Shoes-mania 2

Compare to last time, I used to have 20 pairs shoes in my rack, but now, I think I have only about 10 pairs. I didn't take all out to count like what I did in my previous post Shoes-mania, but these pairs are my most frequent-wear shoes.

I took them out to clean and "sun-bath". Look at them, are they in a discussion on how their owner treat them?

This is one of my favourite, it's very high but very comfortable.

Another one of my favourites, very light-weighted and fit my legs very well.

This is a new-joined to my collection, it's a little loose for me, but very comfortable, I should have tried it well before buying this size.

My favourite type of shoes, ballarina. I love this pair because they have a little bit of elegant touch.

I love this pair too, although they have gave me a lot of painful experience. I bought this for my Europe trip. Because I was in hurry, so I made the same mistake again, I didn't tried it properly, I love the colour combination (red & gold stripes), love the padding design at the bottom of the shoes but the back of the shoes hurt my achilles tendon area when I walked extensively. But they are still my favourite short trip travelling shoes.

Now I'm more caution in spending, each of us has only pair of legs, we actually do not need so many pairs of shoes, but I always believe, we must have at least a few for different occasion, exercise, social event/ party, working and casual. We must wear the right one, not only for beauty, but for health too. A good pair of shoe can bring you everywhere you wish to go.

Overtime

Another birthday celebration to my friend, where about this time? Sunway Giza, surprise to know Sunway Giza is not located in Sunway, but Sunway Damansara, which is near Mutiara Damansara. At first we have no idea where to eat, but he suggested somewhere where we can hang out for a drink after dinner, so, we decided to try out this place. Sunway Giza is not a restaurant or cafe or pub, but it is an open-concept mall.

Location map from http://www.sunwaygizamall.com/index.asp

We had dinner at Zun Kitchenette, restaurant under Eu Yan Sang, so, they served mainly herbal stuff or healthy dishes. Then, beer, beer, beer... My friend's brother recommended us to try out this place - Overtime, and Starker Fresh beer is their signature beer.

They have 2 type of Starker beer - Aromatic and Lager
The waiter was saying ladies prefer Aromatic and Lager is more macho, so me and another girl friend who was joining us for drink, ordered the Aromatic and the birthday boy, Alex took Lager.
When both of us took a sip of our Aromatic, we exchange a sight, we both agreed that it taste like banana. Really a healthy eat out for me, healthy dinner + banana beer. :) Lager is a little bitter in taste, I think that's more acceptable for me as a beer.

Alex kept complaining why I only looked at the girls and talked about girls? My ans: no leng zai, all uncles aja... I have no choice. hhehee

When we were drinking, we saw a table which has around 4 - 5 couples, suddenly, a guy kneeled in front of his gf and proposed, the other couples were making a lot of noices, that's why we noticed them, but you know, the girl rejected. OH NO!!! Then the table became very quiet and everyone felt so awkward, the girls was sitting at a side and the guys comforting the poor guy on another side. How could the guy not sure whether the girl is ready to marry him before he propose to her in the public? This is a big big big mistake. So, I told Alex to learn from the lesson, but I know, this playboy haven't prepared to get married yet, although he said his gf sort of have given him some hints d... GOOD LUCK, ALEX!

Jokes of a snail and a tortoise

3 more posts to break my record of total no. of posts in a month, so far, my highest record is 15 posts per month, this month I've already had 13 posts, and today is 29th Sep. So, besides this, tomorrow I'll do 2 posts. yeah!!

I always saw this snail in the calamansi plant in my garden, it is very very tiny, and I was wondering, what's it doing there? what do snail eat? how did it get to the calamansi? farmer hates snails because they eat their vegetable/ fruits, but what's it role in our eco-system? How many type of snail in the world? which is edible? Of course this little snail on my plant is too cute for me to hate nor I want to cook and eat it.

I remember a joke: a tortoise is walking in a road and he met a snail, the tortoise sees the snail crawling very slowly, so he offered:" young man, come up to my shell, I'll give you a ride". The snail was too happy to accept the offer and so, they travel together. Later on the road, they saw an ant, he was running so fast but his legs are too short, so, the kind tortoise offered him a ride too. When the ant went up to the top of tortoise shell, he saw snail, you know what advice did the snail give to the ant?

