On our 2nd day in Bali, we decided to check out Kuta Beach.

After taking two pictures of the beach, we left. Even then I felt like we had stayed far too long.

Firstly, it was hellishly hot! I felt like I was going to melt. My feet were burning, it was like walking on burning glass. Secondly, there were so many touts! I don’t like touts, leave me alone!

# – Kuta Beach picture 1.

# – Kuta Beach picture 2.

After spending less than 5 minutes there, we left Kuta Beach in our rental van to go to Tanah Lot. As usual, we were stuck in a traffic jam. Almost an hour before we managed to leave Kuta alone!

# – Traffic jam. Yawns.

While stuck in the jam, I tried this coconut juice in a packet. I was a bit skeptical cause packeted coconut juice sold in Malaysia are nasty. This one was very nice though.

# – Hydro Coco.

Finally we reached Tanah Lot! I was mistaken as a local and got my ticket dirt cheap. Too bad G will never pass of as local anywhere in Asia :P

# – My ticket only 10,000 rupiah, whereas G’s was 30,000 rupiah. Score!

There were so many people at Tanah Lot! I thought to myself, Tanah Lot would be such an amazing place if it was quieter. Too bad it’s never going to be that way.

# – Tanah Lot entrance.

# – Tanah Lot.

We joined the trail of people queuing up to be blessed with holy water.

# – Holy water.

# – Q-ing up.

I think we donated like 5000 rupiah each for some rice to be stuck to our foreheads and frangipanis behind our ears. We also got to wash our hands and face with the holy water.

# – Getting blessed.

Then we went up the side of the temple, but we were not allowed to go all the way up. So we hung around the stone staircase for a bit and camwhored.

# – Trying to be artistic.

After mucking around for a bit, we decided we had enough so we started exploring the nearby shops.

# – Saw phallic carvings.

# – Saw coffee beans pooped out by civet cats.

Then we went to sit down at one of the restaurants overlooking Tanah Lot. We decided to wait for the sunset.

# – Camwhored again.

By now, I must had taken over 200 shots of Tanah Lot from various angles permissible by how much I could twist and turn my arms. But I ain’t posting any of them.

Then, the sun set.

# – Pretty.

On the way back, we stopped by a pretty famous Babi Guling restaurant called “Babi Guling Chandra” in Denpasar, found by my white husband.

During this trip, we went to two babi guling places and while both were good I prefer Chandra more.

# – Babi Guling Chandra.

# – Babi guling special. Delicious!

The meat was really moist, the urap (some kinda salad) was juicy, crunchy and flavourful, the sambal packed a punch, the satay was meaty & juicy, the crackling O M G!! They ran out of the crispy skin but I didn’t miss it.

And then, I absent-mindedly bought two bags of cracklings called “Krupuk Babi Rejeki”.

# – Yeap, I forgot to take pictures of them so these I nicked from somebody else. Krupuk Babi Rejeki

I wish had bought more cause ladies & gentlemen those are the best gawddamn cracklings I have ever tasted in my life. It was crunchy but not jaw breakingly so. It was so well-seasoned, once you popped you can’t stop. It cost 40,000 rupiah a bag and it’s so worth it. Amazing stuff.

Apparently you can only get them in Babi Guling Chandra, so don’t miss it.

Babi Guling Chandra
Jl. Teuku Umar 140
Denpasar – Bali
Tel: +62361 221278

Till the next post!

Anyway, while on the way to dinner, I mentioned to Gareth that I noticed someone we both know has the “Tony Stark Walk”.

Chest thrust forward, calculated steps – a walk that has swagger.

“It’s a purposeful walk”, said Gareth.

“Successful people walk like that, cause they don’t waste time walking around aimlessly. Every step is taken with an intent”.

So I asked Gareth whether he thinks he has that walk.

“I don’t. But I used to walk like that when I was working as a waiter”.

“……………………”

“What? I was a very good waiter!”.

Am not angry because the opposition lost, to be honest I was’t even expecting an opposition victory but I really didn’t expect that it could get that dirty.

Localised blackouts at places where opposition was expecting marginal wins followed by appearances of “new” ballot boxes, delible “indelible” ink, non-malaysian voters, phantom voters, criminal intimidations, the list goes on.

