-ME AnD My BubbLeS-

Bye Bye Blenheim~

2011-12-24T13:59:00.003+08:00

Without knowing it, three months have passed by. My three months stint as mussel opener has finally come to an end. Despite all my grumbling and pain, I kinda missed it and feel sad that it has all come to an end.

Believe it or not, I really feel sad to leave that stupid company. It's because I've made lotsa great friends there and I regret having to leave them so soon, just as we all become closer buddies.

I still remember when we first started working, we hardly have any friends there. When we were about to leave however, we've made all sorts of friends there that make us part with heavy hearts. Each and everyone of them has etched deep in my heart and the memories we made will be fondly cherished.

I agreed that my reason of sadness is not because of the job, but of the people. It is those people that we called friends that make our mundane working life so much more bearable and fun too. I've actually had a lot of fun working there. After all, we create our own fun right? *wink*

My last day of work is definitely my wettest LOL;p It's a tradition for the people that will depart to be hosed. And yours truly got hosed, drenched from top to bottom. I retaliate back of course! It's a battlefield in the factory ^^v What a field day it was. We really had a grand time didn't we? XD

We may have to say our goodbyes now, but I believe our parting is not forever. May our path cross again in the future ;-)

After spending 3 months in Blenheim, it kinda become a home to me. Never thought I might actually like Blenheim (because previously I don't) and now it's time to say bye bye.

Like it or not, it's time to move on with my life.

Good bye Blenheim, Hello West Coast !!!!!

My Life at Mussel Opening

2011-12-08T16:30:00.002+08:00

After weeks and weeks working, I still find it hard to increase my numbers in mussel opening. Seriously, I have tried my very best every day to improve. In fact, I have also take pointers from Dinosaur as he is the fastest among us four. He took the time to study other's skill and method then he will tried it himself and share with us the outcome.

Finally, I get used to a certain technique and so I stick to it. Only thing left to do is to improve my skill and increase the figure. I have hoped that with time, I can and will get better. But most of the time, I'm the slowest among four.

Despite how hard I worked on it, I'm still not fast enough. I really wished I could be faster, but still not fast enough. It's damn hard to increase the score!!! There's a day when I only managed to open 4.2k and a certain Mr A opened 13k mussels.

Talk about a big gap.

This is like a huge sea between our score -.-"

Eventually, our fingers suffers from our determination to increase the scores. Twister suffers the most. Her icky fingers can't bend at all! She suffered from triggered finger disease due to opening too much mussels. Godzilla suffers from blisters on her fingers and it hurt so much that she has to put a number of plasters on her fingers everyday before going to work.

Still does that, until today - which is like 3 months already.

Haven't heard much complain from Dinosaur though. He probably the only one barely get nicked at all. As for me, my fingers suffer from mild triggered finger disease as well. I can bend my fingers, but most morning when I wake up, my finger muscles are so stiff that it can't be bend immediately. It needed time to relax and it get so much better after I dip my fingers in hot water.

According to President, hot water is the best remedy for triggered finger. If it's acute, then one need to take medication or worst still, steroid injection. I know all these because so happened at the same time, President also got inflicted with triggered finger disease. He injured his finger due to long hour of operation at work.

Pretty much same scenario with us. Holding knife for a long long time. Though we operate on mussels and he operates on human being;p

Anyway, after nearly 3 months of mussels opening, my best record is only 7.5k which is like, only HALF of the highest record achiever hold by Mr A. I have heard that a certain Mr P's record is a whooping 15k though I didn't actually saw the figure myself. Mr. P is extremely fast too, I have got to give it to him.

At times, I wonders if all these people that opens like 10k mussels a day are robots or something? Their hands are like robot!! So fast and precise! Won't they feel tired at all?

My record is barely passable but I always feel very tired at the end of the day. My hands will be so sore and tired that I barely have enough energy to lift the heavy butcher knife to do cooking at home.

Not only that, sometimes my hand hurts even when I'm just combing my hair. In my quest to improve my score, I have hurt my wrist. Therefore, my hand movement has been restricted a little. Certain movement of the wrist will make me gasp in pain.

Yeah, pity me I know. At times I felt pitiful too. My beautiful pair of hands.......

My Life @ Blenheim

2011-11-29T13:34:00.003+08:00

When we finally received the call we were waiting for, we made our way to Blenheim (pronouns as Ble-num).

Blenheim will be our home for 3 months.

Blenheim will be where we work for 3 months.

Blenheim....oh Blenheim....

We found a place to stay and coincidentally our landlord is a Malaysian! Chinese too! Talk about a small place ay? It's a nice place to stay with internet for $90 a week. Not a bad deal really. Me and Twister shares a room and the couple took the other room. The bathroom was huge!!!! So is the backyard!!!!

FYI: we even have our own lemon tree growing right out of our room window! Not to mentioned, there's grapevine, apple tree, plum tree, nectarine tree, peach tree growing in the backyard! Yum yum!!!! Too bad it's not in season yet so we don't get to sample any :-(

The factory we work at is a mussel factory. Our job is to open mussels. Yeap, doesn't sounds too hard? Try open 13k mussels a day and tell me if it's hard or not. Trust me, it's so damn hard to get that figure! I have no idea how those ppl did it. What are they? like, robot or something???

Our work shift is pretty shitty too. Working hour is 6am - 3pm....6AM ok??? I need to get up at 4AM lor since there's only one toilet!!!!! After breakfast and stuff, we drove about 15 minutes to the factory as it's 13km away....I pretty much think we are the only one stays so far away from the workplace.

First day in the mussel opening table and I hated it. I hated the company, I hated the system, I hated the management and I don't even fancy the people there. You have no idea how lousy it was! Allow me to describe to you in gore details.

When we first arrive, we follows the crowd into the workplace. Before we enter, we need to wear uniform and gumboots first. Then we need to step into a water bath to clean the sole of the gumboots. Upon entering the "washing area" we need to scrub our gumboots thoroughly to remove any dirt, then wash our hand with soap and sanitize it before wearing gloves and sleeve covers.

Even the gloves separated into 3 type: linen, latex and rubber gloves. First you need to wear the linen, follow by latex and rubber gloves in separate hand. Things like this weren't taught to us. We just follow blindly and study what the local people do and we imitate as best as we could.

At this phase, I was already not happy with the management. How could they not teach us newbies? Do they expect us to know all these like we have done it all our lives? Goodness me, of course not! WE have NO idea whatsoever, IDIOT!!!!

After wearing gloves and a plastic that covers our arm, we exit the washing area into the mussel opening table. As we enter, we need to dip our gumboots into a water bath again to remove dirt from the sole. All these are done in the name of hygiene. After all, we are handling food therefore hygiene is really important here.

Once in, we need to wear apron to protect ourselves from the "mussel juice" as we called it. Then we pick a knife, sanitize our gloved hands and head to our table. The tables are numbered from 1 - 40 so we need to stand in one and alternate it the next day in a zigzag manner.

Which number will we be standing? NO IDEA.

No one direct us to our position. Not even the supervisor. We have no idea and we just stand there like some idiots whereas the locals (has been working there for some time) just march into the stand. Apparently, we can pick where we want to stand.

Like we know huh? Turn out, we just went to stand at places that no one claimed yet.

Then the mussels drop into the conveyor belt. Then we have no idea what to do next or how to do.

Then we see people opposite us opening mussels at lightning speed. Means we can't see anything at all. I just saw their hand move very fast in grabbing mussels and opening them.

We just stand there staring. We seriously have no f*king idea what are we to do. We naively assumed that we will be taught. After all, it's our first day at work. Not like we ever opened a mussel before in our entire life!!!!

I don't even know which is head which is tail of the mussel nor which side to open. We practically looked at each other bewildered and stared at others "pro openers". Like, 5 minutes later, an Asian colleague took notice of us newbies, stopped what's she been doing and came over to teach us.

Finally, we kinda get the idea of how to do it, which shoot is for rubbish and which shoot is for mussels. In fact, for the first week or so, I don't even realized that I've occasionally hold the knife blade wrongly. Until the supervisor come and correct me. Finally my dense brain realized that the knife has only one side sharp enough to cut, just like our regular knives at home lol...I know I know I'm darn stupid...laugh all you want...I think it was hilarious too LOL ;p

At the end of the day, we all can check how much mussels we have open and guess what? I manged to open 14xx mussels!!!! Bravo!!! Kudos to me^^ Of course, until I see what other's scores were like 6 - 7 k average.

I felt like dying then. It wasn't easy to open 1k mussels ok? Godzilla asked the supervisor what's the average target to achieve and she mentioned 6-7k....

I died a second time then.

Lake Tekapo

2011-11-20T13:58:00.002+08:00

I believe Lake Tekapo is one of the most beautiful place in New Zealand. If you were here in south island especially, you should not give this a miss. Definitely most come.

Lake Tekapo is famous for its powdery blue water lake. It's in that colour due to the minerals in the water and rocks and stuff. To know more about the geology, you may google it;p The Good Sheperd Church and the Coolie Dog statue were probably the most photographed too.

For a simple minded girl like me, Lake Tekapo is fascinating due to its unusual colour and also the scenic background of southern Alps. Snow capped southern Alps in the winter is really a view to behold.

Of course, nearby, there's also quite a few beautiful lakes such as Lake Pukaki, Lake Alexandrina and Lake McGregor.

One of the biggest attraction in Lake Tekapo is the Earth & Sky Observatory in Mt John. This is the best place to view stars and moon and galaxies and also the aurora. If you are lucky, you may get to see Aurora Australis!

Well, I wasn't that lucky. I only managed to see the moon surface, and some zodiacs stars, some unique constellations...and also the milky way! Not too bad ay? Their powerful telescope is really amazing as it allows us to see stars that are a few million light years away.

Apart from that, if you have some cool DSLR cameras, they will also help you to take beautiful pictures of the milky way and moon. Truly amazing when your own camera can capture such beautiful view. Too bad mine is just a normal digital camera. Can't do that lol ;p

Besides the observatory, I have had the most sashimi in my life here in Mt Cook, slightly further from Lake Tekapo. The Alpine Salmon farm sells the freshest salmon sashimi, smoked salmon and fresh salmon fillets to all. Previously, I hardly take raw fish but this sashimi was different. It was so fresh so tender that it practically melt in your mouth! It was absolutely delicious!

If it come out from someone who don't eat sashimi, I bet you can take my word on it ^^v

After filling our tummy, we went to Mt Cook to take a look at the famous Tasman Glacier. A short walk of Tasman Walk will lead to the river with glaciers floating around in the powdery blue water. Not a bad sight! Not like we get to see glaciers everyday lol.

We just snap snap snap away to our heart content ^^v

Reasons to go to Kaikoura

2011-11-19T03:43:00.003+08:00

As usual, lazy bug got the better of me. Sorry for neglecting this site guys^^

our gardening job in Nelson eventually comes to an end as our boss is heading back to Japan. We HAD applied for another job position in Blenheim but then it will not start work until further notice. We did however went and signed a contract with them already so basically our job is secured. Just that we have no idea when it will start work.

They said they'll call us you see...

Since we have got about 2 weeks of free time before work is expected to commence, we decided to travel to as much places as possible so as not to waste any time. From Blenheim we travel down to Kaikoura for their ever famous crayfish a.k.a lobster!

Damn is the crayfish expensive! Cheapest and smallest crayfish itself would have cost NZD65 alone! Still, although it is expensive, but we still need to give it a try^^v It tasted really fresh and delicious! Although the price is a little steep, but i reckon it's worth a try! My first time ever - eating crayfish;p Me like!

You'll also get to see many many seals here in Kaikoura. i was told those big lumpy fat thing can chase human and attack human faster than they seemed. Personally, I have been frightened by them! You see, we were at the seal colonies area and busy snapping photos...Little did I know there's one giant seal lying nearby.

That thing must've sense human=danger hence it shouted at me and give me possibly my biggest fright! Imagined how I jumped when I suddenly heard noises when I couldn't see anyone. My goodness it was really terrifying experience for sure! It kinda went like this, that seal shout, me too shout (due to fright).

It was really kinda embarrassing as there were people nearby. They probably think what an idiot I was to go agitate the seals. Not that I wanted to! I just didn't realized they were so near to me. I swear!

To think about it, my best memories of Kaikoura has got to be the Mt Fyffe. Last year, Cunning and Small Gas climbed it and for some reason, I wanted to do the same too. Mind you, I am not much of a climber myself. In fact, I tire out too easily. Not only that, it was the worst time of the month for me.

But SOMEHOW, I have this strong desire to conquer Mt Fyffe. I know I'll porbably have a helluva time climbing up but I still wanna give it a try. Slow as I might be, I wanna do it! I believe Dinosaur and Godzilla were probably surprised at my determination. It was after all, 4hrs up and 4 hrs down.

I think, the biggest reason has got to be Mt fyffe is a snow capped mountain. I think I just want to feel and touch snow one more time since it's already the end of winter already. Other than the skiing trip in Mt Ruapehu, we haven't had any close encounter with snow anymore.

As predicted, the climb up was really torturous. It was really tiring for me as I hated the part climbing up. I have no problem with coming down though;p We slowly made our way up and stop at some points to snap snap snap more photos. Finally, we reached the hut.

The Hut is like the main stopping point for all before you continue to climb to the peak. This is the place where there's bed for you if you wanna stay overnight and toilet too. We had our lunch picnic there surrounded by snow. Really cold but really sweet experience.

I even made some miniature snowmen to represent my family members^^v It was so cute! Not to be beaten, Twister and Dinosaur made a bigger one as they claimed mine's too small to be counted as snowman-.-"

They finally modified the snowman into "Ultraman Snowman" which actually looked like Teletubbies more;p It was really an amazing experience. Definitely not something we get to do everyday.

Oooohhhhhh the snow fight! How could I forgot about it? All four of us were playing snow fights like children. I am not surprised if the mountain is ringing from our peels of laughter. It was truly a wonderful memories for me. Our trip to Mt Fyffe were really spectacular in every way.

I'll cherished the memories we have created in Mt Fyffe for a long long time.

Caught your own dinner before?

2011-10-18T13:16:00.002+08:00

Like many city girls in the world, I have never caught my own dinner before. In fact, I hardly ever have to worry about food since my mom always cook at home. As you can imagine, I'm pretty helpless in kitchen as well.

To me, food is purchased from the market or restaurants or whatever. Cooked or in raw form. Never in my life have I ever tried to harvest my own dinner. I have never grow any vegetables before in my life that's for sure!

Neither have I fish before!

Imagine my joy at catching my very own first fish in my entire life!

Whilst we were at Nelson working, on our free time, we followed a friend to go fishing. He's a fishing enthusiast and he offered to teach us the ropes. Definitely a wonderful experience.

I used to think that fishing is boring and it's for old people. But really it wasn't that bad. Frankly speaking, I actually quite enjoyed it. It almost feels like fishing can be my new found hobby. It wasn't that hard to learn anyway.

When I cast my own line at the beach and waiting for fishes to catch my bait, I was gleefully anticipating to catch my own fish. The moment you feel that the rod is slightly jerky as though being pecked, that's the indicating that a fish is hooked. This is when you reel your line back and hoping you had caught a fish and not false alarm.

As I felt the faint jerking, I reeled back the line and voila!

A fish!!!!!

I had successfully caught my very own fish!!! OMG!!!!!!

That was really a grand feeling I'm telling you. Although it's just a small species of fish (mullet) but I am extremely proud of myself. Now I can finally say I have caught my own dinner. Hurray^^

But I don't know how to gut a fish though hahaha so our dear friend here does the honour for me;p Later on we all had a delicious meal of oven-baked mullets for dinner^^V

For the record, all of us caught something as well, Dinosaur caught the biggest mullet while mine, Godzilla and our friend's were mediocre size. Twister was the winner that night. She caught a crab instead of regular fishes.

This I believe is what people call, being different^^

Agapanthus: Love or Hate?

2011-10-02T06:34:00.002+08:00

Martin is like our savior! We met him on our last night in The Bug. We just had our dinner and he just walked in to stay for the night. We had a small chat and one thing leads to another, we mentioned that we were looking for jobs but haven't got much luck.

This is when he mentioned that he needs some people to help out in his farm. He promised to pay us hourly rate and said we can work as long as we like. We were so thrilled to hear that! Absolutely the happiest news we had heard for some time.

The next day, we drive up to his "farm" and it was actually not a farm. It's his house with a huge backyard! Almost a forest I daresay! He's based in Japan therefore he lease his house with a sleep-out to others. He just came back from time to time to NZ both to work on his property and also for holiday. So happened we met him at the right time, right place.

Our life as a gardener begins! Our main job is dealing with Agapanthus. It is a form of parasite plants that grows very fast and eventually will take all the soil nutrients and killed other plants in that area. The roots are full of tubers - potato-like. Too bad it is NOT a real potatoes or we will be pleased. Free potatoes hahaha^^

Anyway, our job is to kill/remove all agapanthus plants in his property. To avoid the plants from growing again, we need to remove as much roots as possible. The tuber removed will be smashed to smaller pieces to kill it and avoid it from giving energy for new plants to grow. The potatoes are where all the nutrients are. It gives energy to plants.

We had a love/hate relationship with agapanthus. We loved it for the money it brings us but we hate it for the work. It is quite a hard work. It is a rather strong plant therefore not easy to remove it. Also, the juices from the tuber as we smash it, splattered all over our body...gross!

I think I'm slightly allergic to it as over the time, my body starts to develop some mild rashes. A little itchy. Twister diagnosed that I might be allergic to plants. First kiwi fruits, now agapanthus. Anyway as I said it's a mild one so it heals pretty quickly this time around.

If skin rashes isn't bad enough, think of sandflies! I super duper hates SANDFLIES!!!!!! That damn small bug keep biting me that makes me so damn itchy. Not only that, it leaves marks on my body!!!! Until today, the marks are still there, not completely healed yet!!!!

For nearly a month that we worked for Martin (on and off), we were introduced to Banana-Passionfruit vines, Gores that prickles and also Deadly Night Shade that produces poisonous berries. We need to removes all these plants too, apart from Agapanthus.

Martin would like to practice "permaculture" where everyone grow their own foods and reduce from buying from the market. A self sustain theory. It's a good idea really, to grow your own fruit trees and vegetables which you can harvest when the time is right. Grow your own chickens for the eggs and meat. You can also breed cows and sheeps too! Pretty interesting. Defintely save a lot of money!

Apparently, this concept is widely accepted in NZ. You don't need a huge space for that, you just need to know how to maximize the space you have. Really economical once you know how.

For nearly a month here in Nelson we learnt a lot just from working as a gardener for Martin. We learned more about the nature, trees and stuff. Not bad, ay? You learn while you get paid?

Without knowing it, we spent a month here in Nelson already. Work is on and off, depending on weather and also depending on our boss. I would still say, it's really a blessing as we don't have to work in vineyard after all LOL~~

Job hunting in Nelson

2011-10-02T06:05:00.002+08:00

I know I haven't update my blog as often as I should. This is totally due to the laziness in me. I just can't bring myself to type on my lappie. Finally I muster my self to write some update here. Probably will be just a short one. Well, you'll know why. Nuff said!

Right from the start, we planned to go to Nelson for job hunting. We understand that there's a big factory there *cough* Sealord *cough* We went there only to be told that the recruitment is handled by an agency. No choice, we knocked on every angecy doors in Nelson. As usual, we were just asked to leave our name and contact numbers. If there's anything come up they'll contact us.

Yup, not much work at the moment/season of the year. Bummer! We even tried our luck at the local supermarket stores and stuff. Still no luck. It almost feels like our trip here is a waste. Our only consolation was the backpackers we stayed in.

THE BUG.

It was absolutely the best ever backpackers we have stayed in by far. Absolutely amazing. We felt right at home immediately. The place was great, beautiful and looked new. The kitchen was well equipped with good quality pots and pans. The other patrons there were uber nice people, the host, Anthony was simply wonderful!

We were given one whole apartment unit to ourselves with 2 bedrooms and 1 private bathroom! How cool is that?! There's also free internet wifi. Upon checking in, there's free welcoming chocolate waiting for us on the bed!!!! Free coffee and tea and also free fresh homemade breads every morning! Talk about heaven!

No, the price did not kill us at all! In fact, it is consider the cheapest one we can get in Nelson. Definitely worth every penny spent I swear!

Since we haven't got much luck in Nelson, we even went to Motueka to search for job opportunity. Alas, no luck there as well. Seriously, that time really feels like doomsday. I started to think that, what if we can't land ourselves a job soon? What would happened then? Our fund has started to dried up and we desperately needs a source of income to keep us floating.

Fear finally creeps into my heart. I understand that job doesn't falls down from sky just like that. However, as it is winter season and there really wasn't much job available, I dread the idea that we might possibly just have to do vineyard pruning.

Gosh I had heard of so much horror tales of vineyard pruning. All of it drives down to one main point: - It is hard, intensive labour work that it is the worst possible nightmare to anyone who's been there and done that. Grrrrr~~~

Finally the day that I dreaded most has arrived. Dinosaur finally said the unevitable. He said, since we can't find any work at the moment, we had no choice but to heads back to Blenheim and look for vineyard job. I shuddered at the thought of that. However, as much as I hated the idea, I am rational enough to know that we really had no choice.

