Heaven's not enough

UK Day 7 - Glasgow, Scotland.

2012-01-29T14:20:00.017+08:00

Monday has come, and we're off to Scotland for 3 days! First stop to Glasgow.

Euston station at 5.40 a.m. We took the earliest train to Glasgow since we wanted to have more time for our day trip, and also because the earliest train is the cheapest! Woke up at 3 plus in the morning to get ready, hired a cab and reached there like an hour early. Anyway better early than late, as we're not familiar with things here.

Train was pretty much empty, but got filled up along the way. Booked our tickets from ScotRail at 26 pounds each for London Euston to Glasgow Central journey.

Reached approximately 10.40 a.m. Cool ride with scenic views quite different from York's train journey. Guessed they used different route lines. Saw a lot of grass/plains in white and we kind of panicked because we weren't prepared for snow! Turned out that's just their natural colour wtf.

Sunshine! Who says Scotland is a whole lot colder than London? The weather here was AWESOME! Oh what is this building, Glasgow City Chambers if not mistaken.

Pigeon on the head heh.

Actually I was here for the free city walking tour at 11 a.m. (meeting point was the tourist office just across this square), but after waiting 10 minutes I gave up. I read that it wasn't reliable anyway so I didn't want to waste any more time. Luckily I did more research for Glasgow, so I took the challenge of becoming a tour guide myself!

Relying on printed maps from Google and itineraries from local walking tours, I made my way to Old Glasgow first. If you're lost with the map, make sure you at least know the road names, so you can still follow the signboards along the way. I especially love how the buildings have the road names on them too, that makes it so much easier to navigate around.

Part of University of Strathclyde, hugeee uni campus here.

St Mungo Museum of Religious Arts & Life.

Oh yeah if you do wanna visit Glasgow, never come on Mondays! Most of their museums and whatnot tourist attractions are closed on Mondays! I don't know why. It's sad because most of them if not all are FREE OF CHARGE. But they're closed! So I can't go in! Argh.

The Provand's Lordship.

Can you read the sign? It's the oldest house in Glasgow, built in 1471.

Queen Victoria statue in the middle of the building.

Glasgow Cathedral.

The Necropolis, a cool-looking cemetery with a famous John Knox statue.

Even a cemetery is a tourist attraction. AND a place for people to walk their dogs. Saw a few of them on their morning walks. lol

Inside the cathedral. Finally a cathedral that I can go inside without paying!

It's so quiet around here, we were so hesitant to go inside at first, thought it was closed.

Blue box. :D

Glasgow sky! The best ever throughout my UK trip. If only London had clear, blue skies like this everyday, my pictures would be so cheerful!

But Glasgow Y U SO QUIET & DESERTED! Even the main roads were almost completely empty, the city's so dead on a Monday. It's not even a holiday. Where's everyone?

Glasgow Cross & Tolbooth Steeple. Honestly no idea of its significance.

People's Palace.

And Winter Gardens.

Also closed, so we're too lazy to walk all the way there. We were getting tired after the trip to Old Glasgow, which was not that far from our starting point but we had to walk uphill at one point with our hand-carry bags! Yes we were basically backpacking on our day trip here.

What is this don't remember. Think it's a theatre or something.

Had lunch in a random fast food place. Omg it's so difficult to find decent eating places here, since the town's so dead and boring. We were walking on a whole street with NO PEOPLE. wtf

Nelson Mandela place.

Random building.

Gallery of Modern Art.

Finally we're nearby our starting point, where there's CIVILIZATION! Hurray! Went inside to take a quick peek, but nope I can't appreciate arts.

Someone's prank.

This part of the city is definitely 100x livelier.

George Square was it? The main city centre.

Spotted!

It's a shopping street full of people.

So this was where all the local citizens were hiding.

Matching blues. :p

The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.

The clock outside the Buchanan bus station (behind the concert hall). Obviously incorrect, we were there at least after 3pm. lol

Bought our bus fares from Megabus.com at 14 pounds for 4 persons, departing 4.50 p.m. Totally worried as we couldn't find its platform on the information board even when it's near time! Throughout our wait I think we only saw Megabus once! Ugh.

Anyway the information guy asked us to use our tickets on the other bus, I forgot which, I think it was the National Express bus. Yup since Megabus didn't come, we were allowed to board the bigger, better bus as substitute (which costs more, reason why I chose the budget bus in the first place. lucky~).

Arrived at Edinburgh, St Andrews Square bus station about 6.30 p.m. Got a lil lost on our way to the hotel, but all was okay in the end.

Richmond Hotel, a budget hotel near city centre. Booked our room from Hostelbookers which only needed 10% deposit for confirmation.

Got a quad room with en-suite bathroom at 190 pounds for 2 nights. Cheap and decent place! Totally enjoyed my short stay here. Friendly staff too. Thanks to Jackyln for the recommendation. :)

Overall, I find Glasgow quite a boring place with nothing much to see. Well, nothing that was interesting to me anyway. Just a city like most cities. A bit too quiet. I didn't manage to go to the other side of Glasgow, where there are more museums and architecture stuff to see, so I guess I don't have a full picture of Glasgow. But even so, I don't think the city is my cup of taste. The best part was definitely the sunshine and blue skies~ The worst? Walking around for like 4 hours carrying backpacks omg.

Well, Edin post next!

UK Day 6 - St Paul's, Tower of London, Jack the Ripper.

2012-01-08T16:58:00.001+08:00

It's Sunday - our planned trip to the Tower of London. But first, we stopped by at the majestic St Paul's Cathedral.

Couldn't take a whole picture of it.

Popped in a while and took a look at its Sunday service.

The protesters on church grounds.

Finally - Tower of London.

Directly opposite you can see the London Gherkin, famous for its "sexy" shape. XD

Missed the start of a Beefeater tour by minutes, so had to wait another half hour for the next one.

Strolled around the area and took pictures with the famous Tower Bridge (not London Bridge as people seemed to think).

Took a picture with a Beefeater!

At 1.30 pm we gathered at the entrance gates for our free Beefeater tour (comes with your ticket) - a very entertaining, animated guide. Made everyone laughed and even jumped in shock lol. Took us on a brief tour covering Bloody Tower, execution sites, etc. and ended in the Chapel Royal.

Typical old castle design.

Prisoner's Gate.

Another lonely guard.

Martin Tower - where they house the Crown Jewels.

The castle ground is huge, it can easily take hours to explore this place. I think we spent more than 2 hours here and I didn't think it was enough!

There's an armoury museum here at the White Tower. Look at this cute child armour.

This looks so weird, short body with long legs. lol

Old staircase.

Lavatory.

Thickest book I've seen.

Haunting hallways.

Ravens - protectors of the castle.

Moody English sky.

The infamous Bloody Tower.

Inside the place.

Which is the site of my favourite ghost story - the murder of the two Little Princes.

Narrowest stairs I've climbed.

View from the top.

Next we took a quick bus ride to Covent Garden.

Just a merry shopping street.

That totally reminded me of Curve. lol!

While we're at it we also took another bus ride to check out Westminster Abbey.

As well as Big Ben.

Too late since it was already dark when we reached. Damn winter!

Anyway we went back to Tower Hill after that, as we wanted to join the free Jack the Ripper tour courtesy of Golden Tours (the day tour package we took the other day came with this complimentary walking tour worth 10 pounds - how nice).

Was really worried that we couldn't find the meeting place in time for the 6pm tour. No idea where Traders Gate Souvenir Shop was, so we thought of checking the street across but couldn't get through the busy busy road so we decided to use the tunnel walkway - and voila! Right beneath at the bottom of the stairs we found the shop and our guide! #thankgod

The Gherkin at night.

Our lovely guide who calls himself a Ripperologist with over 20 years experience. We had a HUGE turnout that night, felt like a school excursion. We were the only Asians there again.

The first place he brought us: the spot where Jack's 4th victim, Catherine Eddowes, was found.

It used to be a really narrow, dark street back in those days.

The first victim, Mary Ann Nichols, was apparently here in the pub hours before her death.

Where Eddowes's bloodied apron and writing on the wall above it were found after the double murder event.

Just a funny street name.

An alley that looked just as it was those years ago, a popular site for filming.

Creepy.

Mary Jane Kelly, Jack's fifth and final victim, was killed at this site, which used to be an apartment but is now a parking lot.

The street that has changed little since those days. Seriously dislike this part of London! So dirty and eerie and quiet.

The walking tour lasted about 90 minutes - a real long walk but it was entertaining and informative and I enjoyed the experience! Would love to try more walking tours next time - a ghost walk perhaps. :D

Next - off to Scotland!

Welcoming 2012.

2012-01-04T20:36:00.007+08:00

2011 gave me a brand new comfortable job (NY resolution checked), even more contest wins (another NY resolution checked), and loads of holidays!

I went to Europe for the first time in my life, visiting 3 cities in Austria, 4 cities in Italy, 1 city in Germany, 3 cities in Scotland and 9 cities in England. Stopped at Dubai and Abu Dhabi for transit (does this count?)

Then dummy and I had our 2nd annual overseas trip - to Singapore this time, and had heaps fun at USS!

Planned my very first itineraries for SG and York (UK) - a great success and achievement for lazy me #soproudofself

Also ventured on a lil road trip to Sekinchan.

Not forgetting the many free hotel stays that we won and enjoyed - Langkawi Holiday Villa, Corus Port Dickson, Doubletree KL, Sunway Villas, Pyramid Suite & Studio, and the mother of all hotel stays - Ritz Carlton penthouse suite worth 35k!

Also watched 2 musicals for free - our first West End production. Unfortunately did not go to MTV World Stage though we won the tickets.

Had our first ever body spa at Mandara.

Ate the most expensive dinner course in our lives for free- 2 days dinner worth RM770 each. Another free fine dining at Avanti Ristorante.

Got my contest entries published in newspapers thrice - one won a free stay, one didn't, and one won RM300 woots!

