It wasn’t nice to know that there were kids starving on the other side of the planet but it wasn’t that difficult to feel indifferent either. Living in Kuala Lumpur, constantly surrounded by never-ending supply of delicious, calorie-laden food – it really was quite easy to push grand issue like global hunger to the back of my mind.

In fact, I was only motivated to fast for 30 hours for some vanity driven weight loss. Not because I felt sorry for skinny, bloated bellied children. Sorry.

A few weeks ago, I followed World Vision Malaysia to Vietnam to check out the communes that are affected by poverty & hunger. Again, instead of anything remotely gracious, I was motivated by a free trip to Vietnam.

Wow, what a major a-hole; me.

Lo & behold, I was exposed to situations of poverty & hunger that I never thought existed. It was truly an eye-opening experience. This time, instead of just glancing pass pictures or visuals in the idiot box, I was actually there – seeing, smelling and feeling their lives.

I was quite affected by what I saw, rendering me in a constant struggle between guilt and gratitude.

The first family we visited lived at a bottom of a steep hill in the Tan Mai commune, 5 hours drive from Hanoi. The family consists of Toan, both his parents, his younger brother, Tinh and grandmother.

# – Toan and his family.

We had to walk down the precarious “steps” to reach the house. Several times, some of us slipped and only managed to stay alive by holding on to some small shrubs. After what seemed like an eternity, we reached the house.

# – Scary walking down a steep hill.

The house was quite spacious but there was no floor – just dirt. The wooden walls were suspended from the ground so in the rainy season, it can get pretty nasty.

# – The floor is really the soil.

Toan’s parents are both farmers, earning about RM2800 a YEAR from selling bamboos, maize and cassava! Recently, Tinh, the baby brother suffered from muscle inflammation and had to be treated at the hospital. Luckily, the family managed to borrow about RM3000 from relatives for surgery fees. How they’re going to repay 1 year worth of income is beyond me :(

# – Baby Tinh and his mummy.

Tinh’s muscles are okay now, but his bones are still not joined properly so he still couldn’t walk. The family would need more money to treat his leg.

After that, we went to check out their family farm. I did not expect it to be on the side of a freaking hill.

There was no walking path, no safety rope, nothing, it was scary. I only made it half way up because I knew if I managed to reach the top I would need a helicopter to bring me back down later on.

I just couldn’t walk back down without panicking. I can’t imagine how it’s like in the rainy season.

# – The farm atop a hill.

It’s heart-breaking to know that Toan and Tinh’s parents have to risk their lives everyday just to go to the farm just so they could earn a meagre RM2800 every year. It’s ridiculous but it’s their reality.

The next day, we visited Trang and her family. Her father’s whereabout was a mystery and all she has now are her mother and maternal grandparents. Trang’s mother is suffering from a mysterious eye disease which has rendered her almost blind. Her grandfather, on the other hand is completely blind.

# – Little Trang and her family.

Of the entire trip, seeing Trang’s family was the most gut wrenching. They live in a little hut by a river, which floods up in the rainy season. Half the family is in ill health (mother and grandfather) and the other half either too young (Trang) or too old (grandmother).

Everyday, they eat a little bit of rice and mostly bamboo shoots. Having fish would be considered as a good day.

# – The hut by the river they call home.

# – Tarp for walls.

When we asked Trang what she wants to be when she grows up…she said doctor. We asked her why, she shyly said she wanted to cure her mother, grandfather and help people in the village. I almost burst into tears.

Thankfully, Trang gets to go to school as her grandfather has gets paid pension of about RM140 every month. The entire family practically relies on his pension.

Both these families are examples of the people affected by hunger & poverty in Vietnam. Some areas have poverty rate of up to 85%, it is unnerving! World Vision Vietnam first identifies these areas and then sets up ADP (Area Development Program), which will then provide long term community development programmes.

For instance, World Vision drills wells, protects water sources and installs piping systems so that these communities can have access to clean water and good sanitation systems.

# – A view of an advanced water filtration system installed at a pre-school with donations raised by World Vision Korea.

World Vision also provides prenatal and natal care, children’s vaccination and treatment, HIV/AIDS awareness and counseling sessions and training for health workers & parents to recognise and deal with illnesses.

# – Parents getting their children weighed at a Health Station set up by the government with help from World Vision.

# – Young mothers learning about diarrhoea prevention in nutrition club.

Besides that, seeds, tools and training are provided to the community by World Vision so that they can secure its own food supply.
By teaching adults how to earn a stable income through provision of micro loans and income generating skills training, their children get to stay in school and further their education. In terms of education, World Vision helps the communities to build schools and train teachers.

# – A typical school classroom in rural Vietnam (in fact almost 100% of the children get to go to school).

Not only all these programmes help these communities to be self-sufficients, death rates from diseases and impoverishment can be drastically cut down. We had the opportunity to visit a family that has benefited from these long term community development programmes.

