Twelve Days to Christmas...

Wow... It has been a busy December.

The Christmas decorations are up and I've been going around to take some photos...

Here is my favourite one so far.

Twelve days to go... Have you done your Christmas shopping?

Universal Fun @ Lion City - Day 2

After a restless night, we had a relaxing late morning breakfast at the nearby Tuck Shoppe, which is just down the road from our hotel.

The cafe had the usual food - toast, soft-boiled eggs, curry/chicken rice and even wantan mee.

Delicate Paper Cuttings @ MidValley Megamall

It's Friday!!! CNY is just 3 days away.

Although I'm currently rushing through a project, there's no denying the CNY spirit. Especially when you tune into MyFM and 988. Both channels are blasting CNY music with full gusto!

I managed to sneak a bit of time to get to MidValley last week to do some last minute CNY shopping. Of course, I can't leave my camera at home. LOL!

So, I took some pictures of the decoration around MidValley and Gardens. The decorations were quite elaborate at MidValley, where many lanterns as well as paper cuttings were hung from the ceiling. It really invoke a feeling of being in China.

Ain't it pretty? :-P

I really take my hats off to the folks who manage the decorations around the centre court. It must really take them some time to string up all those lanterns! Each lantern has a light and I believe it will look very beautiful at night.

Since MidValley was decked out in red, Gardens went for the softer pink colour. Cherry blossoms and longish lanterns were hung around the mall. It was simple and tasteful.

Both MidValley and Gardens had loads of events at different times of day. These include the usual lion dances, and fashion shows. They also invited an acrobatic troop from China to perform as well.

If you have time during the CNY holidays, do check these places out! Hopefully, the crowds would not be too large as most people would still be back in their home towns.

So, before I forget again... I wish you all...

恭喜发财!!!

身体安康!!!

龙马精神!!!

Happy Year of The Ox!

Year of The Ox @ 1Utama Shopping Centre

I can't believe it! Chinese New Year (CNY) is literally at our doorsteps!

Another round of holidays, binge eating and drinking with friends, colleagues and loved ones. The festive spirit is catching up to me although my team is in the midst of rushing the completion of a project. It is hard to ignore the festive mood as the shopping malls are "dressing up" for it.

At 1 Utama, the new wing's Oval was decorated with an elaborate stage, where the main prop was at least 3 stories high? The stage resembled a giant doorway which serves as an entrance to large Chinese buildings. The roof was decorated to look like the horns of the Ox, which is the zodiac animal for 2009.

Small stalls were set up around the stage. The crowd was not as large as I expected but probably because everyone flocked to the mall's shops to do their shopping!!

Lanterns were hung above all around the oval and it added a nice touch to the decorations. If the lights were dimmed, the atmosphere around the oval would be just magical, transporting us back to China...

There were also urns of "fire" placed around the stage and scattered across the mall. It's quite nice but I'm not sure what it means.. Anyway, I'd guess the fire is supposed to warm us up as spring time in China is still quite cold as the season changed from winter to spring.

Flowers and lime trees were also placed around the mall. I have pics of those but I screwed up the white balance and so, will need A LOT of time to fix the colours. However, I doubt that those photos should see the light of day.... *sigh*

Chinese New Year @ Suria KLCC

It just seems that the festivals are pilling up one after another. It was just a few days since the Christmas season has passed and now, in a couple of weeks; we'll be enjoying another round of festivities again.

Gosh, this is going to put havoc on my diet and exercise regime! Anyway, I'm lucky to have supportive friends and family members who understand my regiment and so, they try not to force food on me. However, I'm getting lots of advice on how to lose weight!! Good, or bad, I thank them for it.

Anyway, the shopping malls are hard at work to setup stages, decorations and arrange for cultural performances in light of the Chinese New Year festivities. Suria KLCC is of course, no exception.

Fridays are my photography days and after lunch, I usually bring my camera to take photos around this area.

The center court had been under preparation for the last 3 days and finally, the stage is ready for CNY performances. Soon, the stalls will be brought in for folks to buy CNY goodies. I can't wait for that. :-)

I'm not an expert in Chinese classical music/instruments but I believe the performers were playing music on the flute and Chinese "pi-pa".

Suria KLCC has hung up some lanterns all along the mall, as well as a couple of giant lanterns above the center court.

The lanterns hung around the mall... I like the symmetry of the lantern arrangement.

The decorations at Suria KLCC are at best modest. It does invoke the Chinese New Year mood as the shops start playing "tong-tong-chang" music (^^) as well as hanging up red decorations to invoke good fortune.

