Trip to Washington, DC

It's my first weekend here and the first place that I'll be visiting is non other than WASHINGTON, DC.

The reason we chose to go there first was because that's the last week of the Cherry Blossom festival. This festival marks the 95th celebration of the original gift of the 3000 cherry trees from the city of Tokyo to the people of Washington, DC in 1912.

The whole city is planted with these trees and you only get to see the cherry blossom flowers once a year and that is early Spring. We were lucky to be able to see some trees where there are still flowers on it.

Jefferson Memorial White House

What is there besides the flowers? There's plenty of monuments and museums and not forgetting the most famous place of all, The WHITE HOUSE.

More pictures at Washington DC Pictures

Did my cooking improve?

When was the last time I cooked? It's exactly a year ago when I was in UK. Previous Entry - Chef Kate in action It's not because I don't want to cook back in Malaysia but I just dont have the opportunity to do so. That's why I always take the opportunity to cook when I'm out from home.


My colleague who is my housemate can't cook either. So I told her not to worry as she's lucky to have Kate @ The Chef! *ehem* I brought along many ready-made spices and it's really easy. I just follow the instruction behind the packs and it's only 3 easy steps.


1st step, pour in warm water and mix the spices together. Boil it. 2nd step, add in the chicken and cook it for about 25 minutes. 3rd step, stir it from time to time until the gravy has thicken.


There you go - my Rendang chicken rice for dinner with herbal soup.

Residence Inn Philadelphia Valley Forge

This is the place that I'll be staying throughout my stay here. It's a 2 bedroom apartment. It's not that big but good enough for two people. How nice if there's something like this back home. It's small but cosy.

The living room The kitchen

My bedroom.. Nice :) This is the best!!!!

Pennsylvania, United States

Exactly a week ago, I was told that there's work opportunity in the US office and a week later, here I am in Pennsylvania, US.

The flight journey from Singapore to Newark Airport in NY takes about 19 hours and gosh.. it's damn tiring.. I'm still very tired now due to the 12 hours difference.. When it's time to go to bed in Msia, it's time to get to work.. I really tried very hard to stay awake...

The weather here is still very cold.. and it doesn't look like spring at all. Some parts of US is still snowing. I like it when it's cold but not up to the point where you dont feel like walking out of the building. It's just too cold.. below 10 degree celcious and it's raining.. urghh.. Hope weather gets better during the weekend :)

The entrance to my office building in Berwyn, Penny.

There's this beautiful tree in front of the entrance. If i'm not mistaken, it's the cherry blossom tree.

Diamond is a girl's bestfriend!

Qing Ming Festival

I'm quite curious on what Qing Ming is called in English. Googled.. and found out that it's called "Tomb Sweeping Day".

What does one actually do during this day? For the chinese, it's a day to remember and honour one's ancestors. All family members will get together during this day to go pray before the ancestors.

They will sweep the tomb, clean it up and offer food, tea, wine, and burning paper accessories.

If I'm free, I'll try to make it for this festival because this is time where all the family members will present and it's another family gathering other than the Chinese New Year

Back to work

It’s not easy getting back to work after a really long study break (6 weeks). I have to adjust back some brain cells from studying to working. Everything in the office (the environment) is still the same but not the people. There are many more unfamiliar faces.. There are many new joiners in the company.

Next is to find a workspace for myself. My immediate boss has allocated a workspace for me but then I found something else at some other place.

I was supposed to sit there at first. I’m not sure who did this. It’s very creative and lovely. Thanks. I didn’t really do much today.. Updating on what’s going on in the company and also sorting out my mails. A good way to start my engine again.. :)

YooHOoooo!!!!! I PASSED!!!

"My heartbeat is beating very fast.. The timer on the monitor screen is displaying 0:02 minutes.. 1 more minute to go and the marks of the FICO exam I'm taking will be displayed on the screen. Bub..bub.. 0:01.. My hands are cold and I can hardly move. Suddenly, a grey screen appears and the word "Congratulations is written there. Next to it is a score of 78%" Hooray! I've passed!!!!

That was how I felt yesterday morning... :) I'm really glad that everything is over. 5 weeks of full time studying is not an easy job.

So now, I'm a certified FICO consultant. :D This is only the beginning.. It's still a long way to go though...

Below is a picture of all my classmates throughout the course together with my trainer who is sitting in the middle. All of us passed the exam as well. :)

My Fav Easter Egg

This reminds me of Easter. This is the Creme egg by Cadbury. I find it pretty unique because it does resembles an egg. The egg has a thick milk chocolate (shell), with a white and yellow fondant filling designed to resemble the yolk and albumen of an egg. Pretty cool rite?

Thanks again Chi for the lovely chocolates! :) I couldn't find this in Malaysia and it really helps me to de-stress a little.

