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See you at my new home, yea?

All run out of steam

I told L B in his latest post that if he did a blog hiatus for one more month, I would follow suit. :o)

So I am also quitting blogging here for an indefinite period of time, 'kay?

Blame it on the recent fuel hike. I now need to earn more money to feed my baby car and cannot spend so much time blogging and blog-hopping. Hurhurhur.

Actually, that's only partially true. The other reason is because I'm starting night classes again next week to complete certification in something relevant to my current industry (company sponsored, yay!) and I foresee that I'll be too busy what with classes (2x a week) and work commitments.

Not to mention that I'm thinking of getting more involved in my local church too. If I could, I'd take up dance classes again. And maybe join Toastmasters. And oh, let's not forget boyfriend hunting. That's going to take up a LOT of time. LOL.

Guess my blogging life is going to have to take a backseat for an indefinite period of time. :o)

The other underlying reason is because I haven't been really satisfied with the way my blog(s) are turning into something I have no control about! Kinda regret some things I blogged about, and roll my eyes at some totally inane posts I have no idea why I even posted about. Ya ya, perfectionist in me talking la. I might just cold storage this blog and go and start afresh in Wordpress. Their templates are prettier too. Haha. And this blog has never recovered from the big Google slap anyways.

I guess this might be it. Don't cry lah, I didn't say I'm quitting the blogosphere! Just mulling over a change of scenery la. Kinda bored with this one liao. ^.^

So. Lemme say bye-bye for a bit and I'll be back when I'll be back, okie? Toodles!

Totally random Friday post

Now if you're a longtime reader of my blog, you'd know that I don't like caramel. In fact, I dislike it so much that I put it down as one of the 10 things I hate and nearly every commenter on that post picked it up! *faint*

Anyway, no thanks to Suzanne Vega, I'm looking at caramel in a wholly different light. Watch the video, it's got a very film noir kinda feel. Nice or not?

Not to mention that it was kind of uncanny that I'd been listening to this song on endless repeat lately and my girlfriend went and ordered a caramel sundae to share yesterday night. Talk about coincidence! Was it a sign of sorts? Hmmm... (But no, I still don't like caramel. Heh.)

And speaking of that list of 10 things I hate, I felt a need to revisit the late Heath Ledger's song performance in 10 Things I Hate About You again...

*sigh* Now how come Malaysian guys aren't as cute as Heath and neither do they do such crazy romantic things like that? *sigh again*

Oh yeah... who's up for Batman? It's coming pretty soon...

And speaking of cute guys... I went to watch The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian recently (like two days ago) and got into a good natured argument with my girlfriends. Why? Cos' I didn't like nor find Ben Barnes (Prince Caspian) hot. *rolls eyes* I dunno la, the tall dark and broody type didn't make me like him. I much preferred to watch William Moseley or even Skandar Keynes! (Though I wonder why I keep on thinking of Benjamin McKenzie and Adam Brody when I look at them.)

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Oh gosh! I just came from the IMDB movie site and they are so young! (They meaning William and Skandar - what kind of name is Skandar anyway?) I feel like a cradle snatcher wannabe now. Ish.

Fishing My Way To Made Of Honor

aka Fishing for THE ONE

That secondary title there? I meant it. Literally. No kidding ya.

Lest I be branded desperate (I already am!) let me set matters to rights by explaining that I've gone fishing to land me some excellent goodies.

In conjunction with the June 19, 2008 premiere of the movie Made of Honor in Malaysia, Hong Leong Online and Nuffnang are joining forces to bring a few selected lucky bloggers an experience to remember.

According to Nuffnang's blogpost here, the goodies up for grabs are :

~ an exquisite 8 course dinner at J.W. Marriott KL for you and your partner
~ an exclusive invite to the movie premiere of Made of Honor immediately after

All this magic takes place on 12 June, 2008, so you get to see the show a full week before the rest of Malaysia. Hehe. Just think about it... 8 course dinner with wine wor... plus wedding themed fashion show... and bagpipes performance... souvenirs to be given away... prizes to be won... what's not to like? *grin*

All you gotta do to put yourself in the running for the very nice stuff I already told ya about above there, is head on over to this site here and play the FlipFlop Flippy game. You'll need to play the game (over and over and over and over again until your wrist aches and you fear you might be developing early stages of carpal tunnel syndrome) and take a screenshot of your highest score. Then, craft yourself a blogpost (like the one you're reading right now), stick your results in the blogpost, and email it to the good folks at Nuffnang (flipflopflippy@nuffnang.com). It you're one of the highest scorers, you could be on your way to that tete-a-tete for two at the JW Marriott KL!

Ta-dah! My best score to date. And this is after many frustrating moments of trying to land the big fish and getting stung by the electric eels. Aitelyu, those eels are evurl. *grin* Oh yeah, my blogger friend Paris Beaverbanks posted her score here and I'm sorry to tell you dearie... I beat yer score! Muahahahaha. Oops, sorry. I had a minor Dr. Evurl moment there. Caused by being stung by those darn electric eels one too many times over the past few days while trying to get my own higher score. Dang, this FlipFlop Flippy game is addictive!

So, think I stand a chance? I've checked out a number of my competitors' scores and so far last week I've only seen two persons score higher than me... 13500 and 12750 (by kyspeaks). Ish. How to beat that? I'm not even going to go near the Hall of Famers on the FlipFlop Flippy website. (50000+ is the record! *faint*)

Anyway, if THE ONE for me comes along while I'm at this movie premiere, I wouldn't mind one single bit! No sirree! *wink*

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End note : To that handsome/pretty, very excellent, extremely nice, wonderful person working in Nuffnang who's reading this post, could I be one of THE ONEs to win? *blinks Puss-in-Boots eyes for added effect*

Baby got back

Remember this post? Well, I'm not crying anymore (but still got just a little heartache remaining)...

'Cos rinnah's got herself a new baby! (Long time readers will know my *over-rated* use of the word baby on guys I like for my car and my new gadget toys so don't go and think one kind, 'kay!)

