Can’t believe that it’s new year already! My gooodness! I’ve barely made proper and enough preparation for this CNY. In fact I decorated the whole house on Saturday and went marketing for reunion dinner on Saturday night! What a last minute person I am! Haha!

Speaking about reunion dinner, this year I cooked lesser dishes due to the fact that we’ve booked a pot of poon choy from Dragon-i. It’s not like I’m lazy or what – I’ve actually googled all 8 dishes’ recipes and totally looking forward to cook them! But then we’ve bought the voucher and the voucher valid up to 22nd January, by 2pm! Oh well, will be saving those recipes for next year reunion dinner then!

Yesterday we went up to granny’s place to pay respect to our ancestors. Right after the prayer we had to rush to Queensbays to get the poon choy. By the time we reached home, it was already 3pm and immediately we started the last minute house cleaning. Hung all the last minute decos, bathed Miilo and blew dry him, and mopped the floor, then off to the kitchen to work on the prawns and cutting the vegetables.

Seriously can go mad! I went into the kitchen late, and all ingredients were needed to be washed, cleaned, deveined – therefore with only 1.5 hours to dinner, I felt the pressure in delivering our dinner on time! @_@ Luckily Satkuru came earlier and helped me with cutting, stirring, frying. Phew!

By 8pm, the poon choy was taken out of the fridge and heated. Because it was in frozen state, it took some time for the broth to melt. I took the opportunity to bath and wash my hair. For the past years, I’ve always showered after dinner because we will eat immediately after cooking. So glad that this year I can have dinner in clean and fresh state.

So these are our reunion dinner! All these accompanied by a bottle of raspberry flavoured Zinfandel, yums!

This pot feeds 10 pax, believe me! We couldn’t finish this and had to eat this the next day. Super lavish and satisfying!

Nestum prawn! Totally loveeee the smell coming out from the pan when I deep fried the prawns. So fragrant!

Abalone and sea cucumber with broccoli and mushroom. Everyone’s favourite dish. The secret lies in the sauce. Wahaha!

Happyyyyyy Chinese New Year! May the year of dragon brings lots of wealth, prosperity and great health to all!

Huaaaaaaaaaaaaaat ah!

1. Awesome weekend gateway to Medan! Breathtaking scenery along the way to Lake Toba.

2. I saw Jay Chou with my own eyes!

3. I was serenaded by Michael Buble LIVE! <3

4. My first ever business trip to Shanghai! Would love to work there, but I don’t know how to read Mandarin. Hao? (How)

5. Chinaaa! We covered 4 towns – Datong, Pingyao, Xian and Beijing in a week! Memorable!

6. Took Six Sigma course. Wahaha!

7. Attended 34th IDC for the weekend.

8. Welcome a cuddly baby into our family.

9. The proposal. Hee!

10. Visited a beautiful country, Turkey! Supposed to go there last year, but better late than never! ALL should visit Turkey before daiiii!

11. Went for interview and gotten my dream job. Unfortunately had to reject it. T________T

12. Sabai-dee! Short visit to Vientiane, Laos!

13. Finished 10KM Penang Bridge Marathon with a finisher medal! Woohoo!

14. Attended 2 weddings (coursemate and colleague) and Karen’s ROM this year! Blessed married life to you guys! <3

15. Participated in glutinous ball rolling because my palms are much better this year!

As for my 2011 resolution, I with full of regret announced that I didn’t fulfill them. Huhu. Therefore the same resolution shall carry forward to next year. Haha!

Happy New Year 2012! May the new year brings prosperity, laughter and good health to all~

Yesterday, my dear Satkuru brought me to this coffee shop located at Bishop Street. He went there for food review on Sunday and wanted me to try their coffee as the owner is the best barista in Malaysia.

Since we have 2 hours to kill before meeting up with event planner from Cititel, I agreed and off we went to this quaint coffee shop, Lighthouse Cafe.

Upon entering, my nose caught strong whiff of coffee. Mm~

The place is small but cosy. Dim yellow lights are shined on the wall to create warm ambience. Tables and chairs are smartly placed at both sides, giving walkaway in the middle. If I’m not mistaken, there’s a staircase leading up, but I’m not too sure on that. We walked in and headed straight for the counter. That’s when we heard someone called our names.

We turned and to our pleasant surprise it was EMILY!

We laughed, and I walked to her and had a little chat before was asked to place order. I looked at the green board on the wall behind the counter to see if there are any “Must try/Recommendation/Best” icons beside the drink names.

Can’t recall if I see any but I ended up asking the gentleman behind the counter on what are recommended at Lighthouse. He named me 3 – Butterscoth Caramello, White Strawberry Mocha and Coffee Hazelnut Mocha – if my memory doesn’t fail me on the last recommendation.

I chose Butterscotch Caramello while Satkuru took White Strawberry Mocha. There are cakes displayed at the counter too, but we didn’t take any because the cakes didn’t really thrill me much. Hmm.

We sat at a small round table in front of the counter. Few minutes later Satkuru went to get our drinks and we took a sip. My Butterscotch Caramello is heavenly. Just that after few sips, I was telling Satkuru that I should have ordered it hot rather than cold. He agreed.

