honeymoon getaway : episode 2 part 1 (Macau)

hey guys...been really bz this week with piles of work in office...had to even continue doing at home...phewww~....what a week...nevertheless, as promised, will be sharing my honeymoon trip to Macau & Hong Kong...due to the length of my vacation plus the various places we've visited, i'll be splitting my honeymoon trip to several posts, otherwise it will be a very, very, very long post.... :P

friday past 2 week, woke up at about 3 am...yeah, u heard me, 3 am...it's becoz our flight was at 6.25 am in the morning, so need to be at the airport early....got out of the house at about 4.15 am...it was so early that there were almost no cars on the road...but as we arrived at LCCT, it was totally different....the amount of people there was like any other hours...they were full of other people...probably their flight is early in the morning as well...we went into the boarding area and at about 6 am, we boarded the plane and the plane took off as scheduled...lucky thing...

arrived at Hong Kong International Airport at about 10.30 am....we then headed straight to the Sky Pier where we can straight away board the ferry from there to Macau without even checking out from the airport, no need to go thru the customs and don't even need to claim our luggage as the Ferry company, which was TurboJet arranged everything for us...they will be collecting our baggage into the ferry and to macau...was really impressed with how good their transportation & service was....HKIA also was very big, very convenient and the system was very good...2 thumbs up HK government...

we took the 12.15 pm ferry from HKIA and arrived at macau around 1 pm as the journey took about 45 minutes...as we exitted the Macau Ferry Terminal, instantly we felt the cold breeze of climate in Macau...it was damn cold...it was around 13 degree celcius at that time i think...plus the wind...brrrrr....we then took a cab from the terminal to the hotel...the moment we entered the cab, our 1st language barrier challenge started....my mandarin was a total crap...has been rusty years ago...i tried to pronounce M-E-T-R-O-P-A-R-K hotel but the guy still doesn't understand...good thing he has a hotel directory where the name of the hotel was also written in mandarin writting...thank God...in about 10 minutes i think, we were already at the hotel...it's that near, really...

the hotel that we were staying was Metropark Macau...the hotel wasn't bad at all...the room was quite big with a king size bed and was cozy...was satisfied with the hotel that we booked thru agoda...after putting our bags in the room, we then straight went out to head for the Ruins of St. Paul...1st time tried to get a cab to there but the driver did not understand where we wanted to go....showed the brochure of Ruins of St. Paul but he say can't go there...probably he got the wrong idea that maybe he thought we wanted to go to Paris or Italy or something.... :P we then went back into the hotel to ask how can we get there...luckily the concierge guy knows a little english and gave us a map of Macau and showed us how to go there...again, thank God...he said that it'll take 30 minutes to get there by walking...so me & my wife decided to walk there....we walked till the Golden Lotus Square and when we checked the map back, we were actually heading the wrong direction...so, for the 2nd time, we tried to get a cab and showed to the driver the map where we wanted to go...luckily there was mandarin writing in the map and he understood....thank God we had the map...eventually the map became the most useful tool for us in Macau...then about 15~20 minutes, we were at the Senado Square...from there, we must walk to the Ruins of St. Paul...it was an ocean of people there at the Senado Square up till the Ruins of St. Paul...on the way to the Ruins of St. Paul, there were also a few interesting buildings there...also bought some souvenirs on the way to the Ruins of St. Paul...after that, went to the Ruins of St. Paul and walked around there...took several snaps of pictures, went into the preserved area where there are skulls and also drawings, pictures and statues...then off we went to the Mount Fortress next to the Ruins of St. Paul...it was a little bit tiring as it was on top of the hill...my wife had a hard time climbing the stairs as she was already exhausted...alas, we made it to the top...the view on top foreseeing Macau was just beautiful...we can even see the other part of Macau from there...after walking around up there, we then sat for a while on the bench to catch our breath...after about 10 minutes, we went down back and stopped for a drink at Starbucks...

