I think the Thais are most friendly people on earth universe!!!

Mentioned a few times in my previous posts about how great my trip was, let me tell you this - My host during my recent trip to Bangkok are the nicest people on earth lor.. They are so so so x1000 nice ok?!

Left: Our friendly hosts, Mr Prateep, Mr Um, Mr Jun
Right: The 2 cute and sweet hosts sitting at the right

Another leng chai host - Mr Mu, 25 yrs old. He really look like JJ Lin and is very very nice!
Haha, I am so shy to approach him so I curi-curi took the 2 pictures above

Dad went for a business trip and the rest of us decided to tag along (save on the accommodation). Tickets booked and we forwarded our flight details to our host to help us to book 2 hotels room (one under dad's business account, another personal lar). And being the super nice host they are, they insist on getting us 3 rooms! After some communication, settled on 2 rooms.

After working on one fine Wednesday, we boarded a 8.30 p.m. flight to Bangkok.

 
Obligatory camwhore in LCCT

La la la.. 2.5 hours passed by and we landed at Suvarnabhumi Airport. The airport is damn nice lor.. I think is even nicer than KLIA. Not only they have later architecture design than KLIA, they also have EVERY SINGLE BRANDED DESIGNER LABEL in the departure hall, each with CONCEPT STORE! Seriously I can't name a brand that is not found in Suvarnabhumi Airport!

Suvarnabhumi Airport - check out the roof in 3rd picture, it's the symbol shown in the airport logo

As soon as we picked up our luggage from the super efficient luggage belt (is this what it's called? watever, you get what I mean right?), dad received a call from our hosts that they are waiting for us already. Super paiseh lor, it was 12 midnight local time when we landed. They actually picked us up at 12 midnight, plus that's after work! Then the 2 gentlemen, Um & Mu carried our bags to the car. Not ordinary car ok, it's a super luxurious 11 seater (11 person can sit very very comfortably) VIP van!!!

Told you - it says VIP. Don't play play :P

We checked into Grand Diamond hotel in Pratunam Area...(why Pratunam, because is a stone throw distance from their office and in the heart of Bangkok shopping district!!) How thoughtful of them!!

Grand Diamond All Suite Hotel

To our surprise, they booked for us JUNIOR SUITE. TWO JUNIOR SUITE that is! and they paid for both rooms!

 
Clockwise: a living room, a kitchen, 50% of the toilet & bedroom
My 2 sis and I slept in this huge room for 4 nights!

The next day, our host brought us to the so-called-most-famous-chinese-restaurant in Bangkok for dinner. Indeed it is the most famous, there was so many people queuing outside. But for us, hahaha, we're VIP mar so they ushered us to a special room (either they booked earlier or they came earlier to queue) and was immediately served with 20 over dishes!

Throughout the entire trip, we were ferried around with super luxurious VIP van, dined in super nice restaurant with exceptionally great food, teman us to Chatuchak Weekend Market. They even treat us to the Largest Aquarium in Southeast Asia! - all in separate posts. Our hosts are all the management staffs in the company and yet they have spent time teman us here and there, spoilt us with the tremendous Thai Hospitality. Needless to say, the hospitality they provided is the BEST I would say!! Thank you so much everyone!!

This is another mandatory post-holiday blog post. Nothing interesting.

Went to JB during the raya holidays to attend my cousin's new house warming. Joining us were my relatives from Labis. There were 13 of us in the group and we stayed over at Wah Koh's house - in the living room! Hahaha.. 13 of us sleeping on 2 mattresses! How did we do it? - arrange 2 mattress to form a square, then everyone sleeps around the edge - head on the mattress, leg outside. Get it? Hahaah... believe it!

My cousin's new house garden - look, there's bicycle and walk path

Since we're at JB, we crossed over to SG for a day trip. Nothing exciting though, I have been to SG so many times - at least twice a year for the past 3-4 years? The only new thing was the F1 night race SG hosted a week ago.

Driving through the F1 street circuit around Marina Bay area

One of the F1 grand stand

Street circuit in front of the Esplanade

 
Construction works of The Marina Bay Sands (SG first Casino)

 
Rainbow & Cable Car near the Sentosa Getway

SG largest shopping mall -Vivo City

 
View from outside Vivo City

My SG trip ended without buying anything! How sad right.. and I am still keeping all the SGD I've exchanged :(

On our way back to KL on the 3rd day, we stopped by at Ayer Hitam to have lunch and shop around the market.

 
Umbrellas - ella, ella, ella..

Fruits on sale - damn expensive!

