it. Nifty thing though.

Artistic Adrienne and her Wacom tablet.. I should have taken some photos of her drawings. She gets her inspiration from Sonic the Hedgehog and imho, she draws better cartoons than the cartoon itself!

Another thing that is awesome about this bach (a holiday home rented out to tourists but owned by someone else who lives far away) is that it has an extremely well equipped kitchen! A huge fridge, spices in a spice rack, a dishwasher, two ovens, a microwave, utensils, plates, mugs, kettle…you name it!

There’s a double story room at the back of the bach with a tiny attached kitchen too! It has a fridge AND a microwave! Ahhh!! This place is even more equipped than my own house.

The bach has three rooms. Popo, Mervyn and myself took the biggest one. Adrienne was supposed to join us but she preferred to be with her parents.

Mervyn’s corner in that humongous room.

The Tung family’s bedroom.

A view of the upstairs’ rooms.

The upstairs toilet.

The staircase. Sorry lah must showcase the whole house. Hopefully you’ll be enticed to rent it! Very cheap only! NZ1000 for four nights! Divide that by eight people! Actually there’s no limit to how many you can cramp into that bach.

Mervyn in the morning.

The staircase in the morning. I know it’s super mo liu but I think the place looks different in the day hence the photos. Shut up and keep scrolling.

The Jolene’s touch. Not unlike Midas’ touch.

The view from Mervyn’s window. Too awesome right?!

My brother is clearly not a morning person.

The fully functioning kitchen in the morning.

Adrienne brought her Wii along to entertain all of us. Actually most of the time she’ll be engrossed with her Sonic The Hedgehog game.. after we make her feel guilty about ignoring us, she’ll let us play some Wii sports on it and make ugly avatars for us. Complete with moles and all!

The family that owns this bach has their shelves stocked full with books, magazines and boardgames. There’s even a telescope at the back! The cupboards in my room even had prams and toys for babies!

I realized I didn’t get a night shot of mum and dad’s loft. From the ground floor, you go up a level and it’s the bathroom with some landing space where they put their suitcases.

Aforementioned staircase.

After the first level, a narrow staircase leads you to the bedroom proper. Tiny little thing but someone’s gotta give. Thanks mum and dad for taking the room with the highest possibility of being scary!

The view from mum and dad’s bed.

The bach even comes equipped with a balcony but it was too cold out to be doing any barbecuing.

When we woke up it was still very cloudy but after awhile, the clouds parted and we were treated to a sneak peak of the amazing view! The mountains that you see in the picture are called The Remarkables, one of the three ski resorts in Queenstown. More Lord of The Rings footage was shot there!

A shot of our bach as dad and Uncle Dan were backing out from the drive way.

The troop all bundled up as we explored Queenstown.

Baren tree again!

Don’t know what Adrienne was doing.

One of the window displays! I bought one of those puffy little sheep!

In the center of Queenstown are all their shops – restaurants, souvenir shops, ski rentals, boutiques, bookshops etc.

Adrienne makes herself comfortable.

Mervyn cannot resist cute things. <3

Neither could we. This was when I discovered that Adrienne loves soft toys! I thought her only interests were video games and drawing cartoons!

The two sheeps my grandma bought for her.

Pfft, no money, so ugly.

Cute little building near the jetty.

Popo, mum and Aunty Jenny chilling out while the rest of us soaked in the sights with our cameras.

Bobbing boats.

Plenty of ducks were just floating about, oblivious to the world, fighting for food with the fishes.

More of Queenstown!

That’s how it is in New Zealand. Clear water all the way!

A duck and a drake talking it out.

Ugly duckling spotted!

All around us were people indulging in adventurous sports – here’s one! Some guy parasailing!

Up he goes..

So peaceful!

Mervyn and Dad are both extremely awesome photographers and I am not being biased just because we are family.

Here’s a link to Mervyn’s flickr and here’s a link to Dad’s Picasa.

Mervyn is more about concept, where else dad loves to capture ‘the moment’ and enjoys HDR-ing his pics.

Like a Nikon ad.

At least he is willing to pose for me.

Naughty Adrienne knows about WTF but does not want to say it out. Even after much encouragement. Heh.

Gorgeous colours on this fluffy little guy here!

This duck came up for a walk.

No photos please!

Looks like the duck and the drake from the earlier photo are done with their talk.

A shock of blue feather peeks out from within one of the ducks.

What else to say but thanks dad for the tele lens! <3

Aunty Jenny says hi!

Mum loves soft toys!

Queenstown looks pretty cramped but in a nice quaint way.

We had Japanese for lunch! The price was okay, comparable to home.

Mum and her udon.

I thought the Japanese restaurant was quite witty with this signage but turns out it’s a government’s effort and it is pretty much at every other restaurant.

Naughty souvenirs! I bought Chee Kiang a boobie egg fryer thingie, so that he can serve the Boyz@AMK (his housemates) boobies for breakfirst!

Edgy signboard.

LOVE IT!

Just for you to cop a feel of the small town.

A belgian chocolate store but I was coughing so mum did not allow me to eat any. I have a feeling even if I was well, she would not get me any either way.

The hot chocolate there is delicious! There were many kinds of hot chocolate flavours!

Can’t get enough of the ducks!

And the yellowed willow!

Some boat putters by.

Another one of the times when dad would yell, “PULL OVER!” and we would get out of the cars in the freezing cold, braving the winds to try our best to capture the beauty of the South Island.

Slippery path!

The budding photog!

Taking photos of each other!

Terpaksa layan myself.

The nearby hills!

See what we found!

Quite freaky.

For further freakiness!

Ugh!

More self layan!

I think this was with dad’s G11. The settings on my camera for the last few photos were kinda off.

Tender moment with Adrienne.

Flat looking rocks!

Throwing stones in vain.

Blur but I love the moment!

Family photo without popo who didn’t want to come out into the cold.

Mum and her ever ready poses.

Dad’s like a christmas tree, only better!

Furry glove makes an appearance again! Sorry!

Must be some NZ trend to deface their cars artistically.

Very meaningful.

-_-

Heading back to our bach. So potong right, no adventure in the adventure capital of New Zealand! Just photos!

Mum, waiting for someone to open the door for her. Also to show you the doorway of the bach!

And that’s all for Day 2! On Day 3 we went to Milford Sound. More pics in the next couple of days!

It was sunrise when we were approaching New Zealand. I gave my mum my digital camera and she took this picture. SO PROUD OF HER!

Mervyn and a kiwi.

The kiwis in NZ are so much sweeter than the ones back home! However, when I got back to Malaysia, kiwis were being promoted left and right for their Vitamin C benefits. Don’t know why.

Dad and mum devouring more kiwis.

Meet Auntie Jenny and Uncle Daniel! They were such fantastic hosts during our one week stay in NZ!

Auntie Jenny provided us with fluffy bedroom slippers to curb the cold NZ floor. I was really glad that I was there during winter!!

Almost all the windows looked like this!

Enjoying the cold weather in their garden.

Somehow dad looks kinda short here.

Not quite frost but the water droplets just look extra white. Wonder why!

My room! Loved the sheets, loved the frosty window.. ahh!

Ugh.. ignore my stupid watermark. This is OkieDokie who made me a flower balloon!

The inside of a NZ mall!

Aforementioned flower and brother.

It’s always interesting to visit a foreign grocery store. there are so many things that are different from what we have back home!

Mum showing off her skills.

And..uh, dad too.

Meet Adrienne! Uncle Dan and Auntie Jenny’s daughter! Her artwork is superb for an 11 year old. I’m trying to get her interested in make-up and pink stuff and she throws it all back at me. Sigh. One day, one day.

Have you tried wholemeal pasta before? Tastes damn nice!

The very next day, we embarked on a 7-8 hour drive to Queenstown, which is hailed as the Adventure Capital of The World!

Some random cemetery.

Photographing my brother in his element.

Love this picture of Adrienne! She’s a very good kid model. All the innocence and happiness so evident!

Beautiful bare branches in the winter time.

I think this was when we were in Darfield..which is where the epicentre of the earthquake was. We missed the earthquake by two weeks, thank goodness!!

A sneak peak into the multitude of snow capped mountains that we would be seeing along our journey. We were giggly with excitement when we saw the first snow capped mountain, the spectacular sight doesn’t get old!

A sheep taking a dump.

A judgmental sheep stares at the sheep who just shat.

Gorgeous picture of Uncle Dan and Adrienne.

Father and daughter moment. <3

Some lambs.

From time to time we would just stop the car at the side of the road and go trigger happy. That’s pretty much how our 8 hours drive became a 10 hours drive.

Horsesss! With fuzzy fur too!

And a patch of hair!

I think I have more photos of Mervyn’s almost butt crack than his face itself.

I like dried grass..so you’ll have to sit through the next few photos patiently.

Mmmm.

Attempt at being artsy fartsy.. lovely rusty barbed wire, eh?

Love the way the dew gorgeously hangs from the grass looking like tiny flowers.

Adrienne was hooked onto photography as well. This little girl has awesome stop motion animation skills!

Dad scolded me after this photo was taken saying that I could easily become some NZ roadkill.

Teaching Adrienne the many ways one can enjoy herself in front of a camera.

Acorns!!

Dad would pull over whenever we came across a breath taking view. And there were many!

Mum and Mervyn.

Myself and mum!

Mervyn braves the cold to get his one million dollar shot.

Obligatory touristy picture.

I still could not get enough of the snow capped mountains.

As with the bare trees.

One thing I loved about our road trip to Queenstown were the small towns that we stopped over! We even stopped at Twizel for dinner on the way back! Twizel is where some of the Lord of the Rings footage was shot at!

Small town knick knacks.

More small town knick knacks.

And all the small towns had proper cafes.

I didn’t realize that there was actually frost on the road until I edited the picture!

Hello!

Majestic hills/mountains that could even block out sunlight!

The tumbling hills.

It was a long journey but we were so entertained by the scenery that it wasn’t boring at all.

Land of the long white cloud!

That’s dad – every 20 minutes of driving.

Some farmers’ homes.

Another stop over!

Beware of horses and horsemen.

So dry and gorgeous!

We made sure to stop over at Lake Tekapo. On a still day, you could get a mirror image of the snow capped mountains on the lake!

Camera shy seagull.

Dad and I being fascinated over this puddle of water.

Reciprocal shot.

One more of the tiny puddle before moving on.

One thing great about New Zealand is that the beautiful sights are so peaceful – no tourists to photobomb your pictures.

And the star of your own photo is yourself! I am referring to my super packed Shanghai trip, which will probably be posted up in my next life. I will put it up, I will I will I will.

Adrienne runs down to join me by the lake.

I couldn’t decide which photo to put!!

And a zoomed out one. LOL.

This is Lake Tekapo, a glacier lake.

Touristy photo!

Adrienne is so brave.

Adrienne unintentionally photobombs dad’s solo photo.

Dragging Mervyn into the shot.

See how clear the water is!

Little photographer.

Mervyn and his reflection.

Mervyn the mountaineer.

The adults weren’t too adventurous and decided to stay away from the rocks.

Popo shies away from the public.

Where else Mum totally revels in it.

Just finding some excuse to pose with my fluffy purple gloves! <3

Aunty Jenny, a chunk of leftover snow from the cold weekend and a super colorful truck at the back!

I got Aunty Jenny to kick the snow for me!

Emo seagull.

Dad catches his prey.

A lone and faraway church.

Mervyn farting?

Managed to convince Mervyn to snap this photo of me. Takes some effort to talk him into carrying my camera. He has a lot of requirements – he needs to get all his artistic shots first before he can layan me, if I am wearing my bling bling glasses, he won’t photograph me out of disgust.

Nice photo of Mervyn!

Dad’s suffering face as we bypassed beautiful sceneries but could not stop as Uncle Dan was going full speed ahead with no intentions of slowing down for another stop over.

Mervyn in the wilderness.

Uncle Dan and Aunty Jenny stopped over to get our dinner for the night! FRESH SALMON!!!

A salmon’s worst nightmare.

The water was kinda murky, quite unlike the glacier water that we have been seeing all along the way.

With popo, who is not a salmon fan.

It was about NZ15.00 for a kg of salmon! Still pretty much a steal as compared to the exorbitant amounts we fork out for our pathetic sashimi slices.

Peaceful surroundings for the salmon to breed.

Ohm.

This Adrienne is like an energizer bunny.

See what I mean?

Something to remember our memorable Salmon Farm trip with.

Bye Bye Salmon Farm!

Since there’s a crazy amount of photos from my NZ trip, as you have probably guessed, I am going to split up my posts. So till the next one!

Then there are bad days. Like when my macbookpro’s trackpad fucks up on me and the laptop was sent to the service center for five days. Or whatever gadget that falls sick, it will totally ruin my day/week. Thankfully interpersonal relationship dramas have been kept to a bare minimum in the past few months – everyone’s behaving well. Myself included. I get pissed off at gadgets more than people. And I am also having a super hard time trying to do up my sticker monster store. I am not even sure if I want to have a store now.

Oh right, one more bad thing for a bad day. Damn damn damn DAMN Bangkok ‘peaceful protests’ which caused me to burn my air tickets and miss out on my beautiful hotel room (I mentioned about how the walls are painted in bright pink, yellow and orange right? As in, colour themes for individual rooms right?). Just a bad time to go. Please please please please I hope I can go when I graduate. I hope I have time.

So, time to travel back in time again.

During my UK trip in August 2009..

These are pictures from my 5th day in UK.

Went over to Grandma Doris’ place. A plot of land to remember Grandpa Dennis with. We went to visit his cemetery a couple of weeks later as well. I’ve never actually called a cemetery beautiful but it sure beats our Bukit whatevers. Soft grass that suburban Malaysian family homes like to grow, beautiful trees without overbearing fragrances, strong winds that blow at your coat tails and all who were buried there were literally pushing daisies. Daisies everywhere! Garden accessories were placed all over the tomb stone. Garden gnomes, colourful windmills, the deceased favourite flowers growing at the grave… very peaceful.

Grandma Doris is really proud of her green house! I can’t remember what else she grew in there (for god’s sake it was in August 2009 T_T) but if I recall, there were bell peppers and definitely some tomatoes too.

Look at her oddly shaped and juicy tomatoes!

SO CUTE RIGHT?!

Uncle Terry explained that it was to scrub the mud off your shoes before you went into the house.

See what I found on her kitchen table?!?!
This is a photo of my family back in the late 70s.
top l-r: Uncle Terry, Kooma, Kaima, Dad
bottom l-r: Mama, Taitai (granddad’s mum) and Yeahyeah.

Don’t think my dad met my mum yet at that time..but Kaima already met Kaiyeah! hehe just that he hasn’t gotten the parental approval to join the family photo.

Grandma Doris’ house is full of trinkets and she said she had a gift for me. A precious porcelain doll! So dainty!!

I can never get over the big puffy dandelions.

Fly, fly away!

Lunch back home was Uncle Terry’s homemade pizza. Tomatoes that you saw in his hands earlier now sliced and oven baked with pineapples, some cheese, pepperoni and a thin crust. MMmm.