And then when they’ve won through these filthy means, they had the cheeks to say that Chinese Malaysians’ complete abandonment of MCA would cause discord among Malaysians. WHAT THE FUCK?

If anything, this general elections have united Malaysians more than anything. My mom said in all her years of voting, she had never ever needed to queue, what more queuing up from the road? 80% turnout, wow Malaysians! Just wow!

In a moment of anger, I said I was devising exit plans on Twitter. Oh well, nothing wrong with some planning, just in case shit hits the fan. But, on 2nd thought, I think moving to Penang is a good enough alternative. A state government with a humble Chief Minister that flies economy, who got imprisoned for standing up for the rights of a girl of different race and treasures national heritage….dude, I’m completely sold.

5 more years of public funds abuse, racial politics, unhealthy amount of political patronage, no press freedom, the poor gets poorer, the middle-class getting more and more in debt, the rich finding themselves having to pander more to the powers that be, education going to the shitters, plundering of our environment, the list goes on.

I wish I could end this with “You asked for this!”, but we all know that it isn’t true.

Good luck Malaysians!

Anyway, this year I have decided to cast my vote because well, a pair of sandals at Charles & Keith was going for RM134. I blame the government for that.

Jokes aside.

The things that truly changed my perceptions aren’t the sandals…but the below:

1. Both my younger brothers are in danger of never affording their own homes, and that pains me.

2. Traffic jams, which I genuinely believe stems from corrupted driving schools=bad drivers, terrible road conditions and severe lack of reliable public transportation.

3. Rampant animal abuse and mistreatment of animals by local councils.

4. I don’t feel safe walking down a well-lit street alone.

5. The horrendously tacky & narcissistic home-made music videos which led me to think, “Seriously, these are the clowns that are supposed to govern our country!?”

6. MRR2. It’s feels like am playing Russian Roulette every time I’m forced to drive on that road.

7. The education system.

So yeah, that’s why I’m going to vote…despite still having a nagging feeling that G might be deported, hehehe.

It’s been several months of intense discussions, talks and speculations about our Election Commision. How much of those said are true and how much are made up? Nobody knows. Actually I don’t care lah.

Not like I can do anything!

I did print out my details on SPR website just in case those rumours of people’s names being struck off were true.

Honestly, I think it’s just technical glitch but just in case lah…you’re only wasting some ink and a piece of paper.

I’ve also heard that people wearing nail polish might be stopped from casting their votes because EC might claim that they “can’t tell the difference” of a finger with indelible ink from a finger with nail polish.

I haven’t been able to find anything official about it; the only information is that they say don’t get a manicure because the indelible ink will ruin your nail colours.

Anyway, I removed my gel manicures because just in case lah….what if they really can’t tell the difference between nail polish and indelible ink. I’m bored with my nail colours already anyway and them nails need to breathe from 3 consecutive gel manicure treatments.

Since we’re on the topic of indelible ink, I also don’t understand why they decided to mark people’s fingers before voting. Mark it after voting makes more sense right?

Apparently, it’s some kind of trickery to encourage spoiling of ballot papers. I don’t think there’s anything dodgy about it, maybe they are just scared that people might wipe it off within 30 seconds.

But just in case you’re worried about spoiling your ballot papers with the indelible ink, they say you can ask for a new ballot paper. In case they won’t give you a new ballot paper, show them a printed version of this news article. From NST one okay, must believe.

But just in case they still refuse to give you a new ballot paper anyhow, haiyaaaa vote only, lodge a complaint and cross your fingers. Most importantly, don’t be a clumsyass with your fingers.

Then, there’s a rumour that despite the increase of 3 million new voters in the electoral roll, the number of polling stations will be reduced compared to year 2008.

Apparently, this is a tactic to get voters to give-up midway queuing.

Also, there are words that polling centres would close at 5pm sharp regardless of people still queuing. I don’t think so, but just in case lah….bring a book, some snacks, umbrella, your printed details from the SPR website and lots and lots of patience ya.

I am really quite excited about voting for the first time. I’ve never felt so much ownership towards Malaysia. Whatever the outcome is, just in case lah….remember to stay home to celebrate/mourn privately ;)

Really??

Every single anti-aging brand out there in the market has claimed that its product is superior. But how can we know that it’s true? Many women, myself included buy all these products and give up shortly after because yeah it smells nice and all…but making me look younger? Really?