Just as when we were all but given up our hopes in Nelson, miracle happens! On our final night in Nelson - The Bug, it is as though Lady Luck is smiling upon us.

This is when we met Martin.

Welly to Picton

2011-09-05T20:56:00.002+08:00

We've finally bid farewell to north island. South Island~ here we come!!!!

My first time boarding a ferry that can transport vehicles were in Penang. A short 20 minutes ride from Tambun to Penang Island. My second time was even better. From NZ North Island to NZ South Island. woohoo~~

From Wellington, we board the Bluebridge Ferry to Picton. This 3 and a half hour ride was indeed a wonderful ride. The ferry was huge and luxurious. Apparently the hefty price we paid was well worth it afterall^^v

The passenger area was beautiful and comfy with reclining chairs. There's big plasma tv that broadcast movies for all to enjoy. If you are feeling hungry, you can order some food from their kitchen. You need to pay of course. Food is NOT inclusive in the ticket price unfortunately.

Alternatively, you can prepared your own food and bring it on board and have it whenever you want to. Having your meal overlooking the ocean is really a great feeling too. The scenery of Marlborough Sounds was absolutely amazing. The sight to behold is so beautiful that words can't even describe my feelings. You just need to experience it yourself.

Perhaps we got lucky, as some of the passengers on board sighted some dolphins that swims around our ferry. However, yours truly just can't seems to locate them despite being really concentrating. Many saw it though. Just that yours truly eyesight is really not that good hence missed it.

A pity for sure. But then, I guess it just can't be helped.

A new begining in South Island. Hopefully all's well end's well :-)

Welly I love you (2)

2011-08-22T16:35:00.004+08:00

To be honest, I've only spent ONE DAY at Wellington. Just one day to explore as much as I can. Like that's enough? heck. NO!

My only regrets so far is not being able to spend more time in Wellington. I wholeheartedly believed that Wellington has so much more to offer than Auckland. Seriously, after I had been to Welly, I love it so much more compared to Auckland.

Welly has more architectural buildings to feast the eyes. Welly has more art and cultural places to satisfy my interest. Welly has more places for shopping to excite me. Welly is so beautiful that I love it at first sight. I really wished I'd had more time to explore Wellington. I'm sure it would be fun!

In my short stay here, I managed to go to The Beehive a.k.a. the Parliament House! I took the tour inside NZ parliament house which was really beautiful however we were not allowed to take any photos or videos due to security reasons. Therefore, I can only keep my experience to myself^^

When you are in Wellington, Te Papa Museum is NOT to be missed for sure. You have not been to Wellington if you had not been to Te Papa Museum I tell you! The entrance is FREE anyway!

Te Papa Museum is the best place for you to learn about NZ history and progress throughout the years. It is the most interactive museum I have ever been in my life. Although I am no museum fan, but I think Te Papa Museum can even attract non-museum goer such as myself to liked it!

See? how great Te Papa Museum is! It is really very interactive and you won't get boring at all. For once, I think museum is not so bad after all. Provided that ALL museums are as good as Te Papa^^

Museum of City & Sea is also a very nice place to go. It is a smaller scale compared to Te Papa but it is just as fascinating. It focuses more on the sea and freight development in NZ. Again, the best part would be = FREE ENTRANCE!!!!!

I didn't get to go to Botanical Garden nor take the cable car though due to limited time on hand. However, since it's winter so I don't think I'll missed much. Most of the trees ad flower shrubs probably are barren anyway ;p The cable car ride is roughly about NZD3.00 one way I think.

Lampton Quay!!! Shopping paradise!!!!! High-end shopping heaven for all! Not that I have that kind of money to splurge hahahaha~ I personally think that you'll see the most people walking in Lampton Quay. Buying power in NZ is quite promising I should say ;p

I wished I had that kind of money though. I wanna go shopping too~ Retail therapy is really a girl's best friend! And I have had not had my therapy for quite some time already~~~

Besides those places I have mentioned above, Welly has a lot more arts and theaters you can visit. Welly is really an art and cultural place I would say.

Apart from arts, Welly is also the capital city of NZ. That means you'll not run short of night life entertainment here. Welly has a thriving nightlife smacked right in the middle of the city. It is usually within walking distance from many backpackers or motels. You can get any types of clubs or bars to suit your taste.

You can even get some adult entertainment if you so wish^^

Welly I love you~

2011-08-22T16:04:00.002+08:00

On our way to Wellington, we made a stop at Palmerston North because it's a-must for Godzilla. It's been on her list since forever and she never can stop reminding us about it. Reason being is because there's a shop there selling genuine silver LOTR necklace. Yup, THE Arwen Evenstar Necklace.

It's not cheap though but it's special. Especially holdｓ dear by LOTR fans. It holds even dearer meaning to Godzilla too^^

Just a quick stop therefore I can't really explore Palmerston North but at a quick glance, it is bigger than I expected. In fact, it was actually quite a nice town. Kinda feels like a shopping heaven to all. I see nice big malls around^^ But that's about it. I don't know anything else beyond it.

The drive to Wellington was uneventful. We reached after dark and we've been searching high and low for a place to stay. Most of the backpackers are full and some that aren't were charging exorbitant rate that makes us gulping like a fish. The wind was strong and cold and we were hungry as we have not had our dinner yet. It really feels suck! Probably because it's Friday night (read: weekend) so a lot people are there staying in town.

Finally we stayed at the first backpackers that we surveyed on. The rate was not cheap, but given the situation and other prices been quoted to us, yeah it suddenly felt reasonable. The fact that it is located at a hill is not a biggie. But the fact that our room is at the 3rd floor, yeah that's a real biggie.

Imaging lugging all our heavy luggages up the stairs, oh my God that is a nightmare! Luckily the receptionist girl was kind enough to allow us to store our unused luggages in their store room. We understand that this is not allowed, but she's just a dear as she let us do it. That really helps alot. Or we will be sore all over.

The stay at Rosemeade Backpackers was not bad really. Albeit the stair climbing. It has got free continental breakfast provided daily from 7-9am. Free tea, coffee and hot chocolate for all!

Weeeee~~~ me love hot chocolate!!!!

A lazy week

2011-08-18T04:57:00.002+08:00

This is probably the most unfortunate week for me here in NZ. After the ski in Mt Ruapehu, I fall sick immediately. Must be the cold and snow, my body cannot keep up with the extreme temperature hence it decided to give up on me.

It is really horrible to travel when your head feels heavy and hot. Your whole body felt like weighed a ton and your energy just seeps away. All you want to do is just to sleep and will the fever to go away. Not just fever, I even caught the cough virus. Double trouble!

Seriously, I took nearly a week time to recuperate. Not just me, Dinosaur and Godzilla too succumbed to sickness. Our room was like a viral quarantine room where all are patients. Only Twister who's immune system is strong enough to counter any germs and virus. She even survived nearly scratch-less having been living together with 3 sick patients. Thumbs up to Twister!

The fever was not the worse case. I could just lie on bed and sleept. The worst would be cough.

In. The. Middle. Of. The. Night.

Numerous night I woke myself up due to sudden cough. It was so bad that I can't sleep and keeps me awake. To avoid waking others up too, I had no choice but to eat a sweet every night the moment I started to cough badly. Probably not so good for my dental hygiene, but at that moment I couldn't care much.

In between sleep, I also managed to explore the town of Hastings, Napier and Havelock North. Briefly.

Maybe because we were all sick, we really haven't got much enthusiasm to explore our surroundings. Personally, I think Hastings is nothing to shout about. Nothing much worth exploring here. The only exception is the Rush Monro's Ice Cream Parlour.

For your information, Rush Monro's is a premium ice cream here in NZ. The first ever ice cream parlour is here in Hastings. A charming little place but the operating hours in winter is short! Thank god we were right on time hence we got ourselves a nice tub of banana ice cream.

oooh la laaa~ It was heavenly! I absolutely loves it. It's rich creamy texture with the wonderful aroma of bananas are heavenly. I wouldn't mind finishing the whole tub myself ngek ngek ngek;p

Next, we went to Napier. Not what I expected either. Apart from walking at the beach coast, which was lovely by the way, we wanted to go visit the old prison. However, the charges were exorbitant thus we decided not to enter after all. A visit to Napier is not complete with some wine sampling^^

We tried wine sampling at two different winery estates and the experience is really quite nice. From here we learn a little bit more about wine making and stuff like that. Some wines we liked, some we don't.

After some tasting, I finally understood my preference in wine. I prefer midly sweet wine like chardonnay and sauvignon blanc. I don't quite fancy dry, sour wine like merlot. However, there's an exception though. There's a wine that mixes merlot and something else's which I quite like.

As for white wine or red wine, I think I prefer white wine and champagne. Call it sparkling wine if you like^^

Lastly, we visited Havelock North for the Arataki Honey Centre (the honeys are real cheap here! can't beat the price anywhere else's in NZ I reckon) and Te Mata Peak.

Te Mata Peak was really unbelievable. The wind I mean. The wind was so strong that it almost blew me off. If people says Wellington has really strong winds, wait til they are at Te Mata Peak. The wind here is 10x stronger than Welly's. I'm serious when I said I almost got blown away. In fact, you can see cars are shaking from the wind itself. The gushes of cold strong wind are definitely a force to reckoned with.

So that's it. That's the sum of my lousiest week in NZ. My health I mean.

Ski! Snow! I Like!

2011-08-14T08:03:00.003+08:00

When we talked about winter, the first thing that come to mind would be snow and Christmas. Growing up in Malaysia means that I have not have the opportunity to experience four season in a year. I have only known summer in my entire life therefore you can imagine how ecstatic I was when I get to see snow for the first time.

On the drive from Taupo to Ohakune the view of the snow capped Mt Ruapehu was awesome. The faraway mountain gets closer and closer as I drove, the snow gets clearer and clearer. The weather was absolutely perfect hence the view of Mt Ruapehu was perfect. Absolutely gorgeous!

The main reason we went there is to ski. And touch snow of course. Not forgeting snowman ;p We stayed two nights at Arawa Lodge and its probably one of the wisest choice we have made. The host, Jo is a great lady. She's very nice and friendly that she made us feel right at home immediately.

Knowing that we have never skied before, she gave us a lot of pointers like appropriate clothing, which location is best for beginners, and if that is not enough, she even personally inspect each of us to see if we are good to go to ski.

Unfortunately, none of us were. In fact, we never knew that we were so ill equipped until then. We seriously realized that we are not prepared for snowing type of winter at all. It is really a reality check for us lolz.

Jo is ever the nice lady, she even loaned us her ski jackets, thermal wear, numerous wool sweaters and stuff. She taught us to pile up our clothing with only wool material in order to keep us warm. Absolutely no cotton and jeans as it will get wet. Fleece is still alright but thermal wear is a must, then layered with 2 or 3 wool shirts/sweaters.

If you are not warm, then your ski experience will be a miserable one because you can't enjoy it due to the cold. She also suggested that for beginner, we should take the Whakapapa Track whereas for the more experience ones they can go to Turoa.

At Whakapapa, we signed up for the beginner's ski lesson and we learned basic ski skill for like, an hour? or maybe two, can't really keep track. We were taught how to position our body correctly to ski, how to stop and how to walk? Yeah basically is how to ski and how to stop.

Skiing is not as easy as I thought. It's harder, but with the poles for leverage, I think it's easier than ice skating. Kinda gives me more security? Anyway, surfice to say I've fell on my side, bum numerous time that day. I have accidentally clashed with other people and also being crashed into as well. Quite a dangerous zone to me, the beginner ski field. Although it is a gentle slope, but still, plenty of people there. It really felt crampy. Everywhere you turn, there's people, young and old.

Before we head back Arawa Lodge, it started to snow. OMG! It's snowing! Damn cold lor the wind. Snow flakes are really really tiny that it's not too much difference from raining actually. The snow texture are like those snowflakes we eat at dessert stall. Really similar.

Anyway, I was really happy to be able to experience it. i can proclaimed that I knew how to ski *~~a lousy skier~~*My only regret is not having the proper ski gloves or leather gloves on therefore I can't make snowman cuz my knitted gloves will get wet if I handled the snow for period of time. I can't play snow fights either due to the high human traffic there. It'll look really silly to have snow fights in a ski field where everyone else's were skiing or trying to.

But that only spur up my determination to ski for another time. This time, I will have the appropriate clothing that's for sure. And a leather gloves too!

Adrenaline Rush in Taupo

2011-08-12T07:29:00.004+08:00

For those who likes to challenge death itself would definitely know where to go, where not to be missed. Adrenaline junkies will definitely direct you to Taupo without a doubt. For those who doesn't know, Taupo is a place where all the extreme sports can be found practically under one roof.

Sky dive, bungy jump, cliff hanger, jet boating, paragliding, you name it. Of course, not forgetting the iconic Lake Taupo, which is practically the size of Singapore. Yes! It is THAT huge! Lake Taupo is great for trout fishing too but you need a license though.

As we were there, we definitely cannot missed visiting the crystal clear water of the famous Huka Falls and Aratiatia Dam. The rapids are a sight to behold. The water were clear with greenish colour to it. Aratiatia Dam will open the door to release water everyday at 10am, 12pm and 2pm. It last bout half an hour. It's really quite a nice view too when you see the clear calm water of Waikato River (the longest river in NZ) where you can see the bottom of it. And the next minute when the door was open, water gushing into the river disrupting the calm water.

Definitely a sight to behold. And it's free entertainment too^^

I went to Huka Honey Hive too to sampled their honeys and also their infamous fudges and premium honey ice cream^^ Gosh the Puhutukawa Honey Ice Cream was definitely sinful!!!! It was absolutely delicious that you felt like you were in heaven! Absolutely amazing! It was slightly expensive though for a single scoop (small) it's NZD4.00 . But then again, bear in mind that this is a premium ice cream that's home made everyday. You can't get it anywhere else! Definitely worth a try if you are there.

Their honeys weren't cheap though. Pretty expensive actually. However, they do have other special honeyed stuff such as honey mead and honey alcohol. I didn't managed to sampled any though as the staff there were busy serving "adults". We probably looked too young in her eyes to have any alcohol. So I can't vouch how it tasted like, sorry guys^^

Other than sight seeing and food tasting, we did do some extreme stuff. Most of us paid a lump sum to terrify ourselves with crazy activities such as skydiving and bungy jumping. Yeah I know, we are a bunch of crazy tourist ;p

Initially, I was adamant to just jump off from plane at 12,000ft only. I mean after all, it's just for an experience right? So I don't really have to fork out another 100 bucks to jump at 15,000 ft right? RIGHT??

But then, my friends all took a combo package for bungy and skydive and their package was at 15,000 ft. DAMN!!!! How? how?? should I just jump alone or should I upgrade my package to 15,000ft as well in order to be able to jump with them????

Damn dilemma lor. I really don't want to be alone as it starts to feel pretty scary the whole sky diving thing. Finally, I upgraded my package to 15,000ft as well to "be with them". At least until the last moment? What the heck, if I wanna die, I might as well die properly.

The people at I-Site said that people here in Taupo is more friendly and attentive compared to South Island so we decided to jump here. And it's slightly cheaper too. But heck, not really lor. The people at the counter IS friendly, but our tandem instructor weren't THAT friendly and attentive lor.

I mean, for first timer, I'm sure you can imagine our apprehension and fear. Not only that, we have no knowledge whatsoever so we definitely need people to guide us right? Of the three of us who signed up, ONLY Twister's tandem master was really nice and attentive. She, yes SHE gaves pointers and tips for Twister which I stayed nearby to eavesdropped blatantly. Reason being was because I can't locate MY tandem master yet. He's out there jumping off a plane.

Yup, apparently pretty much all the tandem masters and cameramen were jumping off the plane again and again and again. Over and over again ever hour, depending on the crowd.

So when my tandem master touched the ground, my camera man introduced him to me and we barely exchange pleasantries, he already lead me to the plane. Damn I just had to be sitting nearest to the door. Means I will be the first to jump off.

Gosh it was really quite a scary ride in my life but my tandem master was singing and making jokes like we were taking a stroll in the park. My cameraman was even eating snacks! Talk about nonchalant!!!! Here I was fearing for my life and cursing myself for doing this, there they were goofing around and eating. Seriously, if they offered me food, I wouldn't be taking it either for fearing I'll throw up due to nervousness.

Finally at 12,000ft, some people jumped off the plane and I get to see it right in front of my eyes. That didn't allay my fear at all. If possible, I get even more nervous. When you see the ground from 12,000ft in the air, AND you think you'll be jumping off a plane - utter madness!

Despite I have always said that I wanted to skydive over and over again. When I'm on the plane, I can feel that my bravery has deserted me little by little. The higher we get the more anxious I get. My tandem master did have small chats with me but I think its not enough still. I actually hoped to be able to bond with him so that I will feel less nervous but alas, I probably hoped too much.

After all, these people jumped off the plane over and over again. They probably jumped 15x a day so what's my jump matter to them? It matters greatly to me because it's my first but them? it's their everyday thing-.-" My tandem master did give me some pointers and instruct me this and that, well all basic simple stuff. I think I'm still lucky though because Dinosaur's tandem master barely even spoke to him. I think his bond with his tandem master is almost zero.

The moment he said, "this is it, let's go!" I was like, SHIT!!! WHAT??? SO FAST???? ME FIRST??? WHY????? GOD I'M SCARED!!!!!! HELP!!!! MOMMY!!!!!!!!

Of course, all these are played in my mind only. I didn't utter a single embarrassing words like that ok? But I seriously am feeling that. Paiseh to say that hurhurhur. When we take exit photo before we jump, I was really really nervous especially I know I'm strapped to my tandem master only and I'm hanging in the air literally.

Trying to maintain my cool and smile for the camera, once it clicked suddenly I felt a push and I'm floating in the air!!!!!! WHAT????? I've jumped off the plane and now falling at 200mph down to earth!!! WTF!!!!!

According to Twister's TM, 60 seconds of freefall is photography time so have to look out for the cameraman and capture as many photos as possible whereas once the parachute is released, then it's time for sight seeing. Things like this my TM didn't mentioned to me, luckily i eavesdropped on Twister lolz.

So, eventhough I'm scared shitless, I still have to try and maintain my cool and look at the camera and smile, goddammit! When the lady strapped on my harness gear on the ground, she mentioned that if we smile then our photos will turn out better as our cheek wouldn't be wobbly due to the strong wind. And I took her words to heart and smiled throughout my freefall.

Except that when the photos were released, I doesn't looked like I was smiling. Instead, I looked like an idiot with my mouth open which barely resembles a smile. I looked silly. When I showed my photos to my friends that night, they laughed like there's no tomorrow -.-" It is bad enough that the photos does not resemble me I don't know why but it's true, Dinosaur actually commented that I looked like a chipmunk-.-"

My life is ruined. My photos were ruined. My video is darn stupid. My whole experience captured on camera looks like a joke. I feel so damn depressed actually. I paid a hefty fortune but i felt like I was at the end of a joke. This was supposed to be a proud moment to shared with others but instead, I can't bring myself to show mine to anyone. It's just too ugly. Mad hideous!!! No, I won't show you my photos or videos! Don't even think of it

That apart, once the parachute was released, finally I get the time to take a view of my surroundings. The view was breathtaking. The lake looked gorgeous from up above and the snow capped mountains. It was really brilliant and the weather was perfect. That's when I said to myself, "I can't believe I did that! I did it and I am so proud of myself."

I used to think that this is an exciting experience which I will not missed it for the world and will attempt it with gusto.

Don't get me wrong, I still think that this is an exciting experience that I would not trade it for anything in this world. I'm very proud that I did it and at 15,000ft some more at that. However, I think crazy things like this once is enough. Don't think I'll ever attempt it again though. My heart isn't that strong I think. lolz

True to my words then and now, I will attempy sky dive but not bungy. I did not try bungy. Even though many people said "hye, since you jumped 15,000ft already, what's a couple hundred feets means to you?" I know, bungy should look pale in comparison to sky dive but I still can't make myself to do it. Looking down from the cliff suddenly that couple hundreds of feets is so damn high.

I'm proud of them who did it though. I wished I could be braver and attempt it but alas, I'm not that brave. Too bad^^

City of Sulphur

2011-08-02T07:07:00.003+08:00

Hello there...I'm back again^^v

Continued from my previous post, today I'll share with you my experience in Rotorua - the city of sulphur. I dubbed it the City of Sulphur because it smelt of sulphur pretty much most of the time. It is famous for its geothermal activities due to its strategic location in volcanic area I suppose.

If you head to Kuirau Park, you'll get to see mud pools and hot pools for free. Most other places will charge you an arm and a leg for to see almost the same thing, but probably bigger version. For example, Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland charge NZD32.50 per adult to see their hot pools, mud pools and craters etc.

Personally, after awhile, all geothermal spots kinda look the same already. It no longer held the wow effect. Especially when you paid to see the same thing over and over again. I have been to Rotorua twice afterall.