If 2010 was the year of winning contests, 2011 was definitely the year of travels! Though technically I won even more random stuff in 2011 than 2010 - bigger scale too, but the highlight of 2011 is travelling for sure. I've never travelled this much in my life! All in a year!

I'm itching to travel again already. So this year 2012 my new year's resolutions would be....

*SECRET* :P

It's all about money, wins, and travel~

2011 was mad awesome. Let's see what 2012 has in store for me. Happy New Year!

UK Day 5 - Stratford-Upon-Avon, Cotswolds, Oxford.

2011-12-26T13:11:00.006+08:00

It's Saturday! Time for another day tour to Stratford-Upon-Avon, Cotswolds & Oxford by Golden Tours. Don't know if it's because it's a Saturday, but the guide was late half an hour! Made us so worried though they did call up the hotel to let us know 10 minutes passed time.

As usual our pick-up point, Thistle Marble Arch.

I don't even see that many pay phones here in Msia anymore.

We were joined by a Japanese group with their guide so the bus was freakin' FULL. I didn't want to sit all the way at the back so I sat with an American dude from Kansas in the middle front. His accent was so Texas-like. Suddenly images of American movies set in Texas came to mind - mostly of No Country for Old Men. LOL. He works for Llyods by the way wowee.

After about 2 hours drive we reached our first destination - Anne Hathaway's cottage. No it doesn't belong to Anne Hathaway the actress, but rather this is Shakespeare's wife's childhood house.

Our male guide and the cottage lady guide (wonder how old they are?). If you want to hear true English accent, look no further. This lady speaks really elegant, pure English. Cool.

The fireplace in the living room. On the right is apparently one of Shakespeare's courting chairs.

English décor ~

Narrow stairs.

The ceilings are very low in old houses.

The cottage looks so cute with its thatched roof!

Next we headed for lunch in Shakespeare's birthplace town.

Marlowe's Restaurant, newly built 1595.

Shared the same table with a group of Scottish ladies.

Fish cake. It was really good! Everyone was praising the food here including the pasta and sausages. I opted for fish cake as I haven't tried one before. It's something really different to me and I think there's cheese inside too.

I find the markings on the buildings very weird. It's like they have tattoos!

Picture made of jelly beans.

A band on the street.

This is Shakespeare's birthplace as seen from the main street.

The guide explaining the history behind it.

The backyard.

Unfortunately no pictures allowed inside.

Typical English sky in the town of Stratford-Upon-Avon.

Random.

A really small but cute public library.

When I saw this I was like wtf?

This thing here looks like a painting! Except it's real wood real door! Weird.

Entrance to Blenheim Palace - birthplace of Winston Churchill.

We only drove through Cotswolds, had a scenic ride. We didn't make any stops. What a waste. If I have the chance, I'll go for the Blenheim Palace + Cotswolds tour next time. :)

Finally we're in Oxford!

Oxford city is really beautiful. It has many old-style buildings and houses unlike others I've seen so far. It's so nice to see different kind of architecture everywhere you go.

HARRY POTTER!

Apparently the stairs that Harry ran on.

Beautiful courtyard.

THE GREAT HALL!

Seriously students eat here? tsktsk.

So niceeeee and magical~ With all the big paintings around and stained windows on top.

These people really know how to enjoy life.

Student hostel. I saw 2 guys upstairs taking a smoke lol.

It's really weird to me that there are so many tourists coming here everyday and the students just going on about their lives here. Isn't it distracting?

Library.

Seeing real students inside and wondering how smart they are. :P

Contrast.

There was a graduation going on that day.

Bodleian library.

Oxford's Bridge of Sighs.

A ghost walk tour guide waiting for his clients to show up.

We left at about 6pm and reached London 8+. It was also Guy Fawkes day so there was a bit of traffic and we also saw some fireworks around in the city.

My dinner at Tottenham Court Road. I think it costs like 3 or 4 pounds, just rice and meat - it doesn't look much at first but omg this meal is fit for 2 small eaters!

That's the last day tour we booked out of London. Not bad I think we covered quite a bit of England already. Definitely need to see more of old English villages though - in future I hope. ;)

UK Day 4 - York & London.

2011-12-23T21:13:00.028+08:00

Day 4 was special because I organised this trip all by myself for just my mom and I, using information from WikiTravel and Google Map. Aunt Yee was supposed to go to Paris with her daughter but they didn't at the last minute so anyway, we went our separate ways today.

At King's Cross 7 a.m.

To be honest, I was really worried and didn't have much confidence to pull it off. I had to rely on myself to find directions and so on and make sure I didn't miss the train. But fret not, people here are friendly and you just have to ask the station attendants who would gladly help you out. The information screen was huge and well, informative enough. Your platform number may only appear when it's near boarding time, so don't worry too much if there isn't any number yet on the screen.

By the way, King's Cross is a SUPER BUSY station. You can barely walk in there during off-work hours. Scary!

We booked our tickets in advance on East Coast website, a 39 pounds return trip - cheapest that I could find. You have to collect the tickets beforehand at the ticketing kiosk, by just inserting your credit card and keying in your booking number your tickets will automatically be printed out for you. Easy peasy. You get your train tickets (most important!), your seat reservation ticket as well as a receipt ticket.

Pretty empty train to York. It gets filled up slowly as the train headed north, York being the last station. Takes about 2 1/2 hours to reach the city.

First thing we arrived was to look for this building known as City Art Gallery. I actually printed out directions from Google Map and I'm glad to say that I found this place with no problem at all. Thank God for Google Map. =D

This was the reason I came to the Gallery - free walking tour of York by the Association of Voluntary Guides at 10.15 a.m. I haven't done this thing before so I was quite worried that no one would show up, since it was already 10.10 a.m. and still no guide in sight. But right on time an old man showed up and introduced himself as our guide John (if I'm not mistaken, sorry).

FINALLY I COULD TAKE A BREAK!

Truth be told, I didn't really prepare for a contingency plan had the guide not showed up, so if that really happened, my mom and I would potentially be stranded and our trip here would be a total waste. lol

The Bootham Bar (a gatehouse). This scene is directly opposite the City Art Gallery. Awesome isn't it! Such history. I likey!

York is basically an ancient medieval city once ruled by the Romans and Vikings. What is really interesting about this city is the many walls that line and protect around the city, earning York its 'walled city' name. It's like a mini Great Wall here seriously!

By the way, I breathed mist in York! My first! At first I was wondering who was smoking near me, but then I realised it was actually my own breath! Weird haha.

Our first stop was York Museum Gardens.

Unfortunately it was raining that morning. It started as a drizzle but then it got heavier as we walked. It was raining throughout our 2 hours journey, and stopped when our tour ended. What the heck?

Anyway, we had about 10 people in the walking tour - a few Australians, Welsh, Irish, and us 2 Asians. These people just appeared out of nowhere after my mom and I met the guide - and to think we were actually worried that we might be the only ones there. A crowd is always more fun. :D

In the gardens lie the Ruins of St Mary's Abbey.

Look how gloomy it was.

And also the Multangular Tower which forms part of the ancient walls.

(I came back here after the tour to take pictures, that's why it looks so much brighter. I didn't take much photos during the tour since it was raining and I was listening to the guide explaining the history).

Inside the tower.

Random coffins just lying around on the ground.

The walls getting higher with each century as the rulers built their wall fortress higher and higher to protect the city.

The garden is full of squirrels who are not afraid of humans. Whistle to them and they'll come to you expecting food.

My secret garden. It looks magical, right? :)

Narrow walkway.

The crosses on top, this whole thing reminds me of movies set in medieval times - like Robin Hood? Joan of Arc? It's so surreal being here and seeing history in real time - not in museum or anything, just plain existing as part of society. This is what I love most about York.

After the stroll in the gardens, John brought us up to the Bootham Bar and took a loooong walk around the city.

A very narrow long walk I must say, everyone walking in one line like children following an adult lol.

Beautiful sceneries await you here.

Interesting looking building. We were showed many old buildings with historical value but I forgot most of them. Oops.

The majestic York Minster - really gothic and simply majestic. We were blown away when we saw this. The structure is so amazing!

Of course the tour didn't bring us inside, we came back here again later.

I think it costs about 9 pounds to go inside, which we didn't as it was a lil pricey and we didn't have much time. But we could still get a peek at the front entrance.

Had a look at the beautiful stained windows.

Look at me, soaking wet from the rain.

The Shambles, our last stop before the guide called it a day. It was 12pm.

The Shambles is an ancient market street where you can still see remnants of old shops from centuries ago.

Really crooked shop.

Thanks to our amazing guide who gave us a really insightful, first-look at the city tour. He didn't even want our tips and asked us to donate them to the cathedral! Such an informative experience and it gave me more confidence to navigate the city on my own after that.

I found Jorvick Viking Centre on my own.

I found Clifford's Tower.

I found this. I think it's a museum.

No idea what they were doing here in the compound.

Already in the festive mood in early November.

And of course, I found THIS. The most popular cafe here, just look at the queue.

It's called Betty's Cafe Tea Rooms, an old-school 1920s-style tea room.

Felt like we were the only Asians around in the city. x.x

Obviously we ordered their most famous afternoon tea set. Beautiful isn't it?

It's not cheap but I tell you, the tea was the best, smoothest ever I have tried! And the scones were awesomeeee! Even the sandwiches were great. The only thing that was normal was the cakes. But it's all well worth it - after a long day walking, what better way to chill the English way, with great tea and scones. ♥

You can find a lot of sign posts like this in the city, you might as well never get lost here.

Mansion House. Explanation below.

I can't stress enough how beautiful York is. History well blended in with society, you can hardly find modern buildings here, if at all. This city is simply ancient. And I love it the way it is - this is what I truly want to see and feel; well preserved history still living in broad daylight, no boring modern structures or heavy commercialization to contrast its historical beauty. It's a very different experience from say, London or Rome.

Ahhhh so haunting.

