Am off to Bali!
Yes, i know it’s like my second home.
I WISH i had a second home there!
But i can settle for the latter of going there 3 times a year.
This time, Clem and i are going to explore the northern and western parts of Bali.
The parts where ppl rarely go to (tho i’ve been to Lovina before).
After this, i will be a TRUE expert of Bali after having been there at least 10 times and traveled into every town there possibly is (including taking a boat to Gili).
Time to pack.
And load videos unto my PlayBook.
Try not to forget anything… HAT!
My big blue hat!
That has to come with me!
I remember being in London when i was 17,
and not having the habit of wearing anything on my face.
(Girls younger than that nowadays are experts, woe is me.)
I think my aunt thought it time for me to SLAP something on,
cos she started throwing all sorts of make up into our shopping basket.
And so started my amateur foray into making myself look different for the better.
The first make up i clung on to on a regular basis was mascara.
Reasons being it was easy to apply,
and helped ‘open up’ my Chinese eyes by leaps and bounds.
You know what i mean by Chinese eyes,
my eyelashes are long but not as lusciously thick as my Indian girlfriends.
I’m guessing that the only reason they’re moderately long is because i took the scissors to them when i was a teen, read in some magazine that trimming your eyelashes would make them grow back thicker!
Luckily (for me), the article held true and my lashes grew back slightly thicker and longer.
But they’re still kinda pathetic.
Hence my addiction to mascara.
If i don’t put any on… i look like i just rolled out of bed.
I look sleepy!
Because i’ve used countless mascara wand types and brands for over a decade now,
i can confidently say i know what i’m talking about when you throw me a mascara to try!
When it comes to using mascara on lashes,
my whole point is to:
1. thicken my lashes, volume volume volume!
2. curl them if possible
3. easily washable (thanks to Kanch telling me years ago that pulling at my eyes will give it lines -_- i’ve been super paranoid ever since and avoid using stubborn eye make up)
4. smudge-proof (no thanks to our humid weather)
5. slim brush (i’m not a fan of thick wands, terkenas my eye skin with mascara too much)
Last week, i bought a new flashy mascara at Guardian pharmacy:
I’m trying in vain to blog more holiday posts before i shoot off for another holiday this Thursday!
This time, it’ll be back to Bali with Clem.
When i was updating my dad where i’ll be the following week,
he said, “Bali?? Again?? You want to live there is it?” Well, actually, i do, i really do.
But it’s getting quite commercialised, especially after Eat, Pray, Love so maybe it’s time to find a new second home.
Laos is a possibility!
SO!
We woke up to a gorgeous misty morning on our 3rd day in Laos:
I mean really, how lucky were we to have a backyard view like that
to relish in the moment we woke up!
The air was fresh and cold,
my sinusitis broke out but i didn’t care,
villagers were fishing across the river in the early morn,
and everyone was in a completely chilled out mood.
We all put on our spectacles (all of us are blind save Jess)
and pottered over to hotel buffet to have breakfast.
I went for the Laotian pork porridge every day i was there yummeh.
And half-boiled eggs and toast too.
Porridge alone is not enough for me!
All of us go for yoga at the same teacher based in D’sara Heights in KL.
We were angelic yoga students for doing it on holiday,
and it felt so amazing in the cool air with grass in between our toes!
Look at Tianna, she even brought her headband *giggles*
After that, i don’t know what to describe we were doing except ‘NOTHING’.
I sat on the bench facing the river and stared out at the hills and mist.
Steph was on a mission to get THE perfert macro picture of an ant.
She said they had tiny spikes on their bodies.
Then a butterfly came fluttering around and she went chasing after it.
Jess joined her too.
I was content sitting on the bench, not moving,
and playing with my blue butterfly.
After 3-4 hours of doing absolutely nothing but crawl and bum around our back garden (it’s a holiday!),
we all managed to get ready and head out for lunch and afternoon waterfall adventures.
Open your eyes Jess.
me & Tianna.
She can speak fluent French after studying it for a year.
