Although most of the time spend was in office ( of course!) I truly every bit of the time I spent there. Frankly speaking, although I love travelling so much, Japan was never on the top of the list of places I wanted to go, for whatever reason. But NOW that I’ve been there and back, I really love the place.

The quote ” It’s the people that makes the place” is so true here.  Tokyo is a very expensive place to be but the people are so nice!! Top notch hospitality. I’ve experience kindness beyond words there.

I was suppose to board the Narita Express train direct to my hotel station but got on the wrong train FML Was so worried as my flight arrive late and all the phone rental kiosk was already closed.  There was only a Japanese family on the same coach as I was, when they manage to tell me, “No, this is the wrong train” it was already too late, door closed and train left the station with me on it … They couldn’t speak English at all, except for the young son who speaks very little english, so they decided to accompany me all the way to my hotel station T_____T so kind!! and it was 40mins away from their own station, meaning, they wasted 80mins for me T_______T First kindness I experience on the very first day I arrived! Humanity is restored~!

This was my “home” for the past 9 days in Tokyo! Lovely lovely hotel!

The Lobby and coffee house where I had breakfast. That’s a freaking glass bridge and water around the platforms.

As I was on work trip, I dont have much time to sight see. On Saturday, we went to Akibahara the electronic town where seems to be alot of nerd boys gathers. My japs friend told me their nickname would be “aki boys” hahah These people are actually queuing up in the cold and unforgiving winds to get inside this AKB48 cafe. Apparently its the #1 girl band in Japan now. -__-

We did not stay long there as there’s nothing much to see/do except electronics stuff, computer parts, parts to build your own robots and of course the Many Many Maids Cafe in that area!

Went back to the hotel and at night, we went over to Roppongi Hills. No idea where we heard about the place, just wanted to go over as its Saturday Night. By the time we reach the station, it’s almost 10pm.

How to get to Roppongi

Take a train to Roppongi station on the Hibiya line. Roppongi is just 2 stations from Ebisu station on the JR Yamanote line.

According to the map, Roppongi hills is 0 minutes walks from the station. I dont see how that’s ever possible except you can teleport yourself..It’s fairly short and easy walk from the station with easy signage in English. By the time we were there, we were the last batch to go up the Observatory area. I think we had less than an hour to enjoy the view and Mori Musuem was close also.

So here’s the view worth ¥1,500

I  recommend this place to anyone who will be visiting Tokyo. Its more worth while than Tokyo Tower as you can SEE Tokyo Tower haha~ and the area was better maintain imho.

Obviously such venue will attract plenty couples having le sweet times there. But for me was forever alone time 

This is my hotel room view. Very nice!! Can see Tokyo Tower too, but from far! Day and night view!

More on Tokyo !

It was a pretty exciting moment for me when my best friend told me that there might a slight slim chance to meet LeeHom in person after the concert.

For those who may not know who is LeeHom, he is equivalent to maybe Bruno Mars.

We were there quite early. The entire area was so packed and lack of parking, we had to walk a short distance to the Stadium despite so early.

Then it started to rain FOL

Boredom 
 

With the girls

With family concert go-ers !

Futuristic looking piano that moves in front of his stage.

Quoting Kim: So good looking, how to not die in his hands?? Some more so talented  

The rain was unforgiving throughout the concert.

But the most exciting part come after the concert!!

The traffic condition around the Stadium was horrible after the concert. We were so worried we will miss it.

Doesn’t matter that we all look quite horrible ourselves, been sitting under the rain for few hours already, damp,flat hairs and all. This is the first time I had such opportunity and do not know what to expect.

Been in the field for hours, we have very muddy feet no less FOL T___T  and once we reached the Hotel, the first place we headed was the washroom and we find plenty others trying to clean up, beautify up, but there’s only so much can be done hahaha.. Why do i get to meet one of my favorite artist in such state. seriously FML ~!

