Koay's Love Language #16.

One day while stuck in a non-moving traffic jam, he received a Whatsapp message.

Him: *opens the message, click download the voice message and hears them out loud*

Me: *looks at his serious face, thinking confirm this is about work so no disturb*

Him: Yeah, okay. Sounds good la actually. *while still listening to the long voice message*

Me:  *looks at him with both my eyebrows raised and burst out laughing so loud that he terkejut*

Him: What? Why you suddenly laugh? *the voice message ended while I was laughing*

Me:  WHY DID YOU TALK TO THE VOICE MESSAGE? YOU KNOW IT'S NOT A LIVE PHONE CALL RIGHT? YOU KNOW IT'S RECORDED RIGHT?

Him: *looks at me then at his phone* OH SHIT. *embarrassed to the max*

Me: You're so noob wei! I thought you work so much till crazy already for a split second. You answered to a recorded voice message. Just know this okay, that this I will forever remember. Heh.

Him: G!

Me: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

That was one of the day when traffic jams didn't feel like a torture. We laughed for so long and even after we got home, we would still be laughing on it. My huz-to-be is a noob. 

Wedding Update 5.

Oh hello there.

Let's see when is the last time I updated anything on this.

Oh okay. Not that too long ago it seems. Pretty fine with me :) To make your life easier, nah. 

I just realized the the countdown bar on the side is not helping at all. It's giving me all the anxieties that I do not want to feel, not at this point of time. 

Okay okay let's not get distracted now. So many things to update for this one.

WEDDING DATE

If by now we still haven't confirm this one, we should both be crying now. Our Save the Date should be going out real soon :)

WEDDING VENUE

We struggled for few months trying to get a good place to hold our wedding ceremony that can fit at least 100 people, but all the nice places can only fit up to 60 people. So, as painful as it was to make this decision, we have finally agreed to do it in church. 

As for the wedding dinner, we had also confirmed it by paying our first deposit on earlier this month. 

WEDDING DINNER MUSIC BAND

He is a very big fan of Jazzhats so of course we went on to ask for their quotation and they came back with RM6,000! SO SAD OKAY!

This is a lot of money so pending la. 

HONEYMOON

Yes, if you have read the previous post, you would know that this one is a tick in our non-existing checklist. Heh. 

WE ARE GOING TO INDONESIA! APA KHABAR?

Specifically, to Bali and Lombok. Bali comes top on honeymoon destinations in Google so okay okay then. Lombok ah? To be honest, it was my first time hearing the word Lombok when he suggested the second place for honeymoon. 

I was like, "Whatttt? Where is that?"

Apparently, it is becoming more famous of a destination so okay for me too! The Lombok part we have yet to confirm any hotel or activities (do we actually need outside activities? HEH!) because that's his part to handle already. 

We haven't got the air-tickets to Bali yet because I believe there will be some kind of promotion coming up soon so we will just wait on that.

PRE-WEDDING PHOTOSHOOT

I am so happy that this one is a done deal. I have been scratching my head to make a decision of whether hiring a freelance photographer or get a package from a bridal place.

Of course I went with the package deal. Ain't nobody got the time to rent dress(es) for both the photoshoot and wedding or come out with ideas on where to do all these photoshoots. I am not hyped enough to do all this research. Also, makeup artists all how. G!

I may be the laziest bride-to-be in the entire universe.

This one I will share more in details on my next Wedding Update!

BACHELOR PARTY

His friends has got that sorted out for him and it's happening sooner than expected. No, not in March. SOONER! Keep in mind they had just planned this not too long ago. 

End of this month okay. If this doesn't freak Koay out, it is freaking me out. Everything is happening too fast. I think once he goes for this bachelor party, the getting-married-feel will kick in already! 

Oh and this is no regular bachelor party because THEY ARE GOING TO BANGKOK! So nice okay. Probably wild and all but I trust Koay that he won't do anything 'too much' for me to handle. Heh. 

GOWNS/TUXEDOS

This was one of our biggest concern. Believe it or not, we are both not that vain but still, we want to make sure we both look amazing that morning/night. Isn't that one of the main concern for all bride and groom-to-be? 

If you say no, you are obviously lying! Heh. 

One of the perks of taking a bridal package is that there will be wedding gowns and a few set of tuxedos included already. So, that's another win!

WEDDING RING

G!

Another item that is going to be costly. GG. Nope, not confirmed yet. We will be looking into this soon enough.

GUEST LIST

Biggest headache of the entire event! BIGGEST. Kid you not. 