The weather was not really promising for us as it keeps raining. Raining means no outdoor activities for us. Luckily in between showers, we managed to squeezed in some activities still.

Despite the weather, we managed to go to Rainbow Springs to see kiwi and their nocturnal life at night. Besides Rainbow Springs, we also experienced the Skyline Rotorua - the gondola and luge ride. Luge is really fun and it's so simple really. You just sit there and hold the bar to manuevre left right speed and stop. Simpler than driving automated transmission car I tell you!

We even hold a illegal racing among the four of us and I came in second! Hahahaha I mentioned it's illegal because the sign there written no racing ;p Guess we just can't follow the rules to the dot afterall.

We also went to Wai=O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland to see more geothermal spots and geyser. We wanted to see the infamous Lady Knox Geyser which erupts daily at 10:30am. Fascinated isn't? Why 10:30am daily? Without fail? How do you do that?????

The answer is pretty simple really. Because it's controlled by human that's why. And how can human control such thing? Simple. Because long long time ago, some human accidently found out that the geyser will erupt when you throw a soap into it. The stories goes back to dunno how long ago, some people are doing their washing there and accidently dropped a soap which triggered the geyser to erupt.

There, the secret for the geyser to erupt at 10:30am is out now. It smelled wonderful too. Rotten egg smell -.-"

The rest of the trip in Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland was to see more and more of geothermal spot, hole, pool etc. And it rained too. Damn we had to carry an umbrella with us all the time. Such inconvenience!

We also went to Kerosene Creek, which is free natural hot pool for public. It's located in a secluded area in between Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland and Rotorua town *the same highway to Taupo, I can't recalled which SH though*

It's really beautiful there as the nature beauty is untouched by civilization. The hot vapour from the creek gives the place a magical feeling. Like you were in some magical place faraway and out of this world. Truly exquite. You can dip your feet in the hot water or bettter still, you can just soak your weary, tired body there.

Too bad we can't as we went unprepared. We did not have our bathing suits with us and we didn't even had proper shoes on either. So we just take a look at it and go. Oh, and we even get to see a fantastic rainbow too. Really clear, full rainbow! Totally awesome!

One week in Rotorua come and go. In between rain showers, we even managed to do some shopping spree! I tell you, I think I spent the most here in Rotorua than in anywhere else in NZ. I think I bought the most things here.

Rotorua is also a place to pamper one self. We went to Hell Gate for their infamous mud spa. Trust me, this is really not to be missed! If I ever go to Rotorua again, Hell Gate will definitely be on my list. The top on my to-do list.

On our last day, we were really lucky to be able to experience white water rafting in Kaituna River - which were really popular for it's 7m waterfall. The adventure trip was really exhilirating and I don't even know where to begin. We were given wet suits and briefing before we reached the river and the next thing I know, I'm in the boat, paddling towards the waterfall!

I'll never forget my first ever water rafting experience for a long long time. I wished the whole adventure will last longer though. An hour in the water is way to short a time.

I think this summarizes my second trip to Rotorua. I didn't do the zorb though, although it's originated here in Taupo. I didn't visit the Maori's cultural village too as it's really very very the expensive and I can't really afford it. I'll probably regret not able to eat hangi *Maori's traditional meal cook in earth oven* but well, moolah IS a factor here baby!

Waitomo Black Water Rafting

2011-07-21T20:17:00.002+08:00

Since I don't know when I can get by free internet again so i thought I will drop by and write a short entry or something just to keep everyone updated on my current status ^.^v

After our trip to Hamilton Garden, we head down to Waitomo Cave for cave trekking! No, I'm just kidding horhorhor. As you remember from my previous post I mentioned that we left Hamilton Garden as the sun sets hence how can I explore Waitomo Cave? We just went to Waitomo to book the trip and also looking for accomodation.

The sky is pitched black when we reached Raft, Rap & Rock. Everyone's tired and no one wants to look elsewhere for accomodation so we decided to stay at the hostel there since the price is really not too bad and we have coupon for discount! Seriously, this is one of the few time that we actually remembers to use discount coupons that we had. Most of the time, we won't remember and ended up paying for much more-.-"

We were practically squealing when the owner said the bed comes with electric blanket and a heater. ELECTRIC BLANKET!!!!! I have never use one and I really don't mind trying it;p

The place was really very tidy and clean. A charming house that consist of 3 rooms, 2 bathrooms, 1 toilet, dining hall and living room. We stayed there for 2 nights and on the second night, we practically have the whole house to ourselves! Isn't great???? Seriously, I think the rating on BBH on that place is way below par. I think it deserve so much better than 68%.

Apart from accomodation, we signed up the black water rafting at 9am. I like the fact that they organise small group only. Max is 6pax and we have nicely 6 people (plus UK couple). Our guide, Simon, was really a fun and fantastic guide. We couldn't ask for a better one. He's funny and interactive and he knows his stuff well.

The ride to the cave is bout 15 minutes, then we reached their hub where we get our wet suits and don it before we start the expedition. Seriously, donning the wetsuit is quite challenging. It's so tight that it fits snugly on your body which is good to keep you warm. But at the same time, wearing it is quite an art itself. Being a first timer, let's just say I don't think I look pretty wearing it. In fact, I quite think that I resemble some poor penguins-.-"

Anyhow, after donning the wetsuits and boots, we head to the cave. Before we enter the cave hole, we were given a lesson in correct way of tying the ropes and also all the safety rules to adhere. When this is done, here we go.

First thing to do is to abseil 27m down into the cave. I was really looking forward to abseiling because I have never tried it before. 27m seems quite short a distance as I managed to go down without a hitch. In fact, it was not what I expected. It was much easier than I thought!

Once everyone is down, we walked in the water into the cave and see glowworms, then black water rafting in the currents and rock climbing back up the same way we got down. The glowworms are really beautiful. It kinda like watching stars at night.

As for the black water rafting, it isn't anything that's super challenging like the white water rafting really. It's just tubing in the water. Since it's a cave, hence its dark so the name "black". It doesn't have any rapids, just water flowing by. But it was really fun though. I really like tubing.

Everyone is given a rubber tube like a tyre and sit on it then flow with the water. I always started last but somehow I always ended up first to reach! I have no idea why as I wanted to enjoy the experience more but I kept emerging at the finishing line way too quick-.-"

Climbing back to the top is not too hard as well. Even for people who doesn't have much stamina can do it so I don't think anyone will have any problem doing it. Once done, we went back to the hub to have a quick shower at their basic bathroom before heading back to the office to view the photos and drank complimentary soup.

The whole trip wasn't too bad. In fact, i quite enjoyed it. It was pretty fun. What surprises me the most during the whole trip is the camera. The camera that our guide uses to snaps photos of us. That camera is like, sooo ancient! Who else uses those kind of camera these days????? The fact that that camera is water proof is great but then the photo quality is not really up to our standard. Photos taken were not really crisp and clear hence we thought this is kinda a waste.

Then again, it's better than none right? We shared with the UK couple for a copy of the photos and this save us some dollar. It was then only I know that we can all share a copy to save some pennies. Not bad considering as a backpackers, we need to be frugal at all time!

Hehehehe so this is my experience on the Waitomo Black Water Rafting.

Hamilton Garden

2011-07-19T08:23:00.000+08:00

When our business is done in Auckland, we headed down south. We made a stop in Hamilton and visited the famous Hamilton Garden. Hamilton Garden is a very huge park actually and it consist of many gardens. The most famous one has got to be the landscaped garden that features 6 different type of garden concept.

As I have mentioned that Hamilton Garden is a huge park, we kinda got lost. Well, I didn’t expect it to be so big that Landscaped garden was just a PART of it! It was getting dark as sunset in winter is much earlier than usual and we were walking around the park looking for the landscaped garden.

We accidentally covered a few other garden such as Rose Garden; which barely has any roses due to wrong season of the year and also we walked to the Waikato River, which is practically a dead end. We had to retraced our steps to find other routes that can lead us to the Landscaped garden.

Finally, we found it! By then, the sun has practically set so we had to rushed to all 6 garden and take photos in record time. They had the Chinese Scholarstic Garden, Japanese Garden, English Garden, American Modern Garden, Italian Garden and Indian Garden.

Each of the garden is beautifully designed and photo worthy. Finally the guard has to shoo us off as its getting really dark already. And the most foolish thing is, we realized that the Landscaped Garden was located just at the left of the Main Entrance. We missed it because we took a right turn at the entrance and we walked, circled the big pond with duckies in it!

That wrong turn actually wasted our precious time to be in the Landscaped Garden. Not that it was not beautiful along the way, it is. Just that we were pretty late reaching there hence limit is a factor to us. All in all, we still get to see what we wanted to albeit the short time. So, can’t complain.

If I get to visit Hamilton again, this time I will go there early and spend a couple of hours walking leisurely and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Trust me, it is really well worth a trip there again. The greenery will definitely appeal to you, even if you are not a nature person.

I know, because I am not too! ^^v

I might be wrong, but I think it is best to visit Hamilton Garden in the Spring. Spring is when all flowers are blooming so you get to enjoy the Rose Garden at its most glorious. Since I went in the winter, the Rose Garden was practically barren with only one or two miserable roses.

Back to Auckland Again

2011-07-19T08:22:00.000+08:00

At one point, it started to feel that each time we were in Auckland, we surely made at least a trip to the car workshop. It was always one problem or the other. This time, I think we made three trips to the workshop to fix this and that.

At the same time, we renewed the WOF (Warrant of Fitness). WOF is compulsory in order for the car to remain on the road. It’s kinda like Road Tax in Malaysia, except that in Malaysia, we can renew our Road Tax yearly easily whereas WOF required the car to be inspected and certified fit on the road before WOF is issued. If I am not mistaken, WOF is done twice a year.

This time around, our stay in Auckland is pretty much free and easy. We spent most of the time shopping, eating and working on the car. Finally, I get the opportunity to visit the most happening shopping centre in Auckland – Silvia Park.

Well, it was nothing much to shout really. Malaysia definitely has much bigger malls everywhere. However, I think malls this size are norm in NZ. It’s not bad really. Apart from Silvia Park, we went to Dressmart too.

Honestly, Dressmart is my fav! It’s kinda like factory outlet stores where quite a few major brands – local or international brand will sell of out of season clothes or stock clearance stuff at dirt cheap prices. Big names that I’m sure everyone will recognize are such as Levi’s, Lacoste, Pumpkin Patch, Esprit and so on.

If you dig deep enough, you will get quite some great stuff that’s selling at a fraction of the original price. This is what I call great buy! Since haggling is not practiced in NZ, buying good quality stuff at a low price is the next best thing for me. However, the only downside is that the shop closes at 5pm.

It kinda limit your shopping time. Over here, shopping is done early as most shop closes at 5pm or so. In smaller town, shops does not even operate on weekends! Time like this make me missed my hometown all the more. Back at home, I can go shopping all day till nightfall.

On one fine Saturday, I managed to visit the biggest flea market in Auckland – Otara Flea Market. It was quite big and happening with live band and singings going on in the central court. The flea market consist of everything you’ll ever need. They sell from vegetables, fruits to clothes and souvenirs. They even sell business suits too, no kidding!

Watching movie in NZ is a luxury affair as well. Cinema in big city charges NZD15.00 for a movie whereas in smaller town charges varies from NZD10.00 – NZD15.00.

I am not sure if I have mentioned this before but parking in Auckland will really cost you a bomb! Parking fees are so so so expensive that you’ll cringe at the amount and probably curse the day you ever thought of driving and parking in the town. They charges exorbitant fee on hourly rate. The parking rate here will put KLCC’s rate pale in comparison.

If you want to save money, my advice is don’t even dream of driving to town. Better take the bus or walk if you don’t mind walking.

Mishaps: good or bad?

2011-07-12T17:55:00.002+08:00

As we were heading back to Auckland, things started to make a turn for the worse. Our car started to give us problems. Problems that can make your heart pump a little faster. What happened was, while driving we felt that the car was jerky, not smooth as it supposed to. The car started to jerk every now and then. The climax? Definitely was when the car battery died on us – while we were driving!

Fuiyoh! I tell you, that was really a close call! As the car was jerking and sputtering along, I’m pretty sure all of us were awake (we were sleeping before this;p) and praying to God that we can make it to Auckland in one piece.

To make thing worse, it was getting dark, all shops were closed and we have no one to ask for help. We were practically in the middle of nowhere! We have no choice but to drive slowly and maneuver the car all the way back to Auckland. Initially, we wanted to take the road less taken to explore the countryside but as we realized we have problem, we cancelled the idea and take the fastest, most direct route to Auckland.

As if the sputtering and jerking is not enough to make us turn green, the car decided to died on us right in the middle of the Harbour Bridge!!! Yes, I am serious!

The bridge was heavy with traffic hence we needed to brake more often. Each time Dinosaur press the brake pedal, the engine died. If that is not scary enough, try this: when the engine died, the brake system does not work too, due to ABS system locking and stuff.

Yup, the car was rolling due to momentum, engine died, and we have no control on the brake. Did I mentioned is was traffic jam then???? Yeah, cars in front, beside and behind us. I think that alone is enough to evoke terror in anyone’s heart. We have to cranked the engine every time it died, smacked right in the most busiest bridge.

Thank God Dinosaur was calm throughout and managed to maneuver the car despite the sputtering and jerking to Auckland town and we make a stop at a petrol station. Since the battery keep dying, we suspected the battery is the culprit.

We tried ringing Dinosaur’s uncle for help but he did not pick up the phone. Oh no!

Then we called a new friend who worked in the car workshop that sold us the car for help. We told him that the battery kept dying hence it might be that the battery is dead. And this nice friend actually finished work and reach home wanting to have dinner, bath and rest but as I have said, he is a nice person, he went out again to help us buy a car battery for replacement.

Finally after the long wait, he arrived. When he inspected our car, he didn’t think battery was the cause. Uh-oh, this might be something bigger and scarier than we thought. He spent quite some time fidgeting our car with limited light (Dinosaur’s torchlight) and in the cold too.

After some time, finally the car’s up and ready to go. Well, at least for temporary. Then we all had our long awaited dinner together.

After all the hoo-ha, it’s almost 10pm and we still have not got any place to stay. We tried searching some motel but it was super expensive and we can’t afford that. Lucky us, Dinosaur’s uncle graciously offered us to stay at his house.

After all that we have went through in a day, we were really tired. Both physically and emotionally.

This was definitely an extraordinary day for sure!

Still in North Island

2011-07-01T19:02:00.002+08:00

Hi all!

Good greetings from New Zealand!

I have been spending the last two weeks traveling part of North Island here and currently stopping at Auckland again. After this, we will head down to Waitomo for black water rafting. After that, we will head to city of sulphur - Rotorua and continues to Taupo.

In the past few weeks, we managed to cover:

1) White Island - the only active volcanic island in NZ.

2) we went to East Cape lighthouse - to see the beautiful sunrise. East Cape is the the most easterly place in the earth.

3) We went to Gisborne - the first town on earth to receive sunlight in the morning.

4) Coromandel Region - we went to Hot Water Beach to soak our feet, we went to Coromandel town to eat fresh oyster and mussels. It was really delicious albeit a little expensive.

5) Northland - we went to visit the most interesting loos in land - Kawakawa. Also, we ate the world's famous fish & chips in Mangonui. For sure, we went to Cape Reinga and 90 miles beach. Cape Reinga is the most northen part of NZ^^ IT is also where the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean collides.

Yup, that's about all. We will continue our journey and I shall update my travel log as soon as I get the chance. Well, as you know, internet is a luxury here so whenever I can online I'm like on cloud nine!!!! Trust me, I'm really that happy to get internet connection!!!

okay people, time for me to go sleep already as tomorrow will be a long day. Will keep you post soon!

Stay tune! ^^v

End of packing season

2011-06-12T08:36:00.003+08:00

Hi All,

How are you?

I am good here. In fact, today is the celebration for our packhouse end of the season. We have finished our last bin of kiwis and the kiwi packing season is officially ended. The work ended yesterday, and today is the celebration.

As yesterday is the last day, we all brought our cameras and V-Cam to captures our memories there. We keep taking photos whenever we get the chance ^^v

Some westerners cannot understand why we Asians always take photos and lamented about that. It's kinda put off but then, since i don't have any explanation for our behaviour anyway so let's forget it. i don't care what you think of me anyway!

As usual, when we get any day offs, we will all gather together and have a big feast. So is today^^

Right now I'm at SJ and RX house to have a big hearty lunch^^ We are making kimchi soup, two varieties of fried rice (courtesy or Double S hehe) and desserts as usual^^v No wonder I'm gaining weight instead of losing weight-.-"

Anyhow, we will be moving away from Opotiki pretty soon hence we will have to say goodbye to our new found friends here any moment. It's sad to say goodbye as we really clicked well! It's not easy to find such nice bunch of people from different nationality and have so much fun together. I'll really miss them when the time to part comes.

We will start to tour around north island starting Wednesday. i hoped to cover the north island in 3 weeks then find another job. Doesn't matter if its in north or south island just so that we can make enough money to cover our trip to south island.

Everybody says that south island is so beautiful that it's like heaven on earth. I am so excited I can't wait to go there. The fact that now in north island is pretty cold already I can't imagine how I'll survive south island. Right now, it can get to zero degrees in south island at night and now is just the beginning of winter!

Whatever! I don't want to think all these right now. I shall just take it as it comes. Tonight celebration party everyone needs to bring a dish to a local bar here in town. Rachel is making man tao (buns) to bring over there and she is still making it at home.

I don't know how the party will be like, but I kinda really looking forward to it already. This is not something we get to experience daily so I really wanna see how it goes.

Will update more whenever I get the time and internet access.

Toodles!

Work and no work

2011-06-06T19:27:00.000+08:00

Work is ending soon. We have reached our last week at the packhouse. Without realizing, we had worked at the packhouse for the past 2 months. Next week onwards, we will have to start worrying about where our next pay cheque would come from.

In my time working at the packhouse, I really quite enjoyed it. Really. Of course, at times, it can get so repetitive and monotonous that it gets so boring. Also, it can get so tiring that my shoulder ached like nobody’s business. Sometimes, it is so taxing to my body that my back ached so much that I can’t even stand and do simple job like washing the dishes. My fingers will go numb and I can’t even lift my arm properly to hold the dishes. It’s like the strength totally deserted me.

Those are the negative impact from working. At the same time, I also gained a lot here. I gained invaluable life experience that I couldn’t get it elsewhere. I gained many new friends from all over the world that I absolutely treasured. They are really a bunch of great people and working alongside them is truly fun and memorable.

For instance, I met a delightful Korean girl that taught us many Korean phrases and food. Never in my life would I thought that I could actually make kimchi or bibimbap. Now I not only know how to make it, I also know how to make Korean pancake, which I absolutely adored. My greatest regret is not being able to learn how to make teokbukgi. We can’t seem to find any shop selling rice cake so she can’t make them. What a bummer!

I am someone who don’t cook at home. In fact, I hardly enter the kitchen in my life. Ever. But over here, I not only found out I could actually cook quite decently, I also collected many recipes along the way. Many things that I never thought I could actually do, I am able to do it now.

Not to sound boastful, but I really am very proud of myself. Now, I don’t find cooking a torture. I actually quite enjoyed it. Cooking is made fun now with so many new recipes. Can’t wait to show off my newly acquired skills to my mom. She should be very proud of me hehehehe~

Now, my future kitchen has to be really big and well equipped in order for me to be able to fully utilize my new hobby ;p

Nowadays, we spent all and whatever day offs we get by cooking. We will cook something and invite some close friends for lunch, dinner and vice versa. Each time, we are so fully loaded that no wonder if we’ll gain weight.

Health Scare: Part 2

2011-05-29T15:45:00.002+08:00

Okay people, just a quick update from me. I have since recover from my skin disease if you can call that. So you can now stopy worrying over my health. ^^

We all self diagnosed it as skin allergy most likely due to dust from environment. Read: factory.

My skin rashes has reduced to almost none now. My lips are no longer swollen. It's nice and perfect just as the way it is teehee!

So there, I'm fine once again! God bless us all^^

Health Scare

2011-05-29T15:44:00.000+08:00

Work has been going smooth nowadays. Almost everyday we get to work in the packhouse already. All thanks to the sunny days we are having lately. Since the weather had been really accommodating lately, the pickers get to work and we packers get to pack.

It’s really a dream come true to us. We have dreamed about days like this God knows how many days. All’s well and we are happy and contented. Despite work gets boring (well, it is repetitive and monotonous after all) we will still go to work and money is really a great motivator.

I knew this is too good to be true. I just knew it!

Finally my deepest fear came true.

Sick. Illness.

Medication.

Doctor.

I never thought this will one day happen to me. God how I wish it wasn’t me. Why me????

Warning: don’t read on if you do not want to read my description of my illness.

One fine Sunday as usual after work we came back home, cook dinner and bath before sleep. While in the shower, I realized that my back is not quite the same and there’s patches of red spots on my upper body. These red spots were a little itchy as well.

But I shrugged it off and ignored it thinking it will go away the next morning. I wanted to tell others but then I don’t want to appear like a baby and whine every single moment I get so I didn’t.