Basically, my friend got the pass to go straight into the party but the rest of us had to wait outside until some of her colleagues leave so we can fill in their seats.

The first photo i took of him walking pass me.

SO DAMN NEAR ME! HOW NOT TO GO JELLY!

Anyway, the security around him was very strict and do not allow us to go near him for request of photos of talk to him at all. Only official photos are allowed

But the thought of being such close proximity with him was never even in my wildest dream I am happy enough What we can do was take plenty of paparazzi shots like the below hahaha! WTF  This only happen maybe once in a lifetime, no face also nevermind!!

Family photo with Leehom and his mother…HAHAHAH!!

They actually have a buffet spread for everyone to take but the girls on our table just sat there and stare at him throughout the night. Embarrassing yes, very groupie yes, but I think everyone couldn’t resist soaking in all the gorgeousness in front of us .

so when we finally left, we took a couple of photos with his bassist or guitarist.

and one of his dancer.

Overall, it was a fantastic experience. As for his concert, the organizer really need to buck up. It was a disaster exiting the stadium, so disorganized. Almost like a stampede, everyone rushing and stepping on the chairs as the field was SO muddy. There were no indication which direction to go, we just walk straight and had to climb over a barrier.

The security of the concert was non existing. People were standing up all the time, as my seat was quite upfront (4th from front) people was just standing at the barrier, blocking everyone who was sitting, and it took sometime for 1 or 2 security to usher them back to their seat. They don’t allow people to bring umbrellas in but do not distribute raincoats like some other concerts. So they just expect people to sit under the rain??

Sound system was not working properly, not consistent and the LCD screen had very obvious dead pixels.. like wat??

Abrupt end to this post…

So we woke up really early in the morning in order to catch the Sunrise. Most of the vacation destination that are filled with tourist, one thing i noticed is the people are very obsessed with catching the sunset and sunrise.

They will take a photo of you as the day pass at the entrance to the Archaeological park (USD20) so if you are vain as me, you will consider to put on some makeup even if that means waking up at 4am..

Our mugshot per say..

The beautiful and mystical Angkor Wat. We took about another 50-100 similar shots haaha..

And we were part of the hoard that woke up at ungodly hours, got driven sleepily to Angkor Wat with few hundred more people.

After about 20mins of waiting in the cold, we wanted to leave and the guide was surprise, haha – Now? But you no watch sunrise yet!!

So we stayed for a little more while.

It was a pity that the building was under restoration during our visit, hence the scaffolding was all over the place. We opt to go back to the hotel for our big breakfast since its like 10-15min away. Love the fact that all sight seeing spots in SiemReap are so near the town, unlike Bali.

I’m not going to post all the photos that we took there, I’m sure you will be able to find far more amazing photos using Google.

The 1 day tour that we booked cost – USD10 for each pax, air conditioned van with a driver and tour guide. It’s a norm here to hire a driver and guide as the driver will only pick up and drop off people. I wouldn’t recommend the guide we booked too. He (Sanpark) is a reputable one but did not inform us he will not be our guide on the day. Instead he was replaced with a guy name (Vichet) which unfortunately we met alot others who speaks better English that him.

Among all the temples and ruins we visited, i love Bayon and Ta Prohm the most. Bayon is really like Borobudur with the many Buddha Stupas.

AND – as you may notice, I’m wearing super color block attire on this tomb raiding day. I would say wearing like a maid :( haha, that’s because, you are not allowed to enter the premise of one of the temple if your shoulder are not covered and any shorts, skirts up to knee length. We figure we very pandai can bypass the guards by using our scarf as sarong, but the apparently they are not so lenient anymore, had to buy a pants on the spot.

Ta Prohm, was a very calm and quiet place. Really amazing looking at all the trees crushing the stones..hehe

*when you see it

Ta Prohm or more well known as the Tomb Raider temple. The very spot Angelina Jolie stood hehe.. Such a long queue. I looked at the photos that friends took, it was nicer as there’s no platform or barrier. The price of improvement i guess

I’m surprise to learn that there’s still monks in Angkor Wat.

