Whatever you want.

Earworm: New Sensation~~INXS

window shopped mostly at Times Square yesterday, we got funky(?-debatable for me, but definite for him) hairstyles from Kimarie. got a fringe, was advised to wax my hair for a better look (my stylist introduced a container of wax which will make me RM55 poorer..no way, man!). went home by LRT and got an intuitive feeling that my dad's gonna turn up in the new Kelisa to pick me up. guessed right! ooh and aahed over the champagne gold car which is real small and compact. right size for me then. it was a manual car so as to not take away my grandad's privilege of driving, gotta relearn manual tactics for myself then. which is not as easy as i thought when i tried to re-accustom myself to the clutch at night while reversing the car out to park it in front of my mum's car in the porch. it's not easy with my dad screeching at every mistake i made anyway. got me frustrated which led to the engine dying a total of four times in the space of 10-15 minutes perhaps. lousy.

Saturday, January 21, 2006

Title : Phuket
Time : 10:47 pm

Earworm: Ghost Of You~~My Chemical Romance
Currently reading: Mirage~~Soheir Khashoggi

18/1
hmm..no delay for AirAsia, not bad, considering all the bad rep i heard from my friends and relatives. greeted at Phuket International Airport by aunt Na, who took us out to lunch at MK restaurants.. we were faced with...(noooo!)steamboat! after the horrors at Korea, i suppose thai kinda steamboat veers more towards Chinese style, and its not all veg and pork and seaweed. there's some dim sum at the side too. Then its to the hotel for my family and uncle kee.
at night, the dinner party for my granaunt's 90th birthday is in order. (delay of one and a half hours before it actually started, looks like thais run on msian time too) the food was great, spicy affair. after that, things went downhill as i was lost in a sea of Hokkien, catching bits of English as the conversation flew by at our table of Hokkien speaking relatives. keeping me afloat was my mum who speaks southern hokkien instead of the penang one so she was also struggling to comprehend while translating. in the end i just didnt bother asking for translation and focussed on swatting the gigantic mosquitos away. then came old fogies hogging the karaoke machine, really! i had to put up with it for perhaps 3-4hours!a myriad of thai, chinese, english songs..our driver was also merrily downing alcohol so wonder whether he'll be too drunk to drive later and we stayed til the bitter end..when all the other attendees have long gone home. tiring/tiresome night....returned to the hotel for a good dose of american idol (they have star world and channel v on tv--rejoice!)

19/1
its shopping day for us, phuket malls are pretty boring to tell the truth, we covered 3 malls in 5 hours, none more than 3 stories tall. i expected something like bangkok style markets(though i haven't been there)with trinkets and souvenirs. who wants to look at brands we can find at home-eg:vincci, billabong, esprit, marks and spencer...
was supposed to go for FantaSea at night, but turns out its closed on Thurs nights. ah well, dinner with relatives again at a seafood restaurant by the sea.

20/1
Day trip to Phi Phi island. was all excited. thought the boat ride will take 1 hour. but no, it was 1hr 45 min. the ang mohs were all sprawled on the top deck sunning themselves while we were in the more shaded lower deck, catching the breeze.passed some breathtaking views of rocky outcrops, smaller islands, speedboats bouncing on the white spray of the waves amidst the blue-green seawaters. lovely. transferred to a smaller boat which took us to the snorkelling area. was slightly seasick on the boat which was rocked by strong waves, jumped into the water immediately to alleviate my dizziness but the waves didn't help. tried to focus on the colourful fishes in the clear waters. corals were nothing much to look at. snorkelling came naturally, didnt have difficulty breathing this time around but the goggles kept slipping down my ears and face each time i resurfaced. mum was sputtering on seawater as she couldn't coordinate breathing. can't help her much when she clung on to me. dad went onboard to buy some bread to feed the fishies.the scaredy cat in me was a bit apprehensive of being bitten by fish though it was mere nibbles. some of the fish even let me stroke them like furry pets. lol. slimy and slippery tho. unfortunately, we were only given less than an hour to snorkel and its off to phi phi island for buffet lunch. got even more seasick on the way there so not much appetite for the chinese style buffet lunch but sweet pineapples helped =) the next hour was spent shopping for beads, keychains, bags and souvenirs galore from the numerous stalls competing for tourists' attention. noticed similar decorative items were sold in sarawak.hmmm.. pretty much slept on the way back in the comforts of the air-condition interiors of the boat
our hosts scheduled the Fantasea show tonight for us instead. the festival village was more or less a shopping area, to shopaholics mum and my delight =) but other family members herded us to the buffer dinner at Golden Kinaree. it was a grand hall. i liked the dishes fine but my dad was complaining of lack of variety and my uncle was hankering for Japanese food. desserts were divine tho and complemented by the ubiquitous pineapples and watermelon. when leaving the hall only did we notice offerings of beef noodle, roast duck, fishball noodle and sashimi in inconspicuous corners of the dining hall. uncle kee looked mournfully at the missed sashimi lol.