This post is made purely possible by the sponsorship of the Bank of DAD for kindly extending a 12 months, interest-free repayment plan to me to enable all my unhappiness to go away. Hahaha. (But actually hor, I was applying for another model... unfortunately intended amount for that one was too big... cheh!)

Wanna see my new baby? Yesh? No? I dun care! I'm gonna show you anyway! Scroll down...

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Ta-dah! You say nice or not? :o)

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Yesh, rinnah got herself a new baby phone and this one's even better than the last one! Teeheehee. This is the Nokia N81 8GB version... all sleek metal and smooth plastic (kinda reminds me a bit of the iPod Touch / iPhone in areas).

I was shooting for either the N95 or the N82, both of which are my dream phones, but the N95 8GB was waaaaay out of my budget *sob* and my financier dissuaded me from picking the N82 *sob* as he was concerned that a first edition might be "buggy" since it was a first release. So I settled on this model lor. :o)

Look out for a detailed review of the N81 in a few weeks time over at rinnah's marketplace!

Is you crushing on anyone online?

A little something something to entertain myself and chase away the Monday blues... plus hopefully spark some serious commenting on this blog? Dunwanna turn into a bimbo blog... but the subject I'm blogging about is so... bimboistic!

Anyways, I found this cute post about having a crush on a blogger... and wondered... is it possible? (FYI, the definition of a blogger crush = having a crush on a fellow blogger.)

I guess it is gua... since having a blogger crush would be like having a celebrity crush (whether the blogger is famous or not).

Since having a crush is defined as a "temporary romantic attraction", I'm curious to find out... what would make you have a crush on a blogger? Is it the way he/she writes? Or would it be because of the many many pictures that some bloggers post? Or is it something else? Does the relative anonymity of a blog make it easier or harder? Or is physical presence/contact required for a crush to develop? And the billion dollah question... do you/did you have a crush on a fellow blogger? (Of course, this post would have much more responses if my blog were more widely read. LOL.)

Okay-lah, to make this a more interesting Monday post, I will say that I did (past tense! past tense!) have a crush before on a guy who had his own website (no, I'm not linking it here for you all to go "pat" at). If you ask me now what was it I liked so much about him I would have to say it was mostly because of his writings - they were serious, heartfelt, indepth and personal. All about emotions la. So I got carried away with the writer in him lor. (I have to add a caveat that I know this fella IRL by sight and through a friend of a friend of a friend link. Hah, but he didn't know I stalked his website! And he doesn't know I blog. LOL. Considered blogger crush or not? *wink*)

I wonder whether anyone will comment on this post or not?

p.s. Er, with posting this post I've just scuppered all my chances of people thinking I'm normal at this Saturday's blogger tea party, rite? Rite? Lawl.

p.p.s. Can I blame this post on listening to too much Josh Groban on auto-repeat? *grin*

Take Five On Friday!

So I got tagged again by the Giddy Tigress about two weeks ago. And this tag should only be completed and posted on a Friday. How dictatorial! *pulls a haughty face and flips hair like a beauty pageant contestant* Lawl.

Image credit

Here goes the tag...

DO YOU PREFER...

1. To watch or to participate?
Depends on what la! Never specify also... if it's an activity I like, you betcha I'll be participating. I might even initiate it and lead in the activity. If it's something I don't like, then I'll be watching lor.

2. Malls, catalog shopping, or the Internet?
Malls, definitely. Didn't you know already that the Curve and 1Utama are practically my home away from home? Well, now you do know. But I have to add a caveat that I don't like malls when there are lots of people - e.g. school holidays and public holidays.

3. A bath or shower?
I don't have the luxury of having a bathtub in my bathroom, nor the time to go soak and play bubbles so I'll go with the shower.

4. To talk to people by telephone, in person or by email?
Depends on the subject but I prefer to either express myself by the typed word or in person. Somehow I just don't "get the feel" of talking to another on the telephone. For one, you can't see the person, facial movements, gestures, etc. These are the things that make conversation, well, conversation! And I think I express myself better in the other two methods.

5. Typing or writing?
Gonna steal someone's answer here and say writing by typing. Cos I'm lazy to write by hand - too much writing makes my hand cramp! (Hated exams, btw. I'd come out of the hall with hand cramps and aching wrist.) Plus my perfectionist nature would make me want to form my letters perfectly and cross every T and dot every I. So writing is just too much work!

Now, I wanna tag :

Adino
Adrian

Klang Valley bloggers tea party

Yup, you read that right. rinnah is having a blogger tea party to get to know the faces behind the blogs, especially those anony-mouse ones.

If you wanna know the who, what, when, where and how, keep reading...

Who?
Organizer : rinnah (and Paris Beaverbanks as co-organizer)
Attendees : So far... there should be six of us.. besides your lovely organizers - zewt, angeles, winn x 2 will be coming
Who else : You, you and you reading this! If you're a blogger / blog-reader in the Klang Valley, you are invited to come join us. Email your RSVP to me at rinnah [dot] lee [at] gmail [dot] com.

What?
Blogger tea party loh. Tea party because it's more informal than a lunch or dinner and you can come early / late and leave early / late too. Less protocol. Hehe. To get to know your fellow Klang Valley bloggers.

When?
Next Saturday, 31 May 2008. Tea time begins at 3.00pm and ends whatever time you want it to end...

Where?
IZZI – Uptown, PJ
No. 45G & 47G, Jalan SS 21/37
Damansara Utama
47400 Petaling Jaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan
Malaysia

Telephone : +603 77290855
Fax : +603 77290955



How?
Like I mentioned above, if you're a blogger / blog-reader in the Klang Valley, you are invited to come join us. Email your RSVP to me at rinnah [dot] lee [at] gmail [dot] com. Feel free also to let other bloggers know about this get-together.

Addendum @ 14:40hrs : I forgot to mention that Izzi has free WiFi access, so any bloggers from places other than the Klang Valley can also join us remotely cos I'll be bringing my laptop... let me know how you can be contacted online, yea?

