Hong Kong, here I come...

Today is my last day in office, for 2011...
Yeah, am still HERE, in office at 8pm. Trying to finish some stuffs before I go home to pack...

Yeah! Finally, one more short break before the New Year with New Challenges begins...

I am going to Hong Kong, with my ol' friends. Friends from school..., friends from hometown.
We had amazing trip together in Bali, two-years ago....
Hope we have the same this time too.

But I think..., this trip will be more expensive than the Bali's..... coz Hong Kong is NOT CHEAP!

Hope all of us shall enjoy then. Shall write more when am back...

Meanwhile.... Happy New Year to all my friends. Hope this year had been a good one for you, and next year shall be better.

The planning starts..

After gotten the keys to our home., its time for planning.

We just wanted a simple renovation. But turns out, what we wanted was not considered "simple renovation"...

Ooooh uuuh....

So now, we trying to "simplified" it, yet achieve what we want..

What we want ah? Well., below are some of the list..

1 - Kitchen.., a simple yet functional? I always like spacious and functional kitchen.. So, we had agreed to put that as our priority. -Moreover, how can we move in without proper kitchen, right?

2 - Knock down our living hall's wall.., so that we can have the island type of counter top built with cabinets underneath and at the back as "new wall"

3 - Extend the toilet for our master bedroom... J says the toilet is "too small"

4 - Door from master bedroom to the balcony..

5 - Grille to corner-up the slab so that it became a balcony (J has an even bigger & ambitious idea.., but I told him to do something simple, and add-on later...)

6 - Grille up all the windows.., security reason. I personally do not like the grille's idea... Feels like its "grilled-up"... But oh well, practicality is more important I guess...

7 - And of coz, wardrobe... Just a normal one. Can't find space to do my all-time-dream's walk-in-wardrobe... Sob sob sob., how sad. :(

And more.., but those need to wait., and shall be on "Phase 2".

We are identifying "potential" contractors now... Getting quotations to be compared... Wonder how big the burned whole will be....?

But of course, before we can start on all these.., we got to do a check on the "defective list" first, and pass back to the Developer..You know, like QA your house.. This task, I had assigned it to J. He "supposingly" to be an expert on this area.

Btw, you guys shall be "bombarded" with my experience on these whole thing at this space., coz am going to use it to keep myself and you guys updated on the progress.

Wish me luck... :)
It is fun, yet could be tiring I foresee....

Christmas Gift from US for US

Finally, the keys to our new home came yesterday.

Just in time for Christmas.

Oh well, no, we are not moving in so soon. Got to do some renovation....

Can you hear the sound.. "Ka Ching! Ka Ching! Ka Ching!....."

Sounds of monies going out of our bank account.....

Robot @ Work..

Watching my robot work..

Verdict : not sure yet...

Fish Feast!

One person One fish... That's the tagline of this restaurant.

So, we follow..., and ordered 9 fishes for 9 of us...

Verdict : hmmmm... not bad, but I had better fish... But, great companion.

Last month of the year....

Time flies... and we have less than 30-days to say goodbye to 2011.

As usual, as human, we like to wait till last minute...

Suddenly, we start asking ourselves..., what had we done this year? Had we done enough? Did we achieve what we target for this year?

Let's see if I achieved anything this year..

I think for business, am not doing enough or great this year. Got to work harder.

As for personal, I think I achieved much... or rather, I should say, am blessed.

I bought house with J, and "strengthen" our relationship in many ways...

Am happier... though sometimes he still can find ways to irritates me.

I did a 9-days hiking trip in Nepal. I cut my hair much shorter than my typical bob...

Bought my first DSLR.....

What else.... hmmmmmpppph..... I guess its time to start thinking about what I want to achieve for next year then....

Budding Photographer...

Since I am a freshie on DSLR, I signed up for Lumix's Workshop recently. Paid RM50 for it, and it was held in KL Bird Park. They made the RM50 worth by giving you back 2 x 2GB memory card and also feed you with foods....

I just came back from the workshop, and am proud of myself. Why? This is why....
I won the best shot of the day, for Wildlife category. There were 3 categories.., macro, wildlife and model.

Yeah! I was surprise too., though happy and proud. This is my winning photo.

I am really freshie.... and learnt a few "tricks" and "tips" on how to take nicer photos., and how to handle the camera better....

Overall, all I can say... its a good workshop. Relaxing and Fun.

Never lie to a kid..

