Munmun's Trail : : 敏子の迹

Time flies… and it’s time to review my Y2009 resolutions below:-

1. To change car. Again… “Sea Lion” / “Transformer”?
   > Achieved with $$$$$ gone…
   
2. To loose body fat / diet with at least 3-5kg lost. Again… so I can put on nice swimsuit.
   > Failed with at least 3-5kg weight gained instead of weight lost. : (
   
3. To earn / tunnel more $, a must to survive.
   > Failed with tremendous spending increased.
   
4. To go bed earlier at nite. Again, I’m getting old… :’(
   > Failed, even more worst than last year. =.=
   
5. To travel at least 2 trips. Taiwan, Gold Coast & 1 inbound trip are my Y2009 travel options
   > I traveled 3 inbound trips, Melaka, re-visited Redang Island & Cameron Highland and 1 outbound trip to Cambodia. Again… succeed with $$$$ gone.

1. To buy / invest a property. Anyone interested?
   > Formed a consortium and purchased a semi-D unit at Shah Alam. Hopefully the market is good when it is ready to handover.

Christmas passed… Except the different Christmas Eve countdown and my buddy colleague Eamy’s wedding on X’mas day itself, I have earlier bough myself some X’mas gifts in advance. Besides, I also got a belated X’mas gift from a relative of mine which I supposed to join them for X’mas gift exchange session. Here are my X’mas gifts:

Hm… Attended to my buddy colleague, Eamy’s wedding dinner reception at Ah Yat Abalone Restaurant Avenue K KL few days ago. Another merry wedding dinner for us to gathered together and catches up throughout the night. Word just couldn’t express how much we enjoyed the dinner and how happy we were seeing our dear buddy Eamy has finally tie the knot with her Mr. Right, Ryu. I’m glad that she has finally found the one who can spend her life with after her part sorrows. Wishing both of you a wonderful marriage life… May happiness fill till the end of both your life journey. Congratulations to buddy Eamy & Ryu… : )

Thereafter, Algy + Mike + Choo + myself continued our night at Quattro Avenue K where we have had an enjoyable clubbing night after we have jailed ourselves for such a long time. : )

This is my 1st experience of Christianity Christmas eve countdown… Thanks to buddy Algy for her extended invitation, accompany her to attend her boss’s church countdown at PJ SS2. We reached the venue slightly late after the ceremony begun where we quickly grabbed a white candle and joined the rest without further delay. We listened to some of Jesus, the Great stories and sang quite a numbers of Christian worship songs that night with the white candle lighted. Silent night, holy night… and the countdown… Merry Christmas! Everyone is so joyous and wishes everyone truly around with their great love. Even I’m not a Christian, but I do felt the happiness and the joyfulness.

It was really an exceptional Christmas Eve countdown that I ever had.

I recently watched Avatar, The Movie with one of my guy friend which is indeed, another promising movie by James Cameron with new generation special effects that delivers a full new kind of immersive cinematic experience.

The story tells Jake Sully, a former Marine confined to a wheelchair who have been recruited to travel light years to the human outpost on Pandora with his reborn avatar, a genetically engineered hybrids of human DNA mixed with DNA from the native of Pandora… the Navi. His initially role is to infiltrate the Navi, who have become a major obstacle to the mining of a rare mineral which is the Key to solve Earth’s energy crisis. Throughout progress, Jake who is taken in by the Navi clan, went through many test and adventure to learns to become one of them. When Jake finally takes his place among them, he had also learnt to respect the Navi way to believe, to preserve and to live with the Mother Nature of which, he then faced the ultimate test as he leads the Navi clan in an epic battle that decides nothing less than the fate of an entire world.

Morel behind the story is, never do something that may harm the others as we develop because it may defeat the original purpose at the end of the day. Save our Mother Nature!