I'm really looking forward to meeting you all, so I'll see you soon, 'kay? *wink*

Frustration, irritation and disgust

Sorry to be in such a rant-y mood, but I am feeling extremely irritated by the actions and attitude of a certain work colleague. I'm no saint myself, and God knows I've tried and tried, but I cannot help but be irritated and disgusted with his actions and attitude. Am I just being persnickety?

~ He never bothers about anyone other than himself and what he likes or what he wants to do. And he will not hesitate to try and force his opinions on others around him. E.g. He doesn't like shellfish, so he will tell anyone else eating shellfish that it's bad-tasting and unhealthy. Or when I suggested archery as an activity, he pooh-poohed the idea by saying that "Archery is stupid". Similarly when another colleague organized a bowling outing. If you don't want to join us, just say so and leave it at that la. Why go and ruin everyone else's mood by running it down just because you don't like it? Sour grapes. Ish.

~ He does away with common courtesy like "Please" and "Thank you" or "Excuse me". General politeness like "Hello" and "Goodbye" are also foreign words to him. But then again, this isn't surprising in a guy whose infamous phrase is : "Go and eat sh*t la. Don't disturb me." Oh, and I was NOT happy when he called my mom in a disrespectful manner this morning. He told me, "An old aunty called you". Hello? You're talking about my mom, okay! I don't say anything rude about your mother even though you have her face tattooed on your leg. Bleh.

~ He doesn't like to plan ahead for eventualities (he was the reason why we had some difficulty securing lodging during the Medan & Lake Toba trip) and his idea of travelling is to NOT confirm his accomodations or travel plans or transportation. That just smacks of plain ol' irresponsibility to me.

~ This is the guy who flat out blatantly lied to me about where they were during the Chiling Falls expedition. And he did the same this morning, telling me that my ex-boss' father was critically ill in hospital and close to dying. (It sounded credible because he just had a discussion to my ex-boss' husband before he said the same to me.) Guess what? It wasn't true because I checked with my ex-boss' secretary who told me that my ex-boss was at work and everything was fine. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I HATE LIARS.

~ He was invited to play basketball for the company over the weekend. He's never played basketball before in his whole life and he refused to go for the pre-game briefing. He told the organizer "I'll be there for the game but not for the briefing". When the person asked him how he intended to play without knowing the rules and whatnot, his flippant response was "How hard can it be? I'll just take the ball and run with it and knock down anyone who tries to stop me". Even if you're a basketball legend, it is not kosher to behave this way.

And that's just a quarter of his other annoying personality traits.

I don't know why, but having to face this person everyday at work just makes me go "Urgh" and I feel like smacking some common sense into his thick skull. Not that it'll change him one iota, except to hurt my own hand. I wish I could leave it well alone, but this person will come and bother me even when I'm doing my best to pointedly ignore him and not talk to him because I don't want to get upset over something that I cannot control. It's like the more I "tak layan" his antics, the more and more shocking stuff he wants to say and do. So childish!

Okay, in all fairness to him, he is a nice person when he chooses to be - practically all the stuff he bought while on holiday was for his girlfriend. He sometimes (only sometimes, mind you!) waits for the girls to go out for lunch and holds the elevator for us. When he feels like it, he belanja's the department ice-cream. But other than that... it's like sheesh! this guy could be called a jerk.

Anyone got any tips to give me on how to handle this exasperating colleague of mine?

Fab Five of February

Picture taken by rinnah at the 2007 Flora Fest

I have a confession to make. o.0 *blink blink*

You see, rinnah has been very lazy of late. Oh yes! We are stepping into the month of May and I have only published the THHC™ chup results for January! Oh me oh my! *runs around like the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland*

To all my fansee... sorry la... the offline real-world life suddenly seems very busy of late. The work deadlines were pretty close together (a number of submissions to do within days of each other and are still coming thick and fast) and not so new (read: delayed) projects have now come back with a vengeance. LOL. I've even been leaving the office later and later... used to be 5.30pm sharp, then 5.45pm, then 6.00pm, 6.15pm... you get the drift. Nowadays my average time to leave office is no earlier than 7.00pm. Aw man! That is so not the work culture trap I wanna fall back into! Then when I get home it's exercise (if I feel like it), dinner, teevee (my AI fix), bloghopping, shower, sleep. Where got time, you tell me? And with my Indonesia trip series, I have half a mind editing photos while the other half a mind is busy trying to keep up with my favorite blogs... the number of unread items in my RSS reader is close to 1,000+. Bleh. And owh, I've already declared RSS bankruptcy a couple of times but within a matter of days its back to the same old levels. When the weekend rolls around I have activities to check out, friends to meet and catch-up with, places to go and see... help! my world is spinning faster and faster and beyong my control. Guess that's why I named my blog It's all about the spin...? LOL.

Aiyah, I got diverted off the topic. See? Easily distracted of late. *grin*

Actually hor, I ramble on so much above is to divert you from the very small results of the THHC™ chup results for February. Laziness to the max leh. Only 5 posts for you to chup and it takes me forever to compute the results. Ahahaha. Oh yeah, another confession to make. I worked on other (time-sensitive) blogposts first before this one... like the Chiling Falls trip, the Indonesia trip series, baby announcements and Mother's Day dedications. And I still have tons of back-dated drafts in my work folder that need to be edited, polished and pictures added. And I've become a wee bit addicted to editing and putting my own photography work in my blogposts. All of that consumes time! Argh!

Cheh. Kena diverted yet again. (Kononnya!) Sorry ya. Back to the subject at hand. Here are the Fab Five of February!

1st - l b
2nd - angeles
3rd - may

4th - parisb
5th - winn, chev, kyh

The tales of T H E H U G H U G C L U B™ (THHC™) can be found here.

Now, let's KFC (keep fingers crossed) that I won't dilly dally again till the next edition of chup results!

Mothers are God's gift to mankind

Photo taken by rinnah at Lake Toba, Indonesia

rinnah would like to wish the following wonderful ladies a very happy Mother's Day. I salute you for your courage, your stamina and most of all your love for your families. It's not easy to be a mom (dunno when will be my turn) even though this is the highest calling any female will have in her life.