Shame on me :p
We took a clattering tuk tuk to the organic farm in Vang Vieng
When we reached the organic farm, there was EXTREMELY LOUD RAVE MUSIC BLASTING from across the river…
i think i’m kinda so over my rave music era… (ok, except when i was in Copenhagen :p)
and so so hoped that not all the river bars would be blasting such crazy music the next day when we were planning to go tubing.
I much prefer happy indie rock pop clappy music to dance and drink to now
See the bar is crowded with ppl on the left of pic.
Little village children on the right bathing in river.
Steph actually warned me before we went on holiday,
how she was going to wear Crocs.
She knows how much i detest them till i threaten to throw my friends’ Crocs away if they’re around me.
But the ones she had were not so bad.
Leopard print saves some fashion sense.
Maurice next to all the anklets Steph has collected from her travels.
Tianna’s duckie
AWHHHH the organic food at the farm was fantastic!
We ordered so much and stuffed our faces silly.
Hopped back on the tuk tuk to find a waterfall after lunch.
Scenery was wonderful, but i was passing out from eating so much at lunch.
Have to admit that i took some of these pictures without actually focusing on what i was taking!
All we had was an photocopy of a roughly illustrated map of the waterfalls and caves around Vang Vieng,
and we crossed a river to find a cave.
Steph, me, Tianna, Jess
My ‘I heart burger’ top is from Pop.Muse.Sic!
They’ve got some new stuff in,
and some older stuff is on sale, like this UNICORN SHIRT
Maybe the map wasn’t great,
maybe our sense of direction is just terrible,
but we couldn’t find the cave.
Instead we found cows taking a walk…
… a field of kiddos playing a game,
a nice Laotian lady and supercute baby who let me take a picture,
… and lots of Laotian children bathing in the river.
Most of them smiled and waved,
but this one scowled at me.
I don’t blame her, i would’ve scowled at someone invading my bathing territory too!
The last time i swam nekkid was in Tioman.
I miss being nekkid in nature! Best feeling.
We gave up trying to find this hidden cave after walking around so much,
and went back to the tuk tuk where the driver was having a nappy nap.
Think he took pity on us, and brought us to another area,
where he personally walked us to a magnificent waterfall.
It was so big i didn’t dare take my camera near it…
had way too much water spraying about like a storm for its safety!
Water was icy cold! Steph is mad.
Look at all the mist!!
My tiger swimsuit is from Urban Outfitters in London
We hurried out of the forest before it got dark,
cos hiking over sharp rocks and slippery mud ain’t fun.
Dinner time back in town yayyyy!
Dessert for me was banana nutella pancake the local women fry to a precious crisp.
Next post on Laos will be the last one,
where we do what every backpacker comes to Vang Vieng to experience – tubing down the river!
Waking up on Urbanscapes Day is like waking up on Christmas Day.
Excited, HAPPY, hungry, and ready to walk and talk all day long!
Thanks to all the readers who tried winning Urbanscapes tix from my blog!
There were over 45 entries and your anticipation for Urbanscapes was contagious!
Was so hard to pick 5x winners…
Wish i had more to give out!! (Next year okay Adrian? TAKE NOTE OKAY )
One of the winners was Amir, who came all the way down from Ipoh!
Word of the day = Dedication.
Lots of tents were set up all over Padang Astaka for performances throughout the day
First place Aps and i headed to was the bar.
We got our priorities right :p
We were both slightly hungover from the night before,
and what better to combat it than what started it in the first place.
Kilkenney beer was a reasonable RM12 per cup.
Only bad thing is we weren’t allowed to walk around the festival with our cups of beer,
had to drink it in designated areas. Boo @ stringent Msian law.
Kevin & Clouds
They were getting their priorities striaght too.
I wanted to take a pic of Clouds’ unicorn earring she bought there.
She said she was trying to ‘make her ear smile’.
Only Clouds…
At the Style Snaps booth
In a cartoon world
Where i was always meant to be.
Saw a store called Beautiful Disaster with lots of colourful stuff and veered towards it
Ended up buying happy colourful items!
Scarf, pink pants, striped top, beige clutch.