Later that afternoon was my maiden trip into London!! Can you believe how excited I was? It was like going into New York, something you have heard so much about for your entire life and never ever imagined that you would walk those streets one day. Dad was worried because I had never taken the train down to London before, but I think with my pretty modest grasp of the english language, I should be able to read some signs and hopefully approach a person or two for help if I was lost. =\

A LONDON TRAIN STATION! <3 not quite the Underground, but still!! It rained for a bit like how the Brits always complain about, but it got warm again. Was damn cold when it rained!

Old guy enjoying his yoghurt. I was going down to London which was 45 minutes away to meet up with Sush, Chun Guan and Adrian. On the way down to London, Nien (who was touring Paris at that time) messaged me about souvenirs for our classmates. I thought it was pretty cool that I had a fellow classmate who was also touring Europe at that time!

People actually bring bikes into the train!

Me looking disheveled after the rain. The red scarf was bundled in by Uncle Terry who put quite a lot of effort into making me look warm enough for my dad to feel okay about me going out in the cold (as cold as a Malaysian would think).

I was also going down to meet a customer at Victoria Station!!! Well those of you who already know about me going all the way to the UK to cod, old news. But those who don’t, well YEAH:D A lady from the US wanted me to send a packet of stickers to her niece in the UK. I was expecting a 15 year old girl or something but turns out she was a nine year old accompanied by her aunt. Awww.

Passed by some fields while on the way down.

Alexa and her stickers!!

Alexa and her aunt, sister of  my customer in the US. So glad Alexa loves the stickers. They wrote an email saying that all her little friends at school were so envious! (hopefully she helped to promote The Sticker Monster!!)

oooh, ooh.. that’s Victoria Station by the way! <3

And what’s that outside Victoria Station? *screams*

OMG THE UNDERGROUND SIGNS. *jakun mode on*

Not a good first photo of Adrian. Sorry Ad. Bwahahaha. Adrian is in his 4th year now, doing medicine at Uni of Nottingham. So nice of him to come down to say hello!! *syok sendiri* I think he had to meet some other friends too la.

Some fresh products to make my grandmother happy. She loves fruits. Buying them, looking at them, she loves them!

A better photo of me. Adrian surprised me with his coooooool bikkkeerrrr boyyyy jackeeet. Soooo cooooooooool. I guess I don’t know much about cold weather fashion. But I drooled quite a bit when I checked out some girls at my bro’s uni in Manchester. Not at how sexy they were lah but at the boots!!! the jackets!!!! the gloves!!! the beanies!! the bags!!!(okay lah bags can use in Malaysia also). Damn jealous that I can never ooze style like that. My leggings only saw the light of day in the UK. When leggings were in, I stocked up in so many colours and whatever other designs that tickled my fancy along the way. Could never find the right time to wear it.

Big Ben? I don’t know..

Very disappointed that I didn’t get to see Big Ben or London Bridge. When I was there I didn’t quite feel the need to see those monuments but after coming home to Malaysia, I was kicking myself quite a bit. Sigh.

Just had to snap one of this for the dental geek in me.

Double decker buses!! Not like we don’t have those in our region, but they did originate from the UK, no? Sush wanted to take me to ride in them and do a mini tour around the city but unfortunately family obligations were aplenty.

While on our way to meet up with the rest, I pestered Adrian to bring me to see Platform Nine and Three Quarters!

Much to our disappointment, that particular platform had to be accessed with a ticket which we didn’t want to waste our money on. Apparently there is a real trolley half submerged into the wall. In the Harry Potter movies, everything looks like they are in the 1800s. So it is hard to imagine that he really left for Hogwarts from the King’s Cross station which is bustling with activities come rush hour.

Not at all like in the 1800s.

A nicer photo of Adrian. Give chance.

LONDON CABS!!

Just one of the many pubs with the pretty flowers hanging down.

So iconic! I have this as a keychain!

Spot the Malaysian!!!

We met up with Chun Guan first before looking for Sush. That’s a photo with the Odeon, taken by some lousy random person who also happened to be a Malaysian.

You can tell how old these photos are.

Right. In the middle of London?

Finally a proper one with the Odeon!

Some celebrity I guess.

I had to take in all the gorgeously old architecture!

Even the KFC is at the bottom of some old grand building.

Discussing where Sush asked us to meet her.

Wrong angle of the famous landmark at Picadilly Circus.

Cloudy skies.

Still at Picadilly Circus!

HOLYMOTHER! Saw a Wira on the streets! Or is this a Perdana? Damn sparkling. Proton cars back home never gleam so much, why ah?

Don’t know whether busker (but no instrument), beggar or broke tourist (because of the backpack).

Sush brought us to a Korean restaurant. This is my miso soup!

Obligatory photos while waiting for the food to arrive.

Sush and me. I like Sush’s outfit!!

Something like steamboat but instead of a hot plate for you to fry your food,

Some noodle dish.

Chun Guan’s cute smile with an atas looking waiter at the back.

Had to have a group photo all the way in London!

Camwhored a little bit more.

With my darling Sush.

Blue and blue!

Myself and Adrian.

Group photo without the help of anyone nearby.

We made our way over to Chinatown.

Shady looking alley.

So suggestive..

How does that even make smoking fun? Stop already!

I HAD to make a trip to one of the shops in Soho!

Chinatown!! I didn’t know it was this small though. I thought it was far bigger than this.

Being excited with Sush who just layan me only.

Diddling the lion statues at Chinatown. Might get struck by lightning for doing this.

walking away from Chinatown! I love this shot!

Walking back to the tube and stopping to camwhore.

One more!

Amidst the old architecture there were some new buildings too!

Didn’t know Ripley’s Believe It Or Not came from England.

Posing with the famous Underground tube.

Victoria Station!!

Nice candid shot of the two boys.

Sush and I with a very important sign at the back of me. It was calling out to me.

My brother just arrived from Malaysia that night and so there was a small dinner to welcome him to UK. Hehe. A bit of a visa screw up, long story, so we were there for four days without him.

Hi Mervyn!

L-r: Aunty Betty, Uncle Steven, Dad, Me

Dinner was at a small Italian restaurant down the road (complete with Italian chef who is also the owner coming out to exchange pleasantries and mope about slow business.)

Mussels that my Uncle Terry raves about.

I think it was my Carbonara. I am so unadventurous.

Quiche? Not sure.

Someone’s chicken stew..beef stew.. but yums!!

A plater of cheese for everyone!

Damnit, I am hungry now.

(click on the images to go to the posts!)

*********

Sometime back in August 2009

By the time I’m done with the UK Trip blog posts, I may have gotten married and migrated there on something.

So Day 4! Wow! (I stayed for a month T_T)

My Uncle Terry and his best friend Uncle Steve took the family to a port south of London called Worthing. It was a cloudy day as you can see from the pictures with the wind blowing our hair into a frenzy. It was one of the coldest day for me in England although it was summer! I still want to see winter in the UK though. To see the entire place blanketed in snow would be amazing!

All bundled up with Mum and grandma.

A few hotels line the beach with quaint coffee houses.

Grandma and her wind blown hair.

I know sport shoes don’t go so well with leggings but a girl shouldn’t suffer in the cold.

Just me trying to be artsy fartsy as a person cycles by.

So apparently that sea stretches out to America. Or something.

Mum having her karaoke video moment.

The wind made mum’s hair look like Diana Ross’ and I thought it was a really cool look!

The grandmas got along really well! They keep forgetting each other’s names though.

As you can see, my dad and his DSLR were practically inseparable throughout the trip. Though he did cool off a little towards the end of the month.

What a lovely day to bring the laptop out to the beach!

The seagull wonders if his loot will be good today with the choppy waters.

Clearly ecstatic to be in the UK!

I totally loved what the wind did with my hair and the many opportunities it gave me.

Dad and his models.

An out of place cottage-y place.

It was a common thing over there. Every other park I went to had benches with plaques on them.

Some of the benches are used to commemorate loved ones.

I think I already mentioned this but the dandelions in the UK are so big and puffy! Almost possible to apply blusher with it.

See the floating pollen near my forehead. Like Avatar!

Ahhhh!~

Awwwwww <3

Hello I am Medusa.

Instead of sand the entire stretch is covered in pebbles. Thought this rusty old chain looked gorgeous against the acres and acres of pebbles.

Right.. What’s with the dates? Something to do with summer time?

This crafty looking signboard caught my eye!

Worthing must be a lovely neighbourhood with a quiet little arts and craft centre for families to spend the afternoon.

Patches!!

He looks like he was about to go into Dog Detective mode.

Somemore stand so straight!

Check out the hair now! The wind was getting mad.

FIREBALL! RARR!

Oh no I look like I have udders.

Nice.

Not a decoration, but a real bird.

Dad’s karaoke moment.

Grandma Doris saw me taking a photo with the ice cream cone and hurried over to join me. So this totally eliminated all provocative poses with my tongue licking the tip of the ice-cream.

Ice cream for a cold summer day!

Crossing the road over to the shops.

Strictly for princesses.

After strolling through the shops in Worthing, we had lunch at Macari’s!

It was my first time having real fish and chips in England!

Ice-cream toppings above the ice-cream bar.

Even the coloured rice is different in the UK! All pastel and soft.

Marshmallows on your ice-cream?

Long time no see real fish and chips!! The last time I had authentic fish and chip was when I was like, 7 years old in Perth! Not a fan of chunky fries though but I finished every last piece. Not proud of myself at all.

A dish that Uncle Terry and Uncle Steve seem to love a lot – mashed peas. Nice meh?

Group photo!

One of the many signboards at any given intersection.

I like how they decorate the store fronts in the UK. Even the simplest type of store puts so much effort into drawing the customers to have a closer look.

See what I mean? This is just a tiny convenience store.

CANDIES! I went crazy looking at all the colours in the candy store!

So many sweets..how to choose?

A scene taken right out of one of my many childhood story books.

These are Worthing rocks!

Uncle Steve bought a whole stack for us. Rock candies are canes with a design in it that spans the entire length. You chop it into tiny pieces to suck on. When I went for the Nuffnang Blog Awards, rock candies were served in a tiny glass jar. Delicious but rock candies can cut your tongue and make you bleed so be very careful when you suck on it. The sharp bits of the inner design can really hurt you after sucking for a bit.

An example of a design on a rock candy.

Designed like liquorice candy.

More colours which are not actually sweets.

Cookies and a hot cashier girl! That’s Uncle Steve paying for the Worthing Rocks.

Popo looks on in fascination at all the candies!

AHHHH!! I bought some liquorice candy having seen them in my story books for a better part of my childhood but never had the chance to have any. Tasted one, hated it all.

Snapping a photo of some hot brit boys while pretending to take a photo of the beautiful bush.

Dad in the streets of Worthing.

I love the architecture! All narrow and different from each other.

SO LOVE!! If this design was used to bling a handphone, girls would go mad!

Like me!

Mum takes time out to touch up her gloss.

I hardly went to any malls in the UK as most of the shops are located on streets.

Grandma Doris has a word with her son.

I went into Claire’s! The colours, as usual, caught my eye. I didn’t get myself anything as I couldn’t bear to spend on what I would later on consider to be junk. But the colours! OMG!

*_*

Hairbands in every colour and texture imaginable.

Every shop is so specific! This is a greeting cards store.

Wanted to get a picture of the wrapping paper up close but was afraid to aggravate the shop keeper.

Strangely, the streets leading back to the car was devoid of people.

Some charity shops.

Found this at the charity shop! Little clothes for dolls! Aw!

If only it was big enough for a life sized baby!

Some of the houses in the area. Loving the brick walls!

After coming back from the UK (for a very short span of time right after my trip), I was inspired to have my wooden door in my own home painted a bright solid colour!

Saw a police lady in action. Apparently a burglar was on the loose within the area.

That’s how the police in the Uk do their job.

Fresh products – my grandma’s version of a candy store.

I think these were some apartments in the area.

Hardly a sky scraper in the distance.

Saw some beautiful white trees along the highway.

After we got back, my ever so healthy Kooma took us for an evening stroll around the neighbourhood. So yeap, we were treated to plenty more flora.

We walked over to the bigger houses where there was more to see.

A pebbled church.

Kooma playing tour guide as she took us around her neighbourhood.

Lavendar smells SO heavenly. I plucked one and sniffed it the entire way.

A big fat toadstool! I expect the fairies to come out at night and have parties under it.

The family was refurbishing their home on their own.

I don’t know if these are poppy, I think I mentioned it before in a previous UK post. But it is so pretty right??

Little bumblebee is attracted to the lavendar plant as well!

We were really spoilt rotten during our trip there. Kooma made us some sort of sausage for dinner. Oh wait, I remember now. She called it Bangers and Mash!

The sausages were grilled and some onions were browned and sprinkled on top. A serving of mash potato and some boiled veggie. So very delicious! I came home (again) inspired to boil my vegetables. I did, once. Overboiled my brocolli and had yellow soggy mushy broccoli for dinner that one time.

The sausage has a thin crispy skin with a cushiony inside. Just the right amount of saltiness too! My mouth is watering at the memory of that dish.

My Kooma and Uncle Terry (Koo Cheong) are both awesome cooks. What they can make in the kitchen will cost me an arm and a leg at any fancy restaurant here at home. Can’t wait for the both of them to come back to pass on some skillz to me.

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In A World Of Blings!
Pearls To Love!
Extra Large Bling Sheets In Your Favourite Colours…
Bling Strip Tease!
*************

It says a lot now that for a simple outing involving a stay over and a night out on the dance floor had to be planned out so many months in advance! 

For years, the girls, otherwise affectionately known as The Dahlings have wanted to go away somewhere together. What was supposed to be Mel’s hen’s night dwindled down to a night full of girly fun because she said it was too early for a hen’s night. So maybe round 2 in 2011! From overseas trips, we cut down the plan to local holidays to fit budget and schedules and to further fit schedules, we just thought, “Haiyah, have a sleep over at one of the hotels in KL only lah!” 

I’m still looking forward to the day where we can truly go on a holiday, just us girls!  

The day started off with some famous wan tan mee at a coffee shop in SS14 but I opted for pan mee instead. Pan mee is my latest craze! Have you heard of Jojo Pan Mee in SS15? It’s the best! I think there are other branches but I am not sure where.

Sush and her wantan mee kon lou.

With Min Dee whom I have not seen in eons! (but who I have seen quite a few times since as she is finally done with her course in Australia but will be heading to Hong Kong to work in a few months’ time)

Mun Teng enjoying her wan tan mee without bothering to strike a pose for me.

With a slightly opened mouth (damn fake lo) trying to pretend that this is a fun girl day out. I mean it was, but it was still the beginning and it wasn’t like I was in mid-squeal or something. Oh well, but it does paint a picture of fun!

Alright, I managed to get everyone to hold still. 
back l-r: Min Dee, Esther, Mel, Sush
Front l-r: Mun Teng, Me 

Oh look!! Chee Wen and Jimmy on the AIMST billboard. The billboard is all over the North South highway as well! 

We stayed at the Concorde and here I was, soaking up the christmas decoration and the sunlight while Mel checks in.