Jo initiated a special big 3-0 birthday celebration for herself + Vay + Yen, the three December babies last weekend where the others, Siewlee + Mich + myself were also attended to this gals only gathering cum birthday celebration and spent a night at a 2-bedroom apartment at The Nomad Sucasa, KL. The program supposed to start from lunch but I only able to meet up with the gals, Jo + Yen + Siewlee later in the evening due to heavy house chores and the unfortunate car alarm fault.

The gals were getting ready when I reached the hotel and we leave the hotel for a good dinner once we were all set. When we reached our desired dinner venue - Fullhouse at Jalan Yap Kwan Seng, it was eventually fullhouse-ed. We then only managed to have our dinner at Rakuzen Japanese Restaurant, Chulan Square after an hour of KL tour and Mich managed to join us just in time for dinner. Vay arrived later after we were back to the hotel and we had a night long gathering catching up with each others + very own free of charge Tarot cards reading session by Vay & Yen till 4am the next day. After some rest, we woke up early morning and catch the hotel buffet breakfast together gather of which, our last breakfast together was far way long ago in college time. We also had a relaxing and soothing Thai full body massage recommended by Yen at Ampang Point, our college days hangout place to mark the end of our 1st ever gals gathering.

Another year has gone… It’s SP annual dinner again themed Magical Green in conjunction to the lately planet saving responsibility hit. This year, Setia Eco Park opted Elf as our sub theme with greeny tailor made outfit throughout the division of which, myself + another 3 female colleagues has volunteered and opted to wore the male outfit instead of the beautiful classy female dress due to insufficient female costume cloth. I’m glad that I’ve made the choice to be in male outfit this year rather than female because it is hardly unlikely that I have such a chance. Hehe… : D But… what made this year annual dinner more memorable was, it is also my last year with Setia Eco Park the fun going division. : (

Unlike last year, I’ve invited my buddy ex-colleague Algy along having seen Eamy invited another 2 buddy ex-colleague, Liching + Chengni. Though Chengni unable to make it at last minute, we were still enjoyed ourselves catching up around with staff from other division / departments. Besides, it was also an awaited + excited moment to see Mike put on his show as emcees of the night after his hard work. Mike, you’ve done a good job! And… here are some of the photos taken that night… : )


Left > Posing with Mike, Emcee of Magical Green '10
Right > Posing with Cheng & Ms. Teh of Setia Putrajaya


Left > Posing with Algy, Eamy & Sharmaine
Right > Posing with Mike, Cheng & Algy


Left > Setia Eco Park group posing
Right > Setia Eco Park gals posing


Left > Group posing with Raymond, Emily, Algy & Sherman
Right > Posing with Algy, Kok Boon & Kai Lee


Left > Posing with Suet Nei & gal of GCF
Right > Posing with Eamy

After 7 months of busy work + hectic work life, I’m glad that we are able to find time for another jalan-jalan trip high up the hill where the usual four of us ( Algy + Mike + Cheng + myself ) & Angeline packed some of our belongings and escaped ourselves to breezy Cameron Highland last weekend. Unlike others, we didn’t do any strawberries plucking up there… Instead, we spent most of our time on food… from foot hill all the way up. Strawberry Moment is one of the must visit which is also the one we have visited the most for dessert. Besides than dessert, steamboat and bubble milk tea were also one of our must have each night especially those pasar malam’s bubble milk tea + snacks that fed our stomach during mahjong learning session ftom Master Mike. : P Graduate? Well… Master Mike students are just too dummy in receipting his knowledge transfer even after numerous learning fees paid ler~ Other than that, we also had the privilege in commenting Mike’s emcees speech + annotation prior his show time in coming SP annual dinner. Ngiak ngiak ngiak…

Though this is not our individual 1st visit to Cameron Highland, but it is still relaxing where we enjoyed ourselves very much and return with refreshed mind… When is next? Argh~ =.=”

Finally… Attended to my buddy ex-colleague, Stephen & colleague, Wallis’s wedding dinner reception last week at Spring Valley Mid Valley after waited for many years. As expected, the wedding reception looks more like a Setiarian & ex-Setiarian gathering since Stephen invited most of his formal buddies regardless whether one had left SP or not.

