Happy Chinese New Year 2012!

Hiya!

Just wanted to wish all my readers, especially those who are also celebrating this holiday:

I had honestly meant to do a eCard for Christmas and New Year's, but time got away from me in the end ^^;;;

Happy Holidays to those of you who are lucky enough to get public holidays :)

Happy Chinese New Year!

I am absolutely thrilled to finally be home and celebrating Chinese New Year with my family! It'll be the first time I'm celebrating CNY in about 5 years, excluding this one time my friends and I had a mini yee-sang and steamboat party in my 2nd year room at Concord.

Soooo..... Since I'll be kind of busy this weekend, what with the Eve of CNY tomorrow and the first day of CNY on Sunday, I thought I'd just post an early:

GONG XI FA CAI!May the Year of the Tiger bring you prosperity!

Ehehe. Speaking of tigers, I'm thinking of creating a tiger (or cat) themed outfit for this year, much like xiner did, now that the year of the tiger is about to start. (FYI, the year of the Tiger doesn't start until CNY - the weeks before that are still considered as the "tail" of the year of the Cow)

Aaaaaand, speaking of kimono.... I know my mum said I could buy a kimono if the Jakarta trip went well. But, well... My mum bought me this bag from Coach's 2010 Valentine's Gifts collection, so I won't be getting a new kimono anytime soon ^^;



Sorry to disappoint, but the bag is just too cute!! And wonderfully big and convenient too ^^; I think I'll be trying to come up with an outfit that will match this bag ehehhehe~

Toodles, people!~

Happy New Year!

Just a quick one to say...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

My family and I went to Sage for New Year's Eve dinner, but we didn't stay for the countdown. Instead, we went to a friend's house, where we saw fireworks dangerously upclose. We're all sooty now! Haha. Was planning to wear a kimono outfit for the dinner, but now I'm really glad I didn't.

Am tired. G'night people! Have a nice holiday :)

Happy Christmas!

Hi everyone! I just wanted to say..



HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!
May your dreams be merry and bright~


Happy holidays, too, everyone! ^_^

Just a small update, since I'm too excited over it to wait till later to post..:

Yesterday, I was hit with a sudden urge to buy wigs and what-not to achieve that incredibly cute head-of-curls look that the girls in the Gothic Lolita Bible have.

Today, I was wandering around a shopping mall during my lunch hour when I found a shop that sold clip on ponytail extensions! O_O I stopped by to have a look and bought a couple immediately, as it was quite a nice quality for a decent price (RM60!).

Once I got home, I had to try them on. I didn't put on any of my loli clothes, so please excuse the not-loli top ^^;;

The result:







What do you think? I think I should tie the ponytails a little higher and hide the straight hair parts, but I'm still rather happy with the result!! XD XD

Btw I'm still sorting through my UK/Paris trip pics. I'll try to upload them as soon as I can! ^_^

Ta~

Pangkor Laut Resort: Part 4

Okay, this should be the last entry! :D After this, I'll update about my Singapore trip ehehehe.

So! Second half of second day :D

After our spa treatment, we went back to our rooms for a short while to change clothes, then headed out again for our private sunset cruise around the island. On our way to Marina Bay, we bumped into another island pet, the male peacock! :D

Isn't he preeeeeettyyyyyyy!

*coughs* So yeah. At about 6.15pm, we boarded this junk (yes, that really is what it's called!) for our private cruise.

There was a nicer-looking boat nearby, but from what we heard and saw, the experience on that boat was nowhere near as nice.