The next morning, the red spots did not disappear as I hoped! Damn! What is happening to me???? Truth to be told, I was beginning to feel scared over it. I mean, what sort of diseases I have caught??? I just know it is a symptom of allergy of some sort.

At this point, I still keep mum about it and go to work as usual. It wasn’t until my supervisor noticed the spots I am having and asked me if I have some sort of allergy. Then I know this is really getting serious if she can see it even when I was wearing a sweater.

At that moment, I was like, “oh shit, this is really getting bad if it is showing on my arm and face” She says she saw red pactches on my neck and ear and that my face swell a little. We both tried to find out the cause of my allergy. Was is soap? Shampoo? Diet? Kiwi?

I don’t know. I seriously can’t pinpoint the cause of it. At this point, I am really getting itchy all over. To make things worse, my eyes swell and I can’t open my eye lid to the fullest!

This time, during smoko (break time) I rushed to the toilet and have a good look at myself in the mirror. (looking into the mirror is kinda a luxury to me as our house got limited mirror and most of the time, the mirror is steamed all over after shower -.-“

For the first time I had a clear view of myself. How my eyes are swollen and red spots begins showing a little on my neck, ear, forehead and eye lash area. Some red spots also appear on the cleavage area. Of course, the rest are at my back where you can’t help but feel like scratching it every moment you get.

This time, everyone spotted my problem already. Twister thinks it is “fong mok” which is allergy to dirty things or surrounding. The only things we can suspect is our workplace, which is dusty from the kiwi furs especially the grading table area which I currently work at. Another possible explanation is the bed I am using now is dirty.

With everyone’s help, I tried my very best not to scratch my body. Gradually, I feel that my eyes are not so swollen anymore as I can open my eyes completely and I take it as a good sign of recovery. I was so happy beyond relief. Hopefully my rashes will go away soon too. Even my supervisor notice my “recovery” She commented that my face is not so swollen anymore.

Boy, was I wrong!

Yes, my eyes are not swollen anymore and my face are not covered with rashes. BUT, my upper lip started to swell. SHIT!!!!!! By the end of the working day, my upper lip is half swollen!!!! If I wasn’t feeling any fear previously, I definitely do now. I was so so so afraid that I almost broke down crying.

Godzilla keeps suggest that we go see a doctor but finally I decided to wait for another day and see how it goes. I have some medication for swell and anti-allergy at home and I planned to see if it works.

Hence we went home, take a bath, eat medicine and apply dermatitis cream on my body and pray for recovery.

Twister says normally the rashes would go away in a day or two so I was clinging to the comforting words to sleep.

As you can probably guess by now, no the rashes did not fade away. My upper lip is even more swollen than the night before. This time, I really broke down and cry during breakfast. I am sure Dinosaur, Godzilla and Twister were uncomfortable to witness crying scene early in the morning. But I just can’t help it.

I also experience some stomach pain at this moment. Since I was not feeling my best and emotionally fragile, I decided to skip work today. Also I feel sad to lose my income for a day, but then I really don’t think I can go to work and act as though nothing happened. I don’t think I can face the curious stare and concern enquiries from colleagues.

No I definitely can’t face all this yet. I prefer to hide out and sleep away the morning. Hopefully this nightmare will go away ASAP.

I wonder how expensive it will get to pay a visit to the doctor here? This idea is starting to appeal to me provided the doctor can miraculously make all these rashes and swell go away in an instant. IN that case, I really don’t mind paying!

Updates from Opotiki

2011-05-29T15:43:00.000+08:00

In the two months that we are here in New Zealand, we have had a tornado scare in Auckland. The tornado that kills a few persons and injured several others happened in Auckland but we are here in Opotiki, which is like 5-6 hours drive from Auckland so we are safe. Our parents back home were worried though. Until we report home that we are safe only they feel better ^^

Apart from tornado scare, we also actually had a few earthquakes here in Opotiki which we never felt. Thing is, it mostly happened late at night and we were already fast asleep by then that we don’t know it happens at all. Not until the next day people are talking about it only we realized that earthquake happened the night before. This is the time people starts to ask around see who feels it and who didn’t.

Personally, I think the earthquake here are really minute type or else everyone would have felt it already. I agree that I normally sleep like a log, but Godzilla is light sleeper. Even she didn’t feel a thing! We all agreed that this is dangerous as we might be dead not knowing why -.-‘

Enough of the scary stuff, right now its not really winter yet but the weather has turn chilly. Previously, the weather was really cold, but now it’s getting colder. In fact, nowadays the average temperature is like 11 Celsius at night at 17 Celsius in the afternoon.

Our house does not have any heater so we can only rely on burning woods in the chimney at night whenever necessary. Maybe the chimney is a little small, because I feel that it is not really generating enough heat for the whole living room. You practically need to sit in front of the fire to feel the direct warmth of fire burning logs.

At night, we go to sleep on a cold bed. Although we have duvet, but still, the bed itself is cold. Nowadays, we practically bundle up in duvet to sleep. As it happens, your body can only generate enough heat to warmth up the place you sleep in at that moment. Once you turn to another side, instantly you will feel the cold bed greeting you again. Trust me, it is not nice to sleep in the cold.

Sometimes when it gets so chilly that in the morning, you can see frost formed on the blades of grass. The other day, frost also formed on our car windscreen and roof. This is how cold it can get, no kidding.

Work is the same. Repetitive and monotonous. I am doing grading job which is almost like a dog actually. We need to smell the fruits see if there’s any rotten fruit or juicy fruits so that we can discard it immediately to avoid contaminating other good fruits. Sometimes, you have no idea the fruits is just plain wet or covered with juice so you need to pick it up and use your nose to smell it.

Trust me, when some fruits in the bin ripe, burst or squashed, the juice will smeared the nearby fruits. When it is kept in that condition for a couple of days, it will go rot. Trust me, rotten fruit smell is not something you wished to experience. I always joked that if I smelled more of these rotten fruit smells, it will cure me of my fondness for kiwi fruits.

We kinda run out of creativity already when it comes to food. We have been cooking the same dishes almost every time. To the extent that when you mentioned bread for lunch, Dinosaur will pull a long face and ask, “huh, bread again ah?”

Even me who is always very easy going when it comes to food starts to feel bored already. Then again, it’s not like we have a lot of choices here. The only vege we can get here are capsicum, carrot, tomato, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, lettuce and bak choy.

Tomato and spinach here is very expensive therefore we hardly have any of those. Our own garden grew bak choy and lettuce so we just pick fresh from the garden WHEN it is nice and big which doesn’t happen very often.

Oh and potatoes. We have tons of it here. Onions, ginger and garlic is not very cheap here so we need to ration and use wisely.

All in all, life here is very stable, static, calm and yeah, boring.

Collecting firewoods adventure

2011-05-16T08:59:00.001+08:00

At times, it gets very chilly at night which prompted us to experimenting with the chimneys in our living room. We don’t have any firewoods and we tried to get our landlady to supply us but, hehehehe not happening. HOWEVER, she suggested that we go collect some woods in the beach to burn instead. We were like, why not? It’s free afterall.

Off we go to collect woods by the beachside and when we were satisfied, more like when Dinosaur was satisfied with the amount of woods collected we decided to head home to chop the woods into burnable size. And this is when it gets interesting. We unconsciously drove our car slightly too deep into the soft sandy area thus our car are stucked! The tyre’s just cannot find any grip on the soft sand and can’t rolled the car out. It only creates a bigger hole each time we tried.

We tried many ways to salvage the situation as it is a deserted, isolated beach area hence no one was around to offer any help when we needed it. We tried putting woods on the sand so that the tyre can find a solid grip amongst the soft sands but to no avail. We tried making the car go forward and reverse but nothing worked.

We were stucked there for quite some time. We tried calling people for help but no one picks up their phone. We were really on our own back then.

Since nothing works, we resorted ourselves to dig our way out. We have the time and nothing else works so not much choice left right? As all four of us are crouching and digging the sands out from under our car, we hear the most wonderful melody – a humming car sound!

Finally, savior has come! Thank god for HIS devine intervention. A minute later a Hilux approach and we describe our dire situation and imploring for help. Thank god they are nice people and they practically towed our car out from the sand pit in no time with the Hilux. They are Sam and Rick, nicest people in the earth that offers help without charging a single dime!

Yup, it’s FREEEE~~~~~~~

I knew that previously Small Gas and Cunning also faces a similar situation but they weren’t that lucky cuz they got charged a hefty 40 bucks for few mins job. Talk about gold digger!

Previously we were sympathizing over their misadventure but unbelievably we had the same misfortune as well.

What an adventure we have got. This is truly an enriching life experience for all of us ^^

Food experimenting

2011-05-16T08:58:00.001+08:00

As you all know, we are a bunch of people that has no prior experience in cooking whatsoever. Among the four of us, I think I have the least kitchen experience. Theoretically, I know how it works, the procedures, steps, how-to, but practical wise, I’m a zero.

Therefore now is the best time for us to experiment with food. We improvise the cooking recipe as we have limited supply of seasoning and ingredients. Truth to be told, our limited cooking skill is not a limit to our creativity. IN fact, I think our food turn out rather well if I may say so.

We started off with easy to make dishes. Gradually, we try on the harder stuff. We make a few phone calls back to mom asking for cooking tips and recipes. We had Godzilla here whose specialty is pasta. Then we have Twister here who does Hokkien style dishes. Dinosaur just loves cutting and chopping and dicing. Whereas for me, I tried helping in every area that needs attention. I’m good at giving directions, advice and how-to ngek ngek ngek ;p

To date, we have been experimenting with many varieties that would make everyone proud of us hohohohohoho~ Our experiments results in new “dishes” that I would like to share with you here.

1) Hokkien Style Fried Spagetti
How did we come out with this dish? One day, we wanted to cook Spaghetti Bolognese. Therefore we cooked the pasta and opened up few cans of spaghetti sauce. Only thing is, the cans of spaghetti sauce is not what we thought it is. It is actually cans of spaghetti IN sauce. We were like, “Oh, Lord! What are we to do?” We definitely have too much pasta noodle on hands expecially since the pasta is already cooked. Then suddenly some genius (can’t remember who) suggest that why don’t we do fried spaghetti like those in HK café in Msia? Then we save the cans of spaghetti for the next day. Hence the birth of our very own hokkien style fried spaghetti.
Ingredients: Spagetti, dark soy sauce, soy sauce, chicken, onion.
Optional: carrot or any vegetables, egg,

2) Potato Salad
Wow this is truly a gem! Thank God Dinosaur learned something useful during his time in D&P. He learned how to make a mean potato salad! Simple to make and can be kept for a couple of days if needed to. I really like it^^ In fact, yesterday I had my first try at mixing it^^ Fun I tell you!

3) Roti Canai
Actually we have no idea at all how to make roti canai like those in mamak ones. However, we were adventurous enough to attempt it. In the end it wasn’t really a success as we only uses plain flour, oil, salt and water to make the dough. It didn’t end up like the soft texture we always see the mamak when they toss the dough and all. Our dough seems more compact and harder to “fold”. Nevertheless, it doesn’t tasted too bad. It’s quite like roti canai, except not as soft and fluffy. We suspect we need to insert baking soda to make the dough more fluffy. However, we really have no idea and we doubt the mamak people would share their recipe with us. We’ll just have to improvise ourselves and experiment more on it.

4) Fried Rice/Porridge
Okay, this is kinda a failure really. You see, we haven’t had any rice for more than a week and we missed it. Truth to be told, we are all kinda rice bucket (fan tong) but here in NZ, it’s not easy to find rice cooker. People here boil rice either in pot or in microwave which as you can guess, is not our specialty. Yours truly attempt to cook rice in pot over the stove. We mix brown and white rice together and the result is disaster. The water is too much because we thought the brown rice was not cooked! Little did I know that brown rice texture is harder compared to white rice. Therefore, the pot of rice turned out half lumpy, like porridge but less water. So left with no choice, we just have to fry it. So it kinda in between fried porridge and lumpy rice. Still rice cooker is the best!!!

Apart from new experiments, we also do the normal dishes such as chicken rice, stir-fry vegetables and rice. You know, the things that our mother normally cook at home. The only thing is, right now we need to dissect mom’s dishes in our mind to figure out what ingredients she put into the dishes in order for us to re-create the dish here on our own. Well, of course sometimes we do call mom up and asked for recipe. But most of the time, we just rely on our own judgement and do “Jamie Oliver” style. *Secukup rasa*

Seriously, asking mom about recipe is pretty much Jamie Oliver style too. Like, would they tell you how much sugar and salt you need to add to your dish? Now you understand me^^

Let’s see what else we have cooked so far…. Erm we cooked bah kut the (yes, we can cook a decent bah kut the ok?), steamed chicken rice, stir-fry chicken in sesame oil, grilled venison steak, salami, fried vermicelli, stir-fried variety of vegetables, ABC soup and et cetera et cetera…

Due to time constraint and limited internet usage, I am unable to load any photos for viewing. For photos of our creations, please view the photo album posted by Dinosaur in FB. You may contact me for more info. I am more than happy to share my knowledge, or lack of it^^

A short note to all

2011-05-09T09:55:00.003+08:00

As usual, I will updates multiple post one shot due to my limitation on the internet usage. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I writing it.

Have fun^^

Mundane life in Opotiki

2011-05-09T09:54:00.001+08:00

It’s been quite sometimes that we are here in Opotiki already. Our everyday life here is like go to work, think what’s the menu for lunch and dinner, watch tv or play mahjong. Haha, yeah we don’t really have much life here as you already expected. Let me try to break down what we did here every day or occasionally.

1) On a good sunny day, we packed our lunch, which mainly consist of bread and some fillings such as tuna mayo or sausages or hashbrowns and head down to the river bank to have a picnic. Our lunches are normally simple, easy to make kind of food to save time. Either we will be having sandwiches or pasta mostly. We only spend more time and effort on our dinner.

2) Occasionally when there’s sales, we will sample some wines and beers. It is one of my wish to sample as much wine and beer as possible here. Short of you labeling me as alcoholic, I would very much like to point out that liquor here is actually really cheap. Definitely cheaper than back at home. Wines here can go as low as NZD6.99/bottle. Beers are ranging between NZD15 – NZD25 for 12 pack bottles. Frankly speaking, drinking liquor here is cheaper than drinking bottled water. No wonder the locals here likes to drink a lot. It is bloody affordable to drink here!

3) On a clear night, the sky here is sprinkled with stars. Literally the whole sky is filled with stars, big or small. As winter is approaching, the sky here’s almost pitch dark by 6pm. Everyday after work, on our drive back home we can see lots of stars. Too bad I’m not good in astronomy so I can’t make out the star shapes or zodiac.

4) Every night, we are kinda glued to the tv. We watched mainly American series from 7:30pm onwards. In fact we practically memorized the series for most days already.
Monday – Amazing Race, CSI Las Vegas
Tuesday – Hell’s Kitchen, CSI Miami
Wednesday – Survivor
Thursday – Bones, Project Runway, The Next Great Restaurant in America
Friday – American Idol
Saturday – American Idol Result

Yup, that’s how we spent our nights here. Watching telly.

5) We tried to limit ourselves to do laundry once a week in order to save on the dryer’s cost. Our house only has a washing machine and no dryer. To dry it, we need to bring our clothes to the town’s laundranette which charges us NZD1 per cycle (Big dryer= 5mins/cycle & Small dryer= 7mins/cycle).

I still remember our first time using the dryer. We thought, “hey, that’s cheap, only NZD1!” Boy, how naïve we were. We didn’t knew then that one cycle is NOT enough to dry our clothes. You need at least 3 – 4 cycles! Which means at least 3 – 4 dollars. If your clothes are quite dry, then you can spend 2 dollars or so.

We didn’t knew then what we know now. No wonder our clothes weren’t dry the first time and we keep putting coins for one cycle and checked our clothes and still it’s not dried, then we insert coin for another cycle and checked again. We repeat the process for 3 – 4 times I think.

That’s our embarrassing but funny experience with the dryer.

6) We watched the news every morning and night to catch up with the current happenings in the world. Also, we keep tracked the weather forecast to speculate on our work schedule. Not only that, we get to save money on the dryer as we now tends to do our laundry on sunny day and leave our clothes to dry on the drying line. Let the sun and wind dries our clothes ^^

That’s all for now. Will update more next time. Bye bye^^

Pipi Harvesting

2011-05-09T09:53:00.002+08:00

We also went to hunt for pipi and cockles at the beach during low tides. Pipi is a local shellfish which is very much similar with our lala, but the pipis here is so much more tasty and the texture is chewy. To collect pipis, you need to go to the popular pipi spot/bed beach during low tide and dig the sand and feel for pipis. You’ll need to go at least knee deep in the water (yes, during low tide) and start digging. The bigger ones are usually in deeper water. Just dig under the stones especially and you’ll get plentiful easily.

You must go on clear days when the water is clean and calm for best result. Normally you will see the locals collecting pipis too. If you went to the right place and see no one, means it’s not a good time as there will be people collecting all the time. Ask the locals for the best spot (in our case it’s in Waiotahi Beach or the Ohiwa Beach). In fact, there’s a signboard confirming the pipi beds too. Per person you can collect 150 pipis and cockles a day. These is quite a big amount already. Only collect the bigger ones and leave the smaller ones back on the water to ensure the ecosystem is not harmed.

For cockles, you practically can find it littered on the beach. You’ll only need to go ankle-deep in the water to find it hidden in the sand. The bigger ones usually is hidden most deep inside the sand.

The cockles here are white fleshed, not red like what we had back at home. It’s still pretty tasty but I kinda prefer the ones we had back at home. Godzilla totally don’t fancy it as pipis are her favourite.

While harvesting pipis, we have to go in the water which is pretty cold. At the same time, we need to brace the winds that keeps blowing. Well, we are at the beach so definitely there’ll be winds but cold wind and cold water is really a challenge to your immune system.

The first time we went to harvest pipis, the wind was really cold and strong and Twister was not in her best state so we decided not to go in the water. But Dinosaur and Godzilla were really gung-ho to harvest pipis hence they went and harvest pipis while we wait at car. The weather was sunny but don’t underestimate the wind man! The wind will really freeze you to your bone!

After the harvesting, Dinosaur immediately felt a little unwell. I guess the heroic attempt at pipi harvest bare-chested is not without consequences. Luckily he recover fast enough after a nap.

The second time pipi harvesting, me and Twister decided to wet our feet and go in the water this time as we probably won’t be doing this anymore because the weather has turn colder day after day. The very next day I felt sick. I knew it then that I had caught a cold. Darn!

Thank god I recover the next day after taking medication. It would definitely be so unwise to fall sick and jeopardizes my work at the packhouse. I would hate to miss a work day and thus missed the pay cheque as well.

Since all these shellfishes are embedded in the sand, we had a hard time trying to clean it and

clear the sand away. This is mostly my job, but even after rinsing it in fresh water and changing water numerous time, there’s still sand in it! Gosh! How do you clean it???

Getting a Job finally^^

2011-05-09T09:51:00.004+08:00

Finally we got a job at a packhouse. Of all the three packhouses in Opotiki, ours is the furthest away…about 7 minutes drive away hahahaha but hey! We got a job!!!

And that’s what matters!

The people that we worked with are all very nice and friendly people. They will teach us the ropes in the packhouse and they will constantly help and guide you. No scolding at all even if you make mistakes. They will simply just guide you again.

It’s a great working environment actually. I don’t think we can find such working environment in Malaysia. Somehow, I can just imagine how the people in Malaysia like to scold you if you make mistakes. Then if you repeat the same mistakes, they’ll probably think ,”gawd, how can this person be so stupid?”

The first two week of work is barely what we imagine. Apparently, packhouse don’t operate all the time. They only can operate when there’s fruit to pack. The fruit pickers can only pick kiwi when the day is good. So the chain reaction starts with a good sunny day for pickers to do their job and us packers can pack the fruit for export.

So whenever it rains, it means we are doomed. No work. No money. Nothing to do. In the first two week, we only work for 2 full days. The management told us that they haven’t really go in full swing as they are awaiting the result and approval from the lab (sugar content in fruit test etc). ONLY when the lab say yes, the fruit is good to go, then only they can really pick and pack the fruits.

WE packed mostly gold kiwi but sometimes also green kiwis in between. WE packed 1st grade fruits and sometimes 2nd grade as well. Work is okay, literally stress-free and easy. A bit monotonous though. As the whole day you are repeatedly doing the same action over and over again. Hey, but the money is good so no complain!

I started off as “packers”, just like everyone else. Gradually, I have been moved to grader’s table and become a “grader”. Not too long later “tray pack” was short of people and I was transferred to help. So for a short time, I was in “tray pack” as well. I am multi-talented aren’t I? Hahahaha but in the end, I am a full time “grader” until some other department in need of help then I will be transferred there. Hahaha sometimes I do feel like I’m a ball that’s been kicked here and there whenever they want.

