Greetings from Hanoi

I only managed 3 hours of sleep last night before it was time to get up at 3.30am to get to LCCT.

Arrived in Hanoi, Noi Bai International Airport at 9 am local time and were whisked off to our hotel after clearing customs and immigration.

Here's the hotel we're staying in - Luxor Hotel, situated in the Old Quarters

My first thoughts of Hanoi - crazy traffic , hot and humid. While waiting for the hotel to get the rooms ready, we were recommended to this local restaurant about 3 km away to have lunch . 'Quan An Ngan'.

After which yellowChimp decided to be adventurous and suggested we all walk back under this humid weather while enjoying sights of local life.

My brains are barely functioning, what more, to blog. Ok dokie..Almost 2, we're waiting for our local volunteer guides, Hanoi Kids to come get us for a great evening out. XOXO

Curls or No Curls

Hmm.....I tried using the hot curler yesterday after a long time as I've seriously been contemplating whether or not to get my hair curled permanently. What do you think? Choices..choices...the hairdresser previously adviced me to perm the whole head and not just the ends.

Ooh la la same time tomorrow, I would be in Hanoi !!

SanTerri cake shop - Bangsar Village

Disappointment. I have always been a fan of their cakes but the branch in BV2 ......well you be the judge.

One week prior to mother's day, I ordered a Green Tea cake from them and paid a deposit. When I went to collect the cake a week later at 11 am, they told me that they were too busy that day to put the 'Happy Mother's Day' wording although I had pre-ordered the cake a week earlier.

Tonight is grandma's birthday celebration. Last week I went to place and order for their Opera cake and paid a RM10 deposit as requested. When I went to collect the cake at 2pm, I was informed that they had forgotten to place an order for my cake. OMG!!! They then took the one on display for me, assuring me that it was fresh. And when I requested for the wordings to be put as indicated on my booking slip 'Happy Birthday Grandma' , I was told that they did not have anyone with the expertise to write a few simple birthday greetings. The lady even wanted to offer me a used birthday greeting from a slice of chocolate. They then found some plasticy 'Happy Birthday' greetings for me - I mean like I had another choice. Sigghh!!! Well, at least the lady was apologetic and gave me a box of cream puffs.

But how can this level of service be acceptable for an established bakery like San Terri....

Well, let's see what explanation they have to my complaint letter.

Girl's night out at TMC Mid Year Wine Party

The girls (with the exception of Jacko - the future soya bean tycoon) and I had a fun night out at TMC's Mid Year Wine Party last night. Lots to drink, lots to eat.....and definitely very, very fun. Like 'mama' put it, " We should do this more often" in an sms sent at 8.30 am this morning!

Something that Kenneth from Luen Heng got us to try last night - absolutely great pick!

A group picture towards the end of the night. How many sober faces do you see here?

Yeah, and Sooyin is holding her her favourite Hello Kitty pillow case, something small I got her for her birthday (age cannot be revealed!!)

With all that food and drinks last night - it's off to the gym now for some Bhranga...XOXO...

Hav a smmmoookkkiin day ahead!

Michael Jackson RIP

He was weird. But he was still the man. I was never really an MJ fan but I loved some of his songs nevertheless. Rest in peace.

Santorini

I have a dream. It's to visit Santorini - an island 200km southeast of Greece mainland.

Jimmy told me I would need about RM8k in savings.

Even if save RM500 a month, it'll take me 8 months to save up that amount for a summer trip there.

What are ways to make fast cash? Shares - in this financial crisis? Part time waiting tables - nah at RM 8 an hour's gonna get u no where? Rob a bank - not enough guts? Get a rich man - kinda impossible considering my friends are alway asking why I end up meeting stingy men? Try my luck at winning some RM10K travel voucher - ain't that lucky also? Or just don't buy any more shoes and bags and clothes for a year - seems like the most doable option although may require some willpower?

Kev, can you sponsor your poor friend a little since you're earning Aussie Dollar - I don't need you to buy me that house but I'll gladly accept a travel buddy cum sponsor?

