Cameron Highlands retreat

During the Raya holidays, my family and I went to Cameron Highlands for a retreat. It was indeed a huge family retreat, because my cousins, grandparents (maternal and paternal), uncles, aunties all gathered there. It had been quite a while since we planned something large scale, so I was really looking forward to it. We started our journey at about 10am in the morning and reached around 1.5 hours later, where we were greeted with traffic jam! Seriously, not a good time to go to Cameron Highlands on holiday season.

After going through the hustle and bustle of the town, we finally found a place to buy fresh vegetables for our steamboat activity that night.


Some market in Brinchang

Since it was almost lunch time, we decided to have lunch before heading to our accommodation in a bungalow. This was where we ate:

A chicken/duck rice shop in Brinchang (near night market)



The crowd was simply amazing. There were so many people in the shop that we had to wait for tables to be cleared. When we finally had our table, we ordered their specialty Roasted duck, of course.


Old cucumber soup


Roasted duck

Well, the food was not too bad but a tad oily. But the company was more important... eating with a big group of people was rather fun. :)

We then headed to our bungalow, which was called Fair Haven. The place was very old but still well-maintained. At least, all the basic necessities were available. And most importantly, it had an amazing view!

View from the back entrance of the house



Well I think the views were enough to offset whatever downsides of the bungalow. ;) And weather was cool but rather damp. Rained almost every day, which was not good news for outdoor activities.

Can you spot the golf course in the distance?

The first night we were there, we had BBQ just outside the house, facing the brilliant view. Thank goodness there was no rain in the evening, so our BBQ went on rather smoothly. That is, until 2 hours later, then it started to drizzle. Fortunately, we had a front covered porch where we could move to. Check out the delicious BBQed meat that we had! :)


Look at what rain did to our pit... :(


Most of the time, we were either just eating or playing mahjong or sleeping! I am positive I gained at least 2 pounds from the 2 nights there. Needless to say, the trip definitely served its purpose to renew my enthusiasm in life, to refresh and rejuvenate me.

Now it is time to get back to work...

Losing the spark? Or recreating one?

I read that after a couple has been in a relationship for a few years, the spark will deteriorate. In fact, if it had started with a fire, you'll be lucky if there is still smoke after a few years. There are many debates going on, how to re-spark the relationship? How to keep the fire burning? How to make each other fall in love all over again? And most importantly, how to recreate the element of excitement?

After a few years, of being together with someone, we virtually have no secrets from each other. We know what time our partner wakes up in the morning, what he/she does after waking up, what they like to eat, what their habits are (good and bad), what their responses are before they even answer our questions, how they smile, how they scowl, how they scold, basically everything! Then we become bored... or do we? How does it feel like to know everything is within our expectations? Everything is routine? Mundane? Does it not remove the spark further? Does it not make you feel you lack of something?

What happens if a third party comes into the picture? Someone who could provide the refreshing twist to your relationship... someone who makes you wonder what he/she does when not with you, someone mysterious, someone full of surprises... Will this attraction be strong enough to overcome the routine and mundane lifestyle you have with your current partner? Is this justifiable to be disloyal and unfaithful? Is this justifiable just to recreate the spark?

I will always hold loyalty dear to my heart. I can never condone any act of unfaithfulness. And I expect the same from my partner. Sure relationships will lose the initial spark after a while, but isn't this just the way of life? So what if I really happen to be unfaithful right now and be with someone more exciting? It does not mean the new spark will last forever. If I can do this to my current partner, what guarantee does that give to my next partner that I will not do this to him? It is never the right way to escape a problem rather than to face it.

Therefore, I am a strong believer of recreating the spark. To make us fall in love with our partners all over again. Everyone has his/her own ways. For me, the most important and effective method is the element of surprise. As I mentioned earlier, after a few years, there are simply no more surprises. You know your partner's every move and thoughts, it's just to the point of being scary. Sometimes you just wish you didn't know that much, but you can't help it. To create a surprise, a genuine one, requires a lot of hard work. It shows that your partner is making an effort, to do something he/she has never done before. It shows that he/she cares for you enough to have to go through the trouble to make you happy, to just see a smile on your face.

