December Flashback: Hello, Georgetown

Day two of our family vacation dawned damp and gloomy. Ipoh was still as empty as the day before, but the hotel itself was packed to the brim. The breakfast buffet was crowded with people looking for a place to sit, and even going up and down on the elevators took a while with the high volume of passengers.

Finally, we were on the road again. Winding through the mountains, into the tunnel and out again; a drive flanked by misty greenery, guided by Waze. I was the navigator of the journey while Mama drove. We decided against taking our usual route through the Penang Bridge or ferry, instead opting for the newly constructed second bridge, or the Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Bridge. The highway here was near empty, and the weather set a dramatic entry into Penang Island. It was definitely a beautiful drive. 

We met Papa at Hotel Penaga, which is becoming our usual Georgetown destination. You can read about my experience there last year here at WeekendNotes. The hotel hasn't changed, and we enjoyed the stay as much as we did the year before. While waiting to check in, we had lunch first at the mamak shop across the street. The maggi goreng there was superb! It has to be one of the best I have ever tasted anywhere. Even better when you order it with the ayam goreng - they chop it up and mix it together with the noodles. The mee goreng mamak here is delicious as well.

We spent the afternoon wandering through the busy Georgetown streets. The main roads were pretty busy, and when we walked past the Pasar Chowrasta, there was a cendol stall there singing out to us. I have a weakness for cendol pulut, and this really hit the spot. I even ate some of the red beans, even though I don't like red beans.

Even though we have been visiting Penang every year for half a decade, we've never actually explored Georgetown. Our previous visits were always to Batu Ferringhi, for the sun and sand. So this year's trip was really something else. Papa led us through the streets and old shoplots until we got to Lebuh Armenian, known for being the town's arts hub. I 

I found this down an alley. This city is ridiculously photogenic, and I thoroughly enjoyed snapping photos throughout the holiday. Helps that I had just gotten my new phone a few weeks back (Motorola Moto G2 whoo!). However, it started to rain while we were on Armenian, so we ended up buying umbrellas from some street vendors. Seriously laku for them, man! I was particularly fascinated by one girl who was manning stall - when we asked her for the price of a brolly, she turned to her grandfather sitting in the shade and asked him in Mandarin. He replied in Hokkien. This went on for a minute or so, her in Mandarin and him in Hokkien, before we got the price. So we trudged back to the hotel while huddling under the three umbrellas we managed to buy.

Later in the evening, the sisters and I went out to explore some more. We ended up in a mall called First Avenue, where we spent the rest of the evening eating sushi and wandering around. By the time we got back to the hotel, the parents and Nazim had already eaten dinner. So we walked down a block to find food at a Thai restaurant. I ordered the cantonese kuey teow, which was AMAZING. The kuey teow was wrapped in a fluffy egg, sitting pretty in a pool of delicious sauce. I feel hungry just thinking about it.

Ah, Penang! Land of food galore!

December Flashback: Bermalam di Ipoh

I've decided to revisit my adventures in December last month! Yes, I haven't been blogging often, but after reading through some of my old posts, I really want to document things that happen in my life for the benefit of Future!Me and her sentimental side. 

December was a very busy month, work-wise. I won't go into details about work, but it was nice to have the holiday to look forward to while I was in the thick of things. I took a half day on the Friday before Christmas week to do something I've wanted to for years: Watch Mamma Mia! the musical. The rest of the family had their chance for this ages ago when I first left for NS. To have my ticket burnt because of bad timing! I remember how disappointed I was then. So when I heard that they would be showing again this year, I jumped at the chance.

It was a good show, though Mama and the sisters agreed that the one they saw before was much better. As I have nothing to compare to, I thought it was alright. What bothered me was the crowd of families around me with kids in tow, saying things like, "This musical isn't meant for children!" 

Well ... it's no surprise? Who told you to bring your kids along to a show about a girl whose father could be any one of three people? :/ 

The next day, Mama, the kids and I piled into the car for a road trip to Ipoh. Mama was having her high school reunion at a hotel called Tower Regency, so we decided to stay the night before heading to Penang to meet Papa (who was there to see a bike race). The journey was uneventful, and we arrived at the hotel with time to spare. 

As a first-timer in Ipoh town, all I can say is that it feels remarkably laid back. Granted, it was a Saturday ... but the streets were kind of empty, and there was a sleepy, wispy quality to the air. Hanna and I went exploring around the hotel, but all efforts to get to the rooftop proved futile. We got a great view from the top floor though; Ipoh is a strangely flat town, surrounded by mountains and rock formations. The view was beautiful. I would love to go hiking in those mountains one day.