The White Strawberry Mocha is nice too, but I prefer mine. I took 2 sips and passed back to him whereas he took 2 sips of mine and concluded mine is rather bitter compared to his. And I was telling him that his drink is rather sweet! Haha!

This place is so cosy that when Satkuru kept pestering me to finish up my drink fast or bring my coffee to the car, I didn’t want to leave! Haha. I just like sitting there, talking to him, taking photo around or just enjoying my coffee, glazing into his face. Ah life~

Of course that didn’t happened. So much for enjoying my coffee in the afternoon. T__________T

This place is highly recommendation for coffee lovers. Even if you’re not a coffee lover, you should drop by and try their coffee. Theirs are good. I like!

The reason why I started my post with I’m not a coffee lover is because, I went to two different places and ordered coffee. Well, the second cup came unexpected but still, two cups in one day! Way too much coffee intake for a non-coffee addict. @_@

After meeting up with the lady from Cititel, our tummies growled and we decided to grab something to eat. Satkuru suggested Behind.50, but I told him to go somewhere else because we’ve been there. Out of the blue he took out his phone and looked for China House on the Waze. The house was located and direction to there appeared. 5 minutes later, we found the place.

Located at Beach Street, China House is easily identified from rows of heritage buildings no thanks to the 3 bold signboards bearing the words, Shopping, Art + Theater, and Food + Drinks.

While crossing the road, Satkuru constantly asked me if the place is opened as it looks dim from outside. I told him yes, and dragged him in. Haha.

Unknowingly we walked into a gem. A rather expensive one, lol!

Upon pushing the door, very strong coffee aroma greeted me. Way stronger than Lighthouse Cafe; so strong that I could even ‘smell’ it in my mind. Immediately I thought to myself, wow the coffee here is so good! I must try!

We walked straight to the back of the building. To be frank, we were quite surprised to know that this building is that long! A bar adorned with coffee grinder and machines and alcohols is on the left side of the area while tables for two are on the right. The gap of 3 feet between the bar and the tables allows guests to walk in and out of the cafe and for the host and attendants to serve food and drinks.

Beyond the bar, one can find two long tables at both sides of the walkaway. Many types of cakes, pies and breads are placed on the left table while books and magazines sat on the right table.

Further down, a big antique brown cupboard which stores the belonging of the host and attendants acts as a divider for the vast space. Behind the cupboard, two more tables can be seen there.

We didn’t stop there, we continued walking and we found ourselves at the supposed open-air middle courtyard (the Hokkien people would call this place Am Ceh) which is already covered up with plastic transparent roof sheets.

A long table for 14 pax is smartly positioned in the middle of the courtyard area, decorated with potted plants and framed photographs. A blackboard is nailed to the wall and I can’t help to notice the troll drawing that someone left there. I pointed out to Satkuru and he laughed. Lol.

At the supposedly kitchen area, one could find 2 more tables and roughly 4-5 bookshelves placed against the wall. As much as we wanted to sit at the courtyard and the back area, the tables were all occupied. T________T

We didn’t walk furthermore as we thought that’s the end of the building. But from what I gather, there is a back courtyard which link to another two buildings! Argh! We should have walk out of the building to the courtyard. Huhu.

We walked back to the front of the building and decided to sit at one of the tables placed parallel to the bar. I didn’t realise/notice the mahjong paper which is clipped to the table, but I was very excited when I saw a glass filled with canyons on the table. Then it made me think THIS is the place where my friends posted up photos of them drawing on table with crayons! Haha!

Obviously I grabbed the crayons and drew on the mahjong paper. Wahaha.

Menus are given to us and there isn’t any sign of “Must try/Chef Recommendation” icon on the menu. Satkuru immediately checked Foursquare for tips. Among so many tips, we spotted Vingie which stated overpriced. This tip trembled us a little, but since we had already seated down we thought why not just try the best in the menu.

And we did. We ordered a cup of coffee, a glass of chocolate, 2 slices of cakes and their famous homemade ice cream as they’re highly recommended on Foursquare. He didn’t really see any of the mains mentioned in the tips therefore didn’t go for main course.

My coffee came with a cup of gula melaka. Happily I took a sip. It was bitter like mad! So I quickly add in two spoons of gula melaka and stirred. Took a sip and it was still bitter! I pushed the coffee aside and went for Satkuru’s iced chocolate with chocolate ice-cream. It was heavenly as the chocolate ice-cream is so rich! Yums!

I so wanted to swap my bitter choco with Sat’s choco, but I knew he wouldn’t let me. Grr. In the end I just accepted my bitter coffee, added few more spoons of gula melaka and that’s it. I didn’t want to put much of sugar because I’m afraid I’ll get diabetic out of it, lol!

I can’t help but to think that the person who recommended coffee in Foursquare is either a bitter-lover or plain lazy in mentioning the full name of the coffee. Hello, there are few COFFEES on the menu and your suggestion on ‘coffee’ is killing me. Grr.