# – Baby Hoa with her mother, Sen and father, Thanh. They are one of a few “pilot families” who participated in community development programmes.

Hoa now weighs 9kg thanks to her mother’s Sen diligent application of nutrition knowledge she learnt through World Vision provided training and classes. Their
household income has also increased from RM3000 a year to about RM6000 a year as Thanh, the father took part in training courses on livelihood and economic development.

He learnt to plant rice and maize in a more effective way, and also learnt how to treat diseases of the crops. The family is also raising pigs which they have bred from a single pig gifted by World Vision.

I hope families like Toan’s and Trang’s one day will enjoy self-sufficiency and comforts such as Hoa’s. Judging from the passion and dedication of World Vision, I have no doubt they will benefit from all the programmes and assistance.

You too can contribute by doing either the following:

Thank you World Vision Malaysia for opening up my eyes.

I decided on going with Optimax due to three reasons, (1) friends who have had good experience there (2) good online opinions (3) 100% safety rate.

After making one phone call to find out more about the procedures that they provide, I found reason number (4) – incredibly professional and knowledgeable customer service.

Before going through with the surgery, one must undergo a full eye check-up to determine whether his or her eyes are suited for the procedure.

I scheduled my full eye check-up appointment on the day after coming back from Pulau Weh.

I arrived at Optimax in Bangunan AHP, Taman Tun Dr Ismail in the morning with a bundle of nerves in my belly. I was worried that I might not be a suitable candidate for Lasik as I neurotically suspected that I might have very thin corneas. Don’t ask.

# – Bangunan AHP.

Optimax occupies a large portion of the building’s ground floor.

There was an eye specialist clinic operated by Dr. Chuah Kay Leong for various eye treatments as well as a dedicated centre for eye examination and Lasik.

# – Optimax.

# – The reception area.

I was introduced to a friendly optometrist who conducted all my tests. First, he gave me eye drops which numbed my eyeballs & dilated my pupils.

As dramatic as that sounded, it was nothing of that sort…my eyeballs didn’t roll uncontrollably.

The eye drops will cause one’s vision to blur temporarily, so please do arrange someone to pick you up after the check-up as you won’t be able to drive.

# – Getting the eye drops.

Next, I was led to a room with several machines. Those 4 or 5 machines checked for things like eyeball size, pupil size, eye health, eye pressure & corneal thickness.

# – I believe this one was to see the size of my pupil. Apparently I have pupils that are above average in size…about 7mm in width each.

Next, my eyesight was checked. It is not much different from the kind of eye check you get at optical shops before buying prescription glasses.

# – Getting my eyesight checked. I have forgotten my eye power (sorry, bad with numbers) but I believe I was about 200 myopic with about 150 astig on both eyes.

All the check-ups took about 1.5 hours. Then it was time for counselling.

During the counselling session, the benefits and risks of every procedure were explained very carefully.

It was during this counselling session that I also I learned about customised Lasik procedures and standard Lasik procedures.

The best analogy to describe the difference between the two is this; custom Lasik is like buying a tailored, bespoke dress while standard Lasik procedure is like walking into a shop and choosing the dress from the shelve that fits you best. And yes, of course there’s price difference.

# – During the counselling session.

I also learned that everyone should take the Comprehensive Eye Examination annually. With the examination, apart from finding out one’s Lasik Suitability; it is also a thorough eye health examination to check on the healthiness of the eyes.

In fact, WHO recommends doing the Comprehensive Eye Examination regularly as a prevention measure against vision impairment and blindness. Nobody really knows if he or she is suffering from serious eye diseases like Glaucoma, Diabetic Retinopathy and Cataract until it’s too late :(

Anyway, at the end of the counseling session, we narrowed down to 2 surgery options to correct my vision; the Custom All Laser Lasik & Custom Epi Lasik.

Since the Custom Epi Lasik has a longer recovery period due to removal of cornea epithelium (requiring time to grow back) and is suited for people who are extremely active in contact sports or have thinner corneas, I opted for the former – Custom All Laser Lasik, as it is the fastest, safest, and most accurate.

At this point, if you still need time to consider about the surgery after the full eye check-up, you could go home already.

However, I chose to get surgery done right away as Optimax is the only centre that can perform treatment on dilated eyes the same day.

Yes, I couldn’t wait to ditch my glasses!

No point going back another day. I want to get it done and over with on the same day.

# – A nurse helped me put my Smurf suit on.

Surprisingly, at that point I was no longer nervous. I think my excitement about having clear vision totally outweighed my fears.

The counselling session really helped a lot too in understanding what I was going to put myself through. My doctor was Dr. Stephen Chung.

A quick googling revealed that he has performed the highest number of Lasik procedures in South East Asia. I was in excellent hands.

# – Dr. Chung explaining to me what he’s going to do and what to expect in the surgery room. I looked freaked out but I wasn’t. That’s how my face is like whenever I’m concentrating.