Ans: Hold it tight, the tortoise is running very fast... :p

Then another one, which is also similar:

One day, when a snail was walking in the garden, then a tortoise passed by and accidentally stepped on the snail. Later the snail was sent to a hospital, when he woke up, the police asked him:" tell me what had happened to you?", the snail replied:" I don't know, everything was happened so fast!" lol

this is even funnier, but I think need to stay in Chinese:
乌龟受伤.让蜗牛去买药。过了2个小时.蜗牛还没回来。
乌龟急了骂道:他妈的再不回来老子就死了!
这时门外传来了蜗牛的声音:你他妈再说老子不去了!

wahahahahahahahaahhahaa

烟火

我对烟火并不敏感也没特别的感兴趣，我不会因为听见烟火燃放的声音而跑出家门看个究竟。可能我并不太喜欢短暂的东西，来不及欣赏就消失了，非常可惜。但我还是矛盾的，在特别的日子如果能够看见烟火，我还是会非常开心和感动（就象2008北京奥运开幕和闭幕礼上的烟火就特别让人感动）。但若在盂兰盛典燃放烟火，而我刚巧开车路过，前方的车子被工作人员拦截，要等到烟火燃放完毕才能够继续前进，一个人在车上观赏烟火，我只能说非常耐人寻味。因为赶时间而不耐烦？还是，管它叻，偶尔放慢脚步欣赏周遭事物所能够带给你的惊喜不是很好吗？

=====================================

顺道也推荐一首关于烟火的歌，非常喜欢歌手演绎歌曲的方式，la la la la la la la la la...

(留意一下MV最后的一段文字)

烟火 是盛开在天空的眼泪。。。

Cafe Cafe

If you always using Jln Loke Yew to the KL golden triangle/ to istana, I'm sure you will notice there's a corner shop with signboard introducing Cafe Cafe. But I never know what's inside and it seems to me the restaurant is closed all the time, because I never see people walking in or out, until a day my ex-colleague told me this restaurant is serving authentic French cuisine.

I didn't know many French restaurant in town and I always think that French is expensive. But since I've promised a close friend for a birthday treat, so, I think, I should give it a try.

Actually I don't quite like the location of it, limited parking space and very dark, quite dangerous for ladies also. I made a walk-in reservation earlier (during their off hour), when I asked about their special dishes, the waiter just divert me to their website, I mentioned it's a birthday treat, so, he just recommended a dessert and said they can write wishes on it. So, at the initial stage, I really don't have a good impression to this restaurant.


I told my friend that place is a little bit different to reach and quite dangerous for me to go alone, so, he is kind enough to come pick me. We were a bit late due to the routine Friday evening jam, but luckily our table had not been released out.

I had some idea what to eat because I have browsed through their website earlier. So, my friend let me to be in charged of ordering.

Baked Escargots Garlic Parsley - ½ Doz (RM26)

& Lobster Bisque soup (forgot to take picture) (RM28) as our appertisers.

For him: Braised Lamb Shank In Coriander Seeds And Orange.
Served with Potato Purée And Creamed Spinach With Parmigiano (RM48)

For me: Duck Confit With Saute Potato.
Served With Du Puy Lentils And Onion Confit (RM49)

Hot Chocolate Cake With Vanilla Ice Cream (RM28)
(the one that the waiter recommended)

Crêpe with Honey + Lemon & Ice Cream (RM18)

Actually looking at the price, and comparing the quality of food... the price is out of my expectation - I never know French can be so affordable and delicious... hehe and that night, I met the waiter who help me with my reservation, he was actually very friendly, so... ok, maybe I shouldn't judge the restaurant & their service with my 1st impression.

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175, Jalan Maharajalela
50150 Kuala Lumpur
Wilayah Persekutuan
03-2141 8141

Operating Hours: Daily 6pm-12am

Double Rainbow

Can you see what I saw?

both of the rainbows were mirror image to each other

If you can't see it... it's just my skill problem, but my "best camera in the world" (our eyes) really saw this amazing phenomenon in a rainy morning when I was on my way to work.

Later in the journey, the other lighter rainbow has disappeared... but the other bolder rainbow became very bright!
Let's remember to appreciate we are living in a wonderful world, please be good to the world too.

================================

The Rainbow Story
Author Unknown

Once upon a time the colors of the world started to quarrel: all claimed that they were the best, the most important, the most useful, the favorite.

Green said: "Clearly I am the most important. I am the sign of life and of hope. I was chosen for grass, leaves, trees--without me, all animals would die. Look out over the countryside and you will see that I am in the majority."

