Today I turn 24

I remembered writing this meme a year ago and I realized how much I have changed since. As much as I wish to write this year's version as passionate as I did last year, I couldn't. Maybe because I have grown slightly older and well, slightly less emotional. But, here you go :

1. Was being 23 good for you?

I would say it has. I started being 23, securing a permanent position for a job that is paying me more than a decent pay when a lot of young graduates are struggling to get a job. Monetary wise, I was and still am very happy.

But being in the rat race has make me feel like I don't really care about petty things as much as I did last time. Maybe because I don't have time to sit, ponder and be sour over things.

2. What was your favorite moment when you were 23?

I think it was inviting my parents for my convocation. I remembered telling my friend while I was studying that on my convocation, I want to able to pay for my parents, from the transportation, lodging and everything. I wanted it to be like an invitation and I did just that. For me to be able to do that, was very fulfilling and I know at that point of time my parents, was very proud of me.

3. What was your least favorite moment of the year?

I'm the type that will always keep to my promises - the sole reason why I hardly make promises. I promised a friend that once I get a job I would fly to his place and visit him. So, on one very impulse weekend I flew to his place and flew back the next day. It should be a very romantic getaway - i mean it was, but that was also when I know, things are over and that we won't be seeing each other anymore, anytime soon.

4. What are your plans now that you are 24?

I'm looking into some investment and buying a hut for myself. *fingers crossed*

5. What date will remain etched in your memory?

November 11, 2011. I closed not only a chapter in my life but a book. and I'm very very proud of myself :)

6. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

I would say, walking up the stage in front of thousands receiving my scroll.

7. What was your biggest failure?

I've been working for almost a year now and I have yet to go for a real holiday. I promised myself a good beach break next year.

8. Did you suffer any illness or injury?

I remembered I fainted outside a restaurant in June. Other than that, recently I had a terrible allergic reaction to some alien insects and went to see the doctor four times a week. Non of those visits work, not even two jabs. I was then referred to a specialist in Gleanegles and hallelujuah, the amazing doctor give me magic medicine! :D

9. What was the best thing you bought?

My clark's leather loafers. I think that's the best RM 300 i spent on! And definitely my Titanium glassed Ray Ban. Since then I just wish everyday is sunny. Hahah.

10. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?

Human. My job requires me to deal with people from all walk of life and being exposed to these makes me realize how status is just a word. These are the people that really, really give you shits.

11. Where did most of your money go?

I finally realize I'm quite a shopaholic after all. So a lot of my money goes to my shopping trips.

12. What did you get really really really excited about?

Every 25th of the month. That's pay day! :D

13. What songs will always remind you were 23 years old once?

Muse - Unintended

14. Compared to when you were 23, were you :

a) Fatter or thinner? Thinner! :D

b) Happier or sadder? Definitely, happier.

c) Richer or poorer? Richer. ^.^

15. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Patience, and to think more before uttering my thoughts.

16. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Putting a 'closed' sign in my heart. Haha

17. How will you be spending Christmas?

I have not have any plans in particular yet but we'll see how it goes. :)

18. Did you fall in love when you were 23?

I didn't. If you read my last year's version you know that I was head over heels in love with someone. The "deleting" process took much longer than I expected and for a very long time, I was not ready for a new relationship. While I really did move on, I was still very much clinging to the thought of "what if". I was not ready to let anyone in my heart, let alone love someone. But I woke up one day telling myself "enough is enough. cukuplah sampai di sini sahaja episod kita kali ini.". I would say I'm really happy at how things is going and all I wish is for the best.

19. How many one night stands?

I wish I could write like 100. hahhaha! but nah, no. :p

20. What was your favourite TV show?

Bachelor, Bachelorette and Bachelor Pad. And this Singapore soap opera - The inlaws. I remembered sacrificing my sleep just to finish watching the dvds.

21. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate when you were 23?

Nah, I don't hate anyone last year, and I still don't this year.

22. What was/were the best books you read when you were 23?

What I wish I knew when I was 20.

23. What did you want and get?

iPad. Wish I got it much earlier! It's the awesome!

24. What did you want and not get?

Nothing. I pretty much bought everything I wanted. Yes, I know I'm blessed. :)

25. What was the best gift you received when you were 23?

A seiko watch. It's limited edition and there's only 2000 in this world. This is the 1087th.

26. What did you do on your 23rd Birthday?

Stuffing myself with lots and lots of pork. lol

27. What one thing would have made your year more satisfying?

I think it would be me doing the one day air tour on Cessna.

28. How would you describe your personal fashion concept when you were 23?

Pretty much the same. I really like the retro (or whatever you call it, I'm no fashionista.lol) so I have a number of those GAP and pull and bear's pants that I wear to work with a plain fitted shirt.

