Happy 2012!

Hello people! It’s been a while. (if there’s still people reading this that is!)

 

Anyway, life has been treating me pretty good. They say time flies when you are having fun, indeed! There has been so much happenings in the past months I do not even know where to start. It’s just really hard to keep up with a blog when social media never stop mushrooming new ways (mostly simpler and easier) of sharing life’s tit bits with your network. Whether it’s FB, Twitter, Google+, Foursquare, Instagram, Posterous, Tumblr… you get the drill. I’m currently hooked to Pinterest!

I will still try to jot down some of the memorable trips and food sprees before memories start to fade… stay tuned for them.

Last year was quite a year of accomplishment, much more than what I’ve set out to do which was great. To sum it up, there has been a good balance of everything. but the biggest highlight? *grinnnnn*

I don't have any grand plans for 2012. i just want to continue staying healthy and happy and hopefully with God's blessing I can do more, give more . It's a harsh wake up call for me that after dad succumbed to cancer; after a good friend who's still barely recovering from a freak accident; and after a classmate who recently lost his loving wife due to depression. I've come to realize life is no longer about achievements or how skinny you can be...

So what is your grand plan?

Diving in Bidong Island

My last dive trip in 2011 was made to the forgotten island of Mini Saigon called Pulau Bidong.

Before embarking on the journey, I was quite apprehensive about the trip after having done some search about this little deserted island. Pulau Bidong used to be a UNHCR refugee camp post Vietnam war in the 1970s for about 20 years before it was declared as a restricted zone and closed from the public in 1991 ever since.

 

 

The small stretch of  beach on the island was in pristine condition, sea water was amazingly blue and crystal clear. But the 3 nights stay wasn't easy for most of us, certainly not yours truly. Amenities on the island were bare and rustic with limited food, electricity and water supply. But the divers say we’ll do whatever it takes to grab hold of this rare opportunity to get access into this new dive site.

One day we took a tour to check out the poignant remains of the once bustling refugee camp at the other side of the island, and I think all of us were quite mortified by the sight of it.

 

It looked like a badly rotten shack with no maintenance, there was a what it seemed like a temple and a church that has been destroyed and vandalised but some of relics still remain standing.

 

 

There was also a mass grave near the jetty commemorating those Vietnamese boat people who were drowned in the sea, and I also sighted some rusty kitchen utensils among the wild bush. Imagine that. It was beyond our imagination to think how on earth could this place used to house 40,000 refugees at one point.

 

As for marine life, some of the dive sites were quite pretty but we weren't blessed with good vis unfortunately. Well it's the end season afterall. The underwater gallery (first in Malaysia!) was pretty cool and so was the bus and excavator wreck. I'm happy to say that I'm now a ADD! (almost advance diver :P)

 

If you have not heard of Pulau Bidong, here's a little read.
http://www.terengganutourism.com/pulau_bidong.htm

Daily Grind

lunch date at Delicious, Dua Residency

Josephine

Nice cozy restaurant in Ipoh. A btl of house red rm70 onwards, coffee starting from rm11. Not sure about the food there though, I have heard mixed reviews according to my hometown friends. This cafe is conveniently located along the main road towards Ipoh Garden East.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Element Gym

My workouts have always been in the evening but since today is a jolly good Friday, I decided to switch routine and woke up as early as 545am headed to the gym. The biggest battle was dragging myself out of bed. Felt awesome after great workout.

I think I should do this more often!

W.I.P

 

Caught up with Mae who's in town for the night. Did you know WiP actually stands for Whipped Into Places? Hehe.... They have the best Mojitos in town. We had two each and boy... It was more than enough to set our mind abuzz. Considering it’s a Diwali day off, the place was surprisingly mellow. I had my “surprise birthday” there last year.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Sunrise in Gurney

Caught a beautiful sunrise from my hotel room at 34th floor. I was in Penang for a work trip. #things to be grateful for

Laduree

*among gazillion of phone calls today, this one made up my particular shitty day*

T: hi how are you?
S: could be better. You back from Europe already?
T: yeah just got back last night. Listen I'm just 5 mins away from your office. Can come down for a sec?

It's a souvenir from my favorite Laduree shop in Paris. These colorful macaroons instantly cheered me up, like a rainbow! I know how painful it must have been to queue up that perpetual line at Champ Elysees. Thankful I have some sweetest friend ever.

Ramen Love

Nothing beats a bowl of good Hokkaido Ramen and seeing those happy and heart warming faces. Great evening catching up with my girlfriends Shirlyn and Fanny after work at Hokkaido Restaurant, Gardens. S is expecting a baby girl! Love happy news like that.

Warrior

I haven’t done a movie review in a while now. That’s also probably because I haven’t seen one which was so so gripping since “my sister’s keeper”, and I have to say Warrior is probably the most emotional movie I’ve watched this year. Despite its ridiculously clichéd script, I find this movie superbly engaging, impressive fight sequences (not like I know MMA that well anyway) and terrific performances from the 3 actors. 

Personally not an avid fan for fighter movies. Oscar award winning movie Million Dollar Baby left me with a heavy heart for days. Warrior however turned out to be a lot deeper than I’ve expected it to be. The emotions were so raw and powerful depicting the enduring love of a family but i don’t want to spill any beans so say no further…