After packing our bags, my uncle brought us to have breakfast at a coffee shop before dropping us off at Berjaya Times Square. We reached Berjaya Times Square before 10 am, and it was not open for operation yet. Security guards actually stand by the side entrance to stop people from entering the premises!

Most of the shops in Berjaya Times Square did not open at 10 am, and so we were left wandering aimlessly. Berjarya Times Square houses the Berjaya University College of Hospitality, and Cosmo’s World Theme Park & Theatre. You can feel the ground vibrating when the rides are in operation! Pretty scary if you are not aware of the source of the vibration (:

The clothes at Berjaya Times Square are very cheap, going for as low as 10 RM. The shoes are really pretty too. Sequins are sewn onto canvas pumps so that they don’t get dirty easily. I didn’t manage to buy any shoes, although I bought a sling bag for 32 RM. I also tried Wendy’s Nuggets. They taste really different. Might be the herbs (:

We took the Royal VIP Coach back to Singapore, and the seat was so comfortable that I fell asleep on the ride. I didn’t manage to load any games, but I watched Kung Fu Panda. The speakers on the Royal VIP Coach are hidden in the headrest, so you can enjoy the videos/music/games without disturbing the other passengers.

The driver was kind enough to let a few of us alight way before we reached our offical destination, and so we were able to shorten our journey home. Although I enjoyed my short stay in KL, I was very glad to be home where everything was familiar, and where it wasn’t weird for people to think that I’m a local (:

For more on my tour of KL, please read the previous two entries, and click here for the photos!

Day 2 of my KL Tour started with breakfast at my uncle’s house. Knowing that I wanted to try Roti Canai, my uncle bought some home before going to work. Roti Canai is similar to Singapore’s Roti Prata, but I find it slightly tastier, and I heard that it’s because Planta is used when making Roti Canai.

After breakfast, we made our way to Suria KLCC via public transport. The fare system is vastly different from that of Singapore, and each ticket bought is actually a daily pass that entitles passengers to unlimited travel. Suria KLCC houses a lot of designer labels, and on one of the floors, you have to pay to use the toilets (unlike on the other levels). From what my mom described, cleaners actually clean the cubicles after each use. Wet tissue is also provided.

We had lunch at Burger King, and again there were a lot of differences. The main difference is that the burgers here in Singapore are much more delicious (: The beef patties here are SO juicy! We then went to A&W for desert. The waffles are really cripsy, although I wish they had other flavours on their menu. I bought some ice-blended mocha from Coffee Bean before we left Suria KLCC, and the cashier actually spoke to me in Behasa Melayu. Do I look like a Malaysian? Hees.

My mom decided to bring us to Sungei Wang Plaza/BB Plaza so I could do somemore shopping. We took the LRT, then transferred to the monorail. There were two birds on display at the monorail station, and it was an interesting sight. I bought a scarf for only 15 RM, and another dress at 25 RM. And, yes, you can bargain at some of the shops there (:

The next stop was Lot 10, and it was pretty deserted there. We decided to go home for dinner, and my uncle picked us up. We passed by Pavilion Kuala Lumpur on the way home. The shopping mall actually houses a Jaguar showroom! I’m definitely visiting Pavilion KL when I have the chance (:

And now, I present to you…

Hees. Aren’t they cute? They’re the children my aunt babysits. The little boy is HaoHao, and he practically stays at my uncle’s. My aunt has been babysitting him since he was born, and he even calls my aunt “mom”. He can be really adorable, doing things like staying up to wait for my grandma while she turns off the lights. But he can also be an absolute terror, riding his bike anywhere he wants and snatching toys that other kids are playing with away. I don’t know what the name of the little girl is, but she’s really cute (: She passed some of the toys that she was playing with to me, and rushed to pick her shoes up when she saw that we were leaving. Absolutely adorable!

The last part of my KL Tour in the next entry, and, again, more pictures already on Facebook!

Last Sunday, I took a coach to KL with my family. We were in Malaysia after only 30 minutes, and they played the movie “Love Matters” on the journey. I bought chocolate-flavoured Bubble Yum at our first stop, but it wasn’t yummy at all ): We reached our destination after 5 hours.

As we did not get the chance to eat lunch, I rushed off to buy some pretzels from Auntie Anne’s while waiting for my uncle to pick us up. Auntie Anne’s is SO much cheaper in KL! One Parmesan Cheese pretzel costs less than 4 RM while it costs almost 3 SGD.