Personally, I quite like being in “traypack” as it allows more movement and thus my leg won’t feel that painful for standing whole day. The downside though is that “traypack” takes up more energy as well compared to other job. But it’s okay. I take it as a form of exercise to keep fit hehehehehe^^ Oh, if you are fast in your work, you can sit down for awhile, which is a luxury that not many people

Unlike some big company, our packhouse offers the same pay rate for all jobs so… no difference la. As I know, some company pays higher for grader and traypack. But nevermind la, got job also happy dy, cannot complain so much^^

Made many new friends in the packhouse. Some kiwis (New Zealanders, not the fruit) local Maoris, Malaysians, Hong Kong, Czech Republic, Taiwan….and more to come^^

All in all, we are happy here^^

Work rolling in

2011-05-09T09:51:00.003+08:00

Finally work are starting to pour in. In average, we get to work like 3 – 4 days a week. Still not on par with my expectation yet (I was hoping for full swing of 6 days a week!!!) Can’t believe that the whole month of April were gone and yet the packhouse is still not running on full swing??!!!!

Holy shit! There goes my dream of working 6 days a week and earn more dough to support my life here. Damn! One whole month come and goes and still, I am not earning enough. Bad news is, packhouse only works til end of May. If we are lucky, maybe it might drag until first week of June.

And now is already May. We have not even work for more than 4 days a week. This is bad news man! Terrible. And sometimes the weather is not helping either. You see, when it rains here, it practically rains whole day. Rain means no work. No work means no pay. No pay means bad news.

Damn!

Previously I mentioned that we stayed at a self contained apartment in town which comes with free internet. Well, we moved again. This time to a house slightly out of town. Which has no internet. Bummer!

Why do we move again you ask? Well it’s not like we were not happy with the apartment. No, in fact it was great actually. The landlady was great, the apartment is self contained and it is smack right in the middle of the town. It just so happened that we met a Malaysian lady (we shall address her as Ms A) in the library and she is a nice lady that helps us to find a cheaper place to stay.

When she heard that we stayed at the apartment, she kinda freak out. Okay, not really. She freaked us out more like it. She told us that she knew few people that previously stayed there and they claimed that the place is haunted. The “haunted” room JUST had to be the room I’m sharing with Twister. F***!!!!!

Suddenly everyone is very conscious of the place there. Not that we are superstitious or anything but then IF someone just tell you that the room you are residing now is haunted, how would you feel?

As expected, we were disturbed by the news. Like it or not, once the info is out, it’s stuck in our mind. My imagination gets wild at time hurhurhur~

Ms A found us a house and bring us to take a look at it. The house is already occupied by a Chinese (as in China Chinese) lady and a Hong Kong guy who’s leaving in a couple of days. The house itself is pretty much self contained as well and the best thing is, the rent is only HALF of what we are paying for the apartment.

Whereas the apartment is nett rate, the house is not. We have to pay the electricity bill ourselves which we estimated at about NZD10 per week or so. It IS still much cheaper.

Being as thrifty person as us, it is without any doubt that we will move in to the house right away! This means another round of spring cleaning. Seriously, I don’t think I have done so much cleaning in my entire life than what I have done in few weeks here in NZ.

I am so proud of myself. You can’t call me a pampered princess anymore okay? I did my share of cleaning and cooking as well, which is something that I don’t have to do back at home. ^^

Our new house has three bedrooms and one is occupied by the Chinese lady, and the other two is for us. As we need to move in on Friday (our rent ends on Friday at the apartment), we did the spring cleaning on Thursday and move in on Friday morning. Actually, the Hongki still stays there as he’s taking the bus to Auckland to visit his sister on Saturday. We had no choice but to erm, kick him out of his room as Godzilla and Dinosaur will be occupying it.

Poor Hongki had to sleep on couch that night. But hey, our landlady did return his fair share of the rent. This is seriously an unavoidable circumstances. Totally not intended.

Oh! Our new house does not come with pillows and comforters. We had to get our own. This Ms A so happened had four sets of pillow,comforters (they call it duvet here) and bedsheets which she can sell to us cheaply at NZD20 per set.

I am beginning to think that is this some sort of conspiracy scam going on? Short of buying everything brand new, we had no better choice but to buy it from her. When we go and collect the goods, I was quite taken aback when I see that all the pillow cases and duvet covers are the same for all FOUR sets. I mean, why would she had all FOUR SAME DESIGN?

Hello? I was actually thinking it’s gonna be colourful and individual. Definitely not as uniformed as these! Who would buy all same design?? I nonchalantly approached the questions to her and it turns out that these four sets were bought at backpackers in Te Puke which does not provide all these but the tenants had to buy it from them or bring their own.

Therefore, these bed sets belonged to her and her friends when they first came to Te Puke. She assured us that it has only been used for like 2 months max and it’s practically new. Well, for the price we pay, I guess we can’t complain. It’s pretty okay too, it’s like army military design but it’s pink in colour. Talk about a twist of humor in fashion hahahahaha^^

Now that we purchased our own bed sets, guess we will have to bring it with us where ever we go next time. More load for our poor car that was already packed full to the brim previously.

First Trip to Rotorua

2011-05-09T09:49:00.001+08:00

It is Godzilla’s birthday and we went to Rotorua as a treat^^ She’s eager to go so we decided to comply with our birthday girl^^ We made lots of calls for all the packages and things we can do there asking for prices and duration and stuff.

Turn out, we can’t really afford most of their popular activities such as Zorb, White Water Rafting, Geyser pool and so on. All of these are quite expensive especially to people that does not have regular job and income.

In order not to disappoint her, we decided to go still, but kinda more of a window trip. That is, we will go to all the places that are free for sightseeing in order to stretch our moolah hehehehe^^

Rotorua is famous for their geyser but we have not got the opportunity to see one yet. Instead, we visited the geothermal spot in Kuirau Park. The whole park is practically splattered with steams coming out from the mud pools or cracks on the earth. The boiling mud “lake” is really a sight to behold.

Rotorua is really not some town that you will forget easily. The whole town smells of sulphur (geyser, remember?) The wind carries the rotten egg smells everywhere. The time that we went it was rainy day so it wasn’t as bad as I expected. Perhaps the rain somehow reduces the smell I think.

Lake Rotorua is also a beautiful scenic place to visit. A good spot for camwhoring I would say :p Then there’s a famous jade carving shop named Mountain Jade, It’s actually a shop selling all kinds of jade accessories and you can see the carving master doing their magic at the room behind the shop. It has glass windows for everyone to see. I think you can also go in and have a closer look if you ask the shopkeeper nicely J

Let’s see what else we’ve done there… Erm we tried their 3D Maze at somewhere outskirt of Rotorua. It cost us each NZD9 and truth to be told, it’s quite lame. It’s just a maze where you need to find your way to reach the four post at four corner and come out back to the same entrance that you entered earlier. Since it rained the day before, the maze is wet and puddle of water pools everywhere. Despite it being lame, it’s still some activity to kill time with. Seriously, not recommended. Don’t waste your time and money for it. Go for other activities, man.

We had our lunch at a buffet restaurant named Valentine’s. They had a special promotion where you don’t have to pay if it’s your birthday. The condition is that the minimum pax is four. Just nice since there’s four of us^^ The selections aren’t as extensive as some I’ve tried back in Malaysia, but the price is definitely quite affordable.

As for dinner, we had McD’s Dinner Set. (time limit is til 8:00pm) It cost about NZD29.90 and it comes with 2 cheeseburger, 1 Mighty Angus, 1 Grand Angus and four fries and drinks. The drinks is refillable. Yup, all are beef burgers but it really tasted very good. In fact, we all agreed that Mighty Angus is the best. It’s the champion of all^^

McD here don’t just serve burgers like back home. It also serves cakes and some pastries. We got Godzilla some chocolate cake as birthday cake. It taste really good and we finished it up despite being super full. A real satisfying meal I would say.

If you’ll like to know, it’s about 2 hours drive from Opotiki to Rotorua. Along the way, it’s pretty uneventful and the scene is just about the same as everywhere else. You see mountains, hills, orchards, small towns, cows, sheeps, yeah the usual.

We didn’t get to explore Rotorua to our heart content yet therefore you bet we will return again. We will definitely make another trip to Rotorua before we head to south. You can count on it^^

Hellor from NZ

2011-04-27T15:01:00.002+08:00

hey sorry for the uploads in a short while...all have to be load at once as getting internet access is darn tough here...so have fun reading all of the below la..

will upload more whenever i get to go online...

toodles!

opotiki: Part 3

2011-04-27T14:53:00.002+08:00

We have knocked on all three packhouses door in Opotiki but still, no job yet. Apparently, none of the packhouses has started operation yet due to the unusual warm weather they are experiencing hence the fruits not ready yet. Not really a good news for us. But nothing we can do except to wait for calls.

Speaking of calls, phone signals in Opotiki is pretty weak. Most of the time we will missed the calls due to lack of signal here and there. In fact, we have to find places where signals are stronger and angled our phone there. For example, we had to put our phones at the window sills as most of the time, signal there is slighter better.

Because of weak phone signal, we actually missed a job opportunity in Te Puke. When we received the SMS saying we had miscalled, immediately we called back but unfortunately, the person behind the phone said we were too late since we missed the call, they already called other people. Darn!

For that day, I was actually quite down lor…so sad that we actually missed a job opportunity. In uncertainty time like this, we cannot afford to miss job as our finance is getting low. However, since we already missed it, we have no choice but stay positive and hope for the best in Opotiki.

Thanks to Rachel, we managed to move 3 doors down the street from our backpacker to another backpacker, which is so much more better as we get to have the whole 3-room apartment to ourselves at the price 40.00 dollar cheaper than what we are paying now.

THIS IS A STEAL ISN’T?????

We spent a day to totally spring clean the whole apartment so that we will be comfortable there since it will be our hive for some time^^ Whatever is missing/needed we can always get it from the owner and she’s a kind lady that will provide us whatever we need. Not only that, we get to have the internet service for FREEEEEEEEEEE~~~~

This is what I call a bargain!!!!! When I heard that we can use the internet, I feel like I was on cloud nine! This is really too good to be true! We can finally connect to the world once again!

Our neighbour so happens is a Malaysian couple as well. Pretty interesting right how all Malaysian will meet each other one way or another. I was quite surprise that there’s quite a number of Malaysian in Opotiki actually as it’s a small town after all.

We were called to attend an induction by one of the packhouses here. An induction actually means a short briefing on the company dos and don’ts, the work process and procedures and finally a tour on the factory itself. It does not quaranty work, but it means you are put on “on-call list”. If they need people, they will ring you up.

Means still no job yet. Still need to wait for phone calls. Still desperate. Still free and easy. Still can play mahjong whenever we want. Yes, mahjong. Yours truly has been corrupted by them to learn and play mahjong. Learnt the basic rules already but not very good at it yet. Most of the time I’m on draught season (losing). Luckily no money involves hahahahaha^^

PHONE FASTER RING AND JOB FASTER KNOCK ON OUR DOOR ANYTIME NOW PLEASE~ !!!

Opotiki:Part 2

2011-04-27T14:53:00.001+08:00

One fine Sunday we decided to explore what Opotiki has to offer. We decided to take a walk at Hukutaia Domain. It’s a small jungle and you walk on the trail to see birds, trees, leaves, well you know, nature? It takes approximately 30 minutes or so. A very easy relaxing nature walk for all ages.

On our way there, we passed by a honey farm of some sort. Called Hikutaia Honey. On the back of my mind I was thinking, “can we visit it?” Should be fun isn’t it?

So once we were done with the Hukutaia Domain, I suggested to them, what about make a stop on Hikutaia Honey on our way back?

And this is the beginning of our good fortune. Really.

You see, we make a stop there and enquiring if we can have a look at the honey making process but unfortunately, it was Sunday and they are not open. They were actually cleaning up the place when we arrived. Small talks and we found out that the owner’s daughter-in-law is also from Malaysia! What a coincidence right?

You see, that’s kinda make a bridge you know, seeing that we are also from Malaysia kinda makes us feel more connected. In fact the owner, Allan said if we want to, we can drop by again on Monday, when the farm is in operation so we can see the whole process ourselves.

You bet we do return. We make a date at 10am on Monday, however we were ahem, a little late. Hahahaha typical Malaysian I know ;p *blushing*

Allan was saying how his daughter-in-law must be glad to see Msians so he called her up and she was there too to meet us. Her name’s Rachel and she’s from Sabah. A very sweet nice lady.

The day before, Allan did tour us around and explained the process to us already. However, hearing it and seeing it in operation is really kinda cool.

The process goes from this, collect honey from the hives, and the honey comb is separated from wax and honey. Then the honey on the honey comb is put into a centrifuge to distilled the “pure honey” and yada yada yada…Finally it’s packed in jars and ready for consumption.

Each batch of honey they keep some sample and also send it for tested in the lab. This is what we called quality controlled, people! Mainly, they sell their honeys in drums to big players in the field. The honey wax is not left for wasted as well. It’s compressed and packed in blocks and sold to people that makes candles, soaps, handcrafts etc.

I’ve seen the wax blocks in golden yellow and brown colour. And the honey also has different colours ranges from light clear golden liquid to dark brown. We were told that they import the honey queen from Japan (if I not mistaken) Also, we were enlightened on the process of “raising” a bee hives, how to keep them survives during the winter, texture of honey from liquid to crystallized and more.

Allan showed us the queen bee and frankly speaking, I was a little disappointed as I thought queen bee is gigantic in size but it turn out nahhh….it was just slighter bigger than the regular bees. That’s all. Not as gigantic as I imagined, but bigger than the average ones lar…

Before we left, Allan was so generous and gave us two jars of honey. Yippie!!! Honey for FREEEEEEE~~~~ That’s fortune number One.

Fortune Number Two:

Rachel invited us all to her house for dinner. At first this seems like a polite offer but gosh! She really meant it. You see, later that day we were all crowded at the public phone booth right outside our backpacker and suddenly a car stopped by and a man asked Dinosaur “are you Malaysians?”

We were like, Uh-oh, what had we done? What’s going on? Dinosaur was like, “yeah~” and the man introduced himself as Steve, Rachel’s husband.

Upon hearing that then only can we release our breath with relief! Whoosh! Steve extended the invitation from Rachel to have us as their guests for dinner tonight. He said Rachel will come and picked us up at six.

At six, Rachel’s right at the front of our backpacker in her white sport-ish car. A Commodore. The interior is sleek black and red leather. Real cool. A lady vroom vroom in that baby is real classy lor~ Gaya~~

Her house is a little outskirt and beautifully surrounded by trees and kiwi orchards. In fact right behind her house is an orchard already. We take a peek at the orchard of course as it’s probably our only chance to get into an orchard. Unless we work in orchard of course, but I hoped not! Everyone’s been telling me working in orchard is really hard work.

Rachel and Steve’s house is charming and the view from it is even better. When we entered her house, we see many miniature aircrafts and helicopters model in a glass cabinet. Then we found out that Steve’s a helicopter pilot. That explains the models^^

Not only we had delicious dinner, we met their delightful daughter, Mia too. It’s really great to feel that you have friends in foreign land like this. It feels like you found some extended family members.

While we were chilling out at her place, we see some video clips on venison hunting made by Rachel with Steve as the pilot. Before we left, Steve gave us some venison meat and salami to sample.

All these good fortunes befall ever since we stepped into Hikutaia Honey Farm. It really feels like lady luck is indeed beaming down at us.

God bless!

Opotiki: Part 1

2011-04-27T14:47:00.000+08:00

We stopped at Whakatane for just a day or two. Then we head further down to another smaller town: Opotiki.

Opotiki is so small a town that everyone practically knows everyone else’s business. It’s practically only few rows of shops in the town and that’s about it. It’s charming though how such small town is self sufficient. You’ll have almost everything you need here so you don’t have to go elsewhere. Almost.

Except the fact that we are Asian and we loved our Asian food the most, so we kinda lack of certain Chinese seasonings here in Opotiki supermarket, New World. Having said that, it’s still not bad here but of course as it is a small town, not much choices is available but heck, beggar can’t be chooser!

Personally, I don’t think New World is all that cheap as I kinda prefer Countdown. However, Opotiki only have New World and 4Square… so I guess it’s the lesser devil we know!

We spent the first week in a backpacker here; Central Oasis. It’s relatively cheaper compared to Auckland and Whakatane and they have “special price” for weekly rate. Maybe it’s because it’s a small town hence the rate is cheaper but it’s good news no?

The people at Central Oasis are very nice and friendly. In fact, we met a few nice people that stayed there too. In between dinners, we managed to get a few pointers and tips from them. From them I realized that many people in the world do travel around the world just like that. Like me, everyone put their life, career, family etc on hold and go explore the world. Some came from as far as Austria and Italy.

Opotiki is very near the beach therefore on our free days, we go explored the nearby attraction. We went to Snell Beach, Waiotahi Beach and also Ohiwa Beach. One of the things we realized here is that generally people don’t sell fishes here. Even if they do, it cost a bomb!

From the owner of the backpackers, we found out that people here normally catches their own fish. In fact, people here are so nice that if they caught more than they need, they will give away the rest to friends and neighbours. No money exchanged.

Sweet isn’t?

Godzilla was adamant wanted to try fishing but too bad we don’t have any fishing rod. Buying one would be ridiculous as its expensive and God! Where are we gonna store it? Our car is packed to the brim as it is already. Add more things? Oh NO! This is catastrophe man!

Frankly speaking, staying here in Central Oasis is not exactly the best I had experienced so far. However it is the only backpackers listed in BBH so… not exactly much choice for us. Our room is relatively bigger with 2 mini wardrobes for me and Twister. Dinosaur and Godzilla’s room is smaller but comfier, prettier.

Our room is located near the back of the house so not much sunlight can get it therefore personally I think the air smells a little musty. I can’t stand the odor therefore I ended up purchased a bottle of air freshener to “freshen” up the room. Apart from that, I accidently found out that the room is not very clean as near the bed headboard, there’s cobweb! GROSS to the max I tell you when my hand accidently touches it!

Err the pillow is damn thin and lumpy and I practically felt like I slept without one. Since our room is next to the owner’s kitchen, each night when I go bath I felt that my towel smells of cooking. Haiz

Again, this is just my personally opinion and experience. The rest of my friends doesn’t seems to be affected by it. Other than the few I have mentioned above, I don’t have much complain already.

Right at the garden of our backpacker, there’s an apple tree that grows full of apples. In fact apples practically dropped to the ground everywhere and no one picks it up. Finally the owner picks it up and offers it to all.

Apples for FREEEEEEEE~~~~~ wee~~~

A stop at Whakatane

2011-04-08T06:33:00.001+08:00

On our 4^th day here in NZ (Wednesday, March 23, 2011) we moved from Auckland to a small town in Bay of Plenty – Whakatane. Reason being is to hunt for jobs. As now is the harvest season, we were hoping we can get a job in the packing houses or even the orchard work like picking.

Upon researching, it seems that there are lots of kiwi orchards in the Bay of Plenty. So finger cross that we will land ourselves a job pretty soon. I know it will be tough to work on the orchard as fruit picker, but I have never tried it before. To be honest, I was hoping I can have this experience. I know it will be tough and I’ll probably cry at the end of the day, but I still wish I will be able to do it, even if just for a short temporary time. Even a day will do.

I just want the experience of it. Whereas, working in the packing houses would be much much more easier as you are based in a factory, sheltered from the wind, sun and rain. I was told it’s very monotonous though. But still, it’s the money that I’m after. I don’t care how, but I just want the end results (or rewards) hehehehehe^^

The very next day, we woke up early and drove all the way to Te Puke and Edgecumbe hunting for all listed pack houses that we can get our hands on. We spent the whole day going from one packhouse to another and enquiring about seasonal job opportunity and dropping our applications. Forms after forms were filled and we wrote our names on the waiting list.

Most of the answers we get were pretty negative actually. Either we are told it’s full or there’s no opening at the moment. Most of the packhouses has not started operation yet due to the fruits are not ripe yet. We were told that the summer was unexpectedly warm so the fruits were affected. Some says the weather of late is the worst that they have experience for the past 10 years!

Imagine that! They say this year is the slowest for the packhouse. Usually, the operation would have been up and running by mid of March. And now’s end of March. If we are selected, they will ring us up. So we are waiting for calls everyday…

From the guide books, it is stated that Whakatane is the sunniest town in NZ. I gotta agree, it’s balmy here. However, as it’s somewhat down south compared to Auckland, hence the wind here is so much more chilly. At night, the temperature is quite cold and the wind. The wind is really a force to reckon with. The wind is cold!

Whakatane town is quite self contained as it is. It has 3 major fastfood chain, namely Burger King, McDonald and KFC. Oh and we did our grocery shoppings at Pak&Save. It’s so near to our backpacker house (Karibu), like only 5 mins walk.

The Manager of Karibu, Chief, is a big burly guy. He’s a nice quy really. Before we left Auckland, Uncle Tan C gave us some local fruits – feijoas. It’s sized like a lime, but less sour. It’s under the umbrella of pomelo I think. Sorry, didn’t bother to check out the facts.

You eat feijoas with a small spoon. Cut it into half and dig out the “flesh and seeds” with the spoon. Kinda like another fruit I know but I don’t know the name of it. In Chinese it’s called “bai xiang guo” I think. Not really sure. Don’t quote me!

