The One with the Numbers

It feels so weird typing 2010 when I signed off/state dates on the diary.

It used to be a family affair when we were young, where my sisters and I would take the opportunity to bribe our parents to buy junkies from the mall for a little celebration in front of the TV in our living room (no typical celebration in my small town).

Then, when I went overseas, things started to change when my host-family made a huge fuss and celebrated the New Year in a very different/cultural way.

If I don't remember telling you this, my Spanish encounter back in the year 2000 during New Year's was that each of us had 7 little grapes in a small tea cup. In the last 7 seconds of the year coming to an end, we were suppose to eat 1 grape for each second. After the last grape, we were suppose to jump forward in action to signify going into the new year.

It was a very fun affair when people like me with a grape too big for the mouth and munch like a turtle, it was kind of a struggle when you would end up having all 7 grapes in your mouth and having to jump at the same time when you realise the time does fly that fast!

Years in college and universities and even in the early twenties, celebrations were done in the partying mode. We would want to go somewhere and have a huge party. Dinners from the scale of typical mamak stalls (students not much splurging power yet) to drinking at the club.

This year, going into the mid-twenties of my lifetime, my good friends and I find ourselves having a cozy dinner at a lifestyle cafe to fit our photo-taking abilities as well as our taste buds.



Yep, our friend JC made reservations for us at Fullhouse @ Ara Damansara - the near dead town in this busy city. So weird.

The cafe, ironically to its name, it's always full house. Probably due to the nice food and beautiful decorations in the cafe, which entitles them to the concept of a Lifestyle Cafe.



The Cod with mashed potatoes was my main course that night. :)


After catching up over dinner about the do's and don'ts for Siao Yu's wedding on the 2nd of January (tomorrow!), we went around the cafe, very much to Liew's despair as he had to sit alone at the table watching some of our bags. *thank you*




Then, MayJune took out her work of art, a present for Siao Yu, which she spent 2 nights assembling. I thought it is so very cute and beautiful!



Don't you call that the most precise and beautiful thing one could ever laid eyes on? Made from scratch OK! *salute*





As we do not prefer the cramp places with the New Year's eve crowd, a few of us spent the rest of the night welcoming the New Year on Sharon's balcony. We thought it was one of the best places to just stand and admire the beauty of light from many different places!



Yes, we could see fireworks from The Curve, One Utama, Mont Kiara and the little ones in KL. Isn't that great!

We enjoyed the rest of the night drinking beer in Sharon's living room while poker cards were slammed on the coffee table. Haha!


Our family said good bye to Tabeah at the airport last night. It was a mixture of both feelings to the extreme. A very complicated one for us and also for Tabeah.


This morning, Mei and I said good bye to our parents, Lee Ling and Lee Mei's host-parents (first and second from left in the picture above) who were visiting Malaysia for a week. Very nice people.




So, as we enjoyed beer, gossiping, poker cards and silly movies, we welcomed the new year with a lot of anticipation for the exciting careers both Beanie and I are going to embark on. We celebrate the mid-twenties like how we eagerly wanted to become twenty. A lot of other beautiful stories to celebrate. Love, passion, work, health and ... basically life.


Here's a Happy New Year 2010 from Beanie and me!

:)

XOXO,
theRascal

Happy New Year 2010

I have no resolutions this year.

I only want everybody to be happy, have peace and good health.


XOXO,
theRascal

Hong Kong 2009 - Day 1, 2 and 3

Many of you asked me what was my birthday present this year from my Beanie apart from Bali in September.

It's Hong Kong!

You know how much I adore Hong Kong for it's weather, people, efficiency, fast-paced lifestyle... last but not least, shopping! :D

This time around, Beanie decided to bring his mama and bro along.


We packed very light luggage in the expectation that we will come back really full, or maybe overweight, which is always the case when you're going to Hong Kong for their bargains. :)


Instead of Malaysia Airlines, I was excited that Beanie opted for Cathay Pacific (CX) this time around because we have never taken CX before.