Unethical Drivers

Why do people who drive nice cars think they are king of the roads?

This ridiculous woman stopped her car right in the middle of the yellow box while waiting for the traffic lights to turn green. While we were waiting to turn right - and a line of cars were behind us waiting to drive off in the opposite direction. But here's one aging conceited woman applying her lippie in the car and looking into her mirror without a concern or care.

The Bitch Post

I've met a few interesting characters in the past few weeks that have reallllllly agitated me to the max, sent my temperatures rising and just made me tune on my 'bitch mode' again

1) X, the sex maniac who talks about nothing but sex, sex and more sex to you. He's curious to know if you have a good sex life, curious to know if you have one night stands, curious to know what sort of guys you meet in club that you are likely to bring home.

2) Y, the 'hallucinator' who thinks that you will be marrying him when he buys you a house - you have not even held hands and have made it very clear you have absolutely no interest in him.

3) and finally Z, who can be considered reasonably well off or should I say, definitely well off, but would go the extra mile to save that 10 cents on a bowl of noodles the other side of town- not realizing the other hidden costs such as time/ petrol. In short - penny wise pound foolish.

Sigh or is it just me?!?

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!

Wishing all the father's out there a HAPPY FATHER's DAY!!!! Well, if you haven't done your part as the good son/ daughter - remember to do so!

What did I do? Took my dad, uncle and mom out to Shuraku (blogged a bit about them a couple of months back) to try for the first time. Glad they liked it. We had almost double portions of a few dishes.

Mom's favourite, she had 4 of the Hotate (scallops)-something-something mini pizza

Dad enjoyed the cha-siew a lot

On a different note, I think I have been jinxed or just pure clumsiness. For the past 2 years I have had 5 accidents with my foot/ toe. It started off with me knocking over and breaking one of the 3 chinese deities porcelian statue we had at home - the 'fuk luk sau - 福禄寿'. I think it was the middle one 'luk' for prosperity - cause when the shares came tumbling down like Jack and Jill that year - I was the one to be blamed.

Couple of months later in early September 2007, I crashed against the sofa and cracked two toes. A little over a year, remember my blog post where the wine bottle fell from the trolley in KLIA and hit my big toe? Sometime in November 2008, if I remember clearly, I did a 10km run with Hedz and ended up with a strained foot for 2 weeks.

So guess what happened this morning? Attemped the 'Dance Mix' class at the gym where you had to do like a 360 degrees turn jump thingy and krraakkk....there goes my ankle. So here I am again, walking with a limp. Siggghh....but I like that classssss

But...I still consider myself lucky. Last Friday I manage to get thru to Fly Fm and won RM100 cold, hard cash! Wooohooo

E San Kitchen - Your neighbourhood Thai Restaurant

Jimmy and I went to collect his new G10 from the Canon office in Peremba Square Saujana Resort a couple of days ago.

I had only been to E San Kitchen once for dinner a few months ago ( I guess it's relatively new) and suggested we try this new Northern Thailand cuisine for lunch, located in Ara Damansara about a 2 minute drive away. (** Pictures were taken using my Nokia E66, so may not look as nice**).

It's difficult to find a thai restaurant with good Miang Kum in Malaysia - what more as a free appetizer - to start off our lunch.

(Miang Kum is an appetizer originally found only in the peasant regions of Thailand but now commonly sold as street food in all parts of that country. The term loosely translates to "savory bite". It consists of fresh leaves of spinach or other tender greens topped with a sweet sauce or chutney and a variety of flavorful Thai condiments. The entire bundle is eaten in one bite; chewing all the ingredients together creates what has been described as a flavor explosion! Crunchy roasted peanuts, salty dried shrimp, hot chilies, refreshing ginger, pungent shallots, sweet coconut, and piquant lime combine to make this one truly irresistible dish - as extracted from http://www.elliemay.com - they even have the recipe to make Miang Kum from this website)

Don't ever ask for 'less spicy' tom yum seafood here, as it will be served even without a hint of spiciness. The silly waiter recommended us this soup but cautioned that it is VERY SPICY. You can already tell by it's colour - but overall taste, I would rate it a 6 /10.

