MH17.

While in the ferry heading back to office from Prai, I took the time I had to read on the updates of MH17. 

As I read more about the tragedy and see photos of friends and families, unknowingly my cheeks got wet.

I don't even know anyone on board. 

I tried imagining if my family or my friends were on board, how my emotions would be and more tears came down. My heart felt weird. 

So, it is impossible to understand how extremely difficult it is to get this kind of news and having to live with it forever, especially when it's your loved ones. Unless you have gone through something similar. 

One family that made me cry even more is this man travelling with his 3 grandchildren were on board and was killed. All three of them were below 12 years old. How do you accept this? How?

Locals at the scene mentioned that they saw things falling down from the sky and some were humans. Some had no clothes on because it was burned off and some had very little left on them. Another man said he walked around the scene and he would see one infant just lying there. It's horrific. IT'S ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE. 

How does people recover from this trauma? How..

The man next to my car were probably wondering why I kept wiping my tears. 

After a while, I stopped reading. 

I prayed for a while.

For peace. For comfort.

Rest in peace, passengers and crew of MH17. You will forever be remembered. 

Families and friends, hang in there. Sleep and eat because you'll need all the energy to live a day at a time. 

Two People Eat Together.

After Koay told me about the invitation to Eastin Hotel for a food review next week, I spent some time last night thinking about how far we've come. How WhatTwoEatHere has grown and how we have gotten to know each other better along that road. 

It felt like it was just yesterday that we had our meal at Kampar Fish Jelly when this idea was birthed. 

I knew I wanted to do mainly because it was going to be the two of us. I like the idea of getting to go eat anywhere with him alongside. 

I mean if I were to be a solo food-blogger, it wouldn't be fun because I would be invited ALONE, but for us, all invitations are always addressed to Adrian and Sarah. I love that idea of seeing our name together in the invitation emails/letters. Even when friends invite for a wedding dinner although it doesn't happen as often as I would like it to be. Usually not enough seats so only one can go. Hah. 

Anyways, I don't really see it as me being the clingy type of girlfriend. Thank God he doesn't see me that way too. When it comes to our food-blog, we are on the same page. Other things, not so much but always workable.

Will WhatTwoEatHere earns enough money one day that I don't even have to work in office anymore? WHO KNOWS. 

That is definitely NOT our purpose at all when we decided to start this journey. 

WhatTwoEatHere is only our first beginning. I have no idea what else is in front of us for the future but we know for sure the Big Man is in control and any doors He open, we enter. 

From Japan With Love.

If you ask me whether things in Japan (in general) are expensive? 

My answer is yes.

Everything is expensive, IF convert into RM.

Wait, actually not all things. Cosmetics (men and women) are a lot cheaper compared to Malaysia. 

Here are some of the things that I bought (mostly food stuff) that I would like to blog about. 

You may already know that one of the things that I wanted to get is as many different flavors of Kit Kat as I can find. That means most of my money will be basically for that purpose only. 

This Japan trip was a fully paid one so I only had to bring my own pocket money. I decided to bring 16,000 Yen (about RM500 plus minus) and U$100. I didn't want to bring a lot because I know I sure won't bring home the extra money. I did really spend all my yen and saved most of my US dollars. Such achievement for self control I tell you. 

It may seem like RM500 is very little but then, i bought back quite a lot of things wor. So, I was glad that I only brought RM500. Other than all the items below, I also bought two dresses for mom and her firstborn, clothes for Kelly and Sha Lynn, notto miss out the the bro-in law and boyfriend, two K-Palette Eyeliner and errr I can't remember already. 

Two K-Palette Eyeliner because it's so cheap in Japan! It only costs about RM30 there. In Malaysia, you can find them in Sasa and they cost about RM60 each! I only wanted to try this brand after watching the Clicknetwork TV: Tried and Tested and it looks like this brand really can tahan oil, water and very long-lasting. So, since so cheap, buy two and keep. Hah. Girls..

Moving on.

So yeah, shopping has been a lot of fun in Japan. 