Our problem now is having too long of a guest list. Our venue cannot cater to so many people leh. Now headache is this. We are afraid of offending people if we don't invite them and I believe that this has always been a concern for all couples-to-wed.

If money isn't an issue, we would have our wedding dinner at Straits Quay Convention Hall where they can cater up to 200 tables or something. 

So people please. Spare us this part. Don't get angry with us okay. We would really love to have all of you to attend the wedding and celebrate with us but we really don't want to go into this marriage full of debt just to please everyone :)

This one obviously not done because there are still so many people adding to the list and we're just pretty overwhelmed right now, to make any of this kind of decisions. Soon to be confirmed though. 

WEDDING THEME/COLOR

This was one of the exciting things that we had gone through. Yes, we have the colors of our wedding already and all thanks to our very-gifted-amazing Designer. None other than Le Roy :)

WEDDING CARDS

Seriously, we worry not at all because we trust completely on Le Roy and his amazing works. 

DECORATIONS

This one also we no worry at all! The best person to do this for us is obviously Uncle Phillip Khoo! Nothing is impossible with this man. So, anything can go wrong on the real day, but its okay because we've got Uncle Phillip! :)

There you have it. Bits and pieces of this event. Ahhh, still so much things to decide on, but we will have fun on it because this is going to be one of the biggest event of our lives. 

Peace out yo. 

3D2N Cititel Midvalley, Kuala Lumpur.

I almost forgot about this post okay.

Oh myy. 

Okay, here goes. 

No need to say also you will know that when it comes to the mad city, there are so many parts of KL that has so many hotels all around that you will probably need to do a lot of reading up reviews and google for photos to see if they looked like what they claim to be on their website. 

First, you will need to know which area you wanna to be generally at, most of the time. There's Puchong, Cyberjaya, KL City, Sunway and the list goes on. I'm not from KL so I cannot tell you more on the locations and what-nots. 

Being in KL for so many times already, most of the time for shopping and quick getaway, I have already known what are the 2 top favorites of mine. 

The Capri by Fraser and The Signature Serviced Suites & Studios.

In a heartbeat I will always search them up in Agoda and Expedia and if (only if) the rooms are fully booked or the prices are really high, I will opt for others. 

This time, I stayed at Cititel Midvalley. 

It's no surprise why this hotel is picked. It's located right next to one of the most visited shopping mall in KL, so come on. No need to spend money on Uber can go shopping all-day err-day. 

I think most people on business trips would prefer to stay at this hotel because it's so centralized (again depending on where your business trip takes you) and when you finish work, you can just walk to Midvalley Megamall for dinner and shopping. Best of all worlds indeed okay. 

The room is not a big room so please don't put high expectations. Heh. If not, when you go in, you sure disappointed to the max. Hah. It's surprisingly not too small either. It's bigger than the boutique hotel I stayed at in Malacca. Estadia Hotel its called. 

Click here to go see how small that room is, but it was very comfortable okay. 

Back to this.

So yes, I think it's a very convenient hotel to stay at if you're planning a trip to KL for a short shopping/eating weekend. 

Here's to more staycation soooon!

28.

What is so important that I am sacrificing my sleep to write this?

It's my birthday that's why! Heh. Tebal punya muka ni. 

To be honest, since I turned twenty-five (yes, I'm going to be honest about my age just this once!
 Heh), three years ago, I became very reluctant to celebrate birthdays, particularly my own. I don't look forward to it. I don't feel it, the excitement and all sorts. 

I really don't know if this is part of growing up and everyone that is at my age or older have went through it or are still going through it, but yeah I am feeling it. 

This year however, despite all the 'negative-energy' from every part of my body, I have decided to organize my first ever birthday party. No, I am obviously not turning one. I would be the world's genius if I am writing all this, being a one-year old girl. Hah. 

Never have I ever have a birthday party. 

Heh. 

I thought that before I am called by another last name, I should have a birthday party for myself and I am sorry if you are not invited because budget is a concern so only a handful of people are going to be a part of this. 

Gosh never thought it would be this mentally tiring to convince myself to go ahead with the whole thing because I actually really don't want to have it in the first place, but then I also want one before I kahwin. So how. 

I actually don't want to do anything extraordinary on my birthday and don't want to make it an event also. What have gotten into my brain seriously?

Regret also pointless already. Hah.

Turning twenty-eight makes me realize one important thing. 

I've always find it really fulfilling when I grow stronger mentally and emotionally, and I have always known that it is always most effective through difficult moments, especially heartbreaks. 

