Dive Sipadan with SWV II

18th-22nd Oct 2013
Second dive trip with SWV. To date, my 7th Dive Trip.

This time, just 3 of us. Learning from last year's experience, we basically went a day earlier, left LCCT slightly later in the day and stayed in Tawau for 1 night. Was great as we get to eat so much, seafood (I think we freaked out the waiters). It was a lot less tiring since we get to rest early.

Because we were already in Tawau, we arranged to leave for Semporna earlier. Coincidentally out hotel - Heritage Hotel is just opposite SWV office. That also meant that we can get on the island earlier for our check out dive.

My only disappointment was on my flight to Tawau, I realized that my gopro casing had cracks on it. Didn't managed to get a replacement in time as it was the weekend and I'm not in KL where FedEx could delivery within the next day.

At our check out dive at Paradise 2, we saw 4 humongous green turtles! They are residents but somehow we didn't see them the year before.

The following days, we saw with School of Razor Fish, Mantis Shrimp, Purple Coby, Large Tuna, Giant Trevally, Leopard Snake, White Leaf Fish, Pygmy Seahorse, Jaw Fish, Harlequin Shrimp, Transparent Shrimp, Mandarin Fish and a Pair of Frog Fish on water surface. Some which we didn't see the year before.


Our dive masters have been great company. Thoroughly enjoyed diving with them - Felix, Andyrian, Ramil and Fauzy.

So my dive computer backlight didn't work, camera case broke before I even arrive, torch battery died just when I needed to use and plane back delayed for more than 2.5 hours. Sound as if many things didn't work for me...

But actually, everything else were just perfect. Met old and new friends. Saw almost everything we wanted to and had a great time chilling. Truly thankful for this trip. Definitely one of the most memorable trip ever.

Can't wait for my next dive trip.

Dew Crew Retreat 2013

15th-17th Sep 2013
El-Sanctuary, Malacca

We haven't done a Malacca trip for the longest time. This year, we stayed in El-Scantuary located a little bit further from town. Ok, barely 10mins from Aeon Big actually. The place run by Vincent and Ann in a homestay concept. Truly a nature experience.

We had all our meals here and food here is excellent!

Other than a very short walk around the area, we pretty much spent all our time indoors playing "cups" and kinect. So, some of us do have pretty good dancing skills!

Escape Theme Park

13th-14th Sep 2013
Team Building Session with KA Team

Had a short meeting cum team building event on this trip. Stayed at the Flamingo Hotel. For team building, we went to Penang Escape Theme Park. We were divided into a few groups and each has a number of task to complete (in different order) within the time frame.

The task that we must complete were - Atan's Leap, Monkey Business, Gecko Tower, Tubby Racer, A-Maze and Flying Lemur. After completing the team building tasks, we had the opportunity to try out the other activities. Pretty cool place. Everyone who has a fear of height should really do this!

Langkawi with Mum

24th-26th Aug 2013

The last time we took a trip to Langkawi was more than 10 years ago. Then, the cable car was not even in operation yet. Cenang Beach was quiet with very few restaurant operators. We rented a car and stayed at Tropical Resort Langkawi. A budget place and near the beach. It wasn't beach front but will do.

It was nice to just visit a few place and hang out, go for massage, have some seafood, wine and chill. I'm all for relaxing trips.

Hillsong Conference 2013

29th June-8th July 2013
Hillsong Conference 2013

I have wanted to attend Hillsong Conference for the longest time. And finally, my very first trip to Australia!

So glad we had rented cars. We stayed at the Oaks Goldsborough Apartments which is really near the Darling Harbour. Managed to check out the Opera House and Harbour Bridge from a ferry ride. Haha. Such a tourist!

The conference started the next day and it was solid days at the Allphones Arena of the Sydney Olympic Park. I really love the main sessions with the guest speakers as well as Pr Brian and Bobbie's team. The workshops are pretty general and understandably because of the wide range of delegates attending it. Without this Conference, I doubt I would have the opportunity to hear so many speakers from Texas - and those who live next to it. Conference joke.

Guest speakers include Bishop T.D Jakes of The Potter's House, Joel & Victoria Osteen of Lakewood Church, Craig Groeschel of Lifechurch.tv, and Judah Smith of The City Church. Also guest worship leaders Kari Jobe, Leeland and Israel Houghton.

What I love most is to see the volunteers at work. It is so encouraging to see them serve with all their hearts. The volunteers are combination from all the different campuses. Truly amazed at the number of people involved in the conference every year. Think they mentioned that it takes about 2000 people to make it happen. Their technical team is huge too. Just watching how quickly they transition props and equipments on stage! So many more were working backstage. Salute to the team! Thanks for the inspiration.

