It’s been awhile… but that’s because I’ve been two B things — busy, and in Bali. For those of you who don’t already know, this is my second time in Bali (and it won’t be my last either by the looks of it), and I totally love the island.

No, it’s not just the sea and sand and the quaintness of it all. Their temples and architecture don’t even compare to Thai, Burmese or even Cambodian temples. They’re not the cleanest island around – Singapore takes the award for that one. It’s not even really that cheap.

So why do I, or anyone really, love Bali?

Bali has the most amazing people. Yes, they’ve got great people.

In fact, they’re so amazing and friendly that, according to May, she was never serviced better in a bank ever. That coming from the crazy Maybanker.

Anyway, this time I took a quick 4-day getaway with May and Gabby, a copywriter I work with at MindValley, and her friend Tanya. Since it was my second time in Bali, I found it less urgent to sight see, and prioritized chilling and tanning a whole lot more — two things I was unable to do when I visited the island for the first time with my parents.

All in all, it was a pretty awesome trip. Here’re the highlights:

Awesome accommodation

Earlier this year, Gabby and I were surfing around looking for a place to stay in the arts and cultural center of Bali, Ubud, when we stumbled upon the Bali T House website. No, it’s not a resort, and neither is it a budget hotel.

Bali T House is actually a small commune of 8-9 eco-friendly, beautifully designed, modern village homes located in a tiny lane that opens up to vast paddy fields.

They have two communes in the vicinity, that are filled with village homes designed with various concepts. All villas are located very close-by and are unfenced. Instead, they are surrounded by trees, palms, bamboo plants — the entire villa is surrounded by greenery. In fact, it’s so surrounded that if you walk in at night, it’s not that easy to tell the difference between one entrance from the next.

The entire villa seems to be made of wood (with the exception of the bathroom) and glass with tons of open spaces for increased air flow.

That’s Tanya taking a photo. In fact, it’s so open that even the shower area was constructed with an open concept.. a little too open maybe since I’m such an urban youth who’s unused to showering with plants, cows mooing and crickets in the background.

There’s no attached dining area. Instead, there’s a very adorable open air kitchenette & mini-outdoor-verandah for you to have your breakfast each morning. The other awesome part about this place? They serve you breakfast in your villa itself. In the morning, at 8am or so, one of the girls will come by to prepare a healthy, wholesome breakfast of fresh fruits (seasonal local fruits according to your preference), coffee / tea or juice, and pancakes (plain sugared or banana) or an egg-tomato-and-onion omelette for you. Pretty awesome eh?

From the villa, you can walk down the stone path to either someone else’s villa, or the pool. It’s really less than 10 steps away:

Cool thing about this pool? It overlooks the Ubud’s paddy fields.

All this awesomeness was packaged at USD35 a night. And that’s including tax. When you split it by 4 (that’s how many people the villa can sleep), it cost us less than USD10 a night at the place. All in all, we got a pretty sweet deal.

My favorite part about Jasmine House, or even Bali T House in general was the peace and silence I barely get over here in Malaysia. For 4 days, I awoke to cows mooing, the call of roosters, and for 3 nights I dozed off to crickets and gentle, chilly breeze.

Warning, it was really back to nature. The only mishap occurred on my last night at the villa when a frog appeared in the bathroom. I fear frogs greatly and that frog made me scream so loudly, and so shrilly, that I woke the neighbors and stunned Gabby and May out of their peace and silence. So, yes, be prepared for things like that.

If you want to check out Bali T Houses, you can go here >>

Next up…

Cheap, cheap, cheap massages & spa treatments

This was what I looked forward to the most, right after beaching. And I was not disappointed. In Ubud there are tons of spa & massage parlours littering the streets. Some seem really awesome and come with hefty price tags, and some are dodgy. But May and I found one really good one — gorgeous, good, and so super cheap!

Venezia Day Spa!

We found this place by picking a bunch of random brochures off the racks of one of the many tourist information centers along Monkey Forest St. and walked a long way to locate it (it wasn’t that far, but we were just on the wrong end of that long road!), but I personally found it so worth it.

My first time there (yes I went more than once), I took their Milk Bath Package which included a 1 hr traditional massage, 20 minute milk & Balinese spice body scrub and a 20-minute milk bath…. with actual real milk! And fresh flowers!

The entire package cost me no more than RM60. That can’t even cover a 30 minute body massage at a decent massage outlet in Malaysia. So I thought this was one of the sweetest deals!

Two things to look out for — if you’re going with friends and you don’t wish to see each other naked, opt for separate rooms. If you don’t mind, then they provide rooms with double showers.. and you can shower with your buddies. If you’re going with a girl/boyfriend/husband/wife/partner — then enjoy your moments of voyeurism.

And, don’t take their manicures / pedicures. May hated it. Thank God I didn’t pick that set.