I have had a handful of heartbreaks since last year's birthday and it's crazy for me to 'assumed' that through all those painful times, times when simple/easy expectations were not met, that with time I get stronger. 

NONSENSE.

I realized today that I did not get stronger. Maybe 40% I was able to control what I say or how I react to it, but the other 60%?

I would say that it was slowly turning into bitterness, silent anger and ignorance. All these three buddies decided to build up a box somewhere inside the heart and hide in there for as long as they could. 

It was only tonight that as I spend time with God, He reveals all of those. 

Did I really get emotionally better/stronger by letting time go by and pretend that all will be okay again? Or the fact that it is okay if sometimes you swallow it and keep telling yourself it's okay?

No.

Not at all. 

Only God could give us that strength to be emotionally leveled-up. 

You can go through nonsense moments and you may think that it's all okay already since it's not stirring you easily anymore. Wrong. You are in fact one level down because you WILL have an extra room for bitterness and you would not even know it. That bitterness will indirectly control of the way you talk to a particular someone, makes a certain kind of decision and the kind of person you slowly turn into.

Unless you pray and you ask God to help you.

If you don't, you are not going to level up. 

Tonight, I did just that. Tonight, He came down and rescued me. I think I was literally drowning inside of myself. Phew, boy did that felt good. 

Thank You Jesus. 

Oh, and know this one thing. Humans will fail you, confirm they will fail you but God will never fail you. Knowing and understanding the fact that humans will fail you, will makes you realize that you should always put a reasonable expectations on one another because healthy expectations drive people. Heh. At least it drives me. 

Well, here's to a great twenty-eighth birthday for me :)

Here's a song that helped me through. Listen to it okay?

Pre-CNY Feel.

ONE HOUR TO A LONG WEEK AHEAD!

Yes, I am counting down. As tired (mentally) as I feel right now, I still have extra energy stored inside somewhere for party tonight yo!

I feel like this CNY will feel like this for one last time for me that is. Next year it will feel completely different I bet. Obviously for now I am loving the angpow collecting and all, but I feel giving angpows could be very fulfilling also. I don't know. For now, I need to collect as many angpows as I can. 

Also because my birthday is coming also maybe that's why I'm feeling everything in. Hmm. This year's birthday also feels really different. I remembered I didn't feel like celebrating last year because I felt so.. old? 

I don't know if that is the perfect word to use, but yeah. 

This year however, feels like I have to go all out because it's my last year of being single? Okay, not really single, but just not like legally attached with someone. You know what I mean? Like my last name is still Khoo. Oh wait, it will always be a Khoo. Heh. 

It's not like I feel after tying that knot means like everything won't be as nice but its just that feeling of going into something really new. 

It's like relocating to a new country for good. New place, new culture, new bedroom and new sleeping partner. Not that I have a sleeping partner now or whatsoever. Basically, I feel my life will change and I am looking forward to it no doubt about that. 

I guess the few months left with no preparation (G!) is giving me all the reasons to do big on any events before I sign the paper. That explains why I am feeling so broke right now. Hah. Oh well. 

Back to Chinese New Year feel. Although I hope for a fun season, so far it feels nothing like that, yet. I didn't even buy clothes till the final week and through Zalora. That was how desperate and moodless I was to get into the season. 

Now that it's just minutes away, I AM FEELING IT OF COURSE. 

So here I am wishing all of you a great Chinese New Year with people you love! Go and collect/give all the angpows in the world yo!

Koay's Love Language #15.

One Step.

A STATE OF MENTAL OR EMOTIONAL STRAIN OR TENSION RESULTING FROM ADVERSE OR VERY DEMANDING CIRCUMSTANCES.

definition of stress

Yes, I have been under a lot of this lately. So much that sometimes I use more energy to hold the tears back into the eye-socket than the energy used to play captain ball on Sunday. Heh. 

I am not liking this part of the new role, but it is good for me. I am learning so much on a fast speed and I know for sure there is a reason behind all this. After all, I have got the Big Man on my side at all times.

I will get through this. 

Anyways, huz-to-be is not physically here for the next five days but his words are always the most encouraging yet. No need long-long essay okay. When he writes more than two sentences, that's like super good already. Okay, wait. He did write TWO times on the proposed plan. Heh. Well, I guess the expectation is going higher then. 

Turns out all I needed to hear was, one step at a time. 

I have probably said that a thousand times today in the span of nine hours. Oh well. 

He always knows what to say text. 1 bonus point for you, huz-to-be. Now, go kick some behinds at the tournament! 