Chap Goh Mei

I went to a temple in Jenjarum, Banting on Chap Goh Mei. The temple was decorated with colourful lanterns and lightings. The decoration does resembles some places in China. It gives you a feeling as though you're in China.






There's a beautiful garden "Lumbini Garden" in the compound. You can see a variety of flowers and landscaping there.







There's also a pagoda where there's a lift inside it which you can ride on to go to the top floor to have a birds eye view of the temple area.






I can say that it's the most beautiful temple in Malaysia so far.

Welcome Piggie!!!

Say goodbye to the Year of Dog and let's welcome the YEAR OF PIG!

Chinese New Year wasn't that fun this year. Is that a sign that I'm no longer "young"? I always look forward to the CNY holidays because that's that time where I can go on a shopping spree, get lots of ang pows, and eat eat eat.

It's a bit different this year. I don't get that "Hey, it's CNY" feeling anymore. I didn't go on a shopping madness this year. I didn't find any clothes which I like. The CNY collection for this year is pretty bad. Is that due to the economy? No idea... Just got myself two simple shirts.. :)

I'm being very lazy too.. I didn;t have the mood and energy to move around this year partly because I was sick during the holidays.. Pity me.. I was supposed to do my revision.. I didn't do that as well. Had no time for that..Can't remember what I did.. Just bumming around i think..

As for ang pows.. it's getting lesser and lesser.. haha.. Cannot cover up what I've given out.. I should do more visiting next year.. follow my parents around to collect more.. haha..

Gong Xi Gong Xi

It's been a while since my last entry. I'm pretty tied up with work at the beginning and now, studying. I'm attending a 5 weeks Finance course and there's plenty to study. A switch from working life back to studying life is not easy. The mind is pretty tired. Attend classes in the morning till evening. Then at night, had to do some revision.

The stress is there because there will be an examination at the end of the course which is in mid march. The exam questions are so darn difficult and the passing mark for the exam is 70%. That's crazy.... What if I fail? :( Luckily there's a one week break next week. I'll try to study as much as I can during the break and will only decide whether to defer the exam to a later date.. if I'm still not prepared...

Anyway, Chinese New Year is just round the corner.. I'm really looking forward to the celebration. Can get my mind to rest a little bit.. and lots of catching up with friends and family.

Would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone

GONG XI FA CAI!!!!

Happy New Year! Welcome 2007!

It's the 11th day since the new year and nothing much has changed compared to 2006. It's too early to tell of course.. I'm looking forward to this challenging year though. I'm going to be in my mid-twenties this year (I know my bday was just a few weeks back) but it’s pretty scary to think back, that at this age, I haven’t really achieved what I want.

I think at this point of time, I really have to think of my future. I can’t play a fool or make any mistakes as I’m not young anymore to turn a new leaf and start all over again. This is the time that I have to set my career path properly and think of the future so that I will have a better and more comfortable life before I hit my thirties…

Females are getting fiercer

You must be wondering why I've chosen the above topic. Although I'm a female myself, I do think that a number of them, falls into the above category. Why do I say that? I've encountered several incidents to prove my point.

Incident 1:-
Paul was driving me to Penang and it was a massive jam at the Penang bridge. Many cars were queing up at the Touch & Go lane. Suddenly, a car drove past us and cut the queue. It was a lady driver. She was driving a few other girl friends in the car. Paul was pretty angry with the driver and sounded the horn.
Guess what happened next? When she wound down the window to scan the card, she raised her hand and showed us the middle finger. Both of us were stoned by her actions... Paul got offended by that and got even angrier... I told him to calm down.. just leave them alone.. What can we do? Walked down the car and beat them up? haha.. What's the point..

Incident 2:-
Paul and I were at OneU to catch a movie. We went to the new wing shopping mall to park our car. When we were queing at the gate to take our parking ticket, this car infront of us were taking a very long time. It's a lady driver again. There's a problem with the Touch & Go scanning but she still insisted on using it. She can choose to take the parking ticket instead. Paul was very impatient and sounded the horn. She's causing a bad jam. Many cars were behind. At last, she had no choice but to take the parking ticket and.. the same thing happened again.. Wound down the window, showed the middle finger,
and took the parking ticket.. .. I know Paul was wrong this time by sounding the horn.. but she
doesn't need to show her middle finger rite?

The above incidents really made me wonder.. Why are they so brave? I'm sure I'm not the only one who've encountered the above incidents.. Arent the girls afraid that they will be beaten up? Why are they so so so soooo....rude to the extent of showing the middle finger?

*Ponder ponder*@!!!

Merry Christmas

I would like to wish everyone a Joyous Christmas!

Thank you....

When I received this virtual card from Ivan, it reminded me of something.. Something which I find it pretty familiar.. I like the effect of my name.. and the two stones... like I've seen it somewhere..

After telling him that the card looks pretty familiar, he told me where he got the picture. It's actually from my Wales online photo album.

I drew my name on the sand together with the stones beside it. He found it nice and used it to create this card.