The night, we enjoyed ourselves very much mixed around, getting in touch and having fun with fellow long time no see friends from especially those who had resigned from SP and those from distanced branch offices. It was amazed that everybody able to get together during the night which I guess only bro Stephen can make this happened. Words just can’t explain how excited we were that night where one of table finished almost 11 bottles of red wine and some of us don’t even want to end the night. Ahem~ for those who were in the gang, you know who I’m referring to… the bold headed uncle J with spectacle and slimmed-down tummy whom need to be on controlled diet except that night. : P

I have to admit that I may have neglected the couple during the night as we were too busy catching up here and there. And… I also felt sorry that myself & Algy has flown Stephen airplane being his SP guests reception. =.= Though as if I didn’t bother much about the couple the night but I’m truly happy for both of them at the bottom of my heart. I believe bro Stephen feels the same too as what he used to say… heart to heart ( “sum jiu” 心照 )… : )

Ya~ I like-like did another ear piercing on both my ears recently...

SP sponsored the local made musical [ I Have A Date With Spring 我和春天有个约会 ] leaded by soprano, Ms. Tan Soo Suan and Dama Orchestra lately. As usual, volunteer working staff is entitled to watch the stage play together with SP invited guest during the corporate night show.

I’m one of the representatives from Setia Eco Park for the night that I got the chance to enjoy the musical show. As expected, Ms. Tan Soo Suan ( 姚小蝶, Butterfly ) and her fellow counterparts did put up a good performance in overall even though with simple stage props, except… a little disappointment when it comes to the overlong not-so-good singing part of her stage play’s lover ( 沈家豪, Kah Hou ) played by Steve Yap, a local artist / model.

Besides, the performance also reminded me my 1st contact to musical show during my secondary school days of which we also put up the same stage play for Inter-School Chinese Society Annual Gathering in one of the year. In short, performance on the night reminded me those were the day memories and, not forgetting a group photo with main actress before we called off the duty of course.

I had a girls makan gathering with Algy + Liching + Chengni + Algy + Eamy recently at Wong Kok Char Chan Teng 旺角茶餐厅, Sunway Pyramid. The meet up was set to share our latest update such as me & Liching’s Cambodia photos exchange and Eamy’s wedding portraits sharing especially. We had our dinner and enjoyed ourselves chit chatting around the table where Eamy had also shared her wedding preparation works progress and her thought being the bride-to-be. It was good that we were all able to make it to the gathering and we definitely have had a good sharing time. : )

Hey… I finally managed to get my hubby, DT latest album [ 69乐章 Opus 69 ] after nearly two months of searching in town. (^_^)

Three years of waiting, DT released his 6th album in August 21, Y2009 after his previous album [ 太美丽 Beautiful ] released in August 4, Y2006. Erm~ I still haven’t explore the whole album yet… but I trusted DT talent + quality output which I believe it gonna be another hit again for sure. Hehe… : D

Finally… I found myself a sweet and cute tarot set that I’ve been searching for quite some time having seen most tarot sets are a little horror in design. Mm… I’ve studied the book + cards but yet to start any reading. Why? That is simply because I’m a little worry that I will read something not good for myself lor… I know I know~ Than it is no point to buy myself a tarot set ma, right? : S No worries… There is still time for me to pick up my tarot skill to do reading one. Meanwhile, please have a look on my tarot set first ya… : P

My day was saddened when I received the shocked news that one of my colleague had passed away suddenly early this morning after an injection to rescue her as last option. I wouldn’t say that I’m close with this colleague of mine since I just started to know her from one of the company event early this year. But… My heart was truly saddened and I cried when I got to knew about the dismissed simply because of her easy going + happy go lucky + kind personality that I could no longer find time to get to know more.