My whole family headed for the "upstairs" part of the boat (I wanted to call it the "upper deck" but I'm not sure if I'm right). There are a couple of beach chairs on it, as well as a cushioned area for sitting around and enjoying the ride. Here's me with my parents in the cushioned area:


And here's my brother on one of the beach chairs:

We were laughing alot about this photo - we were joking about how he could act like the brat he is (the brats we all are, actually) and say that this is what he did for his summer holiday! "This is me, on our private sunset cruise around the private island we were staying on" :P

If you're wondering about the drink he's holding, a little while into the boat ride, we were served drinks and delicious seafood canapes. Service is good when you're there with Auntie S ;)

Here's a couple of pictures we took of the island! This is Emerald Bay:


This is the private beach that four of the estates open out to:

We also took pics of the helipad but it didn't seem like much in the picture, so I'm not posting it :D

When the cruise was over, we hurried on to our rooms to get changed for dinner, which was at The Straits. (I had meant to wear yukata to this dinner, but it was so hot I couldn't bear even thinking about it!!)


There is a dress code you have to follow to be able to enter the restaurant, which essentially forbids beachwear and very casual clothing. It is, of course, one of the more expensive restaurants there, but once again, since it was Auntie S arranging everything, we got the prime seats of the restaurant. It wasn't till later that we found out why - they had closed the restaurant to the other guests so we could dine privately and exclusively!

Here is a picture of how the restaurant looks like with my mum sitting in place (please ignore the bad pic - lighting was horrid till I requested that they turn on the lights :P):

The seats are actually in private little cubbies (they sit 3 to 4 each, but we made them squeeze 6 of us in) that overlooks Marina Bay, and are built over the beach. When we were sitting there, we could see the shoreline and all the little crabs running around on the sand! It was also very pretty when the tide came in, and the water came closer to us. Very peaceful, very pretty and very full of mosquitoes. Do ask for a mosquito coil from the waiters the moment you get there! :D

Since I was good the past few posts and not put up any pictures of food, I thought I'd torture you for a moment now :P Here's a picture of my favourite course, which is fresh tempura barramundi with a sweet basil sauce. Mmmmmmm~~


I think that they should've ended the dinner with the dessert then, but there was another course of lamb shank that was really too much to eat! But the dessert was fantastic: pandan (screwpine) layer cake, which is a classic Malaysian cake. My whole family, cousins and all, grew up eating this cake. Of course, this one is very much fancier than the everyday stuff, but as long as the taste is good, I don't care! :D Here's a picture:


After the dinner, we remembered to collect our dried batiks from reception. Here's my sister and I in our room, happily showing our creations off! :D


We spent the rest of the night looking for crabs on the beach and playing cards in the library :D It was fun! (Of course, we did eventually return to our rooms to shower and sleep!)

The next day, we had the same breakfast we did on Saturday, before heading back to the mainland and going home.

And then, it was over :/ But it was a very good holiday! :) I can't wait to go again, if I ever get the chance! XD

If any of you, my readers, do go there, please please please let me know so we can gush together! XD

Alright, I'm going to go to bed now. Goodnight!!

Pangkor Laut Resort: Part 3

I am baaaack from Singapore! :D I shopped alot and spent lots of money! *phew*

Actually, I'd typed out this post on Tuesday, and was planning to post it on Wednesday at work, but it was really hectic, trying to finish up a project before I left for Singapore (just barely managed to do my part) so I didn't have time. Oh well! It's here now :D

To continue from my last post:

On Saturday the 18th of July, the day dawned not so brightly and clearly. Still, we got up cheerily and headed for breakfast at Feast Village - which, by the way was really good. After having some very very delicious roti canai and dahl, we split ways - my siblings and Rommel went to the beach, while my parents and I went back to our rooms to rest and read respectively.

For lunch, we headed back to Emerald Bay for a banana leaf rice lunch. While waiting for lunch to be served, my mum and I went to the Batik Hut on the beach and shopped a little. My sister soon came by, and since we wanted to try our hands at batik painting, we took up the lessons that were being offered at RM50 per person.