In times like this, the retailers need all the "red luck" they can get.

Dear Santa...

Yeah... Yeah.. Christmas is around the corner - I GET IT!! 

I've been procrastinating my Christmas shopping as I got distracted by the lovely Christmas decorations at all the malls. LOL!!!

Gosh, I still need to shop for the Secret Santa event in my office and the dinner is this week! Alamak! Really cannot procastinate any longer!!!!

Anyway, going through my Flickr page I discovered that one of the shopping centres has put up a mailbox for Santa Claus. Now, we don't have a very active "Dear Santa" tradition here in Malaysia but since Bangsar is an area where a lot of expatriates shop; I'd guess this was quite relevant. :-)

If you could write to Santa, what would you ask him for?

Christmas Walkabout @ Pavilion, KL

This post is a bit delayed as I have been quite busy last week. (^ ^)

Anyway, my Christmas "Walkabout" this year took me to Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur. Well, I wouldn't go to Pavilion on any day although it is within walking range from my office as I don't have the luxury of taking long lunches.

But, since I wanted to watch Bolt in 3D and I've heard so much about GSC Cinemas there; I thought to watch it there. Well, Bolt was a pretty heart-warming movie although it wasn't as funny as I expected it to be. It reminded me about the bond between animals and humans; more importantly it reminded me about my dogs. Sure, Snoopy and Rusty drive me crazy at times but they love us unconditionally and are loyal to the very end.

It was raining the entire day and so, I couldn't take a picture of Pavilion's Christmas tree. The decoration in the main concourse area were hung giant Christmas chandeliers which looked like baubles without the tree.

The merchants set up a Christmas sale at the main concourse but I couldn't find what I was looking for, i.e. a Christmas star or angel to put on my family tree at home. Nevertheless, there were lots to see.

Parkson Grand also did put up beautiful trees too, some of which costs around RM3,000 and above (wow!!), i.e. tree with trimmings and all. Very exquisite but I prefer to have the family tree decorated with trimmings which are as old as I am. :-)

With all the walking around, EV and I decided to have a little snack. Since it had been raining the entire day and we were both feeling cold, we felt that having some chocolate at Theobroma Chocolate Lounge would be perfect.

We shared some strawberries with melted milk chocolate. The sweetness of the strawberries complemented the milk chocolate. If we had it with dark chocolate, the dark chocolate would have overpowered the natural freshness of the strawberries. Yum! Absolutely!

Although I was supposed to do some Christmas shopping, it turned out to be a day of walking and just taking photos. Gosh! I have but 11 days left!!!

Merry Blessed Christmas Everyone!!

I'm back!! ... If not, just for a short while.

This December has been a very hectic one for me since my workload has gotten a lot heavier since November when my team's manager decided to leave for greener pastures. So, for a while, I've been trying to keep the team together as well as trying to get things to run "business as usual" too. It can be a hassle.

Anyway, I hope to come out of this intact... That is just my Christmas wish this year. (^^)

I managed to make my rounds at the shopping malls this year since I had to do a bit of Christmas shopping this year. Some of the malls did a fantastic job with the decoration... Here are some of the pics I took with my little camera phone (an ancient SE K750i)

I didn't manage to go to all of the malls and also, I didn't manage to take a lot of photos as well...

This was taken from 1Utama, where they put up a large toy drummer at the new wing of the mall. I was shocked at the amount of deco they had there. In some sense, it looked cool from a far, but then, as you draw closer, the trees tend to be overdecorated. Nevertheless, I'm sure the kids and adults enjoyed taking photos at this place.

Another view of the Drummer Boy...

I managed to also visit the new part of Sunway Pyramid and they put a lovely display too. They had a railway track setup around the Christmas Lodge where kids and also small-bodied adults may sit on the train for a fee. Hmmm... Very enterprising indeed.

Lastly, I managed to visit Midvalley where their theme was a fairy-like Christmas. They had a lovely set of trees setup in the main concourse area but due to the overwhelming amount of humans, I couldn't get a shot of it. At the other concourse, they placed trees and I caught a nice pic of it.

The pics were not clear as I was using my camera phone and didn't spend enough time focusing on the shot before pressing the "trigger". Nevertheless, after looking at the deco, it certainly whets my appetite to shop. **kekekeke*

Anyway, I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a

Merry Blessed Christmas
&
Happy New Year!!!!!

Good Weekend & Wet Monday Morning...

How was your weekend? Hope that it was good.