One of the many group shots we took at Angkor Wat.
One of my favourite of all too

The crowd at 530AM

Next time I’m there, I will be cycling and exploring it with a book. No more lousy guide who only say Yes to all your questions and doesn’t really explain anything.

Yup, I finally succumb to an apple product. I think it’s my first, can’t think any any other apple stuff that i own really, except for this blog (hahaha)

Thanks to MrSmallface for approving ^__^ It was a major challenge to justify the purchase base Instagram obsession. Just a few sets of photos I took. I dont know how to make my photos appear side by side nicely. Will figure out soon 

My yinyang twins and caramel macchiato. Because according to Hipster guide, this is 2 come hand in hand.

US + Food comes hand in hand!! Best nasilemak in penang so far. 

Y U NO STOP *CHIAKCHIAK* ME WITH THE SQUARE THANG??

So now i own iphone, i can officially bitch bout some of the stupidity. Apart from Instagram, and pinterest, the 1 thing that made iphone into “considered” list is Badge or Notification alert functionality that comes.  not to forget those friends with iPhone around me, more persuasive then the Devil. Camera quality is damn good too. Anyway, some of the things I still do not like about it

- Why must sync with ITUNES? take forever(5mins + ) everytime i plug it to my pc
- Why can’t i just drag and drop my stuff? Like music?
- Why can’t I use my songs as ringtone? So troublesome.
- Why contact list are not auto sync with Facebook profile like blackberry? I have all the details i need under 1 tab. Talking about syncing, it doesn’t even sycn my fb calender to the phone calender. Very manual and stupid.
- Why is the charging cable so damn short? Shouldn’t the length of a cable be universal standard ? The solution is to BUY an extension.

And the battery life. I thought BB is bad, till i met iphone… horrible. Nokia will win.

Well, a piece of advise my friend gave me is ADAPT!  And that’s what I will do ( no choice :( ) That’s just a few of complaints i have after 4 days ??  If you have any tips or good advise on how i can make my experiences with my phone better, please do let me know. ( apart from ADAPT! )

Despite all that, it’s quite a fun phone. Sleepless night for the past 2 days because i dont need to turn on my pc to play diamond dash! hahah or bejeweled.

Arrived at SiemReap International Airport at about 8am their time, GMT +7 after staying awake the entire night at LCCT. It’s one of the passenger friendly airport I’ve been too. Not hectic and confusing like LCCT. Out from the plane, short walk to efficient immigration check. Then once you collected the luggage, it’s the pickup point. No one stopped me from doing this

We arranged for Quad Biking on the first day with SR Quad Bike, a new establishment G found online. They pick us up at our hotel on time, just that we were waiting at the lobby area, the guy was waiting at tour desk causing us to lose about 20mins -______-

We were given a straight-to-the-point briefing session before we go for a short run to test our skills out..

All of us passed the test but Teong ! haha ! Experienced bike rider had to ride with an instructor lo…

It was really easy to handle once you get the hang of it. Just accelerate and brake. Everything else are automated. We booked the 2 hours ride (USD25 per pax) which bring us through the local village trail, and vast paddy field, stopping for an amazing sunset. The photos does no justice to how beautiful the actual view was. Fits the definition of breathtaking.

Some of the kids from nearby villages that followed us. So friendly and cute. They are the children that I don’t see much in Malaysia anymore, the ones that Waves and greets without demanding for ipad or iphone to play afterwards.

Fascinated over the photos we took of them.

Throughout the 2 hours and for the following few days, we find ourselves waving to random kids and strangers ALOT! They are like the friendliest group of people ever. WY’s “kim jong ill” moment.

I think they spend their days waiting for tourist to go by their villages so they can wave and shout HIiiiiii !!!! at us. There’s one time, where we were drove past a house quite fast and the kids couldn’t run up to us in time, so they just screams Heellloooooo at us … -______-

Just a few tips for those who would like to try this.

