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.

After Satkuru proposed in mid-July, we didn’t really start planning yet because we thought we should get a date first before asking around. Well, hungry ghost month started in August, so it’s a big NO getting wedding date in that month and my good friend, PeiKei advised that it’s better to sought date after the hungry ghost month. So we waited.

In September, Satkuru came to me with 3 dates. No, he only gave me one date. I accepted the date tho I was thinking why not letting me know all 3 dates, just in case we couldn’t secure venue on the chosen date. But since we have more than a year to go, I’d figure out we should be able to get one and started telling my close friends to save the date!

At the same time, we began to write out guestlists before inquiring on the venue. The reason why we listed down because I’ve read in MalaysianBrides forum that there are brides who had to change the venue because the number of tables increased and the venue couldn’t hold that much.

To all the brides to be: read a lot. Especially these forums.

Our initially list, or rather MY initial list came to near 800 guests. Satkuru freaked out stating why there’s so much people in my list. As we’ll be holding joint dinner, he said there’s no venue in the island that could hold more than 100 tables. So, I told my parents that we had to cut down the lists and the lists went down to 85 tables for both side family and friends.

In October, we began venue-hunting, asking around for venue to hold 85 tables. The first choice would be the moral uplifting society; but the place is booked on the date we wanted. We weren’t surprise when were told that as Penangites love to hold weddings here.

So, we went to Long Say Building at Burmah Road as the building looks grand too. To our dismay, the hall is small and we estimate the hall can place 30 tables at its maximum.

I sent email to Sunway Carnival Convention Centre as I read that it can put up to 100 tables. Satkuru emailed them too, and one Saturday, we decided to drop by to see the table arrangements as there was a wedding that day.We were pleased with the hall; tho the deco that comes with the package looks basic, but because the place looks grand, it looks grand overall and is up to our expectation.

We love this place BUT, it’s expensive. If this price being offered in island, then it’s okay but this convention centre is in Butterworth. We truly weren’t expecting the price to be that high. Gosh!

Next, we went to SP Setia Clubhouse as I saw good comments in some forums that I read. The clubhouse is located uphill, and we were quite impressed with the clubhouse and it overlooks the east-southern side of Penang and could even see the second Penang bridge.

Before coming, we knew that this place can hold up to 70-75 tables, but we came anyway to see how big is the hall and see if could squeeze in more.

The hall is indeed big, but then could only hold up to 50 tables if not mistaken. Can’t really remember now cz we went to see in early October. The rest 20 tables will be placed outside, at the foyer. But imagine the potongstimness of having to sit ourside the hall?

So we bid this place goodbye and went to scout more.

We were figuring – if we do our wedding at community hall and decorate it to what we want, then it would be more memorable to us. So we asked around for hall. Among the halls that I’ve called to inquire about is Han Chiang High School. After being transfered around to few teachers, I asked in my broken mandarin if the hall is available on the date I wanted.

He replied that someone already paid deposit for the hall. “But we have a stadium. Do you want to book the stadium?“, he asked in Mandarin.

Shocked from knowing there’s a stadium in a school and just before I could reply him, he said, “Oh, got people placed booking d. Sorry.”

I felt like I was being played. Feeling a little furious, I said thank you and ended the call. Grr.

Later that day, I found out that there’s a convention centre that belongs to the Sunshine group. Curious on where is it located, I called up the number. A lady answered and told that the hall is actually situation on the 4th level of the Sunshine Square building. I was even more joyous when she told me the hall can fit up to 120 tables!

Surprised and excited at the same time, I asked for appointment to see the hall that evening. She told me there’s someone actually booked the hall already, but yet to pay the deposit. I told her, if I like the hall and paid the deposit that instant, that means the hall belongs to me right? She couldn’t answer and said best if she could ask the person that has booked the hall. Alamak!

Still, I went in to see the hall that evening with Satkuru. It was soooo spacious, but old – as Satkuru said. As the hall only used and seen daylight when there’s event, the place is quite dusty and smells weird (hapak smell). The chandeliers are dusty and the old white cloth that hang in the ceiling still there, making me wonder if they would ever change the cloth. Overall, I’m okay with this hall, just that it needs a little makeover (that’s where the hall decorator comes in). Satkuru on the other hand, dislikes the hall because it looks old and smells weird, lol! He was pleased to know that the person who booked the hall paid the deposit few hours earlier – a good reason to decline the place.

Then I was thinking, if we get a hall, yes – we can decorate the hall to our preferances and can a good caterer for our food. But then, we’ll need to find we need to spend time and energy looking around again. Why not just do at hotel that provides venue, deco and food? Satkuru doesn’t want to get wedding planner; he feels if were to find wedding planner, might as well do at hotel.

Few calls were made to hotels – Cititel, Paradise Sandy Hotel – all booked. Evergreen Laurel Hotel, G Hotel, Gurney Hotel – can fit up to 60 tables maximum. Royal Hotel can fit 23 tables only! Same goes with Hard Rock Hotel for only able to cater up to 26 tables.

As for E&O Hotel, though I would loveeee to host my wedding dinner there, but it can only put 40 tables in the ballroom and if insists on 60 tables, then they’ll place the extra 20 tables at the deck. Both of us don’t like this type of arrangement and the price is exorbitant, so gotta say bye to this lovely hotel.

