HAHA. I know I suck at keeping my blog updated!  Eversince the existance of Facebook, I'd thought of toning my blog down a little since this value tool has became an online addiction to me. Needless to say, I can see how my friends are doing by their status update  Those acquantances whom if I saw them on the street I would say hi but then have nothing to talk about. With FB, I will have at least a slight idea of what's going on in their lives in the news feed. tee hee~

Anyways, here's what I've been up to for the past few months

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1) Attended John & Melissa's Wedding Reception at the Holy Spirit Church

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Followed by the wedding dinner at Pelangi Ballroom, Rasa Sayang Hotel

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2) Attended Chee Seng & Ariel's Wedding Reception at G Hotel

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3) Experienced the wonderful CATS musical in Singapore, alongside with non stop shopping, pampering, clubbing and catching up with friends

Clubbing @ Butter Factory, Singapore

Chillin @ Le Noir, Clarke Quay

Shopping @ Hermes, Orchard Road

DKNY Fashion Show @ Wisma Atria, Isetan

ANDDD.......Preparing myself for the long awaited Sydney & Melbourne trip 2009........THIS FRIDAY!!!

HOLY CRAP can you believe how fast time flies? It freaking seems like I made plans just last week!

Its beyond exciting to be going back to comfort zone. Apart from my family here, I HATE living in Malaysia!!! UGh~~~

A sneak preview on my preplanned itinerary. First stop, JW and I will be attending the.........

1) Sydney fashion weekend

Come along to Sydney's largest walk-in wardrobe and take advantage of up to 70 per cent off fashion from 100 of Australia's leading designers including sass and bide, Manning Cartell, Marnie Skillings and Nicola Finetti.

When: May 14 - 17
Where: Royal Hall of Industries, Sydney Showgrounds.

2) Chicago Musicals

One of the world's most popular multi-award winning and thrilling smash-hit musicals!

When: 21 May
Where: Lyric Theater, Sydney

3) The Pussycat Dolls & Lady Gaga Aussie Tour Concert 2009

PCD brings DOLL DOMINATION to Australia!

When: 22 May
Where: Acer Arena, Sydney

Will resume on packing tonight after facial! XD

xoxo

~ Vic ~

Q: What could possibly make Monday Blues more lively?

A: A text message at 5.30pm that says "Drive safely, love. Its gonna rain pretty heavy soon. Missing you".

P.S - He knows the weather dispite not being around in the country. Now thats what I call L.O.V.E

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You made my day, sweetcheeks! It is amazing how doing something little has made me feel so good inside.....

Thank You.......

xoxo

~ Vic ~

Here are more pictures of our Chinese New Year outings during the then festive season back in January.  Enjoy!

@ Segas, Gurney Plaza

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JW & I on our random days out together

DOME, Gurney Plaza

Dinner at Penang Swimming Club

Sunset Bistro, Batu Feringgi

Dinner @ Eclectic, Batu Feringgi

3rd day of Chinese New Year @ Soy 11

xoxo

~ Vic ~

It has taken me months to blog about this trip; if not for the year end holidays, friends being back in town, family gatherings and work schedule, I would have sorted it out by December 2008 itself! Anyway, Bali was one of the many destinations that JW and I have been looking forward to visit together so FINALLY, here are some of our wonderful experience to share from.

As I have name this trip's photo album on Facebook "Our Bedazzling Christmas Escape", you may have already guessed what our comments / feedbacks are.

Our trip took us 5 nights, 6 days from the 23 - 28 December 2008.

Day 1

Upon arrival, I found myself standing in the arrival hall in the afternoon with a very familiar place where we picked our luggages and faced more than 50 touts / drivers with name boards behind the barriers. As I have already been to Bali for work just in August, that place was nothing new to me (except the person whom I was traveling with!). 'Relief' was sufficient enough to describe the feeling we had when JW spotted our driver, waiting for us. I couldn't remember what his name was, (as many Indonesian names have funny endings you know? No offence) Mr. Driver was polite and has a charming smile. Though we were tired from the 3 and a half hour journey from Singapore, we still chatted and exchanged information along the way.

By the time we reached our villa, it was almost dinner time. We checked in our luxury stay at a private villa - The Bidadari Luxury Villas and Spa at Kerobokan, Kuta. Designed with modern and contemporary design combines an open air living room with a kitchen set that enables guests to request our breakfast to be cook at our own private villa. The open air gazebo by the pool together with the spacious living and dining area blends naturally into a tropical landscaped to boost the privacy in unique Balinese experience.