I can imagine seeing this in old black-and-white photos.

Honestly I can't comprehend how people live here, seeing and breathing history every minute they walk. lol

I think this city is really good for ghost walks eh.

River Ouse.

See the walls lining up the city.

I truly enjoyed my short trip here. It's a small place and pretty easy to navigate around on foot.

And it's so different from anything else I've seen. A city but not quite a city that I'm used to.

Definitely one of the best highlights of my UK trip. Highly recommended for those who love history and would like to experience the feeling of walking through a living, ancient city.

Time to say goodbye - York railway station.

Took the 4pm train back, and this time the train was full. Surprisingly the rain made my hair really smooth. Usually my hair always gets frizzy in cold, damp weather.

Of course it's King's Cross so how can I miss this! It's a fake platform thingy with half trolley in wall built just for Potterheads like me. =P

Back to London, the forever crowded M&M shop.

With its ridiculously priced items.

London is still beautiful no doubt.

Four Seasons! The famous roast duck restaurant! Where I wanted to eat on Day 1! Half an hour wait for a table - it's madness.

Again it's all worth it despite the price and wait, it's also the most awesomest roast duck I have tried! Not kidding, the sauce was soooooooo addictive! wtf

After dinner, we went walking in SOHO area.

And we checked out the gay area. Can you see the name, it's G-A-Y. There was a really pretty boy there promoting the bar or something.

Do you know this gay bar?

Ku - award winning gay bar. Really?

Anyway, this area is super crowded with bars and people drinking. Pretty dangerous haha. It was interesting though to see them gays hanging around with not a lady in sight.

Bottom line, loved York, loved my lunch and loved my dinner. A fantastic day, all planned by yours truly. Damn I feel power! XD

Nothing is Impossible with Magnum Movie Nite!

2011-12-12T14:37:00.004+08:00

Got no plan for this thursday? No backup activities? No choice of movies? Fraid not!

Magnum Movie night is back, just follow the instructions below to be in the running to win yourself a pair of tickets!

Where: Cathay Cineplex e@curve

When: Thursday 15th December, 9pm

Who: Bring anyone you like!

Why: Because it's free and fun!

How: Just like Magnum 4D on facebook and fill up a form right HERE! Its that easy!

Happening on my BIRTHDAY itself! Seriously, wish me luck! I've never joined their movie nites before so... *hint hint* =P

UK Day 3 - Windsor, Stonehenge, Lacock, Bath.

2011-12-04T17:12:00.002+08:00

On day 3, we booked a tour out of London from Premium Tours. I chose this package specifically, even though four places in one day sounded like a tight schedule, because it included a short trip to Lacock, which was one of Harry Potter's filming sites. =D

We waited at our chosen pick-up point, Thistle Marble Arch, and they were a lil late which made us a lil worried. Dropped us at Victoria bus station if I'm not mistaken, and there we joined the rest of the group waiting for our guide and bus.

Our first stop, Windsor castle! Wasn't that far from London, probably an hour's drive or so. We spent about 90 mins here, probably lesser.

There was an OBE awards ceremony that day, so we saw some classy guests in suits and feather hats or something accompanied by castle guards going through that door. Princess Anne and the Queen were there apparently.

Why are there benches!

Lovely beautiful castle!! I think this is the first REAL castle I stepped into! Real as in the type of castles that I have grown up seeing in pictures, cartoons and books! With bricks and towers and stuff.

Cute English boys.

I was really impressed with the structures.

Beautiful view of the city below.

Gosh!

Autumn is Awesome!

Classic.

Unfortunately, we weren't allowed into the State Apartments due to the OBE, which SUCKS MAX because that was supposed to be AMAZING! Instead we only saw the Queen Mary's Doll's house - which was really cool too and apparently has functioning water pipes, real miniature wine and toilet paper! Seeing the doll house reminds me of the one in The Borrowers.

The marching of guards. Those ridiculous bear hats. lol

My love.

A very friendly.... guard? I have no idea what is he but he's really nice. Aunt Rose asked if he gets a lot of people asking him for pictures, he replied "Yeah, I'm on Youtube too". LOL.

The common guard that's not allowed to speak or move. He looks so young. Makes me wonder, why do people become castle guards. Do they have a choice?

The castle is very well taken care of as you can see.

St George's Chapel - the first church that I've seen with stained glass for real!!! I LOVE STAINED GLASS. It's the same with my love for castles, I just think they're so magical, mysterious, ancient, majestic~ I didn't see any stained glass in Austria or Italy, was very disappointed then. lol

Unexplained mystery that is Stonehenge. About an hour and a half drive from Windsor. It's super cold here because it's super windy like shit. Wear a beanie/cap whatever if your hair is long, or you'll end up with hair in your face in every picture. lol

That's the closest we can get to the stones, unless you paid for a private sunrise/sunset viewing. It's in the middle of nowhere, just plains everywhere so nothing else to see here. At this point, we made a new friend on our tour called Mei, a Japanese student studying French in Belgium travelling for the first time in London. :D

Well you can see a lot of sheep here. Actually you'll see a LOT of sheep as you travel out to the countryside. You hardly see any cows or horses, it's just sheep allll the way. Spent about 45 mins here and off we went to Lacock for late lunch.

Lacock Abbey - which was used to film Hogwarts classrooms. We didn't go in obviously as we had no time to explore. And you gotta pay for visits.

I love this village. So classic and it's one of the best preserved medieval villages in UK - looking just like how it was hundreds of years ago.

There is not a single street light here.

Popular place for movie filmings. Pride and Prejudice was shot here too.

I simply love old places.

They have really short doors for some reason.

Our lunch was at this 13th century pub.

Small, cosy place.

This might as well be the most awesomest fish n chips I've ever had. Seriously.

We ate really fast so we could have like an extra 20 mins to explore the village again. This bakery shops looks really cute!

Halloween's over yo.

This house is supposedly haunted.

St Cyriac's church.

Pretty cat. It was stretching so lazily it didn't even notice me.

This is Lily and James Potter's house. I wasn't sure at that time because it had a sign outside saying 'pottery sale' or something and I hesitated to go any closer in case someone comes out and chase me away, or pester me to buy something. Arrgh.

Can you guess what building is this?

Notice the bench inside. It's actually a bus stop wtf! I only knew because there's a label there saying so.

I can so imagine olden time people living in this house.

Off to Bath next - passing by amazing landscapes like this rolling hills as they call it. In fact our whole ride was really scenic, we also passed through an absolutely stunning tree tunnel earlier!

City of Bath with its Georgian architecture. Not my favourite kind coz it looks a bit more modern but it's still quite pretty. We reached close to 4pm - just in time for the last entry to the Roman baths.

This is the Roman Baths - what Bath is famous for obviously. Gotta pay extra to go in this one.

It's a hot spring bath that the old Roman big shots love to bathe in.

It's like so cool to see things as they were centuries ago. You can actually see steam coming out from the waters there.

I think there's algae or something why does the water look so green.

We're not supposed to touch the water in case some weird bacteria enters your body - but I did a quick touch with my finger and it's lukewarm. :P

On a see-through bridge over the stones.

What is this I don't even know.

The Roman Pumps.

The majestic Bath Abbey.

Apparently the last Gothic church in England. It's free entrance to this one but because we chose to visit the Roman Baths, we didn't have time for this. It was already closed by the time we came out.

This is 5pm. Beautiful.

Why is the place so clean.

Cute chairs.

I laughed at 'Tea Pigs'. lol

It's beautiful but it's also quiet and melancholy.

We left close to 6pm and reached London like 8.30pm. The best part of this tour is definitely Lacock for me, it's really different because it's not a city like the others. Windsor was nice too, but it was disappointing not being able to see the State Apartments. I wish we had more time to see Bath. I would love to return and explore more of the city if I have the chance. It seems pretty cool and there's a river there and I want to try Sally Lunn buns too! We found the shop but it's crowded and there's just no time for it (how many times have I said this?).

Anyway, a great trip for people on tight schedules wanting to see more in less time. =)

UK Day 2 - London.

2011-11-27T15:07:00.011+08:00

Back to Central London again on Day 2 - to continue on our journey to explore the city.

Rushed to the famed Buckingham Palace to catch the changing of the guards at 11am, BUT it was postponed to the next day for reasons I don't know! Damn our luck.

The Palace is open to visitors during summer only. It's considered winter now (by right it's autumn but to the locals, there are really only 2 seasons there).

Overlooking the Green Park opposite the Palace. I love that London has so many nice, huge, clean parks.

Just as we were about to leave, then came the horse guards parade.

They were carrying swords! Or whatever you call them.

Tried to chase after them on the road, but they were too fast.

Simply beautiful! Autumn is awesome!

The Wellington Monument.

I love the architecture here. I love old buildings and designs and London is full of them!

Their very cute taxis and their famous red double-decker buses.

Arrived at Harrods.

The crazy crowded Food Hall, apparently Harrods afternoon tea is great but we didn't care to try it - just bought ourselves 2 cupcakes for fun.

Princess Diana and Dodi al Fayed memorial in Harrods. hmm

Victoria & Albert Museum, the national museum of arts and design.

Not something that I can appreciate - but entrance is free so we stopped by and took a quick look.

The Natural History museum - another museum with free entrance. Just love FREE stuff. haha

Lovely building.

This dino looks awfully familiar. :D

So freakin' pretty!

A humongous 1,300 year-old giant sequoia tree trunk.

Also dropped by at Kensington Palace and Gardens, once the official residence of Princess Diana.

And then back to Oxford Street to shop a little. London is already in the festive mood.

It's about 2 months to Christmas tho. lol

Selfridges - one of the popular malls here.

The chocolate and red velvet cupcakes from Harrods, 2.5 pounds each if I'm not mistaken. The red velvet is super duper awesome! ♥

That's it for day 2. Next day would be our first tour out of London.

UK Day 1 - London.