Charge Up! Conference 2013

11th-14th Apr 2013

Since the very 1st Charge Up conference, I'm finally back as a delegate this round to learn After Effects!

It's a challenge for someone not used to photoshop. But thank God I've pulled it through. I won't say that I could do those fancy stuff in a minute but I think opening the software won't freak me out. Lol. Here's what I did. Not the most fantastic thing but I made it.

Catching up in Kuching

26th-29th Jan 2013

It has been some time since we last hung out and at random meeting with Andrea late 2012, we decided to plan a visit to her hometown - Kuching. We stayed at 360 Hotel - Urban Resort. It was a budget place and we went for one of the cheapest room. No windows. But was pleasantly surprise. The beds are comfortable and the room was clean. It was a little tight but we weren't spending most of our time in there.

With Andrea as out host, Yoke Mun and myself ate and ate like crazy. We had Sarawak Laksa - 2 days in a row! And being a host, Andrea managed to check out tourisy stuff with us. Many first for her too. It was a nice catch up trip.

Can't wait to hang out with you girls again soon.

EM Trip with Mum

24th-26th Nov 2012
Mum's 1st trip to East Malaysia

My mum has never been to East Malaysia. I go almost every other year for some reason! Decided to take her to Sabah. We rented a car at the airport and after a quick lunch, we drove to the mountains - Kinabalu National Park. The journey was truly a spectacular view. There were challenging parts of the journey trying to get past slow trucks but we made it! Had an early dinner and stayed in Celyn Resort Kinabalu. The road leading into the resort can be pretty terrible. Not the resort's fault. It is a public road and therefore the responsibility of the local government. The resort has a great view of Mt Kinabalu (we stayed in the Kinabalu Wing). It was a cloudy day so by night, it was just pitch black.



The next day, we drove to the starting point of Timpohon trail. We were back in KK town by afternoon to have a nice seafood lunch. We checked in to Klagan hotel. It was decent but please don't book through a 3rd party website even if the guarantee you it is the lowest. Apparently it was slightly cheaper to book directly. Liked the free wifi and free parking for guest. Plus the elevator stops on the parking floor too. Very convenient.

We had a great seafood dinner at Dowish Seafood Restaurant. Love the shrimp cooked with coconut water and fresh scallops. 3G in KK can really improve because trying to get online proved to be challenging. Maybe just gotta print out addresses next time. We explored a number of must eats but some are a let down. Other than the seafood, Hilltop's Coconut pudding is just amazing. Glad we found it before our flight back.

We will be back for more food the next time.

HoWT Asia 2012

3rd-7th Oct 2012
Houses of Worship Technologies - Asia 2012

It was an interesting 5 days attending the sessions and at the same time catching up with some friends in Singapore. Have to admit that the exhibition was more interesting than the workshops for us. Checking out the latest technologies and possibilities for DUMC's upgrade, live streaming as well as the phase 2 project. The possibilities are just endless (if you have unlimited budget). Plus, some stuff may cost us more back in Malaysia.

We also had the opportunity to meet Steven Yeoh, technical director from Hope Church, Singapore. They recently moved into a new premise within a mall (Textile Centre) and have done up the place with lots of thoughts in regards to audio, visual and lighting acoustic treatment. We were definitely impressed with their equipments but more impressed with how the place was done with so much input by Steven at the planning stage. Basically, AV design was priority for the place.

We stayed with the salvation army throughout the conference. A small decent apartment for 4 of us.

Dive Perhentian!

21st-23rd Sep 2012
My 6th Dive Trip

Was a last minute decision to join Sam on this trip. I have been wanting to check out Perhentian Island. So I was right, the journey there was a long one but since we slept through the night, it was bearable. The trip cost us RM500 without boat transfer and food. Together with the chartered bus, it cost us more than expected. Accommodation at Bubu Long Beach was quite decent with twin sharing, air-cond and water heater. Strangely, the organisers never shared the bills/receipt of the trip.

Diving was ok. Visiblity was average and the sites we went weren't too spectacular. The journey back was quite torturing. Felt that my whole Sunday was totally wasted. We started our journey after breakfast. I envy 2 of our divers who were from Singapore cause they took a flight back. They got home by 12pm. We got home at 12am!

After the trip, I realized there was an interesting Vietnamese wreck nearby (darn!). Moral of the story, always do your own research of a trip.