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Our Arrival

Cleo Spa

The breathtaking walkway

Walking to our Villa

Our honeymooner's villa with superb view!

6, Frangipani

Taking a swim before dinner

View by night

We hung around for about two hours before heading down to Kuta for dinner. Feeling hungry, we settled ourselves at one of the nearest restaurants along Kuta, with its daily spectacular sunsets, is also the centre of night light activities in Sourthern Bali and a shopping mecca. Shops, restaurants, boutiques and galleries line up the streets as well as beachfront hotels, making the beach of Kuta is one of the first favorite tourist beaches! In short, Kuta Beach nightlife is just exactly like Patong Beach in Phuket (minus the go go dancers and Tiger Shows, of course!) 

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Jalan Kuta

My all time favorite : Soto Ayam

JW had the Nasi Goreng Special......

.......and never fails to have his coconut juice too!.

Chillin` at Bean after dinner

Along Kuta Beach at night, doing the 'tourist thang'...

Tired after dinner and the late night shopping, we took a cab back to our villa and hit the bed around midnight

On Day 2...........

Where breakfast is served....

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.......and sunshine view with the amazing paddy field

We headed to Hard Rock Cafe, Kuta for lunch

For starters - half dozen of potato skin to share 

His main

My main

Kuta Beach by day

Back to the Villa for that evening....

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AT LAST! The highlight of our trip: Christmas Eve dinner at Sarong - Bali's newest ubergroovy restaurant where post minimalism roars into eclecticism and revels in romance. Sarong is quite different from any other restaurant on the island. As a newcomer myself, I was definitely suprised with the antique Javanese doorway and on the sexiness of the rich, sumptuous interior. The menu features a great cuisines of Southeast Asia with dishes from China, Thailand, Malaysia and India. Fusion cuisine with a twist is as bumpin good as it ever was!

It is said that Bali is overdrive about new restaurants and bars at Seminyak which promises a mix of Asian and Fusion cuisines with a twist of divine interior, but is it actually worth a visit?

You will be seeing more photos and reviews about the bars and lounges that we have visited there later in this post, so be prepared to gag over them. The experience was undescribable.......

Seminyak is like a world of its own. It is a village situated in the south coast of Bali and retains a small town atmosphere. It is still deeply rooted in its old traditions and the beach is scruffy in parts and it is isolated from the 'actions' in Kuta. The roads in Seminyak are rather narrow and quiet at night, therefore not many people actually know that the best bars, lounges and restaurants are located there. You'll never know how beautiful the backyard garden settings and interior of the restaurants are by just a glance at the humble entrance. You gotta walk in to see it for yourself!

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For starters, I selected the Peking Duck Hand Roll. Its texture and oozing sauce from its meat heralded perfection, it was divine.

Up next, JW ordered the butter chicken to share. The zesty tastes melted in our mouths and flew off our tongues!

Vegetables to balance up the meat. Hm....nothing 'unique' in particular for this dish.

Ah, here comes my favorite: Thai Crispy Fish fried in Chilli Sauce! As I am such a Thai food enthusiast, this was one of the best fish dish I've ever tasted! A total classic!

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Day 3

The next day, our villa driver took us on a private day tour focusing on just a few main attractions. JW and I had discuss the night before about our plans for this trip to our chosen destinations for the next 3 days just to make sure it wasn't too hectic for us.  We really wanna sit back and able to relax without any time concern.

Our first stop took us outside of Nusa Dua, where the biggest construction project of the GWK (Mandala Garuda Wisnu Kencana) is carved out of the limestone rock. GWK was conceived to be a cultural centre and events park and is privately funded, so I heard. The Bali bombings has apparently affected the pace of construction which was supposedly due to be finished in 2003. Arriving at the small ticket booth in the parking lot, we paid about 15,000rp and received our tickets. This entitled us to stroll around and view the statue of Vishnu, the Hindu God, and the statue of the Half - Man – Bird.

Walking around took us altogether about 45 minutes including stopping for a drink. I was impressed at the size of the place and the effort that had been put in to tend the lovely gardens. This place is totally awesome to have a concert or a Bollywood dance performance!

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After visiting the GWK, our driver then took us to our next destination. Before we actually visited Bali, I have heard of a supposingly beautiful place called Dreamland Beach – twice. S once told me that I MUST go there if I ever visit Bali. Well, I thought that this judgment definitely depends on personal preferences; but if someone who is living in Perth, a place which has thousands of kilometers of coastline, talks about a beach in Bali, it must be somehow special. And before that, the travel agent who was co organizing our business trip to Bali in August last year mentioned that place before. We did not have ample time to visit many places back then and we only manage to visit two highlights in Bali – Tanah Lot and Ubud. Anyway, those were the two recommendations were reason enough for us to visit Dreamland Beach for the first time ever.