~ my Mom! (the Ellen O'Hara to my Scarlett)
~ my Mama, my mom's mother who looks down from heaven
~ the Giddy Tigress, mommy of Ethan boy
~ Eastcoastlife, mommy of Jaymes
~ King's Wife, mommy of Allyfeel and Sam
~ Nyonya Penang, mommy of two boys
~ Laundry Amah, mommy of Kieran and Kylie
~ Zara & Zaria's mommy
~ Everyday Healy, mommy of Elizabeth
~ Poey Chin, new mommy to Rachel
~ Wennnn (soon to be mommy of BB, any time now!)
~ (Momma) Misti, who mothers us all in blogland
~ Chev, mommy of Ah Boy
~ Misha's mommy
~ Trinity
~ Collin's mommy
~ Zewt's mommy, we remember you even though you are no longer with us on earth
~ And last but certainly not the least! uhm, Adrian's wifey. :o)

My wishes also go out to all the mothers of the bloggers I read and follow in my sidebar and RSS feeder. I apologize if I've missed out any lovely blogging mommies whom I read or who read It's all about the spin...

And finally, a touching blog post by stars go blue on what every mother wishes for her children.

Happy Mother's Day.

Baby you're so wonderful

Today is a very special day.

Today, a beautiful baby angel came to earth to become the daughter of a special couple. :o)

Everyone, say hello to Princess Leia baby Rachel, the newborn daughter of Adino and Poey Chin!

Dearest baby princess Rachel, jiejie rinnah wishes for you :

"God's bountiful grace, beauty, blessings and presence to be ever-present in your life.

The brightest sunshine, clearest skies and coolest breeze to accompany you every step of your journey in life.

That you will experience the deepest, purest, truest love, joy and happiness always.

To be the greatest blessing ever to your parents, family and to all whom you meet."

I can't wait to meet you now and when you grow up. :o)

Luv & hugs,
jiejie rinnah


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And you know what? Baby Rachel made her debut just in time for Poey Chin to celebrate her first ever Mother's Day! So congratulations to both Adino and Poey Chin, and a very special first Mother's Day greeting to Poey Chin. Rest well and be back soon! (Our Scramble games will be waiting for you. Hehe.)

GAP presents Marie Digby showcase in Malaysia

A short list of reasons why rinnah will be attending the GAP presents Marie Digby showcase next Wednesday :

a) It's free. LOL. How often do you have international artistes coming to our shores and you get to watch them at no cost?

b) Marie Digby is so pretty. Who says I cannot like an artiste for the way she looks? Ahahaha. Although I frequently make references to females who are prettier than I am, this should be in no way read as, uh, you know, a preference for my own gender!!!

c) rinnah adores Marie's song Say It Again (need to find a place to download it!) but is not a fan of Umbrella (dunno why... could it be the repeated ella's at the end of the chorus?) even though that is the song that brought Marie her current fame and recording contract.

d) It's a live acoustic event (but dunno how good the sound system will be though - hope it doesn't suck big time).

e) rinnah gets to practise her n00b photography skills... again.

By the way, Marie Digby is also Mix.fm's Artist of the Month and they are running two contests - a singing one and an SMS contest with great freebies. Click here for more details.

Advertlets is also having a Marie Digby contest in conjunction with EMI Music here and you could stand an opportunity to win Marie's CDs and maybe a guest pass (for two) to meet Marie in person!

*rinnah is crossing her fingers and toes in the hopes of winning something since she plans to enter both contests! Oh and also hoping her big sis the Giddy Tigress' lucky streak in winning contests of late will rub off lil' sis...*

And no, this is NOT a sponsored post, 'kay? I'm not famous enough yet. Haha. This is a community service notice brought to you by rinnah. *grin*

So, make a date to meet me Marie at 1Utama, yea? *wink*

From Indonesia with love - Day 1, Part 2

Continuation from Day 1, Part 1 here.

We booked ourselves semi-private transport to Lake Toba (average 4 hour trip) after discarding the notion of traveling with the locals on bus (the transport cost us RM 28 per pax). I thought it was cute how they refer to cars as "mobil" and vans as "bus". Oh, if you say "kereta" to them, they'll think you want the train instead of a car! They really pack their trips to eke out the most profit and our "bus" had a full passenger load of 8 passengers and 1 driver. If you're smoke intolerant like I am, Indonesia is so not the place to be. The locals smoke everywhere and all the time, even in the enclosed confines of a vehicle. *choke*



You can't really tell from this pic but they drive really really close to each other! Like just inches away. If you think KL drivers are scary, you haven't met Medan drivers yet. ;-P The horn is an instrument to be used all the time - to say hi, to tell the other vehicle to speed up, to tell the other vehicle you're overtaking, to stop pedestrians from crossing the road, bla bla bla... if anyone wants to look for budding rally drivers, look no further than Indonesia...



This is a place we stopped at briefly for toilet break and to stretch our legs. You can get local delicacies here, but we were afraid that our *delicate* stomachs couldn't handle it so this time around we just look-see look-see only (one of my tripmates tried roadside food on the way back). Dodol seems to be a specialty... we bought some back but I dunno what happened to it. Maybe my colleagues finished it? LOL.



Pretty church in Parapat. This is one of my favorite pictures. *wistful smile* Parapat is a town on the shores of Lake Toba. The whole Lake Toba area - Parapat, Tuk Tuk, etc - is mostly Christian due to the indigenious Batak people who were converted by missionaries. So, there's a lot of non-halal food there and you can freely use the word "babi"! My Muslim tripmate had a bit of a hard time finding proper halal food. They are also deeply religious people and we saw many people going to church (it was the Easter Sunday weekend).



This shot of Parapat was actually taken on the day we made our way back to Medan but I don't have a shot of when we boarded the ferry due to the mad rush (the ferry was about to depart). This was the adventurous part where we got lost. Ehehehe. Not our fault!

