Torment

My pre-order book from mphonline has finally arrived. And now i'm halfway to finishing the book. The story is so addictive. Lauren Kate is so brilliant and talented. I'm pretty sure that soon her book will be put into motion picture.

Oh my. I don't want to flip open the final page. I want to keep on reading this book like forever. But then there will be a third sequel called PASSION will be available only on Summer 2011.

So, Lauren, please hurry up!

Knight and Day

I never noticed that Tom Cruise is actually very very very good looking until i watch this movie. As for Cameron Diaz i never realize that her eyes are blue till now. Really blue like ocean blue. I did not seem to remember what color Toms' eyes are, because i was too distracted by his awesomeness. This movie definitely in my top-10 lists. When i say top-10 means that this is the kind of movie which i would watch over and over again. It's EVERGREEN.




Never mind Diaz's sweaty armpits. Just don't ruin this moments.

Contentment

Yesterday evening, i saw this view on my way home after work. I cannot help but to slow down and parked at the road side to capture this view and immortalized it in this blog.



Automatic mode shot



Night mode shot

Hypocrite

Maybe i am..

This morning when my friend tell me about her backpacking adventures around Europe i find myself secretly envying her. Some people are just born lucky. She is pretty. She got the brain. As soon as we graduated she quickly get a job with 5 figures salary. And she live her life like a star.

Can you blame me for being green?

Every time i heard others stories of traveling, i feel the excitement to travel. Then the typical stupid me went to purchase air tickets and hotel in advance. And then usually i bailed on 50% of the trip i planned. And when the trip goes well, being in a foreign place, strangers around me, language i do not understand, writings i cannot read, foods i do not know..could be very lonely. I often enjoy the first 2 days on the trip. After that, i started to miss home. I would miss my bed, my cat, my car, my tv, my computer, the pathway where i usually walk, the food that i everyday took. That is why i could never understand why some people could spend half of the year traveling the globe. And i'm dying to understand them. For me the perfect holiday would be to stay at home, eat, sleep, watch tv, playstation, wii nintendo, play with my cat, reading, tv, eat, and sleep until my head hurts.

My cousin used to call me an anti-social. It's because i always try to avoid meetings with people. I don't like to attend gatherings and i hate partys. I never had a birthday party thrown for me. Sad right? But don't be. I like it that way. I choose it to be like that. My mother is the opposite of me. She loves to party. Once, she even tried to throw a birthday party for me but then i managed to disappear with the cake. So, no birthday girl, no cake means no birthday party, only a party, without me. But i'm not a total party-hater. I usually go to New Year party (my fav), chirstmas, company's annual dinner (it's compulsory), and all good friends parties.

So, back to the original topic. I have another trip planned next month in end of October. This time my journey would be from Sandakan - Kuala Lumpur - Yogyakarta - Bali - Kuala Lumpur - Sandakan. I know for sure that this one gonna be a tiring trip.

After that, i have 3 more trips to go. December in Bandung, January in Jakarta and April in Manila. 2 of those 3 is strictly business.

And then, this morning i received an email from AirAsia which goes like this..Moshi Moshi Japan!





What the hell ?!!!!

!@#$%^&*!!!!!

Seriously?!!

Fallen by Lauren Kate

I have just finish reading this book. 'Fallen' by Lauren Kate. And before i write this post, i have already pre-order the sequel 'Torment' (what? i'm just curious). This book is just what exactly i needed after i finished reading the book 'Ugly' by Constance Briscoe which i bought from Jakarta Airport. Anyway, there are lots of reviews coming out from this book. Both good and bad.

As for me, i loved it. I know that many compared 'Fallen' to 'Hush, Hush' and 'Twilight'. But who cares? All i know is that this book is much better than those two. Plus, 'Fallen' has the best cover. So, Kudos to Lauren Kate!

My Jakarta Trip

So, recently i have been to Jakarta. Yes. It was during the time when things are heating up (still) between Malaysia and Indonesia. Am i scared? Of course i am scared. Who are in their right mind were not scared when you are in foreign country and some local just want to sweep you off their country and shaved your head? I don't want to come home bald.

It was supposed to be a family trip. This is the second time we plan a trip to Jakarta. The first trip was canceled because of the frequent earthquake activities in Indonesia at that time. So we don't want our money go wasted second time. After all, Indonesian government did promise the safety of all Malaysian in Indonesia.

So, here goes our journey.

1st day. We arrived late. Check in at Hotel Ibis Mangga Dua around 12am. Straight to bed.