The one range that seems to have worked is Olay Regenerist, and you can read all about my experience with Olay Regenerist here, here, here and here. Even my girlfriends are fans, you can read about it here.

After watching the video, am really curious as to how well the New Olay Regenerist Micro-sculpting cream can perform. I realised that the only way to know is to test out on myself.

# – The New Olay Regenerist Micro-sculpting cream.

With 20% more anti-aging ingredients; higher level of Amino-Peptide and innovative ingredients like Olivem and Lyslatine which can boost collagen and make the product works faster/ deeper within skin layers….I reckon it should be pretty good?

The first test I did was the water dispersion test. As skin is made mostly of water, the theory is that products with good water dispersion will get carried deeper into skin.

# – First I filled two shot glasses with water.

# – Using a cottonbud, I picked up some product from a jar of New Olay Regenerist Micro-sculpting cream.

# – I repeat the step with another anti-aging cream I own.

# – Then I stick both cottonbuds into the shot glasses.

# – Then I stirred the water in both shot glasses vigorously.

# – The results….

# – Which product has dispersed better?? Olay wins hands down.

# – Not clumpy like the other one.

The verdict: New Olay Regenerist Micro-sculpting cream certainly disperses in water at a much better rate. Theoretically, this means it should be absorbed better into our skin cells.

Even without the test, I could feel that it absorbs into my skin really quickly, leaving a nice, soothing smell.

# – Love it on my skin.

I’ve used it for a couple of weeks now…what do you think for a LATE 20s without makeup and a horrifyingly stressful lifestyle?

# – Not too bad eh? No photoshop also okay!

Don’t even need to finish a whole jar to see the results. This old dame is pretty damn impressed ;)

For more information, check out Olay Malaysia facebook page. Of course you can get the New Olay Regenerist Micro-sculpting cream at all major supermarket and pharmacies.

Eh, the last birthday party was 3 years ago leh so I was understandably excited!

Finally the day arrived!

# – Luke, I am your father.

We managed to pull off the surprise. Mike came home dripping in sweat from his badminton session while carrying his fresh laundry to a bunch of howling friends, hehe.

# – SURPRISEEEE!

# – Mike with LL, Grill Sargeant Lance and Mel (who are getting married soon wheeee!)

# – All that’s missing is a bonfire.

# – Kerol and Yuks.

# – LY and KK.

# – The only person who bothered to dress up, Fireangel – resident bar wench. She makes amazing cocktails and other alcoholic related goodies. She offers her service to private parties too, just hit her up at her Facebook page.

# – Of course, must haz booze.

# – KY, Fireangel, Sashi & Horng….drinking bitch piss with gold flakes.

# – Ken, LL’s brother passing out.

# – Kaitlyn also passed out…but not cause of booze. Kendrick engrossed in watching Cars 2.

# – Cake out!

# – Birthday man and a cleaver. Don’t think there’s any reference to Pixar or Star Wars…he’s just being a cina laopek.

Now to the food. I offered to cook, praying and hoping LL would let me. And she did! Yay, thanks LL! :D

I googled for Star Wars food puns. Found quite a few and narrowed the list down to match what I was planning to cook. Hubs and I also came up with 2 original Star Wars food puns (at least we think we did!).

I haven’t been cooking properly for a while now so I really relished the opportunity!

# – Ham Solo Sandwich.

Basically using potato buns I got from a bakery, which I halved and then stuffed with loads of ham, mature cheddar & spices, then baked with a home-made mustard glaze.

# – Lardsabers….I thought of this name one, hehe.

Skewered pork sausages wrapped in bacon with canned cubed pineapples. Didn’t even need seasoning.

# – Bobba Fettucini.

Lemon and parsley fettuccine with loads of bacon.

# – R2Pea2…Gareth the hubs came up with this name.

Initially, the plan was to make mushy peas but it became buttered peas with lettuce.

# – Vaders Potaters.

From chips to roast potatoes to the final outcome – chilled potato, gherkin and egg salad.

# – All the dishes. Mike’s brother, the Grill Sargeant Lance also whipped up two other dishes…awesome sticky sausages and a OMFG cheese casserole despite being an Orang Kurang Upaya (busted his Achilles tendon). Respect!