2011-11-20T17:21:00.010+08:00

After 14 hours flight and 2 hours transit at Abu Dhabi via Etihad Airways, we finally reached Heathrow airport on November 1st, Tuesday morning at 6.10 am. It was 7.30 am by the time we cleared immigration and made our way to Aunt Rose's place via the tube service.

Then we got stuck at Leicester Square station, as the tube service to High Barnet was down and we had to find an alternative line to reach our destination.

2 weeks in London and we all became experts at reading the tube map. lol

So we went to Euston station and found the High Barnet line working thank goodness. Seriously those who want to get to central London from Heathrow via tube should probably think twice, because you would have to carry your huge luggage bags up or down the stairs every time you need to change stations - not all come with escalator service wtf. Unless you're just carrying a backpack. Heavy max and no man around to help us sadly.

Finally around 10am, we reached our destination - West Finchley!

Houses here are extremely expensive and West Finchley is one of the upmarket housing areas, also one of the safest in London apparently.

The semi-d house on the left, or rather a flat, that was our home for 12 days.

Why it's called a flat - the house is separated to 2 floors, one family on the upstairs and another on downstairs. You can see the 2 doors inside right.

We live upstairs. Again, we had to carry our luggages up this narrow staircase, which was literally a pain in the ass!

The living hall - super duper messy as Aunt Rose has started packing the house to move out of the country.

Another view.

The kitchen.

The tiny hallway. Bathroom's on far left, I forgot to take a picture of it though.

The single bedroom that all 5 of us crashed in. lol

There's actually an extra large room in the attic, but was not used because it would cost a lot to renovate it. This tiny flat can actually sell for half a million. And you think property prices in Malaysia are insane. *shakes head*

After we had rested enough, we made our way to Madame Tussauds for the 4pm entry which we bought online at 25% discount. Not my thing but the ladies wanted to visit it. It costs 21 pounds a ticket!

The first one spotted, Daniel Radcliffe!!! haha. My super celebrity crush when I was 13-14.

I really can't stand him but just to spite the fans. :p

Jack Sparrow!! Unfortunately, no normal Johnny Depp wax figure.

Another of my favourite childhood crush, Prince William!

Bieber ewwwww. lol

Hello Obama.

Spent about an hour there. Gosh it was really a waste of precious money! It was okay fun, but just too expensive for something that's not even real, you know. Anyway, this was 5pm and it's already dark. T_T

Spotted the red telephone booth. :D

Made our way to Chinatown for dinner.

Just a small street full of shops selling roast duck. I wanted to go to Four Seasons, which is famous for its roast duck, but I couldn't recall the name that night and so we went to a random restaurant, which wasn't good at all. And it's like 15 pounds per person. Sigh.

Walking around the SOHO and West End areas - we planned to watch a musical there, but we didn't have time for it in the end.

Stumbled into Carnaby Street at 8pm, all shops closed.

So that ends day 1 - we didn't want to do much since we just had a real long flight here. Just a tip for tube users, if you travel during peak hours which is 6.30-9.30am, your maximum Oyster card charge for the day would be 10 pounds, if you travel during non-peak hours, it would be a maximum charge of about 7 pounds.

And I think buses do not charge by peak/non-peak hours, so you might want to try that too. Not sure what's the maximum per day, but one Sunday I boarded the bus like more than 5 times and it only took about 4 pounds off my Oyster card. Pretty good deal, considering it costs 1.30 pounds the moment you board a bus. heh

I Can't Sleep!

2011-11-20T03:50:00.003+08:00

So I'm here, blogging, sort of.

Well I just came back from UK last week on a 12 days holiday. Not many people know, but England was the first country that I ever fell in love with. I know everyone probably think that I'm only crazy over Japan, but truth is, before I knew anime, before I knew Johnny's Jr, I grew up envying and fascinated by classic stories set in old English towns - with fairies, enchanting woods, medieval history and the treacherous monarchy being some of my favourite settings.

Back then, I would get emotional every time I see or think of English castles - so majestic, so beautiful and so mysterious, stories and images of them always seemed to give me nostalgia and deep longing. Because of my princessy attitude and my fondness of English castles, my father once said that I must be a princess in my past life. I secretly believed it too, though I am an Asian!

But then again, I am not a pure Chinese. My grandfather is a half, but we had no idea of his origins. Not until 2 years ago that is, shortly after my grandmother passed away. We thought he was French, or even a Northern Indian. But my first aunt revealed that my great-grandfather was actually a British soldier. Pretty common back in old Malaya right. Sad story is, he raped a Chinese maid, who borne my grandfather, and then gave him away for adoption by a Hakka family.

So lo and behold, that explains why England has always been dear to me! I do have some English blood in me after all! Pretty interesting revelation I must say. =D

So after all these years, I've finally stepped into England, got a taste of how it feels like to be a Londoner, saw the castles and the villages, had afternoon tea with scones... Well, all I can say is, home is still the best after all. ♥

Crazy months.

2011-10-22T19:01:00.003+08:00

Haven't been blogging as I've been busy throughout the month. Will make a proper update after November, perhaps.

Me Me Me.

2011-10-13T19:41:00.001+08:00

Too busy to do anything besides work and love.

Gosh.

Working life, I wish I can escape.

I want my 'me' time. I need my 'me' time.

Corus & Doubletree.

2011-09-17T16:21:00.003+08:00

Well here we go again on a little trip of our own. Thanks to winning some complimentary stays.

First stop, Corus Paradise Resort, Port Dickson. It's the first time we drove outstation, well not exactly we drove to Genting too but that doesn't really count, does it? lol

Made a stop at Pasar Besar Seremban for our brunch. I always try to make it a point to bring people here if it's convenient to stop by. Not many people know about this place and the famous four noodles.

One of them, Seremban beef noodles. The sauce is totally different from KL's, it's sweet and it has peanuts. Interesting and although I still prefer KL's version, this is really good too. RM6 for a big bowl.

Hakka noodles, with the ever soft, springy noodles and flavourful mince meat. I never really like KL's version, this is what I very much preferred. RM3.70 for a medium bowl. Awesome green chillies btw.

These 2 stores are the only ones that open till late. The loh shu fun (lai fun, to be precise) was sold out by 11am and I was NEVER early enough for the mihun sotong. Been here a few times but never once did I see the shop still open for business. I only get to eat it when my uncle in Seremban tapao'ed it early morning and bring it all the way here to KL for us.

At Corus, and room 512! My lucky numbers, that's almost like my birthdate. :)

Deluxe room with ocean view that has 2 double beds. Huge.

Was expecting a really run-down hotel but this is much better than I expected.

Bathroom's a bit let-down though, as it floods.

The view from the room.

The pool which was closed that day.

The entrance to the lobby.

Something in celebration of Merdeka I guess.

Dining area where we had our breakfast. I have to say, it's really unhygienic as flies were flying around the buffet spread and no one bothered to do something!

Random birds display.

And rabbits.

The beach beside. Not very pretty.

This water they trapped here.. not very clean. lol

Hotel in the middle looks new (think they just renovated?) while the two buildings beside are worn down. What a contrast.

Dinner at Lucky restaurant which is famous for curry buns. But we didn't try it. We got assam sotong..

Superb Gu lou yuk!

And claypot tauhu. Bill came up to RM44.

Nothing to do here, just relax and chill. Then next stop back to KL to check-in at Doubletree again.

Before that, lunch at Kin Kin, said to be the original home of chilli pan mee. Was there at 1.20pm and our food came at almost 2. Crazy crowd. It has a very homemade taste to it, but I still prefer Restaurant Chilly Pan Mee because of its lime juice in the chilli paste. Lime always makes food taste better. :p

Yay my second visit here. Super love it. The room seems bigger, but when I compared the pictures from my first visit, the only difference is we have a sofa now and not two chairs. lol

It's crazy comfortable and cosy and clean... it's awesome!

Oh how I miss the rain shower. You just don't feel like coming out.

This time we got a great view, since this is a deluxe room and not a guestroom.

Saw some fireworks that night for whatever reasons.

Dinner at Tosca again by the pool.

All for my beloved bolognese spaghetti!

And margherita pizza. Unfortunately they changed the recipe for this, it was still good but not AWESOME like last time. I think tomato paste is a much better combination than tomato slices eh.

Another difference from our last visit, this time we got free breakfast too at Makan Kitchen. Seriously the buffet spread was amazing! So many choices, we are so spoilt. Massive crowd too. Business must be good. lol

Love the Indian section, the beef was delicious, and the roti canai was really good with a lot of buttery taste. Look at all those pretty jam, which we didn't use.

Yummy omelette~

Plain noodles with superb chicken soup.

A lot of random stuff, there's nasi lemak, putu mayam?!!, pastries, pancakes, dim sum, lots of juices. Didn't eat too much but honestly was really impressed with the breakfast here, as the dinner buffet at Makan Kitchen was only average to me.

We also got newspapers delivered to our room. We didn't get that the last time we were here.

This hotel is more business-like, more business-feel, but I have to say the bed here is the most comfortable one I've slept in so far. I've been on a hotel-staying-spree the past year, and this bed is just too good. The pillows especially... omg I NEED THEM in my future house. :]

We have another Doubletree voucher... which I'm hesitant to use again. It's quite embarrassing to come here for 3 times for free haha. But then again, I miss the pillows. =D

Freebies #11.

2011-09-04T15:18:00.005+08:00

Two Doubletree vouchers won from their Birthday Bash celebration. Basically catch them while they were promoting around shopping malls and answer a question given, if you got it right you get a random voucher either a free stay or free makan. :D

Cowboy & Aliens tix from Lowyat.

And merchandise dummy won.

Supposedly for Legend of a Rabbit, but too late no cinema showing it now. Guess it sucks. lol

Spy Kids 4D that we queued for, just for the experience. Pretty dumb as I could only smell 4 out of 8 aroma given - bacon, sweets, cola and chocolate. The yucky ones no smell at all.