I just have to share this story..

First part of the story happened many months ago, at least 6-months ago.

It was just another weekend, and I went to Raju @ Jalan Gasing for breakfast with family. I dropped them off @ Raju first, and I can't find place to park, so I parked far far away, at grassy patch in front of a bungalow.

Then, when we walked back to the car.., my eldest nephew asked me.."Xiao ee, why park so far....??"
I casually answered him.."I parked in front of my house ma... My house so far away.."

Few weeks later, I was talking to my sister (can't recall what was it about anyway...), then my nephew said.."I can have my birthday party at Xiao ee's big house.."
So I told him.."But I haven't got the keys to my house.."
Guess what he answered..."No, not the one near your office..., but the one near Raju!"
I was stunned.... And I explained to him that I was joking, and that was not my house. Then he said.."But I told my best friend that my Xiao ee have 3 houses"
I was speechless....

Then, this happened last weekend while I was out of town.

My eldest brother brought my nephews and mum for breakfast @ Raju. Then my brother can't find a place to park.....

Guess what my smart nephew said...

"Go park at Xiao ee's house!"

Seriously, I don't know how to explain to him that THAT house is NOT mine!

My very first DSLR

Finally, I succumbed to the frenzy of DSLR. I always like the nice photos taken from DSLR.., but never really go into it.

One of the reason is cost I guess.., I think it is an expensive hobby.

When the "mini-DSLR" came out, it kinda hit on me. I like the size, and like the fact that I can get good quality photo from it, and its small enough to be carried around.

Well, it still big, compared to the point-and-shoot camera... but, it is smaller than the real DSLR.

"Ass-itch" (translate to Hokkien and you should get the meaning), and I walked into the camera shop today. And, there it goes.... there goes my RMXXXX! Well, I don't want to share how much I spent here, else, I will get an earful from few people....

Here... this is my new Lumix GF2! Yeah, it is in RED, my favorite color..  How can I resist, right? To make sure its worth my "investment", I promise to fully utilize it, and take tones of photos....

Wedding Bells....

For those who get excited seeing the title..., hold on there.

Yeah, wedding bells are ringing around me.., but its not MINE. Well, not yet.

Recently, a close friend announced to me and a group of close friend, via email, that she is getting ROM in about a month. The power of EMAIL huh....

Of coz, all very excited, and also congratulates her.., via EMAIL.

I accompanied her to research on wedding bands today.., and I just realized.. GOSH! Its no-cheap! Seriously, wedding is really not cheap ohhhhhhh.......

Then, yesterday, I got another "wedding-invitation", via BBM! (Blackberry Messager la...)

One of my business partner messaged me via BBM and told me that he is getting married this coming 11-11-11 and am invited to attend his wedding. (power of digital-communication huh...)

I was like.... eh.., harlow., I see you almost everyday, and you informed me like... so last minute?

I actually had a prior plan... to go diving. Live-On-Board some more.... Dive + Eat!

Oh well, in view of our close relationship, I got to opt to attend his wedding instead of Diving....

So happy for both of them. Shall update more with pictures soon...

Me and my new hairstyle

Bought Groupon voucher, which offered very good deal, and surprisingly great stylist too.

I am happy with my new hairstyle., and glad that I let the stylist cut it short for me.

Happy happy happy....... No more my boring bob for now....

Spider-webbed, Again?

I almost forgotten my blog's password when I logged in earlier. My last entry was sent via my mobile; and I had been blogging a bit through my mobile., so probably that explained why I almost forgotten my password.

I have lots of things in my mind that I want to share, but sometimes, when I sit down and write, the mind just goes blank on me.

Is this sign of aging? I hope not.., coz am still young, right? No..?

What I have been up to lately..? Hmmmmmm

I think I over-traveled this year (another one more trip upcoming end of this year...)

I had been to Nepal, Krabi, Koh Lanta, Bangkok and next Hong Kong.....

I also had been to two diving trips this year.

I got to work harder cause I can really see my saving is depleting.... that I almost can't see it anymore..

*Sob*Sob*Sob*

Will write more soon....

My WetSuit

Finally, I got my wet suit and "tank-banger"
Ready to use it on my next dive.

Yummy Soon Hock..

Don't be mistaken, I didn't spell it wrongly... and nope, its not my brother's name swapped over...

Soon Hock is a type of fish, which is very yummy and its market rate fetching almost RM100 / KG.

