Tuesday, 22 December 2009

A Story Forgotten

Once gone, never forgotten,
Softly the memories will shine,
Brightly, pulsing and glowing,
Like the flame of candlelight.

The dangling links on the chains of a watch,
Seem fragile but in the moment,
They are stronger than life itself,
Bridging the gap between life and death.

Emotions are depthless,
Pools of hidden waters,
Their surfaces barely touched,
Rippling and cascading.

But hope and celebration will shine,
As a beacon of comfort,
Always and after.

Just a little poem that I found when I was rummaging through my stuff the other day. I wrote it when I had just entered the first year of IB and if I remember correctly it was in one of my TOK lessons - not that TOK lessons were boring. Not at all! They were probably one of lessons which I actually looked forward to during the week but as students... you know the mind tends to wander and stone :) But yeah, I hoped you enjoyed it~ I also found some photos taken when I was in Year 5 during my residential. Oh my gawd.. haha :) But yeah, if I find a scanner, I'll try to post it up and embarrass myself XD

Thursday, 10 December 2009

A photo story on Wednesday:::::


Grilled Mediterranean vegetables with Pesto sauce. Seriously the pesto sauce from Greyhound is undefeated! I tried to make it once and it tasted nothing like the one from this restaurant. Hhhmmm - I don't think I have tasted something like this in Melbourne either....


Pan-fried seabass on a bed of mash potatoes with tomato salsa. Yummmyyy~~~ =)


Pretty Xmas tree on the table! It did remind me of one of those metal scrubs used to clean dishes and what not though =.='''


We had dinner at Greyhound the other day and this is a photo of what was written on the wall. I'm not sure about you guys but somehow those simple words resonated very well with me; it is what I would love to do everyday given I had the time and the freedom to do so!


Starbucks time!!! Lol. Knowing how cheap it is here now compared to Bangkok, I have been a constant visitor to the Starbucks around Bangkok. So much so I have in mind a list of the ones which make better Classic Hot Chocolates! :) But yeah.. it helps when my dad loves Starbucks more than I do.


I was bored at Starbucks yesterday so I started to sketch the drawing on the book I was currently reading. I know the movie version has come out but I sincerely believe all books are better than films. So once I finish this book (which is a really good read by the way, it has been some time since I have fallen in love with a novel), I'll compare it to the film and see how it goes. Bags the book though!


Wednesday, 9 December 2009

The leisurely and totally whimsical life in Bangkok

Hello people!! I am obviously totally and utterly in Bangkok now that the summer months have swung by. I would love to say it's good to be back home but I'm not entirely sure where home is anymore. Not something that I am totally foreign with considering that for the first few years that I lived in Thailand, I still considered myself Malaysian but gradually I realised I had almost no ties with the place, I didn't know the geography, I can't speak the language (well.. up to standard 3 level if that counts for anything) and I felt like a fish-out-of-water every time I went back to visit. Home became Thailand for me and since I have had lived 10 years in Bangkok, I shouldn't be surprised. I thought when I returned back from Melbourne, I would have trouble figuring out to speak Thai again because I haven't really had the chance to converse in Australia but it came back quite naturally. Of course there were the occasional mind-blocks when it comes to searching for certain words like the names of the months! Oh my gosh... never really got a hang on those anyways (+.o)

So... yeah, got side-tracked there. Hhmm... what have I been up to in Bangkok? Well besides repeated shopping trips to Paragon and Central World where I think I have attained some job position in haunting the Zara outlets in both places, I don't believe I have been up to much. I have been getting some good stuff lately though especially clothes for working in Germany. I never thought I would wear a high-top skirt but I got a pair. I hope it doesn't look that bad! And.. I got boots!!! Another pair which I adore. It's grey and looks pretty fab if I say so myself :)
Haha. I wish I could say I've been doing a lot of cheap shopping but I realised that I have gained a significant amount of weight since I was in Melbourne and unless you are Thai size which is like tiiiiinnnnnyyyyyy~~~, it's pretty much impossible to get those cheap clothes. It is ok though, I will just confine myself to buying cheap earrings and accessories!

Let's see.. today - I went for my first ever manicure and pedicure which was an interesting experience I guess, since I haven't been pampered in that way before. I got to choose my colour and everything~ Ok... bimbo part over :) But it is a pretty nice purply metallic colour with a darker shade of pink mixed somewhere in between - not bad for someone who has never worn nail polish on her toenails before. And yes.. every half an hour or so, I do like at my feet just to see how pretty it looks :) So after that we went home and I was pretty tired from doing pretty much nothing so I took a small nap and then woke up to bake the cookies I was planning to bake 2 days or so ago. The recipe was called 'Lemon Stars' but the final product was less cookie and more cake-like and less stars and more like clumps of cup-cakes. Haha - totally a success as a cake mixture but not really as cookies. I had substituted some stuff in the recipe though like the corn meal I added was really fine instead of the coarse ones which were asked for and I had used wholemeal flour instead of all-purpose flour so differences were expected. Ok.. so the morphological structure wasn't exactly the same but ooh, the flavour and texture is good! The lemon zest really adds a punch to the dessert. Yummm~~~ I'll post up some photos with this post so you guys can see what I made :)

Monday, 7 December 2009

pre-xmas in bangkok~







Sunday, 29 November 2009

welcome to the city of angels!