I came to know Red Rock Hotel through Daphne. She attended her cousin’s wedding at this hotel before and recommended this hotel for they serve good food as well as able to accommodate lots people too. So I called them up and arranged time to look the hotel. The hotel’s lobby is small, but that’s okay as there’s another entrance leading directly to the ballroom. When we entered the ballroom, we were at awed. The ballroom looks grand and there’s a large, beautiful chandelier in the middle. We felt in love with the ballroom.

BUT, again there’s a but here. This ballroom can fit 55-60 tables comfortably. Our hearts sank.

“Then what’s the maximum tables that can be put in, in this ballroom?” Satkuru asked.

“70 tables, BUT (again) there’ll be no walkaway in the middle. Plus it’ll be very cramp” he explained.

I told him my friend told me can fit more than 80 tables. He explained that, that’s achieveable with 60 tables in the ballroom and 20 more at the side foyer. The doors at the side will be dismantled on the wedding night.

I was thinking, if only the wall separating these two can be knocked down. At least, guests sitting at the side wouldn’t have to stretch their neck to see what’s happening on the stage. I jokefully told this to the marketing lady the second time we went there to see the table arrangement hours before a wedding dinner starts.

Few hotels we didn’t call in because of our unpleasure dining experience with them before. Satkuru believes that if we were to look for a hotel, at least the food should be okay and not making the guests running to the toilet after the meal.

Halfway looking around, mum called me up telling me that her godsis recommended Ming Garden at Penang Times Square, saying that the food is great, the place is classy and most importantly can put up to 120 tables! Immediately I googled up this restaurant and called them to ask if the date I wanted is still available. Sadly, the lady told me it’s already taken up and suggested me to do luncheon wedding instead. –”

When I told mum that the place is not available, mum asked me to try Hei Yeong Seng Chinese restaurant at Penang Plaza. I called that restaurant too, but again the place taken up.

I was thinking – is the date we chose REALLY THAT HOT? –”

Not giving up, I googled around again. This time I called up Tanjung Bungah Hotel, as I was drawn to the “Wedding by the beach” package. When inquire about number of tables, the hotel event guy told me “normally 20 tables.” I was like it’s a beach and there shouldn’t be any restriction what, but I didn’t voice that out. I just asked how about 80 tables and he told me it can be done since they did for 70 tables before.

Again 70, not 80!

However, he did mention that the price for that package had increased, so additional few hundreds per table on top of the package mentioned there. The new price will put a strain on our budget but the pro is the wedding is by the sea, super romantic!

Told parents about this, their worry is – what if it rains? Even Satkuru agreed with my parents. Oh well. There goes my dream. T_____T

Seeing that it’s really hard to secure a venue, Satkuru told me to cut down the guestlists again. He’s right, we have no choice but to do so since it’s hard to get venue in Penang though we still have a year ahead! Some restaurants and hotels suggested to do on Friday night, but Friday night will be super jam and we don’t want to start the dinner late. Though there’s a thought of doing separate dinner on Saturday and luncheon on the actual day, then luncheon which normally starts at 12 noon, might start late at around 2pm because of the tea ceremony. And I don’t like the idea of rushing on my big day because want to make it to luncheon.

Guess what, I’ve called up Berjaya Hotel and was told that the date is still available, but could only fit in 70 tables. Grr. Gonna see the ballroom tomorrow, yippee!

So I asked him, what’s not waste of time then?

He grinned and said, C A S I N O!

We went down and were stopped by the security guy at the entrance because Sat looked young. I was like, what?!!!

Sat had to show him his driver licence where he pointed to his IC number as proof that he’s over 21.

There’s nothing much to say about the casino… just the usual tai sai, jackpot machines, roulette, player banker.. so I skipped that part. Kaka.

Feeling sien after lingering in the casino,we went around, exploring again.

We went out to Deck 11 where we spotted a family of 5 lying on the lazy chairs. The parents were soundly asleep while the kids – well, they were happily chatting and singing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”

Accompanied with the kids’ singing, we sat the lazy chairs, looking for stars which were hiding behind clouds. It’s been long since I felt so relax where worries and problems seemed so far away!

Sat then took out his iPhone and checked the coordinate again. He was so eager to know where we were at that time. But the signal wasn’t strong and it took a while to reveal the location.

And we found ourselves moving up North!

We speculated that the ship was already in the International water (since the casino already opened its door) and we could be somewhere on the tip of between Peninsula and Sumatra.

Then we decided to check out the cinema. We went into the auditorium to watch Ocean Eleven for 15 minutes before heading back to the cabin for a good night sleep.

However, I discovered one of the TV channel aired same movie as the one in auditorium. So I watched the movie until I slept off. Lol!

I woke up at 6 something the morning. Took quick shower and then went to the casino again.

From the casino, we headed to the reception area to find people lining at a temporary counter. Curiously we went to the reception counter to inquire. The same lady then revealed that the counter is for claiming back our ICs/passports but one need to clear the outstanding bills first.

So I quickly paid for the Bingo and the lanyards and then got back my IC.

Had breakfast at the Ocean Palace, the breakfast buffet spread is almost the as the one in Genting.