Going on a holiday makes a humongous difference to a relationship. Somehow, being in a foreign place just takes your mind of the local hustle and bustle of your own city, own environment, gossip, work, etc. Every day seems like a honeymoon when a couple is away in a retreat, be it somewhere domestic or somewhere far far way. It doesn't really matter. A foreign land makes you do things that you wouldn't have done otherwise. Heck if you're at a beach where everyone does skinny dipping, I bet you wouldn't mind as well, thinking that no one knows you there, and you'll be gone by the end of the week. That just gives you a wonderful feeling, to be able to explore yourself, to do something you thought you didn't dare to do, to renew the little kid inside of you. And the loveliest of it all, you will also discover the other more interesting side of your partner you didn't know. And then you fall in love again.

The way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Or so they say. I believe it is true. Cooking is an art. No two persons can cook the same dish in exactly the same way, with the same taste. It is very personal and very customized. For a person to put in the effort, once in a while, to cook a nice meal for a partner, it is beyond sweet. And believe me, your effort will be worth the while. No matter how good/bad the food tastes, your partner will still think it's the best meal he/she ever had. And then you'll be treated to dessert... ~~~

30 things I do not like

1. Tardiness
2. Messiness
3. Unorganized
4. The sound of mosquitoes when I sleep
5. The screeching of polystyrene
6. The screeching of old wooden door's hinge
7. Traffic jams on Friday in Penang
8. Having to wake up really early everyday to make sure I have a parking spot near to office
9. Going out for lunch on a sunny day
10. Insurance or direct sales people approaching me
11. The sound of construction
12. The smell of smoke (cigarette, carbon monoxide, fire)
13. The sound of people singing out of tune
14. People cutting queue
15. Drivers who swerve into my lane without putting on the indicator
16. Bittergourd
17. Beer
18. Liquor (makes me sleepy)
19. Onions

20. Having to study on Friday nights and Saturday mornings :(
21. Getting cough
22. Period
23. Dirty water supply in Penang
24. Raining on a BBQ night
25. Dirty swimming pool in PISA
26. Not able to speak freaking Hokkien in Penang!
27. Getting old
28. Having pimples
29. Raining on the day I hang up my laundry
30. Disappointment

Fainting for the First Time...

I was a St. John First-aid member for the five years in my high school. I was always taught the proper way to do CPR, mouth-to-mouth, diagnose a casualty, proper way to take care of a fracture, etc... And I used to question myself, why does a fainted person require mouth to mouth? What happens when a person faints? Is he not able to breathe? Is his heart still working? Is his brain still functioning? What happens if first aid does not come to rescue fast enough? Will a fainted person just... die?

Well, never did I think that I would be experiencing the role of the victim instead of the saviour. For the first time in my life, I now know how it feels to be fainted, to have lost touch with the world, to have lost touch with myself.

It was the Raya holidays, and my family and I just came back from our trip to the Cameron Highlands. Trip was good, purely R&R and not much sightseeing. Anyway, we reached home early in the morning and decided to go out for breakfast. My mom ordered a few plates of fried noodles and 2 bowls of prawn noodles to share around. I was not feeling too hungry so I just took a few bites off my mom's prawn noodles. Later in the afternoon, my mom got hit with diarrhea and vomiting. All of us suspected she got food poisoning... and main culprit was the prawn noodles. In the place where we stay, the prawn noodles' soup was made with dried prawns and other awful smelling seafood paste. Well I say it is awful smelling because I'm not used to the strong prawn paste smell, but for those who love prawn noodles, they will find this smell tantalizing even. But it is definitely the kind of smell which would attract flies... hence, our strong suspicion went to the prawn noodles.

However, I, who had a few bites of my mom's noodles, was still feeling ok in the afternoon. So I was not too convinced it was the noodles. Alas, I said it all too soon. I was indeed feeling well the whole day, that is, until night arrived. We went to a restaurant for dinner at about 8pm. All was well, until the first dish arrived. I suddenly felt a pang of sharp pain in my stomach. It lasted merely 10 seconds but the pain was all too strong to ignore. I made a mental note to take some medicine after dinner. All through dinner, I was normal again and then right after I swallowed the last bite of my rice, the pain attacked me again. But this time, it lasted more than 10 seconds. In fact, it was continuous to the point that I thought I must visit the washroom to relieve myself. The pain was so severe I could not walk straight, but I did not inform my family members so as not to get them unnecessarily worried.