I had terrible headache after drinking the bitter coffee. By the end of the meal, I told Satkuru that I have to say NO to coffee and cakes for at least a week. My appetite for these (coffee and cakes) are totally ruined. T__________T

As for the cakes, mine is delicious at first but as I dug on, the bitter coffee spoiled the whole appetite and making my eating experience very torturous. Thus, I ate because I didn’t want to waste food, not because I truly enjoy it. That’s totally not the propose of me entering this place! T__________T

I think Satkuru enjoyed his meal as he didn’t have bitter coffee to go with the cake. Blek!

Immediately after finishing my cake and coffee, I asked for the bill. It took them quite some time to give us our bill because we were told they didn’t have a proper cash machine yet and everything is done manually.

Guess how much our bill amounted to?

- One piece of RM50 note and a piece of RM1 -

Oh well, someone gotta pays for the ambience.

And I washed my sport shoes 3 times after that. It stank so bad. Urgh.

Since then I never bother to get a sport shoes. It’s always sneakers or pumps or heels or slippers! I wore slippers to lecture hall and now to work! Haha! The thought of buying a sport shoes never came to me because I seldom exercise and when I did, mum would ask me to wear hers because she didn’t wear them anymore and so on.

How about the dance team I joined in uni? That, we went barefooted. Don’t ask me why. Both feet would be so black at the end of the dance session because we helped the janitors to wipe the floor. –”

The need of getting a proper sport shoes first came when I joined my colleague for an aerobic class at PISA. I wore an old sneaker there, and guess what, my sneaker tore at the end of the session. It finally gave way after a month of wearing them to work.

-___________-

Then squash session came and I was told to get a non-marker sole. I thought that’s it, I need to hunt for one d, but then I spotted mum’s white sole white colour sport shoes. Alasan kaw kaw right? – I know, lol!

Now after daily wear and tear to and fro work and 8 sessions of squash practice, the white sole white colour sport shoes began to show the sign of weariness. I have Penang Bridge Marathon coming in this Sunday and I know this shoes wouldn’t able to handle this Sunday’s run. So last night, I went to get one at the Royal Sporting House. Like finally! Haha!

I tried few sport shoes on, mostly Nike’s and Reebok’s because they’re on 40-50% sale. I looked around for nice looking, affordable and non-marking sole running shoes. I always want to own a Nike sport shoes so I went for Nike first. But to my dismay, those that I like are pricey and those that I willing to pay are out of size!

Then I looked at Reebok. They came out with this zig zag thingy as the sole which made the shoes look so bulky and ganas! tho the advertising claimed that the wearer will have more energy in running etc, etc.

After about 30 minutes of looking, I managed to find the ONE! Decent looking at decent price with non-marking running shoes and coincidentally the store still have my size, I immediately grabbed and brought it home.

Guess what, today I wear new shoes to work! It felt so different wearing ‘running’ sport shoes and ‘training’ sport shoes (suspected mum’s is the training sport shoes).

Now I feel fast! HAHA!

It supposed to be 10 pax trip, but ended up only 8 managed to secure the ticket.

Last minute, one had to pull out due to work and thus only 7 people got onto the plane heading to Vientiane, Laos.

Don’t know why they sprayed so much of this asap thingy.

The flight took 2 hours and 50 minutes with occasion turbulence along the way. Once the turbulence was so strong that I felt that we were in roller coaster ride, lol!

Aaron, Satkuru and my head! LOL!

We couldn’t help but to order Deepavali special meal, tandoori naan set though we had lunch 2 hours earlier. It was delicious! Thumbs up!

Came with a packet of muruku too!

Laos is an hour earlier than us. So when we reached the airport, it was already 6.30pm. We quickly changed money at the money changer and gotten ourselves a van heading to the city centre.

The van is so much better than the van we gotten in Medan! It was so spacious and new. And clean too! Gosh, I begin to like Laos already. Haha!

The moment we got out of the airport vicinity, I could see tents after tents at the roadside and people would be dancing in it. I even counted the numbers of tents I seen along the road! I told the rest this, and we all agreed that Laotians are really good at enjoying themselves – by dancing in the tent with music blaring out loud.

Our van brought us to this hotel in front of Mekong river. As our van turned onto the road leading to the riverfront, there were a sea of human blocking the road. We were puzzled on the crowd and the loud music, all wondering what festivals that brought the locals out to the roads.

Our van driver explained that it was the day of the Dragon Boat Competition. It was held at Mekong river, which explains crowd. Apparently we were a day late, according to him. He said if we were there yesterday, we would have gotten a chance to witness the competition!

Ahhh! What a waste!

After few minutes of honking and jamming, we reached the hotel. It looks lavish and instinct told me it’ll be expensive. Emily and Vingie heard good review from a Singaporean guy about the hotel, therefore we decided to head there daringly. Satkuru went in to inquire on the room rate.

Then he came out, my gut was right, they charged USD60 per pax per night! Cheap for Singaporean, not cheap for us!

So we asked the van driver to bring us to Rue Pengkham. Before coming, I’ve listed out few potential hotels as well as the map of the hotels – just in case we might need it. It really came handly, having these extra information in hand.

The sky got dark pretty fast! Tho it was only 7ish but it seemed like 8 something or 9. There were massive jams all over the main road in Vientiane. Stomach started to growl and anxiety began to grow as we came in without any booking!

First time we went into a country without room confirmation. It’s not that we didn’t try to book, we did inquire around. But those that replied were expensive, and those that look cheaper, didn’t reply. Gahhh!

The Singaporean told that it takes the local 2 weeks to reply. So guys, if you want to head to Laos, especially Vientiane; book 2-3 months earlier.

When our van finally turned into Pengkham road, we were happy to see few hotels there. We told the van driver to stop us there, and paid him USD2 for the extra trip. I was later told that he wasn’t really happy with the USD2 when Satkuru passed him that; ‘maybe should give him USD3‘, he said.

Coincidentally, the van stopped in front of Family Hotel Laos, the hotel that we inquire 2 days before. Satkuru ran up to ask on the room rate and also the availability while we waited outside.

Now, why we inquire this hotel 2 days before the trip? Well, we were waiting for reply from Thawee Guesthouse and so happened I came across this hotel’s website on Agoda which stated they have 3 queen beds! Without hesitation, I asked Satkuru to email this hotel. Unfortunately, the hotel only replied on the day we flew.

Satkuru came out and told us the place is clean and the room is priced at USD38 per night; which all of us happily accepting this hotel. Comparing to the earlier hotel, this hotel is much cheaper!

Immediately we went up the stairs to the lobby, registered and checked into our rooms. Satkuru and Aaron in room 504, Emily and Colleen in room 603 while Vingie, Jessica and I in room 604.

The room looks clean, the bed looks so puffy and inviting, and the toilet – it is sparkling clean and spacious! Strong WiFi connection is available in the room and along the corridor. We washed up a little before leaving our rooms with only valuables in hand.

We were hungry. Like mad hungry. Satkuru stopped by the hotel reception to ask if there’s any ‘food’ available around the hotel area. He encouraged us to walk down the road as there are plenty restaurants and cafes there. He mentioned a popular cafe, “Khop Chai Deu” in the recommendation.

Which fits the information I gotten from Lonely Planet. Top 100 eatery in Laos!

So we walked along the road, passed by an Italian restaurant, a Scandinavian cafe and a bakery, and a fountain. Since the receptionist guy asked us to walk down the road, so we decided to cross this considerably main, busy road. Before crossing, I so happened to look to the right at this cafe with lanterns hanging all over and told Satkuru, see over there, such a beautiful cafe!

In front of the busy road, there were food stall on both sides of a smaller road and goodness, I couldn’t stand the aromatic smell coming from the stirring, charring and bbqing food. I so wanted to tapao something there, don’t know why I didn’t.

We crossed the road, but after walking straight for few minutes, we decided to make an U-turn and head to this beautiful cafe. It’s the famous restaurant, Khop Chai Deu!

At the entrance of Khop Chai Deu, we were ushered in by the lovely waitress. She led us inside, but we told her that we would prefer to sit outside, so we got ourselves a table for 8. Insufficient menus were passed to us. ==”

Sat and I decided to share, so we ordered their Laos set, which comes with sticky rice, papaya salad, sour and spicy fish soup, minced chicken with fresh herbs, Lao dessert and LaoLao. We added a bamboo sticky rice, just in case the sticky rice that they provided weren’t enough. While ordering, I actually asked Satkuru if we should tell the waiter to reduce the spiciness level of the food, but he felt the food shouldn’t be spicy.

Bamboo sticky rice that looks like a banana. Similar to lemang, but not that lemak.

And we were so wrong – in ordering the extra sticky rice and in the spiciness level! The papaya salad is delicious but totally burnt my tongue! As we ordered tower beer to share among 7 of us, the beer didn’t help to lower down the ‘hot’ sensation in our mouth! As for the bamboo sticky rice, it came 10 minutes before the set came and feeling hungry we ate that up first. But when the whole set in, we couldn’t finish up the sticky rice that was stored in a cute small bamboo weaved basket. However, I walloped up the whole basket to counter the spiciness of the papaya salad. Luckily it worked!

Even the minced chicken is spicy. T___________T I gladly munched on the greens to cool off the ‘hot’ sensation in my mouth.

As for the soup, it was sour and less spicy. However the fish meat contains lots bones! I hate fish that has lots small bones. The bones make eating less enjoyable because needs to pull them out before putting into the mouth. Gargh!

Ohya, Satkuru ordered their famous Luang Prabang sausage too.

… but I didn’t know that he did order that until this dish was placed on the table.

Immediately after we finished our meal, Satkuru asked for the Lao dessert. Thankfully the dessert is cold and sweet! I could only manage to take in few mouthfuls as Satkuru telan the whole bowl. LOL! Yes, like me he can’t take spicy food too. Haha!

After a filing meal, we talked, laughed, and enjoyed the beers. I busy observing people.

Like how I observed an angmoh initially sat alone at the bar with a beer tower while we were eating and after finishing our meal, there was a Lao chabo (girl) sitting beside him. Unfortunately for her, the angmoh totally ignored her. I saw her sitting alone, drinking Pepsi and looking around in boredom. While I was busy digging into the sweet Lao dessert, I saw the angmoh suddenly walked towards other angmohs who were seated at table in front of us and joined them, bringing over his beer tower, lol!

Halfway talking, Satkuru suddenly called the waiter and asked for the last item to be served. I puzzled and asked what’s the last item? He said, LaoLao, but no idea what’s that.