2nd day. Woke up at 7am. Had a buffet breakfast at the hotel (ridiculously expensive!). Took a taxi to Cathedral Church. My aunt want to join the mass, so we stay until the mass finished. Continue our journey to the Mangga Dua Mall. Good for wholesale shopping. "Grosir" means wholesale in Indonesian language (err.. is it?). Took me 4 days to realise that. All the while when people telling me "ini harga grosir", i thought it's a grocery price ??????


Breakfast at hotel.



Cathedral Church



Heavenly light.



Devotees.



Took a bajaj to Mangga Dua Mall after finished mass. This is where my camera almost got snatched by 2 guys on a motorcycle. My first encounter with snatch thief. First, the motorcycle drove close to our moving bajaj. Then, the guy riding on the back pull his hand out and try to grab the camera strap which i hang to my shoulder. But instead of grabbing the strap he actually grabing my b**b. At first i thought "what a pervert", then the driver warn me to always put all our stuff away from the bajaj's door. Then i realise that it was actualy an attempted robbery.

Mangga Dua Mall

3rd day. Woke up early as usual. This time we had breakfast at Dunkin Donuts (5 minutes walkingdistance from our hotel and open from 6am!). Way cheaper than having buffet breakfast at the hotel. It's not like that i can eat the whole selection of food there. And i am very particular of what i put inside my stomach. After finished breakfast we took a taxi to Ancol. To be more specific, we went to Gelanggang Samudera and Seaworld. Seaworld is just ok. The only thing that interesting in Seaworld that took my attention is seeing the humble dugong.

I'm in!

Giant Freshwater Whipray aka Pari Mas

Sharks!

Aquarium Tunnel.

Snap, snap.

Spotted mating turtles.

Dugong aka Sea Cow



Close up.

Seaworld's entrance.

I enjoy the most when we were in Gelanggang Samudera. There were dolphins who danced to the Mambo No. 5 song, sea lions who good at math, white whales, honey bear, super cute otters, hippopotamus and colourful parrots.

Sea lion waving say 'hi'

My favorite part of the show. Dolphins surfing (or twist dance?)

Yay!

White whales

He/she spit on us!

Show off

Hippo

Otter

Honey bear

Aztec pyramid in Jakarta!

Genie in the bottle



Candid shot of my aunty.

Next stop was the Pasar Seni. All the paintings were very nice and affordable. I was going to buy one for myself but i'm too lazy to bring a big size painting all the way to Malaysia. Maybe one day i will buy one from this art market when i have my own butler.



Shady walkway in Art Market. I could sit and sleep here whole day. Very comfortable.



Attack of the mutant ants.



She gave me the look of "mind your own business"



Poem written on the rock.


4th day. 31st August 2010. It's Malaysia's independence day. Afraid to go out. We made the right decision because when we watch news at night turn out that there were several demonstrations held in the city center that day. We just went to the nearest shopping mall. I buy lots of DVDs. It cost around RM 1.80 per piece. Mad cheap right?

View from our hotel room.

I bought kuih from the warung outside the hotel. And they give me green chilis to eat with the kuih. ???

5th day. Thought of visiting Fatahillah Museum and the Old Batavia town but canceled due to laziness attack. Besides my mother prefer shopping than a musem visit. So there we go again, doing our last minutes shopping.

6th day. Again, we did our very very last minutes shopping. Then we took a van to the airport. It has to be a van instead of taxi this time because of our extra 50kg luggages. We stay for few hours at the airport and eventually fly back to Kota Kinabalu at 5.00pm.

Lunch at the airport

Waiting for our flight.

One thing i learn from this journey is never ever say that your are through with shopping before you reach the airport. Because things that you can find in the airport enough to make you drool. Plus once you inside the boarding area, everything is duty free. By the way, i did my real last minutes shopping in the airport. I have bought Miss Dior Cherie Blooming Bouquet perfume which i have been looking for quite long time.

Jetlag

I'm home! Safe and sound.

I always need to recharged and rest 1 week after traveling for 1 week. Don't know why. But for me, it is very tiring just by getting in and out of the airplanes. I guess this is where we can see Newton's First Law of Motion in works. When we are in a moving airplane, our body move at the same speed with the airplane. So just imagine that when we are up in the sky our body actually moving at 900km per hour! So, i might sleep all the way but my body does not. In another term we called it JETLAG.

So, i shall update this blog again when my jetlag is gone.