We asked the locals which ferry we needed to take to get to Sosorgalung harbor, which was near to our guesthouse, but instead got directed onboard another ferry, which eventually berthed at Tomok harbor. (The ferry fee to Tomok is RM 1.40 one way, if anyone wants to know. LOL.) Tomok is like a 10 - 15 minute drive away from Sosorgalung. We only found out after the ferry left the harbor from Parapat and friendly locals tried to chat us up. I don't know about the guys, but I was certainly panicking inside cos it was getting dark (even though it was only around 7.00pm) and we didn't know how to get to Sosorgalung. We had no choice but to get off at Tomok because the ferry would be going straight back to Parapat, and we were thinking that it was the last possible ferry. The moment we got off the boat, here came the touts again. They wanted to "sell" us on the idea of taking private transport to our guesthouse for an extorbitant amount (RM 70). We said no, but they were very insistent, even following us to the little shack nearby where we had our dinner in an effort to stall them.



Here is my mee goreng dinner. I didn't enjoy this meal very much because I was worried. It was dark, we were in a foreign place, I didn't know how we'd get to our guesthouse and we were persistently being "cornered" by the touts on our transportation plans. They knew we had no transport and would be pretty desperate. We certainly didn't want to pay that much because the guesthouse owner told us when we called for help that a local price would only be around RM 10. Don't worry, the story ended happily because as we finished our dinner, we negotiated a closer-to-normal transport fee (RM 17.50) and reached our guesthouse safe and sound at last!



This shot of a guitar on a sofa doesn't belong to me, but I uh, am *borrowing* it to show you the guesthouse living area. We cleaned ourselves up and chilled out for a bit at the living area even though it was past 10.30pm to enjoy our welcome drink (on the house) and watch some DVDs since the satellite dish wasn't operational due to a lost remote. And owh, here is where I got this post's content from. Lawl.

Are you still with me? Let's go to Day 2 next!

Those looking for more private photos *ahem* (like those with my face in it) should go to my Facebook. There are lots there. LOL.

Twitter-ing your life

See that graphic above? It's a tag cloud of all the stuff I've twittered before. Cool, ain't it? It's from TweetStats.com and it's absolutely free! (No, this is not a paid advert. LOL.)

I find it very interesting because I can see the number of times I have used certain words in my tweets... like work, monday, home, time, today, weekend, friday, feeling... I really should mix up my tweets more often, eh?

If you're not on Twitter yet, why not give it a try? Twittering actually got me mentioned in a literary publication (okay, I stretch the truth a wee bit, a thesis is also a literary publication what. *grin*) before. If you're already on Twitter, gimme a holler so I can "follow" you. You can follow my tweets here.

Now, I'm off to try installing Twhirl onto my lappie so I can tweet even more!

From Indonesia with love - Day 1, Part 1

Continuation from Night 1 here.



Since we were too tired to do anything last night we just went to sleep (except the lone wanderer from the previous post) with promises of an early start the next morning. I got woken up around 4.00am by the sound of the call to prayers from a nearby mosque - we discovered the next morning that we were actually staying next to the Mesjid Raya! (Btw, the walls were so thin that we could conduct a conversation with our tripmates whilst in our respective rooms in pretty normal tones! I dunwanna think about *other* types of noises, thankfully we didn't hear any. LOL.) Oh, and there's a small graveyard right next to the masjid. I guess it was quite provident that we didn't see it when we arrived in the middle of the night. Haha.



Looking out the corridor window (we were on the 3rd floor) gives you this view of Medan town. Looks a bit like our new village areas (think Kampung Baru), does it not? If my memory serves me right, the taller pink building in the distance is the Yuki Shopping Mall, which reminds me of your friendly neighborhood mall like, say, Pearl Point Shopping Mall in Old Klang Road. In the early morning (and also probably because it was a public holiday - Awal Muharram) Medan is quiet and cool. People wake up later and are not out and about, so you are spared the incessant honking of passing traffic and the dust. We were hungry for breakfast, so we wandered out in search of food and ended up eating at this uniquely named place...



Can you read the banner? It's called NASTY Cafe. LOLOL! I wonder if the owners know the meaning of the word nasty? Yup, we ate here. Didn't really have any other option since no one else was open at that hour - 7.30am. And we did walk quite a fair bit along the road along the way...



My Ifo Mie Goreng breakfast. Basically it's just mee goreng la. Not bad, but a tad too spicy for my tastebuds that early in the morning. Actually, we ate a lot of nasi and mee goreng throughout the entire trip - breakfast, lunch and dinner. Not too adventurous people, eh? Too afraid of getting tummy upsets. Haha. I found it interesting that they were showing Japanese cartoons dubbed into Bahasa Indonesia on the local channels, just like our local channels back home.



This is the outside of the so-called "hotel" we stayed at. The Residence Hotel. It's part of a row of shophouses, so there are no windows on the side, only at the front and at the back. Outside appearances are deceiving... haha.



As is the hotel lobby with chandelier... We spent way too much time here. Tried to arrange for private transport to Parapat (a town on the shores of Lake Toba) and got given the shuffle-around. Wait, promise coming soon, wait some more, still no transport, complain, promise coming soon, wait some more... you get the drift. Eventually we found another tour agency that gave us a guaranteed vehicle departing at 12.30pm. See the Toyota Unser parked outside the hotel in the picture below? It seems to be a favorite vehicle of choice for Indonesians. I think over 40% of private vehicles were Unsers!



Walked over to Yuki Shopping Mall and hung out there for a bit (comparing grocery prices. LOL) then went wandering around Medan town looking for other shopping malls but I think we were in the wrong part of town. We later found out on our return trip on Saturday / Sunday that the malls were on the other side of town - the newer part. There was this cute road full of tailors' shops but alas! I didn't dare to whip out my camera for a shot of that street, so you'll just have to imagine it. Heh.



As we meandered along, we came across this railway track smack in the middle of the road in between shophouses. So quaint and picturesque! (Excuse the bits of rubbish at the bottom of the picture please. *grin*) Even saw a train packed with human bodies rumble past, but I was too lazy slow to take out my cam for a pic. Lawl. Also didn't want to get branded / marked as a tourist la.



