Back From Brunei Trip

I woke up with a headache, then decided to work from home, hoping that the pain will ease in the afternoon, allowing me to attend an open house of a partner company at Cyber Jaya, Botanical Garden.

At 12 noon, my head was getting bigger (It felt like). I called my colleague to inform that I could not make it to the event and to extend the apology on my behalf. Good for me though, because it was raining cats and dogs and the guests (could have been me) were experience the thrills, eating in the flood. Hahah.!

I suspect, this headache is due to the wierd combination of satay (camel, ostrich, sotong, beef intestine and the oysters) that I had in Brunei the night before. I took a half day leave and went to the gym to work out, but it didnt help to eliminate the throbbing. Today I woke up with the same headache.  &%$#@#@#$%!!!

Enjoy life while you can

Unplanned, I flew to Bandar Sri Begawan on Monday morning. Due to conveniences of purchasing an air ticket, I chose to fly on Air Asia. 6.45am flight AK262. 2 hours prior to departure, I have to be at the airport, according to the rules of the well-known low cost carrier.

12:30am- went to bed
3am woke up, shower and got ready to leave (only 2.30 hrs sleep)
4.15 am out of the house, alone driving in the dark cruising thru the darkness, all the way to LCCT airport which took me about 1 hour.
I checked on the departure screen. AK262 checking counter no: KIOSK. I turned to the information counter staff.
Hah!! no counter checkin? where is the kiosk? WWOOAA.....!!! such a long que.

At last I reached the kiosk machine after such a long line. That was 50minutes before the departure time.
But appeared on the screen 'unable to ...... please proceed to the counter' (something like that). Panicked.
Which counter??? I turned back to the information counter staff. "R3 & 4". Oh no.. why it has to be the counter located right at the end...?!&*^%$##@@@

WHat?? such a long line..!!! AGAIN..!
"Thats it..Im gonna miss my flight" I thought. Phew..! the staff volunteered to open one counter to attend to me.

9:30am, Monday 27thSept2010, I reached Brunei, relieved seeing my name being flagged at the exit point. Our business counter part pre-arranged a pick-up and met up with my 2 colleagues.

The same afternoon, we went to Brunei State Mufti office. Presentation. A few familiar faces glad to see me, especially when I appeared with my hair covered ( a proper Muslim attire) Emmmm... a new appearance to be considered in a near future.
The presentation went well.

After work, we went back to the hotel, Grand City hotel at Gadong area. Small hotel, but with a great area, where everything I like are within reach.  I am talking about food, of course. Satay of camel meat, ostrich, squid,oyster, beef intestine, beef stripe, duck, cow's lung, pancreas. After the satay treat, we continued to the next restaurant to have the tasty soto. My 2 colleagues and I went back to the hotel to rest, but I only had 1 hour rest, before my client came to greet me at the hotel and took me out for a 2nd round dinner.

2nd round dinner was on satay again! then on the local famous food 'Ambuyat'. It was almost 10pm when we finished eating. My eyes were getting heavy in fact even during the presentation. I needed a sleep badly. But 'not yet' my dear. Entertain your client. So, we continued our chat at another cafe which close up to mid night. she talked, I listened, she talked , I laughed, she talked, I listened, I 'Oh...'...really...., wow..!,.. ah..., uhuh... and my eyes we getting heavier. We had a good chat, but I had to excuse myself at 11:30pm.

Before bedtime, I started my computer., logged in to internet, check email. Oh no..! more things to do. work, work and work until 1:30am, a few more hours to catch my flight back to KL.

Landed LCCT airport at 12:30noon, had a quick lunch the headed to the office to work. After work, the plan is to go to the gym and work out a bit, cutting down some fat.

What a life..! and I am enjoying it.

Direct from the chef’s kitchen

 

All along I’ve been salivating by looking at all the photos she posted through her blog http://cherryonacake.blogspot.com , but not on last Wednesday.

That particular day I was invited to her house, being welcomed and served with the actual food, cooked by the blogger herself. Zurin, as she is widely known as, (although I addressed her in a more respective manner), was there, happily welcoming her few guests, including myself.

Yumm….yum….yum… lucky me.

Thanks for the invitation my dear chef.

OH NO..! I forgot to eat the curry puff..!!!

To Kuantan through Karak highway

When I think about Kuantan, Karak Highway is always associated with the rhyme. And when I mentioned Karak Highway, my mind would say 'danger zone'. I heard many bad news about car accidents along the highway. BUT, I needed to be there, to pay my clients a visit which were pending for many months.