I'm generally not a fan of green curry but since Jimmy was, we had the green curry chicken. Not exceptionally great but ingredients were a plentiful. I felt that the curry was not thick enough.

However, I must say that they have a very unique and delicious egg salad. Reasonably priced at RM8 - it consists of omelettes laced with some fish sauce and topped with onions, spring onions, parsley. Very well done.

The aromatic seafood pineapple fried rice is a must try also - fried to perfection - not too oily, not too salty, plain tasty. Comes topped with cashews and raisins. Wah la...perfect cure for hunger.

And we ended our meal with the complimentary thai dessert.

This is somewhere worth trying if you're not too fussy about chic deco, top notch food, like huge portions and looking for some decent thai food as the location maybe a bit out of the way for those staying in Pee Jay or KL. Bill came up to about RM52 for the 2 of us.

They close on Wednesdays - we were told.

Address: G-G-5 Block G Jalan PJU 1A/3, Taipan 2, Ara Damansara, 47301 PJ

Phone: 03 78427368

方炯镔 - 坏人

Yessss..I have the piano piece!!!! Let the rusty fingers start to play the Petrof piano after a almost a 2 year lapse . Surprise me!.....

My association with the number 38

When I first started my first job, the staff ID assigned to me was O0038. Hence I was stuck with the nick name 三八 'mui;. ('sampat' girl in Cantonese meaning..busybody, overly chatty, and maybe easily excitable hearing gossips -just my nature- sheer coincidence I tell ya)..hmmmm

Over the years, I've somehow been stuck with this nickname. Sigh....

Imagine how 'surprised' I must have been yesterday when I sat for my exams and guess the seat number assigned to me.....

方炯镔 - 坏人

I love this song...............

He he, yesterday 'you' asked me if I know the lyrics to this song - 方炯镔 - 坏人 . Well, here it is. Go figure it out! I love this song- saying it again...makes me wanna tear. I found a chic on you tube who has the music score. Haven't touched my piano in 2 years. If I manage to get the score off her, I'm definitely going to learn and play this song - no doubt!

那 一扇车门

关出 我们的裂痕

一声就震断了回头的路程

爱 无法均分

以后 就留给你们

也许用伤害结束 爱才更动人

* 容忍的人其实并不笨

只是宁可对自己残忍

既然爱不能恒温

祝福就给你下一个人

** 你是好人 也是个坏人

对我坦承 只为了朝他狂奔

不能放任 所以放了这点痛我还能忍

我是好人 也是个坏人

分得够狠 你才有借口转身

宁愿爱 一点不剩

也不忍 看恋人爱成路人

Repeat *,

**三个人从不对等

总有个人必须牺牲

那永恒 就等他带你完成

Repeat **

宁愿爱 一点不剩

也不忍 看恋人爱成路人

Let's go K and sing our hearts out peeps!!!!

Hayn's Pizzeria

To cure our Monday blues, my colleagues and I (4 hungry people) headed over to Hartamas for a heavy meal of pizza and pasta at Hayn's Pizzeria.

Situated in the busy Hartamas square a few doors away from Finnegan's, this cosy lil' place ain't that hard to find but parking can be a hassle especially at noon.

(Also testing my new LX3)



Even for starters, we had a whole plate of garlic bread....nicely toasted..



Accompanied by not-so-creamy but tasty mushroom soup. Mushrooms were a plentiful..



I must say, their salad did not disappoint. Crisps lettuce, crunchy crutons, tasty bacon with delicious dressing. We had 2 plates.

Then came our main meals.

The first thing that captured my attention from the menu and highly recommended by other food blogs was the banana pizza. Thing crust and topped with ham, cheese, banana and chocolate dressing - this unique combination of sweet and savoury is a must try. ** Not for non banana lovers though**. We had the smallest size.



We had a regular serving of spicy pizza. Nothing to rave about this one.

Their carbonara pasta has got to be one of the creamiest I've ever tasted. I'm normally not a fan of carbonara but my colleagues loved it anyway.