It is the start of another week and already the traffic wasn't good. :-(

Anyway, again I'm blogging right after I've come back from the gym. Kekekeke.. It's my cool down time before I go mandi (shower) and then tidur (sleep).

I managed to get out during the weekend to Sunway Pyramid because the EV wanted to check out the DELL Roadshow. So, I dragged myself out of bed to bring her to Sunway Pyramid.

EV: So, which one should I get?
Me: What's your budget?
EV: Not so expensive-la!!
Me: Define "not-so-expensive-la".
EV: Ehhh.. I don't know.. Under RM3K?
Me: Oooooooo!!! *Evil grin*

She's still deciding on which model to get, either a 14" or 15.4" model.... The price is different as well.

Me: Why you need such a big display for?
EV: Ehhh.. To see more things-lo?
Me: See what-la????!!
EV: See things-la!
Me: ????

Eventually, she settled for the 14" model... I think.

EV: So, which one should I get? The 14" or 15.4" one?
Me: I thought you decided????!!!!
EV: I don't know-la. My last laptop was 15" also but taller-leh
Me: *Points to brochure* Wide screen.... Wide screen....
** Runs to laptop demo booth **
EV: Ohhh.... Yea-hor! So, what's the difference between the 14" and 15.4" models??
Me: **pengsan**

Besides EV trying to kill my remaining brain cells by constantly asking me about the difference between two measurements, I noticed that the new section of Sunway was done really well. It was bright and very open, unlike the dark and dingy look of the old section.

I took this picture as it was the "marketplace" called Marrakesh. It certainly looks Moroccan but the stores are definitely not. :-P

I like this ornamental lamp which graced the top level of the marketplace. EV thought I was crazy for taking the photo.

After walking around for about 6 hours, I managed to drag EV home as we had to prepare for our friend's wedding dinner.

We did not manage to attend the wedding ceremony which was held in the same ballroom as the dinner but we got to watch slides of the photos taken during the ceremony.

The dinner was good as expected, but we had a very strange waiter who did this...

I didn't take a very good shot of this but it's a picture of a used spoon in a teacup. The teacup wasn't even empty!!!!!

The waiter cleared my friend's plate and bowl but did not take the spoon with it. So, not knowing where to place it, he placed the spoon in my friend's almost-empty teacup. -____-"

He also cleared my friends' husband's plate, along with his fork and spoon. When we asked another waiter if we could have 3 sets of fork and spoons, he came and gave all of us forks and spoons. o__O

At first, we thought it was the norm since we had a prawn course coming up. However, looking around the other tables, ours was the only one which had forks and spoons for everyone.. .. .. .. ..

Next, my friend asked for an empty teacup, the waiter came with a glass of cold water. HAHAHAHAHAA

By the end of the dinner, we did not want to ask for anything else as we're not sure what else would he bring. LOL!!!

BTW, did I mention that the table number was 38??

In cantonese, 38 means "san pat", which literally means "blond" or ditzy. No wonder we had such such an interesting service during our meal last night. (^ ^)

BTW, Congrats to both Kae Jeen & Peter on the start of their beautiful journey together. :-)

So, how was your weekend again?

The Aunties Are Coming!!!

My knee is still screwed up. Am contemplating between using my own insurance or company's one.... Don't ask me why I'm thinking of it - all I can say is that one involves a lot of hassle, while the other is a bit more straightforward.

Anyway, I opened up my e-mail and got this message from our admin manager who forwarded some info from the building management...

Dear Tenants,

Please be informed that the forthcoming Isetan Sale is scheduled from
Friday, 21st September to Thursday, 4th October 2007. From previous
experience, we are expecting a large vehicle turnout, especially on the
first day of Sale (21st September, 2007).

Following the above, we wish to advise all season card holders to display
their season access cards to the Traffic Controllers on duty during the
sales period. This is to avoid inconvenience and unnecessary hassle to
access the Car Park on full capacity.

OMFG....

The "joy" of working in a building where there are departmental stores around.

I did get to work on a Friday to discover that the traffic had been diverted and that I had to jostle with the aunties for a parking slot. It sucked. It sucked monkey balls BIG time.

Hey, we regular Joe's and Joanne's got to work for a living, not like you aunties, who get to spend your $$$$ on a workday. So why don't you people go and park your expensive cars, SUVs and mini-SUVs at P3 or P4 and STAY THE FXXK OUT OF MY WAY????

*Sigh*... I'm pissy today as my knee is giving me pain. I'm not apologizing for b*tching about this.