While Mama was at her reunion, the kids and I met Mira's friend BK. We ended up having lunch at New Hollywood, which is one of those corner lot hawker-restaurants just a few minutes drive away from the hotel. BK was our official tour guide for the day.

Each of us ordered a plate of char kuey teow each, and I have to say that it was one of the best I've ever tasted. The lovely charred flavour, accompanied by juicy prawns; heaven in my mouth.

I even made a little friend while we were there. This pretty kitty plopped herself down underneath my chair and shared my shoe by placing her paw in it. She seemed healthy and well-fed. She didn't even ask for any food, I think she was just looking for company.

After lunch, we went out looking for desserts. Apparently, one of Ipoh's oldest ice cream shops is just a short walk away from the hotel. Crazy Ice Cream & Salad House has been around since the 90s, serving ... exactly what they advertise. Haha. They also have Western food on the menu, but we were only there for their homemade ice creams. The one pictured above is a banana split. I love how they included a few spoonfuls of cereal at the bottom of the dish - a nice surprise while you're digging in.

Nothing much happened afterwards. We couldn't swim in the pool because it was too crowded, and dinner at Maria's Steak House was nice though not very memorable. Mira and I were in a separate room so we spent the night watching the Suzuki Cup finals. Such a close game! Pity we didn't win, but good effort from everyone on the team. So that was the end of Day One. For the next post, I'll go into our Georgetown adventure - definitely a fun trip!

Double Birthday

The not-so-little ones!

For years, Hanna's birthday party has been a constant annual occasion. We would go all out: Party packs, decorations, desserts, party games and so on. I even made a pinata for last year's party! Even though Nazim's and Hanna's birthdays are just a day apart (plus four years), it was always Hanna's party, as Nazim decided that they were a bit too childish for him after a while. And now the time has come where Hanna has also declared that a party in the vein of her previous ones would be a bit too much for celebrating her first year of teenagehood.

So this year's event was a smaller affair.

Instead of inviting a legion of guests as was the norm, we limited it to just close friends. Gone were the party packs and carefully planned children's games. The only thing we had planned was to have a water balloon battle sometime during the party. 

I think in the end, you are never too old for a water balloon fight! Amazingly, I managed to escape without getting too drenched. Credits to Nick for the awesome video!

Everyone had a lot of fun, and even without planning things out for the party like we usually do, the kids (and I use this term loosely now, haha!) really did have a great time. For one thing, they were so busy having a good time that it allowed us 'older kids' to hog the food table. Yum.

Mama's delicious fruit-topped chocolate pavlova.

Nazim is now old enough to drive, while Hanna has officially begun secondary school. Happy birthday my adiks! 

Big City Melbourne: Travel Time

Now I've talked about graduation, let's roll backwards a few days to the family trip to Melbourne. They reached the city at about 9am, while I boarded the plane from Adelaide at 9.30am. I bumped into my former classmate Haikal and his girlfriend at the airport, which was a pleasant surprise. Nick saw me off at the bus stop in Adelaide, and off I was onto my second ever solo flight. 

There were no complications at all for me; reached the airport with time to spare, checked in, got on the flight, landed in about an hour. It was a pretty shaky flight though, and I felt like puking a few times but it was bearable. I was pleasantly surprised to find that we could watch TV channels on the in-flight screens, so I wasn't bored. I caught a SkyBus from the airport into the city, which took about 20 minutes. 

My destination was supposed to be Medina Executive in South Yarra - I found the train heading there with three minutes to spare, so I sprinted across the train station, backpack and carry-on luggage in tow.  The train ride was another ten minutes, and I had to find an information counter to find out how to get to the hotel. It was further than I expected. I walked, and walked, and walked and walked, and just as I wondered if I was even going in the right direction, I found it!

At this point: Good news, I found the apartment. Bad news, the family wasn't there. I called Papa and he said they were at a place called Lord of the Fries on Chapel Street. I asked for directions. He said, turn left out of the hotel, then left at the main road, turn onto Chapel Street and walk and walk and walk until you wanna die.

I thought he was being overly dramatic. Oh, how wrong I was. 

The walk there took me about a half hour. By that time, my lousy Rubi shoes were falling apart, and I vowed never to spend more than $5 on a pair of Rubi shoes ever again. I didn't feel like dying yet - just really hungry. I hadn't had anything but two breakfast bars since I woke up. Finally, Mira and Hanna came barreling into me, signaling the end of my very long transit from Adelaide to my family. 