Blue interrupted: "You only think about the Earth, but consider the sky and sea. It is the water that is the basis of life and drawn up by the clouds from the deep sea. The sky gives space and peace and serenity. Without my peace, you would all be nothing."

Yellow chuckled. "You are all so serious. I bring laughter, gaiety, and warmth to the world. The sun is yellow, the moon is yellow, the stars are yellow. Ever time you look at a sunflower, the whole world starts to smile. Without me, there would be no fun."

Orange started next to blow her temper. "I am the color of health and strength. I may be scarce but I am precious for I serve the needs of human life. I carry the most important vitamins. Think of carrots, pumpkins, oranges, mangos, and pawpaws. I don't hang around all the time, but when I fill the sky at sunrise or sunset, my beauty is so striking that no one gives another thought to any of you."

Red could stand it no longer. He shouted out: "I am the ruler of all of you. I am blood! Life's blood. I am the color of danger and of bravery. I am willing to fight for a cause. I bring fire to the blood! I am the color of passion and of love, the red rose, the poppy and the poinsettia. Without me, the earth would be as empty as the moon!"

Purple rose up to his full height. He was very tall and spoke with great pomp: "I am the color of royalty and power. Kings, chiefs, and bishops have always chosen me for I am a sign of authority and wisdom. People do not question me. They obey."

Finally, Indigo spoke, much more quietly than all the others but with just as much determination: "think of me. I am the color of silence. You hardly notice me, but without me, you all become superficial. I represent thought and reflection, twilight and deep water. You need me for balance and contrast, for prayer and inner peace."

And so all the colors went on boasting and quarreling, each convinced of their own superiority. Soon, their quarreling became louder and louder. Suddenly there was a startling flash of bright lightening! Thunder rolled and boomed! Rain started to pour down relentlessly. The colors crouched down in fear drawing close to one another for comfort.

In the midst of the clamor, Rain began to speak: "You foolish colors, fighting amongst yourselves, each trying to dominate the rest. Don't you know you were each made for a special purpose, unique and different? Join hands with one another and come to me."

Doing as they were told, the colors united and joined hands. The rain continued: "From now on, when it rains, each of you will stretch across the sky in a great bow of colors as a reminder that you can all live in peace. The rainbow is a sign of hope for tomorrow."

And so, whenever a good rain washes the world and a rainbow appears in the sky, let us remember to appreciate one another.

Setapak Teochew Restaurant

Most of the time, I mean during weekday, I either skipping my lunch or eating alone. This day, I was in mood, so, I decided to give myself a good treat, I came to this Teochew Restaurant located probably just a 5-minute drive away from Tawakkal hospital.

I been here once with my ex-colleague, he said he always noticed full house in this restaurant, but in our visit to this place, I only ordered my favourite Yin Yong and he ordered fried noodle. However, when I looked around, I saw a lot of tables order meehoon soup with promphet fish (one whole fish). So, I was telling myself, I should try this next time.

This restaurant open since 1912, it is actually specialised in making traditional Teochew biscuit/ cake... wow, 100 years shop. Look at the deco... 50s/ 60s singer potraits

The waiters and waitresses are very friendly, not like some old restaurants/ shops, they thought they were someone and act like they don't care.

That day, the restaurant was like usual, jam packed with people, but because I reached there slightly earlier than lunch time, I managed to find myself a small table at a corner of the shop. Without second thought, I order this...

Yum...
the meehoon is nicely cooked in sour plum & salted vege soup (one of my favourite soup), and the fish was very very fresh and meaty. How can I not falling in love with this combination?
Although portion is bigger than I expected, but yet, it was so good that I almost wanted to finish drinking till the last drop of the soup.

Now you see, now you don't

I visited this shop twice in a month, the 2nd time, I brought my parents along. They like it too, but one plate is definitely too small for 3, so, the waitress recommeded their hokkien mee (the restaurant homemake mee). You know what? The waitress was right, their hokkien mee is also the best; at first we ordered a small plate, my mom like it so much and then my dad ordered another bigger plate rightaway.

Ok, I must say, the meehoon soup with promphet fish is a little bit pricy, because the ingredient is expensive, it is charged by the size of the fish I guess. But, I don't think they are over-charging, around RM36 for the dish. I would say worth the money.

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Setapak Teochew Restaurant

HQ (Setapak)

283 & 285, Jalan Pahang,

Setapak, 53000 KL

Tel: 03 40238706

Branch (Kepong)

27, Jalan Metro Perdana Timur 2,

Taman Usahawan Kepong,

52100 KL

Tel: 03 62506182

Where should I place the Smart Tac then?