This is my nasi dengan sayur dan ayam lunch. I actually thought that it was going to be 'goreng-ed' but I was mistaken. Haha. It was not as nice as breakfast, but I was hungry by then so I didn't mind.



Oh, and this place where we had our lunch cheated us. If you're ever in Medan, don't patronize them. They got our order wrong, then told us we should take it because "sudah buka" i.e. it's already opened. And then they charged us more for it! Bleh.

That's it for Day 1, Part 1. I'll be doing Day 1, Part 2 next!

Those looking for more private photos *ahem* (like those with my face in it) should go to my Facebook. There are lots there. LOL.

From Indonesia with love - Night 1

I know a long long time ago (like over 1 month back) I promised pictures from my holiday in Medan & Lake Toba so here they are! (The more interesting sights, that is, together with personalized story snippets. Heh.) There were a lot of photos to look at and sort out (I alone snapped like 800+ pix plus my tripmates pix = over 2,000 pix!) and these are the ones that made the cut. Hmm... I think I'll do a Misha and post many parts of my travel trip. *grin*

Onward ho!



Asian Food Court (AFC) in the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT). Compared to Medan's Polonia Airport, I kinda prefer the LCCT. It was much more spacious and well-lit. And rather clean too! LOL. But still not enough space for the hordes of people swarming all over.



My nasi ayam dinner. Not very nice ohhhh. I think I got suckered by the nice looking photos into ordering it. Ahahaha. Plus I waited for over five minutes for the slow kitchen to dish it out. And, uh, I saw houseflies buzzing about. Yeah. *grin*



Inside the waiting hall. I like the fact that the LCCT has free WiFi service which helped me while away the waiting time. (The AirAsia flight got delayed. Grrrrrrr.) In hindsight, it wasn't such a smart thing to use up the battery juice of my N80 because I later found out that Indonesia power points are different from Malaysia so my charger did not work! (More about that in a later post.) See the television in the picture on the right? One thing I didn't like was why did the televisions there have to be tuned on to our national channels? I'm not a big fan of TV1, TV2 and TV3 (nothing good to watch. LOL). Give me NTV7, 8TV and Channel 9 anyday.



Raindrops on the plane's window. It was drizzling as we took off. I dunno why but some people I showed the pictures to thought I took a picture of the toilet bowl! -_-" It was my first night flight (actually, first flight ever anywhere) and also first time experiencing some air turbulence. Very exciting. LOL. I dunno how some people slept through it. (Or maybe they were experienced travelers so no more feel? *grin*)



Hello Medan Immigration! Compared to LCCT it seems very uh, backwards small. But it didn't take us long to pass thru. Right after we exited Immigration and out into the open, we were surrounded with dozens of taxi drivers all competing for our business. A bit scary considering the fact that it was close to midnight and there were no outdoor lights! (Airport management want to cut costs ah?) Luckily, we found a nice taxi driver uncle who showed us the official taxi booth, which had a nicely displayed price list to all the hotels / guesthouses in Medan. So we didn't feel suckered into paying more than the local rates. Yay!



After a long flight, all you want is to get to your hotel and put your feet up. Uhm, this is what greeted us. Yaloh, who ask us to be so kiamsiap and not want to pay more than backpacker rates? (If you really must know, we only paid RM 14.00 per room, per night - which worked out to RM 7 per person, twin-sharing basis. LOL) I'd show you the toilet, but that would scare you even more. *evil grin* We all didn't dare to say it then, but we were quite depressed at the sight of the so-called hotel room and I'm sure we had second (and also third, and fourth, and fifth) thoughts about the whole trip!

Since we arrived close to midnight (no thanks to the flight delay), we were in no mood to do anything more and turned in for the night. Except for one of my tripmates who went a gallivanting in the streets at 2.00am looking for cable television because Man Utd were playing a match that morning. (He failed to locate a television with international coverage. Haha.)

Next up, Day 1!

Those looking for more private photos *ahem* (like those with my face in it) should go to my Facebook. There are lots there. LOL.

The Forbidden Kingdom

Yup, checked off the list of movies I intend to watch this year. Yeah!

You should watch The Forbidden Kingdom if :
a) You are a Jet Li fan;
b) You are a Jackie Chan fan;
c) You like kungfu movies (in particular American ones); or
d) You can name all the different kungfu styles when you see them.

I fall into three categories out of the four above. Go guess which one I'm not. LOL.

Image credits

I went into the cinema hall with no expectations, preferring instead to be surprised and surprised I was! It's not your typical kungfu kungfu movie, it's more like a mixture of epic movie feel meets silly kungfu slapstick meets American style B grade cult movie. Before you start rolling your eyes and thinking that it's a bad combo, rest assured it's not. Otherwise how could it be a top grossing movie in the US? Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon it definitely is not. Maybe more Kung Pow. Hahaha.

Image credits

Without giving away any spoilers, let's just say that there's quite a bit of fighting going on. Jet Li vs baddie. Jackie Chan vs baddies. Jackie Chan vs Jet Li. The best part was when they started "showing off" their different kungfu styles... I just wish the one on one fight scenes lasted longer. I really need to get me the DVD when it comes out so that I can replay the fight scenes in slow-mo. Heh.

Image credits

I must say that China has this never-ending supply of pretty young actresses. *grin* Liu Yifei has this sweet, unassuming innocence and it's no wonder why she was chosen to be Xiaolongnu in a China version of the Condor Heroes. I can only wish I looked like her! Now I wonder if I can find a bootleg copy of this series from Uncle Ho?

Anyway, the verdict on The Forbidden Kingdom is two thumbs up from me and you should go watch it! You'll get a good laugh out of it. Just don't go with any preconceived notions about what the movie is about.

