Glam Asia – a publication of Glam Media – is searching for the NEXT BIG THING in the fashion blogosphere in Asia! Whether you’re an established blogger or an aspiring one, you could be reaching out and influencing as many as 250 million users from the Glam Media network with your fashion wisdom!
Daymn! I almost wish i wasn’t a judge now after reading the prize list.
That’s right, Glam Asia has invited me to be a judge for this contest, along with other fashion bloggers from South East Asia – Tricia Gosingtian from the Philippines, Sonia Eryka from Indonesia, Viona Wang and fashion designer Ginette Chittick from Singapore.
Submissions are made easy for you, just fill up the form *HERE* before 29 Feb 2012!
An article i wrote about working for a second income is up on the R U Ready MY facebook page!
I wrote about all the jobs i’ve ever delved in (including some really strange ones that i’ve never told anyone before!) and how making my passions into financially rewarding activities is helping me live my life to the fullest!
Please LIKE my article! And please LIKE the R U Ready MY page too! They’re doing a bunch of activities to inspire youth, such as an entrepreneurs workshop (called How To Be Your Own Boss) that will be held on the Feb 18th in PJ Live Arts, Jaya One. Sign up for it quick as i heard seats are flying fast! This workshop offers insights from young entrepreneurs like Nuffnang bawse Timothy Tiah on how to start your own business. Not to mention you get to rub shoulders and meet equally inspiring young leaders of our time!
Clem and i try to step into unfamiliar territory every time we go on holiday. This time we went somewhere most haven’t ventured to, but we did especially because Nick has been living there for 6 years. It’s always a kinder experience when someone local takes you around a new place!
Flights to Acheh were cheap – i bought our flights a month ago and they cost RM400 per person, return, with baggage. Flight was 2 hours, not too painful. And for the first time in MONTHS, there wasn’t a delay on our AirAsia flights!
Nick moved to Acheh after the devastating tsunami in 2004 and worked for an NGO. Still is actually, besides venturing into a coffee business of his own. Also saw some cool algae experiments he’s carrying out in his house but didn’t take a picture damn.
This is the graveyard where many tsunami victims are buried…
Tyre felt a bit wonky so driver stopped to change it
Acheh’s landscape is really beautiful. You notice the difference from when you’re landing in the plane… there are a lot of fields and trees and mountains. Nick pointed out which parts the tsunami washed away back then, and the new buildings that have/are being built. It’s sad and mind-blowing to see how far the water came up to.
A scattering of new houses and buildings have been set up since then, with some halfway done. Apparently the Achehnese are not mindful time masters when it comes to building. Their new airport has been ‘building’ for the past 5 years and all i see is its skeleton. It’s quite funny.
Steph wasn’t feeling well the first night, ahlala…
Nick said Joel’s Bungalows at Lampuuk beach is the nicest place for us to stay in Acheh and i totally agree! The place is beautiful with the sea and cliffs right next to us, and individual cabins with decently-decorated bedrooms and bathrooms.
I tried searching it on Trip Advisor but there are no ratings for it, instead, i found a glowing review on how Joel took many orphans and homeless kids under his wing after the tsunami. Read it yourself *here*
There’s a cabin right on the pond where you can stay in too (pictured above) but looking at the walkway that leads to it above the dank water, i doubted our ability to stumble back safely after a night of drinking with them at Joel’s restaurant. Didn’t help that Nick mentioned the pond is a water buffalo grave too! Fascinating.
I so so badly wanted to chase these ducks. I also saw for the first time two steady streams of BATS that flew out to feed in the evening, both streams being wavy lines that started at the cliffs and ended as far as the eye could see.
We stayed in a cliff cabin like this, but the one that was closest to sea. It costs 250,000 rupiah/RM88 a night.
Not for careless people!
The view from our balcony – FANTASTIC. You can see mountains,cove, sea, forest, beach and cliff all at once!
I really appreciate how Joel made the bathrooms open air and au natural against the cliff’s rock side.
While i was running last minute errands in KL before leaving for Acheh, this bright purple kid-sized hula hoop caught my eye and the words TAKE ME WITH YOU ran in my head loudly a couple of times. I decided not to fight it and just bought it. Christened it Henry (short for Henrietta) and brought it to Acheh.
See, it came in useful to mark where the drinks are so we don’t knock them over!
And to lean on when tired from day at office, flight journey and drinking! I ended up giving it to the 2 small kids that lives next to Nick on the last day we were there. Felt that they would love it more than me… and i can always buy myself another one that calls out to me next time at Star Enterprise.
Clem took this picture in the morning
Clem, Nick and Steph
Nick bought us his favourite local breakfast. It’s like nasi lemak and beef rendang. SEE, this is why it’s great to go somewhere a friend is! They get to feed me the best food HEH
Just got back from Acheh and Pulau Weh and it was a FANTASTIC holiday. I think from now on, i’ll ensure that my Lovelies and their boyfriends and us go on holidays at least once a year.
