Thursday, August 26, 2010
And here I was, thinking that my previous post was quite some time ago. It was only when I saw the date stamp on the Kuching post below that I realized that I'd be blogging only twice this month... so much for my initial target of a-post-every-2-days that I had set when I first started this. Anyhow, the past few weeks have been a blur of events, with weddings, birthdays, clubbing sessions, and one of the more recent happenings, a weekend at MOFEW!
Now, if you've been hearing me yak for the past few months, you'd know that the Malaysian Online Fashion Entrepreneur's Weekend took place 2 weeks ago, from the 13th to 15th of August, in the Midvalley Exhibition Centre. It was a gathering of 80 online fashion entrepreneurs, and trade exhibitors all in one large hall for 3 straight days.
The registration booth, tending to the crowd... Mun Teng and Jolene! Day 1 Shoppers. Lauren arrived on the first day as well. During the dinner hour, I popped over to Chinoz to have dinner with these 2 ladies. Juliah and Regina from Quirky Brown Cow, the winners of MOFEW: The Search! Jan, the Project Director of MOFEW, hands over tokens of appreciation to the models. Yen came on the second day! Andrea, from Tres Tresor, gleefully takes the stage. Elaine, Wai Ping, and Beng Hay came all the way from Singapore to pay a visit! Crossing Boundaries entertains the crows. Shot from the SNIPS fashion show, on Sunday. The finalists from MOFEW: The Search, the organizing committee, and Eva from SNIPS! Esther, Vern, and Lauren again!
It was a long 3 days, but well worth the effort, as we saw happy shoppers and bloggers mingle with each other, and exchange contacts as they cheerfully carried their purchases out.
The Organizing Committee (less one Randy Too)
Thanks to all of you that came!
For more photos, click here to view the Facebook album.
For further coverage, do visit the following links;
Malaysia's Online Fashion Entrepreneur Weekend (MOFEW)MOFEW: The Official Page
Posted at 09:50 pm by IsaacCheah
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To the Land of the Cats, and Back Again... Monday, August 09, 2010
We had been talking
about attending the Rainforest Music Festival until the cows came home,
took a shower, and went to sleep, and finally, after I made a snap
decision to buy the tickets online, we were set to head over to Kuching
and get our fill of folk music in the middle of a heavily forested
area.
Thanks to
Yoke May, we were able to get rooms at 4 Points (by the Sheraton... so
is it 4 Points or Sheraton?), and we left on a scorching hot Friday
morning (the airport was a literal oven... I became medium
done).
Happy Travellers.
The view from the window...no gremlins on the wing.
The flight was rather quick, and in short order, we arrived in Kuching, all ready to hit the streets and explore the town. Unfortunately, we were all quite tuckered out from the flight (and the 2 hours of sleep some us had the night before), so we just had a bite at the mamak right opposite the hotel, before heading to bed.
 Kuching International. 4 Points! (5 minutes away from the airport) This is what Sarawak maggi goreng looks like. And this is what ZhaoHengandMay look like. Poor choice of words, perhaps. The hotel room. Comfy is an understatement. Beautiful poolside deco.
So much for painting the town red.
The next day was about walking around town, and getting ready for the Saturday night concert. We left for Santubong, where the cultural village was supposed to be, but we ended up stopping by a random car dealer to ask for directions. The poor fellow didn't know what we were even talking about, but amazingly, she went into the office, looked it up on Google Maps, and even printed out a copy for us to refer to! That was the epitome of the friendliness of the Sarawakians, perfectly captured in our 15 minutes of being lost.
 Kuching Town. Clear skies all the way. The little cafe where we had our meal. The coffee was rather good.
After having sampled the friendliness, we made our merry way in our rented cars to the cultural village, where we had to park our cars on the side on the road, and take a banged up shuttle van into the heart of forest. Upon reaching the venue, we immediately started to wander around, and look for drinks and food. Having found a spot, we settled down, and waited for the show to begin.
 We felt so welcome. The evening sky was amazingly... scenic. Kohilan walks along a wooden bridge. Awaiting the music.
The concert itself was quite alright, and the music, was, well, folky. After a while, we got a bit restless, and started to wander about. About an hour or two later, we got downright bored, so we decided to brave the mud, and went right down into the mosh pit. (Apparently, it rained pretty heavily the nights before AND after we went, and the mud got rather unbearable. As it was, we were already slipping and sliding away in it)
 Muddy feet was the least of our worries. These people sure know how to enjoy themselves. Tired. Sweaty. Muddy. Happy.