1. Dont wear white as it will turn to orange or beige at the end of the trip. This is how the towel looks like after wiping our face. There’s practically no proper tar road, just dusty red earth all the way. So i think it’s really thoughtful that the bike company provided mask and helmet with eye shield for us

2. try to wear long pants to protect your calf  from the heat of the engine.

Truly enjoy the experience of quad biking through siem reap and will definitely do it again if opportunity arises!!  A photo with the owner.

http://www.srquadbikeadventure.com/index.html

If i were to sum up this year in one word, it would be changes.

Believe this year is where people around, including myself make drastic decision and big changes in their life. I believe and live by the motto, change is the only constant in life, so true especially for this year. Friends getting married, friends moving on with their life, career leap, relocation and much more.

As for myself, I decided to quit my job in KL and moved my base back to my dear hometown with has the worse traffic that I could have ever imagine. Probably one of my wisest decision this year. For now, I am enjoying my career. Very fresh, very new, very exciting, schedules are like a roller coaster ride with crazy work hours when nearing dateline but full of flexibility to be independent.

It was such a Fun year for me! For a start, i went to 4 concerts, which is once every quarter  Maroon 5, swooning over ever sexy Adam Levine. Eason Chen and Zee Avi was equally awesome with different feel. Cherry on top of it all was realizing my dream of watching Jacky Cheung!! Undeniably i grew up listening to his songs, naturally i become a fan. Sadly i couldn’t make it to any of his previous musical or concerts and was sooo happy that he made a stop in Malaysia again! He does not disappoint and will definitely be part of the audience for any of his future show in Malaysia. Biggest regret in terms of concerts was not able to attend Jason Mraz’s Asia stops :(((((

Then there was the Hot Air Balloon Festival and Orbing experiences.

Favorite past time for the 2nd half of the year. Red times with Kimmies ^_^

Addiction for 2011 was unmistakable Snowflakes and Chatime. Surely i am not the only one, the first one or the last here.

Earlier in the year, i ticked off another “want to/must do” in my life. Something inspired by this little cute guy here. never had regret

Now that I’ve passed a certain age in life, invitations to weddings are coming by the throngs. This year alone I’ve attended 8 weddings to be exact.. probably this trend will continue for a couple more years, then I’ll start attending baby showers and children’s birthday..haha. Not complaining though, i love to attending weddings, a celebration of love, a good excuse to doll up (^_^) and meeting up with friends and absolutely having some great fun!

From all the weddings, this was one of the most moving. Meeting up with so many of my old pals for the entire day, recreating the ending dance pose from our scout/guides days back in 2000. Most beautiful wedding overall still was Eunice’s wedding in Melbourne. Amazingly perfect!

What is a life journey for me without a splash of travelling involve? I got myself a new camera this year or rather MrSmallface got it for me ^^ Loving it till today, Sis even brought it to Nepal and Mt Everest. talk about journey.

Went to Hanoi, Vietnam for the first time with my family. A first after more than 1o years. Loving the beautiful place, would love to revisit someday!

Then it kinda seems like tradition for me and MrSmallface to go away for our anniversary. Last year in Sabah, this year in Taipei.

Revisited Bali again with some old and new folks, still the same old Bali. Would love to go again, well, I would love to go anywhere anytime again But come on, who can resist Bali ? Still so much left unexplored. I still want to go to the Rock Bar!! Unfortunately previous trip, i was just soo close but still failed :( Must GO!

Short weekend trips

- Hadyai

- Pusing, Perak. Kellis Castle

- Weekend getaway in a bungalow we rented in Taiping. Was suppose to sekeping serendah but they are so booked out, until next year!! Too much! Eventually decided Taiping was a great midpoint to meet for the folks from KL and Penang.