I off from my club night duty earlier and rushed just in time to pay her my last respect together with my buddy Algy + Jeff at Putra Heights, Subang. She is still as sweet as she was in her lovely green party dress, left behind her beloved husband and her 2 young aged kids which is a real sorry to the children. Word just can’t describe our feeling the night. May God blessed your soul… Rest in peace, Julie… =.= ~ Julie in memory ~

Algy + Cheng and me, celebrated Mike’s birthday on this date at 1U. It was initially a lunch celebration at the Chilis Restaurant & Bar but ended up as a day long celebration with added-on karaoke session at Neway and followed-up dinner at Wong Kok Char Chan Teng. Though tired but we enjoyed the day long outing since it was quite a long time we didn’t hang out for such long hours after individual heavy work loaded. And you know what…? With Mike’s birthday we got to enjoy free big-big cup bubble tea during our dinner and Mike even had twice birthday song dedication, wish making and candle blowing at Chilis + Neway separately duh~ Happy birthday, Mike… : D

Attended to my colleagues, Bernard & Vivian’s wedding dinner reception at Prince Hotel, KL lately which seems to be one of the Setia Eco Park events as most of the staff were invited and present. The night, we enjoyed ourselves as if we were the host of the reception and everyone were high

I’m happy to see that both my colleagues have finally tied the knot after dating for several years. Best still, they are expecting twin baby boy in time to come. Congratulations to Bernard & Vivian, you both has finally made it. May God bless both of you with a wonderful marriage life until the end of the road.

We had a sing a long long birthday celebration for Cheng at Neway 1U last week. As usual, buddies attended to the sing a long long birthday celebration were Algy + Angel + Mike + myself since SS unable to make it due to late landed flight back from business trip. We had a night long karaoke session from 7pm with an extension till nearly 2am the next morning. It was a fun night where all of us were in total crazy mood especially later hours. And of course, we didn’t forgot to got Cheng to had his wish making + cake cutting while we were havocking in the room… Happy birthday, Cheng... : )

I visited to one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Angkor Wat’s country - Siem Reap & Phnom Penh Cambodia with Liching + Wayne + William + Edwin + Jo & Nix early this month. It was a quite affordable trip since we managed to secure a cheap air fare with our own accommodation and ground arrangement taken care by JoNix the couple. We have enjoyed most of the must sees and must do attractions throughout this 5D4N experience trip.

Day 1
Landed at Siem Reap-Angkor International Airport and started our journey after meet up with the ground tour guide. We were 1st taken to a scenic boat ride along Tonle Sap Lake, the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia which looks more like a sea to see the floating villages and the villages’ lifestyle. Then, we enjoyed a local Khmer lunch and tried out their local famous Amok, a type of traditional Khmer dish. Across the road, we able to admired the Srah Srang ( Royal Bath ) which is actually a baray ( reservoir ) where the kings take their baths in ancient times, just like how it was named. After lunch, we visited Bantaey Srei Temple to admire the unique and beautiful carvings on mostly sandstone walls of the temple which considered as a jewel of Khmer art. We then continued our visit to Aki Ra's Landmine Museum that promotes mine awareness and education for both tourists and Cambodian people. We’ve learnt that landmines truly suffered the Cambodian in old days. At night, we had our buffet dinner at one of the restaurant opposite our hotel which comes with Apsara Dance performance, the Khmer classical dance that somewhat similar to Thailand. Besides, we also shopped at the Angkor Night Market and bought some souvenirs before we head back to hotel for a good rest.