For the first time in my life., and I had a chance to taste it early this week. J was very lucky and caught one that weigh almost one kilo..

To add to that honor, J decided to COOK it himself. This is the second time he cook fish that he caught himself.... He said, its too good a fish to be passed to the shop to cook.

Fine by me, no complain.

Verdict : Best fish I ever tasted!

Yesterday, TODAY, Tomorrow....

I saw this in a forum today, and it just makes me ponder....


"Between Yesterday’s MISTAKES...and Tomorrow’s HOPE...there lies a fantastic opportunity...that is TODAY!!!...life never provides Warranties and Guarantees… only Possibilities & Opportunities!... so we must be alert always...and work on today’s possibilities…"


We were always told not to ponder the past..... not to keep looking at yesterday's mistakes..
But, do not forget, it was mistakes that we made in the past made us a stronger and brighter person today.


Yes, we should try to forgive and forget others mistakes, but I think, we should remember our own mistakes, so that we don't repeat it again.


I always tell my team, its Okay to make mistake... but don't repeat it! 


About tomorrow, I think yes, we should always look forward tomorrow (and future). I always believe in this.., if we don't plan, we plan to fail. Anyway, its always easier say than do. Its frustrating when we plan.., but things don't happen according to what we want, right? But my advice, plan it anyway.... and try to make sure it happen.


How about TODAY? Some people feels their "today" is too long.., some felt its never enough hours in a day.... Well, coz most of us, spent our TODAY thinking about what happened yesterday..., and what's going to happen tomorrow...Hence, there goes most of the hours in our TODAY. So, how do we handle it then...? Hmmmm, how about do a long term plan (so you don't need to do planning on daily basis?) And stop harping on what had happened? With that, you have more time to do what you want to do, TODAY.


So, my philosophy.... : always plan for tomorrow and future, but never forget about mistakes that we did yesterday, and remember to enjoy TODAY. Life's short, Enjoy and Appreciate it...


Remember, life never provides warranties & guarantees, but possibilities and opportunities!

CLEAN...

Is our country "cleaner" after today?

My opinion about today's rally?

Its not the demonstrators fault at all... everyone just want to make a statement.

Its not their fault that they go out, representing a bigger group of people whom didn't.

Its not their fault that the roads are closed or jam....

Whose fault it is then? I think its how the whole thing is handled. Why is the authority being such a coward and needed to hide behind the Police?

Why make the policemen block the road and jam up the country? Spray the tear gas to the public? Spray water..?

Do they realized how much monies are lost, for the retailer in the city especially?

All because they do not want to listen to the people. Just learn to LISTEN and it will make you a better leader.

"A Leader is Responsible for its Team's action" - my believe -

Is Malaysia a Democratic Country?

I love living in this country.

Why?

1 - I grew up here.
2 - My family & friends are here. And these matter, because they are part of my life.
3 - I am comfortable here?

Many people had asked me before.., do I prefer Singapore or Malaysia?

I used to live & work in Singapore for few years, hence the reason of comparison.

I always tell people that I prefer Malaysia. Malaysian practices a more balanced life. Malaysia is full of colors.

Am I right or am I wrong?

Recently, with the hoo-haa on the upcoming rally etc... , I looked at the way our government handled the situation..., it seemed like we are not in a democratic country.

Why do I say that... Honestly, what's so wrong with listening to the people? What's so wrong in wanting a transparent and better practice?

Don't our PM have a better PR people to help him handle this? I think their PR with the people is in such a mess now....

With all these going on.., I really wonder if our country is really a democratic one that we claimed to?

The older generation are actually worried about this upcoming rally.... they worried it will be another May 13th....

My mum and J's mum asked us to stock up on food...... Seriously, do we need to?

OWC....

I wonder if OWC aka Obedient Wife Club realize which era are they living in?

I overheard bits of heated discussion within few parties, rep from OWC included over BFM recently..

I just find it unbelievable..... I mean, wonder if their members are from this era...

Go and download this Podcast if you guys want to have laugh or.... whatever.

http://www.bfm.my/evening-edition-obedient-wives-club-6-july-2011.html

NG Boleh oh!

I went to Maldives.....

A friend went to Maldives for her honeymoon recently... and "brought" me along...

Before she left, she asked me to send her a photo of myself.., and she will have something special for me from Maldives...

I was wondering what was it... and she uploaded this on FB today...

LOL!