Walking day at Auckland City

2011-04-06T12:49:00.000+08:00

Open bank account : checked!

Apply for IRD : checked!

So what else to do?

We have a day to kill before we head to next town to hunt for jobs. So we went to Auckland City yippie!

BY FOOT. *

Yeah, we (me, Twister, Godzilla and Dinosaur) walked from our hostel to Mt Eden which is like, 15 minutes away and the walk to the peak is like another 15 minutes. Upon reaching the peak, we saw a great huge crater, and a few smaller ones. Also, we get a breathtaking view of the whole Auckland city. It’s pretty windy at the top. The climb up/down the mountain is pretty easy and convenient as there are well made tracks for all. It is not a steep climb, but for someone like me who doesn’t have much stamina, I gotta take it slow lol~

To make things worse, it is the time of the month for me. Those who knows me well knew that I always have some “problems” when the time due. So, such a strenuous activity on my first day, is really not exactly the best plan. But still, I endeavor and I made it!

My impression of Auckland City is….well, it’s a city. A nice, clean city. It does not have many high sky scrapper building like Kuala Lumpur. In fact, most of the buildings are like single storey or double story high mostly. I think those high buildings are probably only 10 storeys max? Not too sure, but yeah really not much high buildings around.

Houses in Mt Eden and Auckland are mostly made from woods. Probably only those really rich ones had houses made from bricks. Again, it’s mostly single storey or double storeys. What I like about their houses is the unique designs. The Kiwis probably buy the land, design and built the houses themselves. Some even had a garage! Cool^^

Not only that, the best thing is, public toilets are really really clean (it doesn’t stink) and there’s toilet paper in it. This is something you really can’t find anywhere else in Malaysia. I don’t think I would like to visit public toilets in Malaysia if I can help it!

The Kiwis are generally very courteous and law abiding citizens. Most of them will greet you warmly on the streets even if you don’t know them. The school kids too will greet you hello. Very warm and hospitable lot!

Walking around Auckland City is fairly easy with a map. It’s a little taxing though as it’s steep one minute and flat terrain the next. You probably feel like walking up and down a hill all the time as you explore Auckland City. It’s a good exercise. There’s proper pedestrian walkway and the road conditions are superb.

Remember to lather on sunscreen though, as it’s pretty hot there.

Naturally, if you are at Auckland, you must visit the Sky Tower. Although it is miniature if compared to our KL Tower, but it is still a must go. I have not been up the tower yet though due to financial constrain, but I’ll be back!!!

Oh what else have I done? Yeah I visited the AUT (University of Auckland). It’s really huge. It’s probably bigger than our UM (University of Malaya) and the buildings architecture are really great. Very western-ly and pretty. The landscape around is also quite spectacular and on a good sunny day, you’ll see many people sitting on the grass chatting, reading books and sun bathing at the same time.

The atmosphere here is really relaxing. You won’t feel the study/exam stress here^^

In the late afternoon, we walked back to Mt Eden (under the scorching sun). Walking in Auckland is really quite easy if you have the energy/stamina/urge for it. It’s a great way to save money on petrol or public buses. Moreover, we go green!!! Yay!!!

Oh, and Auckland is generally very very clean. There’s hardly rubbish littered around. Also, hardly you’ll see stray cats and dogs roaming the streets. The people here are really into recycling. They have bins prepared separately for papers/tins/glasses etc.

It’s part of giving back to nature. Go GREEN^^v

Byebye home, hello NZ~

2011-04-06T12:47:00.001+08:00

I tried spending my last week with my loved ones as much as possible before I depart for NZ. As the date draws nearer and nearer, I was still very calm and unaffected. It was like nothing to me, to be going off to a foreign land for 6 months or so.

For someone who has never been away from home for more than two weeks in her entire life, I did not break down and cry in the airport when all family and friends came to send us off. *Thanks guys! It was really sweet of you!I THOUGHT that I would cry like a babe but turns out, nope, not a drop. Sometimes, I’m amazed with myself too.

I must have been tougher than I looked. Lolx~

Without realising it, I have practically survived a week here in NZ. Rejoice!!! Hooray to that!!!! If I can survive til Monday, I think I can unashamedly declare myself a survivor hurhurhur~~~ Why? That’s for another post;p

My flight here for KUL to AUK was pretty uneventful, doing the normal things you do in a flight. It was bright and sunny when we touchdown Auckland, and the weather was not really cold at all.

And I had my jacket on. How smart of me. I was practically roasted.

Checked in to Pentlands Hostel in Mt Eden, which is like a true gem! It was like, only 10 minutes walk to the supermarket which is great to get our grocery stuffs. Did I mention the Countdown Supermarket is open 24/7?

B.L.I.S.S.

Mt Eden boasts a small town that has all the necessary things you need eg: post office, banks, supermarket, food outlets, internet café, hmmm what else you need?

Oh, I have no idea how long it takes from the airport to Mt Eden as I was practically asleep on my way there. A result of only getting 3 hours worth of sleep on my flight. (despite it was a 10 hour long night flight)

The people here are very friendly and we made a few new friends too in the backpackers hostel that we stayed in. It was cool! The angel must be smiling down on us as we get to know a HK lady who’s about to leave NZ. She gave us all her seasonings! Now we can save on seasoning as well^^v

Only stayed at Pentlands for 3 nights, but it does feels like home away from home. Oh, as of March 2011, BBH members’ rate is NZD24/night. It is not the cheapest I know, but I think it’s worth every penny of it.

That’s my two cent.

toodles~

I am Number Four

2011-03-07T17:41:00.010+08:00

Tadaaa~~~ Again I managed to catch a movie during the weekend. Thanks to my lovely colleague Grace for sponsoring 2 free movie tickets to me. Due to limiting factors, I watched I AM NUMBER FOUR.

And I never regret my decision at all. Gosh, I didn't know who is Alex Pettyfer before this but now I sure do. Alex Pettyfer is a hunk!

Gorgeous hunk *drool*

Okay, basically this movie is adapted from some novel about a teenage boy who's not exactly your average boy because he's an alien. In human form. Yeah don't ask me why. His planet was destroyed by bad guys and only nine young boys and girls managed to fled to earth. They are the future hope of the planet Lorien as each of them are unique and holds special power.

Each of them has a guardian to keep them safe on earth. So maybe not nine survivor after all. Make it eighteen. Each guardian for each kid.

He's just like any average boy except that he has some supernatural power. His power comes from his hand, or palm to be specific. He has super strength which is so not human.

And his supernatural palms can double up as torch light in the dark as well. Kinda cool huh? Very useful when the power supply is cut off hurhurhur~~~

Cool huh?

All his life he's hiding in random places with alias names to avoid being tracked down by some other alien serial killer. Three of his predecessor has been tracked down and killed. And our hunk is next on the list. He is Number Four after all.

As the alien is very organized, they kill in numerical order. So our hunk Number Four is next on list. His guardian makes him run and hide in new place again. This time, he uses the alias John Smith.

How original.

Reckon it will not be a hit with the girls. Heck, John Smith? Can't the write do better than this?

Naturally, like human, alien falls in love too. The only difference is, this alien from this certain planet Lorien, will only fall in love once in their whole life (not sure how long is that though).

So lucky Sarah (Dianna Agron) to have this hunk fallen head over heel for you. Best thing is, you don't have to worry about his straying eyes or inconsistent heart. He's all yours.

But then again, which human sic alien wouldn't fall in love with her? She's real pretty there^^

I'll fall in love with her too if I am a boy.

Good news for all the boys out there as this movie not only does it have one gorgeous hunk, it boast TWO pretty ladies as well.

Another tough babe on the screen: Teresa Palmer a.k.a Number Six

Hot chick riding Ducati. How much hotter can it get?

I can't wait for I am Number FIVE!!!!

Show me...Burlesque!

2011-02-25T16:18:00.022+08:00

Surprise!

I watched Burlesque^^ In the cinema no less...

Never thought I would actually pay money and watch this movie in cinema but nonetheless that's what I did. I mean, no offense here, but, what do you expect when the main casts are Cher and Christina Aguilera?

Well, to me, not much. In fact I watched Burlesque simply because it's the only show that has bean seats in TGV. So yeah, it's a choice born out of no choice.

However, 15 minutes into the movie, I actually think "hey, this is actually not bad!"

Serious! I never see X-Tina in those light before. I almost couldn't recognise her at all. In her character, Ali, she's this bubbly country girl trying to makes end meet in L.A. So totally not like the cool X-Tina that we all know.

And Cher. In her character Tess, she's the owner of Burlesque Club who's a drinker, never-took-life-seriously-girl-that-cry-at-the-drop-of-a-hat woman.

Phew! What a combination you say?

The storyline though is nothing to be shout of. It's rather mediocre actually but the acting, singing and dancing by all the cast members nonetheless make up for the bland storyline. The costumes are quite eye catching as well. Really, really, sexy, purrr...

The story is pretty revolving around Ali (X-Tina) a small town girl trying to make it big in the entertainment industry, stumbled upon Burlesque Club. She was mesmerized with what she saw and she decided that she wants to be part of Burlesque.

The story goes on to show how Tess who initially opposed Ali to join her club, later on relented as she sees raw talent in her. What movie can be complete without a male hunk to make all us girls go ga-ga over?

Introducing Cam Gigandet, as the male lead in this movie, Jack the bartender. Gorgeous hunk.

I'm sure all ladies out there are salivating watching him in his birthday suit. Damn, he's got a HAWT body there.

In case you are wondering who is Cam Gigandet, he acted as James the vampire tracker in Twilight. He was a gorgeous hunk then too^^ *drool*

So go on and watch this movie if you want a light entertaining show. If you are the sort that liked Moulin Rouge (Nicole Kidman) you are sure mesmerized by Burlesque. All the singing and dancing choreography was fantastic. Thumbs up for X-Tina and the Burlesque's girls.

Don't just take my word for it. Judge it yourself.

"Show me how you Burlesque"

purrrr~ meow~

omo omo...dasi? wae?

2011-02-17T16:43:00.004+08:00

I have exactly one month and counting before D-day arrives. Of course I am very excited and totally can't wait for the day to arrive. Nothing can stop me now^^

However, despite that, my mood is slightly dampened by some offhand remarks from friends or relatives alike. I can understand that why older generation uncles aunties don't understand nor agree with me. But people my age? Why they don't understand me either? Why? There's no generation gap already, so why the remarks?

Seriously, to this day I receives lots of remarks that sounded very ignorant. Frankly speaking, why are there such ignorant people around? Naturally, they don't mean it in an evil way yada yada yada....but still...it's a party pooper ya'know?

Despite me saying I will not be bothered by those ignorant fools, but I am slightly pissed off. Not that I should care, but still, can't say I like it.

Seriously guys, if you have nothing nice to say, might as well don't even say anything right? Just close your big mouth shut and world peace~

p/s: a quick korean tutorial for ya! Dasi=again, Wae=why

Weather Today

2011-01-27T15:55:00.003+08:00

Hello everbody! Today's topic is - Weather.

Lately the weather in Klang Valley is so unpredictable. Normally, when it is close to Chinese New Year, the weather would be hot and sunny all day long. But, right now the weather is gloomy and and the sky constantly threatened to pour.

Not only are the clothes on the line not drying properly, rainy day makes the traffic congestion highly unbearable as well. Gloomy grey sky makes your spirit down as well.

Let me share with you the epitome story of unpredictable weather that I have just recently experience it for myself.

Sit back, grab a cup and enjoy. . .

This afternoon, my colleague and I went to SS2 PJ for lunch. In the midst of luncheon, it rained.

Fine.

We waited until the rain stopped and once it did, we quickly foot the bill with every intention to walk to our car which was parked nearby. We just managed to step out from the eatery shop and two steps later, it rained again. On us.

Not some pitter patter rain, but pouring type of rain. Imagine our comical expression as we dashed back into the shelter of the eatery shop. I'm sure we had this bewildered look on our face as we contemplate our ridiculous situation.

We were wet and I am sure we looked pretty ridiculous for all the patrons there. Seriously, this is really unexpected. It was fine and the rain had stopped..... until the moment we step out from the shop then the sky suddenly pouring rain again without any warning.

Then, less then 3 minutes later, the rain practically stop again. Like, is this a prank or something? Did we just got wet for nothing?

The employees there are symphathetic with our plight and they offer us umbrella. So sweet of them. Despite their food is just so-so, but their service is definitely worth 5 star!

So here you go. My story of the unpredictable weather. I'm sure at this moment I am more than qualified to talk on this subject

LOL!!!

Retail Therapy

2011-01-13T17:23:00.002+08:00

There's this weird habit of mine that I never given it a thought until yesterday. You see, everytime I went out shopping and buy new clothes, I don't immediately wash it and wear it, like the next day.

In fact, what I normally do is I'll put the shopping bag/plastic with the purchase (tag intact) aside at some corner in my room. Until when I feel like it, then I'll search for it and wash it before wearing it.

This is customary for me to wash all my new clothes (lingeries especially) prior to wearing. I find it more hygienic this way. Who knows how many people had tried on the shirts that I just bought?

I think this started eversince I read a forward mail that claims a lady's boob was infested with weird unknown "worm" that were gross to the max!!!!! I do not know whether the photos were real or doctored, but a close up photos of the "infested area" was so gross that the image haunted me for nights.

I don't think I really forgotten about it. Thank God the image is hazy in my mind now or I'll shudder each time I involuntarily think of it. I'm having goosebumps now as I type.

Okay, so back to my problems at hand.

I never once thought that I will have any problem with my little habit as I can always keep track of my purchases. I know what I pay my hard earned money for. I definitely do, don't I?

Apparently, I do forget over time. Must be the age factor. Really, what else can it be? It can't be that I bought too much! Nonsense! There's no such thing as too much. Ho Ho! I am a sensible shopper who buys necessary stuff only.

I do think before I buy okay? i don't indulge in buying like a headless chicken okay???? I consider myself as a sensible shopper *weeee*

So anyway, as yesterday I take out part of my purchase for washing, I realized that there are some "items" which I have conveniently forgot I actually bought! In fact prior to this I was still lamenting that I do not have enough long sleeves shirts for my trip abroad. I have "calculated" wrongly.

Suddenly, my collection of long sleeves shirts are sufficient. You see, I almost never wear any long sleeves shirts save for school uniform or formal business attire. I always thought I looked gawdy in long sleeves therefore I never bother about it. After all, Malaysia is warm enough not to wear long sleeves anyway.

Many years ago, I bought a long sleeves black shirt once as I was going to Genting at night with friends. I looked horrible in it. Suffice to say, I never wore long sleeves shirt anymore.

Let's hope as the years gone by, I will look relatively decent in long sleeves shirts now. Eversince I started watching Korean dramas again, I was mesmerised by the actresses' attire which were mostly long sleeves since Korea is pretty cold.

To be truthful, this year my goal is to change my image. My current admired image persona is Jang Nara in "Wedding" drama. I wanna be as cute and dress as well as she ^^v

News for New Year 2011

2011-01-05T11:46:00.002+08:00

My first entry for 2011 !! weeeeeee!!!!!!!!

How's life so far? Oh well, for me work has started to pile in. It's just a matter of time before I'm drowned with works. Haha well, I guess I could have either speed up my work or put in more hours. Hmm, I guess that does not leave me much time to blog or FB anymore...

Today was like a mad circus day for me. Too much information to digest and too much things to do in such a short time. God! I don't think 24 hours is enough for me!

Suddenly I'm thrown off feet by an ex-colleague that says I need to register as an income tax payer. Though I remembered my friend's mom once said that my salary has not reached the line where I need to pay tax. However, I am in uncertainties now.

Gosh! How difficult can life be?

Not only that, I just found out today that PTPTN attempt to change the rates from 3% to 1% is typically a scam.

No, NOT that it does not do that, it does. However there are some very fine prints that many people might overlooked. And THESE fine prints are deadly. Trust me.

It goes something like this " If you want to enjoy the interest rate of 1%, then kindly forfeit your right of going abroad. IF you insist of going abroad, say for whatever reason study/work/holiday, you are required to inform, read APPLY for permission from PTPTN first. THREE MONTHS BEFORE YOUR INTENDED DEPARTURE DATE.

Of course there is exception. To avoid abovesaid hassle, you may opt to settle the loans in FULL. Then you are a free man.

Duh! Like, if I had that lump sum of money, why would I borrow from PTPTN in the first place?

So in conclusion is, to enjoy 1% interest rate, there will no longer be any inpromptu trip to Thailand/Singapore/Bali or any part of the world for the matter. Everything needs to be planned AT LEAST 3 months ahead.

Oh, with the speed of our g*vt workers, better make it 6 months in advance just in case. I'm sure you do not want to be detained by the Immigration Office prior to your departure right?

I think, this is their way of tying people down to avoid those who did not pay back the loan. By joining force with the Immigration Dept.

Hey! but don't you think this is a little unfair for those who paid diligently?

A penny for the thought. . .

I had a dream

2010-12-24T10:06:00.004+08:00

My goodness! I can't believe I dreamed what I dreamed yesterday night! This dream of mine is totally out of the blue and I have no idea why he suddenly appeared in my dream. Where on earth did this Mr X spurred out from????

We are like, so history. I haven't seen him for the pass 5 years I think. Despite we practically lives in the same city, however I don't think we have ever bump into each other before. Okay, maybe we did coincidently appear in the same vicinity once. And that once, I walked the opposite direction once I realised it's him. Don't think that he saw me though.

Haha seriously, I have no idea why I did what I did then. I think it's to avoid the weird atmosphere where once you make known that you saw each other, then you try to make small talks out of politeness/courtesy/whatever. I think it's weird.

Confirmed weird lor!!!

Well, I guessed 5 years ago we did not really part on good term. So maybe this explains why I think it would be weird if we were to meet again. But anyway, when it comes to exes, I admit I do tend to protrays weird behaviours all the time. Most of it I can't explained why I did it, but at the spur of the moment I will just do the weirdest thing. Like, runaway from a confrontation?

Does that count?

I guess I really don't know how to handle exes well. I admire those who can maintain healthy friendship with their exes. i never did with mine. I don't know if this is good or bad thing. I don't particularly wish to befriended my exes back, but at times, I can't help but to think, hey, should I?

Nope, I still don't have THE answer.

The only justifiable answer I can find is that I don't really have the fortunate/unfortunate to meet back my exes face to face in situation that we are complied to acknowledge each other. Maybe by then I will know if I can befriended them. Or not.

Okay, so maybe there is this particulat ex of mine that I have met before in the past after we broken up. Let's call him Mr T. He wishes to resume our friendship relationship but due to some reason which purported us to fell off, I can't seemed to get over it. Therefore, I reject his offer, coldly. Yeah I guess I still hate him. Hate what he did to me before and my classic line is "I forgive, but I don't forget"

Muahahahahaha........

Okay, somehow I just can't find it in my heart to befriend this loser. In fact, now that I think back, I can't believe why on earth would I "fall in love" with him in the first place. Blame it on my naivetee and youth. I was an idiot back then. I must be. Enuff said.

Eversince I had this dream of Mr X, I found myself thinking, what if one day out of pure coincidence we unavoidedly bump into each other? Or worst scenario still, we are to be colleague in the same company. Hahahaha this should be interesting.

I think my reaction would really be interesting. I wonder how would I react/behave? Would I be friendly and gay? Or would I freak out and distance myself??? Hahahaha given my tendency to do the stupidest things when it comes to exes, I have no idea LOL!!!

Yup, I guess that would be really, really interesting.

Wedding 2005

2010-12-14T10:16:00.009+08:00

Currently, I am totally addicted to Korean dramas and movies and OSTs. Like, a huge Korean wave, I'm telling you! Super hooked!

I had just finished a drama "Wedding" recently and I'm so in love with it. It's a quite old drama, dated to 2005 actually. As it was released the same year as "My Girl", hence it was kinda underrated.

Honestly speaking, this was quite a nice drama. It dwelt on a more serious issue of marriage life. Instead of fairy-tale-happy-ending, this drama gives an in sight of how marriage works. It takes a lot to sustain a marriage.

"Wedding" is a drama that practically starts with a wedding between a couple (Jang Nara and Ryu Shi Won). Theirs is considered an arranged marriage hence "love" was not in the equation. At first. Haha this is afterall a love drama, so sooner or later love is thrown into the equation. It has to!

The drama unfolds with the groom - Seungwoo, still holding a torch for his "first/only love of his life" but entered a marriage with the hope to achieve happiness. The bride - Sena, has fallen head over heels for the groom and despite knowing that he does not share her feeling, proceed with the wedding. Her hope is to one day, make Seungwoo falls for her.

Apart from the wedding that binds them together, they are as diferent from each other as the sun and the moon. Sena is a bright girl coming from a wealthy family that has never faced any hardship before in her life. Seungwoo, a diplomat that comes from a humble family background whom intends to do everything - the right way.

They both tried to lead a happy life together but alas, life is not a bed of roses. This is a drama afterall. Both of them carries a dark secret that will bound to ruin their "happy life" together. Once the secrets are revealed, all hell breaks lose!