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The damn wave splashed my glittery sandals!!!

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We left Dreamland at about 4 in the evening in order to catch a glimpse of the Sunset over at Uluwatu. It is located in a small town at a very southwest corner of Bali, atop the high cliffs overlooking the western coast of the Bukit Badung. The town’s primary attraction is the Pura Luhur Uluwatu Temple, perched at the very edge of the high cliffs.

It is required that visitors wear appropriate clothing when entering a temple ground. 'Appropriate' clothing includes sleeved blouses and long skirts for women, and long pants /collared shirts for men. An option, if you are wearing shorts, is to rent a 'sarong', a cloth that wraps around the abdomen and covers the legs.

The temple and cliffs are accompanied by a ‘monkey forest’ a natural reserve of Indonesian monkeys living in the wild among the Hindu monks living on the ground.

The monkeys are an attraction in of themselves. Although comfortable around humans, they are not 'domestic'; in fact they can be quite dangerous is mistreated. Further, they move very fast and are prone to stealing loose objects from unwary visitors. The temple has warning signs posted outside the entrance that warn visitors to secure all loose items - eye wear, jewelry, etc. They are quick and sneaky, and you'll never see them coming!

The view from here is incredible, as you can see. The cliffs are about 50 meters high, I figured, and the water below is a brilliant blue. Uluwatu is a short drive from Kuta Bay, Jimbaran and Nusa Dua, and traffic is comparatively light. It took us about half an hour to get there from Dreamland.

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I kinda liked our 'Sarong's

Cheeky Monkeys

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Afterwards, we completed our day tour by having a romantic fresh seafood dinner at Jimbaran Beach; another small secluded beach area, where tranquility and peace are the perfect antidote to a stressful world. The taste of their bbq / grilled food with coconut shell on open air and natural aroma was amazing. Almost the entire beach is filled with restaurants and they all sell fresh seafood. It took us about 15 minutes to decide which one to settle in because there were TOO MANY to choose from!

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Chilli Crab...Yums!

Grilled Fish

Chilli Prawns

Fried 'Kangkung'

Day 4

On the night of Day 3, one of our villa's receptionist told us that Ubud has the most famous ribs that you can ever find. You see, everywhere you go in Bali, you hear people saying EVERYTHING is a must try. I'm never a big fan of ribs, so I wasn't really keen. JW's eyes popped out while hearing that review and she mentioned that its the BEST RIBS in Bali. Little did we know, Hello Bali magazine also mentioned that celebrity chef Anthony Bordian quoted "Naughty Nuris has the best Ribs after New York". Hmm...is it REALLY all that great? It is said that their ribs is their specialty, as well as fish and some other local food.

Our driver, who would be driving us all the way to Ubud that day waited for us at the lobby just an hour before lunch time. Our entire journey from Kerobokan Kuta to Ubud took us about an hours drive. This open air restaurant is right across the street from Neka Museum. Along the way, we manage to catch a glimpse of the entire Ubud Village, where the town is remarkably famous for its fine arts, dance and music. What signifies Ubud its the location amongst rice paddies and steep ravines in the central foothills.

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Clear Chicken Soup

Chicken & Chips

Teh Botol Sosro a.k.a Indonesian Jasmine Tea

A Small little cottage filled with delicious food!

See how disgusting the ribs look?

JW finished it - X 2 plates!!!

Off to our next destination~~

Conclusion: Naughty Nuris is anything but tasteless! The crowd there are mostly tourist from Europe, Australia and the US. Definitely a great wonderful little hideaway spot. We fell in love with everything and the prices were relatively cheap!

Two negative sides to this though - 1, the place is quite stuffy and hot as they only provide ceiling fan and no air conditioner. 2, the journey itself is so damn far, unless you live permanently in Ubud during the entire trip! All in all,  the bumbling atmosphere and the comfortable crowd there is simply worth it. Highly recommended!

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Our next stop was the Monkey Forest in Ubud - located about 10 minutes drive away from Naughty Nuris. The entrance fee was Rp15,000 and we were advice to put away our sun glasses and kept an eye on our bags. It was quite fun to watch the young monkeys playing around with one another and how smart they actually are. The forest is filled with tall trees and had many shaded areas (which is very good for people like me, because I'll melt under the sun if it was for too long )

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JW says he looks like an Angel here.....yeah baby...'Angel'

Happy Family?