On the way to the airport, both of us got a sms stating details of the flight as well as the current weather in Hong Kong - 19c.


On the way to the airport in the KLIA Express :)


We arrived at KLIA 2 hours before or a little lesser and the airport was decorated all ready for Christmas! :)


We quickly check-in our luggage, passed the immigration and took the transit train to the international terminal where all the duty-free shops are located! *smiles*


We arrived in the international terminal and I saw the new KLIA Jungle Boardwalk. Huh? Okayyy.....

Would you go into the jungle all stuffy when you need to board the plane in the next hour? Ok, not me.

KLIA was experiencing renovations when we were going to Bali but look at the terminal now! Looks new and a breath of fresh air :)


As we were sitting at Jalan Alor Cafe for a quick lunch, we saw our flight parked at the boarding gate already.


Then, Beanie remember that he hasn't inform the bank on our trip! So, he started dialing Maybank. We had to wait for more than half an hour on the answering machine with the stupid robot asking us to WAIT.

Still not being able to talk to any of the credit card servicing person, Beanie took the other phone and started to call Maybank again but even with 2 phones, we still couldn't get through.

After ONE HOUR waiting on the line, we still couldn't get them. FML.

Then, the next terrifying thing happen when we saw we had to board, let's say at 12.30pm, we were still walking to the gate at 12.30pm. It was already on last call and the staff was telling us that we were the last ones just in time to board the plane.


Phew~!!!

So, we baorded the plane and it was such a smooth flight to Hong Kong.

I was so hungry (for some reason) and I was so glad when Beanie said that they were serving lunch way before time. :)


I had curry chicken with rice. Very yummy :)

After watching a movie for 1.5 hours, I had no more movies to watch because the crazy thing about Cathay Pacific is that all their movies start at the same time. Unlike Malaysia Airlines, the movie would only start when you initiate them. AND, there are games, mtv, etc. to entertain its passengers.

So..... we slept.

Woke up and saw this:


FML. Still another hour to kill. Even Leong Junior was saying that it was a boring flight despite his first time on board. =.=

Anyway, I felt that Cathay's seats are much more comfortable. I'll give them credit for that. :)

Oh, we arrived Hong Kong on a very smooth flight.


I was super excited to be back to Hong Kong. I miss their airport too.


After purchasing the Octopus Card and enquiring for our transport to the hotel, Beanie said that I should take the photo of Hong Kong's MTR map.


It was already dark when we left the airport at 6.30pm! Oh well, the sun sets earlier during winter. :)



We stayed at Novotel New Century Hotel for two nights.


Everyone was all mashed out after the flight.


We were happy to see that Novotel provides room with larger space to move about compared to the rest of the typical hotels in Hong Kong.


We were already very hungry, so we opted for the cafe opposite our hotel.
The nostalgia of TVB Drama scenes starting flowing back. :P






I miss Time Square! And it's long escalator up from the MTR Station.


We went straight to Timberland because shoes are part of an important plan when traveling, especially in Hong Kong when you have to walk almost the whole day.


So everyone got a pair of shoes from Timeberland, barely more than 2 hours after we checked-into the hotel. WHAT SAY YOU! Hebat or not? We're in Hong Kong anyway :)

Oh, Timberland also now allow its customers to customize their shoes. Cool~

After shoe shopping and a brief stop by at Zara, which was disappointing. Summer sales are better for Zara in Hong Kong.

We went to take more pictures outside Time Square as it was so pretty decorated.

Never ending story of Hong Kong and Me. :)

Then, we walked back to Causeway Bay MTR Station, boarded the train back to the hotel in Wan Chai.


Day 2: Day before Christmas Eve

The next day, we decided to grab breakfast near Queen's Road after many recommendations by other food bloggers.


We wanted to try Mak Man Kee's famous wantan noodle but it was not open yet until 11am. Bummer!