I sort of miss the peacefull state, whose Sultan is most loved by the people.

In many of my trip to Kuantan, although it is just more about 3 hours drive in distance, I had always preferred to fly there. Yesterday, somehow, I decided to travel there by car. It was a day trip.

I found such a wonderful scenery along the way, which I could not compare with other places. These pictures would describe more.

Such a picturesque sights.

It was raining quite heavily when i was on my way back to KL. As I stopped by a rest area, the sky above me was covered not by the cloud, but thousands of birds. Probably swallows. What an amazing sight.

 Too bad I could not afford an expensive camera that could capture a perfect view.

Even the cloud were performing well, wishing me a good journey.

I arrived home at around 10.40pm. Dark and quite, as the others in the house were asleep. I enjoyed the trip very much after all.

Not retired at 45

I am yet to set my target right. Years ago I aimed to have an early retirement plan at 45. I will leave my 45 years of age in the next few days, and I am still financially and mentally not ready to retire.

Come to think about it, what would I do without job? I dont have many consistent hobby other than shopping. Even that is not consistent. How would my life be without meeting people and without making decision for others? Would my existing clients still highly regard myself as how they do today? Would I be talking as confident? Would I be happy being an intelligent housewife without gaining salary at the end of the months? Most probably not.

Back to work, Madam.

 

Girls outing

There is a child in everyone. If only I still could fit in, I could have been sitting in the toy car with Aleia and Laikha.

Both are nieces to my hubby. On Sunday, Nadia and I took them to the nearby shopping mall, Sunway Giza and let them enjoy their joy ride, sausages and 2 rounds of ice-cream.

As much as I like to tease children to cry, I like to make them happy too.

Being among the young make me feel forever young.

Moms outing

 

No takers? No, it wasn't the case.

Gorgeous moms needed to get away from husbands and children once in a blue moon. So we did. All my sisters inlaw and I ended at Ole-Ole Bali, Mont Kiara, last night.

What a nice place to indulge, at that wonderful evening. Perfect environment and perfect setting. The only thing I didn't get was a sound of Balinese music.

 

It wasn't easy for us to choose from the menu, as the choices are all succulently look good. Fortunately, Diana had the choice of recommended dishes, which she gathered from the internet, written down in her diary, that saved us time to think.

        

The food was emmmm….. indescribable ‘muy excelente ! ‘. The big table turned smaller as our orders arrived.

 

Before leaving the place, we treated ourselves with ‘Air Batu Campur’ as a dessert. It arrived like a mount that we were lucky for not ordering one for each of us.

  All and all, we only paid about RM200(approx.USD60).

It was satisfying, leaving all the gorgeous moms with wide smiles, happily ever after………

     

But the night was not over. On the way back we made another stop at the the tutti-frutti yogurt ice-cream store. That was just right to end the night.

Being among the gorgeous, make me feel forever gorgeous. ( I hope nobody knows what ‘perasan’ means)

Eid-ul Fitri 2010-Picture speaks a thousand words

But the above picture is not at all related to violence as it seems. It pictures the untruth.

I am so blessed to have a happy family from both side. I grew up in a pleasant family with full of jokes and love and now I am surrounded by in-laws, feeling no different from what I’ve just described. When there is love, there is togetherness.

I did not celebrate my Eid in Lahad Datu (my beloved home town). So, this Eid, my in-laws and I spent our time together again, under one roof, creating a big HOOHAH..! breaking the first morning of the Eid-ul Fithri on the 10th Sept 2010.

Photography session is a must in every occasion. Jokes and laughter are an essence to our every gathering.
    

As usual, after the morning prayers, everyone met up at my parents-in-laws’, which plenty of food covered the table top. A double blessing for me for being a daughter-in-law to a good cook.

Also as the norm of the family, we gathered at the living room for a ‘general amnesty’. Forgiving, hugging and kissing, most of the time followed by tears dropping.

Yes, picture speaks a thousand words. But, what it didn't tell that, my dress was unzipped at the time of those photos were taken. The maid alerted me long after the photo session was over.No wonder it was such an airy morning LOL..!

 
 
 
we ended the gathering in a food festival, the highlight of the day. I was too busy eating and chatting. No time to man my camera.

On the next day, I worked out at the gym, just to ease the guiltiness for eating a lot. Then I heard that my eldest sister-in-law arrived from Penang to join us. Oh no.. she is not wicked at all. In fact, I am looking forward to see her. We have been planning for more gatherings. There goes my diet and those gym working out.

SELAMAT HARI RAYA...!!!!!