The waiter came back with a glass of yellowish liquid. We looked at it, and asked the waiter, what’s that? He said, LaoLao. Lao Whisky!

All of us went Ooo in unison. One by one took a sniff of the liquid, not daring to take a sip. When it finally reached to Vingie’s hand, she took a sip and advised us not to take it in whole as it’s very strong.

Me being the curious cat, wondered how strong it is. So I took the glass, and took a sip. When the liquid entered my mouth, it felt cold; but as it descended down my esophagus, I can feel the liquid ‘burned’ its way through. It was strong, but surprisingly good!

But I don’t dare to take another sip. One sip is enough.

The glass then traveled around the table, all took a sip just to taste it. Satkuru accidentally took a big gulp, hence he felt heavier burning sensation in his stomach. Teehee!

After the LaoLao experience, we paid the bill and left the place for a little exploration. However when we walked out of Khop Chai Deu, most shops were already closed and we had no choice but to walk back to our hotel. Along the way, we stopped by a 7-11 alike convenience store, M-point Mart – which turned out to be our favourite shopping place for the next 2 days, lol!

We bought few essential items like water bottles, yogurts, and snacks. Then we continued our journey back.

That night, we played Monopoly deal for almost 2 hours. Emily and Colleen supposed to come over and we waited for them, kept messaging them but there’s no reply. Little did we know that they fell asleep almost immediately after their heads touched the pillows. They must be really, really tired to fall asleep that fast!

However, it was on Saturday the 15th and I was still in Laos on 15th.

After couple of email exchanges and with a phone call from Emily to Vin, the founder of Qyzzy.com, the session changed to Sunday 16th! Immediately we sent back our RSVP.

On Sunday, off we went to Penang Times Square for a little tea-time session! We reached Times Square 15 minutes late due to the heavy rain around my area.

There was Red Bull Monkey Run event going on and I was so tempted to walk over and watch participants completing the obstacles. But since we were already late so we rushed to Z Classroom as fast as we can.

Z Classroom’s tagline caught my eyes: Z Classroom, where you learn.. how to drink. Couldn’t help to think if we would be serving beers later. The thought was of course dismissed as we were invited for a tea-time session, not drinking session, lol!

Vin was introducing Z Classroom to the bloggers when we reached. He was mentioning on able to charge phones on the shelves if our phone’ battery were running low. We quickly ‘blended in’ and attentively listening to him.

Then he suddenly did a quick ice-breaking, quickly introducing everyone to everyone! I lost part of my voice by the end of my trip and realise I couldn’t really speak aloud when was asked to introduce my website to them. In fact, I was struggling. Ah, so memalukan.

T___________T

He then introduced the owner, Kelvin to us. Kelvin greeted us, said thanks and then passed over to Vin back.

Vin ended the speak by asking if any girls would want to wear this super skimpy dress. He then shot the Q to me and I squeeked nooo, it’s so short! ><

After that, we were allowed to linger around to take photos of the place. I was super proud of my Sony Nex-C3 as they were able to take superb photos at low light without me adjusting any mode or needing to use any flash. Wahaha!

I took few photos around and then was notified that we can go upstairs for more photoshooting. I was like, what? There’s more upstairs? Cool! - and we went up the stairs to this room filled with strong ciggers smell, something that I dislike greatly.

However one cannot break the connection between beers and cigerattes. These two are interconnected, so it’s normal to find such smell there.

One thing that really infruites me is the equation on the wall! E-mc square! I couldn’t help but to say out aloud, isn’t E=MC square? and nobody replied me, not even my beloved fiance. –”

So, I went around taking photos.

The second floors is separated into 2 by a partition. The inner side is turned into a spacious VIP room, good for entertaining more than 10 people in it. It has a big TV on wall, long sofas and a karaoke system.

The outer side accommodates 4 tables and chairs for patroners. There’s another big TV on the wall too.

Then my eyes spotted something interesting. A speaker trumpet! I was posing with it, and someone said it’s from USS! I asked, how you know? He replied, see! The price tag is still there!

Alamak! Haha!

There are also two microphones at the side, so I posed with one also. Passed one to Emily and both of us posed for a picture.

- Satkuru took the photo for us. Still haven’t gotten picture from Satkuru. Aih! -

Then we went down. I realised most of them gathered around the bar around, busy taking photos of something. Curiously I went nearer to see what are they taking photo of. It was the beers!

Vin explained these are the types of beers available there. Then we asked, How about Laobeer? and then we laughed. Couldn’t help but to make some jokes on the beers as we just came back from drinking session in Vientiane. All thanks to LaoLao and Laobeers! Lol!

Did I mention that this cafe has sphere shaped beer dispenser rather than the typical tower beer? Cool right?

Criz came halfway, to pass us the CSL phones that we ‘won’ for writing on CSL post. Super cute ah!

Soon we were served cappuccino, mocha and white coffee. I took white coffee; Emily took mocha and Satkuru took cappuccino. The fragrant of these coffees were too overwhelming, we quickly take photo of the coffees and took few sips.

Ahh~ Heavenly.