Seeing this was the first store i walked into,
i got a bit scared wondering whether i was going to shop like this all day.
It’s such a nice colourful picture!
I’m wearing a dress from Leftblock.
Also got this unique coral + blue polka dot dress from the Tongue in Chic Store.
Was deciding on it for awhile cos it cost RM90,
slightly higher than what i’d usually pay for a dress from a flea market.
But decided i couldn’t let go of the colour and BLUE DOTS.
Had to have it.
Rushed Aps to the Junk Stage for Liyana Fizi’s performace
Noone wanted to step in the mud but i braved the move forward for a better picture.
Was prepared by wearing plimsolls i’d previously soaked in mud from last year’s festivals in UK.
Liyana is a care bear in my head
Then i bumped into Az! Az Samad okay!
If you don’t own his album,
you’re MISSING OUT ON LIFE.
Around 5:30 pm, Aps and i headed to the X-Fusion zone,
because it was the only air-conditioned place in the festival
where everyone’s allowed to smoke and drink!
Some performers who were pretty funky
but i’m such a bad blogger i don’t know their names sorry :p
With Melly Ling! She was writing for Tongue in Chic when i was working there.
I love how the wind is blowing her balloons and my dress heehee *vain*
Spotted Sarah chilling in a food area.
I was quite tipsy by then and got a stern, “Don’t GET DRUNK BEFORE OUR SET!” cos she and i were spinning as SalahWrong from 9-11pm
Pic i didn’t even see while shooting cos sun was in my eye.
But look at Claudia hahahaha
I thought the SNACKS at Urbanscapes were awfully good –
keropok lekor, Karipop curry puffs filled with mash potato and chicken, The Last Polka guinness ice cream, Chef Tony’s popcorn…
But the savoury food cannot make it la.
Everything else i bought was s0-so and kinda oily,
maybe cos it had to be out in the heat all day…
Felt i didn’t eat enough yesterday!
Bumped into Chelsia, Josh, and their massive umbrella.
I was like, “God Chelsia, such a princess that Josh has to shade you!” But then i thought, owh, that’s so sweet really…. and asked Clem today whether he’d do that for me.
He said, “But i wasn’t with you then,” Me: Yeah but if you were with me? Him: In the rain? Me: No, in the sun. *knows it’s a no-go cos Clem, like all kwailo ppl, LOVES WALKING IN THE HOT SUN*
Him: Are you kidding me or what?
See, no-go.
It’s okay la, i’m just mengada-ing,
i actually like walking in the sun and getting a tan
Went back to TiC Turf, but didn’t end up buying anything else.
Maybe it was the heat, maybe cos i just ate so much,
maybe it was the alcohol AND the heat,
but i felt like i was slowly melting.
Aps and i bumped into Eddy, Alet and gang,
and followed them to their car to drink more
At first i could hear SARAH’S VOICE in my head not to drink anymore.
Then my louder naughty voice came in and said, “Well, Sarah’s not here to seeeee heee heeeeeeee”
We just chilled around the car drinking like samsengs.
Alet.
Forget that trend about stealing clothes from your bf’s wardrobe,
it’s time for the guys to steal from the girls now
Eddy, Master of Alcohol, is also lead singer for the Rollin’ Sixers.
*scream*
Sharing is caring and loving and drinking and everything
Aps had a bit too much sharing
Kang
Manly accessories
Ran back into the festival after that,
cos Clem had arrived and i didn’t even meet him at the entrance cos i was wayyy on the other side… drinking.
:p
But it was okay cos he was excitedly watching Reza Salleh. Even messaged me that he’s watching Reza and to faster join him.
Later on that day, he complained he tried to buy Reza’s CD,
but noone could tell him where to go.
So he’s damn disappointed.
Reza, if you’re reading this, i hereby am placing an order for your CD okay,
Clem’s gonna nag me.
Xu + Lim Aiyo Lim… we gotta work on your poses man.
Sarah and Mira
Sarah was probably shouting at me, as usual.
After that i didn’t take pictures for awhile cos i got REALLY SLEEPY AND TIRED!
I think it’s cos i followed Sarah’s advice and tried to slow down on the drinking.
As i recall, at previous Urbanscapes i managed to be on the go go go all day by drinking continously. Should have followed my instincts.
I made myself WAKE UP before our SalahWrong set by eating ice cream,
and restarting to drink beer again.
Had an enjoyable set, we forgot to take ANY pictures of ourselves, really salah man,
but did have a plethora of media and ppl taking pictures of us in the first 20 minutes.
Sarah whispered to me, “Umf, i feel so weird…” Think she’s not used to so many ppl taking pictures..!
I was just dancing and grinning and embracing it haha.
After our set, all of us went to layan Arabyrd in the X-Fusion section:
Ming noticed me taking a picture the EXACT MOMENT my brain was telling my finger to push down on the button.
He managed to strike a pose in 0.02 seconds.
Blur picture of Arabyrd cos she be dancing too fast for my non-flash mode
Clem and i ready to go home
Yummiest popcorn i’ve ever had in my life!
I left it till the last picture cos I WANT TO KNOW WHERE I CAN BUY MORE?!
Anyone?
Clem and i are fighting over this one tub i bought…
Anyway, thanks and kudos to the Freeform team for putting together Urbanscapes again!
It felt so nice that i didn’t have to work this time tee hee.
I didn’t take pictures of soooo many things going on yesterday,
like Ion’s cool interactive sound & water thingy,
and the Moonshine set up (argh),
just wanted to enjoy myself instead of report it heh.
Clem took me along to this gala at the French Embassy
‘Twas France National Day on July 14th (a date which i’ll probably have to remember just because it’s important to him too!)
I wore a dress given to me by Gallo by Thian.
First time i’ve worn it and i think it suits Asian bodies to a T.
Silver mesh bag from Jakarta.
Clem plied me with the promise of a French buffet spread and free flow champagne.
I’d never been to the French Embassy before, tho i had experienced a party at the German Embassy in KL,
and i do recall how lavish the spread was plus how much i enjoyed stuffing my face and stomach…
So i was looking forward to the food
It turned out to be a really crowded do!
There were queues for the food so we waited it out a bit..
and didn’t get to try half the food there
Also… it was outdoors (so hot! only kwailo people will try to have a dinner party outdoors in KL. Right or not!)
Clem was sweating in his coat.
I was sweating in my cocktail dress.
Everyone was sweating la.
What food i DID get to try WAS damn good.
Including the salty caramel macarons there, mmmm
Nadjet, Olivier + Matt
Nadjet is Clem and Matt’s former boss.
I like lady bosses
We hit it off and thank god for her else i woulda died.
I offered to keep her cat while she’s on hols,
and we msged each other the next day.
Clem grumbled, “You all best friends now or what?!”
Julie Woon, Elaine Daly, Liyana Fizi, Dany Bolduc – VP of BlackBerry Malaysia + Vietnam + Thailand, Carmen Soo, me
Ben from BlackBerry SG, had a great time with you!
Almost the last to leave..!
My new BlackBerry PlayBook charging at home today weeee!
I can’t wait to be able to watch movies on AirAsia flights now ho ho
especially since we bought cheap RM800 per way tix to Paris for next year.
Was wondering how i’d survive a long haul flight with no entertainment.
I wore a Tri-Os jumpsuit courtesy of Fashion Valet for my birthday this year.
Thanks Vivy!!!
Crazy clogs from Benson Chen are surprisingly very comfy to wear!
A bit hazardous for heavy drinking nights,
so that’s a good way to control me (?)
Check his stuff out at The Twelve @ Farenheit 99
Hmong tribe bangle from Laos,
delicate rings from thirtyfour,
smoky quartz + silver ring from Sri Lanka
My fingers are really tiny, so it’s hard for me to get rings,
i’m a size 7 (size S in high street stores are size 9 and above -_-)
I have pricey fingers hee hee.
Galle in Sri Lanka sell wonderful semi-precious and precious stone jewelry.
I picked my stone, they measure my finger ring size,
and they cast it within 2 hours.
Love.
)