Other must see movies :
~ The Other Boleyn Girl
~ Definitely Maybe
~ Dance of the Dragon

Chiling Falls Expedition

It was a dark (and rainy) Saturday morning when rinnah popped out of bed for her long awaited trip to Chiling Falls. (Call me unimaginative if you must, but I was greatly taken with the idea of this trip since reading about it here. Heh. The persuasive powers of bloggers, yea?) Somehow or other, it must always be a rainy day whenever I plan any outdoor activities. (My paintball session also had a rainy Saturday morning.) Anyway, I wasn't going to let a little drizzle cheat me out of this trip, which had been planned for even before I went to Medan & Lake Toba last month (of which pictures are soon to follow! There are just too many of them to sort and photoshop - over 2,000+ pix *faint*) so I forged ahead, cheerfully preparing and leaving the house to reach the meeting point - Rawang KTM station - by 8.00am. (My earlier rant-y post refers.) Anyway, on with the trip notes.


Spy the yellow brick road bridge?

Chiling Falls is located in the vicinity of Kuala Kubu Baru, roughly 45km from Rawang town. To get there, just follow the trunk road signs heading to Ipoh / Kuala Kubu Baru, then take the road leading to Fraser's Hill (a turning to the right) once you've reached Kuala Kubu Baru. You will pass by the Selangor Dam along the way, offering scenic views and also a place to stop for photograpy (which we couldn't do that day as the group I was with are no photo lovers). The entrance to the Chiling Falls trail is just after you cross a small yellow bridge (refer pic above), there is an open space for parking vehicles about 50m further up on your left. I believe that it's quite safe to park your vehicles there (there isn't any "official" parking space) because there was a number of cars parked besides our convoy of 5 cars.


Entrance to Chiling Falls trail


Operating hours and guidelines


The start of the trail

Take the trail inside and an easy short walk of about 5 - 10 minutes will bring you to a clearing where there is a ranger station and public facilities built. Apparently, these buildings are new and there is also a camping facility there. If you intend to camp out there, please call ahead and speak to the park ranger.


Map of the Chiling Falls trail


The suspension bridge built to replace the first river crossing


View of the river from the suspension bridge

If you're an experienced trekker, then this trail should pose no problem to you and is actually deemed an easy walk in the park outing. If you're a novice at trekking, it would be advisable to hire a knowledgable guide (more info on guides at the end of the post). My group were a motley crew of extreme newbies (like moi!) and those who trek for pleasure to act as our guides.


View of the rushing river further along the trail

The trail itself takes about 90 minutes to complete (or faster if you're an experienced trekker) and is fairly straightforward in that you won't get lost. For most parts, you are never far from the river and the first half of the trail is mostly jungle undergrowth that makes for a narrow trail. There are five river crossings in total and oh boy! this was the fun-nest part for me. Be prepared to get wet as you wade across.


Some strangers crossing the river

If you have weaker members with you, it would be better to bring along ropes for safety. The river current is quite strong, but it won't sweep an adult off their feet. However, it is quite deep in parts, rising up to hip level for a male of average height (5'9" thereabouts) so some of the smaller sized females in my party had a bit of difficulty. We were there during the current rainy season, so I believe that the river was at its fullest / highest. It was also a tad muddy.


The waterfall that awaits you at the end

Ah! The falls! This is the highlight of the trip. According to other websites, the falls are about 8 storeys high. The water pours into a wide pool that is big enough for wading and swimming. The whole area is cool from the spray from the falls and the water is cool and refreshing! Perfect for a dip. Heh. There are plenty of scattered boulders to sit on and the area can accomodate groups easily.


Strangers on the giant boulder

All in all, Chiling Falls is a good choice for a day trip, especially if you incorporate a makan session or two before and after the trek. There are good places to eat in Kuala Kubu Baru and Rawang town. Or if you're feeling like extending your stay, you could always drive up to Frasers' Hill for a night. I definitely want to go back to Chiling again (didn't take enough photos this time around to satisfy myself) and if anyone plans to go... call me!

If you would like to have a guide to accompany you on this trip, most websites on Chiling recommend Mr. Happy Yen. You may access his website here. So far, I have heard nothing but good comments from satisfied clients and while I personally have not used Yen's services, I may do so in the future for other outings to different falls. :o)

Also read about Chiling Falls at these websites :
Happy Yen - Guide
Waterfalls of Malaysia
Go2Malaysia
Suanie
KY
Ulutopian
Tilo

Being punctual is not a fault!

I am extremely upset with certain people. Pray tell me, how can this lateness factor be simply laughed away? (For a better understanding of why I rant, please read the post at the link above before continuing.)

Just now at 9.20am in the midst of conversation about Saturday's trip, VW said this to me...

"You know ah, next time, you shouldn't be so early one. When you're going out with my friends, you must understand that they're older and not likely to be on time. We have this understanding that the meeting time is not fixed in stone and you should just find a nearby coffeeshop or something, have a teh tarik and chill out while waiting. Don't wait at the specified meeting point. That way you won't get so agitated while waiting or if there's a delay. And there's always a delay, knowing them. Some more it's a weekend kind of expedition, no need to be so on time one. We should take it easy and enjoy la."

Note: All the bolded emphasis is mine.

What the (@&#*&%#&^&@*#@) on earth is this kind of attitude? Aitelyu, I have just lost all my respect for VW and her friends as people (over this issue and also see the food issue below). And then on the other hand, there's XY's driver, SS. Do you know what SS said? (SS was standing next to me when VW said all the above.)

*patting me consolingly on the arm like I've been a small kid who's throwing a temper tantrum* "Aiyah, we would have gone to a nearby coffeeshop to wait if not for this girl. You're upset because you have to wait alone, izzit?"

Now you've really got my goat. So I am in the wrong for being punctual and being irritated with others who are late? This makes me really want to throw my shoes at their heads, except that today, I'm wearing my new shoes and it would be such a waste since they still wouldn't get the idea that being late is NOT socially acceptable. Duh.

So when VW heard SS' comment, VW said this.

"Next time why don't you just car pool with someone else? Saves you time and stress because you'll have to wait for others anyway. You know, my friends (the ones who arrived at 8.55am) were late because they car-pooled - some came from Klang, others from Tmn Desa so of course they will be late! And you can't expect them to be on time for an early morning appointment la. If it's a mid-morning or afternoon appointment then they might be on time. Anyway, it's not like we were rushing anywhere."