Then the cakes came. We were treated to 3 types of cakes. Rum, blueberry and tiramisu. I love their rum and blueberry, but wasn’t really fancy on tiramisu. Maybe because I’ve tasted better other place.

Their rum is heavenly. They’re generous with the amount of chocolate on the cake; and the rum, the rum tastes just nice – not too overpowering, not too lacking. Thumbs up.

Blueberry cheesecake is charming. I think my mum would love this cake. She totally hates cheesecake as she cannot stand the cheesiness in it and this cheesecake doesn’t have that cheesy texture in it. Maybe I can bring her there one day.

Tiramisu. Like I said earlier, I don’t really fancy tiramisu. Upon first bite, all three of us looked at each other and agreed that it lacked of something. Something we couldn’t explain. However as I dug on more, it became nicer and nicer. Weird, right? Haha!

As we’re eating our cakes, we were talking and socialising with other bloggers as well. Z Classroom’s owner, Kelvin also came by and talked to us. We asked him few questions regarding this cafe and found out that it opened in mid August. Also, he mentioned that Z Classroom is his 2nd outlet! His first cafe is the Z1 Cafe. We were marveled as he owns two cafe at such a young age! Kudos to him!

Vin came over and didn’t know how, we started playing Jenga!

Boy, it was such a nerve-wreaking time. My hand shook uncontrollably, so much that I couldn’t place the block nicely! Haha!

We played two rounds. First round was toppled down by Emily. Second time, Vin’s unsuccessful pull caused the tower to fall. It was a big relief to Emily and I when the tower fell before our turns.

Then it was time to go. We took group photo and bid goodbye. We also took photo with Kelvin. ^^

Thanks to Qyzzy.com for inviting us. We had plenty fun mingling around.

Convocation was one of the milestones in my life. I anticipated THE DAY so much – thinking of what shoes I should wear, what shirt I should wear, deliberating on to either wear a knee-length skirt or black slack, et cetera.

The eve of the convocation day, Satkuru even reminded me to double check all the stuffs I supposed to bring/need for the convocation but I told him I’ve placed them in my bag. He even asked me to double read the convocation letters from university, just in case I missed out any. Like usual, I told him not to worry as I’ve read them (but actually I just skimmed thru, rofl). He also asked me if I’ve wore the robe, just to get the hang of it – but I told him I’ve tried, so should be okay.

Obviously I got a nice music for being so cool-headed. He told me, “You only get to convo once in your lifetime. Or maybe another if you take master. But still, treasure it. Make sure you get everything right.”

I replied ok.

So, my parents and I flew to KL on the morning of THE DAY and reach KL at 9 in the morning. We were picked up by my sister where we were driven to Seri Kembangan for a brunch. After brunch, we immediately went to University of Malaya.

But the journey took slightly longer because my sister’s bf took the wrong turning. I was so anxious, but told myself to calm down and be patience.

Finally, we reach at about 11am. I quickly wore my robe and the mortar and took few photos outside the hall, with dad as my photographer of course. My mum was wondering why did my shawl always dropped sideway while other ppl’s was in placed and tidy. I told mum I didn’t know why, maybe my size is bigger - I told her. Haha!

Gosh, I shouldn’t cut my hair that length. Doesn’t look nice on me. And that shoes! Why I chose to wear that? T_______T

It was then time to get to the Dewan Peperiksaan to be checked on our attendance before entering.

The first person I saw was Lillian! She asked me why my shawl so untidy. I told her I have no idea as I already adjusted. Then she asked me if I’ve pinned my shawl correctly.

I asked her, “What pin?”

It drawn on me that the shawl supposed to be PINNED! *sweat case* No wonder mine kept dropping!

The second question Lillian asked me was if I’ve bring my matrix card and pink paper slip along as I need to pass the slip to the people at the side of the stage for them to call my name.

I looked at her in horror. I told her that slip was in my car!

Panicking, I quickly called up my sister and asked her to bring me that paper slip. But she told me she had left UM to get my convocation flower!

The scene of not able to graduate suddenly flashed in my mind.

I almost had a heart attack moment. I told her to return to UM now as I need that pink paper slip to graduate. She said ok, and told me she’ll reach as soon as possible.

I could only pray.

As for my untidy shawl, I immediately asked around if anyone had extra pins after ending the phone call. Luckily someone brought a lot. Phew. Lillian then quickly helped me to pin my shawl. Until now, I’m thankful for knowing her, for being my close friend. If it wasn’t for her, I would have gone up the stage with dropping shawl. Eh wait, maybe couldn’t have graduated that year because of the pink paper slip. –”

After pinning my shawl, the person in charge of taking our attendance then asked us to queue in lines according to our number. Then I looked around, I saw my friends. I was so happy to see them as I didn’t see them in ages. At the same time, I couldn’t relax myself and enjoy the moment as I was still worried if my sister could make it in time as she told me the jam in UM was terrible.
T______T

That time, I remembered the advice that Satkuru gave me the night before. I regretted not checking it again. Boy, I hate admitting that he’s right. Grr.

While waiting, I looked at the people around me. Most of them were different. They styled their hair, they put makeup so that they looked prettier that day. At that time, I was thinking to myself – why did I put foundation and lip gloss only? Looking back at my graduation photos, I looked so pale without any colour on my face. Darn, I wish I could turn back the time. Grr.

Also, I was thinking why didn’t I bring in my camera? I saw people brought in camera and they took photos in the waiting hall. I ‘kicked’ myself for being so obedient (as stated in the letter). Grr.

Then it was time to move to Dewan Tunku Cansellor for the convocation ceremony. My sister suddenly called. She said she’s arrived. I thanked God for that. I asked her to stand on the left side at the end of the stairs, as I’ll be coming down the stairs. She acknowledged.

When I went down the stairs, I was so happy to see her face. I almost hugged her, but obviously I didn’t as we need to cross the road quickly. She passed me the slip and I said, Thank You. So glad for having a sister by my side too. Else, I couldn’t have graduated.

After that I started to feel calmer. We queued at the side of the dewan awhile, before entering. It’s been awhile since I entered the dewan. I was glad to be back, in fact I was proud to be undergraduate of University Malaya.

I proudly sang the University Malaya song as it might be the last time I sang it. After few speeches, names were being called up and friends walked up the stage to receive scroll. Applause after applause were heard. I too clapped and cheered for my friends.

The ceremony was so formal, full of protocol but felt very glorious. As my surname is Tan, so I had to wait quite some time before being called up.

Finally, it was time for our row to stand up and quietly stand at the side. One by one friends in front of me were called. Soon, I found myself to be standing at the bottom of the stage, just two people shy from receiving the scroll.

My heart began to pound quickly. I passed the pink paper slip and my matrix card to the person-in-charge. He then instructed me to stand at the two ‘X’ marks on the floor, first at the end of the stage and second at the middle of the stage, in front of the pro-chancellor. He also reminded me to say thank and bow after receiving the scroll.

I nodded. At the back of my mind, I prayed that I didn’t trip, else it would be disastrous!

The girl in front of me was called. She then walked to receive her scroll while I went up the stairs and stood on the first X. I took a glimpse of the audience, then focused at the girl in front of me.

The moment I’ve been waiting for came. I heard my name was announced over the speaker and I assumed the front of my matrix card was shown on the big projector screen, so automatically I walked towards the pro-chancellor with a BIG grin on my face. I heard loud applause coming from the ground. My heart beat so fast that I think could have reach 150-160 bpm, lol!

I went to the pro-chancellor, extended both hands out while she placed a scroll on my palms. I said Terima Kasih YABerbahagia and bowed before walking to the other end of the stage.

If given a choice, I would have jumped up in joy and screamed YES! But then since it was full of formality and such act wouldn’t be condoned, I just walked with my head held high.

Even up to now, I could feel the feeling that I had in the dewan two years ago. It was really achievement of self-satisfaction, that I would like to feel it again. Maybe it’s time to go for Master. Haha!

After everyone received their scrolls, the MC announced the end leaving of the pro-chancellors, vice-chancellors, deans and professors. We rised and watched them leave. Then our MC congratulated us on our graduation and all of us cheered loudly!

Most went out of the hall almost immediately, leaving few in hall. The few including me of course. I went to take photo with Lillian, but realising that we have no camera! Luckily my parents were still in the hall and dad helped to take photo of us.

The lights in the hall then went off, ‘forced’ us to leave the hall. I went out and my goodness, it was chaotic! The amount of people there, best be described by the Chinese proverb – human sea, human mountain.

Among the human flood, I saw my bee with a bouquet of pink roses in his arm. I was so happy to see him, almost threw a hug to him but didn’t (in fear of PDA!). He shyly passed me the bouquet and wished me Congrats. Shy cow, he is!

He was my unofficially appointed photographer, so he had to follow me wherever I went. Wahaha! Poor daddy and mummy had to tag along as I went here and there taking photos with my friends. Luckily sister and Jason were there to keep them company. Heehee.

I took photos with my coursemates who graduated the same time as me.

Most of my coursemates who had graduated the year earlier purposely came back to take photos with us.

If you’re wondering why some graduated first and I graduated later, that’s because I didn’t plan my subject well in my first year of study, therefore purposely extended another semester to finish my course in more relaxing manner. Else I would have to take 5-6 subjects (and sometimes 7) per semester to graduate in 3 years time.

Then the sky turned dark and began to drizzle. We left for KL Sentral just before the rain poured down heavily. At KL Sentral, we had a quick dinner at one of the cafe there as we were hungry. We only had brunch at 10 in the morning and nothing after that.

After dinner, we sent parents off at the KLIA Express terminal. They took KLIA Express LRT to KLIA for night flight back to Penang via MAS while I stayed a night in KL before leaving home the next day.

My sister and Jason went back to Seri Kembangan of course, while Satkuru and I headed to Midvalley for a gathering with the KL gang.

Guess how much these costs in Ringgit Malaysia?

Obviously we didn’t, lol!

So we bear the discomfort and prayed that the traffic would be clearer when we got out of the congested area. Luckily it did got clearer.

Still by the time we reached Straits Quay, it was already 8pm. Satkuru was already there, so I called him to meet us at the centre atrium. Then we directly headed to Blue Reef for al fresco style dinner.

We quickly ordered our food and while ordering, my bro and I struggled on checking onto Blue Reef on Foursquare due to bad 3G connection there.

For your information, you’ll get free soft drink upon checking in Blue Reef on Foursquare and show the crew the ‘special’. So, do remember to check in! However this special only valid on weekdays!

In the end, only my sister, Satkuru and I managed to check-in and hence claimed 3 free drinks there! Wahaha.

Since we were so hungry, we decided to blow candle and cut cake first. After all the cake was melting and couldn’t ‘wait’ any longer.

This year I decided to book a special cake for dad. So, I went for mille crepes!

We quickly lighted up the candles and immediately sang birthday song. Dad made wishes that and then blew the lights off the candles. Then he cut the crepes.

Too bad the crepes was too soft that it couldn’t stand beautifully after cutting them in slices. It would be beautiful, if only it came out directly from fridge.

My, my.. the crepes taste so delicious even tho it was soft. I couldn’t imagine how tasty it would be if eat it right after receiving the cake!

Soon our food came in one by one. We have grilled garoupa with mash potatoes and broccoli and carrot stripes for my sister;

.. grilled salmon with mash potatoes, broccoli and carrot stripes for mum;

.. and different fishes of fish and chips – the Threadfin fish and chip for dad;

… the Halibut fish and chip for bro;

… the Spanish Mackerel fish and chip for bro’s gf;

… and the Garoupa Fish and Chip for me!

Satkuru ordered deep fried prawn and calamari since he tried fish and chip before in our previous visit the earlier weekend.

The food didn’t exactly wow my family but I’m glad that they left the restaurant with full and happy tummies.

Maybe it was the mille crepes that made the tummies happy! Haha!

CSL phone is famous for having dual SIM cards in it, so the CSL Swarovski series phones are no exception too. The web browser for these phones is Opera Mini and using S Push Mail services for sending and receiving mails. The usual and must-have phone features includes MP3 & MP4 player, FM radio, MicroSD card expansion and video and sound recorder.

Besides the mentioned general features, there are also dedicated icons for quick access to Facebook/Twitter/Tagged/Skype and one can download apps from Google, Yahoo, MSN to play with. Since these phones are for the ladies, they come with BMI Calculator and Menstrual Calender functions. An advantage especially in planning trips as we can check our period dates easily using this Menstrual Calender.

The down side of this series is they come with 2.0 Megapixels camera. But why should one complain if one is paying like RM399 max for such a pretty phone? Should be laughing instead right? Haha!

Let me introduce the phones on by one. First in-line, Blueberry Princess 9200. At size, 115 x 59.5 x 11.5 mm and weights only 94g, this princess can last up to 188 hours on standby and can talk up to 454 min. The display is of 2.4″ TFT QVGA and costs only RM299.

Look at the accessories! It comes with a lovely leather pouch too! <3

Second is Sophie G16 (RM399). Sophie is Emily’s favourite. Weight slightly more at 97g and size of 102 x 55.5 x 13 mm, one will only need to charge Sophie after 421 min of talking and 145 hours on standby. Sophie’s display is wider at 2.8″ TFT QVGA.

Next is Emma DS900. Tho she’s the lightest of all (82g) and slimmier at size 114 x 48 x 12 mm, one can talk up to 496 min and last up to 248 hours if left untouch. Her display is smallest at 2.2″ TFT QVGA. Also white in colour, one can get Emma at RM299 only.

Finally, my favourite of all – SHE 9300. Squarish in shape and weight at 110g, this compact powder alike is of size 70 x 70 x 16.3 mm with 2.4 TFT QVGA display. Opens up a keyboard by twisting it 90 degrees, this babe allows one to talk nonstop for 353 min before charging and last up to 264 hours on standby.

Another secret of this babe, there’s a hidden mirror behind it.

What a ingenious way to check out your makeup without having to go to the loo! Best thing is it costs only RM399!

Emily and me with the phones made for ladies! <3

Apart from the lovely bling bling phones, we were given chance to play with CSL Dual Sim MI350 too. This solid smart phone is also known as Switch Dual. At size 114.8 x 62.8 x 14.7 mm and display of 3.5″ HVGA, MI350 comes with 512 MB memory, Li-ion 1500 mAH battery, MicroSD explansion slot and the usual GPS, AGPS, Bluetooth and FM function.

I would tend to check the responsive rate of a phone if I know it is a touch screen phone. So, the first thing I did when I held on this phone was to swipe it left and right. To my pleasant surprise, this babe responsive greatly and swiftly! Thumbs up!

As you can see on the photo above, the phone has Angry Bird app and Cut the Rope app in it! My nephews definitely gonna love this phone as they’re big fans of Angry Bird, lol!

Believe it or not, this sleek design costs only RM699. A bargain for an Android phone. Yup, it runs on Android Froyo 2.2 and it has GPS in it. Good for those who always sesat jalan, lol!

After going through all these phones, we were given a quick briefing on the phones and ended with a Q&A session. Before leaving, Emily, Satkuru and I camwhore with these CSL phones to be kept as memories (since we can’t have them for free, lolhaha!)

To end this post, have a look at these videos below. Those are videos on CSL care centre opening and also interviewees’ thoughts on CSL Swarovski series compiled by Borsch Gang Production – pretty interesting I would say.

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