The bread toast with kaya and thick spread of butter I supposed is HEAVENLY! Gosh, I’m craving for one now!

Other than that, there’s nothing much to shout about too; except that when we were eating, the sun rose from the horizon and I was so upset for not able to witness that spectacular moment.

After breakfast, we just walked around the ship, taking photographs. The ship was cruising by the Penang Island and somehow the island looks different! It’s like looking at Hong Kong Island! Haha.

I even spotted jellyfishes floating on the sea! I was damn happy to spot them as I used to count jellyfishes when I took ferry to and fro Penang Island during my guiding time.

I was gladly counting them though the count wasn’t high compared to about 10 years ago.

Soon, the sun began to shine so brightly that I can’t open my eyes when I was asked to smile. @_@

And I kept seeing shadows everywhere. Blinded by the sun!

Luckily the pictures look lovely! The blue sky, the white paint of the body, green floor gave out nice contrast… except for me. Hmm. I should have wear red top like what Sat did and cover my eyes with spectacles! Haha.

Now you agree too right? Haha!

The ship touched the port at exactly 9 o’clock! Went back to the cabin to grab our belongings. Took few last shots before leaving.

We then proceed with the check-out process by scanning our cruise cards at the same machine when we got in. The cards were then given back to us as souvenirs.

This overnight cruise is a good experience and great insight on the luxury ship as I always wonder what it is like in it and how to spend time on board. Moreover Star Cruise Pisces though it’s smaller than its counterparts did give us a sense of rejuvenation and relaxation at such an attractive price. It’s such a waste for not be able to try all the facilities in the Star Pisces as we have only 12 hours on board; BUT I would definitely love to board the bigger cruises like Superstar Aquarius and Superstar Virgo for more days.

Now, who says cruising is for the rich people? Haha!

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By 8.45 pm, we decided to make a move and walked out of the Mariners. Unsure on what to do next, we asked the ladies at the reception counter on the activities available on board. Then she pointed me to the itinerary pinned at the public board next to the lifts.

Ah, we weren’t observant at all.  Haha. We checked out the itinerary and found that there’s a live band playing at the Lounge of the Galaxy of The Stars. With nothing to do, we decided to do a little exploration. From the reception counter at Deck 7, we walked straight to the Blue Lagoon and reached the entrance of casino, where they call it Club Royale.

Sat was super eager to check out the casino, while I was more to explore the ship! Thankfully the casino door isn’t open until 9-9.30 (can’t recall) so we went up a deck to Deck 8 and found ourselves to be coming up to the entrance of the Galaxy of The Stars. There were 2 big groups of people standing at the counters located on both sides of the entrance. We walked past the counter and took a peek into the Lounge. The place was full of people, quite happening place to be.

But we walked out.

Curiously, we were wondering what caused the people to surround the counter; we walked up to one of the counters and asked, “What’s this?”

The male crew answered – “Oh, we’re selling the Bingo strips. Do you want to buy some? One strip costs RM4, half of the page consists of 3 strips costs RM12! Come try and win yourself a Jackpot worth RM18,888!

As we never play the real Bingo before – except for the square boxes that consists of 25 numbers we used to play during secondary school, we asked them on the method of playing.

“Easy! One strip consists of 15 numbers. When the machine randomly calls out a number and that number is in the strip, u cross that number. Once you’ve crossed all 15 numbers, then you have to stand up and shout BINGO!”

“That sounds fun” – we said, “but how many times will the machine calls?”

“The machine will call 40 times and if you got Bingo before the 40^th number, then you’ll win the Jackpot of RM18,888!!!” the male crew said.

But – the female crew added in; if nobody shouts Bingo after the 40^th time, then we will continue the game until someone got Bingo. However that person will only get consolation prize,” she said with broad smile.

Well, 15 numbers out of 40 times… that seems do-able. As both of us were discussing on how many stripes to take, the male crew spoke.

“Why don’t you take the whole page, sir? You increase the chances of winning as you get all the numbers from 1-90.”

Curiously we asked if the numbers would appear twice on the page.

Both of them laughed and assured us there are only 90 numbers per page, and 15 per strips. Then he said different page will have different set of number arrangements per strip, and even showed us the few pages.

Oh well, since it’s just RM24 per page, we took the whole page where female crew took my cruise card and swiped for payment and the male crew tore one whole page and passed it to me. I thought of choosing the page myself, but since he had already tore it, I just take it la.

“Remember to come back before 9.30! Bingo will start at that time” – the female crew said with a smile.

After ‘paying’, we went to another counter. That counter is selling scratch-and-win tickets. Sat wanted to get few, but I didn’t allow him. Haha. Then we walked past the open karaoke pub where people would just sing out loud with microphone in their hands from their table. We then ventured along the Sunset Boulevard and entered the duty free shop to look around.

Surprisingly, the price of the goods there aren’t that expensive. I wanted to get a T-shirt but their T-shirt’s design is too simple. So I bought 2 lanyards for RM15. Similarly, the female crew at the counter swiped my cruise card as payment.

At the end of the Sunset Boulevard, we arrived at the Ocean Palace – another restaurant where we can have our meal. But since we’ve already eaten at the Mariners (can only claim once), we decided to go for breakfast there.