Our best friend in Hong Kong - the map.


So, we went opposite as they also sell wanten noodle.


We saw wantan in the process.

And the chef in action as well. :)

And the noodle came. I ordered the typical wantan noodle.


Beanie ordered the one with fish paste as well. Turn out that it was good! :)

I took this picture outside the cafe. Typical roads in Hong Kong.

Beanie studying the map because we were about to head to somewhere utterly important. One of our main mission in Hong Kong. :P


BUT, he said that we have to come here first!

Yep Yep, H&M!!!!!!!!!

We didn't make it to H&M the last trip because time was limited. So, I told Beanie that we have to come here this time. So, Darling said that we have to come here first before I got naggy all the long. =.=

Anyway, Mama Leong and I were both quite busy once we stepped into H&M because sales just started on that morning so sizes were aplenty! Yahoo! :)

After H&M, we walked .... for a long time because we were lost at some point of time.

Oh, don't you love the Christmas Star along the roads?

And then we walked.... walked.... a local told us that we had to walk further down the road. Since Beanie knew the way, we just followed him.

We walked... until we were out of the map!

Picture above: Apparently, Mr. Sun Yat Sen was here. =.= whatever.


And we have finally arrived!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


We came to this one and only specialized Lomography store in Hong Kong. The long walk was so worth it.

Look at the variety of cameras and lenses available in the store. Lomography fanatics would go crazy. I am now truly drawn to the art.


I, in particular, love this one for its design. Don't ask me what function because I haven't studied that yet. =.=



After a big loot from Lomography, we decided to pay a visit to IFC but since we already walked so much just now, Beanie decided to hail a cab.


We arrived in IFC (something like KLCC) in no time.


We then came to Crystal Jade Xiao Long Bao for lunch. The same place where Uncle Brian brought us here for lunch 2 years ago. How time flies, eh?


I sms-ed my uncle, and he came by to say hi. How sweet :)





We walked around IFC for a while before we decided to go back to the hotel to rest for a while and place our shopping bags :P


Oh, here's Beanie's loot from Lomography Store very much to Mama Leong's despair. But she was cool about it :)


Beanie also got four tickets to the Disneyland Resort Theme Park from IFC.


After a brief rest at the hotel room enjoying some cherries bought from the local market, we went to the tram station to go to The Peak!

Look at the crowd.


The view wasn't that clear but it was good.


We decided to go to Madame Tussaud Wax Museum. It was my third time there, but I still enjoy it a lot. :)

The updated with the latest one being Nicole Kidman's wax figure.


Isn't she beautiful? See how lean and tall she is.

If I rest my head on her boobs, it would feel as comfy too. :P


Beanie was excited to see President Obama!

Good Day, sir!

On the other hand, I was excited to pose with Madame Tussaud herself. Look how tiny she actually is.

Okay, because we were of the same height.

Oh yea, I should have checked if she was on heals, if not then I'll be a little taller than her! Ish...



Who were we trying to immitate?????


Oh, it's another new edition to the wax museum - Astro Boy!

Hehe... I love this picture below :)


Another updated one was Madonna the hot mama.

We went up to the viewing deck at night. Even though we were soooooo cold, the view was all worth it :)

Dinner was at Bubba Gump Shrimp Restaurant. Look at the deco :)

We ordered a whole array of shrimps, fries as well as BBQ pork rib. Yummy~

Since it was still early, we decided to go to Lan Kwai Fong for a brief walk before heading back to the hotel.

Our hotel :)

Day 3 (already?!): Christmas Eve!

We didn't know what to eat so we settle for a cafe down the road called Cafe de Coral.


It was really packed with people rushing for work.

I had the porridge set, which comes with dumplings, lemon tea and yau char kuey. Not bad.

Beanie ordered the American Breakfast set.

Then, we walked to the Bauhimian Flower.

Along the way, we stop by this little park outisde an office buildings because they had such beautiful patches of Christmas Star!