 
Saw something special at the road side - Putu Bamboo

 
How Putu Bamboo looks like...
Eaten Putu Piring before? Taste the same except this has a nice bamboo fragrant :)

Finally, a post with less cam-whoring, less mengada2 pic of me...
Beautiful scenery to enjoy

 
Laguna Redang Island Resort

BBQ dinner is excellent!

 
my best souvenir ever

 
er.. I dont know who are those guys, they came to us wan ar..
but the one in pink is quite cute :)

my final day.. so emo

this is Sunrise (in case you mistaken it as sunset)

KT airport

<---- Now, for more pictures check out 'photos' on the left. Quite a handful of pictures that was not blogged.

 
I love my breakfast!

morning walk at the beach

 
Pulau Redang Marine Park

 
evidence of I went snorkelling

my friends said I 'syok sendiri'

 
mocktail + french fries + coconut + beach = heaven!

 
my view point

Summer Holiday's more more tea inn

 
At Merang Jetty

Crystal Blue Sea

My lunch.. yumyum

1st snorkel trip

Clear water

 
Loving the sea..

There's a beach wedding going on..
We called them - 'Siao Char Bor' n poor husband! She's really wild and aggressive party going girl

Watched Olympic Games Opening Ceremony @ lobby

Getting my 'tatoo'

Drinks before going to bed. I bet you cant guess which is mine.

 
Beach Bar

More pictures to come... We took 500++ pictures k? Spent nearly 3 hours just to consolidate and select those pictures
Note: Pictures posted are very summarised version. For more pictures, check out 'My Pictures' on the left sidebar (to be updated soon)

This will be the last of my Shenzhen, Hong Kong & Macau travel series, I bet everyone is pretty sick of it by now.

After checking out the hotel, we have more than 6 hours before our flight back to Kuala Lumpur. Thats the last flight from Macau. What to do, Malaysian mah, have to maximise the time in a foreign country.

The focus point of Macau tourism and heritage lies near Senado Square area. Just within its 1km radius, it covers more than 20++ attractions.

My first impression of Macau is - Melaka + Eupore. You'll immediately fall in love with the colonial architecture, with old buildings bearing an interesting mix of Portuguese and Chinese characteristics.

No trip to Macau is complete without savouring the mouth-watering Portuguese egg-tarts and milk tea. It is simply the-best! No other egg-tarts in Malaysia can beat those. Trust me.

So, if Portuguese egg tarts is a must try in Macau, there's definitely a must-see attraction in Macau. Ruins of St. Paul's.

Hey, I actually took this photo. Didn't copy it from anywhere, k?

Thanks to a fellow Malaysian who took this pic of us. 

One thing I noticed here is that more than 40% (just a figure I make up myself) of tourists came from Malaysia. Apparently the flight tickets to Macau are really dirt-cheap. More Malaysians are flocking to this European colony in China.

Anyway, not only the attractions are interesting, so does the tourists here. It is so funny to see some aunties using digital cameras, so we took a picture of her taking a picture. Haha!

Auntie, why you take picture like tai chi??

Above Saint Paul's, within the remains of Mount Fortress, is the main Macau Museum.

Looks like we had not been exercising for a long time. Climbing up that hill requires lots of stamina actually. But soon, you'll be rewarded with the magnificent view.

Looking down from Mount Fortrness, I found peace and calmness inside me. Ah... Macau is so beautiful. So much so that I even thought of migrating here.

Well, all good things must come to an end. Guess I will be back again, some time in the future.

The things I brought back? Memories, pictures and....

Girls = shopping. Haha!

Street tram... we were tempted to hop on one but afraid of getting lost

Was 2 pm when we took this...so many ppl... Hongkies don't have to work? 

Farewell to HK...

So... here we are in Macau... ready to check into our hotel.. I chose Hotel Royal because i saw a super leng chai front desk officer there during my 1st trip...

Backed to check in... my credit card did not went through when they tried to charged the deposit.. and being the unlucky me my another card was reported for fraudulant use when i was still HK... so i paid by cash...thats HKD 1200 CASH! my entire estate! Then i called my dad to check with the bank and the bank assure everything is alright...

Tried to swipe again before i leave for dinner - CANNOT! I made them talked to the my bank (wasted my long distance phone call) and the stupid front desk officer refused to return my cash..as though i cant afford to pay for the room.. I was left with slightly less than HKD 200 only which i have to pay for dinner, cab and others.. They expect me to survive in a foreign country with little money?? I argued! Haha...too bad i didn't win... Why? because another cute (not so leng chai) but very kind hearted officer intervened...he wanted to return my money... but i afraid he might get scolded from the stupid lady (he's a junior) so i said "It's ok... i'll try again later" What?? Yuetmui... yuetmui... u made so much noise and u finally gave in because of a guy? Haha... this is what ppl called... an empire falls in the hand of a woman (in my case..it fell into the hands of a guy)

With the tiny bits of money in hand... HKD 200 cant do much there k?.. we took a free shuttle to The Venetian - the largest hotel/casino in Asia...