after that, we headed straight to The Venetian Macau...we took a cab since we did not know how the bus transportation works....as per before, showed the Venetian in the map to the taxi driver...the Venetian is located at the other island of Macau, so it was a bit more further and the fare was much more expensive...but, no choice since it's the only mode of transportation that we can rely on....the journey took around 20~25 minutes...then we arrived at The Venetian Macau...at first we thought it was located in another building which at the other side....so we walked there foolishly only to find that the building was still under construction and that the place where the taxi dropped us was The Venetian Macau....hahahaha... :P so we headed back there and got to know that the Venetian is actually inside the hotel there...not sure what was the hotel name but there were a lot of people there going in and coming out of that hotel....we should have tried to go in there first earlier...what a waste of energy...when we entered the hotel, there was a huge casino place there...that was the nearest that i got to see a real live casino...we then headed to the floor above following the sign shopping area...when we arrived on top, we were mesmerized by the architecture, scenery & landscape of the Venetian...it was like we were in Venice...in there, it felt like we were outside coz they made the ceiling look like the sky...it was just so beautiful...can't really describe it with words...if u guys are going to Macau, then this is a must visit place....at there, we walked around there, bought some souvenirs and the best part was took a gondola ride...yep, there is a man made river in there...hehehehe....the queue was quite long...we had to wait about 30 minutes for our turn....but i must say it was a really memorable experience...especially for couples....the gondola ride was from one end to the other...the gondola navigator even sang several songs during the ride....the guy really had a superb voice...seriously...the ride was about 15~20 minutes...the ride cost us around RM40++ per person but the ride was really worth it...a very interesting experience...for those who have watched the famous korean drama series Boys Over Flowers, this is where they shoot for the scene at Macau....even in the souvenir shop, there was a picture of them....hehehehe~...

after the gondola ride, we went back to the souvenir shop to purchase our picture taken before the gondola ride and a few other little souvenirs that had our picture...after that we walked around for a little while and then decided to head back to the hotel to call off for the day as tomorrow we need to head back to Hong Kong...the next day morning, we checked out and headed back to the Macau Ferry Terminal to board the ferry back to Hong Kong...

next post will be the 1st day at HK (Ngong Ping 360 and Avenue of Stars)....stay tuned...

Gong Xi Fa Cai @ Penang

hola2....hope that it's not too late to wish Gong Xi Fa Cai to all chinese out there...came back from penang last saturday a couple of weeks ago for the chinese new year celebration....

me & my wife took the night train from kl sentral on wednesday nite to penang...i was lazy to drive and the fact that the traffic will be heavily jam made us took the night train...but regretted when we were on the train....i only managed to slept for about half an hour to 1 hour i think thru out the whole nite i think...the seat was not comfortable at all, the lights were on, there was a baby that kept on crying....really, what a night...

reached butterworth at about 6.30 am i think....then went to the ferry to board for penang island....as we arrive, my mom & dad are already there waiting for us and off we go to the hotel...at the hotel, me & my wife had to share my parents room for a while as it was still too early for us to check into our room...so, we took our bath first and then went out for our breakfast...had breakfast at one of the mamak shops but was a bit disappointed with the meals as it wasn't as tasty as how it should...then, went back to the hotel and my mom said there's already one room ready for us if we wanted as it is on a different floor...we didn't mind so headed and proceed to our room...by the way, we stayed at the Continental Hotel at Penang road, Georgetown...the same hotel that we stayed every year for chinese new year

at 11 am, the whole family including my dad and my wife went to our relatives home, visiting them as what's been done years ago and for the 1st time for my wife...nothing much or new for me....went from one house then went to another...went to my cousin's new house near usm (not really new but this was my 1st time there)....stayed there quite a while then me, my wife & my dad decided to go back to the hotel as my mom wanted to stay a bit longer and that there's a few other places they wanted to go....due to the lack of sleep me & my wife had, we had to go back to the hotel to re-energize by getting some sleep....so, we went back to the hotel and straight went to bed...had about 3~4 hours of sleep and then it was already nite....then, all of us together with my mom, dad & sis had diner in front of our hotel....after diner, it was time to wrap up for the day...