Wtf? (Sorry, I'm swearing again. It's bad, I know, but I can't help myself in the face of such... logic!) Sure, we may not have been in a hurry but it is still impolite to tell people to meet at 8.00am and then turn up 1 hour late! Might as well not put a time to meet or at least, suggest a later time if you think you won't be able to make it. I said as much to VW, who then said this...

"Aiyo, don't be so rigid la. Do you know I had a tough time with my friends because you were early? They all blamed me for not telling you that it's our practice to go yum cha first while waiting. So stressful you know? Some more I don't dare to answer your phone call..."

If I were sitting in a chair, I would have fallen off. So it's my fault that you're all stressed out and got blamed by your friends for their lateness? This is certainly something I've never heard of before! And then you can blatantly admit to me that you didn't dare to pick up my phone call because you were afraid of what I might say because you is late? I told VW outright then and there that I was sitting next to XY's Passenger - JP - when she took her call and not mine and VW looked a bit shamefaced. But still insisted:

"Next time don't be so early la. Just come later la! Save yourself all the trouble and then you won't get agitated."

I had heard enough at this point in time and bluntly said that thanks but no thanks, I didn't think there'll be a next time going out with VW and her friends. At which point in time, SS (who had been listening quietly) quickly piped up to me:

SS : "I'm definitely confirmed for our next outing on 03 May!"
Me : *shooting SS a look from the corner of my eye* "Are you sure you'll be on time and you'll call me if you're going to be late?"
SS : "Yeah, I'm not XY and besides, XY's not coming."
Me : "Huh."

And that's the lateness issue. Let me also rant about the food issue.

Out of the 12 people who went on Saturday, all of us are Chinese and there is one Malay. Naturally, you should not be so insensitive as to go to a non-halal place to eat even though the Malay is in the minority, right? We live in a multi-racial country after all. I am always looking out for the Malay because I don't like people who simply forget or ignore what others can or cannot do. This is what VW said to me.

"It was a good thing you went off for lunch with the Malay that day leh. My friends don't like Malay food and they won't eat it or go to a halal place when there's Chinese food around so the Malay would have had to sit and watch us eat or find her own food. Next time you all just split off from the rest of the group and find your own food la."

Just because you are in the majority you can ignore the minority? And it's not just a Chinese / Malay issue. Some Buddhists / Hindus don't eat beef so it is also very impolite to go and order beef dishes when you are dining with them. Come on la, it won't kill you to have to accomodate others for just one meal. But you should not ostracize people for their religious beliefs. I don't impose my dietary restrictions (mine's for health purposes) on others. Even though I can't eat certain foods, I won't say that you can't eat it in front of me. But for a Malay, the halal/non-halal issue can be quite sensitive. So it is very insensitive to me for us to go out in a group and basically go, you can't eat with us because you're a minority. And they didn't even phrase it kindly or tactfully!

I don't think I'm judging them harshly. In fact, I have tried my level best to put their words here verbatim and the incidents as they happened. I may be a bit emotionally moved right now, but my faculty of logic is not moved one iota.

I'm a quiz-aholic!

Somebody stop me! *ala Jim Carrey in the Mask*

I clicked on the Blogthings link from angeles' blog (I shall not link to her since she announced that she's retiring from active blogging) and omgawsh, I can't stop taking quizzes! Tsk. Such a timewaster, this is. But, how to stop? I lurve quizzes... so, I can't resist sharing a few *interesting* results below. Heh.

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Your Seduction Style: The Coquette

You are a pro at playing the age old game of hard to get. Your flirting style runs hot and cold, giving just enough to keep them chasing you. Independent and self-sufficient, you don't need any one person to make you complete. And that independence is exactly what makes people pursue you.

What Is Your Seduction Style?

*bats eyelashes experimentally* Yau mou kom qua cheong ah? I don't think so lor... (not that I would know it anyway!) but I think this independent streak of mine is what drives guys away rather than make them pursue me. Even my mom says I'm too outspoken and independent. :o(

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You are a Romantic Realist

Okay, so you fall in the middle. You know that love isn't like a greeting card... Yet you can always find a greeting card to describe your feelings. You are the best of both worlds. Girly yet independent, dreamy yet serious. Almost any guy can find balance with you.

Are You a Romantic or Realistic Girl?

Tsk tsk tsk. Independent again wor. Might as well put there - stubborn female. Will not listen to male opinion unless securely backed by unfallible logic. *grin*

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You Go For Brains!

You want a guy with a big... brain. And of course it would be nice if he were a total hottie, but you're not counting on it. What's on the inside is what counts for you. (Besides, you can always change the outside later!)

Do You Go For A Guy's Brains or Body?

Ah, that must be the reason for this post here. The brains does it, everytime. Independent opinion mah. LOL.

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Your Love Type: INTJ

The Scientist In love, you tend to be very private and withdrawn - even when things are going well. For you, sex is important in a happy relationship. Less important when things aren't going well. Overall, you are confident, intelligent, and serious about commitment. However, you tend to hold back and not show your emotions. Best matches: ENFP and ENTP

What's Your Love Type?

Lagi worse still! I approach love like a scientist? Wah-lau! I dun wan to conduct experiments with my heart leh...

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You Are a Total Brainiac

You're amazingly brilliant. Some would even say genius. You're curious, thoughtful, analytical, and confident. You take on difficult subjects because you want to... not because you have to. No field of knowledge is too complicated or intimidating for you. You've got the brains to do anything you want. It's possible you end up doing everything you want.

Are You a Brainiac?

Okay, okay. I give up. Evidently all the test results are skewed towards over intelligence and independence. Might as well declare defeat and acknowledge the results to be semi-true. (At least, as much as you can trust these Internet quizzes. ROTFL.)

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The end result of taking the tests above and many more? My brain is evidently overworked and needs a break from all that thinking. :P Oh. But it's a working day tomorrow. Looks like there will be no chance of that happening until next Friday night!