Smart Monkeys digging for ticks!

Hello Bali Magazine really helped us ALOT!

Back to the hotel to get some rest before heading out for dinner

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At about 6ish that evening, we headed ourselves to The Living Room for dinner. Located just north of Seminyak, the ambience remains the upper scenery of the island's culinary firmament filled with floral display, candles twinkling in glass bells, festive lounge music and stunning garden scenes that create an air of sumptuous elegance. The menu consists of a combination of Asian Mix inspiring food, personable yet professional.

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Getting ready to dine

The exterior: Bar just infront of the main entrance

Interior

Garden Exterior

The Living Room Boutique

Wild Mushroom Soup for starters

Living Room's Nasi Goreng Special

Beef Chunks

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Falling in love so quickly with the amount of beautiful places to hang out in Seminyak area, we decided to explore further. After dinner, we did two bar hopping. No Bali experience is complete without visiting Hu`U Bar, a name symbolic with beauty, elegance and mystery. This chic getaway opens its doors just opposite The Living Room, where walking distance was just so convenient for us. We see people all over the world converge at Hu`U Bar for one reason - to indulge in the pleasures of life.

Upon entering, we were immediately greeted by the very inviting waitress which then lead us to our table next to its main feature - the gleaming swimming pool located in the middle of the restaurant. The reflection of the candles upon the clear water is just so exquisite. The whole area is lit up by hundreds of candles perched atop beautiful crafted candlesticks.

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We ended our evening at Bali's uber famous Ku De Ta, about 5 minutes away from Hu`U Bar. On our journey to Bali, we have read numerous reviews about this place and HF specifically mentioned to me I should never miss it. So it was. JW and I decided that it is time to treat ourselves to something truly special (okay, every night felt special) after purchasing Hello Bali Magazine which tells us all the superb and nice dining restaurants on this island. It was love at first sight when I read about the reviews and saw the pictures. Initially, we wanted to have dinner there that night but due to the overwhelming crowd and response towards this crown jewel (and also because of the festive season), all reservations for dinner were fully booked. Hence, we decided to go to The Living Room instead. No regrets at all though. In the end, we still manage to go Ku De Ta for drinks.

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That night was actually our last to stay at The Bidadari Luxury Villas and Spa. We checked out by noon the next day to another location: Nusa Dua

Day 5

We spent our lazy morning at the villa and took the advantage to hang out longer before checking into The Westin Resort and Spa down Nusa Dua. My heart didn't wanna leave as the villa was just so peaceful and relaxing. - so quiet and isolated from the heavy traffics and noisy town in Bali. That was in fact our last night in Bali

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Our last breakfast

Indonesian Chicken Porridge and American Breakfast

Saying goodbye to the villa

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The journey from Kerobokan Kuta to Nusa Dua took us about 30 minutes altogether. Check in was smooth and we got offered an upgrade and amenities too. We received a spacious Executive Room with a balcony overlooking the beautiful garden of Westin.

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After spending some time at our comfort zone for the day, we took a stroll at the entire hotel to venture more on their facilities. The resort offers beautiful exterior with nice freshwater pool area with a slide, toddler pool, shallow end for the younger kids and a deeper end for the adults. Good mix of sun and shade seating options around the pool with mini 'huts' filled with pure white linen curtains around the beach chairs. Service was at excellent at the IKAN Cafe (a beach side restaurant); having lunch there was much better than taking chances with the outside restaurants!

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The exterior along the corridoors of each room

IKAN Cafe

Indonesian Soto Ayam

Beef Stir Fry

Chillin` by the beach

Us : Just before the parasailing activity

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During the evening, we tried out the parasailing activity along the beach. I'd been telling myself for years that I would go up, but never did. First, we were taken by Jet Ski to a different beach hotel which was along the same coastline (about 4-5 hotels away) where they then took us on speedboat to tight smack of the ocean for the Parasailing 'takeoff' point (or rather looks like a platform). I was quite suprise because the other parasailing which I've seen back in Penang 'took off' on the beach itself. This was different. I guess its better view that way because we were actually 'flying' from the middle of the ocean. From 1200 feet in the air with a parachute above your head, you can see the boat that's towing you, but can no longer hear it! At that height, I could clearly see the dividing line between the lighter and darker side of the ocean. The view of the Nusa Dua beach hotels were all visible from that high up. Fanta-bulous!