I asked her to give a free trip to one of her friends.., and her answer was... "Wait for me to get some monies from Uncle Lim first..."

Are you ready?

I had coffee with a friend recently, and we had a chat. As usual, she is concerned about my future. Seemed like lots of my friends/family/relatives are concern about me being not-married at this age.

So this friend asked... "Now you guys had bought a place together, so what's next? Getting married soon?"

Well.., I don't really know what to answer her... coz, deep inside, I don't really know what I want.

Do I want to get married soon? Yes? Maybe? Not sure?

Honestly, I really not sure!

Certain days, I think I do... certain days, I scared to lost my "freedom" (even though we are living together now.., am not really "obligated" to tell J where I go etc... )

I don't know... I think being together, living together is way different than MARRIED TOGETHER, right?

Am I thinking too much? Or is it its the "buying-house-together" that gets onto me?

For now.., let's focus on one thing at a time....

We are actually very excited about the new house.. we had started our plan on what to renovate, what to buy etc... and trust me, the amount of monies we need to spend.., scare both of us.....

Does Companies get "Stupider" when they GROW???

Stupid MAS Wings (wholly-owned company of MAS) spoilt my day early in the morning. (this post was written few days ago..)

Let me share the scenario.... and also hence why the title of my post...

My tech manager is in East Malaysia for quarterly preventive maintenance for a client. So, as usual, schedule is always planned, and its very tight. So, there's no room for FLIGHT CANCELLATION or CHANGE OF TIME.

Oh well, but, MAS WINGS managed to do that. And, guess what, he supposed to fly at 10am from Tawau to Sandakan. And, at 8.45am, MAS WINGS messaged him and informed him about the flight cancellation!
For God sake, he was already in airport by then; and walking towards the check-in counter!

Guess what's their offer to the cancellation? I spoken to the counter person (my colleague was so pissed that he called me, and let me talk to that guy... )

The stupid guy told me these:-

Our contract / responsibility is only to bring you from Point A to Point B.
And, there are only 2 options now:-
1 - We give you taxi voucher to take you from Sandakan to Tawau
2 - You wait for 5pm's flight.

Problems are:-
1 - My tech manager have a connecting flight from Sandakan to KK at 3pm via Air Asia.
2 - He need to visit a customer site BEFORE the flight.

So I told Mr A, the stupid guy at the counter.... "Fine, you get him to Point B, as promised time, before 11am! "

Guess what's his response?

You only have these two choices, if you want to complain, complain to our Management.!

And I told him, Okay, I will. And, btw, you are working for the most useless airlines!

Now, why my post tittle...
A taxi ride from Tawau to Sandakan will cost them RM350, and its payable to THIRD PARTY. So, if they had allowed my colleague to change his ticket from Tawau direct to KK., it cost them ALMOST NOTHING!

So, they rather throw away their RM350, and at the same time get a very unhappy customer. (Actually not only one unhappy customer... they forgotten about the power of SOCIAL MEDIA!).

Yoga, here I come!

I been wanting to try it.., but as usual, been dragging my ass...
Finally, my ass got lighter and I make appointment to attend the 1st trial class this evening.
Oooohhhhh... Finally, I got a taste of what is "restorative" yoga. Stretch punya stretch.... I survived the 1-hour class, sweating!
Actually, am amazed... I mean, I never knew that stretching can really make you sweat so much!
Okay, am not trying to exaggerate here, but my shoulder do feel better.., not as stiff as this afternoon.
And.... I signed up for a one-month-unlimited class.., which I plan to attend the morning class, everyday!
Wish me luck!

Chitwan National Park

After the 9-days trek, we chilled out at this national park, watching animals...

We were lucky to spot numbers of them.. especially Sloth bear which were rarely spotted. And we saw a couple of them... cuddling and playing with each other.

It was a 5-sec experience and we didn't manage to capture it on our camera.; but nevertheless, we managed to capture it in our memory... they were so cute.

Here, some of them that we managed to capture in camera..

The nicest & cleanest room in Nepal that we stayed in.

And that marked the end of our trip in Chitwan..., before taking an 8-hour bus ride on a bus similar to our bus-sekolah back to Kathmandu....

The FISH died standing..

Burnt Chips!

Do you know that chips can start the fire in BBQ?
Well, J knew about it, but totally forgotten about that.; and this is the result..



















He almost burnt the toaster!
How did this happen? Well, the chips we bought gotten a bit soft.., so I was complaining about it.