Oh oh! If you want to get branded bags/purse, get it in Japan! It's so affordable here okay but too bad I didn't get any! When they got sales, seriously mad la okay. Don't compare to U.S. lah because that one like you have to travel so far. This one is good enough. 

Sidetrack a bit since we're in this branded bags topic. My colleague's brother came back from U.S. and got her a Michael Kors handbag and it only costs about RM800. Here for the same bag, it's RM1,800!

Crazy right?

Okay, so the goodies from Japan. Prices are plus minus you get it. Here we go :)

Elmo Cookies from Universal Studio Japan (3,150 yen = RM100)

Ninja Shuriken Cookies (a gift from the shop owner)

Packed Dorayaki (a gift from the shop owner)

Green tea snack-kind-of-biscuit (500 yen = RM15)

Japanese-style Pecan White Chocolate ((a gift from Hotel Rosa Blanca)

Hardest-cookies-in-the-world with a mini hammer inside (a gift from the shop owner)

Wasabi snack (dad's favorite)

700 yen = RM21

Strawberry Shortcake Crunch (can't remember)

Mini-different-flavors-cookies (65 yen = RM2 each)

Dars (100 yen = RM3)

 Mini Green Tea Kit Kat and Dark Chocolate Kit Kat

2 packets for only 500 yen = RM15

Red Bean Kit Kat (1500 yen = RM45)

Strawberry Kit Kat (1500 yen = RM45)

Vanilla Kit Kat (can't remember)

Raspberry Kit Kat (can't remember)

Sakura Matcha Kit Kat (1500 yen = RM45)

Quite proud of the total collection of Kit Kat that I managed to grab this time in Japan. I was really looking for the chilli flavored but couldn't find it anywhere. These are good enough. So happy lahh.

I saw these two pair of shoes and I immediately know both my dad and Vanessa would love it. True enough :)

A satisfied traveller I was. 

Thank You Jesus for all the blessings that has always been beyond all measures.

People Who Matter.

Some of the things in my life that if I start talking about it for a long time I can start having tears.

One of it is as the title above.

Things like these I LOVE:

Getting together for lunch during a working day.

So, we 'spontaneously' went for mee sotong today and despite it being one of the shortest lunch we had, it was one of the best. Just because. 

Getting text messages from them.

Both janice and Jaryn texts me almost few days once to check on how Vanessa is doing. This always encourages me and my family. What made it even sweeter was the fact that they didn't go through Koay to ask me. They personally text me about it. I've gained two sisters, guys. Best thing ever. 

Stranger/Business Associate turned friend.

Asia's Sales Manager from Contiki Singapore came to Penang for a product briefing/training session and I like how from just being colleagues, we managed to sit down at the office's dining area and just have conversations about life like how friends do. No awkwardness no formality. Just like friends. Position shall not be the thin wall that separates people, yes?

A boyfriend that acts like a best friend.

One time, I craved for mee sotong so bad but never got the chance to eat because of the busy schedule. He purposely went to have mee sotong the very next day with his client, snapped a photo and whatsapped me. That's all he did. NO TAPAU ALSO! So, this time I obviously want to payback. Haha. And failed big time. *stares*

Momzie who loves cooking.

Mrs Khoo always wants to cook our favorite food and always asking us what we want to eat on a daily basis. Always putting us first before herself. Momzie.. She wanted to roast chicken tonight but we got not much time can't enjoy. Momzie best.

Words That Break My Heart.

I looked at the mirror.

My eye is still red.

Still can't open, still can't see.

I miss home.

I miss reading.

I miss everyone.

I wanna go work.

I miss annoying Sha Lynn and Kelly.

I miss doing things.

I still can't see anything.

14th day.

Struggle.

Can't eat. Can't sleep. Can't watch TV. Can't do anything, but can blog. 

Blogging really relaxes me somehow. 

My parents are now on their way to GMC with Vanessa for second opinion. 

Thanks Abigail and your dad for the doctor's contact that links us to bringing her to GMC. 