A nurse gave me a couple more numbing eye drops. Then, I was led into the surgery room.

Sorry, I didn’t have any picture taken so I will try my best to describe my experience inside.

There were two laser machines in the room. They looked kind of like MRI machines, you know with a flat bed and a machine attached to the end.

The first machine is for creating a flap on the cornea. I lied down and positioned my head under the machine.

My one eye was closed and my other eye could see was a ring of light, illustrated as best as I could below:

# – The ring of light.

I was told by Dr. Chung to look straight into the middle of the ring and then he put something down onto my eye, I believe it was some kind of clamp to stop it from moving.

Then I was told to relax my eye. During the session, my vision in that eye became blur and sometimes colourful. I also felt some sensations in the eye but no pain at any point.

Within minutes, it was done. Next, to the other eye. Same experience, blurry colourful vision, some sensations but no pain.

After that, a nurse helped me to get up and walked several steps to the 2nd machine. This was the machine that would repair my eyesight.

I lied down and positioned my head under the machine. One eye was closed and what the other eye could see was this:

# – Green light.

Dr. Chung told me to look into the middle of the patch of green light, which I obediently did until he told me to relax my eyes. Like the previous machine, a sort of clamp was also put on to restrict my eye movement.

During this time, my vision turned quite colourful. Kind of like seeing someone vigorously using the Microsoft Paint spray-paint brush. Again, absolutely no pain, just feelings of having your eye touched, that’s about it.

I was also expecting to smell something like burning flesh but I am happy to inform you that I smelled no such thing. In fact, I didn’t smell anything at all!

It was all done within 15 minutes. Gareth who was waiting for me outside was also surprised at how quick it was.

I walked out of surgery room and already I could see further than before. Only it was like looking out of a speckled window or noisy filter.

I was given a bag filled with antibiotic eyedrop (every 4 hours for a week), eyedrops (every 2 hours for a week), eye shields (to be worn during sleep), painkillers (just in case but I didn’t need it) and after care instructions.

I thanked Dr. Chung, and that’s it. Done.

I got home by 5pm, ate a McDonald’s apple pie, put on the eye shields and then hit the sack.

I woke up at around 3am finding Gareth watching TV in our living room. My eyes felt a little sore but I could make out his features all the way from our kitchen.

Then, we both skipped out of the house and started reading out car number plates all the way down our street. Without my glasses.

I was in disbelief. It felt AMAZING!

Next post will be about my recovery process and how getting Lasik has changed my life :)

Optimax Eye Specialist,
Unit 2-2-1, Bangunan AHP,
Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad 3,
Taman Tun Dr. Ismail,
60000 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel : 603-7722 3177 Fax : 603-7726 0207
GPS : N03° 08.466′ E 101° 37.710′
http://optimax2u.com/

I suspect it was caused by my time there visiting communes affected by hunger. It was such an intense experience, it exhausted me both physically and mentally.

Of course there were a lot of wonderful moments during the trip, like when we visited a primary school. Amenities in the school were basic at best but the kids were happy and you could tell they were so pleased to even have the opportunity to be there, even at such tender age.

Many of their peers were probably helping their parents in dangerously located farms planting low yielding crops like cassava :(

# – Cute primary school children who were my “chicks” when we’re playing “Eagle Catches Chicken” game (I was mummy hen).

I think I was also a little terrified by the idea of writing about what I saw in Vietnam. I don’t think one blog post could ever do justice to the hunger situations there but I will try my best (later, when I sit on it a little longer).

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Attended the hubs‘ office party for the first time last weekend. It was Bollywood themed so I busted out the “Lehenga” I bought in Hyderabad. Finally, found an occasion to wear it. I was pleased…it’s got drawstring skirt so I could eat, loads, MUAHAHAHHAA.

# – Wearing lehenga for the first time.

Must say I rather sucked at keeping to the theme because I totally forgot about the long scarf and bangles. Luckily, bindi and bangles were given out free at the party. Yay!

# – Eventually got my bangles, bindi and masala lemonade on. Photobomber was Gareth’s colleague, Daniel.

I was also wearing makeup for the first time since my Lasik surgery. IT WAS GREAT!

# – Gareth trying to wear a bangle -____-. He was like, “eh all the bangles same sized one does it mean all women have similarly sized wrists?”.

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Have converted my old claims record booklet into an outlet of negativity. Basically, whenever I feel like ranting or saying something passive aggressive etc, instead of verbalising, tweeting or blogging it, I will just write it in the booklet.

# – My buku 666.

Someone asked me on Twitter if it was some sort of spiritual healing exercise. I guess so.

Recently, I’ve found myself getting increasingly impatient with tweets that are angry, negative, snide, self-absorbed, patronising, you know the drill.

I know everyone has the right to express their emotions/opinions but personally, these tweets put a downer to my day. Probably a lot more severe than anyone could believe.