RM60 voucher won from Curve, which I forgot to take a picture of. So sad nothing nice to buy, so ended up choosing a pair of sandals that I had always been reluctant to get if using own money. lol

These tix are thanks to Jeff Soo, a fellow movie premiere addict, whom dummy acquainted with while collecting Smurfs tickets. He had extra so he gave us a pair. :)

Colombiana from Daily Chilli, only went because they promised a star-studded gala premiere. Well we did see Jojo Struys, Xandria Ooi and even made eye contact with Douglas Lim, the rest we didn't recognise. Also, bumped into Andrew Chan, who asked if I still contact Yvonne. lol

Grand prize Smurfs from MSN!

Another pair from Cari.

Freebies #10.

2011-08-20T15:02:00.006+08:00

Nothing to update again, so another list.

MTV World Stage passes 2011! Ended up choosing Villa over this. Location sucks eh.

Super lucky to be their first 5 winners! Rarely this lucky in random draw. Thanks to these, I only knew I could have extra coffee+hazelnut+caramel frap. :D

Arsenal training passes, which I couldn't go due to my stupid training week!

But we did manage to go to Liverpool's training, since my own training ended earlier that day.

Also couldn't attend Potter's première because of said training, so opted for another free screening a week later.

Free gift from GNC LiveWell.

Another one, a blue pill box.

And another his and hers pill box.

Awesome! by dummy.

Win courtesy of his planking picture at Toys R Us. lol

My picture won a webcam.

New Balance shoes!

My own pair! Also my first and only real sports shoes! Now I can finally go to Broga Hill.

Gave to his colleague.

Because we prefer MV, much more convenient.

He won a TF novel! From a teenage-based entity, stuff@school. LOL. He didn't know nor realise it.

Also won TF iphone casing from HWZ. He's just nuts about TF. grrrr

Free samples from their FB page.

Till next list~

Sunway Resort getaway: The Villas

2011-08-05T20:37:00.015+08:00

The Villa. Never knew this resort existed here in Sunway! Apparently it's just sort of right beside the Lagoon, with a secret path hidden within trees and bushes bringing us to a whole new different place. Sanctuary in the city!

So after a refreshing Mandara spa, we went to check-in at their usual lobby.

But they told us that check-in is only done at the Villa's private reception, and they got us a butler to bring us to the hidden place lol.

This is the lobby for us to check-in. It also includes the Pavillion - the place to get breakfast and free cocktail and titbits in the evening.

Our villa! With a teak swing!

Home for a night~

Just beside the entrance door is this bar counter with coffee-making facilities. Um, no wet kitchen here lol. If you noticed, there's another door on the left..

Which provides a second line of security/privacy defense to the room inside.

Work desk table.

Another side view.

Outside the house is the private infinity pool! With massage jets. Facing Sunway Lagoon, we could see the hanging bridge from here lol.

Omg this place is huge. T_T

The really high ceiling.

A freaking four-poster bed!! With humongous pillows!! That kinda took up too much space so we threw away the back two or his feet would be hanging out of the bed end hahaha.

I thought the decoration was really cute and sweet. :D Felt reluctant to take away all those things. But oh my this bed is like one of the most comfortable beds ever.

The lounge area. TV can be rotated to face either this side or the bed.

The balcony, which they advised us not to sit for long without putting on insect repellent (provided). We're kinda in the 'jungle' after all.

Some hi-fi thingy?

The wardrobe, leading towards the bathroom. No proper doors as you can see, it's sort of see-through.

Two basins.

Bathtub. There's air-con at the top left hand corner. Don't see what's the point of having air-con in the bathroom lol.

My favourite rain shower! I super love rain shower!

Female and male slippers hahaha. They're not like those paper slippers, these are heavy!

At the Pavillion, got ourselves some free snacks and cocktails in the evening. I think it's at 5-7pm or something, can't remember.

Meatball, popiah, fried stuff, even a piece of steak!

Sweet desserts~

Actually it's quite scary to sleep at night with the curtain-thingy covering the whole bed. You don't know what's waiting outside those sheets! lol.

And the worst part is, in the middle of the night his laptop suddenly started playing the movie we were watching before sleep (he paused it instead of stopping it, then closed the laptop). Laptops do suddenly start-up, I know it happens since I sleep with the laptop on standby beside me at home too.

But the problem is, we already got seriously freaked out during our first stay at Sunway when the TV suddenly just turned on by itself. To prevent that from happening again this time, we deliberately took off the TV plug. And yet we experienced a similar thing again. Swt.

The Villa next door.

Oh and I also woke up again the second time due to some weird high-pitched, soft whistling outside that lasted minutes. Dunno what's that, which animal/human was it but it's creepy too.

The pool at night.

Free tarts, brought personally to us! Such nice service.

This is our breakfast the next morning. Breakfast starts 6am.

Scrambled eggs that we ordered and which we did not expect it to be sooooo full? Wow we thought we're just getting eggs, but they gave us awesome wedges, bacon and cheese sausages on the same plate too. Even the tomato tasted great!

We share the same public pool facility with Sunway Resort & Spa. Huge!

You can get really nice powerful waterfall massage here lol. Since we woke up real early, we went for a swim here too. Must fully utilise the place! :p

Oh by the way, free refillable mineral water. Just call and ask.

Blessed. :)

The Villa is in fact just steps away from Pyramid mall. If you don't want to walk, you can of course opt to be driven back to the main Sunway Resort lobby.

Goodbye private resort~ And back to the hustle bustle outside.

Seriously 1 night is not enough! It's such a nice resort! I love staying in chalet-type places, it's so natural and zen-like. Unfortunately, there is a downside to having the Villas built so near the Lagoon. You do get some noise pollution when they make announcements, play the music, etc. I thought it would be quieter at night, but seemed like there was some sort of event or concert going on so it was worse. Maybe weekdays would be better.

But anyway, I didn't really mind since the noise came from so far away, and I still felt hidden in my own world. :D

Enjoyed my stay, loved the luxury, what a great opportunity to be here! ♥

Sunway Resort getaway: Mandara Spa

2011-07-29T22:23:00.010+08:00

So we finally used up the Sunway prize that dummy won for their CNY contest earlier this year, which includes free spa as well as a night's stay at the Villa. I'll leave the Villa for the next post, so here's my experience at the luxurious Mandara Spa.

This lane is so narrow it didn't seem fit for a car but well that's the road heading into the place. The entrance is somewhere near the Sunway hospital, just lookout for the 2 huge elephant statues facing the road, turn in, drive down and tell the guards at the guardhouse that you have an appointment with Mandara.

Don't expect huge/normal parking lots. It's actually just a space in between trees and bushes, we didn't even think those were parking lots but there was no other place so that should be it. lol

Oh my it was my first time to a real spa. The only massage treatment I tried before was neck and head massage at my facials. But that was great too!

At least he tried foot massage before. Not me. I'm too scared to do it.

BULAT :(

A ginger drink and wet towel for you to freshen up.

We were given a choice between back or foot massage. Of course I chose back. For that, you have to pick which oil you want to use. There's the Mandara oil, not too sure what's it for. One's for energy and vitality, one's for harmony and balance (he took this, the lady said this is their most popular oil), one's for insomnia/tiredness (my choice, as I'm always sleep-deprived).

The room, for our complimentary Sweet November Couple's package.

Shhh. Treatment in progress.

Interesting décor. A shower room on this corner, and a toilet on the other corner.

Heart-shaped mirror wtf haha.

Aromatherapy flower bath wow!

With bubbles! And it's warm!

For foot massage.

All I can say is, it was so AWKWARD! Firstly we had to change into their disposable underwear and wear a sarong, which is pretty pointless since you have to take it off when you're on the bed. So you're pretty much naked during the massage, even your underwear would be pulled slightly lower exposing your butt crack. Well that was still okay, but when I had to lie facing upwards that's when I felt quite embarrassed. heh.

The first thing on our agenda: body scrub. It was quite painful at first, like a hardened sponge rubbing your skin. Then they will pour some hot liquid all over you and the scrubbing became smoother. I really enjoyed it. It was revitalizing and I felt so much cleaner after that. They also did a bit of facial, which left some scrub marks on our faces but in return our skin became soooo soft that day. lol

Then we were asked to take a shower and dip in the bathtub. Oh my heavenly~ The temperature was just right. No wonder the Japanese can't live without their tubs.

The last on our agenda was the express back massage. It was actually quite painful as the masseur tried to loosen up my knots. Well I know I have very stiff back from all the lack of sleep and general unhealthy sleeping habits. I really looked forward for a good massage and I got it. Though I would have loved for it to last longer. :P

And that's it. Almost 2 hours of pampering spent there. I think it's a really good experience, should try to indulge in spas some day. It's good for health. :D

Freebies #9.

2011-07-16T13:51:00.010+08:00

Continue with the list:

Dummy's win: A set of Transformers DOTM toys packed in a Just Go With It Bag from Movie Fest!

Dummy was supposed to win X-Men's cap from ecentralmy but they noticed his answer was wrong only after they announced the winners so they apologized for the "good news" and compensated him a pair of free movie tickets instead. Such nice people! =)

Goodies from RAM Entertainment.

Super 8 premiere won both from CARI and also Nuffnang.

Super 8 bag and tickets from UIP - dummy's win.

Again another set - my win from Yes World.

Dummy's free tix won from his company haha! Random game.

His Jusco vouchers won from his company's annual dinner lucky draw.

Super GT tix from Sunway Pyramid.

Magical Musicals from Tourism Selangor.

From TGIF's Father's Day contest.

From Doubletree's Father's Day contest.

Really cool-looking Transformers in-season passes thanks to GSC-EON.

Premiere tix thanks to Nuffnang, came with popcorn and soda - given to parents.

Free Transformers screening in 3D by Double A - comes with goodie bags.

Random underwear win from Private Structure lol.

Free gift for Nanowhite's Facebook fans.