The bacteria continues to thin her cornea. This is not good because she could lose her vision. She could be blind on the right eye. 

Wow. Typing the word blind pierced through my heart like what only. 

My hope is in the Lord and always will be. As heartbroken as we are, we continue praying for miracles and full recovery. 

Jesus, take over. 

A Night In The Hospital.

If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter or are friends with me on Facebook, you would already know that we (my eldest sister and I) spent a night with the lil sister in the hospital last night.

Rachel went in first at about 9pm and I was still at home. I reached the hospital at about 10pm and once I passed the security guard at ground floor, I thought it wasn't safe yet, since I still have to pass the nurse station. 

The whole 'eye ward' is pretty empty so the nurse knows who you are there for. I just walked normally, passed the station and said a very friendly hi. 

After spending some time in the room, we figured that the nurses knew there were 2 people in there but they were so kind to not say anything.

Kind but lazy! I'm sorry but according to the doctor, Vanessa's treatment was to go through INTENSIVE EYE DROPS HOURLY in order to 'kill' the bacteria that's attacking her cornea. When Rachel went out to ask if they coming in soon to put the eye drops, they simply answered, "Malam tak letak pun tak apa!"

SERIOUSLY!? I got angry upon hearing that but I couldn't do anything. If I confront them, they might be rough to her next time or they might just shoo me away and I've got no car to go home.

So, I woke up every 30 minutes (at first) to clean her right eye and put those eye drops. Then, every 1 hour because I was physically so tired. Then, every two hours. I'm not trained for this guys! Anyways, I tried my best in waking up as often as I can to clean her eyes and put those antibiotics. 

My dad came at 8am and I told him about it. What if Rachel was the only one that accompanied her? She didn't have the courage to do it then how? So, my dad informed the doctor in a nice way because this is an eye we're talking about. 

I like the nurses there. They are friendly and stuff, but it's just disappointing that they said that. Imagine for other patients, they could have recover faster but because the nurses feel that at night no need to do treatment also nevermind, then they just spend more days in hospital.

Of course it's not easy to be a nurse but it's really important that they do what the doctor say. Very important.

I'm sorry if this turns out to be an angry post but this is my sister's life we're talking about. Her vision. It's important.

Okaylah, not going to end it like that. More happy news now.

According to the doctor, her condition has improved quite a lot. The pus between her cornea has reduced. The bacteria has been identified. They are still working on the one spot that continues to thin her cornea. This is very dangerous because if her cornea is scarred, her vision is affected. 

Other than that, her emotions are getting better. Thank you guys for visiting her and making her laugh. Laughing definitely speeds up her recovery. 

Earlier, she didn't know about her condition. She asked my dad and he explained everything to her with my mom there. Both of them cried of course because it is a tough thing to absorb. We continue to pray as a family and believing for complete healing. 

There is no way we can thank you all enough for spending hours at the hospital just making her feel better. It meant so much to us. Also, to take turns taking care of her so that we could rest at home. 

THANK YOU, YOU GUYS ROCK! :)

Nine Notifications.

Since I don't really have anything specific to blog about, I shall just do some quick updates of every little things that has been happening.

1. Hairy Legs.

"You! It's your fault that my arms and legs are so hairy!"

I told my dad long time ago. 

Seriously! Where got girls with so much hair on their arms and legs eh? I mean chinese girls and no, I wasn't being racist or anything. It's just facts lah. So, please DO NOT get offended :)

Anyways, this is no joke business okay. One of the things I hate doing but die die also have to do is removing hair from my legs. I don't shave them because it's too dangerous. Hah. I use Veet shower cream, which is troublesome. Actually not really but anything to do with removing hair is troublesome. 

Sometimes, I prefer plucking them. A bit painful but I kinda like it better. No need use cream all. 

Oh, and the leg in the photo is not mine. I hope you actually knew that!