Lord of the Fries was really good! I had a chicken burger. It wasn't until the next day that we realised that everything there is vegetarian. Even then, Mama wouldn't believe me when I told her. Haha! This was one of the highlights of the Melbourne trip. After lunch the kids and I got Ben and Jerry's ice cream. I got the chunky monkey, banana flavoured ice cream with chopped walnuts and chocolate chunks. It was really good. Then we visited Papa's friend, Melvin's office. That was pretty cool - he designs cases and covers for phones and tablets. 

When we headed back to the apartment, I was introduced to Goldie, the fish who lives on the reception counter. He has his very own name tag. The apartment we got was really nice and cosy. I wrote about it here on WeekendNotes. 

The rest of the day wasn't very eventful. We tried to get used to the public transport, but I prefer Adelaide's much more. We went to Harbourtown but Mama got hungry, so we tried a Malaysian restaurant on Lonsdale St called Madam Kay's Platz Cafe, which was surprisingly good! I wrote about it on WeekendNotes as well. Click here to read. :3 It was the best cantonese kuey teow I've had in Australia so far.

The rest of the first day was pretty much just hanging around the apartment, watching horror movies.This post is getting kinda long, so I'll save days two and three for another post. 

Graduasi

I graduated last week. It's only been a week but it feels like a whole other century ago, as so much has happened since then. For one thing, I'm writing this back in my bedroom in Bukit Jelutong. I really had no time to blog since I flew to Melbourne last week, so I'll slowly post up updates as time goes by. 

So, gaduation day. I woke up pretty early and ate a breakfast bar, then headed straight for Lynn's house with Fyra. Lynn is something of an amazing person when it comes to making us up, haha. She did our makeup and curled my hair before working on herself. I brought my tuna pasta bake for lunch, and we shared that. Nick dropped by at around 11am, so we hung out until it was time to head back to UniLodge. We hurried out, caught a bus, dropped our stuff off in our apartments then went straight to the Adelaide Convention Centre.

Fyra, Sammie and Sha had some issues with their registration, so Nick, Eric and I went ahead to get our robes and mortarboards. We met Lynn outside, so we got some photos in our bat gowns. That was pretty fun. The whole of the day was just one big photoshoot, and we were the star attractions, haha!

I'm really happy that everyone was dressed so colourfully. We looked gorgeous, haha! I can't stop looking at photos of ourselves at graduation, is that weird? I feel like I find my group of friends very attractive. We deserve our own TV series. The nice sitcom dramas, not the backstabbing emotional ones. These photos were taken before the actual ceremony, and soon parents started to arrive and we were ferried into the hall. 

We all got front row seats; how epic is that! I sat between Eric and another girl I wasn't familiar with, while Syaza and Nick were on her other side. I was a bit surprised by how early we were in the line-up. When they declared the ceremony starting, we were among the first to get up and move backstage, where a few people helped fix our robes and tilt our hats in the right direction. My heart rate was going crazy at this point, I was so nervous. Worrying about getting something wrong, or tripping over my own feet. 

In the end, it went well! My smile is perfectly genuine by the way, I was really excited. But I forgot to turn and smile for the cameras, so oh well. I could hear Mira cheering when my name was called. Speaking of names, the announcer had a really long pause before he said Papa's name, haha. But he got it right in the end. The man awarding the parchment commented on how happy I looked; I was pleased to find out that he said something different to each graduate, and I appreciate that effort. When I got down from the stage, Fyra and Eric were ahead of me, so we all sort of ran into each other, trying to muffle our gleeful squeaking. The rest of the ceremony went by really slowly, and it was honestly kinda boring. 

Once all the formalities were over, we went out to take a million pictures! Here is an obligatory shot of us throwing our mortarboards into the air, haha. We did this a few times, didn't get any fabulous photos, but at least it was something. There were families everywhere, and I was smiling so much that my cheekbones hurt. 

I can't seem to find the photo that Sha helped take of the whole family, so here is one with just me and the kids. :D

We got a bit of a surprise a bit later - Shinta turned up with Artha! Or rather, a cardboard cutout of him. He told Fyra that he would be at our graduation, and we thought he was kidding but he wasn't! He actually made the cardboard cutout of himself just before he left for Jakarta a few weeks back so he could be in our graduation photos. Hilarious guy, I tell you. We had some fun taking pictures with him for a while before the cardboard started to disintegrate. There were ten different cameras snapping at us during this time, which is why none of us are looking at this camera.

Check us out. The entire Adelaide family, sans Nigel and including Sammie's Nick. This was taken by Matt after we returned our robes (we were only allowed to wear it for an hour after the ceremony ended). Most of the families had left by then, so it was just us taking a last bunch of photos before we would part ways. This would be the last time we were all together in one place - even during the dinner the day after, Sammie was absent. 