So if you happened to realise I have unfollowed you on Twitter, it’s nothing personal. Feel free to unfollow me if it matters.

Stay happy!

Pulau Weh or Sabang by the locals, was surprisingly easy to reach. First, an hour flight from KL to Banda Aceh via AirAsia. If you’re flying in before March, you would have to stay a night in Banda Acheh.

Depending on your citizenship you may have to pay for 30 day visa (at the visa-on-arrival booth in the airport), which is 25USD at time of writing. You can pay in rupiah as well. Malaysians need not worry about the visa as we and the Indonesians are friendly.

Since we flew in after March, we didn’t need to stay overnight in Banda Acheh so we took a 1/2 hour taxi ride straight to Ulee Lheu ferry port. Taxi services are abundant at the airport, about 100,000Rp on average.

However, we got ours for 120,000Rp which was considered a bit expensive after chatting with some locals but we were okay cause it was a large air-conditioned van which 6’5″ Gareth could sit comfortably in. We also arranged for the same fella to take us back to the airport.

# – Ulee Lheu ferry port, 1/2 hour taxi ride from Sultan Iskandarmuda Airport.

From the airport, you would probably reach just in time for the slow ferry which would take 2 hours to reach Sabang. Instead of boarding the slow ferry, we decided to linger about at the port and have some lunch while waiting for the express 1-hour ferry at 4pm. The tickets for the express ferry started selling around 3pm. You can get discounts for buying a return trip ticket. We got 2 pairs of return executive tickets which basically meant air-conditioning for 220,000Rp.

# – Gareth’s first meal in Acheh. Some awesome mixed rice from a stall filled with locals.

# – My very first Teh Botol and Mee Goreng Acheh (Achehnese fried noodles). Yums!

# – One of the locals drinking coffee from a saucer because the coffee cools down quicker this way.

People are really friendly in Banda Acheh! Seriously, it’s the only place where I’ve been winked back at by a kid after winking at one. Normally they just start crying or shy away as if I’m a serial murderer.

People are always smiling and saying hi. At first I thought it’s because we’re tourists, but we quickly realised that they do it to everybody! On the road, they honk at every passing vehicle not out of warning or anger but just because they want to say hello. It’s nice!

# – The ferry was quite comfortable. We slept the entire journey.

Upon reaching Sabang Port, we had to take a taxi for a half hour journey to Pantai Sumur Tiga, where our hotel, Casa Nemo is located.

Pantai Sumur Tiga is the longest beach on Pulau Weh and is the quietest side of the island. Our man was Lehman (known as Lehman Becak), a friendly guy who charges really cheap (only 50,000Rp). We were shocked at first that our “taxi” was really just a motorbike rickshaw (we had two pretty large luggage) but the experience of riding on one through the villages, up and down the hills of picturesque Sabang was truly fantastic!

There are cars and mini buses (called labi-labi) but I highly recommend taking the bike rickshaws to get around on the island.

# – Lehman Becak.

# – Gareth’s happysauce face on Lehman’s rickshaw.

Our hotel, Case Nemo is located at one end of Pantai Sumur Tiga. What a beautiful place! The chalets are perched on the hillside overlooking the Andaman Sea. Peaceful, quiet and romantic :)

# – Nice & spacious room.

# – View from our balcony.

# – Cows & goats roam free. Really felt very close to nature.

By the time we settled down, it was already evening. We jumped into the sea for a bit before heading next door to Freddie’s for dinner, a 5 minute walk away. Casa Nemo’s kitchen only serves breakfast but we’re told by Ferdy the manager that it will be ready for lunch and dinner in a couple of months time.

The next day, we engaged Lehman Becak again for an island tour (250,000Rp). He took us to an active volcano. It’s my first time seeing and being at an active volcano!

# – The volcano, Gunung Merapi. That place smelled like rotten eggs and it was really warm.

We also stopped by several spots with hot water springs. Then, we stopped at a quaint restaurant in Gapang for lunch. Gapang is the 2nd most popular beach in Pulau Weh.

# – The delicious mixed rice in Gapang. My mouth waters thinking about it T_T. Check out my rickshaw hair.

Next, we stopped by Iboih, the most popular beach on Pulau Weh for a drink. Most of the dive centres are located in Iboih.

# – Man prepared our coconut drinks while 2 local children watched attentively making sure he would not screw up.

From Iboih, we made our way to the last destination of the tour, which was Kilometer Nol (or Kilometer Zero), the west most point of Indonesia.

# – At supposedly the west most point of Indonesia

Coincidentally, a bunch of Navy officers and their wives were visiting from Jakarta. I assume they were very important & high up because there were tonnes of security. They were very friendly though, chatting all of us up. One of the guys told us that the west most point is technically about 2km away but it’s hard to get to so we’re actually really visiting “Kilometer 2″, hehe.