2. Roadtrip.
I drove all the way to Sungai Petani with my manager the other day and met up with another soon-to-be-ex-colleague. We visited 6 corporate, big and small. For lunch, we went to this food court and they have like sooo many things to eat. We ended up having this special curry mee. The soup tastes like our normal curry mee (prolly slightly better) and they serve the noodles with fish meat! TWO HUGE PIECES OF FRESH FISH MEAT. It's not those kind cheap cheap eh fish okay. It's good stuff, really. 

That was my first time trying and ever since then, I find myself craving for it so much more. To the point I try convincing Koay to go on weekends just to have the curry mee. 

3. Food-Blog.
Speaking of food now, I might as well talk about our 2years1month1week2days' old blog. I think for the entire month of March, we hardly did anything. Not because we no longer have the passion but more so that we both didn't even have time go for a proper meal together. 

I'm actually quite thankful that March is over. One more sleep to the fourth month, yes!

4. Lor Mee.
Appetite going haywire lately. I am never a big fan of lor mee. I can have them for snack time and stuff but never really for a main meal, be it lunch or dinner or even breakfast (which I just had this morning!).

But now, I find myself wanting to go places famous for lor mee. What has gotten into me i wonder..

Every season sure got new crave.

5. Birthdays.

It's funny to see how much effort/money/time is used to plan a baby's birthday. A one-year-old baby. She won't even have any memory of her first birthday, but I do think that this celebration is more for the parents. I don't even remember my first 5 birthdays. 

So difficult to choose the "right" place to have it and what kind of "theme" and who to invite et cetera. In the end, a simple good meal with the family would be more than enough. No need to spend so much since there'll be many more birthdays to come. Baby shall not be spoilt. Haha. 

Nineteen days to baby girl turning one. 

May-June-July : Vanessa - Rachel/Kah Wei - Koay.

6. Burnt Cemetery.
Cheng Beng is an occasion where people get together at a deceased family member's grave and do things of their own belief. 

Even after accepting Christ, my whole family makes sure that we are always present. It's one of those occasion where we meet-up with our cousins, uncles and aunties and we just bond. The rest will pray, burn paper-clothes/car/watch/money and wait till everything is done. For us, we always sit by the stairs and hold the umbrellas. 

It has always been like 30 plus of us going to grandma's "garden" every year. As our family keep growing, there's more and more coming. So lau juakk. Syiookkk.

7. Candy Crush.
Yes, still actively playing this. I won't say I'm addicted to it I think. It's just that everytime I pass a level that took me two months plus, it felt so good and makes me want to keep going up and then when I'm stuck, I will like get angry a while then back to it again.

I wonder how it's going to take to make me stop completely. Playing on the goldii super nice sumore. 

8. Kim Chi.
Almost everytime I eat at home now, I will need to eat my rice with kimchi. 

9. Winter Wonderland.
No idea about spring and autumn, but so far, I am loving winter to the core-st of my core. One thing I miss most is winter. Serious. I don't know how else to show my love towards winter. Maybe if I name my daughter 'Winter'? 

Crazy girl.

WhatTwoEatHere Turns Two!

I have few minutes left before 23 Feb happens so this is a special shoutout to WhatTwoEatHere for turning two today!!

And yes, the two co-bloggers actually forgot about it until like one hour ago when I felt that today's date was rather familiar. HAHA.

The journey of eating, taking photos, and putting our opinion down on the blog has been a very unpredictable one. It's not always easy trying to keep two blogs alive (for me) but doing it with Koay makes it all better.

After all, it is called whatTWOeathere ma, right? 

Since we totally forgotten about it until the very last two hours and we were at different place tonight, I celebrated it with a bowl of tomyam noodles! Yummms.

BLESSED TWO, WHATTWOEATHERE!

24 Hours of Being Officially 26.

I think I can say that this year's birthday is the simplest and the one that i enjoyed most by far. I realized now the more simple it is, the better. No, age is NOT catching up. That's NOT the reason obviously :)

He kept looking at his watch on the 9th Feb so that he will be the first one to wish me. Baby girl who was sleeping next to me was already sleeping soundly. The moment the clock hits 12:01am, I mentally tell myself, "That's it. You're now 26. No turning back man, no turning back!" Before I went to bed, he prayed a birthday prayer over me. The first 5 hours of being 26 was spent two times in between carrying Sha Lynn and singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star until she falls asleep again. 