As expected, I made too much food. But it’s okay coz Mike and LL didn’t have to worry about meals for the next few days.

Aged to Perfection…hells yeah!

Happy birthday in advance, Mike!

According to Mom, when she was a small girl, she used to keep a coin in her mouth. It drove my granny crazy!

I asked Mom why she did such a gross thing and she said back in those days she didn’t have a purse cause she was too little so she used to put whatever coin she got from my grandparents behind her ear.

However, the coin kept falling off the back of her ear, so she came up with the brilliant idea of keeping it in her mouth instead.

One day, while she was playing with a neighbour, she accidentally swallowed the coin. She started panicking and cried hysterically.

My late grandfather told my Mom that there were only two ways to get the coin out; she had to go to a doctor who would cut her belly open and pluck it out…or she would have to eat chicken poop which would induce vomitting.

“Which method do you want?”, asked my grandfather.

She thought for a while, and with tears in her eyes, “I’d eat chicken poop”.

My uncle (mom’s elder brother) who was observing the entire episode, helpfully suggested to Mom that they hunt for the perfect chicken poop together. Back in those days, my granny reared a few chickens so there were plenty of avian poop to choose from.

There were watery ones, and there were solid ones. After studying every single chicken poop they came across in my grandparents’ backyard, my uncle asked mom whether she had decided on which one to ingest.

“I want the watery one”, she said.

“Why?”, asked my uncle.

“Cause it will dissolve in water better”, Mom replied.

At this point, my grandmother told my uncle to cut it out and stop bullying my Mom.

Only then Mom realised that she had been taken for a ride.

She stopped speaking to my uncle for 2 weeks and proceeded to stuff his precious encyclopaedias in several Milo tins and buried them under the chicken pen, while he was at school.

As for the coin in Mom’s belly, apparently my granny soaked a stalk of chive in water till it’s soft and made my mom swallow it whole. The belief was that the chive would wrap itself around the coin, of which my Mom would then safely pass it out.

True enough, she safely pooped out a chive wrapped coin a day later.

# – Ah Lye Curry Fish Head.

I love fish head curries but only the ones sold in chinese joints. I don’t mind the ones by indians…but I always find them slightly too spicy for me and I don’t mean spicy as in heat. Sorry, am racist when it comes to fish head curries.

Maybe I haven’t found a good indian curry fish head yet. Feel free to enlighten me!

Anyway, back to Ah Lye’s. My lunchmates were really excited about the place while I was more worried about how I was going to chew.

Background story, I just had orthodontic rubber spacers put around my teeth for my pre-braces work…so they’re tender as hell and I can’t really chew cause the rubbers broke the 1st time I attempted chewing.

# – Gross picture of my teeth. Spot the blue orthodontic spacers? These stuff are suppose to create gaps between my teeth.

Right now, I can only chew with my two front teeth (TEDIOUS) and it’s getting harder each day because I swear I can feel like my teeth have protruded even more than they were before the spacers. Bla bla bla who cares?

(I realise I should blog about my teeth in another post and not a food review post lol sorry)

Ah Lye’s Curry Fish Head is located in a row of shops smacked right in the middle of SS19 residences. When we’re there, parking was ample but I think we’re just lucky.

A friend who’s a regular did the ordering.

# – Fish head curry of course. It comes in Medium or Large portion.

Dayummmm it was good! The fish was just nice, fresh and flaky. The curry gravy was flavoursome…so delicious!

In fact, my friend who did the ordering told us that the last time she brought her brother there, when all the fish and vegetables had been devoured save the gravy, her brother ordered another bowl of rice, dumped it into the claypot, mixed it all up with the gravy and ate it all!

I can totally understand and if I had known earlier that someone had already pulled off such an anti-social stunt I would have gladly done the same. Hehehe.

# – Nam Yu pork.

The Nam Yu pork was pretty good but not outstanding. I think mostly cause I had issues chewing them too :( Nevertheless they went down well with everyone.

# – Deep fried stuffed bean curd sheets.

Pretty damn good. Sure, it was a bit greasy, but oh so delicious! It was filled with bits of carrots and onions, very appetising, very moreish.

