Shredded Chicken Noodles at Thean Chun, Ipoh

Ipoh trips are never complete without a warm bowl of Shredded Chicken Noodles (鸡丝河粉). Me and bro decided that driving back to Ipoh before the pre CNY weekend would be the smarter thing to do since the crowd will start jamming up the highway from Friday onwards.

Upon reaching, we unloaded our luggage at the family home. Mom took over the wheels and brought us to Thean Chun for some breakfast. We don't do this on a regular basis cause the traffic and lunch crowd in Ipoh old town will probably drive us nuts before we get to savour our warm bowl of goodness.

And not to forget some non-halal Pork Satay. Here's the thing about the Pork Satay at Thean Chun, they'll keep replenishing your plate of satay voluntarily and will only charge for the sticks consumed. As for the rest, it goes back into their pile, heated up, and served again. I'm not sure about the peanut sauce that comes with it though. I'd prefer heading over to Thean Chun in the morning to make sure my sticks of satay were not reheated too many times before though.

My trip back to Ipoh felt complete right after *bliss*

Learning to juggle

Apologies for the recent lack of updates. All these writer's block nonsense has got to go. After years of writing, and I'm still struggling with the occasional block can be really depressing to anyone who writes. Just in case you're curious to know what's happening, follow me on Twitter.

Anyways, I've been attempting to pull off some juggling act recently. Indeed, it does takes a lot of patience and effort to be good at multitasking. Nevertheless, effort must be made where effort is due.

Here's the thing. There's been a few opportunities knocking on my door recently. As hard to resist as most of them are, grabbing them all at once isn't exactly the right thing to do. Of course, going all greedy isn't exactly the best thing to do at this point. Moreover, much consideration must be made before we can decide which is best.

Let us cross our fingers and hope for the best. If everything goes on well, then the art of juggling will be very much in need.

Happy Valentines Day! ♥

On our second year celebrating Valentines as a couple, we took the weekend off to Malacca for a quick getaway.

I've been wanting to make this trip for some time now, so I made it a commitment by booking well in advance. Three months in advance that is. Boyfie was in charge of doing our itinerary this time. Though we didn't get to explore most of the places on our itinerary, I was really glad that I got to spend quality time with him, old friends, and an old relative.

Photos and details on another post.

Anyways, our one night in Malacca really reminded us of our time in Taipei last year. I'd have to admit that it is rather rare that we get to spend time together away from the city. Of course, our trips back to my family home in Ipoh don't count cause we somehow end up spending our weekends with the whole bunch instead.

Anyways, back to our Valentines.

Being able to spend this Valentines exploring Malacca with the Boyfie has made me realized that we spend all our days together as if it was Valentines. I don't mean the showering of expensive gifts, or the overload of smooches on a frequent basis though. It's really about appreciating the time you have with each other and not take for granted of things. Yes, there will always be the occasional arguments and petty fights along the way. Most importantly, is knowing where each other are heading in the relationship.

For me, I'm thankful that my prayers were answer and I've met that special someone who is heading in the same direction as me. Past relationships has taught me that there's no point in being in a committed relationship if one or both do not see themselves spending the rest of their lives in holy matrimony. Then again, that's personal and some might beg to differ.

A little lighter brown I went

Was telling the Boyfie about wanting to go a little shorter and lighter with my hairdo. Let's just say that it was that random till the point that I wanted to pick up a box of hair colour from a nearby pharmacy and colour it instantly.

Needless to say, he was shocked.

After giving another 10 minutes of thought in the shower, I chickened out and decided to wait till our weekend away at the family home. And instead of colouring on our own, we decided to randomly pop by my dad's regular hairstyling joint to go a little lighter.

Credits to the aunt for this photo taken during Chinese New Year.

It wasn't exactly random cause I was already getting bored with my long ebony locks. Going a little lighter was naturally the next step I'd take with my hair anyways. And no I still do not trust anyone else but Seth when it comes to snipping my locks.

Now let's see if I'll decide to snip some inches off my hair soon.

Trip Summary - Sydney 2011

Here's my Sydney trip summary for easy reference.We stayed with mom's friend and her family throughout our trip and I must say that I do miss the family's warm hospitality. Especially when it came to dinners, all family members would make it a point to be present at the table and share stories on how their day went by.

Then there were also the mishaps and unfortunate events which happened along the way. Other than the sprained back incident which cause me a hell load of discomfort and pain, we have also encountered sickness and death of people close to the family. That! of course, shall be mentioned on another day.

Flew to Sydney with Malaysian Airlines.

Flowers at the market.

Strolling along Market Street.

Queen Victoria Building drive by.

 Art Gallery of New South Wales drive by.

Mr. Chow's Peking Restaurant at The Rocks.

 Bondi Beach drive by.

Exploring Circular Quay.

Sydney Harbour Cruise, Circular Quay.

 Visiting Dugongs at the Sydney Aquarium, Darling Harbour.

Cockle Bay, Darling Harbour.

 Petting kangaroos at Featherdale Wildlife Park.

 Jamison Lookout and Wentworth Falls Lookout.

Lovely little town of Leura.

Looking out to the valley at Echo Point, Blue Mountains.

Valley return rides at Scenic World, Blue Mountains.

Sydney Olympic Park.

Paramatta River Cruise back to Sydney Harbour.

 A Sydney Harbour evening.

Last minute shopping at Birkenhead Point.

Our last day in Sydney.

There are still lots of places for us to explore in Sydney. We were really thankful that we got to spend quality time with aunty since mom has only seen her once in a few years when she comes back to Malaysia for short visits.

Hopefully someday, we'll be fortunate enough to explore Sydney further.

Our last day in Sydney

Our time flew real fast. While we stood at the porch on our final morning in Sydney, it finally caught me that our 10 days has came to its end.

I made a prayer and blew some dandelions into the wind.

Then off we went with aunty to run some errands.

We also dropped by Star City to check aunty's 3rd son in for a free night.

And watched the sky turn dark from the hotel room's balcony.

We had dinner at the casino downstairs, and off to the airport we went.

 Airplane food wasn't too decent on our trip back to Kuala Lumpur.

We bid our goodbyes, checked our bags in, got on the flight, fed our tummies again, and tucked ourselves in. Our ten days in Sydney went by just like that. Most importantly, we got to spend time with aunty. Mom has barely seen her throughout the past two decades and they had loads to catch up along the way.

During our trip, we've got to experience certain things and events which changed my perception on life. I'll leave this for another post cause it's an entire discussion on its own. One thing was for sure, there were too much new information for me to take in and it kind of took its toll on me. Don't get me wrong cause I do love the fact that I got to learn from all the new experiences and information. There were just some things which were a tad bit harder to take in.

Lastly, I'll surely miss the blue skies and the warmth of aunty's family. Hopefully, we'll someday be able to head down under to spend some more time with them under the clear blue Australian skies.

Some last minute shopping

Aunty dropped us at Birkenhead Point for some last minute shopping while on her way out to the city to run some errands.

Cherry Beans at Birkenhead Point.

After some shopping, we sat down for some coffee.

Our flat whites :)

Fish and Chips.

Smoked salmon salad with zucchini, avocado, tomato and capers.

And more fish and chips when we got back.

Chinese food is usually served in this household so the kids were pretty happy when they could have something different for a change. Uncle took the honour of preparing fish and chips while 3rd son volunteered to prepare the salad.

Gosh, I'm suddenly missing the blue skies and home cooked food already.