Can see the casino or not??

Just wanted to tell i spend HKD 90 in McD... that's for a single person portion (so kesian right..have to share a meal because no money) - Stupid hotel..

When you're in the largest casino in Asia (2nd in the world), you  should never fail to visit the casino!! Of course, we did (sis curi2 masuk) These 2 jakuns spend hour in the casino.. minus the gambling la (told you i left with HKD 100 only!) observing how ppl play... hmm.. very interesting leh! We were there so long that we almost missed the 'FREE' shuttle bus back to the ferry terminal...

Then from the terminal, i have to spent another HKD 50 to take a cab to the hotel... only to realised i need to buy some ladies associated essential items from 7-11... and the cheapest cost me another HKD 40!

Back to the reception...try again... nope not working! Another round of making noise! Haha... then suddenly, somehow, i dont know how, they managed to swipe the card... but this time they insisted to charge the full room charge instead of a deposit... I was damn pissed off k? What now? I can't pay for the room? and pls.. don't ever accused me of over charging my card! Whatever it is... i got the HKD 1200 back! (but what is the use of getting the money now? it's midnight and i will not be spending another cent till i check out) Yay, I won the fight!

I wrote a extra long complaint letter to the management upon my return... and was delighted they respond to it 'promptly' and offer me a 'exclusive Hotel Royal bathdrobe' as a token of appreciation... Er... bathdrobe? nah... i politely decline the offer..

That's it...My most eventful day of the trip...

p/s: just wanna shout out here "I finished my final ACCA paper today!!"

3D movie .. Mickey's Philharmonic

Had breakfast at 7-Eleven. That's our yummy VitaSoy Milk (my fav! - had it almost everyday) and Lor Mai Kai.

M'sia 7-11 are super dull and boring, only if ours are as interesting as overseas...

Disneyline MTR

Welcome to Hong Kong Disneyland

The Hotel Shuttle Bus

Hollywood Hotel.. some say there're many hidden mickeys inside

Hidden Mickey at the hotel park (not so hidden after all) and the hotel interior....

After checking in....

Disneyland Entrance

Entrance

View from the Disney Railway

Sleeping Beauty Castle 

Adventureland - Tarzan's Treehouse & Jungle River Cruise

Disney on Parade

Not forgetting the biggest Stars of Disney..

What a perfect ending... Disney in the Stars

Then.. we took the KCR to Mong Kok.. Checked in and then head straight to Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront... Though is my second time, i am still in love with the view here... and the sea breeze...

Tsim Sha Tsui at night..

Symphony of Lights - Must watch!

We had steamboat after the show.. Perhaps you have seen it from HK drama show, how slowly they eat steamboat - cook the meat piece by piece... Me and sis did the Malaysian way! We threw everyting into the pot and cooked all at once... Scope everything to the bowl instead piece by piece from the pot... faster and more efficient! Of course.. we drew some attention from the waiters for the way we eat... must be wondering what we 2 are trying to do.. destroying the HK steamboat culture... Haha!

Studying the menu and sis cooking meatballs..

Steamboat.. Their soup is tasteless and fu-chuk taste like plastic!... but the steamboat dishes are good!

<<< Rewind for a while... I missed this part earlier.. after the Symphony of Lights we went to Avenue of Stars first before heading for steamboat.. here're the pictures:

Then..we went to Temple Street for a walk..didn't buy anything.. No pictures though... is just another Petaling Street minus the DVDs and watches...

Back to hotel.. No, we 2 girls are not that messy.. We're unpacking our stuffs when I took this pic

Sour and spicy noodles... Looks good huh? But taste yucks...

Beijing Forbidden City? Nah... just miniature

More pics....

At night.. we watch the night performace which was awesome!

Shenzhen subway

After 18 hours of no sleep, 7 hours of walking, whole body aching... we reached Dong Men. Checked in our hotel and got free upgrade to a Premier Room... What else after bathing? Shopping at Dong Men of course! Haha..

Dong Men Street.. and my sis.. Shenzhen food is so cheap!

ZzzZZzz (Recharging for tomorrow's activities)

Let's see what have I done throughout CNY...

IN KUALA LUMPUR

CNY Eve - woke up early to help mum to prepare for prayers, after prayers got busy with the reunion lunch preparation.... After that, brought the 2 cars for washing (while waiting, i managed to do some last minute shopping and bought another 2 shirts!!) Then, reunion dinner with my uncle's family in a restaurant where we had Yee Sang.. It didn't turn out to be a perfect dinner as they mixed up the orders - we waited for more than 2 hours.. so mum walked off and got a refund for the 2 dishes we missed.

THE DAY - woke up early again... started with prayers then vegetarian brunch. Got ready with our new clothes and off we go for prayers in KwanYin Temple in PJ. We also visited a few relatives house before joining the rest of Liew Family for a dinner in Ampang. This is followed by a gambling session in my uncle's house until midnight!