# – Asam prawns.

I thought these were marmite prawns with a tangy twist at first, but they weren’t. They’re actually tamarind prawns and they were OMFG GREAT! The sticky sauce was addictive, the prawns were huge AND fresh. Sucking off the prawn heads….blissful! I could have eaten about a dozen of this if it weren’t for my stupid teeth. I mean the fish head curry was great but I would go back to Ah Lye just for the prawns, no question.

Ah Lye Curry Fish Head is an air-conditioned joint, which makes it an awesome lunch place as you can take shelter from the sweltering heat. Temperature’s been really crazy lately by the way. The service was pretty fast and no-nonsense.

Becareful when you order “small” rice though because they’re not kidding about the size – the portion literally is about 3 tablespoons of rice.

I will be back!

# – Ah Lye Curry Fish Head.

Ah Lye Curry Fish Head
No.28, SS19/1G
47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor
Tel: 603-56380468 / 603-56349692
Business Hour: 12pm-3pm (Lunch) & 5pm-10pm (Dinner)
GPS Coordinates: 3.0758887 101.5754559 (N03° 4.5533′, E101° 34.5274′)

House keys, mobile phone, lip balm…what else?

# – My work bag.

# – My weekend bag.

# – My party bag.

As you can see, I always have Kleenex® Natural 3-ply facial tissues with me. In fact, my husband has one in every pocket on his cargo trousers too. That’s how much we love the Kleenex® Natural 3-ply facial tissues.

# – Kleenex® Natural 3-ply facial tissues in hanky packs. It is also available in Soft Packs and Boxes.

# – Kleenex® Natural 3-ply facial tissues in Boxes.

# – Kleenex® Natural 3-ply facial tissues in soft packs.

# – Hubs lovesssssssssss the Kleenex® Natural 3-ply facial tissues.

It might be weird, but I get slightly giddy opening a fresh packet of Kleenex® Natural 3-ply facial tissues.

# – Like opening presents!

Perspiration, stray food, dirt…you name it, we’ve used Kleenex on it and it works like a charm…every single time.

With cucumber extract, it leaves our skin feeling extra soft and soothed. Ordinary facial tissues can’t hold a candle to Kleenex® Natural 3-ply facial tissues.

# – Gentle and soft…like me.

In conjunction with the launch of the new 3-ply facial tissues, Kleenex has launched “Share The Softness with Kleenex®”, an 8 week campaign running from March to April.

The essence of the campaign is about sharing simple words and gestures to lift the spirits of friends and loved ones, reminding us that everyone deserves some tender loving care amidst busy and hectic lifestyles.

So, how can you participate in the campaign? It is very easy! Just become fans of the Kleenex® Facebook page, then post and share a series of notes of encouragement or inspirations from the page with your family and friends. Just that, and you stand to win a relaxing spa experience, loads of Kleenex® Natural facial tissues and the best of all…a Kleenex Party for 50 friends!

With prizes worth up to RM24,000 up for grabs, log on to facebook.com/Kleenex.Malaysia now!

Kleenex® Natural facial tissues are available in boxes for use at home, office or in the car.

The hanky packs, our favourite is wonderful for on-the go usage. There’s also bigger-size soft packs for heavier usage when you’re out and about. You can find Kleenex® Natural 3-ply facial tissues at all major supermarkets, hypermarkets and pharmacies nationwide, ranging from RM4.90 to RM14.95 in Peninsular Malaysia and RM5.30 to RM15.95 in East Malaysia.

Focus on their actions instead. Actions are tangible while thoughts and speeches are not.

Because you will never, ever truly know what people’s minds are thinking….you will just end up hurting yourself & others by speculating & guessing. Why? Because uncertainty breeds contempt and resentment. That is not fair to anyone.

If you disliked someone’s action, tell that somebody immediately so that he or she can decide what to do. Only then you handle it from there.

Don’t keep the dislike or discomfort inside you because it will fill your head with doubt and ultimately consume you and everything else that is good.

Lastly, learn to let go. Because the past should never overpower your future.

Had an enlightening conversation with my husband. He basically taught me the wisdom above.

I have finally come to the realisation that I overanalyse one’s action so much so that it becomes bigger and more severe than it really is.

I am too preoccupied with the “motive” or intention behind an action that I simply forget that shit just happens.  Simply put, I am a fucked-up, straight-up batshit crazy conspiracy theorist. I get too carried away.

Today I will start to change that.