Dew Crew Retreat 2012

16th-18th Sep 2012
Dew Crew took a simple retreat this year… what else better than an eating trip. Once again, we went to Ipoh and stayed at the same place and of course ate a lot. We need to do something to justify this eating next year. Lol.

Other than eating, we did took lots of photos at Gunung Lang and Kellie's Castle.

Legoland Malaysia

6th-8th Sep 2012
There has been lots of hype about the opening of Asia's first Legoland here in Malaysia. When the opportunity came for a free entry, who would have refused? Somehow, it gave many people the idea that it was very much like a theme park. But like the name, it is Legoland.

The place was not entirely open to the public yet. There was still a few days to go and therefore some of the rides were not available during my visit. There wasn't as many rides as I expected. The whole place had Legos everywhere though. Pretty cool for Lego fans.

From that visit, I conclude (at the moment) the place is targeting at younger children (some of the boat and car rides are more for the age of 8 and below or people who admire the work of lego and just want to take lots of photos. My friends and I completed almost every activity available in less than half a day.

The water park will be ready in a few years. Looking forward to that.

My First Tattoo

I could still remember I wanted to get a tattoo and eyebrow piercing when I was in college and I asked Jee Ing to accompany me to Sungei Wang and a few other places to check it out. In the end, I didn't. Simply because I was too afraid I couldn't get a job after that. I could get a tattoo then but wasn't too sure what I would want on my body permanently.

So, here I am, more than 10 years later and I still want to get a tattoo! Haha. So I figured I will!

Called up an old friend who is a tattoo artist. Dropped by and got it done in 15 mins. The pain was wayyyyy over exaggerated. It is nothing compared to pimple extraction. I was told this could be addictive. I have a feeling so. ;-)

What is #stop114a?

What is #stop114a?

http://stop114a.wordpress.com/what-is-section-114a/

Dive Sipadan with SWV!

19th-23rd July 2012
Dive Mabul, Kapalai, Sipadan! My 5th Dive Trip
It is a 15 months of planning (and savings) for this trip to be possible.

Had been looking forward for this for so long. The ultimate dive site of Malaysia. We stayed on Sipadan Water Village on Mabul Island for this 5D4N trip.
It all started in the wee hour of the morning for the 7am flight. Here's how the journey to SWV is like for us.
50min taxi ride from PJ to LCCT
2 hours and 50mins flight from LCCT to Tawau
2 hours van ride from Tawau airport to Semporna Jetty.
1 hour boat ride from Semporna Jetty to SWV.

*whew* Glad SWV arranged decent transport for us. It was a real long journey. After our briefing and lunch, we checked into our rooms and got ready for our check out dive. Honestly, the traveling very much exhausted most of us but seriously, the sight of the place makes it so worth it. The water was so inviting!

It was a great dive experience with Dive Masters - Fauzy, Ramily and Niger. Saw so many firsts - Giant Mantis Prawn, Lion Fish, Sweet Lips, Ghost Pipe Fish, Cuttle Fish, Giant Frog Fish, Clown Trigger Fish (Robocop), School of Barracuda, Grey Shark, White Tip Shark, Black Tip Shark, Nurse Shark, School of Jack Fish, Red Fire Goby, Gigantic Grouper, Large Parrot Bumphead, Giant Moray Eel, Baby Spotted Sweet Lips and Mandarin Fish.

Probably the only thing that was disappointing was that we had to abandon Barracuda Point for our dawn dive.
The old film underwater cam (SeaLife Reefmaster RC SL515) wasn't great but at least I had some photos underwater.

One thing for sure, I'll be back!

Jacky Cheung 1/2 Century Tour

12th May 2012

I have always dream of attending Jacky Cheung's concerts. So watching him live is a dream come true. Think I sound like a fangirl… because I am.

Since I bought numbered seats, there is no need to rushed to Stadium Merdeka like my previous concerts. It was a magnificent sight. The stadium was absolutely packed. Don't think any other event would have such a crowd. Staring at the 3 large LED projection, I remember a tech supplier once mentioned Jacky Cheung's concerts rents the most equipment - 100 moving heads - this was at least 4 years ago.

At 8.30pm, the lights dimmed and the crowd roared, video playback started and the crowd went crazy (hey, no opening act!) Dancers with umbrella dancing and suddenly…YAY, Jacky appears on an elevated platform. As he tap dance, the visual of water splashes on the LED screen behind him was just timed perfectly. The video playback was a love story specially designed for his live concerts to communicate the message of his songs even better. The video stars Shu Qi.