the next day, me & my wife went to the Queensbay Mall to walk around there...have some window shopping, had lunch there and change our money to the HK dollar currency as we're heading to HK the next week...after a few hours spent at Queensbay Mall, we then head back to the hotel....our journey was by bus...was quite nice since me & my wife have not ride a bus together for a few years already....hehehe....then at nite, me & my wife went out for diner with my friend who was also my former housemate...he went back to penang as it was a long weekend...he picked us up at the hotel and we went to Padang Kota to have diner....had char kuey teow, squid & dried squid, and also len chee kang...after diner, my friend sent us back to our hotel to wrap up for the day...

the next day, at around 10 am, we left the hotel to head back to KL...this time, my parents sent us back to KL since my sister needs to go back to her college too...we stopped for lunch at ipoh and after that i took over the wheels from my dad for the rest of the journey...the traffic at the highway was like hell...it was so jammed, probably everyone's going back to kl too on that same day...arrived home at kl at about 10 pm at nite...whewww~...

next post will be me & my wife's trip to Macau & Hong Kong...stay tuned...

Malaysia IT Fair 2011, Midvalley

hola2...it's already the last day of the 1st month of the year 2011...and tomorrow will be february already...1st week of february will be heading to penang for chinese new year while the 2nd week will be going for the much anticipated trip to hong kong....really can't wait... :P

the recent weekend, on saturday, me & my wife went to Midvalley to visit the Malaysia IT Fair 2011...the crowd was big as expected of midvalley's crowd plus the chinese new year sale...Midvalley was really packed with the crowd...back to the Malaysia IT Fair, the reason why we went there was to survey for a Network Attached Storage with the capacity of at least 2Tb....so far the best bargain was Seagate at the price of RM539 but due to budget constraint for the HK trip, the purchase of the NAS will need to be delayed....the 2nd thought that crossed our mind was to get the Buffalo NAS enclosure at RM309 and hard disk will need to be purchased separately...the good thing about it is that we can insert any amount of hard disk capacity...the enclosure bay has 2 bays so i can easily insert 2X2Tb of hard disk making it a total of 4Tb of hard disk space....but, those are just in proposal phase...will consider it later after coming back from HK when budget is available... :P

basically there were 3 halls used for the IT Fair...the 1st hall was allocated for notebooks, laptops & netbooks...almost all major brands were exhibited there...the 2nd hall was the place for all the other gadgets such as hard disk, portable hard disk, thumb drives, and other stuffs...the 3rd hall was the smallest dedicated solely for speakers....

before we went to the Malaysia IT Fair, we went to watch a movie, The Green Hornet in 3D...that was the 1st time the both of us watched a movie in 3D...the movie wasn't bad...was quite interesting....the car in the movie was really cool....would give the movie 6.5 out of 10....

after completing the Malaysia IT Fair tour, we went to have lunch at the food court...both of us had pepper lunch...really loved it...must try it....after that we went around midvalley to window shopping...went into mph and got myself a book...Top Money Tips for Malaysians By KC Lau was the book i bought at RM39.90...seems to be quite an interesting & useful book...i'm now at chapter 3....will probabably post a review of it once i've done reading it....

after mph, went to swensens to have some ice cream and later went to carls junior to grab a burger each for me & my wife for our diner....then, it's time to call off for the day and head back to home sweet home~....

next post will be my trip back to penang for chinese new year celebration...stay tuned....