# – All the VIP cars and their security.

There was also some Indonesian TV crew trying to shoot the best sunset in Indonesia. We also stayed for sunset but the sun got hidden by clouds just before it plunged towards the horizon. FOL but FTL more :P

# – The TV crew.

# – Beautiful almost sunset at Kilometer Nol.

We got back and had dinner at Freddie’s again. Then off to bed. I think we were sleeping by 10.30pm every night. So healthy!

The next day, Gareth’s birthday! We decided to dive on his birthday. The dive centre we engaged was Rubiah Tirta Divers, located at Iboih beach. It is the oldest dive centre in Pulau Weh and has a very good reputation. The owners are famous for their efforts in conserving Pulau Weh’s marine life.

They picked us up from Casa Nemo in the morning and headed to Iboih, a half hour journey. We decided on 3 dives. Each dive spot is less than 5 minutes away from shore.

# – With the awesome divemaster, Mur aka Bandet. He’s got a good pace, he really knows the water and he’s funny!

# – Me!

# – Gareth!

# – Fish!

We had really pleasant dives. The visibility was decent about 15 metres & currents weren’t too bad too. Most importantly, it was only the divemaster and us so we felt like we owned the sea hehe.

By the way, if you’re ever at Iboih, you must absolutely eat the prawn sandwich at Dolphin, a restaurant next to Rubiah Tirta Divers. Dolphin also has free wifi.

# – Best prawn sandwich in the world. Succulent prawn pieces with sweet fried garlics & onions sandwiched between buttery toasts. OMG!!!

# – Watch for the friendliest cat in the world at Dolphin. It just jumped on Gareth’s lap and promptly fell asleep.

After the dives, Rubiah Tirta fetched us back to Casa Nemo. We cleaned up and headed to the beach for Gareth’s surprise birthday dinner ;)

I have nothing but praises for Ferdy the man in charge of Casa Nemo. He made our stay at Casa Nemo extremely wonderful. He helped me arranged a surprise birthday dinner for Gareth and he did such a wonderful job!

# – Ferdy with the ginormous fish they caught in the morning, which we happily ate at the surprise birthday dinner :)

Eventhough Casa Nemo does not serve dinner, he specially got his sister to cook us wonderful Javanese dishes (they are from East Java) and set us a table right on the beach! We had the beach to ourselves!

She also baked us a delicious cake :)

# – Surprise for the birthday boy!

By the time we finished dinner, we were exhausted. Mustered up our last remaining strength to climb back to our room and fell asleep. Not even 11pm yet haha.

The next day, we stayed in having long naps at Casa Nemo and hung out at Freddie’s eating & watching the beach. Utter bliss :)

And then, it was time to leave :(

# – Waving gallery at the airport.

One of our best holidays together. Definitely going back!

I started watching television from the distance of an arm’s length rather than several feet away. I began falling asleep in the midst of supposedly good movies in cinemas (which pissed Gareth off :P). I dreaded driving in the rain. I gained a reputation of being arrogant because I didn’t smile at people!

All thanks to my deteriorated eyesight. Mostly genetics, but definitely accelerated by long hours in front of the computer.

Mom was crushed when I had to start wearing glasses. To begin with, I couldn’t be more of a disappointment of a daughter for my mom. I already didn’t take care of my appearance as much as she believed a girl should. I would go out into the sun and came home ghastly tanned. I would step out of the house with frizzy, uncombed hair. And now her one and only daughter had to wear glasses. I bet she was thinking, “She’s not getting married, ever”. Hahaha.

I didn’t really care to be honest. I was already experimenting with those douchebag glassless spectacles before so I was rather thrilled that I now had a legitimate reason to wear one. So I went with Dad to an optical shop near home and a week later, I got my first pair of prescription glasses.

The novelty of wearing glasses quickly wore off. It sucked! It kept sliding off my face, didn’t help that I was born with flat pudgy nose. It kept fogging up when I exited my car. I kept having to clean the smudges and fingerprints.

# – A rare picture of me wearing my first pair of glasses eating Super Rings. Must be around year 2004 here.

Thanks to all the hassles, I only wore it for driving at night. My glasses were pretty much untouched the rest of time. Till I went for a job interview where having good eyesight was a prerequisite.

The doctor told me to get contact lenses, otherwise he would have to leave a remark on my medical report about my eyes and he told me point blank – I wouldn’t be hired. I’d never worn contact lenses in my life then and the thought of it freaked me out. I think that was the first time I ever felt truly disappointed by my problematic eyes.

Left with no choice, I got myself a pair of contact lenses. I got the job eventually but I never wore them. Luckily I was never in a situation where my eyesight was truly tested! Phew.

Until this day, I still couldn’t put on contact lenses without spending almost an hour on each eye. My eyes would get so reddened and watery, it just didn’t make much sense to put myself through the hassle.

As years passed though, my eyes got worse. I just couldn’t tread along without any vision aid. At last, I made a decision to wear glasses full time. I was like, since it’s probably forever, there’s no point hiding the fact that I’m four-eyed.