Unfortunately, I was just making my way up the stairs (the toilets were located on the first floor of the restaurant), when I could not muster enough strength to withstand the pain, and had to squat down. After that, I blacked out. I was not aware of what was happening until later on, I faintly heard someone calling my name and nudging me to wake me up. It was my dad and Saucer. Saucer kept calling my name and asked me whether I hurt myself or not. He thought I slipped when I was climbing the stairs and hurt my legs. In the blur of my mind, I just did what he asked me to do and checked my legs. They looked fine to me. I was still spinning. Then it suddenly hit me again... the attack of sharp pain to my stomach. And I realised during that instance that I needed the washroom. Badly. So I dragged myself up, with the help of my dad and Saucer, to continue climbing up the stairs.

Halfway through the last flight of stairs, I collapsed again, but this time only for a few seconds. My two strong heroes were carrying me on each side, making sure I was able to stand and walk properly. With the last thread of strength that I had, while suffering the massive pain in my stomach, I pushed myself forward to the last few steps, and finally reached the toilet entrance. At this point of time, my head was so dizzy and I blacked out for the third time! The whole of my body just could not stand my weight, and I completely fell down on my behind and passed out. The events that followed were a total blur. Every few seconds or so, I opened my eyes and saw people around me. Then I felt myself being carried away from the washroom area. Blackness. Someone calling my name, I opened my eyes, but could not feel anything. Blackness again. I felt my body being placed on a chair. I felt that I lost one shoe. Where's my Hush Puppies? Blackness again. I felt like I was dreaming, that I was in a deep sleep. I didn't want to wake up. Someone bloody slapped me. And slapped me again. I heard my name being called for the umpteenth time. And then I woke up. I was still in the restaurant, but in the private area where there were no customers. My dad, grandma and Saucer were with me. My rescue team...

Dad's look was very worried. I couldn't believe the first words I uttered was, "Where is my shoe?". Someone got back my shoe and I put it on my right foot. I tried to stand up but my head started to spin, so I sat down again. The waitresses came by to see me, and asked whether I needed an ambulance. I was shocked! Ambulance? No... It can't be that bad, can it? I am fine, I am fine. I took a few minutes to gather enough strength. And the stomachache still wouldn't leave me. I had to visit the washroom. Thankfully, this time I managed to reach to the toilet cube safely. And I spent more than 15 minutes in it - relieving myself and suffering the sharp pangs of pain every minute. When I thought it was over, I came out, my rescue team was still waiting outside for me, and I realized the pain was still there. I had to turn back for a second visit. Another 10 minutes passed by (it seemed like forever) and I was out for good. My legs were still weak, but I managed to walk. Barely, but still manageable. I had my rescue team supporting me anyway, I was really thankful for them.

My all-too-worried dad fetched me to the doctor. It was still the Raya holidays, and most of the clinics were closed. We managed to locate one at the end, just minutes before its closing time. Thank God. After checking my blood pressure, the doc said my reading was very slow... only 94 as opposed to a normal 120. Dad was worried again. Doc mentioned I needed to drink lots of water and lots of glucose to regain the normal blood pressure. I thought to myself, what? Drink SUGAR? Argh... My dad was out searching for glucose before I could respond.

The experience was all too real, too scary, extremely terrifying... Now I know how it feels like to be disconnected from the world, even for a mere few minutes. Blood flow to the brain is restricted. All five senses are numb. Body is cold. I cannot imagine what would have happened if I fainted when I was out alone, or in my room, where no one noticed. Would I have survived?

All about food!

I swear to you, my blog is very soon turning into a food blog! My recent posts have all been about food, food and more food! Well, it's all good, sharing good food experience is always good, isn't it? :) I have some more food pictures that I have not posted from my Sydney holidays. Just thought of putting the finishing touch to it. Look at the Laksa noodles I had at Chinatown, Sydney... Isn't it gorgeous? How can you resist it? It's full of flavour, lots of meat and tofu, not mentioning the huge portion! However, one think I'd like to comment though, is the char siu (pork) used in this bowl of noodles. Somehow, there was a distinct, rather strong meat taste, too strong for my liking, to the meat. But it was overall good, though I did not manage to finish it. :)


The following bowl of wan ton noodles was what my dad had. This was a bit on the low side. The taste was just bland and there was not enough sauce, causing the whole bowl of noodles to just stick to one blub. Next!