Since we got nowhere to go, we went to the Lounge to look for a spot where we can see the stage clearly. We found one, though there’s a pole there. But still, it’s better to have a table than stand. Haha.

We were entertained by the live band that belted out all the famous oldies, making us sing along with them. Luckily the casino didn’t open their door yet because if they did, we wouldn’t have enjoyed all these.

Occasionally Sat took out his iPhone to check our coordinate. We found ourselves moving from the port to somewhere above Esplanade.

Then it was time for Bingo! The same crew (that sold us the Bingo strips) took off their coats and went to the stage with a screen board and a table. On the screen board, there’s a big screen bearing all numbers from 1-90 and a smaller screen showing 2 digits. The table was put on the side with a machine on top of it.

They started the show by greeting us, explaining all the methods, rules and regulations in dual languages – English and Mandarin, coaxed us on buying more stripes to increase our winning chances, and made the crowd cheered even louder.

Then it started. The female crew pressed the machine and a number appeared. Then we crossed it on the strips we got. Then the female crew asked, “you mei you?” (got or not?)

And the rest of the crowd roared “MEI YOUUU”

It was really fun and adrenaline rushed game as we kept calculating the amount of numbers left per strip. When we realised that two of the strips has only 8 and 9 numbers left when they’ve only called up 24 numbers, we were ecstatic… until one group jumped up and shouted BINGOOOOOO!!!! and screamed nonstop.

Everyone was stunned – as to get Bingo after 24 numbers being called is super duper lucky! We could see that the two MCs were stunned too. They have this disbelief looks on their faces; they didn’t congratulate nor walk to them. They just stood at the stage, looking at the group who were jumping with joy.

Then male crew walked to them, asking for their winning strip. After that he walked to the stage, counted the numbers and then threw the strips into the air.

We were shocked upon seeing that.

He drew a deep and long inhalation and then said, “You need to cross all 15 numbers on the SAME strip. Not 15 numbers on 3 STRIPS. If on 3 strips, those who bought one whole page would have shout BINGO after we called 15 numbers.”

Then everyone laughed and booed at them. We could see the girl who held the strips looked embarrassed and almost wanted to cry.

Then the male crew spoke in softer tone and repeated the method of playing Bingo again. The female crew repeated in Chinese. Then both of them asked, “Now do you all understand the ways of playing Bingo?”

And the rest of the crowd roared, YESSSSS and the game resumed.

Somehow that girl ruined MY Feng Shui. Before she shouted Bingo, the machine kept churning out the numbers that fall in the last two strips, which made them left 8 and 9 numbers. After that, the machine gave the numbers which were ridiculously random and even spread on all strips. This made me feeling a little mad at her stupidity.

Blah. The umph was gone and we weren’t that eager anymore.

Since nobody claims Bingo after the 40^th number, the crew announced that we were no longer in running for the Jackpot, but for the consolation prize instead. So we proceed playing the game.

Until we left only 3 and 4 numbers…and some of the crowd were only waiting for 1 number. That time, thought we knew that our chance was low, but still we were hoping for a little miracle. Haha.

But miracle didn’t bestow upon us. Two person shouted Bingo at the same time and both of them went to the stage to claim prize. To claim them, the crew made them danced on stage, where they’ll increase the prize money from RM50 to ‘higher’ amount. The amount ended at RM550, where they shared the prize money.

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Well, I’m 40, rich and successful then obviously I would be looking at the cruise catalogues. Information. Destination. Get what I mean?

Somehow, dream does come true. Or should I say Starcruises.com made my dream came true.

Starting from February 13^th until June 30^th, one can experience a-night-cruise on Star Cruise Pisces for as low as RM60!

Upon hearing that, I quickly did a research on this to avoid any disappointment. True enough, it just costs RM60 but that’s the standing pax (means no room given) price on Sunday–Thursday.

Then discussions started and then decided to go on Friday after work. Fearing that we might feel tired after that, we took the cheapest cabin – the ‘inside stateroom’ for RM120. After adding in the handling fee of RM30, the whole package costs RM150.

If you’re wondering when I boarded the ship, it was 2 weeks ago.

On that day, I left work at 5.15pm and vroomed all the way toward the Jetty. We parked our car at the ‘for-cruise-only’ car park for RM7 and then walked towards the Swettenham Pier for checking in process. After getting our cruise cards (which serves as room access key, credit card on board and meal card), we walked in to the ‘immigration counter’ where the guys in yellow took our ICs/passports for safekeeping. Don’t worry, they’ll give us back at the end of the voyage.

After that, all one got to do is to follow the sign and board the ship!

I got even more excited when the ship was just barely 100m away from me. We queued patiently, slowly ascending the connecting bridge. At the entrance, there are metal detector station and x-ray scanner like the ones at the airplane. The process was smooth, as the crews assisted us in putting the bags, jackets, handphone with broad smiles. We were extremely taken by their hospitality.

Then we reached another counter. The crew took my cruise card, put it into the machine to read and all details stored in the cruise card were shown on the machine’s monitor. The process is something like checking into the ship la. After that, we’re officially on board! Woohoo!

We walked to our rooms on Deck 10 and OMG, it is so small!!! The smallest room I ever stayed! Haha. But what do you expect when you pay RM150 for EVERYTHING? Keke.

