Langkawi: In Words

Last weekend, I went with my family to Langkawi. It's an island in Malaysia. We went there by Firefly. The plane left on time and I had a comfortable ride. The muffins served on the plane was really fresh and tasty.

The hotel we stayed in was Hotel Bahagia, a new hotel but with aggressive advertising as I see pamphlets of the hotel almost everywhere. The room was rather not too big, not too small. Anyway, I won't be expecting too much from a budget hotel. Service was excellent.

On the second day, we rented a car and drove around Langkawi. We went to a number of places such as Durian Perangin waterfalls (nice place to hike and take pictures); went to a few beaches such as black rice beach, Tanjong Rhu, Pantai Cenang; We also went to Galeri Perdana which has a collection of gifts and awards given to the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahatir Mohamad; we also went to Handicraft Cultural Complex where you can buy batik and watch a glass-blowing demonstration. After watching that demonstration, you would see the price tag on those glasses as expensive anymore. Real hard work; we also went shopping as Langkawi is a duty-free zone. Bought mostly chocolates.

On our last day there, we went for a private half-day tour organised by the hotel as part of the package we bought at Matta Fair. Since we went to most places already, the tour guide took us to some places we had not gone before like Cable Car and Canopy Walk, Mahsuri Tomb and Burnt Rice field.

Had a lot of seafood there. Food is cheap at the town area.

Hope to go to Langkawi again in the future, wish to go island hopping
Vicky

Grateful to death

I'm currently reading Like a Flowing River by Paulo Coelho. There are plenty of inspiring and profound stories in there and I'm only halfway through. I'm quite reluctant to put the book down from the moment I started reading it. But I have to, as I have tests to study for, assignments to complete and tutorial questions to do. Yeah, same old, same old, a pile of workload on my table waiting to be cleared, a weight on my shoulders waiting to be lighten.

Anyway, today as I was the story titled "My Funeral", these lines captured my attention and really got me thinking. Although I don't think of death often, however I know I'm not immortal. Certain events in my life will keep reminding me of that fact. I hope that when my time comes, I'll be ready to meet my Maker.

Those lines are:

And death is possibly the most important thing. We are all walking towards death, but we never know when death will touch us and it is our duty, therefore, to look around us, to be grateful for each minute. But we should also be grateful to death, because it makes us think about the importance of each decision we take, or fail to take; it makes us stop doing anything that keeps us stuck in the category of the "living dead" and, instead, urges us to risk everything, to bet everything on those things we always dreamed of doing, because, whether we like it or not, the angel of death is waiting for us.

Alright, got to go back to preparing for my test tomorrow.

Happy Deepavali!
Vicky

No time for movies

I have been so busy lately. Been busy with assignments, doing tutorials, attending classes etc. So busy that I find that I have hardly much time for myself or to go out with friends for coffee, to shop or for movies.

At the start of this semester, I decided to set aside all my Sundays to rest and relax. Well, I did get to relax the first 2 weeks, I think. After that,assignments kept pouring in like a heavy downpour. To prevent myself from drowning, I decided to start doing my assignments as early as possible. Hopefully, there won't be any last minute work. And since I'm can't stop thinking about my responsibilities as a student even while resting, most of my free time are filled up doing assignments, tutorials, studying, reading books recommended by lecturers etc.

Furthermore, the holiday season is coming and soon everyone will be on holiday mood. I hope I won't be a scrooge or a party pooper then.

Anyway, if I could find the time to relax, there are some movies that I would like to watch. Most probably I would end up watching them after my final exams, so I'll be watching it on DVD. Yup, my final exam as a TARC Advanced Diploma student. I don't want to resit any papers so I have to work really hard now. First on the list is, of course, Love in Disguise, for obvious reasons. Followed by Hachiko: A dog's story because I'm a dog lover and the dog in the movie is so cute and lovable. Watch the trailer here:

Finally, a movie that will be in cinemas this December - Narnia. I'm a big fan of Narnia.