How creative and I like it.

Thanks Ivan! :D

I would also like to thank Chi for the lovely flowers..

and Neil for the cute lil doggie..

Thanks to all my buddies who sms & call me too!!!

Partying at Poppy

It's been quite a while since I last went to club to drink and go crazy.... It's the end of Year 2006 and I'm getting older.. So.. why not go all out and have fun? Agree?

I haven't tried this Flaming Cocktail drink before and thought why not give it a try.. It's pretty scary when putting the straw into the glass at the bottom to sip the drinks up..

The taste : Sweet & nice.. and not bad. :D

See the flame at the outer layer of the bottle? Cool rite?

More pictures can be viewed at my photo album 2.

My Bday Dinner

Many people would have guessed that I had a romantic candle light dinner for my birthday. They are not totally wrong... Just minus out the candle light will do coz I had my dinner under fluorescent light. ;)

I had the most delicious meal ever... (with my hands slighly near my chest, hehe) - Lamb Chop!

This nicely decorated meal is prepared by non other than Chef Paul Konchivsy..

Upon arrival, I went straight into the kitchen to check out his cooking progress.. Look at all the things that he had prepared.. all very organized.. not bad not bad.. Cooked like a pro too!

Thanks for the dinner. Really appreciate the effort! *Muacks*

Happy Birthday To MYSELF!!!

It's exactly 00:00, 18th of December and I would like to wish myself, Happy Birthday!! I'm older by a year.. and yes.. I'm getting older now..

A Birthday cake for myself..

And of course, a toast for myself too! Cheers!!!

Birthday song specially written for me

My friend, Mr Neil or known as "Ah Niu" has written a birthday song for me and I lurveee it alot. Thank you so much!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Wmo5nfDCHQ

My First Birthday present for this year

Guess who's the first to give me my birthday present? My dearest Paul of course. :D and it's a handphone. *thank u thank u thank u!!!*

He bought me a Nokia N80. If you see my previous post, I wished for a N73. I'm happy to get a N80 though.. much newer and better than N73. It has wi-fi functionality. :D

Work comes first

My birthday is around the corner and I'm quite excited about it. Planning to take the day off to go on a short holiday. Ever since 3 years ago, my wish is to go on a holiday during my birthday. So, I hope for the same too this year.

My hopes were shattered when my client said that my leave is not approved! Arggsss... Really sad about it. Am I really that important? Will the business get affected if i'm not around just for one day? Sighz..

It should be double "Sigh". I've applied to clear my leaves end of the year so that I'll have the whole week off at the end of December. Planning to go somewhere or at least spend some time at home and have a GOOD rest. This is not approved as well. My project is going live end of Dec and that's the critical period. I will have to go on standby too during the new year's holiday.
Oh well, what can I say... Work always have to come first.. else.. who is going to support me? :D

A1 GP @ Sepang

I won tickets to watch A1 GP at Sepang and it's quite an experience for me. What's A1? F1? I have no idea.. I just know that Alex Yoong is representing Malaysia and I'm there to support my home country of course.

Paullie and I : Here we come... SEPANG!!!

I won the paddock passes too and is allowed to enter the pit area to check out the cars. Malaysia boleh? I hope, BOLEH! Alex Yoong was not there.. :( but my friend, Paullie, waited there until he turns up to take a pic with him.. Lucky her..

It was a hot hot day but it rained very heavily before the race began. That makes the race much more interesting. We were hoping that there will be some "accidents" during the race.. quite bad of us rite.. hhaha We thought that Alex can remain at his 4th position but he finished 7th. Good job to him though.. coz can really see that he'd tried his best.

Anyway, the next round will be held in Indonesia and I wish Malaysia's team all the best!!!

Halloween in Hong Kong

It’s quite surprising to know that HK celebrates Halloween. Everywhere you go, you’ll see Halloween’s decoration. I don’t quite understand why Halloween is a big thing here in HK. I think people just wanted to use this occasion to make more money. There’re just so many Halloween goodies for kids. Even adults will be tempted to get it because it’s soooo cute.

Look at the big pumpkin I saw in the supermarket. Whoaaa….

Halloween Goodies for kids

At Tsim Tsa Tsui

OMG, who’s this wicked witch? buahahahaa

Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Welcome to HK. The last time I stepped foot to this country was in November, 2003. It’s exactly 3 years and to me, this place is still the same except for more buildings and shopping complexes.

Everywhere you see here are all high rise buildings and apartments. This is the view from the 19th floor - my aunt’s place in Tseung Kwan Oo

Streets in Kowloon. The shopping streets : The famous Mongkok place.

HK during the day. The view of Hong Kong island from The Peak (It’s pretty hazy in Hong Kong as well)

HK at night. The night view of Hong Kong island from Tsim Tsa Tsui

Hong Kong here I come....

I'm off to Hong Kong this evening. Will update my blog when I'm back!!!