And lastly…

Relaxing, Lazy Days By The Beach

This was, is, my favorite part of the entire trip. This was made even more awesome by the fact that May and I found the most amazing chill out place in Kuta called Oceans27 in Centro Mall.

Yes, we went to a mall because May wanted to use the Internet. But, no regrets. This place is a restaurant, lounge, bar that overlooks one of the quietest parts of Kuta beach.

That’s not even the most awesome part. It has a pool with jacuzzi sides for their customers to laze around in or swim in… beach side verandahs for your to laze in, deck chairs for you to tan in, and towels should you need to dry yourself off, and clean shower rooms if you need to clean up.

And free wi-fi…

Anyway, this place was the bomb. You have to check it out if you’re in Bali!

And, lastly, our driver took us to an awesome beach in Nusa Dua after we finished our morning of water sports. It was quiet, secluded, and completely untouristy.

If you’re wondering what we did there… we just ate and slept. Literally. Melia Hotel was a stone’s throw away so we headed there for lunch (our most expensive meal in Bali), then lay out our towels and scarves for a 45 minute nap and tan before moving on to Uluwatu. We were pretty much like pigs.

Anyway, we did tons more awesome stuff, like…

• Walk up and down Monkey Forest St. to hunt for cute & comfy cafes to dine & chat in — there are tons there.
• Buy a dress for RM20 after hefty bargaining
• Buy a cute tin elephant for the boyfriend
• Buy paintings for the mother
• Visit Uluwatu
• Snorkel
• Parasail — not me, May and Tanya
• Tan
• Eat

Yeah, you get the gist. But those were my highlights.

Anyway, if you want to check out more photos, either visit my Facebook or you can go check out my Picasa album here >>

Till next time

]]> http://xinch.com.my/bali-holiday-2010-927/feed/ 2 http://xinch.com.my/2009-in-a-series-of-pictures-882/ http://xinch.com.my/2009-in-a-series-of-pictures-882/#comments Sat, 02 Jan 2010 07:27:37 +0000 xinch http://xinch.com.my/?p=882 Just because.

2010 is gonna be spectacular!

Happy New Decade, y’all!

We took Unititi Express up and the 4.5 hour journey was more bearable than I imagined it to be. After several nauseous childhood experiences of traveling up the winding road that leads to Tanah Rata, I’ve become a lot less optimistic about the strength of my stomach.

The only issue with the bus was its gaudy upholstery. Well, it wasn’t an issue with me. But my traveling buddy seemed to think otherwise. Safe to say I was questioned about whether bus companies think that this design represents luxury (I think it’s cheap, that’s why they took it), what could be going on in the designers’ heads as they designed this piece of cloth, why what who where when how…..

You name it, he asked it.

Right as we were circling up the windy, nauseating, Cameron Highlands drive.

When we arrived at Tanah Rata, the sky was a gorgeous hue of blue and the weather a blissful chill. Everything was going spectacularly… and then he bought the abomination that is his strawberry beanie. Thankfully, his repeated attempts to make me wear it (and photograph me in it, God forbid) bounced off me before you can say “berry”. But I have to admit. He looked positively hilarious.

Our first meal in Tanah Rata was at Nasi Kukus at this ‘gerai’ beside the tourist information center. It kind of reminds me of the yummy nasi kukus they used to sell at Plaza Sentral’s gas chamber of a cafeteria. Anyway, I wasn’t too big a fan but Khailee was so addicted to it that he had it on Friday and Saturday.

After exploring Tanah Rata, we kinda parked ourselves at “Rosedale Bistro” and dined, read and WiFi-ed in the cafe. Yes. We’re creatures of habit — exploring new places to read and work. Except we’re in a totally different state and traveled 4.5 hours to do that.

But the highlight of our trip (to me) was BOH tea plantation. I haven’t been here since I was a child and here, I was literally surrounded by lush greenery!

You’d think 4.5 hours away from the city, and up in the highlands, you’ll be afforded anonymity. At the BOH Tea Plantation, we bumped into Amin & Fatemeh (my favorite, and only, Iranian friends). Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind at all (I love Amin & Fatemeh I just pondered the smallness of Malaysia.

I went on a photo-frenzy here at the tea plantation and had to get extra batteries from the shop when my charged ones ran out. But it was all worth it

As you can see, tons of camwhoring involved. But… how often do I camwhore anyway nowadays?

Verdict? I had a smashing weekend of cool air, cold nights, reading, work and awesome company. Definitely be back soon Camerons… and this time, with Strawberries!

]]> http://xinch.com.my/cameron-highlands-weekend-859/feed/ 0 http://xinch.com.my/pimp-my-room-761/ http://xinch.com.my/pimp-my-room-761/#comments Wed, 23 Sep 2009 17:07:30 +0000 xinch http://xinch.com.my/?p=761 If you don’t already know, I recently moved into a very pretty new condo in Kelana Jaya. Yes, after months of staying in my Dad’s place in the faraway Sunway, I’m back in action right in the heart of PJ. Many bouts of indecision have led me to so many color schemes for my room that I’ve lost count. I love red, but the stark whiteness and zenness of my condo doesn’t seem to SUIT red… so I thought of moving to white. But then, everything in white is just so boring.. and IKEA furniture is extremely generic! You get the drift.