Four days left for a long holiday. Yesssss.

Koay's Love Language #14.

Other than my family, he is the one person that would volunteer in a heartbeat to fetch me to the airport in the wee hours. I am really blessed.

We were walking to the check-in counter.

Me: I hate flying without you :(
Him: Yeah, right! 
Me: What? This one is for work leh. But it's okay cos I have a piece of you with me at all times! *shows off ring to him*
Him: You mean a piece of my bank!
Me: G!

Working Life.

I don't know for most of you, but my January 2016 started out not the way I have expected it. Actually, I don't really know how I expected it to be like to be honest.

I guess I didn't expect to be THIS busy during such an early time of the year. I know that I have been saying this BUSY word a lot lately and I also know that my definition of busy is probably your very mild normal but yeah. 

This year, I received another promotion (only God can do this kind of thing because I honestly do not know what I did right all this while to be able to get this) and as much as I am loving my new role, it also means that I have more on my plate now. 

I am not boasting. I am writing this because sometime along the line, I would love to look back and be reminded on all the impossible things that God has done for me which I really don't think I deserve. In my four years (FOUR AGAIN! WHAT'S WITH EVERYTHING FOUR THIS YEAR) of being with this amazing travel agency, I have been promoted three times. If this is not insane, I really don't know what is. 

I am beyond thankful. 

I am loving my new role because it gives me some power to make decisions. Small and big ones. Big like those global kind of big decisions. It's scary but it gives me that sense of empowerment that most people look for as they work hard to be successful. I kinda like doing sales but not as much as err, being bossy? Heh. 

It's not a surprise that I'm a bossy person and I'm glad that I have found the one person who could boss-me-down (sort of) and allow me to see in a different perspective and train on good bossiness, if there is even such thing. Hah. So, thanks Mut :)

So, this new role that I've got, allows me to be bossy to some extent and now I feel like I'm at my best and the sky is seriously the only limit, and my big boss. Heh. I look forward to achieving greater things for this company :)

So, thank you Big Man!

I feel I'm a very faithful employee. Heh. 

Fourth Love.

FOUR YEARS LIAO!

His reaction when I texted him this morning. He obviously forgot. Heh. It's okay because I also forgot until Facebook reminded me, sort of lah. 

Too many dates to remember. This is a serious matter people, so please don't have too many special occasions on different dates. Madness. 

It's pretty surreal to let that 'it's-been-four-years' thought sink in. It did not feel like it's been 4 years. It felt as though we just started not too long ago. That's about 1460 days spent with this boy, although not like we see each other everyday lah. Heh.

Four years ago, when we started this thing, I remembered it was a struggle for me as he is quite a different person compared to the only one person that I have dated last time for so many years. It was pretty difficult at the beginning for me to adjust the way relationship is to me to complement with this husband-to-be, but of course, we managed. Duh. 

This year's anniversary doesn't feel like a special one and I know exactly why that is so. 

BECAUSE WE ARE SIGNING THAT PAPER IN LESS THAN 8 MONTHS THAT IS WHY!

I cannot imagine how my story will be like, without this man and I do not ever want to imagine that. All I know now is that before the year ends, I am going to marry my best friend and he will be stuck with me for the rest of his life. 

GGDOTCOM.

Do you also know that today marks our fourth month of being engaged! I only realized when I looked at the side ticker. HAHA! That's funny. 

Okaylah, thumbs up to Koay for proposing the chun punya date. So easier to remember most of our dates. It all happened on the 20th. WIN!

So, actually tonight we should go eat good food right since it's a double celebration? Heh. 

To many more exciting-God-filled-days with you, Mut :)

Koay's Love Language #13.

We were in a very cold room for quite a long time one night.

Me: Wahh, super cold wei. Cannot tahan!

Him: Ma good thing I went up and switched off the air-cond. 

Me:Oh you also cannot tahan ah? So weak ah?

Him: You got more fats what thats why you can tahan.

Me: WHATTT! YOU DID NOT JUST SAY THAT!

Him: *laughing*

Wedding Update 4: Honeymoon Hideaway.

I was quite shocked to realize that honeymoon was not the first few things that we thought of, for the first few months of being engaged. 

Especially for me, considering of the passion I have towards traveling. I may have or may not have mentioned to Mut that I need to go for holidays at least once on a monthly basis. It doesn't have to be outside of Penang (although highly favored) just as long as there is a significant event that happens on that month, like picnic or something. 

I realized now that it is quite impossible but I think we are doing fairly well. There's like almost 2 or more events that happen in a month, so I guess that's pretty okay. I'm talking about solely on traveling and going new places okay. Heh. 