I guess that was the fun part, dancing and cavorting away in the middle of an isolated forest with friends, and a huge,huge bunch of friendly strangers. After wildly capering and syok sendiri-ing, we trudged back to our cars, and took the 45 minute drive home, back to heavenly warm showers, and soft beds.
Our Sunday was spent walking around town, in search of the famous tuak, the alcoholic beverage of choice in Kuching. Our search took us to dodgy motels, and quiet alleys, but in the end, it paid off, as we made our way around town lugging bottles of the opaque liquid, much to Joshua's delight.
 Here, we were at the famous tattoo parlour called Borneo Headhunters... ...where Robin, kind as he was, took some time out to talk to us about tattoos. May is happy because of tuak... ...and that's her carrying ZhaoHeng. The guys, by the riverside.
Night beckoned, and we travelled into town to partake of seafood, at the famous Top Spot, a rooftop seafood eatery. Here, we met Karen and Dennis, who were also in Kuching to witness the event. Sorry for the slip-up in arrangements, Karen! Still good to see you guys, though... =)
Satisfying meal aside, we went back to the hotel to get ready for the World Cup finals, which would be screened on the projector in the lobby of the hotel in which we stayed. Apparently Li Ping and gang were also somewhere in the throng of people sleeping on couches and cushions in the lobby, but since it was pretty dark, I caught nary a glimpse of her. After watching Spain put in the goal, we called it a night, and went back to bed.
 Joshua and Kohilan, getting cosy.
Not much took place after that, and we whiled the day away lazing around by the poolside, and committing suicide in the sauna by throwing bucketloads of water into the glowing embers. Before we knew it, we had checked out, and boarded the plane back to smoggy ol' KL.
I'm definitely going to miss the clean air, clear skies, and overly friendly people over there. To Kohilan, ZhaoHeng, Joshua, Esther, and May, you guys make great travelling companions, and kudos to us! for successfully making it back without killing ourselves with our idiocy.
Holidays like these are too few and far in between.
For more photos of our nonsense, click here to view the Facebook album!
Posted at 10:55 pm by IsaacCheah
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Motivation to Earn Moolah... Thursday, August 05, 2010
So I was parking my car the other day when I got down and noticed my neighbours in the parking lot.
Standing out like a sore thumb.
If this doesn't encourage me to earn more moolah, I don't know what does.
Coming Up: To The Land of the Cats, and Back Again.
Posted at 01:31 am by IsaacCheah
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Of Vern Li's Shanghai Themed Lunch and Other Stories... Saturday, July 17, 2010
One thing about Vern
Li's birthdays, there's always a theme. Last year, it was
the Swinging 70's (or something like that), and this
year, she settled for Shanghai Tang (the 1940's era in Shanghai where
men wore fedoras and carried weird looking guns. The ladies wore
cheongsams and sang in nightclubs) It was a large group that gathered in
Lemon Garden, Shangri-La, and the sight of a huge bunch of guys in
suits, and ladies in cheongsams made for entertaining eye
candy.
Li-Ann wears the most modern cheongsam of all: The Jersey Cheongsam.(dri-fit material)
CK, Kum Weng, and Fang Chin.
The birthday girl, and the other birthday girl.
Overexposed flash, resulting in very white faces.
Groupie pic.
Yenli arrived a bit later, but still in time to grab food.
Reminds me of Singapore, not too sure why.
Second attempt's the charm.
Ladies galore!
Compulsory Group Photo #1.
Look at how happy Lauren was. This was right after she blew the candles on Vern's cake.
Compulsory Group Photo #2.
This is somewhat like a wedding/family photo.
I finally don my hat. Now I feel Shanghai-ed.
Part-time/Full-time models.
5 Gadis, 1 Photo Spoiler (the politically correct term is the Thorn among the Roses).
A very clever mirror photo. (Credits to Vern).
Suffice to say, it was a very filling (buffet) lunch, with much laughter and catching up. Also a rather good excuse to put on a hat, which I don't get to do in my line of work.
Many happy returns of the day, Vern! A belated wish, but I guess it'd still be well accepted (right?).
Note to self: No lounging around the outside eatery without paying for drinks, lest we be shooed away by irate staff.
Posted at 12:12 am by IsaacCheah
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The KL-Marathon 2010: From the Eyes of a Couch Potato... Wednesday, July 07, 2010
After much hooha and mental preparation, the KL-Marathon finally arrived. I had been hitting the gym (cheh wah) a bit more frequently than was normal in the weeks leading up to the marathon, so as to prevent myself from being too winded to pass the first few kilometres. The Subang Jaya MPSJ run was an early indication that I should put a bit more effort into running, and as such, I went about gathering gear for the much touted event in KL.