From NSTP travel photo contest, but voucher mixed up with The Star. haha

Green Lantern poster, ring and 2 pairs of tix from Times bookstore (I forgot to take pic before I used a pair).

Surprise win from go2shomestay! They are promoting homestays in Malaysia so check them out!

Of course the free fine dining from Yes World and Starhil Gallery. =)

Alright that's it for now. Been on a lucky streak so far. This year is really my year. heh

Midsummer Nights Feast - Space element.

2011-07-09T15:53:00.011+08:00

As luck would have it, dummy also won a dinner for 2 worth RM770 at Midsummer Nights Feast courtesy of YTL and Starhill Gallery. It's his own idea, his own slogan, he very much deserved this.

We didn't expect there would be 5 winners in the first place, only thought there would be ONE. Pretty embarrassing to come back again, but the menu was too tempting! lol

Since I took Fire element on Friday, he took the Space element on Saturday July 2. Here's the menu by Chef Wai, YTL's very own Corporate Executive Chef.

A little sweet, refreshing welcome drink. Some fruit juice I guess.

His favourite element is actually water.

Crispy creamy thing that we both enjoyed! I only know of ice-cream gelato. This is not sweet but salty. haha

Foie gras mollet. Our first time trying foie gras, and unfortunately this will be my last. I cannot stand the taste of it! Oh dear I shudder just to recall back the smell. When I first put it in my mouth, it was kind of good - creamy, flavourful, and the "nest" tasted great. But then the after-taste killed me. :( Duck/goose liver is 10x worse than chicken liver!

Tuna, with refreshing kumquat taste. Which was nice, but it couldn't match Chef Jason's halibut. heh

Wagyu sirloin!! Super awesome! I really love wagyu's gummy texture, really smooth and almost melts in the mouth. The fork just went right through it so easily haha. But I think the wagyu I once had grilled on hot stone tastes somewhat better. Anyway the urchin-salted yolk glaze was delicious and the scallop potato was absolutely HEAVENLY it might even just win over the wagyu! Seriously what potato is that so godly!

Valrhona chocolate truffle with bits of cotton candy! So cute! 3 chocolate balls - one milk chocolate, one coconut and one coffee. Normal tasting desserts are still the best!

This time we took their coffee offer, which was damn nice! Just put in milk and 2 cubes of sugar and PERFECTO! Even though I'm not an expert coffee drinker, I could taste the difference. ♥

We were leaving to catch our movie, when the YTL media came and asked for interview. Dummy took the job while I observed haha.

The live band.

Camwhoring.

Another day of great service and food. Thanks so much to the organisers, I finally got a glimpse of how fine dining feels like and how foie gras tastes like too haha. These 2 days were really an eye-opening experience for me. I'm humbled. :)

Click here to view the video of that night - which includes a cameo of us eating and also dummy being interviewed. lol

Midsummer Nights Feast - Fire Element.

2011-07-04T15:35:00.015+08:00

Thanks to Yes World and Starhill Gallery, I won a Midsummer Nights Feast dinner for 2 worth RM770 at Feast Village, Starhill Gallery. This is the most expensive dinner I ever had in my life! I am so honoured to be given this opportunity.

The dinner at Shook! I was given a choice between Friday July 1st (Fire element) or Saturday July 2nd (Space element).

I chose Fire - Celebration of Culinary Passion because it is after all, my favourite element and which my winning slogan was based on. =) This is the Fire menu.

And this is about Chef Jason Koppinger from USA, the one behind the Fire menu.

Was pretty clueless about the forks and knives. It was my first real fine dining experience.

Almost every dish was paired with a wine. I'm not much of a drinker, it made me so tipsy haha.

The open-concept kitchen area.

Quiet, sort of romantic dining area with live band right beside.

Straight from work with bad hair.

Dummy as usual.

Chef Jason being interviewed by YTL's own media fellows. We saw a few guests taking pictures with him, too bad we didn't get one.

5 types of wine made me oh so dizzy. If you don't drink, you can also opt for refillable fresh fruit juices - highly recommended!

First dish: The lobster ball appetizer. Delicious, like a Chinese dish. Super love the combination with tomato relish!

Second dish: smoked duck which was totally awesome! and yes, tastes like a Chinese dish as well. The red thing had a really unfamiliar taste, it wasn't bad but it's something new and needs some getting used to. I think it has cheese in it? Dummy loves it.

Third dish: Scallops! which had a bit of chilli taste and a lil sour too. But it's all good and the scallops were fresh.

Fourth dish: wasabi crusted halibut. This is the BEST dish that night. I can't believe a fish could taste that fresh and good. It's insane. The crust really adds to the flavour. Freakin' yummy! And also tastes like a Chinese dish haha.

Fifth dish: Jalapeño watermelon granite. It's sweet and spicy at the same time. Not something for everyone, as dummy hated it haha. I think it's okay, but I would prefer plain watermelon anytime too.

Sixth dish: Lamb! Biggest juiciest lamb I've ever tried! It's like eating a fat good steak but this is lamb! With no bones! Wonderful big fat juicy lamb! :D

Seventh dish: The chocolatey fruity cake that had the same spicy taste as the watermelon granite. It's sweet, sour, spicy, and SALTY too (those red stuff are salt). A true burst of flavours in the mouth. Pretty weird! They offered coffee or tea to go with the cake, but we declined coz we're too full lol.

The goodies that came with the dinner.

And a free polaroid picture for every guest.

Ah such friendly good service, lovely dinner, great experience, loved it! =D

Click here to view the video by YTL about that night.

Japan Super GT 2011 @ Sepang.

2011-07-02T09:03:00.002+08:00

Dummy's pair of tix to Super GT on 18th and 19th June courtesy of Sunway Pyramid. It's my first time to Sepang and to such an event, his second.

Comes with limited edition Touch n Go cards (no money in it tho lol).

We came on Saturday because Sunday was Father's Day.

And indeed since it was not a race day, there was not much activity as advised by a friend Jerry.

But that's okay I just wanted to have a look/taste of such an event haha. Reminds me of KimuTaku's drama Engine. What more with the commentaries in Japanese. =D

Some gung-ho Japanese fans.

Hot perfect weather. Damn the cars were loud!

Some cars on display. Funny looking Merz haha.

Mimicking me ceh.

This ish so cute!

There was a Super GT queen pageant too.

Miss Popularity with over a thousand votes on FB apparently.

Miss Charisma.

Miss Best Poise.

Miss Photogenic, which was my choice as well.

Super GP Caffee queen, I have no idea what it meant.

And finally, the Super GT Queen, which was dummy's favourite. I don't see what's her appeal though.

Parking was RM5 there. If there's a chance again, I will definitely come back for the race day instead. =P

Magical Musicals @ Sunway Amphitheater.

2011-06-25T10:03:00.001+08:00

It was June 15th, and I won a pair of tix to Magical Musicals from Tourism Selangor. =D I was eyeing this before it premiered, as there were many groups giving out free tickets, but the timing was always a problem. I mean, to be there at 6pm is wayyyy too early on a working weekday!

However, dummy said it was okay on that day so I took the chance and finally got to catch the musical after all. =D

7pm?! Most people only got off work at 6, what about dinner? If it's at 8pm more people would be able to make it.

Our dinner, Wednesday saver at Pizza Hut! Best ever my favourite awesome cheesy crust! So worth it! But Pizza Hut, I really miss your cheap RM10 set that comes with bread, drink and pizza too.

The train that came to pick us up to the Amphitheater.

The pickup point with the wave pool behind us.

New York city comes to life on this very colourful stage. The show only started at 7.30pm.

Random actors on stage before the show began. Basically 2 homeless were running around, then there were 2 tourists passing by, and there was also a policeman guarding the street lol.

1st act was about these 6 friends trying to make it big in Broadway and their love relationships with each other. Most of the songs I couldn't recognise so 1st act was a bit of a bore for me. I know there's Grease here.

It lasted about 45 mins and ended with the song Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire. Woots!

Now that's cool! Really impressive drums and fire show!

Then it was a 15mins intermission.

It was pretty empty (but more people than depicted in this pic as they went out during the break), but at least there was a small crowd at the red corner who were quite enthusiastic; cheering and dancing throughout the show. =)

2nd act started with performance of Dreamgirls, which meant that the friends are now successful in their careers.

2nd act was a lot more fun because I knew most of the songs here. Apart from Dreamgirls, there's Saturday Night Fever, We Will Rock You, Glee's Don't Stop Believin' and mash up of Umbrella and Singin' in the Rain, Hercules, Mulan and of course, Mamma Mia! which they ended with. For encore, I'm not really sure but it's like a Rio song.

The end at 9.30pm. I think cutesy Stephanie's vocals were the best - she was up at the seats just beside dummy and I for a song performance, and then she turned and winked at us, to which dummy winked back chehh. Megan's good too. Megan reminds me too much of my cousin Kim, with that black hair, face shape and body size. Pretty distracting actually haha.

While waiting for our buggy ride back.

My second live musical and I didn't enjoy it that much because it lacks a real story and theatrics. The songs could help but I didn't know half of them or even if I know them, it's not the type of music I'm really into, so overall, I wasn't WOWed. One thing I know, if there's a musical with only Disney songs, I would totally be melting in love. Was about to cry in joy when those songs appeared suddenly. =')

On the other hand, dummy rated this a 4.5/5 stars. He enjoyed the performances, the overall mood created, the songs that we know, Umbrella.. lol. So I guess it all depends on your preferences heh.

Langkawi 2D1N.