The question is: What do you think is the most important thing in a marriage?

Watch it and you might like it. Well I do. In fact, I think I liked Jang Nara more now. I think both Jang Nara and Ryu Shi Won had delivered well in this drama.

Ooohhh I especially loved the OST! I loved Sena's parents too! They are just so cute together. Truly the epithome of great marriage.

Disclaimer: All photos are taken from Google and not by any means belonged to me.

Nightmares

2010-11-26T09:59:00.002+08:00

I am so darn sleepy today. Goodness gracious! I did not have a good sleep yesterday. In fact, I had nightmares!

At one point of the night, I woke up to find a sore, stiff neck because my pillow is no longer cushioning my head. My pillow was actually "stolen" away from me n flung off a side. No prize quessing who's deed. Not the first time anyway *sweat*

Then throughout the night I had nightmares. I dreamt that I was on the verge of not making it to my flight. In fact, I was late and yet still at home and not at the airport yet. Furthermore, I had not packed my bag. I was in a state of panic already.

Then the dream jump to another scene where I have not tender my resignation and I was about to fly. Again I was in a panic state as I have just realised that I have make a wrong flight booking on the date or that I have neglected to inform my management about it.

Just about any possible bad things that might happened before I can actually board the flight, happened in my dreams.

So imagine my horror!

This is really a bad, bad dream.!

I wonder why would I dreamt all these things now? Is it some sort of unconscious wake up call? So that I shouldn't procrastinate so much?

Let's just hope, by March come, everything will be smooth sailing please.

Good bless!

Harry Potter (part 1)

2010-11-18T16:45:00.004+08:00

Went and watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows yesterday with bro and Sly. Ahem, Iron Dinosaur and Godzilla were there too, albeit slightly behind because we booked the ticket differently. Ahem, well, things happened :p

It was an okay sort of movie, well a typical Harry Potter movie, if you know what I mean. Apparently the last installment of the Harry Potter series was way too thick hence they break it into two parts in the movie. Another way for the producers to earn more.

To be honest, this Harry Potter thing had been going on for more than 10 years. So naturally, I have forgotten most of the story already. In fact, I think I stopped reading the book years ago. I thinked I stopped at the 5th book...Whatever!

Honestly speaking, apart from Hermione, whom is a great beauty, I can hardly dub Harry Potter or Ron Weasley as handsome. In want of a better word, they both looked kinda average. And I think I am being generous here muahahahaha.

Heck, at times I don't understand the relationship shared between Harry and Hermione as well. It is well known that Hermione liked Ron, and her affection is returned. Yet, I think Harry is still kinda confused about his relationship with them. One moment Harry is kissing Ginny (Ron's youngest sister) and next Harry is gazing longingly at Hermione.

Get a grip! What on earth are you thinking, Harry Potter???

Oh, there's plus point for knowing how to use magic. I particularly liked Hermione's small burgundy reticule. It may be a small delicate thing on the outlook, but it sure goes deep inside. It reminds me so much of the Doraemon's pocket. YOU can find all sorts of things in Doraemon's pocket. And so does Hermione's reticule. Cool!

Another thing that I liked in the movie is the tent. Seriously, from the outlook, the tent looked very very normal and small. However, the inside is well equiped. Not surprisingly, the inside of the tent is spacious, complete with wooden table, chairs and bed. Make you wished you had magic too, don't ya?

Broke, again

2010-11-09T10:16:00.007+08:00

It's barely a week since I got my paycheque and I am broke again. *Bummer!* I don't know how on earth does money slips away from my hand -.-" I guess it's back to bread and water for the remaining of the month (which is like, 3 more weeks to go).

Went to Penang to spent my holiday with my dear and not surprisingly, we went on a shopping spree! *it was planned that way actually* What I didn't foresee was that I was the one running mad with *nearly* all the purchases. That weekend alone, I nearly swiped RM500!

Hehe, there was sales everywhere and everything just seems so cheap and affordable! Can't resist the temptation in the end. And you know what, President was actually encouraging me to buy! He was like the devil beside me keep pushing and insist that I should buy this and that ;p I swear, I have not met a man more insistent than him hoho!

But then to be fair, it was on sales la and everything was really so cheap and affordable. Just that weekend alone, I got myself a new chic hiking bag, *wailed~ it was on sale, 60% some more mind you! who on their right mind would resist it?* long johns, harddisk, and some clothes. Yeah, I guess that pretty much sums it all.

I did resist myself in getting a winter jacket ok? That will have to wait.

Thank God in the end, most of the items purchased are sponsored by my dear President. Hoho, he can be so kind and generous sometimes^^ ~~or else I can't even afford bread to go with water~~

Over the weekend we watched a movie in Gurney Plaza, "You Again".

It's really quite a hilarious movie. Entertaining. The storyline is pretty much the same, predictable - nothing original here. But it was funny, just something to lighten up my weekend.

The plot basically goes something like this:

The protagonist, Marni was an ugly duckling in high school and she always got picked up by the popular girl, J.J. Yeah high school was difficult but she drew the strength from her brother's encouragement and managed to succeed in life 8 years later. Ugly duckling has transform into a beautiful swan.

A call from home says that her beloved brother is about to get married and she flew home, only to realised that her future sister-in-law is none other than her arch nemesis, J.J! Only this time, she doesn't goes by that nickname anymore. She's Joanna now.

Marni vs Joanna

And the rest they say is history! Haha the story progress from here and in the end, it's happy ending. Ta-daa~

Quite a nice movie to chill out and relax. Do watch. The slapstick comedy will make you laugh for sure.

My experience with the Immigration Officers

2010-11-01T14:21:00.007+08:00

Yeah as Godzilla suggested, let me share with you my story. More like my brief encounter with the Immigration officers. Several, in fact.

Ok, here goes nothing.

Small Gas, I believe you watched this show before right? Acted by Roger Kwok. It's about the Immigration in HK and stuff.

Remember there's a part that the officers would look at the passports of China ppl entering HK? If the people looked suspicious, the officers would ask a few "general" question right?

Sample Questions:

Why are you coming to HK?
How long do you intend to stay in HK?
Where do you plan to visit in HK?
Are you here with friends or family?

From here onwards, I think you should be able to guess where I am heading right? YUP, I have experience it all. First hand. Like, seriously.

Somehow, I am the only one kena all these questions again and again.

Honestly speaking, at first, I was terrified. Why am I gotten all these questions while the rest are able to pass the Immigration counter scratch free?? Why ME???

In fact, I remembered a specific incident clearly as it is quite embarassing hurhur~ You see, the Philippines are using the American format when addressing people, namely by their last name (surname), first name and middle name. So go figure how to write our Chinese name in the form.

So what happened was like this:

Officer: Ms Lee Leng?
Me: ... ... (look around the airport absendminded)
Officer: Ms Lee Leng? *louder* Lee Leng??
Me: ... ah yes?? yess yess??? *huge saucer eyes that looked bewildered*
Officer: (laugh good naturedly) where do you plan to visit?
Me: Bacolod
Officer: You come with friends or family?
Me: Friends *at this point I was stretching my ears to hear him*
Officer *saw President waiting for me* with boyfriend?
Me: yes

Then only I'm let go. Seriously, you have no idea how I have to strained my ears to listen to him. The bustling airport is not exactly quiet and the office voice and tone is so soft. Don't even get me started on his accent which I find it a little hard to get used to.

I mean like, who on their right mind would call me Lee Leng??? How on earth do you expect me to answer to that call? It's not exactly familiar you know. Not that it was the officer's fault, but still, our name does not function like that isn't it? -.-"

After much pondering, I think I figured out why I was singled out for this unofficial investigation. My own justification were that in my passport, I had long sleek hair. But on the said time, my hair was curly and I had my specs on. So I must have kinda looked "different". So there, all figured out!

Oh, and the moral of the story is, please named your future kids with an English name to avoid half of the trouble I had to go through. Ergo, you must have realised why the other couple managed to sailed free.

There, I hoped you guys are entertained. Please do not fell off the seat just yet. A final kick: Another reason Iron Dinosaur sailed throught the Immigration is because, well he is at home. He blends in well afterall ;p *just kidding*

Back from Pinoy Land

2010-10-27T10:36:00.003+08:00

Had a long wonderful week relaxing in the Land of the Pinoys. Oh yeahh~

Finally had my long overdued holiday break in 2010. All the while I was envying others that went to many places such as Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, Shanghai, Liverpool etc and posted many photos in FB. At last it is my turn.

Up to now, I still wonders how all these people can afford to go so many places at once? Was it they earned a lot, or is it because my salary is below meager? Honestly speaking, I can hardly afford my said trip to Philippines actually. Many thanks to my dearest for sponsoring part of my expenses hehe! *blow a kiss*

A short summary of my trip - Day 1:

We had our fair share of adventure and misadventure. Not all my planned itinerary worked out the way I imagined it should. Partly to blame are the weather and the luck.

The week we are scheduled to arrive in Manila so happened was also the time they are expecting the typhoon. Hah, what a luck we have. BUT, luckily, we managed to avoid the typhoon almost completely. How, you say?

Oh well, thing is, our first stop is not Manila to begin with. From the beginning, I have planned that we will arrive in Angeles (Clark), then travel to Manila to take an interflight to Bacolod. Reason being is because on that week itself, Bacolod will be having a yearly event - MassKara. This is like a street dance party (mardi gras-like).

But our fortune stops here. When we reached Bacolod, it was raining and dark. Our flight landing was not entirely smooth (to the shocked of some people), and worst still, the taxi charges us higher than expected and don't even mentioned about the traffic.

No, i was not talking about vehicle traffic, I was talking about human traffic. Goodness gracious! Can you imagined your taxi driver trying to drive by with people walking in every direction to/from your car? I almost worried that our taxi driver will inadvertantly knocked down some. It was that scary. The people walking by was very very near to the moving vehicle *albeit the vehicle was moving slower than a turtle crawling"

Then our driver refuse to drop us at our hotel due to the traffic. So we have to lugged our luggage and walk a short distance to our hotel. In. The. Drizzling. Rain.

Once checked in, we went out to have our dinner and explore the town a little. In. Our. Ponchos. Because it was still slightly drizzling. By the time we were there, the MassKara was over and what remains was a dirty streets, some vendors selling variety of items from food, drinks to masks.

We thought it's okay, we'll come back another night, earlier. However, our dream was crushed when the next day our tour guide told us that this was the highlight night and it also signify the ending of MassKara. -.-

Bummer!

Also, we did not have a very good experience with the hotel. First of all, the room we got looked much smaller than the photos shown in their website. And it was supposed to be able to fit 3 ppl, but they refused to comply and insist we pay for extra 2 ppl. So we were additionally charged!!! Not only that, in the begining they tried to charged me a higher rate than agreed upon.

Talk about cutthroat! Trust me, with the amount we paid, it is definitely not worth it. With the price we pay, we could have gotten a better hotel with better room. So my verdict is, don't go to this hotel with the initial S.M. (pm me for the hotel name)

So, that's the sum of our first day in the Land of the Pinoys.

Planning

2010-06-08T15:27:00.002+08:00

I finally felt the effect what most planner/organiser/coordinator must have felt. It is truly not easy to plan something and to execute it flawlessly. Like it or not, one is bound to face some, if not many hindrance along their way.

Currently, I'm in the midst of planning for my year end vacation. Location: secret. Haha actually, it's not much of a secret except that I'm not sure if I will eventually go there in the end. Reason being? Well, decision is not mine alone to make. That's why.

You see, my year end vacation was supposed to be fixed. My dear and I had been dying to go to Taiwan yet, circumstances prevent us from booking the airflight (AirAsia was having promotion then). Then we, or rather I console us that AirAsia will have a new promotion soon. So we wait. And wait.

Needless to say, not only AirAsia did not have another round of promotion to Taiwan, the airflights there were now selling at an exorbitant fee! It's so darn expensive that I cringed at the thought of it. So my Taiwan trip is to put onhold until next year. Of course, this time I vow I will not make the same mistake twice!

With Taiwan off the list, suddenly we are quite at lost. I mean, I did not do any research on any other places at all. Not to mention, the word 'economical' is actually a big concern of mine.

Now I need a back up plan and I need it fast. Thanks to all my good friends, I have TWO back up plans actually. Which is not necessary a good thing as well.

Thing is, now i can opt to travel with my dear alone, or travel with another couple of my friends together. Both plan has its pros and cons and due to circumstances again, we have decided to travel with friends. The more the merrier isn't it? Or so they say.

It could have been better, if everyone can commit right then and there instead of everything been pulling back, thinking and weighing everything. I never knew i had a streak of impatience in me, but right now, I am really growing more and more impatience.

i wished everyone would just commit right away Stop thinking so much and have a little fun! Pronto works to you know! Decision at the spur of the moment makes it seems more fun and exciting isn't? Come on people, loosen up and have some fun! Stop wasting time!

-The End-

Is it just me?

2010-04-16T22:08:00.002+08:00

Lately, I'm quite a bad company, I would say. My temper isn't exactly summer breeze, more like volcanic, I'll admit. Somehow, a small little things pisses me off. Everything is just not right.

Is it me? Is it just my problem?

Seriously, at this moment, I really don't know.

I don't want to be in bad mood too, but the slightest things seems to ignite my fire within. There's more than one scenario when I wished to chopped that person's head off. Damn that would be so satisfying! The thought, I mean.

Tell me how would you feel? if you were me...

Recently, I have dumped nearly a month of my salary into buying something beneficial which will secure my life better (or so they claimed) i was practically forced into it anyway but that's beside the point. The point is, I have told somebody about it exactly a month earlier.

In fact I have send a copy of my policy to the person in hope he will help me go through it as well. But that person probably didn't get it or something. Nevermind. But what pisses me off is, after I have signed my policy, after I have paid for my premium, this person come up and say, "hey, I think your policy no good la, cheat your money only." Not exactly in those words, but I figure the meaning is close.

This person proceed by telling me how this person has shown my policy to another agent and how that agent find so many loopholes and problems etc etc etc. Thing is, first don't you think this person should have done it earlier and tell me all this BEFORE i confirmed the policy by signing it?

Hello? Is there any use by telling me now? I have already paid the money and there's no turning back. Then what's the point of telling me how that person's policy would be better bla bla bla?

"Oh, I just concerned bout you"

Don't you think this "concern" came too late? Do you think I want it now? A concern came too late was never needed in the first place. Because I feel that you are such a hypocrite. And I detest hypocrites!

Ohhhh I'm damn pissed off!

Is it just me? If you were me, how would you feel?

Perhaps I'm bitter, I don't know.

But is it that hard to be sensitive to other people's feeling?

There's more scenario that pisses me off lately as well, but I just don't have the mood to blog it out. I'm not sure by blogging this out, am I doing the correct thing? But I really need a space to vent my anger and since this is my blog, I can technically write anything I want right?

p/s: not meant to offend/insult anyone but this is just two penny of my thought. No pun intended.

Broke and sick

2010-04-11T22:10:00.002+08:00

Yours truly is now broke + sick. I wonder which is worse, broke or sick?

This month alone, or more accurately the first week of April, yours truly had managed to spent ALL of her salary already. And she still have bout 20 days more to go before her next pay check due. Sobs.....how am I gonna make ends meet this time????

Before you start to reprimand me for my spending habit, please note that all the money spent was well worth, despite being a little steep, that's it. And everything just have to pile up at one go, so convenient -.-"

First of all, yours truly had bought an insurance coverage finally. Along with medical card, this insurance scheme has taken two third of my meager salary away. The last portion of my salary goes to my baby car.

So happened that my car service is due this month so after the regular check ups, it is found that there is some "problems" with my car's front absorbers (actually it's known already that something is wrong, but it's just yet to be determined). Needless to say, it's time for a new pair of absorber to join my baby. Ka-ching!

As if that is not bad enough, my car front tyres has reach its limit, and time to go as well. Ka-ching! New tyres means money spent. Oh yeah, by this time, my wallet is definitely bleeding not to mentioned my heart is also bleeding love.

So, in short, all my salary is gone already. God knows the remaining balance of the month yours truly is only to survive on bread and plain water alone.

Oh! and did I mentioned that that's not the end of my car problem? Apparently I still need to change something more then only my baby is consider in tip top condition? That will cost me another 300 bucks and that will just have to wait until next month. Because no matter how, I will not be able to vomit 300 bucks right now.

I am now still trying to figure out how to pump petrol when my money runs low????

No wonder I fall sick....

My journey thus far...

2010-04-01T10:29:00.003+08:00

I know I have been abandoning my blog for like centuries, my bad, but i just do not have anything interesting to blog about. Even if I do, I do not have the time to do it anyway.

Last few weeks has been a crazy one for me. Workload is like neverending despite me putting on extra work hours everynight, sometimes including Saturdays too, which by right is my holidays. Not to mentioned, those extra hours put in is like giving charity (cuz im not paid for it) Bummer!

I have always wanted to fulfil one my childhood dream (not gonna share with you which one yet) and this time I finally mutter my courage to go for it. I did my best research hoping I will succeed but alas, I did not made it.

Yeah, of course I was heartbroken and all, but there's nothing I can do about it. I tried to do a post mortem to find out why did I fail, and hopefully I'm heading to the right decision.

Right now I'm trying my best to minimize my chances of failure by doing everything I can to eliminate/reduce my weakness. Of course, I do not have any idea if I will succeed the next time.

Yet, suddenly I think I won't make it again (yeah I'm quite a demotivator as I keep thinking that I will fail ALL the time) can't help it, competition is stiff, man! And I DO have many many weaknesses afterall.

So right now I am wondering why is it that hard to fulfil my dream? Why is it this hard to reach for my star? Despite all that I've done, if in the end the result is still the same, is it worth all the trouble that I went through?

Almost thinking of quitting now, but then, I won't be able to live with myself if I do now. However, I do not know if I can take the blow if I fail again for the second time.

What should I do?

Me against time

2009-12-03T16:45:00.003+08:00

I really wished that there's 36 hours a day because 24 is definitely not enough for me. Don't ask me how i spend my time because i really don't have any concrete answer for you. All i can say is time just slipped from my hand, thats all.

Without realising, I have been working for a month already. Gosh time really pass me by! So far, I'm okay with my work, my working environment is great, my boss is great, my colleagues are great, my pay is ok, my job is okay too.

I wouldn't blabbled about how i loved my job or something, but at least I'm not hating it. I supposed this is what corporate world is like. Life is not a bed of roses and since my daddy do not have a cushion of cash for me to fall back on, I think it is high time I learn the rope of life. Survival, is crucial my friend.

Many things happened in the past month but sadly I do not have time to blog it out. Would love to, but am contrainted by the invisible hand of the clock. Tik tok tik tok...

Some thing happened to my beloved car too. I shall blog it out next. Yes I shall......*fervently hope it is soon*

Randomly chosen

2009-11-16T20:36:00.009+08:00

WHOOT today I saw a car with car plate "WTF 98xx" Haha only the other when I saw a car with car plate of "WTC", I was wondering will it be WTF??? Snoopy say sure won't have because it's acronym is so universal hiak hiak hiak....but guess what? there is ler, WTF??? Heh heh, what's the first thing that come to your mind when u see WTF car plate?

World Taekwondo Federation? Heck! Who are you kidding? Please hor! *eyes rolling*

On another non related note, there's something I want to highlight too. Everyone knows how much I adore playing FB game rite? Specifically Cafe World lor.

So while I was waiting for the game to load, I browse through la all the ads at the side bar etc.... Guess what I saw?

Jeng Jeng Jeng....

I saw this!!!

I mean? WTF? This is from an educational institution of higher learning which I supposed is in London or at least promised a UK degree? WOW their England must be very powderful! (a joke in case you don't get it)

Just great! One of the "best" educational institution in London this MOI is (Unheard of MOI college London lor in my whole life). OH please go study there, I am sure you will get many "oppertunities" to improve your powderful English.

(double click to enlarge)

IF this ad is by any other people, I wouldn't have bother really. But by an institution that claimed they provide "distinctive" higher education?

WOW!

Great. Just great! Makes one wonder what kind of "pathway" do they open?

Hair-Do

2009-11-15T16:27:00.005+08:00

I just had a hair-do today and I'm pretty happy with the result *smiling ear to ear* The end result is worth every penny spent. However, in order to achieve this result, yours truly have to endure uncountable physical torture.

Now my hair is sleek and smooth, as if I did rebonding treatment but nah, not rebonding la. Me went for a "hair smoothing" treatment instead because previously, my hair looks like a lion mare -.-"

The whole process is similar to hair rebonding treatment but I supposed the chemical gluey cream they use is different. They assure me this "cream" is much more expensive than those of rebonding's ones. I don't know la if they got "hao xiao" me or not but, I am satisfied with the end results so, all's well.

The whole process was quite an express one as it took me bout two hours only (The last time I did rebonding, it took me 5 freaking hours). Partly because I said I was in a hurry and I need to be here and there by appointed time. The lady stylist was kind enough to speed everything up for me to a time, there's FOUR stylist doing my hair at the same time to save time! That moment really make me feel like a celeb star or something because there's a mob of hairstylist doing my hair lolz!