Ahh...but their spicy seafood pasta, recommended by the waiter was something I enjoyed very much. The sauce tastes your 'gulai' - thick and spicy but nevertheless something different from the usual aglio or tomato based pasta.



To end our meal - we were already stuffed - "Kennut" ordered their apple crumble and 3 scoops of gelato.

The bill came up to approximately RM153 for 4 people. I would say that it is a pretty good deal for the amount of food we stuffed ourselves with and oh, they even do deliveries.

Although they do not have the Halal certification, the waiter assures us that all their food are supplied by halal suppliers.

And it's off to the gym for calorie burning.......

Lam Fung in 1 Utama

Lesson learnt: Always learn the functions of your NEW camera before going to catch your favourite star in action - otherwise, get crappy shots and realize that it maybe better to just watch them on the telly rather than join a crowd of hundreds (pushed and squashed like sardines) just to catch a glimpse of them.

I thought my Lumix LX3 could only zoom up to a mediocre X2.5. And this is the outcome of it......then only I came back found a tutorial online on testing the entire zoom range of the LX3 at http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1033&message=29209912


Sigh......a blurred Raymond Lam Fung in 1 Utama promoting Bio-Essence Nugeno (pic above -after some photo editing).

The Dummys Take Pictures using the LX3

I've finally replaced my poooooorrrrrr Ixus 80 with the Lumix LX3 rather than the G10 - after much advice, bugging the professionals, and contemplation.

So here we were at Deustche Gasthaus last night trying the various styles and methods of taking quality pics.

This is alcohol deprived Cal after spending 3 days in Cameron Highlands with Yugin.

This is the tomatoes she painstakingly brought down all the way from Cameron - Jack could not resist and took one big bite off my tomato.

A snapshot of our 'ikan bilis' and peanut snack

Hmm.....the 'smoker' obviously wants a picture of this beautifully and uniquely packed ciggie

Here's the future soyabean tycoon, Jacko trying to take a picture of me. Whooo..Jimmy says I look slimmer in this picture. The wonders of the LX3

And finally, here's a picture I took near Pusat Bandar damansara. Fuiyo a licenced vendor selling 'Kuat Ubat Lelaki' - Strong medicine for man. Anybody interested?

Now I can't wait till my Hanoi trip to take many many wonderful shots of Halong Bay.....

Cherish...

Last weekend, my friend Sue Ann lost her little brother to an accident - he was only 16. We are all saddened by her sudden loss. Although I did not know Yu Vern personally, I know how it must feel to lose someone so dear and close to you.

Throughout our lives, people we love come and go. Sometimes we look back and reflect, 'have we really spent enough time with them?', 'have we said everything we want to them?', 'have we apologized for that awful remark we made about them?'

I lost my grandpa when I was only 12. He lost the battle against lung cancer - for a man who never drank and smoke. 5 long years. My memories of him still remain fresh. The joyrides we would take in his old, brown Peugeot around the neighbourhood with grandma. Pehaps what I remember most about Ah Yeh was that he was a generous man who never failed to reward his grandchildren if they did well at school. I remember grandma used to joke - there were 2 men courting her but she chose my grandpa, who was not as good looking and looked not as healthy. But I am sure she never regret that choice.

Just 2 months after graduation, I received the heartbreaking news that my godbrother, Jon, or I more fondly called him 'Ah Gor', sucumbbed to his illness. I never had the chance to give him the FCUK cap I bought for him from Melbourne. It remains with me till today. It seemed like it had just happened yesterday when he got me drunk on gin and tonic and I started wailing, asking him to take me home. My parents thought he'd done something terrible to me :) Hmm...those memories.

But I believe God loved them more.

Don't fret over the little things such as not being able to afford that Hermes while that colleague across you is bragging about hers, don't get agitated that your bestie stained your LV bag, try not to get annoyed over your mother's constant nagging. Live is short. Cherish your loved ones, make it a resolution to spend more time with them irregardless of your crazy work schedule. And most importantly..live life to its fullest.