It was an early morning start (as always), when I illegally parked on Jalan Cenderai (alongside a thousand other cars) and waddled to the starting point, at Dataran Merdeka. Even before the sun graced that windy Sunday morning, the throng of thousands had already gathered under the Start sign, and were just waiting for the gunshot before making a dash for it. I stood by the side, to avoid being trampled to death, and in short order, KY X 2 arrived, also in high spirits. We made like hares, and took off after the quickly disappearing crowd, and the run was underway.
Yenli never misses a chance to sashay, even if its a marathon.
Now, I must say that the run was more organized (there were sufficient water stops along the road, for one), even though I found the route slightly tougher than the MPSJ run (probably due to the highly misleading turn at the Bird Park, which was uphill all the way). My GPS tracker gave out halfway after I lost the signal while running under a bridge, but I still managed to get an accurate time due to the Tracking Tag stuck to my shoe, leaving no doubt as to my overall time. Unfortunately, there was a poor soul who collapsed at the side of the road, and I actually ran past the said individual nearing the end of my 10km. At that point in time, he was already on the stretcher, with the paramedics loading him onto the ambulance.
The finishing was rather smooth as well, and I barely had to wait after completing the race, to collect the medal, and lie down on the suddenly comfortable grass, while waiting for KY X 2.
Here were the people I bumped into (photos stolen appropriated from the KL-Marathon website);
Fang Chin. Strangely, we always meet at the finishing line. Li-Ann. Another avid runner that I somehow always bump into despite there being 16,500 people milling about. Kum Weng. The other avid runner that I bump into alongside Li-Ann. Gerard. For Sue and Jolene, I didn't see him at any point along the race, but he looks pretty happy running. Post-race scene. No, thats not me next to signboard. Although I also did it. Karen came in at 8th place in the Women's Full Marathon category! Now, that's crazily amazing. I ran a quarter of the distance she ran, and I look four times as tired.
After the race ended, it was breakfast with the See-At-Every-Marathon Gang,and back home with sore legs and thighs.
Its only on days like these that I dare become an offender.
With that, my mood to practice and keep fit has somewhat dwindled. Its my curse that I need something to practice for, before I actually make an attempt to run.
Maybe I should enter the Penang run in November.
For all of you who took part in the KL-Marathon, you can find out your time by visiting this page! Just key in your bib number or name, and it'll pop right out! You'll be able to see if you were caught on camera too!
Posted at 11:54 pm by IsaacCheah
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2 Girls, 2 Guys, and 1 Malaccan Boy... Thursday, July 01, 2010
Most of the time, trips to Malacca tend to start very early in the morning. Since most trips to Malacca are food trips, I guess everyone would want as much time to eat as many meals as they can, before the sun even rises. Our day started in a similar manner, and by 8.00 a.m., I was already at KLCC,sipping on a coffee while waiting for Sue and Jolene. Ronald had already gotten hold of our ride, a seven seater Toyota, and after grabbing some McDonald's (Sue ended up sipping on milk), we were on our merry way.
10th minute of a 90-minute journey. Jolene naps in the sun. ...and before we knew it, we were there! Here's our ride.
We parked at a carpark next to the river, and waited for Kian Siang, our friendly tour guide, to bring us around. While waiting, of course, we conducted a photoshoot for Sue and Ronald.
Here they are. Model material! Jolene is utterly patient, and bears with the proceedings with incredible grace. A hole in the sky. The lorry behind him was actually headed toward us.
Kian Siang arrived, and we made our first stop at the chicken rice store, where we tucked on the compulsory chicken rice balls.
Having had enough food, we decided to walk around Dataran Pahlawan, and (perhaps) do some shopping. It was a quick walk to the shopping mall, and we wandered about looking at weird stuff, and poking around at balloons.
Sue and Her Elmo. I make a poor Spiderman. One of the things we've never done before: Sit on a Malaccan Shopping Complex floor. Jolene tries her hand (rather, foot) at winning a football. We ended up at a shop called Black&White, where we were the only customers. The Rebel. Clear sign.
Kian Siang rejoined us for dinner, where we sat in an old restaurant, waiting for o-chien, while playing with giant cockroaches and jabbering away about everything under the sun. Once the plates were clean, we bid Kian Siang, and started the journey back. Along the way, we had a great discussion on various aspects of life (ahem) and generally got to know each other a little better.
Final photo of the night.
It was great spending the day with all of you! We'll have to do this again, sometime. Probably overnight, to enjoy the whole slew of dishes that we missed this round.
Not the best way to prepare for a 10km marathon the next day.
To see the Facebook album, click here!
Posted at 11:23 pm by IsaacCheah
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