My uncle brought us to a coffee shop for late lunch, and I ordered Hakka noodles, which is like Singapore’s bak chor mee. The only difference is that beef is used instead of pork. My uncle then dropped my mom off at her friend’s for a wedding dinner. We then went to TESCO, and bought 1/2 dozen Big Apple donuts. I only managed to have a few bites though, but they seem to taste better than J. Co’s (:

After some rest at my uncle’s house, we made our way to his in-law’s. We passed by Look Out Point on the way, and the view of the city was breathtaking. I didn’t manage to take any photos, but here is one of the better photos that I found on Google.

I definitely hope to go there again someday and take some nicer photos of the view myself (: We went to a pasar malam after that and had some snacks. I also bought a dress for 20 RM. Most of the clothes at the pasar malam look really good, like the kind you find on blogshops, with one major difference – they are much cheaper at the pasar malam.

We had extremely late dinner at the coffee shop near my uncle’s house, and my grandma ordered Hokkien mee. KL’s Hokkien mee is very different from Singapore’s Hokkien mee. You can click here to read about the difference yourself (:

More about my tour of KL in the next two entries, and all photos on Facebook!

Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young

Mary Schmich

Inside every adult lurks a graduation speaker dying to get out, some world-weary pundit eager to pontificate on life to young people who’d rather be Rollerblading. Most of us, alas, will never be invited to sow our words of wisdom among an audience of caps and gowns, but there’s no reason we can’t entertain ourselves by composing a Guide to Life for Graduates.

I encourage anyone over 26 to try this and thank you for indulging my attempt.

Ladies and gentlemen of the class of ‘97:

Wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they’ve faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don’t worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts. Don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don’t waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long and, in the end, it’s only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don’t.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else’s.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don’t be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they’ll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They’re your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you’ll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you’ll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don’t mess too much with your hair or by the time you’re 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen. 

Words of wisdom indeed, and if you can’t be bothered to read the whole thing, there’s actually a music single that’s released by Baz Luhrmann that you can google.

Live a life without regrets. And people wish someone had given them advice about how to live their lives without realising that others already had, don’t they?

 - William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Act Three, Scene One

I swear I’m going to read Shakespeare this summer vacation. Wait for me, Hamlet.

By the way… Anyone has any idea why Shakespeare’s such a genius?

While Wiki-ing information on the Chinese New Year, I came across some interesting things (:

Although Chinese New Year is also known as the Lunar New Year, it is actually not based on the lunar calendar. According to Wikipedia, the only widely used purely lunar calendar is the Hijiri/Islamic calendar. The Chinese calendar is in fact a lunisolar calendar, whose date indicates both the moon phase and the time of the solar year. Also, because the solar year does not have a whole number of lunar months, an intercalary month is added to the year every two or three years. Thus, the Chinese calendar has what is commonly known as leap months. Maybe I should stop wishing people a Happy Lunar New Year but a Happy Lunisolar New Year instead (;

Another thing I do every Chinese New Year is watch the Chingay Parade on TV. Let me show you some photos of it (:

Chingay Parade Singapore 2009

Draconika, three fire-breathing dragons

Chong Qing's Tong Liang Fire Dragon

Dancing Puppets from the Singapore Soka Association

Lawernce Khong, The Burning Man

Credits go to chooyutshing, Flickr (:

I know I haven’t updated for a very long time, so I’m going to Copy & Paste something I did yesterday on Facebook (:

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o1. I am an only child (if you don’t already know).

o2. I don’t hold chopsticks the traditional way but, hey, I can pick up fishballs like a pro!

o3. The Star Wars prequels are probably the closest things to a science-fiction movie that you can get me to enjoy.

o4. I am obssessed with Twilight. And Edward Cullen, for that matter.

o5. I can’t live without music. It’s the first thing I hear in the morning, the last thing I hear at night… You get the picture

o6. I meet up with my primary school classmates almost every year.

o7. I like tulips. I want to visit Holland during the Tulip Time Festival. And the ruffled tulip on the cover of New Moon is just pretty

o8. I have eight maternal cousins. I rarely see them because six of them are in Malaysia, and the other two live with their mom who’s separated from my uncle. Ohhs, and we’re all ladies.

o9. I’ve stayed with my maternal grandma all my life.