Hello everyone! Long overdue blog update I should think. But then again, its been such a hectic week getting things done before I leave from Melbourne that I think I have a slight excuse - just a slight one :) But all is well in the hot, hot, hot kingdom of Thailand if I say so myself. I have had nothing but long shopping sprees from day to night since I have landed in this shopping paradise-of-a-country and the midnight sales occurring at 2 of the biggest shopping mall chains, Central and Paragon/Emporium doesn't exactly help me stay a saint. So... to clock it up into perspective, about AUS $350 spent on the first day itself. Oh gosh... not good at all *shakes head in disbelief*. I feel guilty, I do! But at the same time selfishly blissfully happy to have gotten the stuff I did. Then again, it shows you how good shopping is here! *ahem* To the people who know who you are, you guys HAVE to plan a trip to Bangkok next summer ok, ok? I'll even put it in a Minnie Mouse-like voice and act all cute to persuade you guys to come! Ok -maybe not the act cute bit, but I'll practice my high toned voice during the holiday! I promise :D

I was thinking today whilst I was walking towards dinner (@ Grossi!!! in Bangkok!!!) that one week ago, I was doing a completely different thing in a completely different city with completely different people. It isn't that crazy I guess but it just seems a bit unreal to me still. For example, last Saturday, I went to donate blood for the first time in my life with Jeans, her brother Jax, the All Black One and Taro at the Australian Red Cross donation centre in Southbank. Ok, it hurt in the beginning when she poked in the needle which looked quite huge and it surely hurt the few days after when lifting my arm was a pain in the arse but overall it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be simply because it was such an amazing experience. I can't wait to find out what blood type I am! Haha - probably that was the biggest motivation for me to do it. To tell the truth, I was quite surprised to see so many people in the waiting room that day but the whole experience has quite an effect on a person I guess and to be able to say I did that before I turned 20 seems like an achievement to me. Most of the readers of this blog would have read what happened at the clinic with Taro and since it was her story to tell, I won't go into the details as her blog retells it nicely and I simply won't be able to do justice since I was still giving blood as the wheelchair and fan were quickly brought to the refreshments area. She's fine obviously but I think she gave the poor 16 yr old in our group quite a shock! Good thing he was there though!

Ooooh yes! I had a BRILLIANT yum cha session for a pre-bday lunch at Gold Leaf restaurant located at Harbour Town in the Docklands area with my besties (as someone puts it =.=)!! The food was so good and the people celebrating it with me made it even sweeter. They even surprised me with this unbelievably crazy scrapbook which was compiled by my closest of friends in Melbourne - Jeans, Taro, Bunny and the All Black One. But everyone who has had made an impact on my life in Melbourne contributed to it by writing little notes inside. Together with the ton of photos which I have collected over my first year at university (some of which make me cringe because I always make stupid faces during photo sessions!), the book is so much more than what I could have imagined. Thank you so much guys! I know I have probably said it sooo many times now, but I really need to stress how much I appreciate it! You have made this girl's 20th birthday so much more special :) As quoted from my facebook photo album "THANK YOU Jason Mooi, Genie Ooi, Phoebe Ling, Stephanie Hew, YokeYee Cheng, Matthew Kwok, Lachlan Lin, SieKieh Lau, Selvie Go, Caballe Chau, Tse Han Tai, Derek Jon Chir, Yik Kai Kat. Chan, Sherman Lee, Elena Yan, YiLee Loke, Ann Boo, Haur Wey Tan, Edwin Kok Sian Ngan, Bec Tai, Liau Ruishan, Bengsze Hong, Ken Wynn Chan, Grace Hii Siau Jin, Jean Ni Cheong AND Jolene Ng Zhuo Lin for the AMAZINGLY, WONDERFUL birthday scrap book~ =D I ♥ it so, so much!!! :)" I did try to post it up as a status but it told me I couldn't tag more than 6 people in my status bar. Booyah to facebook for that!!

Dinner was taken at Peko Peko which is an adorable, cute, little Taiwanese restaurant located in Southbank. Designed to be a really artsy cafe, this place serves Taiwanese food in Japanese bento boxes. Ahh - bliss I tell you!! I could just rock up to the place because of the way I love the whole set-up. The cute little alien logos, the funny portraits on the walls and the way they name their coffee machine makes me love the place even more. Definitely going to check it out more next semester! So dinner didn't exactly go as planned and I ended up losing a bit of my temper which I shouldn't have. Damn these emotions, they always play up when they shouldn't. I would first like to apologise to the people present that night for the fact that work topics always seemed to encroach into the dinner talk as well as the fact that the atmosphere was so tense. I intended it to be a fun night and I can't help but feel so sorry for having my dinner guests put up with what turned out to be not such an awesome night. But things as they are have a way of moving on and thats what I'm going to do, move on in life. One hour till I turn 20 and I am still trying to grasp an understanding of how people work. Well, for sure its going to be a lifetime discovery so I don't think I'm falling behind just yet. On a plus side, this year I will be getting 2 birthday cakes, one of which I have had already had in Melbourne. My brother bought it for me even if it was such a hassle arranging to get it because he had to order it before going to work at 7 am and could only pick it up after the closing hours of the shop. Bunny took some photos of it and I'll post it up soon; seriously good cheesecake!! Thanks ko!

Aiks.. I'm getting tired. A sign of old age? I hope not. Although.... the number of white hairs in my hair is a tad worrying. But then again, I have always had them so I shouldn't be too troubled by it. Anyhoos my darling readers, I'm off to bed! Maybe the sky will be brighter tomorrow when I wake up a brand new 20 year old?? We'll see =) Till then! Tally Ho!!! :)