Gigantic beautiful christmas tree! 

I think we found a mistletoe on the tree or something.

Couldn’t leave Min Dee out as well!

Esther welcomes you to the Dahlings Headquarter (our room).

Mel was freaked out by the amount of accessories I bought. Hey, I couldn’t decide, alright?

Mun Teng and I took to the bathroom to check out the bathtub.

And did a little more than that.

Sorry Mel!

Later Mun Teng’s eyes grow pustule. 

Min Dee comes out of the closet. Hehe.

We have a nice little spot in the huge bathroom where we congregated for a make-up session that night before heading out to Zouk, which was just a 10 minutes walk away!

Sush makes the best afternoon snacks.

We were trying to replicate the Langkawi Bed Photos! I’d put up a link but I’m too lazy to find the post. It was back in 2004 where we went to Langkawi for the last time.

Our supposedly wild and sexy poses. I was in the midst of swishing my hair.

At the end of a broadway musical pose.

At the end of a Las Vegas show pose.

The crumpled bed. Tim and Aud once came into Chee Kiang and my hotel room during the Nuffnang Vpost Christmas party thing, saw the crumpled sheets and giggled and whispered to each other, “They all also.” Where got, we all so innocent one okay!

Misai Mel.

Hahaha Josama Bin Laiden.

We then changed into something more comfortable before heading down to the pool! Oh! And Abby has arrived as well.

Only Mun Teng can muster that pout.

Such a pro.

Mun Teng’s perfect pink water bottle, Esther’s present to me – a tiny tampon canister and a long slender glass with I don’t know what kind of flowers. 

Our token future tai tai at practice again.l 

A cute photo of Abby adjusting the cameras with the girls behind stifling their yawns.

Nice pyramid shape!

All of us had sunnies to wear except for Liss who made do with her hands.

All legs!

We all had the masquerade look going on while Mel has the batman face she remembers from her kindergarten days.

A kooky one.

Just one more – at least an organized one. 

One last slutty one before we decided that enough was enough and went down to the pool.

All eight girls crammed into the elevator, saw a mirror and proved to be true camwhore professional.

Like we’re in a reality tv show or something.

Mel’s got the rising from the water pose down pat.

No obvious full frontal monokini shot of me coz quite shy and indecent. But not like you want also right! Haha. Later your eyes burn ah. 

Thankfully it wasn’t that big a splash or not shy only.

Abby and Liss.

Getting some underwater hugs from Mun Teng.

Where there is a camera the girlsl will flock to it! Sort of like those carps application on phones which follow your finger pressure.

Mun Teng and I in a very very wrong angle.

Esther’s artistic shot of us girls and our heads. It was damn tiring as we were practically doing chin-ups while trying to lift ourselves out of the water.

One of her with our hotel.

This is what happens when you leave your camera with Esther.

Like I said.. carps.

I had to have one too! I think I don’t have photos of myself these days. Mojo dying and all that. 

The girls spelling out LOVE from the water.

And when you do alphabets with your hands, you’ll definitely do YMCA as well.

I know I look kind of bald in this picture.

Mun Teng’s aqua pancute.

While waiting for six other girls to get ready, Min Dee and I camwhored with our ‘light make up’. Dinner was simple, only KFC at KLCC.

HAHAHAHHA funniest picture. Min Dee and Sush are so professional until they can fit themselves into our camwhoring picture.

Mel and her fish lips.

Them working ladies.. girls’ night out also must use their blackberries.

Esther and I with our movie still moment.

This picture was to disgust Chien out. She’s all the way in Australia missing out on all this. Along with Amanda and She Dee who were also not in the country.

Damn salah photo. I hope nobody clicks “Save As” and looks at this picture from time to time. 

Only Mun Teng is capable of the super cute and super kesian face.

Still trying to get in on the action but I was actually trying to snap Mel and Min Dee’s finger lickin’ good moment.

Chicken Chic.

After dinner, it was time for a more elaborate make up session.

Sush and Mel looking gorgeous!

Oh and Min Dee too!

Esther and I making full use of my 120 colours palette. 

Nothing more fun than having a good ol’ bonding session with your besties and sharing make up. (don’t scream, Chien, we didn’t share everything)

Mun Teng the life saver with her Baby Liss curler. 

I have not dared take the plunge yet. This was when my hair was still damn long. I had it cut in late January and it feels SO light now! When it gets long again, then I’ll go get it curled.

Mel starts the in-house jiggy session.

Love love love this picture of Min Dee perfecting her bob! 

A bimbo pose to set the mood. We brought our own bottles to get a little head start so as you can see, I was coated in nice tint of red already. Or was it my blush? Who knows.

Mel’s awesome red leopard print satin dress.

Min Dee and her sly smile..

Mel and her seductive smile..

The girls in white! Min Dee had only just bought that dress about an hour ago from Top Shop. 

Poor Esther had to be the photographer. 

Apparently one of their dance moves. Heh.

If you think Mun Teng has a wide range of pan cute expressions, Mel’s got her own set too.

I’m giving the “Such is life” pose. It’s sort of our “wtf” or “fml” which basically means “So what can you do?” This is Mel poking my cleavage and me going such is life. 

Abby dear and me and my distracting purple hair tie.

Liss, Abby and myself in a chokehold.

Abby and Mel trying out all new poses.

Another bed photo when we are all glammed up! 

Copying each other’s dance moves!

You can see I was really into it.

My idea of a provocative pose. May differ from society’s. 

Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance was blasting from the room’s stereo we were surprised that the hotel management did not kick us out. 

We had our own little dance floor before taking on the real thing.

The girls calmed down for awhile for another photo.

Showcasing what each and everyone of us was wearing to the club that night. Mel’s leopard print dress.

My slinky trival motive dress and a bracelet which I have already lost.

Esther in her chic black outfit.

Min Dee in her aforementioned new white dress from top shop. With her height and the length of that dress, it was such a great combination.

Sush in a sweet soft cotton top and a light pink skirt.

Abby’s little black dress.

Liss and her bright blue top!

Oh no! I realize I didn’t take a picture of Mun Teng’s outfit. Sorry MT! 

One obligatory one with the room mirror.

Sigh, the visibility of a double chin is my sacrifice for my friends so that they look good and can all fit into the picture. Liss proved her blurness once again when she didn’t know who did the far left profile belonged to. It was her own face. 

We were there rather early, as you can see.

Sush and Min Dee getting our drinks for us. 

Mel was getting a little pink too. I like the slight redness on my own face. If only I knew how to apply blusher like that. 

My head is life half the size of their bodies. 

Mel showing off her gorgeous bag she bought from a Barbie flagship store in Shanghai.

Me staring at my RM19 bling bling bag from Sg. Wang.

With Sush and Min Dee. 

“Let’s go to Velvet now!” 

Esther’s turn to get a little pink.

Kissy pic from Sush and me.

At this point I was a little bit too happy. Some random guy took this photo for us and while he was still holding on to my camera I turned to the girls and said loudly, “He is really cute!”

Liss and I. More like restraining me from dancing alone on the dancefloor, which was empty.

With all our busy schedules, it is indeed rare to just come together and have tremendous fun. I’m the only one still in uni save for that future Dr. Ang Su-Chien dwelling in Australia, so you can imagine lah. Trying to organize a short holiday is pretty much a nightmare as there is no such thing as school holidays anymore.

As the night wore on, almost everyone was trying to swat me away.

Totally getting the pan cute expression wrong.

Mel and Mun Teng adoring each other.

I seriously don’t know why I took this photo.

Pretty disco balls hanging from the ceiling! 

Everyone was in the mood already.

Mun Teng and her abuchak pose.

Right then, so I wasn’t the only one dancing anymore.

Camwhoring while walking over to Velvet. 

Bumped into David who was there with…. I’m thinking Amber Chia, Alex Yoong et all? I think lah. Can’t remember (anything). Haha. 

The rest of the gang were celebrating Marcus’ 23rd birthday at Velvet.

Myself and the birthday boy. 

Sparklers on top of the Moet case.

Hello Hui Shan!

It was quite a big crowd that night!

I’ve always heard of Moet but have never seen it, and not in this size too!

Liss getting some love from Mun Teng. MT seems to have a lot of love to give out.

The birthday boy told me something really funny a few weeks after that. I have this problem where after a certain amount of alcohol, I become a crybaby drunk. Simple things can trigger the tears. Very very very simple. Too embarrassing to say but at that point in time it seemed as if it was the saddest thing on  ever. So there I was sitting on one of the sofas alone sobbing my heart out (thank god the make-up was still intact!) thinking no one saw me since it was so dark. But little did I know that everyone saw me and you know la guys damn scared one when they see a crying girl. 

So Marcus came with his champagne glass wanting to clink glasses, “Heyyyyy – *sees me crying and immediately U-turns*”  The boys told Mel and Esther, “Uh, Jolene’s crying” and they were like, “Haiya always like that one. No need to care.” Yeah really no need to care one. Hahaha. Just my stupid weird self.

Me and a Moet.

Yum seng to the birthday boy! 

Another photo that I love so much!! 

Customary forcing drinks into the birthday boy.

The birthday boy gets the girls.

With E-Guy! 

And Krystle!

And Afiq!

Can see my eyes a little bit swollen? Haha, luckily the mascara, eyeliner etc were still intact. 

Seriously don’t know what I was doing. Hahaha. -__-

Another one with E-Guy.

I think this was after we sang a birthday song for Marcus and he felt shy.

Mun Teng was sad because the club closed at 3am.

Making Marcus finish the remnant of the drinks.

Was happy after that.

Walking back to our hotel.

Mastering the damn sad face together.

Buffet breakfast the next morning with a bunch of really fresh looking girls.

Wish I could say the same about myself.

We decided to end the awesome weekend with a trip to Zouk Spa (go Zouk Club then go Zouk Spa) for a massage. Was about RM50 for an hour, full body. Not too bad! I think the skills of the masseuses there are pretty good.

All five of us had a room to ourselves! The missing ones were downstairs having a leg massage instead. 

One happy photo before we left. 

I look like a monkey here, but don’t agree lah okay. 

Till the next girly weekend getaway!

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I’ve known this for a long time already but you are actually my best friend, confidante, gossip partner and most of all, boyfriend rolled into one. It’s all Jolene ever needs. Someone who can feed her with gossip, listen to her gossips and react to it, listen to her embarrassing secrets, make her howl with laughter, surprise her randomly when you notice almost all her likes and dislikes and to love her just the same. I’m glad you can do all that and not run away yet.

Expensive phone bills are not the norm for us and we only use Skype to chat when MSN is down. Though admittedly I have emo-ed in the past about the lack of phone calls (we’re both too busy and lazy) and lack of webcamming, but I know this is the way we do it. We make up for it when we see each other by telling each other everything and anything about what we have done, people around us who did things (ie. juicy juicy gossip!) and what we want for the future wayyyy into the night before we drift off to sleep. I’m usually the one falling asleep first as you continue to talk excitedly while I reply you with super random things coz my brain doesn’t quite comprehend anymore as it is shutting down. <3

I really like that.  

So this Malacca trip was supposed to be an eat as much as possible and take nice nice photos kind of trip. We started off with some noms back home in SS15. It was is one of those quieter lanes where Chee Kiang usually likes to have breakfast at. I can’t remember the name of the place for the life of me. So much for being a Subang girl.

He likes his dry..

I like mine wet.

It was supposed to be a day full of photos so here’s one to start things off. 

Stitch was REALLY happy when we arrived in Malacca.

As it was during the year end holidays, plenty of cars were jamming all the way into Malacca town. Here’s the Jalan Munshi Abdullah road sign. This was the road where my mum grew up on in a couple of shop lots that housed almost 20 members of the Ho family and one nanny to each kid! There were live-in cooks as well.

The road was called New Come Road back in the day. My great grand father bought three shop lots on that row to build a home for his family but he never got to live in it because he died before the building was completed. His third and fifth wives brought the children (child no.6 right up to child no.14. Child 1-5 either died or were back in China) to live their lives there. My grand father and his brother being number 7 and number 6 respectively started a hardware store business which we still have to this day though the shares from all the siblings have since being bought by my grand dad. Grand Uncle no.6 excelled in his studies and went on to study medicine in Hong Kong to become an orthopedic surgeon. 

My mum would tell me plenty of stories from her childhood about how her older guy cousins would play pranks on the young maids. Of how she and her cousins used to steal food from this refrigerator at Aunty No.6′s apartment as it was stocked full with ice-creams and chocolate. Of her dangerous stunts sliding down the stairs with a few of her cousins on ONE piece of wooden plank, at the SAME time. Of how they hid in fear and peered out the balcony to see soldiers roaming the streets in 1969. At that time my Aunty Ping (my yeema who passed away) had a foreign exchange student who stayed with our family. I think she was American, and being more happening than my aunty, she was out at some party when the riots started and scared my grand dad shitless when he couldn’t even contact her. 

Another one of my mother’s favourite story to share from the old shop lot was the aircon story. She messed with the sole air conditioner in my grandparent’s unit (the entire shop lot housed three families, each family had one unit to themselves) and spoiled it. Just as she was about to be caned by my grandmother, my 4th Uncle steps in to block my mum from getting hurt. Quite touching, but not much drama, sorry.

My family used to own a hotel called Regal Hotel in Malacca and it was the first proper hotel in town. The kids could just walk in anytime and have a meal and put it on the tab. My mum said she dare not simply eat for free because it was after all ran by 12th Uncle and so she would usually just tag along when 12th uncle’s daughters went for a treat. The hotel has since been sold off.

Then sometimes when I have alone time with my grandma, she tells me stories of her early years in that shop lot after marrying my grand dad in 1950. Third great grandmother was a feisty woman who is your typical first wife. (1st and 2nd wives were left in china. 4th died shortly after marriage.) A particular scathing remark I remember grandma telling me was when my first Uncle was born (if you remember my cute nephew Ethan, it’s his grandfather!), my grandma’s mum always came over to look at her first grandson. Third great grandmother did not like having my grandma’s mum around and said to her, “If you like babies so much, why don’t you go get one yourself!” and being a midwife, my great grand mother (grandma’s mum) adopted a child. So just like that my grandma had a baby brother at the ripe old age of 20.   

In the early 90s, I remember visiting the already empty shop lot with my family as they picked out antique furniture to decorate their respective homes. My Yee Ma gave the kids a task to keep us occupied, she got us to pick up all the coins we found on the dusty wooden floor and surprisingly there were plenty. 

The hardware store business was still running on the ground floor and this was before they moved to a bigger premise about half an hour away. By then grand uncle no.6 came home to be with his family and hung out with grand dad quite a lot. It was shocking when Grand Uncle No. 6 hung himself in the shop lot because he did not want to trouble the family when he found out he had alzheimers. Consequently, my grand father too developed the illness about 9 years later and so did his 9th brother. *crosses fingers* Let’s hope it stops there! 

The shop lots have since been transformed into a modest budget hotel called Venus Hotel! I was trying to look up information on this budget hotel but there was none. Maybe my family history can make the place feel more ‘authentic’. Throw a bit of the antiques around and put up some old photos. Perfect! 