2011 has been good to me. Full of new start, new challenge, new experiences in life. Learn alot, laugh alot, weep alot – probably for movies -_- Grateful I had my family and friends around me for whatever reasons. Grateful I am still able to do what I want (well, most of it)

Come what may 2012. It may or may not be the end of the world, haha, life still goes on until its realized. For me, who live each day to the fullest, Mayan’s prophecy doesn’t matter. whatever happen, happens

My Resolution for the coming year is to stay grateful for what I have, and be more forgiving towards others.

Year 2010 

Year 2009 

Year 2008

Year 2007

Year 2006

1030AM – Meet up for breakfast at Toh Soon Cafe which in reality means 1130AM to the boys. 3 tables and many more standing around.

12pm – proceed to the heart of Georgetown UNESCO heritage site

Interjunction of Muntri Street, Love Lane and Stewart Lane

Walkabout prewar houses with limestone wall

Behind Kuan Yin Temple

All the way back to muntri street, stopping at Moontree47 for the much needed WATER and rest from all the walking under the mid-day sun!

Mr Ciwawa the main photographer of the day. couldn’t thank him enough for his kind voluntary work

Hi Diana, it has been awhile since you have seen the sun. I’m sorry for neglecting you and I hope you are happy with the additional gadgets. Please be happy and produce a good roll from the weekend ^^

Destination change, vroom all the way to Straits Quay.

Oh well, typical day out. Lovebirds dating, girls chatting, guys gambling and daylight robbery. All in a day.

A compilation of the photos before we disperse at 4pm to go home, freshen up, sleep and overslept,and most importantly dolling up for the hen’s night. Obviously the stag night for the guys which was wayyyyyy boring, haha!!

Dinner at SixtyNine Mansion – was horrible as service was really bad and most of the food are cold when served. Dessert served with ice cream already melted. Disappointing. No doubt its a very nice restaurant but I do not think I will return for the 2nd time.

The Hen’s Entourage for the night

We were quite pissed with the service over at 69 that we went all the way down to UPR for 2nd half of the night. CLing was required to wear the tiara and veil the entire time although she cheated most of the time -_______-

Worried whats in-store for her.

Basically we had prepared several challenges for her to overcome and with each one successfully done, we will record it down in the scrapbook we had prior prepared.

It’s obvious we all had a fantastic night out and mission accomplished in creating a memorable and naughty final night as a single lady.

It was a very happening June and a great way to end the first half of the year. As we enter the 2nd half of 2011, I’m going off on holiday tomorrow (yay!) and with all the uncertainty behind me, i hope the rest of the year would be a blasting good one

#10 Lake of the Returned Sword, Hanoi –  First ever oversea family trip or anywhere for that matter since I’m 3years ? or something like 20 years! More on that when I finish blogging about bali *if that ever happens -_-|| *

#11 Went back to penang to witness MrSmallFace’s only sibling signing away his bachelorhood and entering into another phase of life. Congrats to Rachel and Ian, wishing you both the very best in life

#12 outing to the Hot Air Ballon show at Putrajaya with the gang It was so crowded and there’s only a few creative balloons that we saw. Ended the weekend in Klang for bak kut teh and realising something that’s I’ve wanted to do for almost 10yrs! woohoo!!

#13 Went back to Penang again! and it’s rained from the highway to penang until the next day. T__T only 1 sunny day in penang.  Pretty Jazz after rolling around the rugs..

Since i’m doing project 52, might as well blog about this week before i procrastinate any further. haha!

#14 Was a week of ups and downs. Mostly very down during the weekday, human can be so selfish and manipulative it’s so scary. Was a very negative weekday and so in dilemma. Hope things will get better :(  Because of that, I’m so glad I have a group of awesome friends ^^ People I can hang out with all day or rather whole weekend, talking nonsense and laughing ourselves silly for hours.  Went shopping and got myself a new blackberry :D Had Japanese food twice, and attempted to eat Snowflakes for dessert twice. Fail one, success 1 after a very healthy walk in the park! hahaha… We ate more than whatever calories we lost from the short walk -______-

Looking forward to the weekend again, but it’s only Monday today……..