So, my expectations before being engaged (for honeymoon planning) was that:

I would be more concerned of where we go for honeymoon than anything else. 

I would mind (a lot!) where the honeymoon is going to be and how long it should be. 

I would need to check and calculate on my period schedule because well, I think this one needs no explanation. 

I'm going to spend more moolahs here because it's honeymoon leh. 

Wrong lah. All these didn't happen to me, surprisingly. The choosing date all also I never track and check on my period also. If it comes, it comes la then Koay just have to continue waiting. Heh. 

To be honest, we didn't even have the 'Where should we go for honeymoon?' and 'how many days should we do it?' questions in our 'serious' discussions on the whole preparation until we finalized our wedding dinner venue, which will be on another update. 

Anyways, I cannot remember anymore when it sort of hit us me that I needed to do my research on the perfect honeymoon place. Of course the first place I looked at was Club Med Maldives, the Lagoon Suite that overlooks the sea. At that time of search, it was RM12,000 for two persons, excluding flights. 

Muthu gave me a budget of RM5,000 for 2 persons including of everything. I told him, "YOU MUST BE CRAZY!"

I also told him, "MY BUDGET IS RM10,000 PER PERSON". Obviously, he said to me, "YOU SIAU!"

Heh. 

Being in the fourth month of being engaged makes me realize that although money is made of paper, it does not grow on trees, sadly. If not, I would have been a gardener. Hah. So, in the end, we opted to go somewhere closer to home. 

If you have guessed Thailand, you are wrong, but that would be the correct answer if you have known us both well enough. Heh. We decided not to go to Thailand because we do that on normal occasions.

This country came up top when I googled 'Honeymoon Destinations in Asia', but that's not the main reason why we chose it. 

There were a few reasons such as:

• Muthu has vowed never to go to this particular city in this country with me before we get married. He 'sort of' believed in their legendary curse.
• For a pretty small amount of money per night, we could have a private villa all to ourselves, that comes with a swimming pool, mind you. 
• Muthu has agreed to go for a second honeymoon in December (somewhere winter-ish) if we opt for somewhere close like this place.
• It is in the Top 15 Best Honeymoon Destinations in Google and it ranks first. 
• The whole honeymoon expenses will be according to his budget. RM5,000 for two of us. Heh. 
• We could have opted for a honeymoon that's further away (can go for longer time) and not do wedding dinner, but we of course chose the latter. 
• I personally like (a lot) the idea of going on a second honeymoon to a winter country this year itself. So, I guess we're in. Hah. 

With all these in mind, the destination has been chosen. 

Let's all be fun and take a guess!

Nope, it's not Cambodia, although we would really love to but a night in a nice hotel costs about RM1,500 per night. No thanks. 

It's obviously not Santorini (top pick for me!) because the boy doesn't want to travel so far just to go Santorini. Go so far means must explore other parts nearby also but since moolahs quite limited, so next time lah. 

I didn't even dare to suggest South Africa because I know for sure he will say, "Crazy!". If you didn't know, I have always want to travel to South Africa for the open safari/zoo experience. Now you know :)

New Zealand also went through the mind a while, but we won't be able to enjoy with the current moolahs we've got. So, this one also next time. 

Korea and Japan also not very suitable because it's very city-ish which we don't want for our honeymoon. 

Okay, keep guessing now. 

We shall reveal soon, when the second half of the plan is finalized. We've paid for the first part so that's how excited we are getting since there's eight months left. Hah.

Now that's a crazy countdown. 

Okay bye now. 

3D2N at Langgura Baron Resort, Langkawi, Kedah.

with Nehemiah, Angeline, Jack, Carmen and the fiance.
on 1-3 January 2016.

If you follow me close enough, you would know that we actually did not make it for our planned Singapore trip, again! Honestly, I don't even know why we ended up cancelling it. Heh. 

So, since we could not make it for the Singapore trip, I was craving for another short trip. Even few days in KL also I will be so happy. Unfortunately, we had to cancel on our KL trip too. We were both not in the right mind to go anywhere in fact in the month of December. 

However, at the end of November (if I remembered correctly), I managed to convince Koay that we should make a short trip to Langkawi on New Year's day. That's like 3 days of holiday and no need to apply annual leave. He of course said yes. He got choice meh? Hah.

Now all we needed to do was find people to go with. We asked around and not many are interested except for our favorite travel couple: Jack and Carmen! Then, Nehemiah called me and said he also ons to go on this trip with Angeline! So yay! 