The guy who runs the batik hut was really nice! First, he showed us examples of what we could paint, then he told us to draw on our canvases with pencils first, so that we could correct any mistakes. We had to leave for lunch soon after finishing our drawings, but he was nice enough to wait for us :)

After our sort of good, sort of weird, definitely overly abundant lunch, we rushed back to the hut to finish our paintings before our spa appointments. The Batik guy guided us through every step, giving us tips and pointers on how to do everything nicely XD

This is my sister trying her hand at batik painting. Here, she is tracing on the hot wax that stops the dye colours from mixing with each other. This is what gives batik its patterns and multi-coloured effect.

Sadly, we could only do the wax thing one at a time, and since my sister started painting her canvas straightaway after painting on the wax, there was no one to take pics of me doing anything :/

Anyway! Here's my sister's newly finished batik painting! It's a really cute and bright butterfly with flowers in the background XD


And this is my newly finished painting, which features some funky seaweed and a fish. I was going to do more stuff, and better (for example, there was supposed to be a seabed and sparkly dots in the seaweed), but we really had to rush, so this is all I could do :/ But I'm still quite happy with it! XD


We just barely managed to finish it on time, and left our canvases there to dry while we went for our spa appointment.

We are waiting for our appointment to begin:


The entrance to the spa bath area:


We obviously couldn't take our cameras into the spa, so for pictures, I'm afraid you'll just have to content yourself with the fact that yes, it really does look like the photos on the website XD

What we did:
1) First, our feet were cleaned and given a short massage.

2) We were taken into the bathing areas, segregated by gender, and changed into the pareos they provide and put on you.

3) We headed to the wishing well and made a wish before tossing a coin in.

4) We walked through a cold pool with a fountain, which was a Malay thing. Apparently, it was to mimic taking a bath in a river.

5) There was a small area where we smelled the scents of four different types of smoke, like chrysanthemum.

6) Next, we were taken to a little bathhouse, where we showered Japanese-style (sitting on a stool in front of the shower heads).

7) Once we were clean, we were led out the other side of the bathhouse for a dip in their Japanese onsen.

8) Two at a time (we were joined by another lady), we each went through a Shanghai body scrub. Here we finally towelled dry and changed into new pareos that were given to us as gifts.

9) Finally, we had our massages. My mum, brother and sister had Balinese massages, I had a Malay massage (the softest one since I bruise too easily) and Rommel had the Hawaiian massage.

The spa was gooooooood. Very relaxing. I felt like a limp noodle when they were done with me XD I want to go for another spa treatment again!!! Ehehehe.

Okay, I've rambled on and on enough for now. I'll update with the second half of Day 2 sometime soon :D

Pangkor Laut Resort: Part 2

To continue from where I left off last time:

After exploring the island and swimming (or lounging around) for a bit, Rommel, my siblings and I all went to Emerald Bay on the other side of the island to explore the beach and wait for dinner to start.

(Okay, so there actually are other beaches on the island, and alot of them around the residential area, but those have sea urchins in them, and Emerald Bay is the one that's considered safe for swimming)

We immediately threw our stuff on the beach chairs and ran to the sea. This is my brother walking along the shoreline.


I don't really like to touch sea water, so I decided to look for seashells rather than swim.


My sister and her boyfriend went to lounge around on the beach chairs while I explored the beach as thoroughly as I could. They managed to take this really nice photo, which would've been romantic if it weren't for the fact that it was my brother and I in it LOL.


Soon after that, it was time for dinner. Auntie S had arranged for us to have a private barbecue dinner on the beach.


We had loads of food! We had steak, potatoes, chicken, crabs prawns, lobsters.... Mmmm lobsters! Those were really really good, even if they did trigger my sister's and my allergic reactions XD

What I found really nice was that after the dinner, the assistant manager of the place, who was kind of like our host, told us all to take our cameras and wine glasses out onto the more open areas of the beach and wait. Soon enough, there was a fireworks show, which they held specially as a surprise for us!! :D It was so nice of them! Hehehe.