So, I decided to just get the most outrageous pair I could get my hands on. Hence, the arrival of my “Chicken Little” glasses that you, my readers had either come to love or hate.

# – My glasses that should have its own fanpage.

They were converted from a pair of sunglasses. Heavy, but I loved that my line of vision was hardly obstructed by the frames. Mom, was of course horrified but by now she knew she couldn’t do much to convince her daughter when it comes to appearance.

I think it was around the same time that I stopped wearing eye makeup too, haha. What’s the point? Cannot see also!

With my large spectacles, the familiar pesky problems returned. Spectacles fogging up, sweat pooling behind glasses (gross stuff), constantly having to clean the glasses (took me 5 minutes everytime cause damn glasses were so big), kids crying cause got spooked by my abnormally large “eyes”, rude relatives making rude remarks, looking like crap cause no point wearing makeup…the list continued.

But it’s still fine. I didn’t have to fall asleep in cinemas anymore. I could drive safely. I could see my friends from far. I could function, you know. That said, it still pissed me off whenever I had to watch 3D films, man it’s hard to balance two gigantic spectacles on a flat Asian face.

Then I got itchy butt and went to get a scuba diving license. I love it! The feeling of being suspended underwater is indescribable, only fellow divers would understand. But I knew that I hadn’t truly enjoyed diving because of my eyesight.

Frankly, from my first dive till now, I’ve had pretty good luck with meeting rare creatures underwater. The operative word here being “meeting”, not seeing.

# – Diving with shortsightedness.

Everytime, my divemaster would be like, “Kim did you see that shark? Kim, did you see that trumpet fish? I’d be like, yeah I did *smiley face*. But truthfully, all I saw were greyish blueish blobs. I guess I could have gotten prescription mask but it’s already hard enough to find an ordinary mask that fits my face T_T

And that feeling of disappointment with my eyes came back, every single time I went diving!

Despite wearing a ginormous pair of glasses and still never really took care of my physical appearance, I got proposed. As in marriage. See, mom? Hehe.

Anyway, we got straight to planning the wedding and then it dawned on me that I might not see Gareth clearly on our wedding day. I won’t be wearing contact lenses cause I don’t want to have red & watery eyes but I also CANNOT wear glasses on my wedding day. I just can’t bring myself to. I don’t want to be a four-eyed bride.

I want to have fake lashes so long Gareth would spot them first before he sees my face. The glasses would bend my eyelashes. Also, I would have nervous sweat pooled behind my glasses on my wedding day. I don’t want to be gross on my wedding day. The glasses would mess with my hair. Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

# – I wore glasses on our Registration of Marriage day. Prefer not to on wedding day.

And that’s basically how I decided that I would get my eyes lasered once and for all. The most important day of my life, the most important day of a woman’s life. Getting married to the love of my life and presenting myself to him without a gigantic structure perched upon my nose.

I want to be able to bury my face into his chest without having to kill the moment by pausing to remove my glasses. I wanted to, no, I needed to laser my eyes and bid adieu to my “Chicken Little” glasses. I think I was so determined that I wasn’t even scared by the prospect of having laser shot into my eyes.

I asked a few friends who have had the Laser treatment done and the place with the most positive comments were all for Optimax Eye Specialist. My friend Celine in particular, is very, very happy and she did it 6 years ago with them.

I gave Optimax a call and was so impressed by the call operator herself who was so knowledgeable, I immediately made an appointment for a full eye checkup, which basically is a checkup too see if my eye were fit for the procedure. You must have normal to thick cornea thickness otherwise it’s not recommended and there are other procedures for people with thin corneas.

Well, at time of writing, I have already had the Custom All Laser Lasik procedure done and I couldn’t be more pleased. I don’t know how to put into words as to how happy I am and how excited I am with the future. And with the wedding, of course :)

Next post is going to be about my eye check-up and the experience of having my eyes lasered. Woohoo!

Bread & butter pudding is easy to make and so delicious in spite of the minimal effort involved. I love it!

# – Luxurious bread & butter pudding.

I’ve posted a bread & butter pudding recipe before, but this is quite different. Like the title of this post, it’s a lot more luxurious and tastes rightly so ;)

The ingredients:

300ml of milk

1 vanilla pod (or 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence)

40 grams of demerara sugar (or ordinary granulated sugar)

8 slices of white bread

A handful of raisins

50 grams of butter

3 eggs

150 ml of whipping cream

3 tablespoon of apricot jam

A handful of sliced almonds

# – Throw in the sugar, vanilla seeds from as well its pod into a saucepan on medium heat. Pour the milk in.

# – Stir until the mixture is almost boiling and the sugar has dissolved. Turn off the heat.

# – Set the mixture aside to cool while you continue with other tasks.

# – Cut the bread slices across into triangular shapes.

# – Butter the bread. You can butter both front & back if you’re hardcore like that.

# – Arrange the bread slices in a baking tin, like this.

# – Then sprinkle a handful of raisins all over the bread slices.

# – In the meantime, break the eggs into the whipping cream.

# – Beat until combined.

# – Then pour in the milk mixture prepared earlier into the egg mixture. Make sure the vanilla pod has been removed. Stir.