2011-06-19T16:15:00.008+08:00

Yup I did say I won a free one night stay at Holiday Villa Langkawi thanks to their Twitter contest. So I took the opportunity to budget travel again! Much thanks to HV! =D

I had thought of staying 3D2N instead, but due to current circumstances and time limit might not be able to make it, also thought of giving it to my parents too but hey, I really wanna go there myself and check out the island and hotel! So 2D1N was pretty rushed, but that's okay coz we really enjoyed ourselves going on a lil random adventure. =)

Our 2nd night train experience, north-bound Senandung Langkawi that goes all the way to Hat Yai. This time the train was right on time at 9.15pm sharp to our amazement. lol

We got ASC Superior Class seats at RM39 each. No beds this time coz sold out. The seats are okay comfy, but word of caution, please wear LONG pants and bring a jacket. It's super cold and we were freezing half the time with our half exposed legs, so we could hardly sleep because of that. =(

Watched Bieber's movie and found him so bratty. Ugh.

Ipoh station at 12am! Nice looking station eh. 3am we found ourselves at Taiping station and WOW so many people were boarding at such ungodly hour! Culture shock!

Right on time we reached Alot Setar at 7am. Hopped onto a taxi, uh no, they call themselves 'kereta sewa' or 'car for rent', to the jetty for a flat rate of RM20 for 2 persons. There are no metered taxis here. So many paddy fields along the way, Sekinchan cannot fight la. =P

The Kuala Kedah jetty.

In time to board the 8am ferry. RM23 a person for one way only.

First time taking the ferry. I took the plane on my first visit.

The journey took 1 1/2 hours, long enough to complete a Malay movie that was showing on TV. lol

Finally we stepped foot on Langkawi!

Sunny sunny day. Spot me I'm between the alphabets.

Backside you.

Again we had to take the 'kereta sewa' taxi to our destination above located 22km away from the jetty. Fixed rate RM24 one way.

Was glad that the 'taxi' prices here are fixed too. Was afraid hotel charges would be higher than the normal station at the jetty haha.

I dunno what theme is this but feels like a Malay-ish kamgpung style to me. Pretty cool.

The free room we were entitled to was fully booked, so we paid an extra RM20 upgrade to the premium room. Basically means it's on the highest floor (2nd) rather on the ground floor. Spacious eh.

I was soooo happy that they allowed us to check-in at 11am instead of 2pm? I was dead sleepy and the early check-in meant I could get some sleep for 2 hours before we set out to do a bit of exploring.

The clean bathroom.

The balcony.

Our very green view.

Giant chess set in the lobby area.

The road just outside the resort. You can find many shops lining the road.

One of them, Troppo Co. coffee and cakes. Found good reviews of them on the Net so we decided to have our lunch here.

Apparently their coffee rocks.

Indeed, dummy said their ice blended mocha caramel tastes even better than Starbucks. You be the judge. =)

Chubby Bunny! The drink that shares my nickname. This is one real awesome chocolate drink. If you have a sweet tooth, this is for you. The melted marshmallow is sugary heaven. I wonder why they even bothered to give an extra pack of raw sugar. Quote: "Life is uncertain. Eat desserts first".

Good ol Tuna & Mayo sandwich. We loved this! Thumbs up!

Mediterranean caper. Vegetables goodness. Loved the eggplant but if you can't stand capsicum, stay away from this. The portion is huge, we only ate half and kept the other half for breakfast next day.

After a bit of relaxing, headed to the huge pool. I really enjoyed the swim because the pool's not freezing cold, the temperature's just right.

They have the normal 1.3m deep pool, the over 2m deep pool, a kids pool and a jacuzzi all in one location. Nice~ Unfortunately I met my ex-boss here playing water gun with his children!!! Oh the horror and embarrassment! What a crazy coincidence lol.

Just a walk further across the pool, you can find the beautiful, clean Pantai Tengah.

Gosh I love the soft sand!

And the huge waves!

It's an eagle!

No it's an airplane. lol

This beach is perfect. I love big waves. It's so fun to jump on them. Not many people too.

One day we will come back. ♥

Look at this amazing shot I got!!!

No wonder they say the sunsets here are gorgeous.

It really is!

Falling in love.

=D

Dummy is floating~

Was lucky to see the sunset, as the clouds were shielding it for a while.. but finally it popped out for us.

There's a football field here too.

The garden trail to the pool and beach or back to resort.

Lagenda restaurant.

Mario's Italian restaurant.

We had dinner at Cactus just directly opposite the resort.

Apparently this place is popular for its breakfast.

Check out the ceiling doodles.

Tom yam soup! My fav. Of course can't beat the one I had in Krabi.

Cactus-style chicken. All their main dishes come with rice. Dummy loves this coz he loves black beans.

Spaghetti bolognese with generous amount of cheese sprinkles. Sweet and yummy.

I have no idea if that watermelon is free or not, they just gave it to us lol. Anyway dinner came up to about RM40.

Rise and shine to see the beach one last time before we checked out.

Byebye eagle. Took the ferry to Kuala Perlis at RM18 a person. Journey's shorter just 1 hour. Kuala Perlis because the bus station is within walking distance, whereas if we took the same ferry back to Kuala Kedah jetty, we will have to take taxi to Alor Setar to board the bus. We saved a RM20 taxi ride this way. =)

Check out the photos I took in the ferry. It's like there's no line separating sea and sky.

Emptiness!

The jetty.

And our first time stepping foot on Perlis. Yay, I still have 3 more yet to see now: Kelantan, Sabah and Sarawak.

Perlis is also full of paddy fields! I seriously think there are more paddy fields in Perlis than roads! Fulamak.

We took the 12pm Plusliner bus to KL at RM45 a pax. Halfway stop at Sungai Perak. Was impressed that they changed drivers here. Really good safety rule.

Reached Puduraya bus station at 8pm. Coolness the place's so clean and bright and modern.

And that's it for our lil random adventure to the North and back. Long journey but it was a good experience, learnt and saw many new things, enjoyed the sceneries. It's worth all the effort. =)

One Wesak day in KL.

2011-06-14T11:37:00.001+08:00

Back fresh from Singapore, we found ourselves waking up early on Tuesday Wesak Day (May 17) for a brunch at Le Vain Boulangerie Patisserie.

This much talked about shop in town.

There were more people there for brunch than actual lunch. By 12pm the crowd thinned out a lot. Should have visited later than earlier. Lesson learnt.

No seats below so have to move upstairs, the environment didn't feel as nice tho.

Food was about RM20 a person.

Hot chocolate cappucino. Neslo anyone? haha. No it didn't taste like Neslo. It was a lot yummier!! And more expensive than my spaghetti.

Walnut bread, which was sweet and addictive, and a pretty good normal-tasting pizza.

My favourite Chocolate crunch! The chocolate is LOVE.

Spaghetti bolognese. This is sooo good as well, and cheap at less than RM10. But the portion is pretty small. Bolognese is my current addiction. I no longer crave for carbonara.

Green tea macaroon, which was super sweet, and the cute full of mayo turkey ham & eggs bun.

The place packed full with cars. It's a shame they don't open after 8pm. Would love to stop by for dinner more than breakfast, lunch or tea. lol

Feeling restless from our SG trip, we decided to explore KL a bit and found ourselves at Istana Negara! Super random. I think I was here once, when I was too young to remember anything.

It was scorching HOT and the guards have to stay so still with those thick uniforms. It's like torture man.

But actually there's a fan inside. But still. Even air-con can't help us nowadays. haha (excuse my blouse, it was an impromptu thing we did here)

Since we're around the area, we thought it would be a good idea to stop by another KL landmark, Tugu Negara.

I know I came here before on a school trip long long long time ago!

A bunch of Japanese tourists were here listening to the tour guide explaining the history under the crazy sun. Pity them. =P

Seriously never expected the statue to be so HUGEEEEE. My memory thought it's half the size smaller.

Nothing really to see here.

The Parliament building. Which I went inside once on a school trip when I was 12. Only because I had a classmate whose father was a politician and he helped us get approval. XD

Then we were at Gardens Mid Valley for Gong Cha pearl milk tea! There was quite a crowd and they ran out of pearls and had to make new ones, so maybe that's why the pearls sucked on that day. However, the milk tea was superb.

Also tried their signature milk tea that has milk foam on top. This is green tea, which is super refreshing and good!

Days later we also tried their Signature Winter Melon tea, which was okay but not really my thing. This time the pearls were perfect!

And also taro milk tea!!! Finally! Someone has yam milk tea!! Omg I miss H20's yam milk tea sooooo much so I'm super happy to find this! Screw plain milk tea, I want my yam! =D

Our World, Their War

2011-06-10T16:20:00.011+08:00

Our world is being terrorized by Decepticons day in day out. They bully everyone with their mighty bodies and exceptional powers. Not even the sacred cinemas and peaceful movie-goers are spared of their daily abuses.

They despicably cut queues:

They push people around and intimidate them:

They hog online ticket bookings:

"Sucker lol".

"Cinema R Mine".

"Did Leader say 6 tix?"

They have no respect for humans be it the elderly or disabled, we are simply pests to them.

The police can't do anything. The Autobots once fought with all their might, but it ended with more damage than good to Earth and its inhabitants.

Innocent lives were lost..

Cities were ruined..

Both Decepticons and Autobots suffered serious injuries with no clear winner in sight.

After years of pointless war, they have agreed to a physical truce and are banned from destroying life on Earth. But the Decepticons' deep resentment lingers on, resorting to petty crimes, bullying and disrespect much to the annoyance of peace-loving, human-friendly Autobots.

But this has got to stop! People will turn bad if they keep getting obstructed from watching their favourite shows on the big screen. They will resort to illegal activities, drugs, booze, gambling; and the world will be in chaos once more!

There is dire need to protect the world of cinema and love for movies! For this mission, I shall transform into the ever lovable Autobot, humble 'never-crumble' Bumblebee! I AM ONZ!

2 is better than 1, and I shall team up with the humans to find a solution to Decepticons' malevolence.

"Ideas anyone?"

First, I'll meet a representative from Golden Screen Cinemas, they are just as concerned and determined to solve the problem that plagued their business. The result of our meeting? The Ultimate Movie Card.

There will be many privileges for users and only the good are allowed in. We immediately found a trusted partner to make this work - EON. Together we form the GSC-EON Bank Credit Card - The Ultimate Movie Card.