The next eighteen hours..

So, if you have read the post where I mention about what koay got for me, you probably could figured out where he brought me on my special day. 

TO THE BEACH! Okay, wait.. More like to the ROCK! I woke at 510am (partly because Sha Lynn was sleeping next to me and she was crying that time) and got myself ready. I asked him before why we needed to go so early for fishing. His reply was, "The fish all just wake up and they sure very hungry!" 

First stop at 7am! Who drinks iced caramel macchiato early in the morning? WHO!?

Drove to the market to get our baits. Sardines and prawns.

Then, we parked and waited in the car for a while because it was too dark to go down still. While waiting, Koay prayed for me, us and the entire day. Then, it was time. TIME TO GET THOSE FISHES!

The rock that we were on for a good four hours! Big and strong :) It became my favorite place immediately. 

The rock is so high up that it's so beautiful from up there. Beautiful and very dangerous! Hahaha. Threw in my first bait of the day and...

WALAA! That's less than a minute okay! Maybe he's right about the fishes waking up and feeling hungry! Heh.

He also got one almost immediately he threw them in. I'm not exaggerating! Seriously it was that fast!

One of the things I really love about fishing is getting the hook off the fish. It can feel pretty cruel but then again, people say fish don't feel pain eh. So yeah. Top left is the bait sardine. Then the right one is another one that I just caught :)

 Total catch of the day: 13! We both caught one really big one each. He let go of his biggest catch because he didn't want to unhook it so he left the hook inside the fish. It's a poisonous one that's why. At least that's what he said la. Mine leh, when I got it, I was so happy, literally cheering loud and then the fish just slipped away while hanging on the rod that I was holding. I should have immediately put it down and get it into the bag. SHOULD HAVE! Gahhh. Nevermind, 13 is still very good. I caught most of it! *proud*  Oh! Did I mention that he killed two black huge round bees becuase they were invading our romantic fishing getaway! Haha. He was just too scared of them la so best way is to face them and kill! Hahaha.

Thanks babe for the amazing start of the day. I love fishing now. Super love!

After fishing, we drove back home to get nice clean shower. Then, we went to Gurney for my birthday lunch. One thing I love about today is that he has everything planned out already. So, when I suggest something else, he's like, "Excuse me miss. Please follow the itinerary that I made." 

It was so funny. We went to Nandos, because he just need to follow the footstep of Adnandos. The footballer who went to Nandos for his first date despite of the millions that he's making in playing football. So yeah. I love Nandos so no problem for me :)

After lunch, we bought yee sang from Sakae Sushi and headed home. It was such a torture to drive home. We were both trying our best to keep our eyes open. SO DIFFICULT! We were so sleepy. So so sleepy. The moment we got home, we washed our feet and that's it. I wanted to help my mom with steamboat preparation but no, can't do. TOOO TIRED. It must be because I only sleep for 2-3 hours the night before.

When my mom woke us up in the evening, it was time for our CNY reunion dinner/birthday dinner. Two in one bestnya!

Lots of photos me and people coming up. I have to take photos with mom's cake of course. IT'S THE BEST CHEESECAKE I'VE EVER TASTED! Not being bias at all! Have you guys even tasted the cheese tarts that she makes? Boy, you are all missing outt! Order through me! For sure you will love it!

Loving your hair, Koay :)

We ended the night with this. So I thought.. 

I was feeling pretty tired and my sister convinced me to go bathe. So I did. I also changed to my pajamas, and be at my most comfortable state. 

Then.. 

They came in singing the birthday song. 

TOTALLY NEVER EXPECTED IT! Earlier, I asked Koay if got surprises all because I wanna wear pajamas and all. He confidently said, "Of course don't have! You check my msg and see!" 

So I believed him and nothing seem suspicious at all ma. I thought I'm quite good at revealing surprises all. Apparently not good enough. Haha.

Fun Fact 03: I only wear pajamas to sleep on special occasions.

Thanks guys for coming! Love you all :)

Also, thank you all to those who wished me in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, text messages and whatsapp! Thank you so much! You all made the day even better. Turning twenty six isn't as bad/miserable as I thought it would be. I hope I can say the same when three zero hits me. 

Special thanks to Andrew for my second's Manchester United's jersey, Leroy and Eulene for the comfy blue sweater, and lastly, Adrian Koay for my first fishing rod! :)

It was a great 10th February!

"10 February 1988 is 

both your happiest/proudest moment of life 

because the best thing that ever happens in your life happened!" 

So I told my parents last night. 

:)

Chinese New Year 2014.

So many days didn't even bother coming in here to look-see look-see.

I think for my entire life, Chinese New Year has always been the number 1 occasion in the list. I seriously think that even Christmas or my birthday comes in second and third. 

Number 1 because:

• My family will always get new clothes. A bunch of new clothes. Last time, I even made sure my bed sheet, pajamas set, toothbrush and handbags also must be brand new. Now, I don't do that anymore of course. 
• Spending the money on new clothes/shoes/bag doesn't make me feel guilty at all. Can just spam since CNY is like fifteen days all together. Wait, I still have 11 days to shop without guilt! :))))
• Occasion like this calls for mani-pedi sessions and no one *coughsKOAYcoughs* can lecture me.
• I love the tradition of receiving angpows. Not for the money (believe it or not. Okay, maybe pasrtly lah. Just a small part lah) but just the receiving angpows from people. Also, I don't think I will be receiving them for many more years. So these few years must really treasure receiving! 
• Relatives all get together for few days straight. It's always nice to be at a home where it's filled with people, especially family people. I love that my grandparents (dad's side) has like 6 children and so many more grandchildren. Love big families.
• It's a fifteen days occasion. Not just one or two days kind. Long stretched holiday mood.
• Gaining weight during these few days is okay. It's perfectly fine. 
• Missing it entirely for one year made me appreciate it even more now.

So yeah, I conclude now that CNY is actually my top favorite occasion. Then, Christmas. 

Today is the FIFTH DAY and the mood is still very much active though work also starts today. 

I wanted to snap more photos for the whole 4 days but I think I was either too caught up with food things or I just kinda didn't bother. Maybe a pinch of lazy too. Haha.

My family's tradition to have a bowl of mee suah on the first day before we start the celebration. It has always been five of us. This year, only four because the sister is out of town. Boohoo. Haha.

 Is Koay really taller than my dad? 

Ladies on the first day :)

Family is a six letter word.

Thank you Skype for making it possible to let us see our cute baby girl, who's now in Bali. 

Indeed, it has been quite torturing to not see our baby girl for about a week already. Three more days till I get to see her face again! THREE MORE DAYS!

Thank you Abigail for inviting us to your lovely house over a lovely meal :)

 Hehemiah buat apa tu? Yes, HEHEmiah.. not NEHEmiah.. 

People close to my heart.

Notice how all four of us are wearing green? 

TOTAL COINCIDENCE.

Great minds always think the same :))

God have blessed me tremendously with this close knitted family.

Thank You Jesus for this family of mine :)

Notice how everyone else is walking in the shade and he's not? I'm not too. 

BECAUSE WE less than three THE SUN!

Visit to Uncle Lim/Mickey/Noonday Sun's house :)

Thank you Aunty Mee Thiew and Uncle Thean Kee for cooking lunch and having us over to your house. LOVE THE FOOD AND LOVE YOUR FAMILY! :)

 With Uncle Heok Hooi and Aunty Phaik Lean. The fourth house of the day:)

Our spontaneous visit to Uncle Heok Hee and Aunty Guek Chan's house.

All the unique people unite. 

First day of work and I'm slowly warming up to it. Slowly.. :)

Chinese New Year isn't over yet, guys. 

ELEVEN MORE DAYS TO ENJOY!

DO NOT TURN OFF THE PLAY MODE YET!