Oh, isn't it beautiful?


We went to an exhibition in the exhibition centre. Then, we continued our walk to the Bauhimian Flower.

I asked Beanie to pose this way, isn't it artistic? Haha.


I love to walk and sit along the harbour. Just looking out to the sea, watching how ppl chatter among each other, tourists taking pictures... it's very calming.


The weather was good too!



I know I know, a lot of self shot photos... it's time for a change ok! Cannot keep troubling people to take a picture for you. That's why we have a tripod. :P


After that, we went back to Time Square for some more shopping in case we miss anything out. Haha.

We stopped by this shop to eat some pancakes and curry fish balls. They were so good I swear.



I love the view of Time Square in Hong Kong. The British-looking architecture and how grand it looks. The crowd. I just love it that way.


After Time Square, we went back to the hotel to check-out before hailing another cab as we have made another booking for Novotel Hotel at Nathan Road in Kowloon area.

Novotel at Nathan Road took soooooooo long to check us in. Very much to Beanie's dislike.


Leong Junior, however, was a little bit anxious because his PMR results was suppose to be out. So, he spent some time utilizing the free internet service at the lobby.


I prefer the rooms at Novotel in Nathan Road. It looks new and is so much more spacious.


Then, we got ready to go out :)


As you can see, Kowloon area is very much different fron Hong Kong Island. The signboards and how their stores were located.

A lot more variety of food on this side of the island too!


We decided to come to the Australia Dairy Co. after reading so many good reviews about them.


Once we step into the cafe, it was so crowded, busy and very hectic. Everyone was moving about really face, especially the waiters.

When we stop them to ask what would they recommend to order, they were utterly annoyed. WTH?!

So, we followed what the rest of the tables ordered, as well as what I read online.

I settled for the macaroni in soup + pork. Steamed milk pudding (which was REALLY GOOD).


We were suppose to go to the Avenue of Stars. So we walked there. Along the roads, the buildings, especially the ones facing the harbour, were decorated with beautiful neon christmas lightings.

Most of the main roads were blocked from motocars too. We thought that there might be some special event or a parade, maybe?

Picture below: A traffic police asking us to back off from the roads even though there were no cars. But why?!


Being so very curious about the reason behind that, I told Beanie that we should ask the police.

Beanie was so convinced that nothing extra special was going to happen.

However, being me, I would like to get down to the reason behind that ... even though I have to talk to the police.

So, after walking for some time, I saw a bunch of polices, who by the way, look so heroic and handsome in their uniforms *ahem*

I stopped one of the herioc-looking policeman and asked him the reason why.

In cantonese, he said that it was just due to the large crowd on Christmas Eve and they blocked the roads due to security reasons. Nothing special.

Then, Darling started to do the thing "ahhhh hahaha told you that it wasn't something special. I knew it... yadaa yadaa yadaa"

-_____-

But he looks cute when he does that. Haha.




Then, we arrived Avenue of Stars.


And rested a while in front of the beautiful Peninsula Hotel.


As the Christmas Eve crowd started to build up, we decided to slowly head back to the hotel, passing the upbeat area.

We saw different groups of bands and chior singing Christmas songs, most of them in Cantonese.


It was extra special for me. The environment and witnessing how different cultures celebrate Christmas.

As we were very tired, we settled for one of the many cafe along Parkes Road.





Leong Junior had the duck with rice while I had one of the best macaroni in soup + pork. Yummy~


Beanie was so sweet, as usual, when he surprised me with a set of brushes from Acca Kappa. He did promised me he'll get one for me... but I never thought he really would. :)


I opened my present immediately on the spot, and Beanie said "you're a naughty girl, you didn't wait until Christmas before opening them!"

Anyway, Santa always loves me. He grant my wishes, surrounded me with beautiful/nice people... and good health.


Stay tuned for the rest of the post :)


XOXO,
theRascal