On 12th December, I went into AirasiaGo and searched for good deals. I kinda liked the whole idea of getting our flights and hotels booked together on one website and one time payment. No hassle. 

Finding the right hotel was pretty difficult because I was torn between two location: Kuah Town and Cenang Beach. I chose the latter and boy, good thing I listened to Andrew. Heh. It was in the centre of everything. Night life, check. Shopping mall, check. Near to the airport, check. 

I wanted to book a hotel at Kuah Town because it was cheaper and I thought it was more convenient. Wrong! There are so many hotels at Cenang Beach and I just had to have more patience in finding the perfect one. Heh. 

It was late at night when we all decided that it's a go so being such an efficient person, I opened up my laptop and click away into the night. When I finally found the correct package, I immediately whatsapp-ed everyone to get their details to confirm! IT WAS SUCH A LONG NIGHT! Heh. 

Penang - Langkawi // 1 January 2016 // AK 6242 // 1630-1700
Langkawi - Penang // 3 January 2016 // AK 6247 // 0955-1000

The timing not so nice because we left in the evening and came home in the morning so it was a really shortest kind of holiday. Heh. Better than nothing lah okay. If we choose to go in the morning and come back evening, the flight itself will agak-agak cost us RM400. SIAU MEH!

I cannot tell you how much was the flight ticket in this case because it was an inclusive package with the hotel.

Hotel Langgura Baron Resort, Cenang Beach
- Superior Room (NEW WING).
- Breakfast not included.
- Free wireless internet.
- Basic toiletries (shampoo, shower gel and towels) provided.

Total for 6 persons = RM 1948.32

So, per person is only RM 324.72

Initially I thought that this is quite a good deal, but after I came back I calculated again and realized that it's pretty expensive.

You see ah. If you calculate properly, assuming that the flight ticket is RM150 per person, we are paying roughly RM175 per room per night and I feel that the hotel that we stayed at should not cost that much, but then again it was a peak season leh. So okaylah. 

I am not complaining on the money but it's just initially I thought I found such a great deal that I had to book immediately which I did, and actually thankfully I did because it was fully booked the next day. Phew. So this case win.

Hah. 

FIRST OF JANUARY

PENANG-LANGKAWI

Follow me on snapchat: sarahkhooyw :)

Momzay took us to the airport after a quick New Year's day Korean lunch at Daorae. So the very yums okay. Then, we went to pick Muthu and took an #ootdonlywhenitravel shot nearby. Heh. Feels so good to get away for a while. 

We got to the airport earlier than supposed to because. Hah. Just because lah. I think that 45 minutes that both Koay and I had at airport's McD was pretty lovely. 

I think my butt hasn't even warm the seat up and the pilot already announced that we were going to land soon. It was like what? 20 minutes flight? CRAZY FAST. I like!

Here's one reason why Koay and I makes the perfect travel buddies.

He loves the window seat and I love the aisle seat. No arguments needed here. Perfect or not. It may seem like a small thing but wait till when you go on a long trip and you don't get to have your preferred seat, then it won't be so perfect. Heh. So yes. 

Back to this.

The moment we reached, guess who facetimed me from Seoul? SHAKHOOLYNN! Since I was like distracted with her, I have missed out on the introduction of the man who passed to us the church van for us to use. 

Yes, we didn't have to rent any car because FGA so nice, gave us a van to use throughout our entire time there. Best.

But for those who wants to rent a car, do not rent online! It's more expensive! Rent at the airport when you arrive! It's a lot cheaper. Golden advice okay. 

We dropped the man back to his house and went to dinner straight. It was another headache because so many recommendations from everyone, but in the end we listened to Tyler who is currently living on that island to try on Veena Restaurant Thai Seafood. 

We already had our mind set to have Thai food so Veena it is. 

The set up is by the river side some more and it was near sunset time. Best. 6 dishes and we ate till we so full not even funny okay. We only paid RM16 per person only! 

Then, it was check-in time. We were not tired but we needed to shower and change before we decide to explore Cenang Beach that night. 

We stayed at Langgura Baron Resort, located at Cenang Beach. 

We stayed at the new wing so most of their things seemed pretty new. The old wing is just opposite the building, chalet style. Very old and run down if you ask me. So I did booked the correct hotel. Heh. 

It's very spacious and the bed is very comfortable. The comforter, my favorite. I will definitely recommend this hotel to people. I will also stay at this hotel the next time if no free accommodation. 