I’m thinking, if I was to board this ship for 3D2N and gotten myself this room, I would spend the minimal time in my room. Probably like just 5-6 hours of sleep. And to wash up. Lol.

We switched on the TV. There are few channels available and one of it was showing a very funny Chinese movie at that moment. Didn’t know why our eyes were glued to the TV, which made us stayed in the room and watched. Funny right? Board the cruise just to watch movie shown on the small TV -.-“

As our tummies started growling, we left the room and walked around looking for places to eat. But somehow we walked to the swimming pool at the end.

Then, we walked up one level to Deck 11. The place looks so romantic; and I imagined a live band playing and people dancing there.

From Deck 11, we can see the swimming pool very clearly and though small, it looks very tempting and irresistible!

It’s a shame for not bringing my swimsuit with me that moment. If not, I would have dip in and enjoy myself there. Ahhh!

From the back, we walked to the front – to see if we could find anything there. But only lazy chairs can be found there. I called Deck 11 the sun bathing deck. Haha.

At the other side, there’s an entrance into the enclosed area of Deck 11. We walked in just to find ourselves standing at the activity centre which is also the entrances of the Observation lounge, Mahjong & Card room, 2 auditoriums (2 cinemas) and Rua Thai restaurant.

With nowhere to go and feeling very hungry, we took lift down to Deck 7 where the reception counter is. Unsure on which restaurants to have dinner, we asked the pretty ladies behind the counter for information. The ladies then pointed to the restaurant on her right, and said, “Madam, you can have your dinner over there at the Marines.“

Immediately we went into the Marines, got a card with table number on it and found ourselves just in time for YMCA! The kitchen crew stood in a line; entertained the diners by singing and dancing to the tune of YMCA. It was fun to watch, and some of the diners joined in the fun by waving their hands and moving their bodies. The rest just clapped hands or took videos.

After the song ended, I quickly grabbed a plate and filled them up with food! I took a little of the each dish available and by the time I finished taking everything, I was thinking if I could finish the whole plate myself? @_@

Then, we went to the table as labeled on the paper given by us and started eating… until our tummies bloated.

The food is surprisingly delicious and good! I never thought that the food would be that nice as the food served during breakfast in Genting isn’t nice. Starcruises is part of the Resort World Group; owned by Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, the son of Tan Sri Dato Seri Lim Goh Tong – thus the comparison between the food in Genting and on Star Pisces.

We overheard conversation from the ladies from the next table that there’s show going on at 8.30 pm. We looked at our watch, it was already 8.30 and we only ate halfway through. So we decided to forgo the show and slowly enjoy our meal.

Multiple Posts : 1 | 2 | 3

Back in Penang now. The weekend passed by very quickly!!!

In such a harsh world nowadays where people would just mind own’s business, I actually ‘witnessed’ something different on the bus back to Penang.

Boarded ‘Nice’ bus at the old KTM station. With me on the bus, there are two Malay metrosexual guys, 2 Chinese aunties with a young boy, 2 Malay aunties with a young girl and a lone guy sitting at the back.

The bus picked up the second batch of passengers at the kl sentral and up boarded the 2 angmoh girls. Everyone’s eyes was at the girls as they mouthed ‘1.. 2.. Ah, there 5!’

Their seats were behind the 2 metrosexual guys and beside mine. The bus then moved and the bus was silent again, except the 2 guys who were chatting.

Suddenly one of the guys turned to the back and asked the girls where were they heading to.

One reluctantly replied, “well, our ticket is to Alor Star. We wanna go to Langkawi, we asked the guy at the counter on the way to get there and he said nearest would be Alor Star.”

I was thinking – ok. Correct but wouldnt the day be burnt if reach there late? Unless they’re there for long. Might as well stay at Penang island and have a look at Penang.

Then the guy said, “Ah. Wouldn’t the journey be longer? Moreover you need to take a cab from Alor Star all the way to Kuala Kedah.“

Could see that the girls’ faces changed.

“You know, you could board the ferry to Langkawi from Penang itself. It would be nearer.”

The girls’ expression changed again. I was thinking - from Penang to Langkawi got frequent ferry service or not.

“Oh, could you tell me how to get there? I need to write it down,” she asked, searching for pen and paper in her handbag.

“You can get down from the butterworth bus terminal. The ferry terminal to the Penang island is just beside the bus terminal. And it’ll take like 19-20 minutes.”

The girl quickly wrote what he said.

“Don’t worry. Later I’ll show you the way to the ferry terminal.“

The girls looked very relief.

He then continued, “once reach there, just ask around for ferry terminal to langkawi and they’ll show you the way. It’s just like 10minutes walk to the port.”

The girls thanked the guy nonstop for this valuable information. He then asked on where the girls hail from and why they chose to come to Malaysia.

Which made me think – foreigners come here, obviously to see our country. Somemore asked why Malaysia.

From what i heard, the girls are actually English teachers in Korea, came Malaysia to escape the cold in Korea. And the guy who offered the information is actually a chambering lawyer.

And then the bus turned silent. Soon, all fell asleep including me. It was a raining + cloudy + sunny journey back. I kept waking up and sleep back. Which was good, made the 4 hours journey shorter.