With priority ticketing lane and insurance coverage, humans will never have to fear the Decepticons again! We are the Ultimate Saviors of the ~~Silver~~ Golden Screen!

Finally, cinema-goers can now catch their favourite movies in peace and convenience! A simple thing goes a long way - We Focus on You.

Because.

A psychological battle won is a good win indeed. Hohoho.

*This post is written for GSC-EON Bank Card Transformers contest, partnered with Nuffnang Malaysia.
*Pictures of the toys are mine. The rest are taken from The Ultimate Movie Card Facebook fanpage.
*All ideas are my own. Any resemblance to others is purely coincidental.

Freebies #8.

2011-06-07T18:25:00.010+08:00

When you have loads of free time, you do stuff like this. lol

4 tix to Thor's preview screening in 3D with free drink and popcorn! Thanks to Everyone Connects.

I didn't want to waste the extra pair, so I was scouting the cinema for random moviegoers who wouldn't mind the last minute screening time. I finally chose a couple who coincidentally came from Sweden (Thor is Nordic folklore). Well I thought they were American or something, so I was totally confused that they didn't know about this movie or the actors and even asked if it's an English movie lol! The guy thought I was selling the tix though and was already taking out money, but of course I gave them for free. Sorry TGV KLCC for stealing business. lol

Thanks to Holiday Villa I'm going to Langkawi for a short getaway soon! My 5th free stay win. =)

Sent an enquiry about one of their packages and got this. But was too late to notice so couldn't use it.

Courtesy of eCentral.my. Movie was okay, just the ending was a bit anti-climatic.

Doubletree cookies again! For coming up with a cookie dream.

Green Hornet coaster puzzle. Totally surprise win from Motor Trader. It took them 3 months to send an email about it. We totally forgot about the contest already haha.

GSC passes from Nokia twitter contest. Supposedly it's TGV but they couldn't give us that for some reason so GSC it is. =D

Tix and shirt from UIP! The shirt was a surprise because they didn't mention anything about it. Maybe they just had extra to give out lol.

From hot mag online contest. Dummy said he's possibly the only winner. Cool~ Movie totally reminds me of Poltergeist and that one episode of real haunted stories on Discovery channel.

Pirates 4 screening by Jackcow.

Random stuff from carrotmilk.com.my

A Gantz metal ring opener from LFS.

X-Men First Class tix courtesy of Niki Cheong, thestar journalist, which dummy won. =)

Another pair from Yes World. Movie was awesome!

We got you! Tix to MTV World Stage 2011!

2011-06-02T12:55:00.023+08:00

June 2nd, 8am: MTV World Stage is back and the bf managed to get hold of those obscure tix again! Woohoo~ (Update: June 5th, 10pm - Wow I won too!!)

Check the clock on the website, if the session has started there will be moving cases at the bottom of the page. Click on any, if you're lucky you get the 'Instant Win' popup which you need to answer the question given and fill in your details.

His question: "Which local artiste performed at last year's MTV World Stage?"

My question: "What is the official Twitter hashtag for MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia 2011?"

Click submit and you're good if you see this message. I recommend you to print screen before you submit just so you can clear your doubts about filling the right email address.

Then you get the above verification email from MTV. Check your spam box because mine went there.

Click the link and just fill in your address and you're done. The other details captured what you submitted earlier, you can't change your IC/Passport # and email address but you can double-check the rest before you submit.

Now it's the wait for the tix! :D

Browser: Google Chrome
Tabs: Single

Good luck!

Update:

June 3rd, 10am: Bf got "Stand a Chance to Win".

You need to write a creative and enthusiastic slogan on why you deserve the tickets, results to be announced within 72 hours of the closing date (July 6).

June 5th, 2am: I got my very own 'Stand a Chance to Win'! I've never gotten lucky with the alien or bee last year so even though it's not 'Instant Win' I still feel so happy. lol

June 5th, 12pm: Bf got 'Stand a Chance to Win' again. It's so hard to get just one more instant win...

What we got last year:

Mother's Day 2011.

2011-06-02T11:43:00.000+08:00

This year, cousin Kim planned a home-cooked Italian lunch for our mothers.

Homemade! All of it!

Yummy yummy!

Babies are growing up! So cuteee.

The height difference of 1 year.

Home-baked banana and sticky toffee cupcakes for every mother.

Just a lovely lunch on a lovely Sunday. =)

Full day @ Universal Studios Singapore.

2011-05-25T17:15:00.006+08:00

Why I wanted to come to this country again in the first place was of course to visit USS! So our second day was fully dedicated to having fun in this awesome theme park. =)

Woke up early to have our breakfast at one of the many kopitiams near us, a plate of fried mee costs only SGD0.80 while the chicken rice costs only SGD2.50. wtf

Before we came, I already planned to take MRT wherever we go. However, it's a bit far from where we stayed (website says 10 mins walk, felt more like 20 mins tho), so we used buses whenever we could since the price's about the same. No prior research done and yet we didn't get lost. I guess I'm not so blur after all. =D (But we did lose like maybe SGD1 each for not having exact change to pay haha).

So happy to see the big globe~

We took a bus to Harbourfront Stn, and then switched to bus RWS8 to get here. Normally we have to pay when we board but not for RWS8 I dunno why. The bus made its first stop at the resorts parking lot, some people went down including a bunch of foreigners and we followed too. We did ask the driver "is this it?" but he didn't understand us (he's defiintely from China he has that deep accent).

Turns out the stop is actually for staff who uses another special entrance wtf. Nevermind the casino entrance is just next door and it's connected to the theme park. Um, the bus round trip was supposed to cost SGD2 but I'm not sure what happened we just boarded the bus for free. lol

There right when the park opens at 10am.

And already so many people around. Welcome to Hollywood yo~

Felt like I was in Disneyland again.

Haha nice one Frankenstein!

Public vandalism in New York.

My failed stupid Marilyn Monroe pose. =P

Welcome to Sci Fi City.

Our first ride - the Battlestar Galactica twin coaster. I figured we should do this first in case it got crowded. Really great to be there in the early morning, every ride had a waiting time of only 5 mins. After noon, some of the popular rides had more than 30 mins waiting time!

No worries about bags, there are lockers free for 30 mins usage right beside the rides that don't allow bags. Anyway we took the Human ride first and gosh I really hate the steep drops!! The pressure really gets to me so bad. I was never the same ever since my second Solero Shot ride in HK, damn it did mess up my body. I was fearless before but now it scares me to try rides with crazy drops.

Hats off to dummy who has fear of heights but braved this for me. Unfortunately all our courage that day had gone for that one Battlestar ride so yeah I regretted not trying the Cyclon ride with the dangling legs and vertical loops. =.=

A must do there, take as many pics as possible with costume characters who appear randomly.

Hahaha Brandon Fraser lookalike.

We're in Ancient Egypt! The Revenge of the Mummy coaster ride, that gave us a few shocks in the dark.

Yo mummy on stilts.

Dunno who's this and really sad the staff took a blur pic. Sighh.

The Lost World! Jurassic Park! The Rapids Adventure ride here is wet. Think 3 fellas got really wet while I was mostly dry. It's all about your luck.

This guy was asking people to touch this 'baby Dino' and no one thought much of him coz he didn't look a bit like a costume character haha. So we started the queue for him.

A stage show of Waterworld! Sit at the front and risk getting splashed hehe.

The land of Shrek, Far Far Away.

It rained a lil during noon but it didn't last long thank goodness.

Madagascar section! Damn their boat ride wasn't open and it's due only the week after! zzz

Oh his stilts gone lol. The dude was staring at me while I was walking away wth so scary. Dunno if it's his character thingy or he's thinking this girl looked so familiar (of coz we took a pic with him earlier).

Woody Woodpecker! He was doing the rolling hands thingy before I did that pose then he followed as well but dummy was too slow to react.

Lunch at Jurassic Park area. A set costs SGD10.80 and it's surprisingly good! Love the cheese! Btw there are water filters everywhere damn best thing in the world no need to die of thirst!

Puss in boots! My fav pic of the day! The kitty was rubbing my face with his face and dummy got ignored a while before we posed properly for the camera hahaha.

Wad I thought it's funny LOL.

Dummy says this reminds him of Statue of Liberty.

Finally caught up with the very vain Winnie Woodpecker.

Reason why I looked extra awkward here: the orange dude shouted at my ears when I went up to him hahaha. Dammit.

More aliens.

Yay! Almost didn't get this shot. Waited an hour for them to reappear and we were the last ones in the queue before they closed it. Phew.

Dummy the frog prince.

I'm strong pfft.

The place's not big. We went round and round so many times. Yet we didn't go for second round of any rides.

So many names I couldn't recognise. Finally found one I know. John Travolta.

Night time. Lights on. Only Hollywood area's opened after 7pm.

His dinner. SGD10.80 again.

My dinner SGD7.50. Still full from lunch and the waffle looked damn tempting.

Reason we stayed till night, the pyrotechnics show at 9pm.

Well it wasn't as grand as Disneyland for sure and lasted less than 5 mins.

With that we bade goodbye to this land of dreams~ Really fun time we had there. I guess nothing beats theme parks with people and things that you know so well from cartoons or movies. It's a really special feeling you can't get from other normal theme parks. =)

Took the same RWS8 bus back to Harbourfront and still we didn't pay a single cent. Damn happy to save that SGD2 haha.

Next day made a quick stop at Vivo City in the morning coz he wanted to check out Transformers stuff blabla.

Then it's a rush to Tanjong Pagar railway station, the really old historic place that's gonna close down in July after in use for more than 80 years!! Can't believe we got to be part of history here. No air cond and even the gates use grills lol!

Old skool!

It's back to KL~

RM5 packet food in the train cafeteria.

With that our SG trip has ended, leaving us with fond memories and really sore legs lol. Nevertheless, I feel so proud for planning this all by myself. :P