outside the Palace of Elephants were elephants up for rides and pictures. though benign creatures in the care of their masters, i was still petrified on being trampled on by them. and they seem to have some epidermal problem on their trunks which looked pretty revolting to me. ick. the baby elephants were much cuter tho, plus their trunks were a nice shade of black without patchy beige spots. they tried to search for food in my mum's bag and my dad's pocket using their trunks. how adorable!
the show itself was not much to shout about, though i won't deny the extravagance and lavishness of the set and costumes. thai cultural show interspersed with slapstick comedic imposters of chang and eng followed by animal parade. fell asleep during the elephants act to tell the truth. the highlight(no pun intended) of the show was really the acrobatic act on high wired swings. while the magic show came off as irritating at best. the magicians were fuelled on maniacal laughter and lame stunts. like unveiling a caged girl in leopard skin outfit instead of a supposed tiger, saying 'oh its a thai-girl not a tiger.' duh!

21/1
sigh no time for my traditional thai massage which i so wanted. went to uncle tuk's prawn farm but missed the action of them catching and freezing the prawns to death in huge buckets of ice since aunt na was driving oh so carefully. flight was on time yet again and i got the window seat, which was right next to the door. lingered on the momentary unfounded fear of flying outta the door in mid-air. got a fantastic view of thailand from the plane.
touched down to an early CNY dinner at Magic Wok, yee sang, sharks fin soup and the works.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Title : Review: Pride and Prejudice
Time : 10:12 pm

Earworm: Check on it~~Beyonce

Not being familiar with Jane Austen's works, i went in the cinema with little expectation of how the movie will turn out. i was quite charmed by it actually. (i have a thing for british accents =p) liked the repartee between mr. darcy and elizabeth bennett during their 'forced' dance.(ooh keira knightley looked so lovely with pearls in her hair too!) watched with amusement at mrs bennett's obsession over frivolities and getting her daughters married off deemed more important than their well being, was annoyed by the younger giggling siblings though. read reviews that the film didnt concentrate so much on social commentary but focussed more on the blossoming love between darcy and elizabeth, which i don't particularly mind, was swooning at the final scene which i thought was so sweetly romantic! and i must state here that im not a die hard romantic, but that scene just sent tingles up my spine =) well, maybe i need to read the book to make a better comparison but the movie was great to watch, interspersed with moments of wit and hilarity, albeit my english couldn't really catch up with the mouthfuls of literary english (ah well there's always malay and chinese subtitles lol)

rating: 3.5/5

Sunday, January 01, 2006

Title : Happy New Year!
Time : 1:07 am

Earworm: Lifetime~~Better than Ezra

Happy 2006! i can't believe it, this year I'll be twenty! the big 2oh.. ah well still have 11 months til then. made the mistake the other day of complaining that im so old already to my grandma. whoops.
new year's eve: dinner at Kenny Rogers, Sunway Pyramid, walked around the shops to help pick up some smart casual wear for my friend. chatted at McDonald's til it's quarter to midnight. got attacked by revelling bystanders armed with bubble spray. recalled last year's NYE when i went out with the hostel gals and got my own can of spray. poor yh with her fractured arm too haha. tough gal! the fireworks were disappointingly scant tho, it's like happy new year! then... that's it???
so no new year resolutions for me no siree. but i have to take note to exercise more-- (dance mat!) or else i'd turn into a slob