A.N.Jell fever~

yo yo wassup...hope everyone's feeling great...nothing big or special happened recently...the recent weekend me & my wife became couch potatoes...enjoying korean drama "You're beautiful"...i'm not really a korean fan boy but this drama transformed me to be one (jeeezzzz, how did i ever got into this situation :P)....the whole saturday & sunday were dedicated to the A.N.Jell pop group which was in the drama....the drama has almost every ingredient in it....love, fun & laughter, parody, cute & sweet element, unexpected situations, unexpected relations....pretty much a complete package....what i can say in short is it's a very interesting drama to watch....even the ost are sweet & nice....listened to them over & over again at office...hahahaa... :P

here's the synopsis....

Go Mi Nyeo & Go Mi Nam (both played by Park Shin Hye) are twin brother and sisters. They grew up in an orphanage and never knew their parents.

As a young adult, Go Mi-Nyeo is set to become a nun. On her way to pick up a ticket for Rome a strange man catches up to her. The man's name is Ma Hoon Lee (Kim In Kwon) and he explains that he's the manager for popular boy band "A.N.JELL". He also explains that her twin brother Go Mi-Nam, who just joined the band, had a facial operation but something went wrong and was sent to America to recover. Ma Hoon Lee then pleads to Go Mi Nyeo to impersonate her brother until he recovers. For her brother's sake, Go Mi Nyeo reluctantly agrees to play her brother.

A.N.JELL band member Kang Shin-Woo (Jeong Yong Hwa) first discovers Go Mi Nyeo's secret, but he keeps it to himself. Kang Shin Woo also tries to help her out without Go Mi Nyeo knowing. He also starts to develop feelings for her.

Meanwhile, A.N.JELL's singer/songwriter/vocalist Hwang Tae Kyeong (Jang Geun Seok) discovers Go Mi-Nyeo's secret. Hwang Tae Kyeong (Jang Geun Suk) is an extremely gifted musician, but his personality is cold and he is a control freak. At first Hwang Tae Kyeong tries to kick Go Mi Nyeo out of the band, but he becomes sympathetic to her plight when he discovers that she hoped to find her mother by appearing on television with the band.

Go Mi Nyeo's secret is then discovered by pop singer Yu Hee Yi (Uee) by chance. When the media falsely reports that Yu Hee Yi and A.N.JELL band member Hwang Tae Kyeong are dating she uses Go Mi-Nyeo's secret to make Hwang Tae Kyeong pretend they are dating in front of the press. At the right moment Yu Hee Yi will announce to the press that they have broken up and that she dumped Hwang Tae Kyeong. In return Yu Hee Yi will keep Go Mi Nyeo's secret. Hwang Tae Kyeong agrees to this arrangement to protect Go Mi Nyeo. Meanwhile Yu Hee Yi starts to develops feelings for Hwang Tae Kyeong ...

highly recommend to watch it... :P

Megatex electronic, IT & furniture expo

we've now entered the 3rd week of 2011...nothing much happened during this 2 weeks...last week me & my wife went to kl sentral to buy train tickets to penang for chinese new year...as usual every year i'll be going to penang to join my family for chinese new year celebration....but this year would not be the same as this will be the 1st year my wife will be joining us for chinese new year celebration and as my wife...after we bought the tickets, went to times square to walk around and survey a few things...also went to lowyat plaza to survey some IT gadgets...

today, me & my wife headed to sunway pyramid as there was an Electronic, IT & Furniture Expo held that was organized by Megatex...reached sunway pyramid at around 10.45 and went to station kopitiam first to have breakfast...after that, went to the sunway convention center as the expo was held there....outside the expo hall was the furniture expo while inside the main hall was the electronic & IT expo...the expo this time was much, much, much more better than the one at mines that we went about 3 weeks ago...several major brands were there such as sony, panasonic, LG, samsung, sharp, toshiba, phillips, htc, HP and many more....the prices of the products over there were quite tempting...good thing that we didn't had the budget to get those :P ....the expo was not bad...there was even an auction bid for gadgets...a sony camera at the price of RM900++ was auctioned starting at RM400 and was sold at not even RM550...apart from the camera, a sony ericsson & nokia phone was also auctioned...there was quite a huge crowd at the expo and there were quite many people that shopped electrical goods and IT products over there...we could see people carrying out their brandly new LCD tv...how envying it felt....huhuhu....

since we were not buying anything, we then headed back to the sunway pyramid shopping center to have lunch, bought some books, household appliances, went for window shopping, bought some J. co doughnuts and then went back home at about 5.45 pm....was quite a tiring day though....