I'm thankful for this opportunity I had, of graduating in Australia with my nearest and dearest friends and family. It's been an amazing year, and I'm grateful to my parents for giving me the chance to go to Adelaide, and to all my friends there who are seriously the best I can ever ask for. These friends are family to me, and I can only hope that we stay in touch in the years to come. 

Cats and Reunions

Hello bloggerverse! I don't even know if anybody still reads this page. Ah well. I think I mentioned before that I had a lot to blog about, but I don't know if I'll ever get to posting about everything that happened this January. Far too many things. I've been out every single day of this month, it's been crazy. And now I only have a week left before I fly for Adelaide.

Yesterday, I went to Yen's CNY open house. It's become an annual thing since we finished NS. This is the one time we get to meet up as a group to catch up and stuff. I haven't seen any of these people for months! So it was great to see them again. I had a great time dominating the food table with Hamizah and Marc while Yen was playing hostess to an army of people, haha! 

After that, Hamizah and I got to hang out for a while before I sent her back to her place. It's nice that even after the both of us have moved house, we're pretty much still very near to each other in terms of distance. Then I got to meet her kittens, oh my gooood. So cuuuute. Look at them! I haven't had the chance to play with kittens this small since we first got Spyro. 

Speaking of Spyro, here's the little fatty now. He pretty much lives in my bedroom nowadays, and we share the bed together at night. When he needs to leave the room, he sniffs around my face and nudges my arm till I wake up. See this picture? I whipped out the camera and he started posing for me! Silly cat. I'll miss him very much when I leave next week. :( He's my baby.

After dropping off Hamizah, the family and I went to Uptown to have dinner. My last time there. Ordered my fish and chips, as usual. We've been going to the same place since I was seven years old, and I have been ordering the same thing since then. It changes occasionally, but I always go back to the fish and chips. So I dah puas makan last night, haha! I overate actually. Phew. Once I'm in Adelaide I will have to start up an exercise regime. 

For Good

This is a really late update, but better late than never! A couple of weeks ago, me, Acu and Mira went to Singapore to catch Wicked at Marina Bay Sands. I've read the Gregory Maguire novel about three years prior, so I was interested in seeing what they changed in the musical adaptation. :) We left for Singapore on a Friday morning. Took AirAsia. It was a very short plane ride, didn't even take out my book to read.

The show was that night itself. After spending the day walking around ... OK I can't remember the name of the shopping mall. But it was right opposite our hotel. We spent the day there, then went back to the hotel to get ready for the show. Marina Bay Sands is huge! And pretty spacious. It even had a river running through it, haha. Acu contemplated trying to get into the casino to see how it's like in there, but Mira and I are underage. Oh well.

I'm comparing the photo taken above with the photo of Mira and I when we went to watch Cats at Esplanade two years earlier. It's very different. Haha!

Anyway, we weren't allowed to take photos of course, so I took this at the very end of the show. I thoroughly enjoyed it! Brought a pair of binoculars so I could see the faces of the performers. Really glad I did. I kinda liked G(a)linda in the show. Reminds me of Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony. x) They changed the ending completely from the book version, so I was taken by surprise. I like this ending better though. It's happier. 

Night shot of the skyline seen from outside Marina Bay Sands. Gorgeous or what? Pardon the low quality image. Perry takes awful pictures at night. The weather was lovely, so we walked around outside for a bit before heading back to the hotel. The next day we went shopping at Orchard Road then headed home in the evening. Just a one night trip, but I think we made the absolute most of it! And I got myself some Wicked merch hehe. :) When I got home, I downloaded the Broadway soundtrack. Playing on repeat. So goooood.

Adelaide Taster Trip Part Trois

Time for my third and final update about my Adelaide Taster Trip! Above is a picture of the front of the Magill campus. The pretty scene is kinda ruined by the cones there in front of the sign though, haha. Not sure why they're there. Anyway, this was a Monday morning and my parents and I followed Fyra on the morning bus to campus. She had a class at 8, so we just tagged along.

Here's while walking into the campus. It is very very pretty. Papa seemed really pleased with it, he kept saying that he'd like to study there too. There's a creek running through the campus too! I didn't see any fishes though. Also, the crows there are black and white, how strange. No pics of that though.

Anyway, I went to talk to the people at the counter and stuff about next year. They couldn't really help that much since I'm not done with my current sem and I don't have an address in Aussie yet. So oh well. Fyra took me around one of the buildings and we got to see the library, so that's nice. In the pic above, the eating area is behind us, and there's a cafeteria inside and everything. I look really short in this pic, I dunno why. Must be the angle. 