After the lovely fireworks and a few more drinks, the whole group (there were about 20 of us) went to Auntie S's place. Her family was staying at one of the Estates, which are exactly as they sound: estates. Basically, it's an area that you rent as your living space for however long, and comes with 3 or 4 villas, a jacuzzi, a dining room, a gazebo, and a private pool, all for your own use. Three of the estates also have a private beach of their own. Obviously, they are reeaaaally expensive.

We stayed around the maybe overly luxurious estate for a while, even taking a dip in the swimming pool before we went back to our rooms, showered and went to bed.

And so ended our first day in Pangkor Laut Resort!

I will update the next part as soon as I can, but I'm going to Singapore tomorrow on a business trip so I will not be able to access internet till Saturday. Still, I hope you guys will enjoy the pictures and all for now! ^_^

Pangkor Laut Resort: Part 1

On Friday, my family and I went to Pangkor Laut Resort for a weekend trip. My mum's friend, Auntie S, had organized this trip, so it was really relaxing as everything was already taken care of! :)

We arrived at Auntie S's place at 7.45am that morning, and were soon boarding the hired bus that would take us to Lumut. I can't say much about the drive - I slept all 4 hours it took us to drive there. :P

Now, normally, we would have to check in into the hotel on the mainland or on Pangkor Island before taking a junk or ferry to Pangkor Laut Resort, which is on a private island. However, since Auntie S works for the company that owns this resort, we didn't have to check in and instead went to the Yachting Club on the mainland to avoid the crowds in the check in building.

We also got to use two of the company's new speedboats to get to the island, which cut off a third of the travelling time to get to the island! It was really cool :D

My sister enjoying the ride :D


The Marina Bay of Pangkor Laut Resort.

It's actually really safe on the island, because only staff and guests are allowed on the island. There are occasionally boats from the nearby Pangkor Island that come to see the "rich ppl's hotel", but they're not allowed to dock there except in cases of emergency. Also, there is little danger of pirates as there is a naval base nearby.

We were served lunch at Feast Village as soon as we arrived. It appeared oddly empty then, but it wasn't until later that we found out that usually, Feast Village isn't open for lunch. However, as it was Auntie S who arranged it all, they let us dine there for her.

Straight after the very delicious lunch, we were all shown to our rooms by usherers. My family got the Garden Villas, as it was my mum's and sister's preferences. My sister and I shared a room! :)

This is me, right after settling in:


There is a cosy little couch that faces our bed: my sister claimed it as her knitting bay :P


Our room has a balcony with a sitting area, which faces the swimming pool, a small part of the gardens and the beach. It was really peaceful, just sitting there and reading!


After settling in, we got changed into our swimsuits and easy-to-get-out-of clothes before exploring the island. (Yes, it's me again :P I'm at the door to our room)


First, we explored the main areas, and went up to the Hill Villas area to have a look at the view:


On the way down, we stopped by Jim Thompson's and saw this really cute female peacock outside! :D


We had passed by the hotel library on the way up, but we took a picture of it on the way back to reception. This picture isn't that great. The library is really much nicer than this, especially with the beds for lounging in! I'll have to steal better photos off my sister's old pics of the place.


Then we headed to the shuttle terminal to await a van. All around the island, there are vans driving by every few minutes. These vans pick up the guests and bring them to wherever they want to around the island. They stop mainly at terminals in each point of interest. This one here is the one at reception:


We headed to the Spa Village to book our appointments for the next day. Rather than taking the van again for such a short distance, we decided to walk to our rooms instead.

This pavilion is where yoga sessions are held every morning and afternoon:


Walking along the Sea Villas, which are villas that are built on stilts right on top of the water....:


Me, walking along again :P I was particularly attracted to pretty rock formations that day. I'm not entirely sure why! Hahaha.


Once we were back around the swimming pool area, Rommel/Pot (sister's bf), my mum and I lounged around the Royal Beach Bay Club with drinks and some chips while my dad, brother and sister swam. Later on, we prepared to go to Emerald Bay Beach for abit of exploration and a beach barbecue dinner.

That will be part 2, coming up soon! :D