2011; pug gets new tyres

aloha~...happy 2011...happy new year to all...this is my 1st post for the year 2011...what's my resolution for 2011?...haven't figure out yet....hahahaha...nothing special or ocassion during 1-1-11...juz the normal routine....what are my plans for this year?...haven't really planned yet but the ones confirmed will be going to Hong Kong & Japan in the 1st half of 2011...

well, on monday, the day before, 1st working day of the year 2011, immediately after work, headed to the tyre shop to change my pug's two front tyres as they are already in critical condition....probably could be due to the out of tune of the alignment and balancing....changed the tyres at the tyre shop where i regularly serviced my previous car....now it's already almost 2 years i haven't went there but one of the mechanic & the admin amoi still remembered me...wow~...really good memory....the shop tyre was at Equine Park, Seri Kembangan....the name was Maystorm Service Center....due to the current tight financial and need to reserve some cash for my Hong Kong trip, i changed the tyres to the cheapest which was sime tyres at RM145 each making it RM290 for a pair....the rest such as yokohama, good year & bridgestone was in the range of RM170~175....about 45 minutes, my car was ready...total bill was RM325 including doing balancing & alignment....and next month will probably need to visit the tyre shop again and this time is to change the brake pads due to it is almost exhausting....$$$ again....sigh....

that's all for now...stay tuned for more posts....

Critical condition



Maystorm Service Center

goodbye 2010, hello 2011

it's only hours left before we bid farewell to 2010....10 years ago i was in form 3 and now i'm already 25 and a married man....time do pass fast....many events happened this year which were significant to me....got married this year, went for our 1st honeymoon this year, completed my masters degree this year, left HP & joined AT&T this year and a few other events which had slipped off my mind....it has been an interesting & fun ride experience this year....

today's a friday and it's a holiday....would like to congratulate & thank the Malaysian football team who have won the AFF Suzuki cup....due to their triumphant victory, the prime minister have declared today as a public holiday to celebrate the Malaysian team victory...bravo to the Malaysia football team....went out at about 10.30 am as today me & my wife together with my mother in law & sister in law together with our nephew had brunch at the Mei San Dim Sum, Quality Hotel KL....it's been a long time since i had my last dim sum meal....can't really remember when was it....but i must say it was splendid, marvelous....was really really satisfied with the meal....was super duper full....me & my wife then took lrt back to the sri petaling lrt station as we parked our car there....then off to palace of the golden horses to redeem the voucher that we got from the lucky draw at the electronic expo,mines....we arrived quite early, so we hung around at the lobby area....and about 2.45, one of the marketing executive came and took us to the mines marketing area lounge since we were already member of the palace vacation club....otherwise, there will be a tour around the palace of the golden horses....and so, we were given a voucher of 2d 1n stay at either Perdana Beach Resort, Langkawi or Country Heights Resort, Kajang or Palm Springs Resort, Port Dickson and also a 50% voucher on F&B and a voucher for a complimentary health check....

after that, off to Shah Alam to the bridal expo or pameran pengantin as my wife need to pass her wedding dress to one of the exhibitor there which was our mak andam during our wedding....the mak andam will be putting up my wife's wedding dress at the exhibition for those future bride who would like to rent it....after passing the dress and a walk around at the exhibition, it's time to head to home sweet home....

more or less that was my today's activity for the last day of 2010.....this would be my last post for this year, 2010....hence, i would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy new year....may you have a blessful new year.....stay tuned for more posts next year....