After a few dance number, he headed to the swing with one of the dancer and they kinda flew. The swing was lifted up to the video projection of the moon behind. Very nice! Next, the screen suddenly seem to have disappeared and Jacky appeared on an upper level of another stage. After a few songs, the stage he was standing on started to tilt from 90 degrees to an angle he could just walked on to an elevated platform. Amazing! What come next made everyone realized in awe that as it flips over 180 degree, it is actually the same LED screen we saw in the beginning of the concert! Nice.

He wrote a song in dedication to Lydia Sum of her influence in his life. Dancers dressed in costume with mascot and large balloons were pretty cute. After all that, he toned down and came to a smaller lower stage to the audience and did a little Jazz session with his pianist and double bass. He was a little disappointed at the response of the crowd after the 1st song, well you don't expect everyone to know how to appreciate Jazz. Haha, but the crowd continued to encouraged him as his following Jazz songs were jazzed up version of his popular songs. It was pretty nice, as he puts it, he could see the faces of this sitting near him, and this is just something he enjoys doing. Normally he does only 1 song, but somehow one lead to another and yea, it was nice, gives a nice touch to familiar songs.

After that he returned to fast paced songs (he claims to have seen people yawning) that he…or he used to have danced very well before. Remember that he ended one song with a split and that really got the crowd screaming. I am little jealous that he can still perform a split at his age. Then there was a little chopper that appeared midway of the songs and it flew like the swing earlier. It was spectacular with fireworks and laser lights. Truly a great show. It was nice to hear him interact like how he wants us to remember his dancing because he wasn't sure when will he be back and if he could still dance that way. Throughout the concert, he repeatedly apologize for his performance in December 2011. Apparently he was unwell (during the 4 consecutive nights concerts) I am truly impressed by his spirit of excellence and the energy. At 11.30pm, he asked to confirm that the audience was not working the next day because he wanted to sing more songs….We ended around 12.10pm That was a solid 3 hours and 40 minutes concert with very short interval for costumer change. Salute this guy and his voice never fails to deliver each song perfectly.

Technically, I thought the band and Jacky sounded amazing. Great job sound engineers! I sat at the very extreme side of the stadium and everything just sounded great! Vocals and instruments was very crisp and clear. Video playback was done very well and middle and side screen video mixing was really good. Lighting effects was impressive as it changes from one scene to another.

Take a break - Langkawi

25th - 28th February 2012

Probably the most impromptu flight tickets I bought. Just 2 weeks before the trip. Needed to take a break before moving to a new department. Managed to drag Tee Hui with me.

It was fun just driving around Langkawi in our little rented Viva. Practically went around the island and tired ourselves! We visited the 7 Wells (Telaga Tujuh), cable car to Mount Mat Cincang, The Datai, Black Sand Beach and feasted in Kuah Town. It was a really hot during the day and rainy at night. We had nice walk on Cenang Beach and chilled at the Oasis Bar and Restaurant - where they served pretty decent juices. Enjoyed chilling at The Loaf in Perdana Quay too. We actually hung out there twice!

The last time I was in Langkawi was with my mum in 2000. Won a free ticket with accommodation then. This time, since we were paying, we went for a budget place - Casa Fina. Couldn't find my ideal beachfront. This accommodation is still rather new. Hope they continue to maintain the place well as I could see light stains here and there. It is very strategically located, just walking distance to Cenang beach and right across from the Underwater World with many shops and restaurants around.

It was a good 3.5 days. Wish it was longer.

Padang Dive & Surf Trip

15th - 18th December 2011

Never planned for 3 dive trips a year. But this was a great deal. Buy 3 FOC 1. And this is in a foreign country (ok, it's just an hour flight, something like flying to Penang). Sounded cool so we signed up. Never expected to dive international water so soon!

It was a pretty early flight for all of us - Tee Hui, Sam, Scott, Soo and myself. Arrived in Padang and it was raining! Was a little concern of the visibility. We met Bob, our friendly guide for our trip. He owns and runs Star Ocean Scuba & Surf with his "boss" wife Dewi.

We checked in to Nature's Inn early and unpacked! Ready to dive! We were welcome by Brown and Goldie! Brown was afraid of us till the day we left. But Goldie was just big and playful. The bunk beds were probably the most comfortable I ever had on a dive trip so far (I'm the budget kind).

First thing first… FOOD! OMG, so much to try and everything just looked delicious.