After one complete round, I was given a sign by the guys on the boat to pull a 'string' for landing back at the platform. I had no idea what happened, the 'string' was probably jammed or it might be just me being butter fingers. I missed it! Hence, I got an extra half round of parasailing - FREE! LOL. After realizing that I couldn't land on the platform, they had to give me an emergency landing (into the waters) and did not even inform me prior. Just like that, I fell from the sky down to the ocean with my clothes on. The guys later then picked me up and took me by speed boat back to the platform where JW was already grinning his way laughing at me. THANK GOD I was alright. The emergency landing was smooth and was not as 'rough' as the ones seen in Fear Factor!

Anyways, that was an experience I guess. No fair, JW managed to have a good landing without any hiccups in between. He said I wasn't paying proper attention during the briefing...what the heck?!?

- No pics were taken during the parasailng activity -

Dinner was at Hamabe Japanese Restaurant at the hotel, where food and service was at the best during our stay in the resort. Price was above average as that was probably the cost of the hotel standard but we enjoyed every moment during in it anyway!

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Pork Katsu

Chicken Teriyaki

Unagi Roll

Beef something (I forgot) LOL

Green Tea Ice Cream for dessert. Yums!

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After dinner, we went for a short walk around the hotel to capture more night shots

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Day 6

Soon, it was time to leave.

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We checked out at about noon to catch a flight to Singapore and then back to Penang. Being fussy eaters, we didn`t really enjoy the food at the SIA Business Class Lounge in Bali as compared to the Terminal 3 SIA Business Class Lounge in Singapore. So, we headed for Jap again instead!

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Singapore's Terminal 3 Business Class Lounge

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All in all, our Bali trip was definitely another great one. The resort was very nice and the island was indeed beautiful. We have yet to explore more activities here but perhaps we will in the near future. Just as a comparison, we would still prefer Thailand's beaches as they are way more tranquil and clean. Oh yeah, not forgetting its local food too. But if we're talking about beautiful restaurants and fine dining areas, no where beats Bali just yet!

What a sign of relief! I cant believe this entry took me 4 days to complete. Gotta rewind my memory and put myself back in that trip in order to summarize everything. Ain't easy!  

Anyways, hope you people enjoyed reading it!

xoxo

~ Vic ~

I somewhat let over a month go by since Christmas and New Years without even blogging anything about it! As you might guess, the year end holidays pretty much kept us busy on our toes, but my plans for 2009 are also well underway.

A new year has always been a good time to look back to the past, and more importantly, forward to the coming year. Its about time I start to reflect on the changes that I want (or need) and see how things can be done differently for the better - Be it work, love, life or friends.

Anyway, here's a quick wrap-up on what you might have missed as well as highlights of what's in plan for 2009!

NYE Celebration @ UPR

On the 31 December 2008, we ring in the new year at Soy 11 with a few of JW's friends. Jon, K, Eugene, Jodie and a few others; all had a great time celebrating with the crowd at UPR. We stayed up until slightly after midnight and went for supper before heading home. It was indeed a fun night for us (though I personally prefer how Christmas Eve was being celebrated!).

On the other side, YJ invited me over to her crib to celebrate the New Year's by getting drunk with SC, HY,WJ and the others. I would so love to go, but its quite the tradition of JWNV to celebrate their NYE together each year, unless of course something gets caught in between!

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Christmas Eve & Bali Escape 2008

Sooo last year I know! Promise I'll find ways to dig out time to blog about this!

JWNV's 10th Anniversary

8 January 2009: The day that marks our tenth year of relationship as a couple and as the first of the major milestone anniversaries. Love is full of joy, happiness, and laughter. Despite the rough times that we have gone through in the past, I'm glad that we manage to survive it all. I'm looking forward to continue experiencing the 'amount' of love that we shared in these years....I love you...

Wedding Bells 2009

I have been invited to two weddings thus far - and two more inline on my calendar. I find that what I become most excited about when attending weddings is how all the aspects of the wedding are brought together through the use of colour, shapes, accents, style, theme, etc. Its an opportunity to catch up with my former school mates and friends whom I have not met since high school. I'm a visual person and I am constantly looking for individuality from wedding to wedding. However, just being able to be part of such an extraordinary event is always very special to me. There's nothing I love more than seeing a friend happy.

Business Work Development Plans 2009

- Growth Target: 10% on Core Business

- Increase Productivity

- 'Creative and Innovative' : Approach to Problem Solving & Brainstorming

- To form and develop more strategies to maximize opportunities for a more meaningful work.

- Review Rules of Engagement

Trend Alert: Long Dresses / Evening Wear 2009

A few of my favorite ones for all formal occasions

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xoxo

~ Vic ~