Day 2
Had our breakfast at hotel and depart for Angkor ( Khmer: city ) visit. We 1st visited to Angkor Wat, the largest + most famous of all the temples that stand in the center of Angkor. It took us half a day to walk around the whole temple while listen to the historical explanation given by our local English speaking tour guide, Mr. Borin. In the afternoon, we visited to Angkor Thom - the home of Bayon, a spectacular Buddhist temple city that has five monumental walls with each having four serene faces of Avalokitesvara ( Buddha ) while the Bayon Temple - located at the center of Angkor Thom city, is where we witnessed the countless gigantic smiling faces of Buddha. We also covered the major attractions within the Angkor Thom city such as Terrace of the Elephants, Terrace of the Leper King etc and some places of interest around the Victory Square. We later continued our visit to Ta Prohm Temple, the most attractive temples in Angkor surrounded by thick layers of jungle and covered mostly by gigantic tree roots due to trees growing out of the ruins and the roots of the silk cotton tree covering its wall. Inside the tree roots covered monument are a maze of narrow corridors and crumbling stonework that have been filmed in the movies Tomb Raider, starring Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft that later made the temple also known as Tomb Temple. At night, we had Cambodian BBQ dinner along Siem Reap Pub Street, did some street walking and had a Cambodia foot reflexology to sooth our tiring feet after much day walk.

Day 3
Woke up early 4 in the morning and watched the picturesque sunrise at Angkor Wat which was truly a great experience to witness the scenic change though we were a little sleepy. Apart from this, we also rode the Cambodia hot air balloon that tethered 180 meters above ground and amazed the spectacular aerial view of Angkor in the morning before we went back to hotel for breakfast. We continued our visit to Roluos Group temples such as Prasat Preah Ko Temple which believed to be the 1st temple built in the Rolous Group, Bakong Temple which believed to be the representation of Mount Meru, and Lo Lei Temple that could be one of the most beautiful island temple ever built in this region which is now dry. Last, we were transported to visit Les Chantiers Écoles, the school specialize in teaching wood + stone carving technique to learn more about Cambodia carving art where the premise also has a beautiful shop called Artisant d’Angkor that sells art pieces funding the school as an end of our ground tour. On our own leisure, we experienced the Cambodia body massage, did some local food hunt and tried the local famous Happy Herbs Pizza - pizzas with added “herbs” that could make someone feel happy. We also walked the Angkor Night Market again to source souvenirs before leaving Siem Reap.

Day 4
Took few hours Mekong Express Limousine Bus travel direct from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh and start our free & easy visit in Phnom Penh once we arrived + checked in the hotel. We first visited the Cambodia National Museum reinforced by Australian government. It houses a lot of originals Buddhas, Sivas + Apsaras from Angkor while those seen at Angkor are mainly replicas to prevent looting. We also visited to creepy Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, the former Tuol Svay Prey High School that has been converted into a detention and torture center known as Tuol Sleng, or S-21 ( Security Prison 21 ) to detain individuals accused of opposing the Pol Pot regime where, most of the prisoners detained here were later taken to Choeung Ek ( Killing Fields ) to slaughtered without mercy and buried in mass graves. Too bad that we didn’t make it to visit the Killing Fields because it was located 7km away from the city that requires 1 hour travel time which we were of time constraint. At the evening, we passed by the Independence Monument that commemorates the end of the France-ruled Cambodia's regime while we were on our way to visit Phnom Penh Night Market ( Phsar Reatrey ) located in a park of Riverfront and tried some of their local snacks. We later then had our dinner at one of the pub restaurant around Riverfront and also visited the FCC Cambodia ( Foreign Correspondents' Club Cambodia ) Phnom Penh outlet for a cup of drink along the Sisowath Quay Riverfront and enjoyed the view that overlooks the convergence of the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers.

Day 5

Toured to explore The Royal Palace and amazed The Silver Pagoda located in the compound of the Royal Palace which was named because of its floor that covered with silver tiles. The Silver Pagoda houses treasures such as gold Budda adorned with thousands of diamonds and emerald Buddha made of baccarat crystal. We also visited Wat Phnom, the highest artificial hill in Phnom Penh with Buddhist pagoda + biggest clock in Cambodia that become a city landmark and worship place. Last, we still managed to find some extra time to visit the Old Market ( Psah Chas ) which nearly confused us the way out from the market as our last stop for souvenir before we head back to the hotel, took some pictures, had a fast meal + simple shower, packed and returned.

Well~ Here is how we ended our trip... Thanks to all my travel mates who has made this an unforgettable and memorable experience trip. : )