 It was about an hour boat ride to the nearest dive site. This place is rather new for divers. As far as I could see, we were the only divers around. So Bob had the liberty to name the site himself. The water was pretty choppy… OK, worse than I thought. A little puking made me feel better. But once in the water, I feel better than ever. Visibility was great and every site was beautiful, untouched - quite different from Malaysia. The only thing that looked the same was the moray eel. Most of the sites we went were wall dives. My highlight for the trip was probably the coral fans and sighting the nurse shark… 2 meter long and 2 of them together. Think they were residents there. Pretty much ignored us until the cameras came. Yea, and I didn't have a camera.Got the photo below from Soo. Our packed lunch was delicious too, but my seasick was just untimely.

The food was just excellent. Bob took us to different places and have to say, the winning dish MUST be Satay Babi. Best pork satay I every had. And the cucumber pickel was perfect. The Ikan Bakar was excellent too. For drinks, the must try are Alpokat (Avacado juice with chocolate) and Terung Pirus (some kind of pink fruit) Can you see how thick the juice was? No water added!

We extended our stay to go on a day trip to the catch a view of the active volcanic mountain. Unfortunately for us, it was cloudy. But we did visited some tourist area in Bukit Tinggi like Japanese Tunnel and the Zoo (?).

Our last activity day was our discover surfing session. With only 1 layer of sun block, we braved the waves and sun for more than 3 hours. Didn't feel a thing. We surf and surf and try to stand on the surf board as long as we can. We didn't want to stop! But stomach was getting a little hungry. When we returned to rest, I was shocked when I looked into the mirror. I have never seen myself so burned in my entire life. It was BAD. And the silly thing was we forgot to put sun block behind our legs. All of us were burned terribly and sitting down was a challenge (for a good few weeks as our skin started to peel). Another silly thing was we booked massage that night. It was supposed to be relaxing but with all the burns, it was a painful one. Great memorable trip.

Must go Padang again! Thanks Bob and Dewi for your hospitality.

All the dated photographs were shot by Soo and Scott and occasionally Bob.

Getaway to Awanmulan

24th - 26th November 2011

A group of colleagues wanted to take little retreat. So off we went to this place called Awanmulan (Mulan's Clouds) within the Pantai Hills Orchard Resort in Jelebu. Followed someone's GPS and we lost our way. Google map worked a little better. By the time we arrived, it was getting dark (and we were the 1st group!). After a call clarifying if we were still on the correct road, we reached. There weren't any signboard because, well, it is an orchard and the houses were all private property and they just came up with the name not too long ago.

The Teng family built their own home and another part as a guesthouse house for family friends. We booked most of the rooms that 2 night, so we very much had the whole place to ourselves. We entered Teratak Bonda and was just in awed. The beautiful structure was made of wood and had a very tree house (a big one) feel to it. The kitchen faces the lush greenery and as the clouds surrounds the place, it felt really serene. The huge deck with hammocks was just prefect. We had a welcome party - Daniel and friends. They were really friendly, and they knew their boundaries.

We had a quick tour before deciding on room assignments. The girls got the larger, newer units below the deck. :) Every unit was spacious and beautifully designed and some were equipped with kitchenette. Some of the bathroom walls were adorned with colored glass bottle and some, you get a very outdoor feel.

Oh, and check out the swimming pool! Awesome! Don't worry about 3G, the family has got wifi for us. Nice for those who can't stand not being connected on fb and twitter. Some of the girls and I took up the Sunrise room. And I had my bed pushed right up to the edge to get a real feel of sleeping "next" to nature. And the name didn't fail. Check out the sunrise photo below. That was the sight that greeted me in the morning.

Had a little chat with Uncle Teng. Told us a little about his background and about building Awanmulan. Most of the window panes and doors were bought over from old traditional homes that was going to be demolished. And part of the pool deck was made of old telephone post. He decided to leave the wood as it is instead of filling up the holes and chopping them to the exact length. As original as it can be!

Zee helped planned a trekking for our group - which some within the group just couldn't cope with. We turned back instead of finishing the trail. Guide said we were just too slow. Most of our food were catered and Zee helped us with BBQ. Of course we did a little cooking - instant noodles! Haha. We ate so much, we finished most of the snacks we bought - which was A LOT.

It was a refreshing trip. Will be back again. Simply a great place to chill. Just pray I don't bump into a group like mine, we were pretty loud till wee hours in the morning. :-p

Short Cameron Trip

5th - 6th November 2011

Seriously, it was great to go away with a few cool colleagues. A rather short trip but a little fresh air in the mountain is great. We stayed at the Crown Imperial Court right near the night market. It was a 3 bedroom apartment that can accomodate 9. A little to big but nice to have lots of space! Haha.

We splurge a little with tea at the Smokehouse. Oh my, don't think I'll go there again. But the place was really nice and cozy.