29. Who did you miss the most when you were 23?

For the longest time it was TL*, but now, it's someone else.

30. Did you treat somebody badly while you were 23?

I don't think I did. I hope I didn't. ;p

31. Did somebody treat you badly when you were 23?

I don't think so. I so nais one. Lol

32. A valuable life lesson you learned when you were 23.

Money can buy you happiness. It does not opens the door to happiness but it is the key to it.

Today I am 24. I look forward to many more good things that is in store for me this year.

Jalan Alor Bukit Bintang

For many, Jalan Alor is just another tourist trap. For me on the otherside, this is a place that brought me plethora of good memories. I used to come here a lot when I was young for family holidays. My dad loved the place and still do! So coming back here (I know I am based in KL for almost a year now, but I spend most of my time working.) was a lot like walking back to a childhood story.The fact that we still order the same food makes the memory even more vivid.

This porridge here is from my father's favourite mee sua stall. They are famous for their pork mee sua and my dad worship this! They have it in the porridge version and taste as good! For RM5, this is worth every penny with the generous amount of pork and innards given.



Clams! How can you missed this when you're having street food? The clams was from the stall nearby but as much as I love clams, I didn't like that it was prepared too bloody for my liking. Chili sauce too lack the ooomph and spiciness.
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Feeling rather guilty from the excessive order of greasy and cholesterol laden food we ordered a plate of sotong kangkung - just to fulfill the you know, vegetable quota. :p Not too bad, but not exactly something to shout about.



I thought the fried oyster was terrible. It was tasteless, the batter were not very cooked and the oysters were ...errm.. scarce. This costed RM 20 , definitely a killing price for a dish badly prepared. I remember it tasted really good, but back then I haven't been to Penang yet! Penang really does spoils your taste bud y'know? :)

and believe it or not, this place has the best fresh orange juice. It still taste the same after so many years! I never got to know what type of orange they use but I can assure you, not even a high class hotel could beat the taste! The moment I took the first sip I felt like I was deported 15 years back, where I was young and *cough*, very innocent. :P

My whole point of writing this is not really on Jalan Alor but how this place brought me memories and I miss my parents so much. Family holidays is something that is so hard to come by now. So if you had the privillege to work and still stays with your family, appreciate it. If you don't, make sure you call home. :)

TuneHotels.com Downtown Penang Review

*If you're not interested in the long winded complaint, you might want to scroll down for disgusting pictures first and then, that might triggered your interest to read the whole post!

Just very recently, I stayed with TuneHotels in downtown Penang. I remember writing a very positive review for this hotel sometime back.

I love the hotel cause it provides me what I wanted when I travel - cleanliness and simplicity. I mean when we travel, we don't actually spent 24 hours in there. All we need was a place to lay our tired bodies after spending the whole day discovering a new culture.

So, last week was my convocation. Penang was a transit for us and knowing that we will only be in Penang for few hours for two stops, I booked the hotel. It wasn't exactly cheap but I like the hotel cause I stayed there multiple times.

For the first night I had accidentally booked the rooms for the wrong dates - it was supposed to be 2 rooms for the 2nd of October and 1 room for the 4th of October. Turns out I was booking all 3 rooms to be checked in on 4th of October.

The receptionist show no empathy or any courtesy at all but I was pretty cool with that - I mean, what do I expect? This is not a full service hotel.

However I just wish there was a slight flexibility - I made it clear to her " i don't mind the payment for the room being forfeited, can I just have the towels that I paid for that room on 4th of October, since I'm not taking the room after all." She gave no explanation but push me to dead end with a 'no.period' reply.

Of course, the main point for this post is not about me not given the towel that I paid. I returned two days later for another pit stop before I return to KL the next two days.

This time tho, was a horror of all. I arrived after a very tiring day of my convocation - I woke up at 3.30 am in the morning. Such an early morning and the day only ended 8.30 p.m - with no rest in between , when I arrive at 10.00 pm, needless to say I was exhausted.

I was given a room that made me feel like my car is a better place to sleep.

The toilet reeks of urine the moment I open the glass door , the toilet roll look like it has been re-rolled (if you get what I meant - you know, the fall off and the worker re-roll them) and the whole shower place was with yellow stain. I didn't take a picture of that cause I was really tired and the next day I just couldn't wait to check out!

And then after taking my bath, I also discovered one of the ugliest side. I don't mind the room not being maintained, scrapes of old paints - accepted. But the fact that the previous guest had spilled water and it leaves such an ugly stain and they didn't even bother to clean up just make me questioned the hygiene of the hotel. If they didn't care - one may wonder if they even wash the bed sheets!