# – Next, pour the mixture all over the bread. Set aside for 30 minutes to allow the bread to absorb all the milky, creamy goodness.

# – Put the baking tin into a larger tin filled half way up with water and stick them into a preheated oven at 170 degrees celcius for 45 minutes or until set. You are essentially steaming and baking at the same time with this method.

# – When done, brush apricot jam all over the crust to glaze.

# – Then sprinkle a handful of almond slices all over the top.

# – Stick it under the grill for 10 minutes to brown (top rack of oven, on grill mode).

# – Luxurious bread & butter pudding, DONE!

# – Serve with more whipping cream, ice cream or custard sauce.

# – Yummy!

Soft & creamy in the middle with a crispy, fruity crust. This recipe is enough for 4 but we hoovered everything up in a matter of minutes, just the two of us.

What better way to make use of stale bread? Have fun baking!

But alas, our search for a deep fat fryer that’s not in puke beige plastic has not been successful. Couldn’t wait no more, so I poured through the book to find something that didn’t need deep frying. Classic Creamed Chicken. Perfect.

# – Classic southern creamed chicken.

The ingredients:

2 tablespoon of butter

1 can of button mushrooms, sliced

1 onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup of dry white wine

500 grams of skinless chicken breasts, cut into large dice

1 teaspoon of salt

3/4 teaspoon of black pepper

1/2 teaspoon of paprika

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

220 grams of sour cream (I substituted with yogurt though, healthier & cheaper :D)

# – First, open the can of cream of mushroom soup and pour into the sour cream (or yogurt in my case).

# – Whisk until combined. Then, set aside.

# – Melt the two tablespoon of butter in a large pan.

# – Add the mushroom, onions and garlic into the butter and fry until fragrant.

# – Pour in the diced chicken.

# – Followed by the white wine.

# – Add salt, black pepper and paprika. Stir well.

# – Lastly, pour in the creamed of mushroom soup + yogurt mixture.

# – Stir until combined and simmer for 5-6 minutes more.

# – Classic southern creamed chicken, DONE! Serve with homemade cornbread or toasts if you want.

Creamy, delicious and addictive. Definitely soul food! Will post up the recipe for homemade cornbread soon, it’s really easy to make and goes so well with the creamed chicken.

Happy cooking!

The sound system was amazing. The layout of stages was good. There were plenty of food, drinks and toilets. Having access to the VIP tent helped too (yay to air-conditioning).

# – What I wore to FMFA2012. Bikini top from Koh Lipe, sheer sparkly top thrift-ed online, old shorts source unknown and trusty Converse.

We wanted to go to FMFA2012 by hook and by crook primarily for Chase & Status, Pendulum and The Chemical Brothers. Most of all for Chase & Status.

# – The hubs so happysauce!

We arrived in time to catch Sneaky Sound System which was amazing.

# – While waiting for Sneaky Sound System to set up, spotted this guy and his friends who had really cool back supports made out of paper.

# – Sneaky Sound System hamming it up.

The vocalist was powerful, entertaining and really into her performance. She was electric! Before FMFA2012, I had no idea who they are. They’ve made a new fan in me!

After stalking them for a bit on Youtube, I also discovered they collaborated with Tiesto on one of his tracks in Kaleidescope which happens to be one of my favourites! Can’t believe I was totally unaware despite listening to the track almost every other day (#slowpoke).

# – The video of the track. “I Will Be Here” by Tiesto and Sneaky Sound System.

So happy that what I initially thought of as a filler performance ended being so awesome. Sneaky Sound System warmed us up nicely for Chase & Status.

There was a bit of a conundrum at first. You see, Pendulum and Chase & Status were playing at the same time but at different stages (ya, FMFA2012 aiyo why the arrangement like that??).

After a bit of thought, we chose to catch Chase & Status first because (1) Pendulum was playing for 2 hours, so by the time we finished with C&S we could still catch the 2nd half of Pendulum. (2) Chase & Status were playing live!!!! Like seriously, they had real drums for the drum in DnB!!!!!! And bass too WTF!

And we were not disappointed at all. Not even remotely. Chase & Status blew my face away. I jumped and flailed my arms for a solid hour. Time, End Credits, Blind Faith, Let You Go and more were played. LOVED IT!!!

# – Chase & Status. E P I C.

They were epic. EPIC! I think back to the performance and still smile.

# – Lost every semblance of grace at Chase & Status and loving it.

After Chase & Status, we went to a different stage to catch Pendulum. It was PACKED!!