10. I want to backpack across Europe.

11. I hope to get married and have children before I’m 30.

12. My best subject in school was Maths.

13. I can’t wear contact lenses because I have sensitive eyes.

14. I don’t think I’ll ever visit Mainland China again because I got sick the last time I was there. I just couldn’t adapt. But I want to go to Hong Kong again

15. I have sushi at least once a week.

16. I want to visit Tasmania and snorkel there.

17. I don’t know anyone who shares my birthday. The closest is a friend born a mere few hours after me.

18. I plan to go to Bueno Aires when I’m old, but am not sure if I can survive the long plane ride.

19. I spend way too much time online than necessary.

20. I want to visit Hokkaido in the winter and ski, eat Gelato… There are too many things that I want to do there

21. I don’t eat spicy food even though I grew up in Singapore all my life.

22. I love cheese. I add cheese to my sushi, I add cheese to my Campbell’s cream soup…

23. I eat more during the school term than during the school holidays. Stress-induced eating? Or more hours spent awake?

24. I owe all of Jay Chou’s albums. Not all versions, just one version each.

25. According to my GP, my foot/feet is/are slightly flat.

Feel free to tag me with your 25 random things even if I didn’t tag you, if you want me to know more about you! (:

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Since this is not Facebook… Feel free to leave me a comment if you come up with 25 random things about yourself with a link (: Just something to let you know more about me!

Happy 2009, Happy Lunar New Year, and I’ll try to update once a week (: Stay tuned!

This song is titled “From The Inside Out”, and is performed by Hillsong. It is subtitled with lyrics, perfect for singing along to (:

I first heard this song when i went to the Youth/Tertiary Service at Havester Care Centre, and again today when I went to Zhi’en’s house for a cell group cooking/baking session.

Soon I’ll turn this blog into a mini video collection site (; Happy holidays everyone!

I’ve been putting off updating, because there were so many things to do I was feeling a little overwhelmed. But now, it’ll just be preparing for the final examinations of this semester (: I guess there’s a sense of security in knowing that I’ve been through this before, and that’s why I’m not as stressed out as I was a few weeks ago.

Today has been a pretty good day (: I’m not even going to try and explain why, but I hope I’ll be able to say this at least until after my examinations. I definitely need a healthy body and mind to get through it! I hope my friends will take care of themselves too, some of them look really tired…

Before I forget, I should mention something that I actually wanted to say weeks ago. I went to Delifrance Jurong Point for lunch with my grandma, and I have to say that it’s definitely worth going back a few more times. There are daily set lunches available at affordable prices, and my grandma and I decided to order one each. However, both of us didn’t want the drinks that came with the sets (Coffee/Tea), and I ordered Hot Chocolate. They only allowed ala carte orders for that, but when I received the bill, there was no Hot Chocolate on it, and I was told they didn’t charge us for it since we didn’t get our Coffee/Tea. I was really surprised by this, and I have to say this is what I call good service (: The food is served pretty quickly too, and of course, the food is pretty good. The daily set lunches even come with deserts!

I guess I’d better get back to studying, and I might post something related to what I saw in school today next time. I’m not going to flip through the brochures that I collected yet, so you’ll just have to wait (: I don’t have any photos or videos from it, but I’ll try and find stuff online if I do post anything!

Anyone wants to donate some money to me? I want to buy a camera… And go on a few overseas trips…

I’m sorry I haven’t been updating, but I’ve just been terribly busy with school like I said in my previous entry. I’m now left with the last 3 weeks of school, where there will be a group presentation, a quiz, two assignments, and a tutorial field trip to the Institute of Mental Health. These 3 weeks will also be filled with the readings that I’ve accumulated over the semester, so please forgive me if I don’t update soon enough! (:

I’m not going to babble on about school. I just collected Jay Chou’s latest album, Capricorn, which i pre-ordered last month. I actually had to go to the CD shop 3 times, and I don’t know if it’s the fault of the CD shop, but I’m glad I finally have my CD (: There were 2 versions available for order, and I saw this tiny article outside the CD shop that the version I ordered has limited stock and so might not be available for sale (meaning that if you did not pre-order that version, you will not get to own that version). How lucky am I? (: I have not listened to the album yet, and I am not planning to give you a review, because it would be a biased one anyways. I just thought I’d share something that made me very happy today (:

Anyways, I have a thought that popped into my head that I want to type here. I’ve often heard the saying, “The best things in life are free”. I used to think that this is true. After all, the best things in life are the things you can’t buy: Family, Love, Health, just to name a few. But I suddenly had this realization that the best things in life are NOT free. Tell me, what in life is free?

Can you really own anything without working for it? I believe the answer is no. The world we live in is a realistic one, too realistic, I might add. You have to work to earn people’s trust, people’s respect. There are things you have to do to maintain relationships. So, am I right to say that nothing in this world is free?

Just some thoughts, feel free to share yours with me (: