Day One of Selamat Hari Raya.

Date: 28th July 2014.

Before I start babbling on what we did and how fun it was, let me first say to all my friends who are celebrating SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI! 

Okay, back to this. 

I think I've said this too many times but then so what right?

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS THAT FALLS ON WEEKDAYS ARE THE BEST! Especially when it's on a Monday. Such feeling is so indescribable.

Anyways, dad has planned this trip months ago for a camping trip at Gertak Sanggul but since most couldn't make it, we decided to change it to picnic instead. 10am to 6pm. 

It was a family gathering but my family invited a few close friends too to celebrate this awesome public-holiday-on-a-Monday together. 

I think there were close to 30 of us. We rented the hut and the whole corner lot of the beach were ours for the day. 

It was best of both worlds. We have the salty sea water meeting the clear cold freshwater from the hill. It was so ideal. Hot and cold. So nice okay.

The cousins shared money to get an inflatable boat that's big enough to carry three adults at one go. That was the boat that brought us all the way into the scary cove where snakes would love to live. Probably crocodiles too. Hah. And crabs. For sure big yummy juicy crabs. 

One of dad's favorite thing to do is catch crabs here. All you need are just chicken heads tied to the crab-trapper-thing and tie the trap with a long rafia string and a bottle. Then, drop them into the inside of the cove and let the bottle float so you will know where the traps are. 

Very easy. Then, you can go check after every 30 minutes or something, depending on how impatient you are. Heh. During that waiting time, we just sat around chillax a while and look at people taking turns on the boat to explore the cove. 

All the judges giving directions to people on the boat on how to paddle and grab those traps, while enjoying kuaci under the tree.

The first round that we checked, we caught the biggest catch of the day. It was super huge! 

Look at that! I know it doesn't look as big as how I'm trying to describe it but it's super huge. It's half of the bucket base. The size I mean.

Bigger than my feet this one.

Total catch: 8 crabs. All very fresh and yummy.

That's what we did at first. That and eating. Whole day we ate nonstop. Nasi lemak with sambal udang, homemade hot dogs, mom's tortillas, char bee hoon, chicken rice, bee ko, char koay teow, a gallon of lemon water, free flow of icy soft drinks and a lot of sand to feast our feet. 

Oh, the night before, Kelly stayed home and helped mom to prepare all the food. Good girl Kelly. Mom was making a statement while she was tearing those chicken breast, "You koyak two times, makan one time, in the end my chicken all in your stomach." It was funny because of how mom said it. Heh. Good laugh in the kitchen.

After makan, we soaked in the sea and swam out to the middle of the sea. MIDDLE. Hahaha. That's middle for me alright. Surprisingly no one seemed to be bothered with the fact that there might be plenty of jelly fish around us when we swam out. I was the only paranoid one. 

"I got no shades, so might as well close my eyes"

The little longkang that allows the hot and cold water to mix.

Soaking in the cold water. 

Shaun: Guys, I need to pee. Where's the toilet?

Me: *seated down with my back facing the sea* *points behind me* Nah, there.

Shaun: Har? Serious ah?

Us: Yeahhh.

While he was at it, Nikki shouted, "Shaun, what you doing there? Peeing ah?"

Immediately after that, all the kids who were playing at the shore area ran up, feeling disgusted. Hahaha. It was such a funny moment. I think 30 minutes later, everyone went in again. 

Oh ya, thanks Naomi for the photos taken with your Go Pro. It's so fun and easy to use that I'm actually considering to get one. Can go underwater sumore leh. Hmm..

The three sisters. We love the beach. Anything to do with the sea, we like! 

Middle of the sea. It's actually very far from the shore, but quite safe lah cos on the left side (can't see in this photo) is like covered with land. It's like covered jungle kind. I don't know how to say lah. Okay, you just see the photo below correct d. 

The three girls had their first onsen experience in a small cement cubicle. Ahh fun times :)

All the fun watery things we did :))

Oh, we also played captain ball with my dad and cousins in the water. IN THE WATER WITH SAND! Most tiring run ever, but the most fun because can dive into the water and not get hurt. And there is no 'out' line. Nobody cares about the 'out' line guys. Nobody. Hah.

So, I randomly mentioned that those who did not find any siput will have to belanja dinner. We spent a good 30 minutes in the evening by the beach korek siput. I don't know how to describe that feeling of finding one siput after digging don't know for how long. It's the same feeling as scoring a goal when you're playing against the state team or something. Something like that lah.

That explains my 'obsession' of korek siput. Obsession, how Koay puts it. 

Koay emo in the middle of the sea. Probably thinking if he should have change his job from the finance industry to the fishing industry, since he's at his favorite element right now. The salty sea water.

Looking at us still in our comfort zone looking for our little buddies.

We ended up with quite a lot of siput. The biggest one was found by Andrew. His proudest moment in life. 

You'll be surprised on how simple things like korek siput can make you happy. It's always the simple thing sin life that makes the most memories. We didn't even have to spend money on this. It was absolutely a beautiful day spent.

We left the place about 7:30pm and headed to Green House for dinner. Let's not forget the part where we were stuck in a standstill (at one point!) jam for about an hour plus at Gertak Sanggul area. Lousy traffic light. 

Also, got souvenir for myself. Andrew Chan so confidently said, "Here no rocks! Can start swimming. Can kick your leg! SWIM!"

And I did. Kicked my leg and swim while holding onto the boat. Straight hentam-ed and scratched my left feel top part onto the super sharp rocks underneath. A good part of the skin and flesh came out. Yes, I'm limping a bit to work this morning. Just a little bit. No biggie.

After that, we were like, "Swim faster! Sharks probably can smell my blood or Sharon's!" HAHAHA!

Ahhh we need to do more of this kind of bonding time. Super fun. 

:)

Feel What?

I don't know what to feel now.

Sad because it's working day in less than 12 hours?

Happy because it's only 3 working days and then weekends again?

Excited because I'm googling and reading up on 'What to do in Krabi?'

Confused because my left feet would hurt so bad if I put on my flats tomorrow?

Okay time for bed.

Family Day Out.

Public holiday on a Monday! Come on it's the besttttt thing ever!

Too bad most corporate in Penang doesn't even declare it as a public holiday. COME ON!

Learn to treasure this island please. Heh.

I just realized that I typed wrongly on two separate dates. Oh well. This was on a Saturday, not on Georgetown World Heritage City Day!

Anyways, we all slept till the sun came up and then we decided to drive to the other side of the island. Queensbay Mall yo!

Lunch was at BBQ Plaza. Mom's all time favorite place. She prefers the one in Gurney plaza though. Nicer environment and friendlier service. 

The baby girl is only about 1 year and 3 months plus. She already know how to eat by herself. Messy for sure but oh so cute wei. Such a smarty girl. 

Give her a hp and she knows exactly where to look into. 

SHE KNOWS WHERE THE CAMERA IS OKAY! 

She's only one year old plus! What is this.

Then, if you hold a phone in front of her, immediately she will do this *points below*

This baby is vainest of all. No kidding.

Ahhhhh why you so chooobeeeee shanin!

Anyways, we did some window shopping after lunch and dad decided to take us on a spontaneous trip to Gertak Sanggul. Another sneak peak to the place. Haha. 

The beach will always be my happy place. 

 Sand. Sea. Sun. Sha Lynn. Sarah.

Oh my. I think I'm balding. Time to do something new to the hair.

Hello you there. See you in few days' time :)

We all zonked out on the way back home.

Great Saturday spent with the Khoos, a Phor and a Sha. 

Belated Graduation Gift.

It's crazy you know.

It's been almost two years since I walked on that stage receiving that scroll. 

1st of August will be my two years exactly of being with this company. 

Super madness.

Anyways, my sister has always wanted to get me a cross necklace as my graduation gift but never did because couldn't find one that I like. That and when I did find one that I like, it's way too over the budget, like four figures way over kind. So yeah.

Finally, spotted on at Gurney plaza and it's on sale sumore. Such goodie good.

We went to get it and needless to say, I was the happiest this week that day. 

Made of solid silver and coated with white gold.

Lifetime warranty on all parts and services.

It's simple and unique because it's a bit senget.

The rest that I saw had a little too much bling and I do not really like too sparkly things.

So, this is the chosen one.

Never gonna take it out. Can wear 24 hours even during shower time. It will not turn yellow and even if it does, it will take a long time, and no need to worry because they provide a LIFETIME warranty on all parts and services.

Thank you, che!

You are the best fireball, hot mama :)

Koay's 24th.

Weeks before his birthday, I had already planned to bring him to Miraku Restaurant at G Hotel where they serve authentic Japanese food (so they said). I wanted to blindfold him and just drive him there, but obviously, that didn't happen.

I kinda was too excited and tongue slipped mentioning the restaurant. So, in the end, I told him and he didn't look as excited as I thought he would be. 

The conclusion is that he didn't want to eat so fancily because it's JUST a birthday. Pfft. See this boy. One whole year, this is the only time can use as a reason to eat fancy food but he doesn't want to. 

So, since he didn't want, I asked him to tell me where he would like to makan and since we couldn't do it on his actual birthday, we did it a day earlier. 

It was already decided that his birthday dinner will be at Mizi. Yes, Mizi New World Park. His most favorite place to have western food. 

Then, Friday came and I asked him again if he's sure he wants to go to Mizi since we can always go to Mizi any other time. Without hesitating, he said, "Let's buka puasa by the beach!"

Now, it's really not a random thing because ever since when we got together as a couple, there is one thing that we do annually.

Buka puasa by the beach at our favorite spot. 

This year would be our third time already. This annual thing is more important than celebrating our anniversary. No kidding. We have the tendency to forget our anniversary date but not this buka puasa thing. Sure won't forget one. 

So, yeah, we went to Tanjung Tokong's Pasar Ramadhan and kept to our budget. This year, I told him I would pay for all since this is his birthday dinner. I love to see him being at Pasar Ramadhan because his face just lights up, especially when he sees trays of kuihs on the table. SERIOUS!

We drove to Tanjung Bungah and walked to our corner. There we set up Kelly's portable table and arrange the food nicely. Take a photo first. Heh. 

It was funny in the beginning because the tides were high that time which was odd btw and we kept worrying that the waves would get to us. We both had that feeling to move the table up the rocky place just in case. Good thing we did because after that the waves came in right to our feet. Haha.

We ate, talked, looked at the sea to see if dolphins jump out of the water (nope, didn't happen!), stared at the rocky areas where the waves kept crashing on to see if got mermaid comes out (obviously not!) and laughed to jokes that aren't even funny.

Then, we headed back home and joined the Sha family for a quick durian feast. Koay's favorite. After that, he wanted to try the nitrogen-made-ice-cream at Safe Room and so we went. So crowded on a Friday night. It was only after one of the Directors found out that we were food-bloggers that she arranged for a table for both of us. More on that at WhatTwoEatHere. 

We didn't stay long there because it was really noisy. Koay suggested going 'picnic' at Esplanade.

By that, he means to lie down in the middle of the field on a cloth. 

LOVE THAT IDEA.

It was calm and cool.

It was probably too quiet and calm. I was quite paranoid in the beginning. Scared people come to attack us then we sure die. 

Oh my. I'm actually scared of being in the middle of the field in Penang at night. Scared of bad people. This is sad.

Anyways, there was another group of family doing the same thing on the other side of the field so I thought it was alright. Another man came to practice his juggling skills, which must be for the Bon Odori event.

He only wanted to stay there for a while, but at that time I thought that it would be perfect if I could get some people to come to surprise him here so I texted some people. I tell you it's so difficult to text at that time because he was just next to me. 

He was starting to get frustrated with me because he wanted to leave already and I kept telling him I want to do his birthday countdown here. Haha. I think he was close to getting mad at me already.

In the end, no one could make it. Too last minute for me also to plan like that. Spontaneous surprise a bit susah la ya. Heh.

Well, it was such a simple night spent with the world's simplest dude. 

Blessed twenty-four, Adrian. My prayer for you is that in every corner of your life, you will always allow Jesus to be the center of it all. That you will see who you are through His eyes and how He has plans for you that you will soon discover.