In front of the lobby, there is this tour desk that got our attention because we wanted to do island hopping in the morning but we just wanted like a few hours kind of package. We found one that says Island Hopping (hah) and it costs us RM30 only for 4 hours starting at 9am, to 3 islands: Beras Basah Island, Singa Besar Island (for eagle feeding) and Lake of Pregnant Maiden.

I have always wanted to visit the Lake of Pregnant Maiden but never got the chance till this time. So, yes vote from me on this package!

We went back to the hotel and played One Night Ultimate Werewolf till don't know what time. Heh. Fun times!

SECOND OF JANUARY

Rise and shine! Holiday time can wake up early and be excited because well, no need to work so win ka liau. We skipped breakfast because it was really difficult to leave the comfy bed. Serious. We bought bread to bring to our 3 islands. 

The van picked us at Cenang Beach and transported us to the jetty which was like 5 minutes away. Again, my butt hasn't even warm the seat yet. 

Island number 1: BERAS BASAH ISLAND.

One of the finest sand beach that I have ever been. Water not so great. Actually, the water is not as crystal-clear and clean as Perhentian Beach. Cannot compare at all. But the sand, best! It's so flour-ish and soft. Love the sand.

Koay and I got hungry and ate half of our food-load already. Hah. The Malay-style koay teow is actually not that bad. Better than his burger with what meat? Hah.

We bought these at the jetty and it's so expensive so please have discipline to wake up earlier and go get better food to pack to the islands. Learn from our mistakes please. Heh.

On the way, the boat stopped and showed us this.



I can't explain why but I was very excited after I saw the "pregnant lady". So excited Koay gave me the one-sided-eyebrow-raise. Heh.

Island number 2: SINGA BESAR ISLAND.

This one sorry ah. I was busy looking at eagles feeding on bits and pieces of chicken meat. Our boat was pretty close to them so quite amazing okay. We didn't exactly go down to the island so I have no idea if that was really the Singa Besar Island, but there were a lot of eagles flying over us, so 1 point for them.

Island number 3: LAKE OF PREGNANT MAIDEN a.k.a. Dayang Bunting.

This was most of our first time so I was most looking forward to this. I have always seen photos of people talking about it and stuff so this time, so happy I got to try it. 

This is how it looks like from Google. 

So interesting right? 

One thing though. It's a lake so that means nobody has any clue what's in the water? That was the scary part for me actually. Jumping into something that you don't know of is super scary. Oh myy. 

There were so many other tourists so we actually had to wait for our boat's turn to drop us. Quite fun actually although very packed. 

Be prepared to walk a little to get to the lake. Yes, got up-hill and down-hill but not that bad actually. A lot of stairs. I got a little tired so you may be okay since I have zero stamina whatsoever. Heh. 

Entrance fee is RM3 and no, not included in the package price.

Actually Koay also damn scared with not knowing what's in there, but a boy is always a boy. So, he was the first person to dive in. DIVE IN OKAY! I was like slowly going in because scared don't know what's in there.

At one point of swimming, he even got himself to try touch the deepest base. He has got some guts I tell you. But apparently halfway only he got scared already and quickly came up. Hah. A for efforts, Mut. 

 Some information you may want to know when you are there:

This is a fresh-water lake.

No salt whatsoever so means you cannot float on your own.

Want to float means keep kicking those legs in the water.

For those who don't know how to swim, forget it. Just sit on the deck and sun-bathe.

I'm kidding. They have life-jacket rentals there so no worries.

RM10 per life-jacket so get it if you feel like your leg is not that strong or obviously if you can't swim. (Koay managed to convince me not to rent one because he can support me when my legs got tired). 

I recommend to spend that RM10 on that life jacket.

Then again, it was more fun swimming without the life-jacket and I'm a risk taker so yeah.

If you don't feel like being in the water, they have kayak and swan-paddle for rental as well. 

MUST GO IN WATER LAH ACTUALLY! WATER DAMN SYIOK!

You're welcome :)

So, that was basically the 4 hours trip to the 3 islands. We arrived at Cenang Beach at about 1pm and since the Cenang Beach was just opposite our hotel, we thought why not walk over and have a look. 

Actually Cenang Beach is a very long-stretched beach so if you stay at Cenang Beach, you are already very near to the beach. 

Then, someone suggested that we go for the non-motorized sport: banana boat! 

We paid RM70 for the entire banana boat, which I thought was pretty okaylah. It was just that moment after we paid for it that I realized the sea was really calm. So, what fun will we be expecting?