However, the process was less fun. It was excruciatingly painful actually. Imagine your hair being pulled in four different direction? Ouch! I can't begin to imagine how much hair have I loss today. Wonder if I need to pay a visit to Yun Nam haircare already? lolz...

I supposed there's a truth in "no pain no gain" philosophy. After all, there's plenty of girls out there who are more than willing to sacrifice their life for the name of beauty. I may have not reach that terminally ill level yet, but I can still bear some minor torturing in the name of beauty too.

The stylists must have had a fun day snickering at me behind my back today because, throughout the two hour ordeal, I think I've shown more than enough facial expression than I would have normally shown in the whole of 3 months. I thought I did extremely well by not screaming, punching or kicking anyone. Don't you think so?

*me love me new hair do, teehee*

Emo corporate lady

2009-11-12T21:13:00.003+08:00

To date, today is my worst day in corporate world. Today, everything went haywire and I'm thrown to an emotional roller coaster ride. Technically, yesterday is the start of my nightmare. I wonder, would tomorrow be the end of my nightmare? I fervently pray so.

You see, being a middle person sux. Big time! Just take today for example, I have been "f" by THREE different sides of people. All pertaining the same damn issue! Damn, time like this makes me hate corporate world.

One give me the lecture of life, another one dictates my life, the last one... don't even go there. Sigh, I would have thought that since today my boss went outstation, I would feel more free and...well, free? But then, today I'm emotionally spent that I hardly got the energy to even crack my face and laugh.

Life is tough. I see that now. Working life is no fun. I'm experiencing it first hand now. So God help me, please make everything okay again. Okay? I beg you?

On a brighter note (though I don't feel any brighter at all), rumor says that I'll be getting a new computer tomorrow yay!! *throw confetti* My current office computer is so cacat-ted that on average scale, it'll auto reboot 4-5 times a day. Which means, if I forgot to save my work every 5seconds, it'll probably be gone and voilaa! I gotta re-do again.

That sounds fun isn't? NOT if you have to redo the same damn thing for THREE times in a row!

Let's welcome my new playmate tomorrow~~

My life lately...

2009-11-08T19:38:00.002+08:00

At last it's weekend. At last I got some time to myself. Been busy with work for the past 2 weeks that I hardly got time for anything. Well, it's not exactly that work has taken up all my time. It's just that every time after work, I'm extremely tired and lack energy. Therefore I don't have time for anything because I hardly got any energy to get going.

I don't know what's wrong with me actually. Nowadays my routine are basically go work, off work, back home eat dinner, bath and then sleep. The cycle repeats itself again and again. That's my life for the past two weeks. Yeah, real dull and boring.

SOMEHOW, my energy has been sapped away by dunno what. I'm just feeling tired and sleepy all the time. I hope this is just a phase will pass. My thought is that this is because my body has yet to adjust to the working life. So I hope that in days to come, I shall be ok again. I mean I'm at my early twenties yet my body feels like its at late thirties. HOW CAN?

I want to feel young again! Where's all my youthful energy gone??? I DEMAND YOU TO COME BACK IMMEDIATELY!!!!

Oh on another note, I have finally touch up my blogskin so now it looks more presentable. Many thanks to Dr. PC (NKL) for his help because I am html/java coding retarded.

Overall, I am very happy at where I am now in my life. This few weeks have been real challenging to me but I'm learning to cope, and cope well if I may say so. I am still learning and of course there's still many more things for me to learn but I'm anticipating that as well. I hope I can be good at what I'm doing . Finger cross!

Currently my computer in the office is quite cacat-ted hence I can't really open many "wonderful" programs. I fervently hope that the management would really consider changing my PC to a better ones immediately. Honestly speaking, that piece of junk really gives me lotsa craps at work. Even after the IT technician reformatted the system, but still the problem persisted. It still auto-restart whenever it feels like it-.-"

So boss, I beg you, please gimme a new PC ok???

Finally...all's well

2009-10-26T16:40:00.003+08:00

Yeah finally my life is back in order once again. At last everything has been finalized and all plans has been put in motion. All uncertainty are gone and in it place are all definite, confirmed things. Now i can exhale slowly. Phew!

I like the way it is now, where in my life everything is on track and goes according to the manual. Today is the end of many things, but also marks the beginning for many other opportunities. Tomorrow is a brand new day, a brand new start for me. Let's just hope that everything goes well.

So no worries, everything is in order now. I no longer feel emo already. Im at peace now. Finally... God bless.

updates of me so far

2009-10-23T00:33:00.003+08:00

My life has been exhilarating recently. There's so many ups and downs that I almost thought this isn't my life! This is somebody else's life or this is something we only see in the movie. But well, no this is my life after all. Because every time i wake up, everything is still the same.

I really wanted to change my cacat-ed blogskin however Im totally hopeless in codings and html etc. My blogskin is so cacat-ed that Im embarrass to people who come and read my blog. Don't worry, I'll try to fix it a.s.a.p. Now the problem is finding someone who reads html thingy^^

Went over to Penang last weekend and had an intensive training in stuffing food in my tummy on an average once every two hours. That's calculation base on average, however, at times it could only be a half hour gap before we stuff in the next meal. This is the time we actually consider eating is a torture. What to do? we had limited time to spent in Penang YET we wanted to taste all the nice foodies there. Afterall, Penang is famous for its variety of delicious food.

Every time we go to Penang, we surely will stop by at Ipoh to eat their famous Tauge chicken rice (Ngar Choi Kai). We usually rotate between two famous shop, either at Lou Wong or Onn Kee.. Honestly speaking, I'm getting bored at this routine. Is there anywhere else we can stop by to eat? Any suggestion people?

That practically sums up my week. Nothing much too exciting or out of the ordinary's happening. Other than the fact that the writer is kinda troubled with a lot of things to thought of. Things like decision making which the writer hates (because she scared that she might make the wrong decision). So yeah, that's all for me.

For now.

Mille Crepe

2009-10-16T01:12:00.007+08:00

It's 1:16am now and Im feeling some hunger pangs already. Then I suddenly recalled a happy moment where I get to savour the ever delicious mille crepe cake. Mille crepe cake literary translate as thousand layers cake really. You can google it or wikipedia it to find out more. All I remember was it was really a French dessert but has hit big in Japan.

And now, it hit big in Malaysia too. Good thing though, so that you and I could sample some sinfully delicious cake...oooohhhh yummy!

As far as I know, there's two place in Malaysia that offers Mille Crepe. One is Nadaje, somewhere in Dataran Pahlawan Melaka. The other one is Food Foundry, in Section 17, PEEJAYY!!!!! So much nearer right?

So two weeks ago, we decided to head down to PJ to check out some computer components prices in Digital Mall and stop by at Food Foundry as well to try out their ever famous crepe cake.

As we arrive, the ambiance and setting was so-so, nothing to shout about, just a typical cosy cafe but located in nonstrategic location. In some apartment area...hello??? With the steep price for a slice of crepe cake, I would assume that they could afford better place.

The cake's price is slightly steep and it comes in three flavours : Original Vanilla Flavour RM8, Chocolate flavour RM9, Strawberry flavour RM9

VANILLA MILLE CREPE

photos taken from chocoholicmemoirs.blogspot.com

CHOCOLATE MILLE CREPE

photos taken from ho-jiak.blogspot.com

STRAWBERRY MILLE CREPE

photos taken from kyspeaks.com

note: I did not bring my own camera hence I use photos from other's blog. Credit are given to respective owners of course!

In comparison, suddenly Secret Recipe's cake seems so much more cheaper and affordable! However, I do realised that it is really hard to make those crepe cake hence the steep price. The chef have to painstakingly put really thin layer of pancake, cream, and pancake and cream on top of each other.

Alot of hardwork man! Of course, it really is no thousand layers la, just come out about to around 20 layers or so. However, give it a try, it's really worth it!

The cake is make fresh every day. One day probably twice or three time. I know because I was there at 5pm and there left only a couple of miserable strawberry flavored crepe to be seen. However, at 730pm, Lewin was there and he said there was ALL THREE flavors there to be chose from!

So instead of me only getting to sample one flavour of crepe (strawberry) I get to sampled ALL THREE in a day! Am I one happy child or what? And my verdict is: ALL THREE ARE EQUALLY NICE AND TASTY AND WORTH EVERY PENNY SPENT!!!!!

GO try it!!!

Optional: tapao back for me too???

Boikot "SHINE SHINE"

2009-10-14T21:09:00.008+08:00

Two days ago, namely 12th of October (Monday) i went to Jaya Jusco Bandar Baru Klang (BBK). It was night, at approximately 8:45pm that I decided to have my car washed whilst i do my grocery shopping.

So I drive my car to the 1st floor indoor carpark as the car wash service is there. So I drive my car to an empty car wash kiosk and told them I want to wash my car. There's like at least 5-7 people (boys to be exact) sitting and loitering there with nothing to do as there was not other customer apart from me. They wrote me a receipt and told me that my car will be ready for collect at 9:15pm. So I say ok, half an hour is normal. Right?

At 9:08, I received an SMS that reads "pls come to take yr car now" ( I still have the SMS in my phone so i have the proof!) Fine, so I replied back say "ok, thanks".

At that time, I was buying things at Jusco department store. HOWEVER, here comes the part that pissed me off! At 9: 27pm, someone called me and guess who? It is one of the car wash boy called me, and ANGRILY demand that I take my car immediately!

I was like, I'm half way buying things, hello? So they at last told me that they are closed already (read: CLOSED, not closing) so I said fine I'll go take my car right away. I'm already not very happy with their service but boy, they sure did managed to pissed me off one stage higher! If you don't think it's possible? READ ON>

So this guys say no need, he will come find me, and call me to meet at the cashier area there. Fine. But once at the cashier counter when I saw him, guess what I see also?

I SEE HIS IDIOTIC BLACK FACE GLARING AT ME WITH THE OPENING WORD OF "I ALREADY TOLD YOU IT'S 9:15PM RIGHT? NOW WHAT IS THE TIME ALREADY? WE ALL WANNA LEAVE ALREADY" This bastard said all this thing while dumping my car key at the cashier conveyor with a RM1 note there.

So I gave him RM10 (course the car wash is RM9) and give him an incredulous parting word "IF THIS IS YOUR BUSINESS SERVICE ATTITUDE, DON'T EXPECT THAT I WILL COME AGAIN!"

Normal people would have the grace to look sheepishly ashame or something, but this BASTARD is no normal people. His black thunder face did not even shook and his glare become more intense if that's possible!

Honestly, what kind of attitude is that? I AM THE CUSTOMER HERE SOMEONE PLEASE TELL HIM THAT CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT!!!! Working in customer service line don't know this rule No. 1 meh?

Seriously, Im only late for 10 minutes and 10minutes does not warrant me a scolding lor. They never mentioned to me before that they are closing soon so I please make it in time etc, then I would have understand! How the hell I know they closed BEFORE 9:30PM????? When every decent tenants at Jusco closes at 10:30pm every night, follow Jusco time? I knew this because I worked in Jusco before too!

With this kind of attitude, no wonder they got no business la! I wouldn't care less if they closed down (gulung tikar) immediately. This kind of horrible attitude towards customer sure couldn't last long in business de. Better close down and I wished that bastard will be jobless forever! Worst still, next time his son will also be car wash boy like him! HUH I AM SO PISSED!!!!

AND THE WORST THING IS, AFTER GETTING SUCH A LOUSY SERVICE WHICH I HAD TO PAID FOR IR, THE NEXT MORNING (yesterday, 13th Oct) I SAW THAT MY CAR DASHBOARD IS DUSTY! THIS MEANS THOSE PEOPLE THERE ARE NOT DOING THEIR WORK PROPERLY! THEY JUST WANT TO LEAVE EARLY AND SIMPLY WASH MY CAR ONLY!!!!!!

I am so pissed that Im considering writing to complain to FOMCA. Anyway, I've attached the receipt for that car was company.

That bastard never told me his name so I don't know, but I can tell you he wears spec, minimum height bout 160cm, Chinese guy on average built. Not fat, but not skinny also. Anyway he so yong sui you one look sure know d de lar;p

PEOPLE, DON'T GO WASH CAR AT JUSCO CAR PARK THERE, THE COMPANY NAME IS SHINE SHINE. LET US ALL BOIKOT THIS STUPID COMPANY THAT HIRE STUPID IDIOT BASTARD WITH THE MANNER OF A COW THAT SCOLDED GOOD CUSTOMER.

This is printed at the back of the receipt, read Condition No. 5: Customers may rely on our "7-day Satisfaction Warranty" for the compliance of our service" MY ASS!!!!

I was already not satisfied within MINUTES OF service compliance!!!

1) Car wash not clean, lazy, just want to go home earlier simply wash and since it's night hoping the flaw can't be seen

2) Give black face to customer see, scold customer and THINK he is so right, high and mighty like a pompous ass

3) After get all the bad service, get scolding, car not clean and yet still need to pay MONEY???

YOU STILL WANNA GO THERE CAR WASH??? THINK AGAIN!!!!

So DONT GO THERE WASH CAR, YOU WILL SURE BE DISAPPOINTED IN THEIR BAD SERVICE, BAD ATTITUDE!!!

Please tell everyone not to go there wash car anymore!

stupid me!

2009-10-01T17:24:00.003+08:00

ARRGHHHHHHH!!!!

I am utterly mad at myself now. God just take me with you now....Take me, I might as well die on the spot now.

I cannot believe my stupidity. How can I be so stupid to do such stupid mistake? Now my life is ruined...Totally ruin! I might as well go die now...sobs..

My mistake is so embarrassing that I do not have the guts to tell anyone for I myself also can't bear to think of it. However, i realised my stupidity a scant too late, and nothing can be done to stop it.

Nothing. Nothing can be done to erase ir. I'm doomed now. Branded on the forehead, a "stupid, idiot failure"

No I'm definitely not ok. But I don't want to talk to anyone about it because it is darn humiliating.

It's ok, I'll suffer the consequences myself. I'll bear it all alone for this is what i deserve for the muck i made.

Yeah I know, serve me right, ain't it?

I'm doomed!!!

Thick headed

2009-09-22T15:51:00.002+08:00

I cannot understand why some people are so thick headed to a fault?

I mean, it's not like people never advice them or what, in fact constantly give advice and reminder lor. But still, why can't all those words make sense to thick headed people? Why can't they take people's advice? WHY????? It is for their own good ok?!!!

I'm trying my damnest not to give up on such people because I know, if I give up, then they are lost cause for sure. However, these type of people is really challenging. Is like, they are trying their damnest to kill me too!

Why can't they just accept their mistake, learn from mistake and move on? Instead, they make even worst mistakes if that's possible. Apparently after one costly "lesson" they have still not gain anything from it. This is how thick people's head can be. Thicker than a wall!

I wonder when only can they grow up and learn to be humble and patience? Why is it that there's so much "fire" in them? How only will they learn? Is it the only way for them to learn is though the hard way? Where they themselves have to suffer the impact from their own action directly?

God please help!!!! Please help to enlighten such thick headed people!!!!!!

I dont wanna grow up!

2009-09-15T20:39:00.002+08:00

I detest growing up!

I detest having to making decisions in life!

I detest all the complicated issues revolving growing up!

I detest the pressure from society!

Most of all I detest being at crossroad!!!!!!!

I hate to make "the best" decision in life. Because I won't know what is "the best" option. The game of "what if" will constantly played in my mind. Having made decision A, I can't help but wonder, would Decision B be better?

I hate the fact that why when there's something I wanted badly is not reciprocating?? (at least now they still aren't, but finger cross!) Things that I half heartedly want/don't want are finding me???

How much longer should I play this sort of sick game? How much longer should i torture my poor sanity into thinking, should I wait? or should I just grab the first opportunity that's been thrown my way?

As if that's not bad enough, now I have to contemplate about the issue of chances! Chance...chance is like gambling. You'll never knew what would happen. That's why people say "take your chance"

Arrrrgggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

The bottom line is, SHOULD I OR SHOULDN'T I???

WHAT SHOULD I DO??????

Retail Therapy

2009-09-10T23:19:00.003+08:00

Wahhhhh don't I just love shopping????

Went shopping spree today with mom and bro....for a change, we opted for KL's most happening Golden Triangle Area.... and we barely managed to cover two shopping complexes hor...

Retail therapy really does wonders for a person lor... I was exceedingly happy with my loots. Can't believe what a bargain I had. I've managed to reached my set target almost effortlessly. Of course, if money is not a factor, my loots shall be even greater. Well, since I'm on a tight budget, I can only get what I can afford (read: affordable bordering on cheap stuffs).

Loves my loots today. It's exceedingly rare that I'll get that much loots in a day cuz according to my mom, I'm darn picky. However, today everything seems beautiful and pleasing to the eyes that I managed to grab them without much hassle^^ Oh FYI, I got me self 2 shirts & 1 black skirts, oh and also 2 pairs of shoes *bling bling*

Only a small hitch. I've laid my eyes on a beautiful pair of court shoes that's absolutely gorgeous on me, but they don't have my size. WTH????!!!!!! Pik Chik betul!!!!!!!! I'm so sad... I've finally found a perfect pair of shoe for me but they don't have it in my size! All also my big feet fault huh!!

I'm someone who always have a hard time finding shoes de lor. My mom always says that I can walk every shopping complexes for a whole year but can't get myself a pair of shoes. It sounds dramatic at first to me, but when I think bout it, yeah it kinda holds the truth in it lor. So my mom secretly fears going shoes shopping with me, I know;p

So since I can't get me self the perfect pair of shoes, I did the next best thing.

I bought me self TWO other pair of shoes to compensate on my heart ache. Revenge is sweet isn't? *wink wink*

Korean Wind

2009-09-05T18:14:00.005+08:00

Finally I have a free weekend all to myself. No special plans, no strenuous activities no nothing. Just a plain simple weekend for relaxation and do nothing.

Finally, the busy month of August is over and now, the calm and peaceful September is here. Time really race past us fast. Very fast. And we can't seem to grasp it in our finger, no matter how hard we tried. Time moves so fast that it started to scare me.

Oh well, what to do? my obligation to the society and my family is not done yet. I have quit my job in the learning centre so now I'm in the midst of looking for other job opportunities. Only, I've been too lazy to move my bums. So now I'm not only jobless, I'm penniless too.

Job = Money. and I need both of it desperately. Sigh, this is the cruel side of society.

On the contrary, now I'm hooked on watching drama. Specifically, now it's blowing Korean wind. I have manged to distance myself from movies and dramas for such a long time (I think throughout the period of my uni life) and now it's back again. All this happens because I stumbled upon a particular Korean Drama (quite old de) in YouTube and I've been cooking this drama over YouTube for the past few days.

Now, I've gone to the next level. I start researching for more Korean dramas that suit my taste and I'll try to DL it instead. Watching over YouTube is quite annoying sometimes because it cuts at every 10th minutes.

Anyone got any sites to DL dramas/movies? Please do share with me as I don't use BIt Torrent hence Torrent files are of no use to me.

August

2009-08-23T23:01:00.009+08:00

There's not a weekend in August that I am free. Each week, something is bound to happen and hence occupied my weekends. So much so that I've, or rather we have dropped our regular routine for time being.

Not only that, This month itself I've attended THREE Convocations alone. And this had really cost me a bomb! My wallet is stretched beyond limit just by buying flowers and soft toys for graduands.

Let's see what I've busied myself with.

On the auspicious date of 08/08/2009 marks the day of MY convocation!

Thanks guys for coming and making it one of my most memorable day. Love you guys, muackss! Thanks for the flowers and gifts. Most of all, thanks for being there and let me share my happiness with you guys^^

The date 8th August is so auspicious that it is also the day of my friends' convocation in MMU (Multimedia University). So the sad part is, many people cannot attend my convo because they certainly can't be split into half isn't it? Crucial time like this and Doraemon is nowhere to be seen so he's no helper, sigh!

However, on an unsual request by Mr. Simon Wong, I've tried my best to salvage the bleak situation. And I sure hope he'll like it.

TADAAA~~~~~

haha, how, Mr S.W? satisfied bo? ;p

Next, on 12/08/2009 marks the memorable date for my friend, Leroy as it was HIS convocation!

photo credit to Rachel

ON 15/08/2009, it was my darling's Convocation. It was a truly grand moment thanks to everyone who was present to share his happiness. On behalf of Dr. Lim, I convey my thanks to you guys for coming and not forgetting those flowers, presents and most of all, the SNOOPY gifts that he'll cherished for life. THANK YOU!!!! It was really generous and he loved each and every gifts he received to bits ^^

Apart from attending convos, there's also those luncheons and dinners to attend. Thanks to all the bosses who generously treat me to meals after meals of delicious food. I have those extra kgs to prove how sumptious the food was^^

Currently, I'm in a midst of organising a trip to somewhere cooler, preferably hill side for the coming weekends. If everything goes well, I'll be off on another roadtrip this coming saturday, YAYYYYY!!!!! *finger cross*

All in all, the month of August is a busy month for me. ESPECIALLY weekends^^