Thank you for being an angel.

Not The Age Please.

I wanted to post a quick and short one about how we spent the night before his birthday together but I'm so tired now I can't even pull myself up from the floor to go shower.

Please don't be the age catching up that's why I get tired easily these days. PLEASE.

Anyways, one more minute till midnight!

BLESSED BIRTHDAY ADRIAN KOAY!

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. 

Beach With Koay.

We didn't have anything specific planned for the Public Holiday (Nuzul Al-Quran) yesterday Tuesday and at first, it was driving me crazy because I just need to know what's going on and stuff. Of course I switched that off and just decided to do something totally not planned and spontaneous or not do anything at all.

I had to send a set of documents to a client at Bayan Lepas area so I decided to drive and picked Koay up on the way. After sending the documents, we headed towards the airport to pick up my luggage. 

But before that, we stopped at the famous toast & egg coffee-shop on the road leading to the airport and have ourselves some light breakfast. I think we've tasted better ones and this one quite expensive. Just bread and half boiled eggs and a glass of iced coffee, it's about RM10.

Then, to the airport to pick the blue baby. So happy to see four wheels and no cracked areas. Things you buy with own money, you sure jaga elok-elok eh. Heh. Time to plan for the next holiday. Or maybe the next big one will be in December to Harvard?

We didn't want to go home straight and since we were already at that part of the island, I thought why not we go see the beach that we're going to be picnic-ing in less than two weeks' time. I don't exactly remember how to go but from few snapshots of my memories, we arrived! 

It was such a sight okay. Feels so good to be smelling the sea-sand smell. We walked around and I showed Koay of the place I used to come very often with my family. I showed him every area. Showing him a side of my childhood times. It was fun. 

If we brought along change of clothes, we would have both jumped into the waters. I CAN'T WAIT FOR RAYA TO COME! QUICKLY!

Then, he wanted to show me where he used to go with his friends for fishing. I tell you, this boy is the biggest fan of fishing. Okay maybe not the biggest but definitely a big one. 

We drove to the end of the road where there is no more road. He pointed at a lorong and so chun two bikes drove in and he got all excited and said, "There! There! SEE! SEE! That's how we went in. Then after that must hike for 10 minutes sumore. The place is very secluded ehh!"

He was super excited.

We drove back slowly while exchanging more childhood stories. I got to know my boyfriend a little more that day. It was nice. 

Although Gertak Sanggul is very far but I think it became one of our favorite beach. Knowing us, we probably won't visit it as often as we would like it to be. Petrol very expensive nowadays. Hah.

Dear Brain.

You need to stop.

You need to rest.

No more planning ahead.

Live in the current.

No need to plan what to eat next.

Just go with the flow.

Please go rest.

Please.

Stupid Ants.

THE ANTS ON MY WORK TABLE AND IN MY KEYBOARD IS DRIVING ME INSANE!

I just wiped and cleaned my table and the keyboard. 

Now they are here again!

WHERE DO THEY EVEN COME FROM!

*pulls hair*

BE GONE!!!

Random Again.

What a lazy afternoon it has been. We just came back from teatime snack at Johor Road with Sha Lynn. 

Less than seven days to another quick getaway. It's going to be Thailand again. Wheeee.

Whether it's truly the lemon water or not, my shorts seems to have gotten bigger.

My goldii charges really fast I hope it's not just because it's still new. Please be like this forever!

I need to clean my room. Re-organize everything. 

My luggage is still stranded in the airport.

Koay prefers to eat western food at Mizi than Japanese wagyu beef at Miraku Restaurant for his birthday. 

There are ants on my table and in my keyboard. I don't even eat in my room. No one is allowed to. What are they even here for? 

I just ordered online for a slim casing of Snow White holding the apple. It looks so good in image I hope in real life even better.

Just realized how empty my bed is. I only have a blanket, a pillow and a smaller pillow to hug.

My passport is going to expire in March 2015. Next time I renew, it's going to be for 5 years straight.

I've been replaying 'Close' by Hillsongs Young and Free for like 10 million times.

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.