#1 Tegallalang Rice Terrace – this was really a touch and go stop as it was drizzling all the time. For me, I’ve seen these sort of plantation few times along the highway JKT-Bandung.

#2 Very persistent sales girl… 1dollar..1dollar..postcard..1dollar…cheeseee

# 3 The Mother Temple of Besakih which is magnificent. So many pagoda

#4 some corn and coconut snack that Gisele bought. Yummy!

#5 Babi Guling at the ever famous Ibu Oka. The original one sold out by the time we were there so we had the crispy skin instead which was delicious. I would love to have it again. *look past my shoulder and you’ll see interesting souvenirs”

#6 Absolutely one of my tourist spot by far in Bali, Uluwatu. I think the view here are breathtaking.

#7 Uluwatu and spoiled, fat monkeys comes hand in hand.

#8 The monkeys are damn naughty and cheeky too! They’ll stalk and steal/snatch anything possible from you in exchange for a snack.

We witnessed a stubborn Japanese handphone been thrown around like a rag doll. Haha!

#9 Indulged in a little touristy activity. Kecak kecak kecak kecak dance. Watching the tradition against the cliff and the temple as a background. Couldn’t be better

#10 Our rooms at Febris’s for around RM200 with very yummy american breakfast. We purposely wake up to whack the breakfast and goes back to sleep…

#11 Mr Rai, Best guide in Bali. He speaks fluent English and German, very knowledgeable and friendly! Reasonably rates and he doesnt charge extra when we pass the 8hours mark. Since he’s a member of the photography club in bali, obviously he can bring you to the best spot to take photos and help take good photos for memories!  I remember the times when I’m in europe where friendly old gentlemen will offer to take “masterpiece/magnificent/perfecto” photos and turns out to be super blur =__=||

My friends and me strongly recommend him to anyone! You can book him at http://balipersonaltour.com/

The next 2 days in Bali are spend in Kuta filled with excitement on the streets and tales to be told for a long time..

First of all, we need to keep the visa issued upon arrival and present it before departure. Valid for 3 months. What was that about 1Ma..? huh? Get the basic right first okay?

After much research on accommodation, we settled for this quaint little boutique style hotel near Gaya Street – Eden54. It’s run by the owner herself therefore, you’ll be expecting the cream of the cake terms of service. It actually has all the basic stuff you will need in a room where you just sleep in. Clean, comfortable bed and nice tv. Do a quick check on tripadvisor if you like to know more or just look at the website. You’ll find almost all the info you need.

We rented a kancil for RM100 per day to drive around. Most of the places of interests are actually located out of KK. Do come prepared with a reliable GPS. The things we noticed is, the locals are really easy-going lots. They aren’t that calculative very good *like*

Picked up CousinTing near her rented house and went straight to eat! What else!

Had this funky green milk tea – also known as Teh C Special. The last green layer still remains an unknown substance 0_O  However, it’s nice! something you must try when you are in Sabah, you know? like Penang = Char Koay Teow  -_-

Also, we tried the local dish which is something like Wan Tan Mee but it is called kampao mee instead. The soup is herbal base, not soy sauce hehe. It’s actually nice.

After filling our tummies to the brim, we went to visit the UMS campus and 1BORNEO before proceeding on our adventurous journey to find Lokkawi Wildlife Park. It took us longer because “someone” choose not to trust the gps *dark face*

Entrance fee @ RM10/pax for local.

Remember to join in the Animal Show, i think at 3pm daily. It was actually entertaining and surprisingly good for local zoo. haha! Like watching CousinTing losing to an Orang Utan.. hahaha!

Just to share some funny animals shots.

Lazy wildcat.

Obscene Orang Utan

proboscis monkey..is it even spell this way? It look so funny with the flat nose!!!

Some beautiful visitors to the Park.

And 2 boring human :P

Stay tune for the next post on one of the best seafood deal in KK