After looking around campus we walked down the street to check out Sammie's house and make a few calls to properties so we could go take a look at them. Sammie's house is super near the campus, it only took us five minutes of walking. After that we walked back to campus, met up with Fyra and took a bus back to the city.

We took a look at a couple of places in the city. UV Apartments looks like the inside of a horror movie. >_> Fyra and I went in and I could feel the horror soundtrack playing in the background of my head. Everything's really dark and the lounge area has grilles because the building was formerly a bank so that was where they kept the cash and whatnot. We tried to go to a few other places but there were tenants in all the rooms so they couldn't show us around. So far the place I like best is Urbanest. At the rate I keep talking about it, I'm pretty much confirmed living there next year, haha! Although I'm still looking around just to see what happens. :p

Yoghurt! We were walking down Rundle Mall and there's this Greek Yoghurt shop thing. Mama had some the day before so she wanted more. Mine was Cinnamon Apple Crumble while Mama had something called Strawberries and Cream or something. Mine was alright, the raisins in the yoghurt were the best part, I think. Along with the crumbly bits.

Here's Papa at Rundle Mall with statues of piggies in the background. Mama got quite a kick out of them, that's why she asked me to take this picture. There are three piggies in total, the third one is hiding behind the trash can. I think I like the one leaning on the trash can the best. It's got character.

Random picture of fluffy platypus plushies in a souvenir store at Rundle Mall. I FELL IN LOVE WITH IT but it costs 30 AUD wtf. ;__; So we parted ways.

The day was particularly windy, as you can see here. It wasn't actually that cold but it was like the wind was determined to change that, the way it was nipping at every part of me not wrapped up in fabric. Sammie and I are standing in front of the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. The Script performed here earlier this year. ;___; What are the chances of them going back to Adelaide next year so I can see them? Ahagjhgsjdghasj.

Random photo while waiting. We went to look at a house in the area and got a little lost so the house agent offered to pick us up and drive us there. Sammie took this pic three times because she was trying to get Papa to smile. She succeeded! Haha. :)

Very last pic the night before I flew back to the homeland. It's blurry though, such a shame. I had a really good time, and I fell in love with the city, it's such a lovely, quaint place. :) Kinda can't wait to get started on next year!

Adelaide Taster Trip Part Deux

Day 2 of the Adelaide trip! Here we are waiting for the bus. It was what, ten in the morning? We all slept at about 3 in the morning so waking up was kind of zombie-like. It was a Sunday morning and as you can see, the street ... is ... empty. Papa described it as being something like a ghost town. Haha. 

Sammie was particularly sleepy. Considering that she got maybe a bit more sleep than Fyra and Aishah, she was pretty much sleepwalking the entire morning. x)

This was my all-day pass bus ticket. I kinda like how the public transport works over there, feels more efficient than over here anyway. And more reliable too. Buses come by every 15 to 30 minutes. And since Adelaide is an old people city the bus does this thing where it leans down so people with wheelchairs can come on board. I dunno if they have it here at home, I've never experienced it, haha.

So we took the bus to Harbourtown, which is the factory outlet mall thing. Was about 15 minutes bus ride, I think.

Me and the parents. :) I really like how windswept my hair looks here, hee. Anyway, they pretty much left me and the girls to do our own thing. I think they were enjoying the holiday together without having to jaga the kids since they were back home. 

Okok guess what this is. :B It's dolphins right? Holes of dolphins right? THEY ARE HOLES OF DOLPHINS ON TRASHCANS. Hahahahaha I thought they were so cute, I shamelessly took a picture of it. I let myself only because for this trip I am a tourist so I am allowed to be overexcited about things like trash cans and take pictures of them. Next year when I go I have to play it cool. :p

The beach at Glenelg. :) It's nice, and Sha says you can see the sunset on clear days. It was cloudy on this day, so we went back on the tram before it got late. But we spent a nice amount of time sitting around and people-watching. I thought it was kinda cold though. And people were happily swimming and stuff. I am a weakling used to hot weather, haha.

My load of shopping for the day! Of course I didn't just buy for myself, bought for everyone back home too. Among all this is a pair of boots I got for Mira. I wanted them for myself at first but they didn't have my size. :( So Mama said to get them for her instead. They were only 10 AUD! Holy smokes. I got myself a couple of tops and some leggings and a bunch of other stuff. It was fun. Shopping at Brisbane had a lot more variety though, back when we went a couple of years ago.

So that's it for Day 2! Next time I'll update about the campus. :)