When the bus stopped near the Butterworth bus terminal, the 2 angmohs followed the 2 guys towards the ferry terminal while I stayed there waiting for my parents to get me, hoped that they would get the ferry to Langkawi that day. Didn’t know why I feel good knowing that there are still people willing to help out to there who needs.

I just checked the ferry schedule from Penang to Langkawi, it seems like they’re only ferrying in the morning. Whilst from Kuala Kedah and Kuala Perlis, the ferry would be operating from 7 in the morning till 7 at night. If they didn’t listen to them, they might be able to get on the last  ferry.

I guess the girls will be checking out Penang island tonight.

]]> http://phingelicious.com/2009/12/to-langkawi-from-kuala-kedah-or-penang/feed/ 2 http://phingelicious.com/2009/10/coconut-affair-at-abu-siti-lane/ http://phingelicious.com/2009/10/coconut-affair-at-abu-siti-lane/#comments Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:49:22 +0000 angeline http://phingelicious.com/?p=1005 It’s been hot hot hot day lately. Yes, it did rain, but still HOT! Weather goes haywire I supposed. @.@

In such weather, one would resort to something to cool down. The best option would be…

COCONUTS!

Having coconut drink during hot weather is like owning a designer bag. But having coconut drink with bunch of friends is like owning few designer bags! XD

When the KL gang went up to Penang few months ago, we decided to drop by this famous coconut place at Abu Siti Lane. The Anba.

Immediately we ordered the pandan coconut, and quickly relished our thirst with this cold pandan coconut juice. Hmmm~* refreshing!

I knew I couldn’t finish the entire coconut, so I shared with Sat. I took few sips and then started snapping portrait pictures of the gang.

That’s David, enjoying each sip of the coconut juice! Hoho!

Next, Jess, my half-sisto! Nom-ing away!

She scrapped the whole shell clean can! XD

Next, the birthday boy, HUNGWEI! It’s his birthday today – 15th Oct. Go wish him now!

Happy birthday kaima! Bila mau kahwin? XD

My kawan lama, Munnnnnnn!

She’s the part-time coconut salesgirl! Haha! See her promoting the coconut around! *runs before she kills me*

Here’s Sat busy digging the coconut meat! For me ofcz. Haha!

I realised I forgotten to take portrait picture of AA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ARRGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
Aaron, dui mm chu. Mm kei tak yeng lei geh siong.
*bow nonstop for apologies*

Luckily, I have one of him here, in the group! *phew*

It’s fun hanging out with the gang, and I yearn for such outing now, especially when I’m working now. I really looking forward to weekends nowadays! Especially the LONG ones! HAHAHA!

Again, I didn’t appear in any of the pictures here because I’m the photographer mah! Hehe!

]]> http://phingelicious.com/2009/10/coconut-affair-at-abu-siti-lane/feed/ 5 http://phingelicious.com/2009/10/rock-ed-our-night-at-hard-rock-cafe-penang/ http://phingelicious.com/2009/10/rock-ed-our-night-at-hard-rock-cafe-penang/#comments Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:04:04 +0000 angeline http://phingelicious.com/?p=1013 Last Friday, the ‘laugh-die-me’ gang decided to hit the club!

Knowing that Hard Rock Cafe is new in town, we decided to drop by – despite few of us had been there before. Lol!

The 1st time I visit HRH, I didn’t enter the HRC as the cafe was fully-booked. So, I was very very excited and looking forward to chill there!

As me, Emily n Shuqi reached late, we had to wait for Yin to bring us in. At the entrance, the bouncers stopped us for bag check. Which greatly reminded of the security check at work. Minus the magnetic scanner thingy. Lmao!

Before we reached, we were told that we got a very nice place. And it was so true. We got the seats facing the stage directly, and we got long couch which is like yay! Because everyone wanted have the best view and nobody want to sit on chair with their back facing the stage including me, I had to sit more to the next table’s side on the long couch. I don’t mind sitting there as long as I got a comfy seat and great view. BUT my view was blocked by a man’s head of the next table who was sitting DIRECTLY in front of me. When I say directly – it means right in front of me.

Potongstimness!

Thus, I changed seat. I rather turned my body to face the stage, than having a head blocking the 70% of my view. *hiss*

One of the main attraction in HRC is the live rock genre band! Very rocky indeed, as they’ve rocked my night! (Gosh, sounds so wrong… hmm)

There are 3 singers – and the person to look at would be the one in the middle. I mean look at her – she sings, she moves, she dances, she “seduces” with eyes – while the other 2 just goyang kepala and move the mic stand. Okayla, I agreed that’s what a male singer would normally do. If both of them dance like her, then probably it would be very weird. Haha.

Back to the lady singer – her voice is awesome! Her voice can go all the way uppppp and all the way downnnnn. Terrific! Definitely wow us that night!

One thing I don’t like about the live singing is the sound system. Don’t get you wrong – the sound system is great, BUT as the night grew older, the volume got louder! Loud till a point I got massive headache. Luckily I managed to escape the ‘noise’ when Vingie asked me if I wanna checked the hotel out. Thanks Vingieeeeee!

The drinks.

Normally, people would order beer or cocktails at pub/club to chill. I would to – but because my skin condition got bad, I barred myself from ordering one. So, I quenched my thirst by ordering mocktails, or should I say non-alcoholic drink a.k.a Wild Berries! It’s very nice and the best thing is – the glass is big! Which means don’t have to order drinks often. Which means save money! *whee*

But, I was curious to know how much the price of the cocktail there. As Emily and I skimmed through the menu, I noticed that the price of the cocktails and mocktails there weren’t cheap. Cocktails would be priced above RM30 or RM35 (can’t recall), while the non-alcoholic drinks like the berries I had would be above RM22. Mine is RM25.

After few thoughts, our mocktails are considered cheap because they come in big glass. I felt the cocktails aren’t. The cocktail I normally order – Long Island Tea which Shuqi and Yin ordered that night costs RM42 per glass. If my memory doesn’t fail me, I usually pay from the range of RM27 to Rm35 for that.

But, this is HRC we’re talking about. GOTTA PAY FOR GREAT ATMOSPHERE! PAY FOR THE LIVE BAND PERFORMANCE.

So, I’m fine with paying RM29 for drink there. LMAO.

The design of the HRC is unique. I love the idea of combining the long couch and high rise bar tables to accommodate more people. I love the idea of building a mezzanine floor to house more people. I love the idea of turning the parapet wall into very cool bar tables, where people would place their drinks there while looking at the band. Excellente concept!

Oh, I love the idea of putting in a shop in the cafe! Why? Because there are chances of people buying something there. As memento. Wicked idea right? Haha!

Plus, what’s Hard Rock without their ever famous souvenir shop? (I can still recall the Hard Rock shirt that my parents bought for me years ago)

I didn’t check out their shop by the way. Yvelyn asked me if I want to, but I declined. Why? Because I feared that if I saw something that I like and I couldn’t have it because of the price – I might feel sad.

I shall visit when I’m loaded! That’ll be like 10 years later! Haha!

Seriously, HRC is packed with peoples! From the time I stepped into HRC which was at 10.45, the crowd kept increased, never decreased. I did a lot of observation, apart from listening to the music sang by the band. And I realised HRC managed to attract people from different walk of life. Different races, different ages, different dressing code,different “motives”.

Thus my FB status that day,

semakin lewat, semakin ramai olang, semakin hot, semakin banyak ‘eye-opener’!!!

Lazy to elaborate more, I shall summarise them into these!

Obs. 1 : HRC has free wifi! That day I was busy twittering and updating status on FB. Hoho!

Obs. 2 : Saw managers from workplace. Seems like they’re good at chilling out too. *hohoho*

Obs. 3 : Lots people with DSLR that day!

Obs. 4 : They have small ‘dance floor’ right beside the stage. But not much people utilised it. Most Malaysians are shyyyy. They would rather look at people who dance skilfully and think “I also can dance like that mah, but I shy” . LMAO.

Obs. 5 : Saw Mr. Geh, Mr. Suki and Hao Hao that night! So coincident oneee!

Obs. 6 : I scanned here and there for hot macho guys, found one but he’s more to the metrosexual-ic than macho. With a girl constantly baleko him.

Obs. 7 : I accidentally saw text message of the apek of opposite table. It started with “Cinta kita tidak akan …” The wife and kids were sitting next to him. So hmm…

Obs. 8 : The band sang lots 80s’, 90s’ songs. But we want more of PCD, Beyonce, BEP!

Obs. 9 : A girl surrounded by 3-4 mens? Hmm…

Obs. 10 : This one have to sensor la. P&C! Ahaks.

Lastly, a picture of us at HRC. Where iz me? *cries*

I had a great, fun night that day! Need such outing to unwind ourselves!

Where’s next?

-XOXO!

I was driving back from work. Like usual, I took the bridge which supposed to be faster way to head home. At 5.30 in the afternoon, the traffic already built up at the ramp going up to the bridge from Bayan Lepas area.

Seeing the massive jam (at least it’s not static), I was kinda ‘stressed out’. Moreover the rude drivers encounter, the hunger pang I had since 4, the insufficient sleep and rest – all attributed to me being very hot tempered.  But I managed to keep myself calm and focus by blasting the songs from the radio and constantly telling myself to relax.

The ramp soon connects to the bridge where 2 lanes becomes 4 ‘lanes’. It’s supposed to be 3 lanes, but due to ‘no-white-lines’ drawn on the road, people just squeezed their way through. I was on the outer lane from the ramp; so as I drove further, the traffic became very congested and slow as the lane I was in sort of ‘combined’ with the inner lane of the bridge. But luckily most drivers were patient and tolerant – allowing one car from each lane moved into the middle lane.

When it was my turn, I knew that I could just followed closely to the car in front of me but because I thought that I should be thoughtful and allow the car on my left (a Spectra) to go through, so I slowed down and… to my horror, the car behind the Spectra (which is a Waja) trailed the Spectra so darn closely and almost ‘kissed’ my car.

Seriously, I was very pissed off. I purposely slowed down to see who’s this donkeih driver.

As the Waja drove past me, this ‘face’ greeted me…

There was this fella in the front passanger seat, wore the above mask, flatten his face against the car window and looked at me. Annoyed, I looked back at him – and I saw the rest (in the car) was looking at me too, including the driver. The driver is a cha boh. -.-”

They looked at me probably with the hope to see a shocked/hysterical me or something like that. Well since they wanted a reaction from me, this was what I did…

… with sarcasm behind the smile... where after I ‘smiled’, I frown at them.

And immediately all of them just ‘jerked off’ and talked/laughed among themselves – that I wasn’t sure. From their gesture, I guess I’ve reacted in a way that they didn’t foresee. Lol!

After I drove to outer lane, while they were still on the inner lane – probably finding another ‘victim’ to prank. Haha!

Now, to think of it, I should instantly flash out my handphone in the pretext of taking picture of the ghost-masked-person. Probably that time, he’ll do something differently – like pose for me?

Hahaha!

]]> http://phingelicious.com/2009/06/ghost-found-on-the-bridge-in-late-afternoon/feed/ 5 http://phingelicious.com/2009/05/cambodia-ep-1-pg-kl-phnom-penh/ http://phingelicious.com/2009/05/cambodia-ep-1-pg-kl-phnom-penh/#comments Wed, 13 May 2009 16:03:56 +0000 angeline http://phingelicious.com/?p=687 Finally, it’s Cambodia Hour! Yay!
Been dying to blog bout this, just that I didn’t have the time to edit pictures and blog bout them.
*sigh*

However, I’ve decided to blog real short. I’ll just say that 5 of us, Leemay, me, Kurubee, Ailing and Emily boarded the earliest flight to LCC Terminal to meet up with the rest (Aaron and William) before boarding the afternoon flight to Phnom Penh, Cambodia and we had fun in Cambodia.
The end.
Haha!

Nah, you wish it’s short. This will be a super long one.
MUAHAHAHA!

The journey to Phnom Penh took about 2 hours. The plane was full of our local people, their local people and some of the non-local people. Confusing? Nevermind if you don’t understand. Haha. I remembered that during the flight there was a strong ‘ikan masin’ stench that bothered us till Emily suddenly complained bout it quite loud in Hokkien.

Luckily their local people doesn’t understand Hokkien. Haha!

And no, the stench didn’t go away. -.-”

Because all of us didn’t have a good sleep the night before, so we were trying to catch some winks. But just as we were about to fall alseep, annoucement was made, asking us to show our air ticket to claim our on-board meal.

Guess what we had?

The DIY 1901 hotdog that came with a sesame bun, a sausage, a packet of vege pickles, black pepper, and 3 packets of sauces -  mayonise, mustard and ketchup.

Our plane landed soon and we found ourselves on 2 tuk tuks costed USD7 each, leaving the airport to our guesthouse, Capitol Guesthouse.

It was one hell of roller coaster ride for us! I felt so insecured sitting on the tuk tuk as there’s no safety belt to buckle and it’s so open! I fear that I’ll just simply fall off the tuk tuk when the driver took a quick left/right turn. Moreover the road was bumpy and uneven (especially when moving on the red gravel road). It’s so bumpy that my butt practically lifted off the seat few times and my heart stopped for that second in fear of falling off the tuk tuk.
Scary sial!

The traffic in Phnom Penh – ohmy, it was horrible, terrible, worst traffic order that I’ve ever seen! Vehicles are seen crossing the intersection even with the traffic lights flashing red on their lanes! Yet amidst all the traffic madness, we couldn’t find a single dent nor scar mark (resulted from accident) on their vehicles. Remarkeable right? Hmm…

Other than that, taking a tuk tuk is a fast and good way to look at the surrounding and beat the traffic as it zooms around fast, and manage to squeez its way around the busy roads in Phnom Penh.

I saw many unique buildings along the way but I knew that I couldn’t have the time to visit them. So, the only thing I could do is by taking pictures of them. On tuk tuk. While clutching the pole with my arm. Lol!

I spotted an obvious ‘trend’ in Cambodia. First it was a row of shops selling fruits, then came another row of shops selling flowers. As we moved on, we saw a row of shops selling antique watches, followed by another row of shops offering typing/writing service.
Get the trend?

In Cambodia, it seems like all shops selling/offering the same thing are ‘put’ on a same row. It really made me wonder how they keep their business going since the rest of the row doing the same business too? Probably the road there are named after the type of business there; like Flower Road, Fruits Road, etc.
*I’m just kidding, I don’t know what’s the name of that road.*

As our tuk tuk moved passed the Orussey market, the strong fragrance coming from fried/grilled food hit our nose and sent a weird signal to our tummy making them to growl. It was 5 something in Phnom Penh that time, and I was feeling a little bit hungry.

We reached our destination after passing the oh-so-jam-road. Kurubee quickly proceed with the check-in process and then we were led to our room.

The picture above is the boy’s room. I unfortunately forgotten to take picture of our room. *smack head*

But I did take pictures from the balcony of our room. The door was actually locked, but somehow we managed to open up the door and 4 of us – Leemay, Ailing, Emily and me snapped like nobody’s business. Hahaha!

We refreshed ourselves and half an hour later, we passed the keys to our room to the registration lady and walked down to the kopitiam below (owned by the guesthouse too) where B settled the next day’s sightseeing with the lady boss. By 7pm, we found ourselves bargaining with the 7-8 tuk tuk drivers for a trip to the famous Sisowath Quay.

I realised the post is a bit long for my liking, and the coming one will be long too so I guess I’ll stop here today. Stay tune for this…

Toodles~

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