This is very funny... I saw this @ AKLEH (Ampang - KL Elevated Highway), because I was stucked before the tol, when I looked around and I notice this signboard. I read it from up to bottom, English to Malay, vice versa, again and again, then I got confuse, so I'm raising this big big question mark to you - WHERE SHALL WE SUPPOSE TO PUT OUR SMART TAG?

And to the one who come out with these sentences, can you instead of putting "do not", can you please put "please put smart tag _________"? I would think this is more straight forward and easier to be understood by the reader. Law of attraction also mentioned ma, use positive word.

Taiwan Trip - Where's my money goes?

I must say, I'm not the bigger contributor to Taiwan's economy throughout the trip, no no, actually I didn't buy a lot of things, but things that I bought is quite pricy (pricy doesn't means really expensive here, but comparable to others, the items that I bought fall on higher price range).

For those who know me very well, I'm not a shopaholic and I usually didn't buy things spontaneously (I only shop when I have something in mind, or I just accompany friend doing window shopping) but when you are travelling with a bunch of friends which are so good in bargaining, you will be influenced, agree? So, ended up, I think I buy more things than I usually do in my trip.

Little magnet of the aboriginals

(souvenir for customers)

Hand-made glass stirers
(Initially I thought of give them away as souvenir, but my dad likes them so much, so, I let him keep it)

Porcelain flute
(I keep the owl)

ChiaTe pineapple cake

(I checked the internet, this is the No. 1 must-buy souvenir in Taiwan, I bought 2 boxes and they are very expensive, around RM2.50 per cake. We gave some as souvenir to close friends and neighbour.)

Peaches

(So fresh and yummilicious, we shared 2 out for grandparents.)

The food "collection"

Besides the peaches and pineapple cakes, I bought their biscuits, flower tea, high mountain tea, greenpea cake, roasted black bean and the "iron" egg.

From Eslite
CDs (Jolin Tsai, Jay Chau, YanJ & Lee Hom's latest albums) and 11 minutes by Paulo Coelho

The beauty "collection"
I seriously think that I over-buying those stuffs, 4 boxes of face masks, 1 box of eye mask, 1 moisturizer, 2 bb creams, 3 hand-made soaps, 1 eye-lash serum and an eyeliner. Since my dad took the glass stirers, so, I am also giving out masks to friends as souvenir.

opps, left out one item in beauty "collection", this is black head remover mask. It has 3 bottles of product inside, 1. dead skin softener liquid, 2. charcoal peel off mask and 3. pore minimiser liquid, then there's a free gift and till now, I've no idea what is it for... help, anyone read Japanese?

Cloth "collection"
Those are in cheaper price range, ranging from RM10 to RM30.

Cloth "collection"
These are in higher price range, because I bought these from a local brand boutique and the RL polo I bought it in airport duty free shop, they are doing 50% sales.

Dress

This is not cheap, but since the girls are buying (boss said if we buy 3, then she will gave a special discount to us), so, ok... deal!
The dress was designed by the boss, there are 2 long "scarf-like" ribbon attached, so, you can play around with those ribbon to make different style.

Belts

Shoes "collection"
a pair of pumps, a pair of slippers (fake Birkenstock), a pair of working short heels and a pair of original Nike sport shoes... am I being too much?

other tiny mini items that I bought
wood puzzle and postcards from the Paper Dome, hand lugguge, name card holder, sanitary pad pouches and porcelain flutes

A fashion magazine
I wanted to buy a magazine in Taiwan, because I heard their media industry is doing very good and very advance. So, I walked in to a convinient store, and this magazine was sitting next to the counter, I grapped and asked the cashier, "is this August issue?" (it bought this on 8th Aug), then the cashier replied "no"... "it's Sep issue"

See? so advance

My masterpiece 1

My masterpiece 2

Am I over-spending?

Taiwan Trip - Highlights

There are some other places that we visited, but I am not going to talk about it in details, because most of them can be found easily when you google them up.

Sun Moon Lake 日月潭 The must-do activity will be taking a lake cruise, the cruise will depart from Shuieshe 水社码头, then Yidashao 伊达邵码头 and Syuanguang 玄光码头 and finally back to Shuieshe.
It a beautiful lake, the water is greenish and the sky is high and blue with white cloud 碧海蓝天白云... I was holding a Taiwanese beer in hand while enjoying the lake breeze... :)

This cable car station @ Yidashao 伊达邵码头 is new, now we can take the cable to the Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village.


Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village

We watched perfomance by the 9 different aboriginals @ Naluwan Theather 娜鲁湾剧场, I find it quite close to the aboriginals in Malaysia, colourful costume, passionate dancing, tanned skin... Btw, we learned Naluwan, means "I love you" in their language. In the cultural village, there is also a theme park where you can play roller coaster, exciting water games... and some of us even got a very special treatment by the insect in the village, because most of us were wearing shorts and I think our blood is "sweeter" to them, we got insect bikes all over our legs... and even now, some scars still haven't subside.




Yehliu Geopark

This place is very special because all the land sculpture is formed by the influence of wind, wave and land movement. For more infomation, click on the link below:

http://www.ylgeopark.org.tw/ENG/info/YlIntroduction_en.aspx

We didn't stay in the park for very long, it is due to the unbearable hot weather (I can stand very hot weather/ environment, if I complain hot, mean really hot, probably you can melt in that weather already), so, what we did were... QUEUED to take picture with "Queen head" stone and ciao. Of course we know there are many special sculptures, but this is not a good place to visit in summer.

Coastal highway

It's not a tourist spot, but the driver was asking if we would like to travel to Yilan through the normal highway or coastal highway... of course we chose the later, at least more to see, even if there isn't anything to see, we can enjoy the sea breeze too.

The driver stopped at 2 spots for photography sessions, one of it has a natural pond where the the local people make it a abalone farm. I walked down, and saw a worker in the pond, so, I asked if he could sell 2 fresh abalone to me... then he just ignore my request... later I realised, the Taiwanese abalone is the mini type, so, of course when I say I want 2, the worker will probably think I was fooling him.

National Traditional Art Centre, Yilan

Throughout the trip, I love this place the most... I guess this place is supported by the government and it's a brilliant set-up to encourage their people to love art. There are probably 2 row of shoplots, then each lot they are not only selling art stuff, but they have guru to teach you to learn their art. There are shops selling hand-made soup, clay/ porcelain item, paper art, glasses, jewelry, charcoal, leather stuff... I signed a clay learning lesson for only NT$150, and I learned and made myself a bowl in 10 minutes! I also learned paper art, using the paper box material to make a frog doll. There are also stages for traditional Chinese opera, story telling classes, performance theaters... Frankly speaking, if you were throwing there for 2 days, I definitely will not be bored.


Eslite Bookstore

This bookstore is also in my top favourite places list. Unfortunately, I only got only 2 hours there, but I got few books in mind. This Eslite has 6 floors, when I entered, it's like a book ocean, stuffs that they are selling are very very good in quality, books are so cheap and there are so much to see. I was trying my very best to cover all floors and "jog" around (walking is not fast enough). I spent most of my time in the CD section, because my friend actually give me her wish-list, she wanted to get Jolin Tsai's latest album for her husband and my best friend asking me to get her Jay Chau's lastest album in Taiwan for her, then I bought myself 2 CDs too - YanJ's and LeeHom's lastest album.
Then I quickly rushed back to international book section and got myself a translated noval, 11 Minutes by one of my favourite author - Paulo Coelho. It's a 18sx rated noval in Malaysia, so, it's kind of difficult to find in the bookstore here. But hey, don't get me wrong, it's a meaningful noval. Paulo Coelho's books are always very inspirational... First book that I read from him was 'The Alchemist"... I've finished reading 11 minutes, it's nice, but a little bit difficult for me to understand what is he trying to tell us.
At first I couldn't find this book, I found other Paulo Coelho's book, but not this, due to time contraint, I got the customer service personel to help me locate the book. In just 5 minutes, the guy brought the book to me at the counter, so fast and efficient, bravo bravo...
Then the time's up, I had to leave to my next destination. So, I have decided, if I have a chance to go back to Taipei, I will spend a night there, save cost for a night of accomodation and I can explore the place at my preferable pace. Opps, I've left out a very important point, this flagship Eslite bookstore @ Xinyi is open 24 hours.


Jianguo Holiday Flower Market
It was our last day in Taiwan and we have a few hours in the morning before going to catch our flight back to KL. So, we went to this weekend flower market where they sell a lot of flowers and fruits. And it's because of Chinese Valentine's day, they has a lot of roses too. But this place is just good to kill time, or if you were like me, have a habit to buy fruits back to the country, you can try to see what fruit is in that season.
I bought a box of peach back (8 peaches in a box), they were all very fresh and sweet.