This was when we parked the car and started taking artsy fartsy shots (which we hope turns out to be so). Here’s an old school car number plate shop.

and now time for some hau por photos from me.

You think that’s spontaneous huh? It was more of “Okay now this side, then you kiss me on the cheek okay! 1..2…”

Just so you know, that we were there and all.  

Jonker Walk, the musical!

I thought fish spas were usually found in atas-ier places. 

Had to hurry past this as I was afraid the scaffolding (that is what it is called right?) might collapse on me.

Almost all the trades in the area looked like family business. Another old school looking something, this time, A MONEY CHANGER! (oh how exciting. -_-)

Guess me taking his photo added a little excitement to his day judging from his smile. 

This was selling all over Jonker Walk. Tiny umbrellas posing as wine bottles and most of it was like RM10 to RM15. I almost bought one but I get turned off when all stalls sell the same thing.

This was rather interesting! More photos on this guy later. You usually see these clay figurines being depicted in ancient tvb dramas.

What an apt name for a dentist! I got a very apt name too. Pergigian Gigi Lai, as suggested by my cousin Hong Fei.

1Malaysia!

Just for fun, we did something we never thought we would ever do! At least not until we become superstitious adults who take note of numbers of new cars, death certificates, number plates of cars in car accidents, birthdate of first born, new washing machine serial no, four numbers our dead ancestors gave to us in our dreams… the list is endless.

Being total novices to the whole 4D Toto thing, we bought a few numbers which was basically variants of our anniversary date 17 or 18 of December 2004. Being total noobs, we just randomly bought the numbers and didn’t ‘ta’ the numbers. To ‘ta’ is to permutate. 

Fuckanathan 1718 came out but it came out 7811 or something. CONSOLATION PRIZE OKAY!

You wonder if all the businesses are there just to look pretty for tourists or is that really how they roll? 

Though it does not have anything to do with malaccan culture, I thought the knick knacks that almost every other shop was selling were rather cute! Cartoon magnets!

Store owner yakking on his modern handphone while being enveloped in old world architecture.

So, there were plenty of chinese characters all over Jonker Walk as expected, since the area is rather chinesey. Had a bit of mandarin tuition from him though frequently reading things wrongly, like mixing the chicken character for mother or horse. Mother and horse are quite similar. But turns out it was about the chinese prime minister. This was on a poster at the front of Jonker Walk. Not the towel. So easy la the towel. Lao por wo ai ni. THERE!

Chee Kiang’s favourite cartoon! When I found Tusiki (Tuzki?) stickers, he wanted one for himself!

Tusiki building the great wall of China? Hahahaha.

Cute fans… but such is my life these days, always in an aircon somewhere so this is quite useless. Aircon clinics, aircon afternoon nap rooms (common room at school), aircon car, aircon bedroom……wait, only my lunch place is not air-conditioned! How can this be! ROAR! 

Chee Kiang thought including the chinese words would make for a better photo. 

Little wire decos. 

Another staple at Jonker Walk would be the awesome t-shirts! I just bought one with a few black sheeps staring at one conventional white sheep going, “Who’s the black sheep now?”. Gangsta sheeps! And another one with the silhouette of a little girl and a tiny baby alien holding hands looking at his spaceship crashing into her home. He then says, “Sorry……..” SO CUTE. Little alien has a tiny antenna from the top of his head!

Just liking the colours but I think these Babe shirts are rather much.

Steamed peanuts!! But I love salty steamed horse peas more than these. 

Okay, this was rather nice and unlike the mass produced toys found all over the place! 

Not quite a tourist attraction, but he just wanted to pose like the models.

He’s getting there!

One with the weather beaten road sign. Do you think the Malaccan government manually scratched the paint off for maximum authentic effect?

Perhaps an actor hired by the Malaccan government to make the area look more rustic. 

Check out the long line waiting to cramp into the chicken rice ball shop. The last time I had chicken rice balls I hated it because it was too mushy. But it was also because I was like 8 years old and was so damn picky when it came to food. Mushy rice balls is so yum now with soya sauce from the soggy steamed chicken. Mmm.

A quick fish face with the stone fishes.

SUPER OLD SIGN BOARD! Check out the currency denomination! 

We had to share tables when we were in there and the wait is super long. I think all the lining up and food waiting took about an hour.

Really long wait.

I was wondering though why chicken rice balls are not replicated all over Malaysia like how Char Kuay Teow and other hawker delicacies are. 

A smile with lips slightly parted.

A smile with teeth showing. 

Chicken carcasses right next to our table. Nice.

In case the chicken started sweating.

Good to see that good hygiene was a priority.

The steamed chicken skin was a little too soft for my liking.

Chicken rice balls up close.

The chicken rice sauce that is used is not quite soya sauce so it wasn’t up to my usual expectations but we finished five balls each!

Yeah just shove it in your mouth, uh huh.

This little girl was not happy that I was going trigger happy. The two times I went near her with a camera, she turned away, refusing to look at me. I felt so sad.

 But he enjoyed his mochi.

Mochi close up.

Since it was the end of the year, Jonker Street was filled with tourists. Elbow to elbow.

Passed by a shop selling toys from my past. Couldn’t resist myself!

The brand I bought was the inferior one. Thins out damn fast. The good one is the one with a pink cap and is slightly bigger in size. 

I miss these things!

Chee Kiang didn’t want to play though.

Chee Kiang reenacted his “HEY YOU!” look which was in one of his FB profile photos. This look kinda sticks in your head.

You can’t see it here but I was blowing one of my bubbles.

More quaint chinese things to be found along Jonker Street. My grandmother used to have one and she would walk around the house with it on some evenings saying that the smoke will chase away the evil spirits. 

Haven’t-Finish-Skool meets Old Skool.

An olden toy outside an antique shop. Isn’t it gorgeous?

A lone joss stick under the afternoon sun.

A trip to Malacca can never ever be complete without having Durian Cendol. This means I have racked up far too many incomplete Malacca trips in all the 21 years that I have been visiting. 21 x 5 visits = Over a hundred visits sans cendol. I haven’t even been to A’Famosa until 2007. Locals never bother to visit the tourist attractions.

Durian Cendol monster. He had two.

Of all places to be pinching a pimple!

It’s a little unfortunate that the stain on the mirror made his nostril look diseased. 

High tv aerials to get Singapore television shows illegally. My mum used to have it as a child.

One trishaw puller put his legs up in the air and shouted, “Weee!” as he took a corner.

Some pastries that I think belong in Negeri Sembilan?

A necessary photo outside the clogs shop.

So this was the clay figurines that I promised to get back to. I tried googling about this cute little things but I really don’t know what they are actually called. Polymer clay right? Not candies right? 

The sifu is a real master. Love the gold bits he puts on the figurines.

To play with my bottle of bubbles, I found a quiet spot away from the bustling crowd to just blow bubbles. 

A young family wound down their car window to allow the bubbles to get into the car.

Chee Kiang managed to get a photo of me exchanging smiles with the family. Would have looked better if I was 19 years younger. 

Fascinated by the bubbles.

A few passing kids were rather jealous of me.

It was without question that I made Chee Kiang blow his fair share.

Weak bubble.

Found another quiet spot with a pretty backdrop. 

I thought there was supposed to be a mirror on this thing. How will the ghosts see themselves now? 

Pineapple tarts are one of the more famous souvenirs from Malacca. Again, never knew.

Another downtrodden altar.

We then explored the back alleys, away from the main Jonker Street and saw a bit of the local trade. This shop sells noodles!

A shop that sells plenty of beans and spices.

So messy, not quite sure what it sells but provisions nonetheless. 

Reminds me of the turtle eggs I saw being preserved in a similar jar.

A little out of place was this dirty looking warehouse which I assume to be a santan making factory.

More arts and crafts things. 

After falling in love with works of art in Paris, I had an inkling that Malacca would satiate my new desire to look at and learn about paintings. But this was a batik painting gallery, bleh. I want to look at poster colour or water colour paintings! Even oil paintings would do!

I think we eventually ventured over to an area called Masjid India… or something. Here’s one of the lions guarding the oldest temple in Malacca.

And here’s one of me with the joss stick container.

Here’s one of someone who knows exactly what to do at a temple. 

So grand..

Red candles! I wonder what they signify.

The insides of the old temple.

We didn’t want to disturb anybody because everyone looked busy praying so we had to camwhore instead of asking for some help.

Remnants of prayer flowers.

These are the bronze engravings found on the temple doors.

There is something so calming about wax lotus tealights. Beautiful, religious and you can almost hear the chanting monks. Actually the only times I hear chanting monk is when I go to a funeral. If the funeral is for a family member, the song sticks in your head and you hear it when you’re in the car alone, when you’re in the bathroom, basically anywhere where there is supposed to be silence. Freaky.

Oh, here’s a fair bit of art.

Seems like you can’t take artsy fartsy shots these days without uncles staring at you with arms akimbo.

Check out my shadow!

You really don’t pass up brightly painted, uh, shutters? Whatever it is, nice background.

I’m sure he is just joking.

Beautiful clogs!! Probably a novelty but oh so pretty!

We ended up at this coffee placed called Malaysia 13 States’ Coffees or summat. Chee Kiang and I actually kepo-ed because we saw an old white guy flirting with .. um, i don’t know what race, but I’m pretty sure the girl is a fellow South East Asian.. and she was laughing at all his photos in his camera so we took the table next to them for some afternoon entertainment. We turned our chairs around to sit the Al Fresco way. Oh right, this picture is a list of all the websites and blogs that have reviewed this coffee place. Was hoping to put jayelleenelial.com on the map by blogging about having coffee there.

A bit of christmas decoration.

So as you can see, apparently coffee beans grow and get processed different in various parts of the country.

Chee Kiang had a Negeri Sembilan drink.

Thick and frothy..

He actually likes it.

I was just having one since it seemed rather different but then I remembered how much I hated coffee that is not Nescafe.

My coffee was from Terengganu and it tasted horrible. So damn bitter.

Possible the only way to pass the time.

I noticed that the colours of my gorilla pod and our hands together looked rather nice under the afternoon sun and then he went on to exclaim, “I notice you like to take this kind of photos a lot.” Blushing, I decided to have a little variety so here are some pointless finger and hands photos:

That’s what waiters are for.

Since I wasn’t the driver of my own car for once, I had the chance to spend plenty of quality time with the toys in my car. I hardly get to hug them as they are strewn all over the backseat.

We passed by Bukit Baru and I had this urge to visit my grandparents’ old house. In 1997, they shifted to Bukit Beruang which is where the family would congregate every time we all go back to Malacca prior to my Aunty’s death. This Bukit Baru house holds many childhood memories for me. All the cars could be parked in the porch and the garden. During chinese new year, five cars would be parked there and there would still be room to run around playing fireworks. 

When it wasn’t chinese new year, my cousins, my brother and myself would be playing in the garden and running round to the back to play with the dog. We were about 6-9 years old and were light enough to seat on the dog who really didn’t mind us. Some nights, my aunty would devise games for us and we would play on the porch until we got bored. I remember once she asked me to lift up my legs as she held my hands and swung me round and round and round. I was flying!

Behind the sliding doors on the first floor was the family hall. We would all sit there after our bath to watch a VCR, either a Disney cartoon or a TVB show. Afternoons were spent playing pirates with the big bean bag and if there were hell notes lying around (especially when there is some taoist celebration coming up) my cousin sister, Jacqueline, being the tallest would hide the hell notes and ask us to find it. Speaking of that particular bean bag which always seemed to be bursting at the seams, I remember taking a polystyrene ball from it when I was three years old and putting it up my nose. It couldn’t come out for awhile and scared my parents shitless.

So many memories, I can never finish writing them all. 

I had to have a picture taken with the house. Since I was lazy to put my glads back on (glads can be such a bitch), I wore Chee Kiang’s Crocs out. The colours are blinding aren’t they?

Nice of him to wait patiently for me.

Opposite our house was a big family with so many girls. I didn’t quite comprehend it back then but come to think of it now, the parents were probably trying for a boy. So many girls I don’t even remember how many there were. They used to come over and play with us and we would flag down the Roti Man/Ice Cream Man together and get the adults to treat us to 30 cents ice-cream cones or Mammee Monster. 

There was a little boy who stayed in that house who would climb over the fence (very dangerous) to play the Happy Family card game with us. 

My grandmother painstakingly watered and loved these pine trees (there were four of them, but only two are left) and now they are cut in half.

I had quite a bit of explaining to do to the owner of the house when they saw me snapping outside their home. The lady asked me why I was taking pictures and I had to tell her that I was a bit sentimental and that this was my grandmother’s old house. She wasn’t too friendly.

Feeling a bit embarrassed, we then made our way back to the highway and headed home. 

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And now he is married to a beautiful Miss Gloria who hails from Negeri Sembilan. 

He proposed to her at a bus station in Negeri Sembilan before going back to Johor for his clinical (he was still in final year at that time, I think) as they were so very sad having to part each time he came to visit her in Negeri Sembilan. His story damn drama one lah, typical Ben Shyen. Something about how he asked her mum if he could take her with him to Johor/Kulim and the mum was like, “You marry her lah!” and that’s exactly what he did! In his words, “So after proposing to her, I drove…” “WHAT!!!!” I shouted, incredulous. Coz Ben Shyen, being a very good citizen has refused to bribed the JPJ people for his kopi-o license and has not got his driving license yet. He has not had the time to retake his driving test and for years have become a running joke among the bunch of us. We still love him just the same, always so fun to tease him. <3 

I need to share the infamous incident where Ben Shyen failed one of his driving tests. Hope he won’t kill me for this.

He was all ready and set to go in the driver’s seat when the instructor asked, “Hujan kah hari ini..?”

“Ya Tuan, Ujian!” he replied.

Abit frustrated, the instructor asked again, “Hujan kah??”

“Ya Tuan, Ujian!” he answered again, perplexed. 

“HUJANKAHHHH?!?!?!” the instructor shouted, pointing at the swinging windscreen wipers.

So anyway he said, “OKAY fine, WE drove to a nearby goldsmith to get our rings. And when I came up to Kulim, she followed me. ”

*sigh* HELLO LAM CHEE KIANG APAMACAM! GOT TAKE DOWN NOTES AH. 

Ben Shyen’s bunch of guy friends were our other close bunch of guy friends who were from the 1984 batch. This means that most of them are two years older than us but my bunch of girls (the dahlings who are all 23 year old grandmas this year) and them got on like a house on fire. Many thanks to Interact Club and being on the Volleyball Team. Because of them, I had wonderful wonderful high school memories. 

So for them to come all the way up north was a damn fun road trip that I wished I was a part of. The boys bought a Doraemon helium balloon and was voiced by Dennis all along the high way. The balloon was supposed to be tied to Mel’s car because she apparently drives like a demon on the North South Highway. All the better they could see her with, my dear. 

Since I’m already in Kedah, all I had to do was drive down about 45 minutes to Penang to meet up with the rest who started their journey about 6am from Subang. It’s quite nice to be in Kedah for once so that I can wave my hands dismissively at them when they offered to fetch me from Sungai Petani, “Pfft..it’s okay. I can drive down myself, very near only.”

While leaving Sungai Petani, I saw this signboard. Quite demeaning lah. Like Kedah is not ALL about paddy fields okay! 

Long story short, my gps sucks balls and meeting up with the rest took far too long so I spent my afternoon on the internet at E-gate while waiting for further instructions to meet up. Since the rest were still gallivanting around mainland Penang, trying out the local rojak and what not, I was alone on Penang island hoping they would arrive soon. Wai Kit too arrived in Penang airport and so I offered to pick him up as I didn’t have anything else to do at that time.

The moment he got into my car, he snapped his phone shut and was like, “Okay, we need to have operational base here in Penang. I’ve booked a room at Rasa Sayang in Batu Feringghi!”

Room is an understatement though. 

The awesome awesome bed that I didn’t land my ass on.. abit paiseh.

And there was a freaking open air hot tub!

The living room..

The bathroom which could do with a little bit more privacy.

The hugeee wardrobes… gosh. I would love to stay there again!! 

The idea was to make full use of the beach as the sun set on the straits of Malacca but they were STILL stuck in a long crawl all the way from the Penang bridge right up to Batu Feringghi. If you know your Penang roads, you would shake your head too. So it was just Wai Kit and me. Haven’t seen him in about 3 years and there we were hanging out together, doing beachy stuff.

Wai Kit grew up with Ben Shyen, Dennis, Joshua et all when they went to primary school and high school together until he left for Singapore in form3 when he got the Asean scholarship. Being the smart fella that he is, he later went on to further his education in US, scored a really good job and was sent over to Hong Kong where he now works. He comes home frequently and hangs with his high school friends so as you can see, they have rather strong bonds! 

Growing up with Dennis, Ben Shyen and the rest, I did not really have the chance to know Wai Kit like how I got to know the other guys (can insult until the sky fall down that kind) as he left my high school when I was in form1. Still, it’s nice to see him in short spurts whenever the chance permits.  

For a damn long time I have been meaning to try parasailing and with Wai Kit’s encouragement, I just thought, “Ah what the fuck” and decided to go on one. 

It’s quite scary actually because the guide’s like, “Must run fast okay!! MUST RUN!!!” I’m all so what if I don’t run fast enough will I die or what!!! and before I know it, I’m dragged on the sand for a bit before my entire body is lifted off the ground and I’m floating through the sky, about a 100m above the sea.

My parachute is damn cute right! It’s like so happy go lucky while I’m screaming like a little bitch.

Happily sailing over the sea. 

At that point I was totally taking in the sights, regretting not bringing my camera with me. Could have tied it to my wrist, no problem one.

It’s a short ride. But for RM80, it was worth it as I will probably never have the chance to do something like that again. If I don’t pay RM80 to do it again la. -_- Must always try everything once right?

Happily landing.

Got dragged on the sand again. Such is life.

You can’t see Wai Kit in this picture but he was happily having a swim while I sat gloomily at the side waiting for the rest. Should have brought my bikini damnit! The lack of a bikini also contributed to an event where Mel, Mun Teng and myself took our friendships to whole new levels while using a certain facility that we would never ever have the chance to use again if we didn’t fork out huge sums of money. Desperate times.

And the gossip girls hath arrived!

While the boys decided to do some catching up by the pool..

Mel, Mun Teng and I made full use of the open air hot tub in the room. I wish I could stay in that room again and again. This time must substitute everybody in that room for just one single person.

The wedding boy treated us to seafood at Batu Feringghi! 

I think these were baked prawns marinated with salt. Or seawater. Tastes real good!

We couldn’t care less and used our hands anyway!

There were so many crabs – no shortage at all! Usually when I get to eat crabs, I have to make sure that other people have enough to eat before I take a second piece.

If you like crabs slightly salted, this is good!

Meet Soon Han and his coconut!

LOL Joshua wasn’t trying anything, poor guy was just caught in a candid pose.

Jiun Jeh and Mun Teng who sat at the other end of the table and had their own jokes going on and all. Boo.

See how Vern Yang enjoys his food!

L-r: Jiun Jeh, Soon Han, Myself, Sarah and Yuen Fatt!

Jiun Jeh and Soon Han seemed to be trying rather hard to be in the photo. 

This is basically the entire bunch who were there for Ben Shyen’s bachelor party that night.

Since it was a bit improper for the bunch of boys and us girls to be getting naked in the tub together, we just soaked our legs and talked cock the night away.

Some bachelor party this is. -__- The boys were lying in bed together watching some football match. That’s Ben Shyen on the floor waiting for his stripper who never came. (We never called also)

So of course the idea of a bachelor’s night is to get the wedding boy drunk. This is my first bachelor’s party (and I think the only one ever) so I don’t quite know the traditions. 

But I think in Malaysia, birthday boys and wedding boys all same only ya? Idea is to get them pissed drunk so that we’ll have plenty of stories to tell in the years ahead.

Because we were near water, the boys parked all their gadgets on the massage bed. YES there was a freaking massage bed too.

A  very unflattering photo of me and the wedding boy. Only Yuen Fatt looks nice here.

L-r: Dennis, Wai Kit and Mel having a good soak.

Joshua emos on the massage bed as he wanted a good rub.

Best friends forever! Since standard 3 apparently.

Josh wanting in on Mun Teng and my intimate moment.

Dennis and Mel being bodoh as usual. Thank god for Yuen Fatt and his sanity.

Sigh…*proud momma tone* See how the boys have grown! Met them when they were all tiny 15 year olds hitting on my best friend. 

top l-r: Jiun Jeh, Jit Seng
bottom l-r: Soon Han, Tze Hur and Wai Kit.
I was never really close to most of the guys in this pic with the exception of Jiun Jeh and Wai Kit (thanks to Interact Club) but because of Ben Shyen’s wedding, I got to know them all a little better. All damn funny one!! 

Josh finally got his massage.

As part of his bachelor night, Dennis offered to give Ben Shyen’s feet a good rub.

He even went in between the toes!

A clearer picture of Ben Shyen’s infamous bulus. Back in the days, Ben Shyen was already very hair for a 16 year old and volleyball tournaments meant Ben Shyen would be owning the court in his short shorts with our volleyball coach goading him on going, “GO BULU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” 

Volleyball practices were whiled away seating by the benches and finding ants on the floor to be put into his mass of leg hair. The ants had a tough time finding their way out.

As for Interact Club projects which involved some arts and crafts (think cutting hearts/roses thorns for V’day projects), the scissors would come out to snip snip away at his hair. It was okay, he always had more to spare. 

This was when Wai Kit popped a champagne bottle and splashed it all over Ben Shyen.

Poor thing.

Totally not helping.

Even though a lot of the champagne spilled, there was still quite a lot to go around.

Cheers to the first one of us to get married!

Dennis taking care of his buddy.

After a few drinks, all the emoness started. Dennis damn make spoil the moment lor. 

I can’t remember what happened in this photo. But there was a running joke that since there was no stripper for the night, Mun Teng could fill the spot. She’d stand in the middle of the tub and prepare a bubble bath and we were like, “Oh show starting already show starting!” and she’s only trying to make more foam in the tub.

From Batu Feringghi we then made our way back to Kulim using a GPS, which meant getting lost until almost 4am. Zzzzzzzzzzz. Once we reached our accommodation for the night, I asked Dennis, “What time are we getting up tomorrow?”

He deadpanned, “6am”.

So after an hour’s worth of sleep, I was up at 5am blow drying my hair while cursing. 

Mel and her sleeping gear.

Everybody loved my mirror. That’s Jiun Jeh shaving.

Dennis in his bad ass get-up as Best Man.

They even made t-shirts for all the heng tais. The girls had t-shirts as well but we were like, “AND PASS UP THE CHANCE TO PAN LENG LENG?!! Go die.”

Best friends since 1984.

The design was done by Jiun Jeh who is pretty much our designated t-shirt designer since forever. Volleyball team t-shirts, Interact Club t-shirts, Project t-shirts… all thanks to Jiun Jeh! He went on to become a superstar in his hall (Raffles Hall) at NUS and if you are aware of the traditions at NUS, Rag Day is a huge thing! He designed one of the rag float during his years there!

The guys looking dashing in their heng tai t-shirt complete with blazers.

At 7am we made our way to Ben Shyen’s house. He has now officially moved away from Subang Jaya and is staying in Kulim. It’s only like half an hour away from Sungai Petani, technically I could visit him whenever but since Mr. Doctor Ooi is always so busy……so.

Josh staring in amazement at his own reflection.

I joined him.

Dennis damn traditional right, came complete with a fan and everything.

Aunty and Uncle Ooi with their son on his big day.

MEET GUCCI!! The family’s pet dog who can give Angel a run for her money.(not like she has any)

So damn teddy bear right <3

Awwwwww.

Ben Shyen tries to garner the same enthusiasm for his pet cat….. so I layan only.

Camwhoring with the groom.

Making use of the big mirror in his house.

While waiting for the rest before we left for Pearl View hotel, where the bride’s side was waiting, I kepohed around and found their wedding pictures. So nicely done!

I want to get married too!!! Fasterfasterfasterfaster. 

Dennis carrying out his best man duties.

Big boy liao. *sniff*

One with the wedding car!

Instead of the usual ribbon on our antennas or car handles, we got a sticker! It was my first time being one of the cars partaking in the Heng Tai entourage!

The gorgeous view of rolling hills outside Ben Shyen’s house.

Much thanks to Josh who offered to drive my car, I could spend some quality time with Stitch.

Stitch is damn nice to hug one.

Heng tais!!

That’s Ben Shyen’s brother who look pretty serious about photography.

This groom ah, still got time to camwhore one. -_-

One with the pseudo heng tais.

The heng tais and pseudo hengtais plus one Ah Soh (Marcus’ girlfriend, Pei Yong who was also our senior from school!). Trivia: Marcus’ dad was my Add Maths Tuition teacher, Mr. Chan who is one of my most favourite teacher ever! He loves cooking and would always share with us his latest baking attempt. He would even whip up extremely delicious meals for us during chinese new year.  

All 11 of the heng tais. Just you wait, during my wedding, all 11 of the Dahlings.

Mun Teng was designated camerawoman for the day. Mel handled Jit Seng’s DSLR and I, my own camera of course.

So that i could camwhore whenever I wanted.

Don’t know what Dennis was up to lah.

Here comes the groom!

Make way. Dennis really kept up with his act.

Jiun Jeh totally spoiled the cool look.

He invited himself into the frame when I was camwhoring with the heng tai entourage.

As per our tradition, the bride’s chi muis will make the heng tais play some games before they allow the groom to see the bride. Would have been better if it was at a proper house, but since it was held at a hotel, the only place they could play the games was at the corridor. 

This was a strange game. They made Ben Shyen eat an entire rope made out of dried sotong, and it stretched on for about 6-7 doors. 

Cruel.

See how demure he is, eating everything obediently.

Lousy heng tais, just laughing at their brother and taking photos.

The next game involved bananas.

The bananas were tied around their waists…

And a poor unsuspecting heng tai would have to eat it without using their hands.

Some of them had the better end of the deal.

And some, not so.

Dah kenyang kah belum?

I didn’t quite understand this game as it involved some seashells and some alphabets… but apparently he had to put some ice in his mouth etc and say how much he loves Gloria.

I really don’t understand the point of this game.

As you can see it was really packed.

The heng tais trying to push down the door.

This was when Ben Shyen had his mouth full of ice and declaring his love for Gloria. Tough work.

SUCCESS!!!

I bet the bride was anticipating it for a really long time:) Must have been very exciting for her.

LOL see Josh and Yuen Fatt’s face, so full of love for Ben Shyen, seeing him all married and stuff.

Awwwww <3

And here begins the photo session with the bride and groom.

Plenty of people waiting for their turn to have a picture with the happy couple.

I’m not sure what these were for but they were on the table.

First off, the heng tais and the couple.
L-r: Jiun Jeh, Soon Han, Joshua, Jit Seng, Tze Hur, Chee Seng, Vern Yang, Dennis, Yuen Fatt, Wai Kit and Marcus. 

The pseudo heng tais. There are supposed to be more of us but a lot of them could not make it=(

Gloria and her chi muis!

Mel found some left over bananas.

And me a carton of drink somewhere. Damn tak malu, we just helped ourselves to whatever food that was lying around. And then took stupid photos. -_- Such is life.

Not satisfied with first stupid photo.

Scandalous photo of Mel and Josh sneaking off together.

We left the happy couple to have their tea ceremony in peace while we waited outside or else the entire room would have been cramped with unnecessary guests (ie. us). 

This is when the sohai photo taking session took place outside the hotel room. Here is Vern Yang trying to hit on Mun Teng who is supposed to be a hot chick.

Too eager already, Mun Teng’s face.

Suave guy then digs his nose.

And he gets the girl/gets the girl drunk.

Third party comes into the picture.

Wife of third party wants him to come home.

Bloopers wtf.

Damn depressed coz he didn’t get the chick he wanted and the wife (me) left him.

Then the older brother comes into spank his backside.

Some incest takes place.

Promotional poster for the stupid short story.

Trying to give me looks worthy to be in Vogue/GQ.

Our turn to act slutty.

This is me with the “Such is life” pose where two guys check me out. Josh fail lah you. Cannot smile so happily, must smile with bad intentions.

Mun Teng was seriously sleeping due to the extremely short sleep we had.

Josh continues with the sohai photo taking. This is the one where he acts as some rich man who could have any woman he chooses. So he sees a sleeping beauty unconscious somewhere in his hotel.

One last group photo before we took Gloria back to Ben Shyen’s house.

Man and wife. :’)

Gosh I absolutely love the ruffles at the back of her dress. It’s so dreamy.

They take the chinese traditions quite seriously. What does a red umbrella signifies anyway? Wait, what’s the meaning of the umbrella in the first place?!

Typical wedding day process photo.

The entourage on the way home was far larger.

Bringing his wife home to show his mum.

Gucci has a bow tie on for Ben Shyen’s big day.

Ben Shyen’s uncle could not stand Gucci’s cuteness. His cat Lulu was wearing a tutu and was looking damn grumpy.

Gloria’s gorgeous hair.

There was nyonya cake for lunch and I said the stupidest thing, “Eh? Ben Shyen got nyonya blood ah?”

Couldn’t stop eating..:P

Can see the boys emoing to Boyzone which was playing in the background. Jiun Jeh seemed to know the entire album by heart.

More evidence that we were seriously lacking of sleep.

Heng tais without their blazer! 

Looking at this pic, I thought about the shared history between this bunch of boys and the dahlings. At least half of them were involved with at least one dahling during our high school days. Some were involved with two dahlings, many had hit on the same dahling, some one way, some two ways, some three ways *shifty eyes*. But we still remain good friends despite it all. <3 And none of us ended up together. -_- FRIENDS FOREVER!!

They are very proud of the back of their t-shirts.

Me and my korkorbear, the older brother I never had. Dennis had always taken care of me since I was 12 years old and has seen me and the other girls grow up and sideways (me). He was there to mediate our arguments and he always gave the best advice. 

I haz tutu. 

And a nice ribbon too I just realized!

Someone’s not too happy about his red bow. 

Even Doraemon had a tutu to wear! In case the cat crapped her first tutu, there was a back-up tutu! I don’t know which is cuter, the doraemon wearing a tutu or Mun Teng’s face. <3

Mun Teng terrorizing the animals.

Mun Teng terrorizing the toy animals in my car. Poor pink flat bunny with wings can’t seem to breathe.

Aforementioned Doaremon balloon which seems to be made of very good plastic for a helium balloon.

When one has balloon in hand, one must act cute. An idiom I learned during my english classes long ago. 

This Jiun Jeh ah, when I told him, “I take photo ah!”…he’s like, “go out go out!” I didn’t believe him. He then took off his pants. X_X

Wai Kit and the bed.

The cat tries to hit on Doraemon but he was totally playing hard to get.

Josh asked us if we could help him to sew a button onto his pants but we forced him to do it himself as it was for his own good. If other girls saw him do his own sewing, they’d just melt inside and want his number. 

This was him laughing after we explained to him.

Being girls, we took a damn long time to get ready.

Such a necessity these days. What happened? When was the turning point?

Damn lazy lah the boys, still wanted to lepak around.

Bimbo shot in the girls’ room!

Wai Kit, not quite James Bond.

Some kungfu action takes place while waiting for the rest.

Very pretty already lah Dennis.

This was actually a strappy dress and in the car I turned around to say something to Mun Teng and Soon Han and the straps broke just like that coz I’m just too fat.

A proper photo to be used on my Mail Order Bride application forms should anything happen to my relationship. One must plan for the future.

HAHAHHHA I’m feeling ya, buddy.

Just to check if Dennis The Monkey had any remaining kutu.

Sensitive topic, apparently.

Why does Wai Kit want to kill Doraemon! Why?!

Totally satisfying Doraemon. Mmm.

Best friends forever and ever!

LOL Soon Han, looking good already.

This was when I asked them to give me their most CEO face. You know, the usual pose when some big shot in a company stands in front of his manufacturing plant in a presentation video or something. Josh nails it.

There’s a tiny smile playing at the side of Jeh’s lips.

Emo CEO. WTF Soon Han! 

Pan cute CEO! Hahahhaa. Maybe Sanrio punya boss.

Damn seductive right his lips, partly open and all. I don’t know lah, new year resolution is to think less dirty thoughts, so better not come up with any idea. You guys go ahead!:P

As for the girls, I made them give me their most pan cute faces! Awwwwwwww.

Why my friends so cute one.

Not my friend. 

My so called pan cute face.

It works for some.

Without any effort too!

Heh, this was no need to say lah. He’s got it already.

Hahahaha, he kept laughing. But this is like a CEO asking you, “You sure you know what you’re doing, boy?”

Haih. Friendly CEO.

Vern Yang works the lanci look damn well.

Tak kenal siapa ni.

*ignores*

Wah this CEO look can make you shit in your pants.

The CEO who made it look.

This is what happens when boys find your hair curler.

Seriously, got to keep it out of boys’ reach.

Mun Teng’s won-an-award face.

Long story short, we were damn late for the wedding. When we went in, the bride and bride groom were already sitting down. It’s very very very very bad. We know, we were damn guilty. Probably some of us are still feeling guilty to this day.

Butterfly and heart and Mel’s tattoo! 

Interesting idea for table confetti! 

The people at our table minus Dennis. Well in a way we were glad that there were so few of us at the table. All the more for us to eat!

The heng tais and the ah sous.

As best man, Dennis had to give his speech.

Gloria’s brides maid. (I think)

Ben Shyen sang a song for Gloria. The cha tou part was that he had to ask Gloria what the title of the song was coz he forgot. -_-

The usual yam sengs.

Vern Yang damn gentleman, serving everybody and all.

The girls and myself in our dinner dress.

Sigh, didn’t think I’d live to see this day. Ben Shyen growing up and getting married…:)

Yam seng one more time!

Marcus and Pei Yong who are now based in Penang!

Josh and Mun Teng. josh sure has a damnnn big smile on.

Vern Yang and I.

Joshua and I.

Yuen Fatt and I.

The heng tais and the chi muis!

And finally I got one with the newly weds. 

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Maybe I will finish blogging about my UK Trip when I retire after working as a dentist for 40 years. Maybe even then no time coz must fetch grandson from kindergarten.

On our third day, Uncle Terry and Uncle Steve brought all of us to Kent county which was just south of London. We were going to visit a real castle! It was quite exciting for me because the only castles I’ve ever seen are the ones in disney cartoons, in my misc storybooks and scoffed at at Sunway Lagoon.

The castle was called Leeds Castle and some royalties lived there and sold the house to some American woman who became a Lady who then preserved the place bla bla bla.

Grandma Doris (Uncle Terry’s mum) came along to accompany my grandma. The two grandmas managed to get through despite the language barrier. My grandma says she has no problems understanding English but it’s just the accent that she could not quite catch! Grandma Doris found grandma’s name far too difficult to pronounce (Ching) and decided to give her an english name. Meet my grandma, Dorothy Chow. After awhile, Grandma Doris shortened it to “Dot” as how people usually affectionately call those who are named Dorothy. After awhile she gave up as well because my grandma forgets to respond to her new name and she asked my grandma “Can I call you grandma?” <3 

Mum and her pretty Willy Wonka-ish hat which now sits awkwardly on top of my mess in my Kedah room. She says that I should wear it to block out the sun when I walk from my car to the dental building. I’m sure she meant well. 

It’s quite pricey but almost everything in the UK cost about as much. Don’t know when I’ll ever have the chance to go back again.

As with all my UK posts, here’s another one of the flora.

Mum, during her short lived infatuation with that hat.

Group photo! Dad is hardly in any of the pics as he prefers to be behind his big ass camera.

What is it about western countries and their gigantic ancient trees? I remember when I visited Perth in the 90s, they had a huuuge tree in King’s Park.

Not in this photo, but ducks are usually found in any stagnant or flowing body of water in the UK and the European countries. I heard that once the Malacca government released some ducks in the Malacca river and within a week there were no more ducks in the river.

Speaking of Malacca and ducks, my grandma took her driving test back in the 60s or 70s and the instructor asked her to drive on and she accidentally killed a mummy and daddy duck who were walking with their ducklings in a line. ( The instructor asked her to stop the car and she thought she was in trouble. He went to the back of the car and picked up the two dead ducks and stuffed them into the boot, got back in the car and asked her to drive on. LOL.  POOR ORPHANED DUCKLINGS T_T

For added effect.

Uncle Steven trying to coax a duck/pheasant.

Even the drain also prettier than people. (leng kor yan)

Besides ducks, there were swans too. Sorry, no swans anecdote. Erm wait….last Swan I saw was in Perth! My cousin sister Shevie was only three years old that time and the swans who were taller than her pecked her head, making her cry. Now Shevie is a big girl and is no longer scared of swans, but instead studying law in Aberdeen.

Felt very Enid Blyton-ish. Like some canopy of shrubbery leading into the woods. 

Mum showing you the extent of the leaves! Her hat is still not helping.

Artsy fartsy shot of a dead tree.  

I’m not sure if all the lakes and creeks I saw were actually one entire body of water. 

So I stumbled upon a rubbing post! Apparently there are seven on the trail and I’m thinking that this is something so ancient and sacred. Think Aladdin with the scarab! Must touch all seven to gain access to the kingdom or something.

Looks rustic too.

So here I was rubbing it, just to layan the powers that be. It wasn’t until I went home only did my mum tell me that it’s actually for little kids to place a piece of paper over it and colour on it to get the imprint of the design. -___-

One with mum before going into the castle.

I thought this was the prettiest part of the castle. Somewhere where the princess could secretly meet a palace guard and then kau chut si/nasi sudah jadi bubur/uh-oh and then use the moat to float the baby away. Princess maybe quite bimbo coz the moat goes round and round the castle. 

More of the pretty moat. It’s not that deep actually.

L-r: Uncle Steve, Grandma, Dad, Grandma Doris and Koo Cheong/Uncle Terry.

My first castle!!

Me and a really old door.

This was of course taken with dad’s awesome DSLR. His wide angle lens was really useful throughout the trip!

Some pipe thingie back in the day. 

Nah slowly read la. I thought it was rather interesting. Such a big deal was made about Henry the 8th’s sleepover. The dolphin seems so out of place. One dolphin enough meh?

Posing with dad’s camera pretending that it’s mine.

Remnants of a duck.

I thought this was great. This was before I went to Paris. *sigh*

Those books actually had old english writings in them. 

At this point I was rather curious as to what dad and Uncle Steve were up to.

Comparing their watches with a sundial.

A sundial. Rather accurate too! It was about noon! Without the daylights saving and stuff.

You wouldn’t be able to resist the sprawling greens as well!

More of the colourful flowers that were in bloom everywhere. Towards the end of my visit, almost everything was turning into shades of brown and orange. :\

This one seems to be flowing. Hm.

Look at how cool Grandma Doris is!! She loves being silly in pics too.

Remnants of another duck.

Duck’s eye view.

On the way back to Sutton where my Aunt and Uncle stay, we passed by a tiny village which was not unlike what you get in Cameron Highlands. You know Camerons like to simulate the whole English feel? This is the actual thing! 

Comes complete with flash retro cars.

This hotel has a damn cute name but I think my grandma is even cuter. Already accustomed to the fact that dogs do have hotels to stay at while their masters were away (at that time, Angel was staying at a dog hotel in SS15 for a whole month!) she was very concerned that bears were allowed to stay in the same hotel. I had to explain to her that it was just a very cute name, bears and dogs don’t actually put up there for a night or two.

Seriously wonder where the name came from.

There was a junk yard sale going on!

Full of nonsense that no one needs but still very pretty to look at!

Like a proper junkyard sale should be.

An actual red telephone booth!!

I’d get a little claustrophohic. Don’t know how the locals do it.

An old graveyard was situated next to a rather grand looking church.

Another strange name for an establishment. 

See all the quaint names of the various restaurants and motels.

This one is for Chee Kiang! Bet he would loooove to one day work at a thatch cottage (not quite in this pic) with wooden and brick walls dispensing drugs!

A red postbox! Complete with postman somemore! Wah must have been my lucky day.

A random pub that we knocked back a few pints at. I kid. I had orange juice.

Me, orange juice, the name of the place and a whole lot of tummy sucking.

I thought this was seriously nice!! This goes into the list of “Things I Wanted To Do So Badly After Staying In The UK For A Month”. I wanted to paint my future door a bright colour. This or maybe red or bright yellow or smartie kind of orange. And then have a plant in the matching colour next to it. Other things I wanted to do is like cooking steak and painting. Nothing of that sort happened ever since I got back. It’s always the case.

More of that pretty pharmacy.

If we have something like this in our country, it looks wannabe. So I’m a little bit undecided about this. Wannabe or authentic?

Inside a real english pub!

With some gambling machines at the side.

Uncle Terry and Uncle Steve drinking proper lager.

It was more of a beer garden actually. Or are all pubs equipped with beer gardens?

Thanks to dad I have a nice photo with one of the street signs.

There was a handyman going about his business. Yes, that fit looking fella behind Grandma Doris. I winked to mum to check out the hottie and Grandma Doris and my grandma understood what I meant. Grandma Doris caught my eye and pointed to her fourth finger with a wink. Damn!

Showing you some of the promotions just in case you happen to drop by that quaint village.

Instead of palm trees like back here, this is what they see as they drive along the freeways. 

At my Aunt’s and Uncle’s, we were treated to gourmet meal almost everyday as my Uncle Terry is a huge fan of Jamie Oliver.

I can’t remember what’s the name of this dish but I think it was a filling for some casserole that my Aunt Judy was making.

There was a raspberry pie as well!

She made some designs with the left over dough.

Aforementioned casserole.

And she let me sprinkle the sugar and do more designs with the left over crusts. From the looks of things, good thing I took up dentistry. 

But who cares how it looked right? As long as it tastes DAMN GOOD. 

I actually wanted to put a whole FB album on all the food I consumed throughout my one month trip. But you know la, Jolene Lai the famous procrastinator. Haih. Next up! Day 4! (Hoo boy.) 

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I loved Bangkok so much that before my shoppings were even removed from their plastic bags, I’ve already booked another flight ticket to my shopping paradise for April 2010! Um, sort of like booked tickets the day after I returned home from Bangkok. Hahaha. The shopping made me delirious, in a very very happy way.

If you think I’m nuts, you’ll curse yourself that you have missed out on the RM168 RETURN FLIGHT ALL-INCLUSIVE Air Asia to Bangkok! Woohoo! I don’t know if the promotion is still on but you can go check. Also, do check out Jetstar, Tigerairways too yeah. Must take everything into consideration. Singapore tickets damn cheap la on those two other airlines. So much cheaper than Air Asia!

This trip was planned many many months ago, even before my dad booked tickets to UK. So I felt like quite bad right, the month before just came back from UK, then the following month go Bangkok (then the weekend after that go Singapore).

When I touched down at the Suvarnabhumi Airport, I felt a little lost but thankfully I could roam immediately so I put the cabbie on the line to get directions from the hotel’s receptionist. The rest of my friends were already waiting at the hotel as I had an exam the day before, so had to go there all alone. So nice to be in Batch 2. I had classes on Tuesday, and some of them stayed on till Tuesday AND rushed back for afternoon clinics on a 7am flight from Bangkok to Penang. We are maaad shopping people. You’ll see why later.

The nice cabbie tried to make conversation but I think it went something like this.

Cabbie: My english is not so good. (in thai)
Me: Yea….I came from KL.

*awkward smiles from both of us*

Cabbie: Where are you from? (in thai)
Me: Jolene

*awkward smiles and a little bit after that I realized he asked me which country I was from*

Cabbie: Suk Tiet Tiet? (Sukhumvit 77, where I was staying)
Me: Seventy-seven! Yes..!

*blank stare from cabbie*

Anyway glad I arrived at the hotel in one piece and without taking a breather, we hopped into the next cab and sped off to Chatuchak! It was like GO GO GO KEEP SHOPPING GO!!! With only three days in Bangkok, I lost count of the amount of markets I went to. Okay maybe I know the total. 1..2..3..4..5…6…7(if you consider the stalls I saw along the way as I walked the streets of Bangkok as one mofo huge market place. No street corner was left unhawkered.).

With Stephanie and Ei Leng, full of expectations outside Chatuchak.

With Samuel too!

Though they say Tuk tuks can rip you off, we went on one that was rather reasonable. I don’t know what tactic Cassandra used, but we were half way negotiating fares with a cabbie and a tuktuk approached us quoting us RM8 to a nearby night market. RM8 for four screaming girls in a makeshift tray on top of a motorbike, not too shabby!

Charis, Ei Leng and their clever hats! It was either too hot in Bangkok or too wet. But what did we care, we were SHOPPPINGgggG.

Ei Leng and Charis went mad in Bangkok stocking up for their blogshop SWEET TOOTHSOME with really awesome finds. So if you want yourself some Bangkok lovveeee, head on over to their blogshop!

We went to Chatuchak on the wrong day, a Friday. We thought it was the wholesalers day but turns out the best time to go is during the weekend. So I didn’t get to see the infamous mayhem that is Chatuchak. NEVERMIND APRIL!

A few stalls were open but not worth the whole flying to Bangkok thing though.

They have tong yuan there as well!

Ah hah! Now we know where all those little novelty mummies come from.

Disco balls! It costs like close to Rm20 for a ball that size back home you know? And if about 5 times that size, about Rm50.

Oooh ooh!! Chau lou bags!! You know the kind that people from China used to bring in to Hong Kong but in red, blue and white stripes? These days they make all these cutesie ones and blogshop owners all over have been using these babies to cart their stuff to and from bazaars. I bought myself one because I foresaw a great deal of shopping bags that needed lugging around. So very convenient!

It’s like all those deco items that I’ve always sought after back home were taunting me in Bangkok. So difficult to find plastic beaded curtains back home okay! And even if it was available, choices were so limited and ugly.

More deco items being sold like vegetables at a morning market.

Miniature porcelain decorative items! I had no use for it but they were so cute!

This one I have use for. Beautiful hand painted candle holders! And damn cheap too!! About RM2 for one. (hahaha, girls, now you know how much they cost..:P Sorry yeah, budget went to shopping instead of souvenirs.:P)

Transparent jewelry boxes for about RM5.00.

If you’re into crafts, we saw some buttons during our quest to find some metal studs. Stephanie wants to sew them onto clinchers!

A guard dog can be found at almost every store front but the strange part is that they are all tiny little puppies begging to be hugged.

Wooden tribal inspired earrings. ALMOST bought some, but then I thought about my abandoned earring tower and how sad my once sparkly earrings looked, now dusty and forgotten, I decided that I should not subject other earrings to the same fate.

A typical alley in Chatuchak. So….imagine. Apparently there are 8000 shops in this marketplace.

You get better treatment too with such bags, plenty of the storekeepers think that you’re stocking up. I don’t know if that translates to better bargaining power, but worth a shot right? And trust me, you NEED this bag. NEED.

Beautiful enamel plaques adorning the artsy fartsy alleys of Chatuchak. We were all fantasizing about our future clinics’ deco.

Not quite Blythe Dolls, right? I really don’t know my dolls.

Oooh nais.

Since there weren’t any opened clothes stall at Chatuchak, we went over to the nearby JJ Mall and spent the entire day there. I personally didn’t quite like the stuff that was available at that mall but the rest could spend like hours on ONE floor! They bought plenty of hair accessories, accessories, SHOES (RM10 for one pair!!) and some clothes. But the best has yet to come.

Oh right, check out how pink oriented this store is! Love the stools!!!

You know, with all the pink loving that most grown up girls are doing these days, what is truly missing is a goddamn doll house. Then our lives are complete.

Remember to check out Pink Sunday if you’re ever around Chatuchak! Get your pink fix.

See what I said about tiny guard dogs?

Preparing to ward me off.

Gorgeous prints on sling bags! But I don’t really like the super casual look. I like solid looking bags but unfortunately, all my bags are anything but solid. T_T Looks may be deceiving. T__T I’ve been through over 8 bags and it’s not even one year yet. I hate it when my bag dies on me.

Obscene amount of pork at JJ Mall!

This was when I stopped to enjoy a bowl of steaming pork noodles. Delicious. Think Bak Kut Teh Udon! Super delicious fusion!

After devouring my bowl of noodles, I continued on my shopping journey. Saw this shop which sold ALL Barbie Doll things. I don’t know why I didn’t really go in, maybe because I felt hindered by  my huge bag.

Tons of Barbie doll dresses for the picking!

After an RM18 one hour Thai foot massage (don’t jelez), I went back into Chatuchak to check out the infamous pets section.

No photography was allowed so I could only manage a little bit of quick shots. Couldn’t get pictures of the albino hedgehogs, guinea pigs, the many many puppies and kittens, snakes, iguanas, tarantulas…. the list goes on. Chee Kiang has a friend in Thailand named Jessie, whom you will see later on in this post, told me that there are actually dog farms in Thailand! I hope it is for people to take home as pets. Apparently there are Shih Tzu farms, Maltese farms, Pomeranian farms… and the dogs will all run to you!

Sleeping wrinkled pugs. <3

Found myself at the artsy-fartsy part of Chatuchak again.

Funk handmade hair clips, love the colours but I wouldn’t wear them! Maybe the metal ones.

After JJ mall, those who have been to Chinatown went back to the hotel with our shopping bags. Phebe, Ei Leng, Cassandra and myself went on their MRT/BST (i’m confused) to have dinner at Chinatown.

Interesting ticket concept! Wonder why they use chips instead of the usual cards.

Truth to be told, the MRT/BTS is convenient but not as cheap as cabbing! Per person on the train can set you back about RM3 one way but with cab to almost anywhere it was RM8 – RM12 and you can go like four in a cab, at most five. But our record was EIGHT people, not including the driver. That was just hilarious! Photos further down! If you can get that far, that is.

Traffic is just plain shit in Bangkok, there’s no way you can get to your destination in time if you have to meet someone. So if you’re doing the whole free and easy thing, cabbing is great. I mean everything is cheap there if you don’t plan to shop! You can just go there with the money in your wallet RIGHT now and like spend the weekend there, mo man tai.

It was drizzling that night but thankfully we made it to Chinatown unscathed. Plus me and my trolleybag hobbling along. Given my history with bags, I was pretty sure that one wheel would come lose or something but thankfully it worked really well! It even lasted the 2 hours flight back to KL.

Medicinal halls double as car parks in Chinatown.

An authentic hawker stall. Who makes them like this over here these days?

We didn’t really get to check out the entire China Town but we did manage to get some food. It was wet everywhere and you were either grazing cars or other people.

Seafood was everywhere though. Lobsters were eaten by the size of road, crabs, you name it. I wanted some, but budget is for shopping!

I like this because it reminds me of Hong Kong, with all the protruding signboards. Gives it a very lovely cluttered look.

Pad Thai, not Char Kuay Teow! Sure had me fooled though. Pad Thai is sweeter than our local CKT, but so spicy=(

They wrapped it in egg, sort of like our Nasi Pattaya back home.

Hm didn’t get a good angle of it but it’s a Coke bottle with Thai words on it.

Would have been better if it’s not that spicy. I don’t really enjoy spicy food but I managed to finish quite a big portion of this!

Not sure what this is, I’m not a foodie. Just make your own assumptions.

The four of us on our Chinatown adventure.

This was in the aforementioned Tuk Tuk ride! The Tuk Tuk’s there, no such thing as safety belts, and the place to seat in is just a damn tray, with maybe some handles around for you to hold on to dear life. Tuk Tuk drivers are kind of impatient, they don’t go slower to switch lanes, they just swerve.

Your things could fall out of the Tuk Tuk for all you know, so hold on to all your bags!

Just a few measly poles as barricade betwene me and the ground.

From Chinatown, we went on to Khao San Road which was a night market that sold mostly casual stuff like guys’ statement t-shirts and some casual dresses (by casual I mean solid colour dresses).

Me and my bag again for Shopping Round 2! Up to that point, shopping in Bangkok was still a little meh *Palm stretched out tilting left and right* to me. This was before I discovered Suan Lum Night Market and the one place where I can set up a tent and live forever at – Platinum Mall!!

Heh. I’m still so juvenile.

An attraction was cruising down Khao San Road and I had to have a picture with him. Poor guy was probably stopped plenty of times.

Khao San is actually popular for their many bars where tourists go to chill out. And no, I didn’t get to see Patpong this time around. NEVERMIND APRIL 2010!

And so here we are! The wonderful, wonderful Suan Lum night market. Since the rest arrived on Thursday evening, they have already surveyed the place. They loved it so much that none of them even sat down and had dinner together. Charis and Stephanie just bought like a bag of Lays (if you go to Thailand, you’ll be amazed at the selection of Lays there and how cheap it is) and munched on it as they continued on their quest for awesome bargains.

There was a shoe shop there that claimed to be stocking imported Korean shoes. Their most expensive ones only came up to about 399 Baht which is about RM39.00 and the pink one is 390. Baht where else the blue satin ribbony-glads was about 250 baths. I’ve never seen anything quite like the shoes they were selling over there. But they say that Bangkok’s fashion trends are steps ahead of Malaysia.

Though it looks like you can get lost in there but eventually you’ll bump back into each other.

Saw these plastic fairy-like shoes but given its material and design, I’m quite certain that they’ll give you blisters. So pretty though!

As I had mentioned it was really pouring down that night in Bangkok. In the cab, we saw a thunderbolt strike a nearby lamp post and sparks flew out and cascaded down. We were in shock! So yeah, the market was flooded that night. Fortunately, the shops were placed on a higher platform. Good thinking!

As a true blue shopaholic, I had to brave the murky waters and crossed over to better bargains with my by-then heavier chau lou bag.

Ei Leng did the same as well! In this picture you can see how dirty the water was. Like right in the middle, the water was so black that you can’t even see your feet. My feet felt a little itchy after that but it was okay, it was worth it.

Satin lingerie, didn’t get any though.

And there are some boys out there who might enjoy this stall. Miniature toys galore!

I know what I said about earrings earlier, hehe, but I promise to love this!!! (Don’t I sound just like Becky Bloomwood?!) What’s to resist? Epoxy coated cartoon earrings with metal backings? <3 <3 <3 <3!!! No one will have earrings just like me and I can be the girl with the very very unique earrings and anyone who sees them on my earlobes will want to know where I got it from…. hahaha.

Familiar kan. Seen them around in blogshops kan. Fraction of the prices!!

And if you’re into very girly stuff, plenty of ribbon accessories there. Ribbon hair ties, ribbon headbands, ribbon tops, ribbon skirts, ribbon shoes..

39 baht is like RM3.90. Okay lah at this point I still thought that was very cheap!! But wait till you see what I saw at Platinum Mall. Don’t scroll down lah, give face abit, keep reading. I spent so much time on this post you know.

Bangles that were initially too small for me, but I managed to squeeze through! *unwilling to accept one’s own fatty wrist*

I really adored the accessories at this stall because they were all so very whimsical. Aww see that cute pacman charm?

I bought quite a few of this. Since they weren’t awesome bargains, I’m not gonna dwell on the price. *self denial mode on*

My first ever earrings were something like that. Gold outline with coloured metal to fill up the spaces. It was a pair of Christmas Trees and my grandmother bought them for me at the Toys R’ Us on Hay Street, Perth when I was seven years old. It was also during that trip to Perth that I saw my aunt’s bloody amazing collection of earrings. She made her own earring hanger and had it plastered onto the side of her wardrobe, like top to bottom. At least a hundred pairs of earrings.

Cute necklaces that you and I know cost a bomb back home.

More of the cute whimsical metal earrings.

Some very 80s looking earrings on the side. As in, the kind of prints then, incorporated into grandmotherly type of metal borders. Vintage with an 80s twist.

Oh there were rings there too if they are your kind of thing.

Just one stall FILLED with Hello Kitty stuff.

I’m too lazy to upload the video here but it’s up on Facebook, so you can go see it if you’re on my FB. These strange graphics are stuck onto black t-shirts and upon loud noises such as the pulsating beats from some loud dance music, the graphics will light up in tune to the beat.

Decorative light balls! Plentiful at Batu Feringghi’s Night Market or even at The Curve’s Flea Market. I used to think they were pretty, now they are everywhere.

But still makes for good photo taking.

Cassandra found a gem of a shop selling bags for RM20!! I couldnt really find any though as they were all a little too feminine for me. I did pick up something to put my phones in when I’m in the clinic.

Love the graphic bags.

Le Sports Sac aplenty!

This was near the food courts and the bags sold at this stall were very chic.

Those are the kind of bags that I want but you know they freaking quoted me Rm300 for one bag?! Are they out of their mind? If they can’t afford to set up stall at Siam Paragon (assuming that’s Bangkok’s equivalent of KLCC), then they really shouldn’t.

And the shoes were pretty damn gorgeous too!

This is what I had for dinner. Was alright, love the kailan.

Samuel, the only guy who came along for the trip, was just as much a shopaholic as any of the other girls.

When we went back to the hotel, we got Samuel to showcase some of his brilliant finds.

Stephanie, Ei Leng’s fedora and the mess from a day’s worth of shopping madness.

Accessories all over the bed, we didn’t even know which belonged to who!

Trying out my twitter inspired earrings.

Everyone’s just so proud of their wares.

Phebe holding up her I’m assuming new wallet, Cassandra with my crochet shoes and myself with two cans of chocolates that I bought for my grandmother.

My Day 1 Stash! Please don’t faint when you see Day 2.

Samuel’s biker jacket. Problem is he doesn’t own a bike.

This one is nice! Pac man t-shirt!

Charis with her new blazer!

And Stephanie who was curling her hair in the middle of the night -_- with her new straightener/curler which she bought for only RM50.

So here we are, finally with some photos of the boutique hotel I was staying at. We stayed at this place called The Bedrooms in Sukhumvit 77, right next to a gigantic Carrefour. It would have been very convenient if only we had time to stop and get some groceries but clearly we had other more pressing matters to tend to.

This is the breakfast area! The rooms are good enough for 3 people ( but we packed four in, heh )and one room is about RM94 for one night! So cheap!!!

As you can see, for Rm94/night rooms, there’s quite a lot of effort put into the decor of the place. I forgot to take photos of the room but it’s not at all different as compared to the ones on their website. We’re coming back here again in April 2010!!! .. I mean I am. The rest of the girls and Samuel thought I was crazy. I’ve roped in Lie Yuen, Lie Peh (her sister), Poh Yee, Angela and Chee Kiang so far. All bought their tickets already!!

It’s very nicely designed. Though the hotel is small but it looks really spacious. It also helps that the nearest BTS is only like 10 minutes walk away.

And there’s wifi and free internet on the public computer in the lobby.

Small but classy. Here’s the outside.

And that’s what it’s called.

I know I sound like I’m promoting the hotel right? Hahaha. When I love something, I’m like that.

Charis’ stash.

Samuel’s sleeping place. Such a gentleman right?

Group photo while we waited for our cab to Platinum mall.

With the rather interesting wall.

I know this photo is damn obscene but I swear it has got nothing to do with me! (and I was wearing really short shorts…) So poll! Period stain or just … chocolate stains/fruit stains?

You think his mother gave him that name? MR. SUPER KITTY!

Loving the colours in the cab.

Samuel wanted in as well.

Taking on Day 2 with my trusty chau lou bag. Not only was this bag so useful to cart my shopping around Bangkok but it would also come in handy when I bring my stickers to meet my customers! COD ANYWHERE NOW! MO MAN TAI! Previously I only liked to COD at Drive-thru McDonalds or anywhere where I can a parking space right in front of the cafe/restaurant so that I don’t have to carry all my heavy boxes too far.