Was adamant to complete a barrage of chores the moment we landed at 3pm – give Steph a lift back home, drop by the pharmacy to pick up antihistamins and camomile lotion (for some allergy i managed to catch on the last day), stock up on food at the supermarket, unpack, do the laundry, sweep the floor, then cook.
I’ve done everything except swept the floor and cook, so i thought i’d take a break to write about something that was on my mind!
I was listening to Capital FM (as i usually do nowadays, apart from BFM) and heard their daily news report. First was one about a father in China who swiped shit from a public toilet in the market, to rub on to his 10-year-old daughter’s lips FIVE times because she disobeyed him (according to police reports) by not arranging his newspapers properly. What the hell?! What kind of father does that? She must have thrown his newspapers into the toilet and then smeared it over her younger sibling to deserve that.
Then, it was some news on a now-19-year-old Malay girl who THREW a baby off the 2nd storey. WHAT?! It’s so depressing and unnecessary to hear this sort of news! If i wanted to know these sort of stories, i would read the newspapers. THIS IS WHY I DON’T READ THE NEWSPAPERS. Cos they always make me cry!
News can be happy, sad or originally – plain informative. I don’t mind hearing about world news, but all this crazy screwed up things people do to each other just kill me. It kills me to know people out there do that. And if i were the government a queen, i wouldn’t allow such news to be broadcasted to the rest of my nation – letting it be known in such a widespread manner that people DO SUCH THINGS and it’s ACCEPTABLE IN THE CONSCIOUSNESS of man to do that.
I wish we had a radio station that would only broadcast happy news. At least all the stories we hear will inspire our day instead of throw our brains into turmoil that the world can be a terrible place. Because it’s not! And the more we hear shitty stuff, the more it tends to make us feel like life sucks. The closest i’ve found to something i favor in this matter is HappyNews.Com, but i feel the website’s not HAPPY enough.
Damn this is an idea. Maybe i should start a website that tells only HAPPY STORIES AND NEWS.
The next morning, we walked to the restaurant to have breakfast instead of calling for a tuk tuk. Our villa was really near the Baba Poolclub anyway.
I have to mention that their tuk tuk service is impeccable. We’d call for a tuk tuk and one would appear on our doorstep a mere few minutes later. Once, one of the staff apologized for making us wait, when we had been waiting for like… 30 seconds? You see how spoilt i got when i was there. I was allowed to be impatient if i wanted! Bad Joyce.
The tuk tuk service even went so far as to fetch us from our doorstep to the doorstep of the bars OUTSIDE the resort that we explored at night. Then when we wanted to come home, the bar owner would call the resort and they’d send a tuk tuk to take us home… back to our own doorstep. So spoilt, i die.
The lane in front of the villa
Baba Poolclub is a 5,000 sq. m. four-story building with Cooking School, Hot Pot, Pool Bar, 25-metre infinity lap pool, the Baba88 disco and seven new pool suites. Not to mention heaps of other facilities surrounding it like the fitness centre, tennis courts, game room, beach pool, private beach, business centre and Cool Spa. It’s just insane.
The Pool Bar
Their concept of pools and water everywhere was gorgeous. I couldn’t get over how much blue i was seeing – the pools, the sea, the sky!
Our view during breakfast.
Breakfast was a lavish affair that offered an extensive selection for both Western and Asian palates. Namely Clem’s and mine. He can’t fathom how i can stomach savoury spicy food first thing in the morning, but hey, i am not sorry for being Asian!
Food, as all my friends know, is of UTMOST importance to my holiday, my life, my BEING. I’m happy to write that everything i ate there was delicious (the only food i recall not being up to par was the one i cooked for myself in their cooking class.) There were so many things i could have for breakfast… that i ended up having a few dishes and feeling like a complete pig after. Also mixed with those guilty emotions were that of ‘yes, i now feel i AM on holiday!’ which is when i eat till my utter contentment.
After a huge breakfast, we took a tour around the resort. Good idea to do so anyway… to walk off all that food!
Even the spa looks like a piece of paradise on its own!
That’s me chilling at the spa pool!
Cool Spa offers every exotic body pampering treatment you can imagine, from Tamarind Body Scrubs and Pumpkin Body Cocoons, to Neem Black Clay body treatments. Massage types range from Swedish, Thai and Balinese, to a mixture of all!
After getting all excited about getting a massage later on in our stay, we hopped on the tuk tuk and went to Baba Nest – another huge building of its own.
The place is so pretty you can’t take a bad picture no matter where you turn
Even the view out the window is postcard-worthy!
This is Sunset Lounge – where guests come for evening cocktails and tapas while enjoying what is reputed to be the BEST view in Phuket.
It’s so freaking beautiful! Okay just one more picture of the Sunset Lounge then i’m done, promise!
We also had a look at what the 2-bedroom villas look like, some consisted of 2-stories!
Just when i thought *our* living room was huge…
Next post will be more fun pictures of our stay at Sri Panwa 😉
/////
This trip was made possible by Luxe Nomad, a soon-to-be-launched website dedicated to traveling the world in luxury and style. Sign up for member-only rates at TheLuxeNomad.Com. Membership is free.