As Chase & Status started pretty late, so we ended up only able to catch Pendulum’s finale. I mustered up the last of my strength to dance to “Watercolour” BECAUSE IT’S AWESOME.

# – Video of “Watercolour” by Pendulum. Listen to it!

# – Check out the sheer size of the crowd for Pendulum!

# – Ah Lu, one of my bridesmaids <3

After Pendulum, we checked out Tinie Tempah. Not so into him so we went to a quieter spot to sit our arses down, resting until The Chemical Brothers were up. Too old for this shit, NOT!

# – With Sam. Aiyo, sweaty max :P

# – My sparkly top made these stars on my leg.

Finally, The Chemical Brothers played. But they were hidden behind a thick waft of smoke, great lights and didn’t even have their name on the stage? I was confused max. We couldn’t see them, all we saw was smoke & lights and the music was honestly err? and eh? for the first hour. We decided to bail then.

That said, it was really okay. Honestly even if The Chemical Brothers were above average, I probably would not have energy to enjoy them. I gave my all at Chase & Status haha.

All acts seemed to pale in comparison after C&S lol. I’m probably biased but that’s honestly how I felt.

# – A lonely sad flamingo.

Thank you Future Music Festival Asia 2012 for an incredibly amazing time. Please make this an annual thing. Please, please, please! My wishlist would be seeing The Prodigy and Skrillex next. And Chase & Status again PLEASE!

I wish I could be good at using a curling tong or even ordinary curling rolls but sadly, some people are just born without any hair curling talent in their genes.

One day, I stumbled upon this video on youtube that teaches you how to curl your hair with socks. Yeap, the kind that you wear on your feet. I was intrigued.

What you need:

Socks, several pairs (more socks for more curls)

A spritzer bottle filled with water

Leave-in conditioner (optional)

# – Fill up a spritzer bottle with water and add some leave-in conditioner if you want.

# – Looks like white cendols. Shake the bottle until combined.

# – Prepare socks. Clean ones, please :)

# – My pre-curled hair. My gawd T_T

# – Get a section of your hair, smooth it down with your fingers.

# – Spray the water+conditioner solution on it to damp up the hair. Just damp, not soaked.

# – Now get a sock, wrap the ends of the hair around the sock then roll sock towards your scalp.

# – Then tie a knot with both ends of the sock. Don’t tie it loose but not too tight either.

# – Repeat with the rest of your hair.

# – Close-up of socks in my hair.

I actually slept with the socks in my hair. It’s very comfortable, like having another layer of billowy pillow under my head haha. I’m quite a rowdy sleeper yet I woke up with all the socks still intact.

If you don’t feel like sleeping with the socks in your hair, try to leave them on for at least 5 hours.

# – When it’s time to unveil the curls, untie the sock and gently ease it out of the hair.

# – Remove the rest of socks from hair.

# – Yay, curls! With your fingers, gently tease them with your fingers for desired hairstyle.

# – I went to a dance music festival with these curls and they lasted me through sweating & dancing for half a day, albeit a little limp in the end. Impressed!

I think this is a much healthier way to curl hair as well. Hope this tutorial helps you girls out there with difficulties in using curling tongs like me.

And by doing something, I don’t mean complaining and whining and blaming. I mean really doing something whether physically or mentally.

I used to be the most negative person I know. I could only see the bad side of things even when wonderful things were happening to me! I whined and complained a lot, everything was either black & white to me that when something didn’t end up the way I envisioned it, it’s automatically bad. That’s a bleak, bleak way to live.

# – I WAS MISERABLE T_T

Finally, I couldn’t wait anymore to transform my mentality which made me so miserable. I had to make a change and fast. It was hard and I had to constantly remind myself to think positively. Sometimes I forgot and reverted back to my old habits of jumping to negative conclusions but luckily Gareth would always be around to remind me.

Research has shown that it will take 21 days for the average person to truly adopt a change in lifestyle. That is why Great Eastern has introduced the 21 Days mobile app for iPhone and Android to assist in maintaining and keeping track of good new habits.

# – Download the Great Eastern 21 Days Mobile App onto your phone.

The app alerts & motivates its user for 21 days to make sure daily tasks pertinent to the lifestyle change are fulfiled. Just search for “Great Eastern” on your iPhone or Android app market and it will show up. Install it and be on your way to a better, healthier more content life.

# – Set up my intention of transformation on the app. Then state the person I promise to fulfil the intention for.

Also, join the Facebook Page and check out the Wellness Profiling tool that helps to find out how you are faring in several areas. All you need to do is answer a few simple questions as a start, and get tips, articles and support to help you improve in the areas you need to the most.

# – The ideal score is 90, but I got 53, FML!!! Obviously, still a lot of work to do on myself.

Apart from the Facebook page, if you need more information about planning for better health & well-being, feel free to contact Great Eastern Life Planning Advisor at 03-4259 8877.

# – That’s what I’m aiming for.

Here to a better, more awesome life after 21 days. Cheers!