He, decided to "toast" it a bit to make it crunchier....
In few mins.... This is the result..


And it was BURNING when he took it out from the toaster!
I panicked and didn't capture the burning photos....

So, remember.., NEVER TOAST YOUR CHIPS, unless you want to start fire...

A Pen to Seal it?

Got a stack of Loan Agreement to sign. The lawyer even attached a pen with it for us to sign...
I find it very thoughtful and funny at the same time... :p

Journey to Ananpurna Base Camp - Part 3

Map on trek..; all described using pictures, so no miscommunication.. ;)

One of the thing that I enjoyed most on the trek was, meeting people.

We met a group of nice Czech's family, son-in-law whom travelled with the parents-in-law...
It was nice to see that a son in law can be so close to the father in law...
After chatting with them, only then we realized, they were friends before the son-in-law courted the daughter....

Then, an old French couple whom had trekked more parts of the world than any three of us. Though they are already in their 70s, but they are still STRONG! They are planning to come to Malaysia soon too.., and I shall be their host.

Finally, of coz, our nice porters; whom carried our bags without any complain and also our Guide whom handle all our needs during the trek. Nice people.

Me, proudly standing on Poon Hill @ 3210M. This is the place where I almost gave up!

That's all for the 9-days-trek on ABC. Next post shall be about Chitwan National Park...

Save like a Malaysian

I saw a friend posted this on her FB, and find it interesting.

Save-Like-A-Malaysian

Do we, Malaysian, really saved enough? OR, does the writer actually only see a very small percentage of Malaysian?

I am not trying to be racist here..., but I do think, some race know the need to save, because we know that we are not supported by the Government. 

BUT, there are also race (i rather not spell it out here..) that don't save. They don't care, coz they know the Government will take care of them.; right? Probably not as pampered as the Brits.., but still? 

I better remind myself to work harder and start saving... or at least invest... 

Journey to Ananpurna Base Camp - Part 2

There were so much I saw during the trek that it was overwhelming. Everything seemed to be so pretty there.

Here, flowers & plants I saw...

Animals I saw...

Terrains we walked on...

Journey to Ananpurna Base Camp - Part 1

Its been almost a month since I came back from Nepal. Finally, here I am, get my ass seated and blog about it, before I forget the details of the trip.

I took about 3-weeks off work for this trip.

This was the summary of my travel itinerary.

KUL - BKK - Kathmandu - Pokhara - Ananpurna Trek - Pokhara - Chitwan National Park - Kathmandu - BKK - KUL

But for now, am going to blog about the 9-days trek on Ananpurna.
Well, lots of friends asked me, whether is the trek difficult?
I think its not tough, its not so much about stamina (though its nice to have that), but more about mental. I almost give up during my trek up Poon Hill (to watch sunrise at 5am).
But am glad that I didn't give up, and just keep going on.

I travelled with EJ & LS for this trip. We didn't kill each other at the end of the trip, so, I think we are compatible traveling partners. ;)
The Immigration Officer even stamped me & EJ's passport on the SAME PAGE as where we got our stamp for Europe's  trip.

The highest point we went up was about 4,130M and that's Ananpurna Base Camp.

Here, tonnes of photos to tell the story. Let's the journey begins...

At the beginning of the trek

Let's start with FOOD, the most important element in all my travels.

Different type of breads served on trek.

Typical local food : Momo (which became LS' fav food, and she ordered it almost EVERY DAY) & Dhal Bath (local ate this as frequent as we eat our rice... Ya, Daily Basis.)

Yummy Korean noodle at the height of 3,700M. Instant noodle never tasted so good!

Now, ROOM that we stayed in. Mostly were pretty decent, except, its "acceptable" that you can hear everyone's conversation, or even their SNORE. 

One of the night, I can REALLY hear one of our neighbor snore, as if I was sharing the same BED with him! And LS actually can feel when her "neighbor" tossed around. 

And, one of the room had RAT that bitten our bag and ate our food, while another one caused us had a "catch-the-cockroach-frenzy", and I sprayed a quarter can of Ridsect on it! 

Cozy sleeping bag was my best sleeping companion during this trek. Thanks to J for lending me this nice & comfy bag.

Now, the beautiful MOUNTAINS we saw throughout the trek..

First glimpse of the mountains, from the "flying bus" aka plane.

The Flying Bus that we took from Kathmandu to Pokhara.

And, here, Ananpurna Base Camp, the highest point we conquered.