My parents room on the other side had this leaking roof top - which we brush off the thought that it might be from the toilet above our room. This was like a night mare for all of us.

At that point of time, I seriously questioning why was I paying RM 180+ for Tune Hotels when that is exactly the same price Cititel - a prominent 3 star hotel in Penang is charging. Not to mention everything cost me more than RM 250 as I had another unoccupied room due to wrong booking. To begin with, I did not book the place cause it was cheap. I could afford a better place - heck I was bunking in a suite the night before! I book the place cause I like the hotel but these experience totally screw up everything.

I'm gonna be honest here. While I sound very frustrated since the beginning of this post - the only point why it triggers me to write this was the receptionist. I told the receptionist what happen to the room I was given, not only he did not respond to me, he did not even look at me! The quote 'talk to my hand' totally applies here.

Just typing this and just thinking back of the facial reaction of that receptionist make my blood boils! A quick check in tripadvisor.com shows that a guest experience the same of what I felt. Exact quote "Humanity is therefore kept neutral or none if you call it. Hopefully it can be improved - basic courtesy."

I tweeted, and the manager of TuneHotels.com called me two hours or so later. I didn't think the complaint ends from that call because that call was merely addressing my complaint, there was no solution nor an apology. I do not expect compensation of any sort but just by calling me to ask me 'what I have tweeted' is not the solution.

And, I am still waiting for the solution. My only conclusion for now is that the hotel is only good for stay when it's still new.I just recently stayed the one in Bintulu and it was beautiful cause it was still very new, but hell no will I be staying there another year later!

Donald and Lily Melaka

wow, it's been a while since I last blogged and it's one luxury that I really, really miss.

Anyway, just last week I drove to Melaka with Huai Bin for a food trip!



The highlight of the trip for me was this place called Donald and Lily's. Huai Bin actually found the place while surfing for food while I was driving and wanted to go that night itself but it was a little late when we arrived. (Thinking back, I think we should have gone and try the ayam ponteh instead of the easily forgettable McQuek's satay celup).



I had a really good feeling the moment I enter the place. The whole place looks entirely like a home and it feels like dining at a friend's place. Whenever I enter a place that gives me this homey feeling, i'm almost 100% sure that a great spread of food is about to be served.



I wasn't wrong. The chendol we had was spectacular. I don't know if they had made the gula melaka themselves but it tasted like no other that Ive tasted. It was so good that Huai Bin had two bowls of it. Man, I wouldn't mind to pay RM 10 for this bowl of goodness if it's available in KL.



I don't think they have a specific menu though. The food options changes by days and the waiter would actually tell you what they have on that day. I love the hospitality though. The auntie who served us is really friendly.



I went for the mee siam. My mum made really good mee siam and she has set the bar so high that no where else could compare to the one she made. I didn't like that the sauce that came along was a little sweet. The fried beehoon too taste very mild. You can skip on this.



The curry laksa that Huai Bin had was nice though and he loved it. It was not too milky to the point that you'll feel "muak" just half way finishing that bowl of laksa but just thick enough to give the rich feeling.



I also ordered Tofu Rojak to share (but I ate most of it. Huai Bin doesn't eat much! T.T) . I don't actually eat tofu but since the lady recommended it and I wanted a side dish, I went for it. The rojak is a platter of fish cake, cucumber and pineapples served with rojak paste and homemade chili sauce. I don't know if it's a "Melaka thing" but the paste is really different, very distintive in taste a lot stronger on the prawn flavor. It goes really well with the fish cake. The only thing I didn't like about the rojak was the fact that the cucumber and pineapples is cubed.

I've always love how people Melaka (maybe cause I'm just a kampung girl at heart) is so laid back and you hardly see people rushing. Can't wait for my next trip to Melaka again sometime soon and yes, looking forward for that damn awesome chendol here again!

Life must be better than this

Hi and Hello everyone. I hope there is still real human reading my blog. I'm sorry I no longer have time to devote myself to this blog, but I promise this is not good bye. I'm still trying to find time to start blogging again.

I'm feeling slightly a little emo today and ... I've been wanting to write this for the longest time.

Looking back at my personal photos, I realize now I look so haggered, tired and old. I mean I can be very bubbly, funny and cheerful at work but deep down inside of me I felt really empty.



True enough people would say when you work, you get to buy anything you want without having to ask money from anyone. I like this part of the freedom and having no commitment, I would say my pay has allowed me to shop happily.



But put aside all that luxurious lifestyle, (it's luxurious for me because before I started working I didn't spent so much on well, say for instance a piece of tshirt?) i pretty much felt like my life is meaningless.

I go to work, come back and sleep. This routine has been repeating for the past 6 months!

Can someone tell me how to make my life more ka-rer-ful?