That's all, have a good weekend.
Vicky

Garden of Good and Eva

I tried Garden of Good and Eva, one of the six Benefit Crescent Row fragrances. I wanted to try Laugh with me Lee Lee but there's no more perfume left in the bottle :(. So I ended I trying Garden of Good and Eva. I tried the others before, on cards given by the sales person but not on my skin yet. This time I would like to try it on my skin to test if it smells good on me.

According to Benefit, Garden of Good and Eva has a crisp and fresh citrus floral scent. I prefer scents that are fresh as it is more suitable for me. After the salesperson sprayed this scent on my wrist, I kept sniffing it because the I like the scent so much. One more good thing about it is that it lasted quite long :)

I also like the packaging of the fragrances in the Crescent Row collection. It would surely stand out when I put it on my shelf. Packaging is also one thing that I look for when buying perfume. A perfume may smell nice but if I don't like the packaging, I would not buy it.

Of course, price is important too. Since I have a budget, I would buy something within that budget and that gives value for money.

Anyway, I didn't bring that Garden of Good and Eva home with me yet. Since I'm not in a rush to buy a new fragrance, I would like to continue trying out fragrances as there are many choices available in the market today. Especially when I didn't get to try Laugh with me Lee Lee on my skin.

At the end of the day, I don't want to regret buying something.

Have a good day!

Vicky

Bukit Gambang Water Park

Last Saturday, I went with my family to Bukit Gambang Water Park. It's located near Kuantan, Pahang.

We were there from morning until closing time at 6PM. I enjoyed myself at the lazy river, wave pool and the slides. Some of the slides would give you an adrenaline rush but you would need a lot of stamina to climb the stairs to the top. And in the wave pool, it's better than swimming in some of our seas as the waves can get really big. Just make sure that you're a good swimmer when the waves gets big or hold on tight to your tube. As for the lazy river, there are certain times when it's calm and certain times where there are waves. Of course, it's more fun with the waves.

What I like about this place are the slides and the cabana (which you have to rent). There are only a few cabanas around the water park so make sure you get there early before all the cabanas are rented out.

One thing that gives this water park a competitive advantage is the cashless system. We can deposit money into our wristband which has a bar code and use it to pay for food, rental of tubes or cabana etc. At the end of the day, we can get refund on the balance of money that we did not use.

This water park is ideal for families and it's cheaper than Sunway Lagoon. Plus, if you're tired of playing at the water park, you can head over to Kuantan.

Vicky.

The 18 Martial Arts

I think Wang Leehom's latest album was aptly titled "The 18 Martial Arts" because Leehom is indeed versatile and talented. He doesn't stick to one genre but is constantly trying out different genre and different sounds like R&B, hip-hop, combining Chinese ethnic minority music with modern music and so on. Maybe that's why I'm a big fan of Leehom. I like variety so I don't have a favourite genre. If you ask me today what's my favourite genre, I may say hip-hop but if you ask me the same question next week, I may say rock.

In "The 18 Martial Arts", Leehom combines chinese orchestra with pop music. I didn't like it at first it could be because I'm not as exposed to chinese orchestra compared to western orchestra but after listening to the album a few times, I'm starting to appreciate it. So if you know of any chinese orchestra performance nearby do let me know. I guess appreciating this new sound created by Leehom is a cultivated taste. You've got to listen to it a few more times in order to enjoy it then you'll want to listen to it the rest of your life.

I'm game for whatever new sound Leehom is going to create in the future. Here are the music videos to some of the songs in the album.






Vicky

Exams soon

My exams will start in a few days time and I think I'm almost prepared. Anyway, it's not all study, study, study for me. Last Thursday, I attended a friend's surprise birthday party planned by his brother. I tried vegetables from Sarawak (which I think was delicious) and keropok (crackers) from Indonesia. After that, we had a jamming/karaoke session followed by a tour around his house. After touring around his house, we watched Ip Man, because it was getting late, I left halfway through the movie. I think I over dressed because I was in LBD while most of them dressed quite casual, but a number of the girls were in dresses as well so I'm not alone. Furthermore, it's the first time a lot of them got to see me in a dress as I seldom wear except to go to the MPO or formal dinners.

I'll be back after my exams,

Vicky