Red bean sorbet... Again, huge portion and comes with a big scoop of ice cream! I'd give it a 3 star. ;)

Sydney does have a huge Chinese population, you'd be surprised! However, the dimsum that I had was not in Chinatown, it was in Cabramatta, which is a suburb more populated by Vietnamese instead. The quality though, is unbelievably good. The har kau (prawn wrap) was filled with succulent prawns, so much so that I thought I was eating prawns instead of dim sum. Fantastic, really.

The siew mai (pork wrap) was not bad either. The meat was well marinated and of course, each piece was a big mouthful.

The loh mai kai though, was very different than the one back home. It was wrapped in some leaves, and the rice was not brown color as usual. The glutinous rice was a tad too soft and sticky, and the taste was rather insipid. Hmm, not a nice try.

Porridge was good, pardon me, it was great! Lots of century egg pieces and shreds of pork made the combination simply heavenly. This big bowl was enough for 3 persons seriously.

Back to the good old familiar place that we all know... KFC! I thought it would be a wonderful idea to compare the fast food places in Sydney with the ones in Malaysia. Suffice to say, it was not a regrettable experience. I chose the Cheese an bacon burger, which was not available back in Malaysia. My, the size of it already impressed me, not that I'm surprised anymore. Somehow this picture always makes me crave for burgers no matter how full I am. *grin*

We had our buffet breakfast at our hotel in Glenferrie Lodge. Everyday was a combination of sausages, bacon, eggs, toast, baked beans, tomatoes, cereal, milk and juices. Bacons there were really huge and oily! :P



On the last day in Sydney airport, our tour guides bought us the Mc D's sundae. The sundaes there are slightly smaller, but the taste was much more milky and very rich. What a great way to end our wonderful trip to Sydney. I'll definitely be back! =)

Birthday dinner No. 2

Now, then I also have a nice BELATED birthday celebration with another friend. This time, we went to Peppino's in Golden Sands Penang. It was a weeknight and yet, crowd was pretty huge. Luckily we were there early... :) The interior of Peppino's is nicely done, very Italian.

My good friend ordered the set, which started with this appetizer of smoked salmon with something...
I had the Minestrone soup, it was delicious!
The set also came with a soup of tomato puree, squash?, basil and something else I can't remember... Good comments for that too!
Dinner wouldn't be perfect without a fine glass of Chivas red wine... especially great for accompanying red meat :)
The rib eye steak that came with the set...My tenderloin steak with a lobster on top... Medium done, wonderfully charbroiled, tasted gorgeous, amazingly tender and oozing with flavorful juices... Might I add the lobster was fantabulous! Very succulent and very fresh! *heavenly*
My dessert of Haagen Dazs ice cream... Chocolate will never go wrong with me ;)
The dessert that came with the set... a mixture of 3 flavors ice cream combined into a cake-like shape. Very creative...
To top everything off, I was given a belated birthday present as well! Ain't I a lucky girl? ^.^
Prettily wrapped pressie.. Took me a while to admire it before I willingly ripped it off!
To reveal a pretty bag within... Love it!
Today is exactly one week after my birthday this year. I am happy to say that I truly had an amazing experience celebrating birthday with people who care for me, people who appreciate me as a friend, people who matter... What would I do without you guys?

Birthday dinner no. 1

This year, I am really blessed to have friends who took the trouble to plan out nice dinners and lunches for my birthday. On the special day that was the 3rd of October, my colleagues brought me to an Italian restaurant for lunch. They also gave me a pair of very sweet earrings and a hair band. They really look well on me. ;)

Then at night, I was brought to Victoria Station by Saucer. It was just the perfect night because the crowd was not too big at the place, good atmosphere, nice ambient and we even managed to sit inside the coach itself.
We made our order of a milkshake... *yummy*slurp*
... a sizzling steak (marvellous!)
... grilled lamb cutlet (pretty good, except for the fatty meat... -.-')
... and the bombe alaska dessert! (literally on fire, baby!)

Pouring rum over the meringue crust and keeping the fire up (photo did not able to capture fire :( )

Everything was really nice, except for the dessert being a tad too sweet. Also, we did not manage to finish our dessert as we were full to the brim by then. It's really sweet to have spent a nice dinner with a nice person, nice company in a nice environment. I truly felt blessed, loved and appreciated. The moment would always be lingering in my head... thank you very much! XOXO