IN LABIS, JOHOR

2nd Day - woke up damn early (5 am!) today, prayers then washed clothes (yeah, my washing machine broke down the night before CNY, how lucky!) By 10 a.m., we already on our way to my mum's hometown - Labis... Good thing there wasn't any jam and we reached in a mere 2 and half hours! Visited my cousin's soon-to-be in-laws new house in Segamat then back to Labis for dinner...

3rd to 4th Day - it's all about visiting relatives, eat n drink, watching tv, gambling and more gambling these 2 days... On our way back to KL, there was this massive jam from Pedas Linggi to Nilai which we got stuck for more than 2 hours in that 30 km stretch, travelling 5km/hr - just because a stupid bus using the emergency lane landed in a ditch and everyone is slowing down to watch!! Come on Malaysians!!

Stupid cars taking emergency lane caught on camera, I'm going to send this to the law enforcer!

BACK TO KUALA LUMPUR

5th and 6th Day - i never expect the feeling of not working on a working day would be so great! Had some good sleep and watch 5 DVDs!! Managed to do some planning for the upcoming HK trip in April too....

It has been more than 1 week since my previous post, have been really busy in the past 2 weeks - running like a mad woman in the office, working through weekends and for God's sake even on Federal Territory Day!! Should have ask for double replacement leave from my boss...

Another reason is that I have been feeling really really down previously, I thought I was going to have a nervous break down soon! Life is really sucks in the 2 weeks - so stressful and tiring! Not to mention that stupid old aunty in office - whom I guess got nothing better to do and trying to gain ppl's attention - has been driving everyone crazy (it is another sad case to be forgotten) !!

LUCKILY, some shopping therapy has helped me to recover from the depression.. Hahaha... and the Chinese New Year mood has 'finally' creep into me... I am a happy person now!

Some pictures about my family's preparation for CNY to share with you:

The main entrance

CNY deco and flowers

Tonnes of drinks, food and goodies.. fyi, my study room has been turned into a temporary store room!

full with food..

My New Year clothes and stuffs

Fav purple dress

New jeans (check out the pockets)

Theme for the year: Sailor wear from Cape Cod

another sailor-liked blouse

new purse... finally - after 4 years

I still need to get another few more t-shirts especially red ones, shorts, accessories, new shoes (if any nice ones).. hope it won't rain tomorrow - I've got plan to pasar malam!

Can't wait for CNY, it's another 2 more days!! and I have just tomorrow to work and I'm off for a week long break!! Looking forward for CNY - I love the family get togetherness, miss my cousins, enjoy the food n drinks, the biscuits, the atmosphere, the people, the joy and happiness, have fun gambling, the Ang Pow, and everything!!!

Will blog more about CNY soon, more pictures on the way too...

Merlion and Esplanade @ Marina

Yummy ice cream only available in S'pore.. A must have everytime i'm here!!

My fav top 5 - The bins @ Orchard Rd all have different designs...

We could hardly move in Orchard Rd...it's too crowded...

After Bugis, next destination - Chinatown. Wah Kor is not with us today, and we got lost for a while. Luckily it's not out 1st time driving in S'pore... i got a map from the nearest hotel and we managed to find our way to Chinatown.. Mum is pretty happy today because the places we have been today is what she likes...

Lunch @ JB, before going to S'pore

Rainning in S'pore when we entered

Bugis Junction Mall

No Boxing Day shopping today because it's quite time consuming to travel to Singapore. We thought of stopping at Melaka on our way back to KL, however it was rainning heavily throughout our journey back home... Anyway, i'm quite happy with this trip although i did not buy a single thing this time... Well, so long my family had enjoyed themselves

The event of the Winter solstice occurs sometime between December 20 and 23 each year in the Northern hemisphere, and between June 20 and 23 in the Southern Hemisphere, and the winter solstice occurs during either the shortest day or the longest night of the year.

The Winter Solstice Festival or Dong-Zhi 冬至 is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Chinese and other East Asians. Traditionally, the Dongzhi Festival is also a time for the family to get together. One activity that occurs during these get togethers is the making and eating of Tangyuan 湯圓, glutinous rice balls, symbolize reunion.

- Extracted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia-

According to dad, Dong Zhi is even more important than Chinese New Year. 22 Dec is the coldest day of the year, the Chinese celebrate the passing of winter solstice to mark the begining of a better year ahead. This day family members will get together and eat Tangyuen, symbolized reunion.

The Liew Family had steamboat dinner that night, followed by mahjong session in my house.

Mix glutinous rice flour with water, roll the dough into small balls...

Boiling Tangyuen...

Add Tangyuen to sweet soup... and ready to eat!! Yum Yum...