It was still fun lah because the man brought us really far out to the ocean and intentionally made all of us fall out of the boat at the end. Not bad lah. I won't highly recommend it if the sea was so calm. 

It didn't show in the all the photos, but the sun was doing her job that day. If you see me now, you would noticed that all our skin got burned a little bit more. 

After Cenang Beach, we only had 20 minutes to shower and get ready for the rest of the day. Why 20 minutes ah? Because if its more than 20 minutes, for sure some will fall asleep on the bed while waiting to take turns to shower. Heh. Military style holiday okay. 

 We went to swap vehicles and then to Kuah Town for shopping! No wait, we ate lunch first. Very late lunch at a economy rice kind of restaurant. It was pretty expensive but since we all hungry, just makan lah so we can have more time to shop. Heh. 

I bought RM300 worth of chocolates! It's crazy I tell you. Everything was so cheap I cannot not buy you know. You will understand me if you love chocolate but you are not really willing to spend on them in Penang or wherever you are currently living. 

IT'S SO RIDICULOUSLY CHEAP!

Guilty as charged. Heh.

Come my house and I will feed you with all these! LOVE IT!

After shopping, we wanted to do Langkawi Cable Car during sunset so cable car ride it is. Actually, also because so that Nehemiah can propose to Angeline, overlooking the scenic view and while the sun sets. Romantic pun this Indian. Hah.

Take note that there weren't a lot of people during evening time because all shops at that area was already closed but good thing is no need to line up. So, I prefer to go up in the evening. 

Also, go about 5pm-6pm because the entrance to SkyBridge closes at 630pm. We got there chun-chun at 630pm so we were not allowed to go to the SkyBridge. That was sad but we were okay with it lah. 

Guess who is afraid of heights?

His palms and feet were sweating so badly but the weather was not hot at all. It was cooling and so windy. It's probably because of the wind that he barely looked up and enjoyed the sunset view. 

It is the world's steepest cable car ride. Heh. 

I will not share photos of the proposal here because the lovely couple would like to keep it within themselves. So, if you want to know, just wait till their wedding day. Heh. 

Me: Babe! Our turn! Let's take nice couple shot.

Him: Joms! 

Me:  Oh oh oh! My skirt flying everywhere! NO!

Him: *tries to block/hold my skirt with his leg*

Our conversation while trying to get a decent shot with his red-ahpek-bag. Also lesson to be learnt: don't wear skirt when planning to go up up. 

  

 
 
  

 

Well, that was a fun 2-minutes photoshoot. Heh. 

Welcome to the club, Nehemiah and Angeline :)

Oh oh! One of the things that I got crazy about when I was there is this Nutella-to-go thing! I bought one last year when I was in Malacca for RM9.90! Here it's only RM3.90!

OH MY GOODNESS! I DON'T KNOW WHY I DIDN'T BUY BACK A CARTON!

Oh! I remembered already! Bag no more space. Downs. 

It's okay because I'm going again this year! YEEHAW!

Our last dinner in Langkawi was pretty standard. It's very close to where our hotel is. Actually I don't like that dinner. The ikan bakar is overpriced, overcooked and tasted below normal. So no thanks again. Heh.

We had maggi cup for supper in our room, playing the werewolf game again. Hah.

THIRD OF JANUARY

Time for the temporary goodbye.No photos taken because everything was pretty rushed. Not really also. It was a sad day lah okay. 

My parents told us that they were not going to check the cabin luggage but that day, everyone's bag had to go through the scanner so good thing we didn't buy anything that exceeds the limit. 

You have to stay in the island for like 48 hours then you can bring back all these, per person okay.

1 litre of alcohol (I bought 6 bottles of Somersby which is fine)

1 carton of cigarettes

Chocolates worth RM500 (I read this somewhere but not so sure if its really true)

Something like that. So yeah, shop wisely people :)

That was the shortest getaway but it was a really needed one, especially for Mut. 

Looking forward to our next trip already!

TOTAL MONEY SPENT/per person

For 3 days and 2 nights at Langkawi, Kedah

PENANG-LANGKAWI-PENANG via Airasia + 2 nights stay at Langgura Baron Resort, Cenang Beach : RM 324.72

Transport around the island (van/car) : Sponsored by FGA Langkawi

Petrol : RM 7

Food (breakfast/lunch/dinner) : RM 75

Island Hopping (Beras Basah Island, Singa Besar Island, Lake of Pregnant Maiden) : RM 33

Banana boat ride at Cenang Beach : RM 12

Cable car ride : RM 20

Chocolate/Liquor shopping : RM 425

RM896.72