We took this picture when Samuel had to make an emergency toilet trip.

We had to take the BTS because it was just too jammed and we didn’t want to waste any more time in the taxi, so yes, we had to alight halfway.

As you can see, the architecture in Bangkok is not that different compared to Malaysia.

Right?

When he was finally done.

But when it comes to shopping districts, the Thais know it is best to emulate Singapore. Or did Singapore copy them? Ah, either way.

And not fair!! How come they have Boots in Thailand and we don’t?!

There were people selling things all over the streets.

Some were deep frying snacks..

Some were selling fresh products in such an authentic way!

Some RM5 belts…..

Some RM2 earrings! Not as nice as the ones I bought though. *snotty*

And like every major city, a river runs through it.

People coming up from their boat ride.

I just happen to like street posts.

Even the sidewalk lingerie seem to be of rather good taste.

A bit of rustic Bangkok for you to see.

The amount of pink cabs there were astounding! They could’ve made it a nicer pink shade though, but I’m sure they have their reasons.

Crossing the overhead bridge to platinum! Hardcore man. That’s Samuel checking something out.

With the surprisingly smooth Bangkok traffic.

<3!!!

Crossing the busy Bangkok roads to get to heaven.

See what I meant by Bangkok traffic? Human traffic too! And I didn’t mean to make the lady as my main focus in this picture! She just so happened to be there.

Little girl on a pushcart as her dad crosses the busy road.

*angels singing in the background*

As you can see, I meant serious business.

This was the first shop I saw and already it looked so promising! The people at Platinum Mall really know how to get you. They sell the casual stuff at dirt cheap prices and the evening wear is as per market rate. About RM100 and above for any formal dresses.

But these weren’t too bad. It was about RM60! Still pricey for Bangkok standards, but I guess from the looks of the material, it’s pretty good! My last dental dinner dress was this material and it cost no where near that price. Don’t talk about it lah, feel so heartsick now.

Oooh! Studded singlet. I thought it was time to embrace a little bit of rocker chick so I got the one in white.

Ei Leng made friends with a Singaporean who asked if they could share to get wholesale prices. You should do that too when you shop there!

On the average, a top/dress would set you back about RM28-25.
But if you are getting their ‘wholesale price’, you have to purchase a minimum of 2-3 pieces from their shop. Wholesale price is about RM13-RM18.

And when they say wholesale, they mean that you can choose ANY 2-3 pieces of items from their shop. Doesn’t have to be like the Jalan Hang Tuah ones where you are required to buy stuff in all colours/all sizes.

Cinchers for RM10 each! There were other shops that were selling these cinchers for RM5. Don’t expect to pay anything less than RM20 back home for one.

Bags my love! <3 There was a navy blue suede bag that I really wanted but it was about RM70. Rip off.

More of the gorgeous dinner wear that was there.

Love love the black one, damn unique.

I went mad at every accessory store that I passed by.

Would you believe me that the necklaces are RM6 for one, and the hairbands and bangles are RM1.90 each?!

And if I bought like 17 pieces of items and above, it was RM1.70 for one item.

So many, how to choose right?

I’m almost there, just you wait.

Sorry yah, so many photos of accessories. I just couldn’t get enough of it.

Bet you’ve seen this for sale in Malaysia selling for RM20+.

As you can see, the fashion is slightly different than back home. More variety!

This looks nice alone or even with some plain coloured babytee!

SHOES PARADISE! This was only like a quarter of all the shoes on display!

Usually when this much of shoes are on display, they are bound to be some hits and misses but you know, they were alllll gorgeous! After buying a pair from the stash, I wanted to make my way back to get one or two more pairs but couldn’t find it anymore. It’s like a shoe shop apparition.

The other half of the shoe ‘stall’. Don’t know if it’s right to call it a stall.

The suede pseudo-glads that I bought. Laced up too! LOooove.

Can you understand the promotion?:D If you can, you’ll be very very happy.

Some stalls are a little messy but that’s where the fun is at. Sift through!

Fascinators, headbands, hairbands what have you were everywhere.

Some proper skirts for class/work. I think these were about RM20 per piece!

Slutty clothes shop.

Comes with boots too!

Speaking of boots, I saw plenty. <3

Looking up at all the other floors which I have yet to cover. Remember, it takes about 3 hours min to get through one floor if you’re a suffering shopaholic.

Getting kids to compress the bags in the trolley to make space for more shopping!

I like how they organize specific shops to each floor. I went straight up to the fifth floor where all the bags and shoes were.

Bag heaven for real! Because of luggage constraints I could only get two. =(

Luckily I was with Ei Leng and thus we could get wholesale prices together.

And some sold bags AND shoes.

After I was done shopping (was more busy procuring great bargains than photographing them, there are a lot more stalls than the ones I put up), I went down to check out this Bangkok Street Fashion contest submission. Reversible rock goddess. Not bad eh the idea.

The hot designer! We noticed that Thai men are quite hot. Most of us girls had a very good time treating ourselves to eye candies on the BTS.

I love the headbands!!

This was outside one of the shopping malls in the city centre. I think it was for the Kau Wong Yeh (Ninth god?) festival.

I didn’t get to check out the fashion show that was held on Sunday since I had to go back already. The rest did say it was rather nice.

The girls and their purchases. It might look few to you but don’t be fooled as Samuel was carrying almost all the shopping. Poor boy has to be the only gentleman. Thank you Samuel!

The Bangkok jam that you never ever want to get stuck in. Good if you want to take in the sights of the city with plenty of time to kill in a cab.

Even the human traffic was rather severe as well.

That night, we were to meet Chee Kiang’s friend Jesse whom he met at a pharmacy student conference in Romania back in 2008. Jesse is a local and duh, also a pharmacy student at the Mahidol University in Bangkok.

Having some low fat Italian ice cream while waiting for Jesse at the Siam BTS station.

Somehow Stephanie does it sexier than me.

Italian ice cream it may be but it tastes exactly like Paddle Pop.

Verdict? Mine was still the best.

After meeting Jesse, he brought us to one of his favourite Thai restaurants as we they were craving for tomyam.

Charis and Stephanie busy choosing their Thai food.

Ei Leng, Cassandra and a sad looking Phebe.

And this is Jesse!

Jesse and Chee Kiang became very close during that conference in Romania because they both thought they found their long lost twin. Firstly, they both thought they looked similar, had the same sense of humour, have girlfriends who study dentistry (!! but I can’t compare to his girlfriend, she’s one of the top students at her university!), both are pharmacy students (as we already know), hate the same pharmacy subject – statistics and are both the same age. I think there are more similarities, I can’t remember now.

Jesse was a really good host, even attempted to foot the dinner bill before we went behind his back and snatched it. He brought us to have dessert and to a or the (I’m not sure if there’s only one) Sky Bar.

I’m not much of a food blogger so here goes. Something fried and cheesy. Very nice.

Some meat and veggie. Very nice too.

Something more thai.

OH THIS WAS GOOD. As if fries weren’t unhealthy enough, they had to go and add fried bits to make the fries crunchier. Very nice.

Didn’t try, so don’t know very nice or not.

I am a very boring person so I had kuay teow soup. Yes, slap me please. I’m sure Jesse wanted to. Hehe. He was like, “What?!?! How can you not like spicy food?”

Group photo before leaving the restaurant.

I didn’t know that.

Some sights while walking through Bangkok city at night.

We wanted to have dessert at this cute pastry place but most of the cakes were gone by then. Sigh. These were really cute though!

They even sold cupcake decorations!

Plenty more where that came from.

Colourful birthday candles..! I want some. Gonna be one sophisticated birthday cake.

For dessert, we went to Ice Monster! I’m not sure if we have this at home because the name sure sounds familiar. Is there one in Pavillion?

It’s quite interesting as you can see there’s Laici, Laici ice shavings, oreo and peach/pineapple.

It was impossible to finish one by yourself.

Jesse was seriously spoiling us with more Thai dessert. This was some mango coconut pudding thing. Really nice, like something pulut.

Offering us more food.

Damn camera flash.

Frozen fruits coated with chocolate.

This was the highlight of the night!! We wanted to get a cab to Sky Bar (Se-kai bar, that’s how it is pronounced in Thai) and the cabbie was like, “Small people one cab!”

Very nice of him to say that, so we packed in. All 8 of us!! The boys sat in front and the rest us girls packed into the backseat. I was like, “Okayyy the smaller sized ones can sit on top.”

Somehow I ended up on top. LOL. Poor Ei Leng and Charis. Sorry ah babes.

Jesse was enjoying himself as well. You can see how squashed up Samuel looked.

Hhahahahaha. Trying to maintain as little body contact as possible.

Can see we were all camwhoring! It was definitely an experience, I bet no other cabbies are this cool. He even said that his highest record was 7 people. YES!! We beat it!

Why I look so proper. -_-
This was at the lobby of the building where the Sky Bar was situated at. The building has 50 over floors.

Towering decos.

Was supposed to do a sexy pose with my Sexy Kiwi drink.

If at first you are not sexy, try try again.

We wanted to have a seat under the Bangkok night sky but there were not enough tables.

Sexy kiwi makes another appearance.

There was a wall at the open air are that had all these pinhole lights shining through! Beautiful! Like the ceiling in the Emirates plane.

That’s Bangkok’s tallest building amidst the sparkling city.

Because one shot is never enough.

I love that wall so much. Maybe I’ll have one in my future house.

Hahahaha look at Samuel okay, see properly ah. He’s all “Ooh, this might taste nice.”

NOT!!! Hahaha. His face damn classic here.

Every table had a dinosaur egg lamp! Very cute to camwhore with.

Without flash.

Jesse and Me and the dinosaur egg.

With flash.

Phebe and the dinosaur egg.

Samuel trying to eat the dinosaur inside the egg. This reminds me of a scene in Disney’s The Rescuers Down Under where the evil hunter’s evil pet lizard tries to bite the american great eagle’s egg and his tooth broke.

Charis chose to look pretty with the dinosaur egg.

Libery Charis.

Another group shot before we left.

You usually see the name of the establishment on the wall or something but this was on the floor.

And this was how much I had to bring home with me after spending only two days in Bangkok! Sunday doesn’t count as I didn’t have time to go anywhere but the airport. The ride from the airport to my hotel at Sukhumvit 77 was RM30 inclusive of some airport fees but from the hotel to the airport it was only RM14!!

Jesse was kind enough to come see me off at the airport as he lives really close to the airport. He had me try the coconut ice blended! VERY NICE! (what else is there to say right -_-)

Since I already had some breakfast at the hotel I opted for some broth.

Jesse and I before I entered the departure hall. Unlike any other guy, he gave me some damn useful advice, “Go shop at duty free. You can get at least 20% off the cosmetics there!” WOOHOO! I made a beeline for MAC.

And here we are!! My spoils from my weekend in Bangkok!

Bangkok is like statement t-shirts heaven. So I got myself a few. Back here a t-shirt like this can set you back about RM30. If you’re lucky, RM20.

Got myself another Little Miss shirt for my collection. So far I’ve got Little Miss Curious and Little Miss Boobjob which are both very me. Little Miss Helpful…… depends on my mood I guess. I can be a real bitch when I’ve had a bad day in the clinics. Slamming lockers, friends glaring..

Bought myself two decent dresses to be worn where conservative people are present.

Believe it or not, this was only Rm15.

So was this. The belt doesn’t come with it though. Without it, the dress looks quite boring. But decent, right? I had to buy two pieces from the shop to get wholesale price.

There are more clothes further down the post.. don’t know how I arranged my photos those many days ago. Worked on this post for damn kau long la okay.

The bags I bought!

Using Angel as my hairband holder. Quite a good look on her!

My preppy puppy.

This is not quite her.

Not one for accessories and the likes.

I couldn’t resist this bag!! It was only RM15 and I believe I’ll never see anything quite like it again so I HAD to get it.

I bought much hairbands and much earrings.

I know it’s a whole lot for one trip but siggghhh I wish I brought home more. You hardly see these styles here!

Hairbands!!! I’m now wearing a different hairband everyday to uni. This is not appropriate for uni lah, but who knows, I might wear it.

Furry! Only Rm1.90!!

I already wore this to the clinics, hehe. Dr. Karthik was worried that it might drop into the patient’s mouth.

A boring one for days when I don’t feel so flamboyant.

I wear this quite a lot now. If you did see the Nuffnang Blog Awards post, it’s there.

And hair ties. Also Rm1.90! I keep forgetting that I have these.

TWITTER EARRINGS! I won’t dwell on the price as I am trying to erase the money. Cheap as Bangkok may be, but it was disgusting what I had to pay for these special earrings. (more at the bottom)

Lightning earrings. The blue part is made of enamel paint.

Ice cream cones which everyone said looks really delicious. It totally looks like the McDonald’s Sundae Cones right?

One big one small heart. Like in the cartoons when someone falls in love. <3

And something for days when I’m feeling spunky.

For days when I am feeling aunty.

I thought these rocking horses look rather whimsical.

There’s a friggin’ nursery rhyme going round and round what looks like Peter Rabbit, what’s not to like? BUY!

Awwwwwww. Another whimsical set.

This one damn random, so I couldn’t resist them as well.

RM6 for one strand! Which is what the wholesalers back home sell for anyway. But they would want you to buy up to RM200 from their shop before they are wiling to sell it to you. Evil people.

Ei Leng encouraged me to get this bucket bag!

I think it looks very classy but it’s not all that spacious. RM25!

It’s not really very Paris Hilton but it does remind me of her, not so much the bags from her shop.

And there’s a nice brown suede lining inside. Got it for RM22!

And some pouches (RM8 and RM5) to carry my phones into the clinic.

Continue with the clothes now! Oh yeah I forgot I have a Little Miss Daredevil now too. Also depends on my mood one. RM10!

RM15. This is very new to me…….so might as well experiment abit lah. Hope nobody laughed at me when I wore this.

RM15! I didn’t really feel this one, but a black something is always wise.

RM13 flowery skirts!! I love this and the price too!!

I liked it so much that I even bought another skirt in a different design. The sequinned top is about RM25.

One of my better purchases! Rm18!!!!

This one not so clever… was Rm22 and I stupidly paid for it.

And got it in purple too. -_-

And on to my great big love…SHOES!!!
These were RM39 but it’s not often I can find this type for this price.

As for this, it is something that I’ve never ever seen before! Thai silk glads, GRAB! With ribbons somemore!
RM25 I think.

Crochet sandals..for RM20. With bells too!

Some decent pumps for lab sessions. Very sweet too. RM25.

These are RM35 because they are rather unique. So feminine, right?

This is what Jesse gave me at the airport. It’s some dentistry souvenirs from his university! Apparently, second year students usually design some souvenirs to be sold to the freshmen to raise funds. Can you see that each character is a tooth?

Tooth!

It’s just an empty exercise book inside. A very clever idea!

He gave me a keychain from his university as well.

And here are my guilty pleasures just before I left Bangkok.

Okay, do comment coz I want to know how many of you are still awake/alive after spending a part of your life reading this.