So this long Raya weekend (Selamat Hari Raya to my Muslim friends =]!) I enlisted the artiest and most DIY person I know, Esther Lau, to pimp my room. I have to say, 3 days, loads of paint, turpentine and mosaic tiles later, my generic, boring IKEA furniture is MOST DEFINITELY — pimped.

I’ll let the photos speak for themselves — checkidout!

BEFORE

Aneboda Wardrobe (RM199)

AFTER

ANEBODA wardrobe + paint + mosaic + knobs

Check out my chest-of-drawers-cum-dresser:

BEFORE

KULLEN Chest of Drawers (RM199)

DURING

KULLEN + paint + mosaic + knobs = halfway there!

AFTER

KULLEN fully pimped

So cute I love my room — owe Esther loads of hugs and thanks and dinners for all her help! And I also owe May for the 2 hours of mosaic-cleaning-and-pasting she loaned to me (a banker’s time is precious and counted by the dime).. and Anna for helping out a little towards the end!

Here are some pimping-process pictures: Checkitout!

The screws for the drawer knobs we bought were WAY too long for Kullen. With no saw, Esther attempted using the measly penknife.

Mosaic - our weapons for the weekend

Setting up my KULLEN, fresh from IKEA.

Our fuel for the last leg of our pimping race. Good ol' Ribena.

After one of the shittiest weeks of the year, today just kicked ass.

1. I awoke to an email from my uncle in Ohio saying that my Aunt Jen just went into labour and is being prepped to deliver my newest baby cousin.

Baby J!

Josephine Chung, you are probably one of the most loved babies in the world. Your birth has been much awaited and we here in Malaysia cannot wait to see you and get to know you.

2. We delivered a kick-ass presentation for this semester’s colloquium for our research on humour and relevance on brand and product recognition for our Cognitive Psychology module, despite being rather ill-prepared for the presentation and kena tembak-ing during mocks.

the winning team!

3. WE actually WON one of the two best presentation prizes yeehaw

and another one!

4. OMFG… xinch the lousiest presenter of the group actually won best presenter!

Jamie and I melansi-lansi with our prizes

It’s an amazing close to my degree. We’ve won best presentation twice, and xinch the lousiest speaker in the world actually got a best presenter prize today.

Fantastic close to the semester, amazing closure to the end of my Bachelor’s program.

3 weeks left and I’ll join legions of unemployed, jobless youths.

Don’t matter – today was fantastic!

hugs and kisses everyone! enjoy the pics =]

the awesome display on rosch's taxonomy that took us forever to complete

“]

The group with our counselling poster =

WARNING: ANOTHER PHOTO-FILLED POST

I spent a large amount of time with Wei Zhi, Ghee, June, Jason and Chuan Wei during my December trip back so here are some pictures

Trek to Monkey Beach Participants: Wei Zhi, Li Jia, June, Ghee, Ghee’s friend Bill and Jason

Penang National Park entrance and office

When I look at this picture, I wonder if it was really taken in Penang

Going through the wilderness!

Pretty flowers were sprinkled along our trek

We had gray skies at first

thankfully it very quickly turned blue

we had sandy beaches

and quiet little lakes

until jason decided to test the waters

and in here, lives a hermit crab

I don't know bout this one, but it sure is pretty

and another pretty picture

June was obsessed with crabbies

Jason being super relaxed

Lydia cartwheeling

and Ghee failing

Zhi posed like nobody's business

and again

...and again.

he would like to think he's the Hulk

and she thought she was a mermaid

and a chio one at that...

engineering students constructing a dam to please king Jason

the completed dam.... until I stood up, of course

We took a boat back and guess how much it cost us?

RM50 for as many as 10 people! We had 7 so we split that by 7 instead. Imagine if we had 10!

Ghee enjoying the ride

my fav picture of Zhi and I -if only it weren't so dark

Docking at Teluk Bahang

The day was an absolute blast

That night, Pei Shan, Ade, Sim and I celebrated NYE.

pic courtesy of Pei Shan's FB

Sim, Shan and I - pic courtesy of Pei Shan's FB

Lots more but I’m too lazy to upload, so there

————————————————————————————————

My holidays usually consist of a lot of lazing, a lot of pigging out, a lot of tv, and a lot of napping. This time however, I spent most of my time rushing from here to there and there to here – total insanity! I’ve decided to scrap text (most of it anyway) and just display my holidays in a series of pictures.

Met up with June, Chuan Wei, Wei Zhi, Jason, VincentJason’sFriend, MatthewJason’sLittleBrother and Matthew’s friends for some kayaking at PSC.

While we kayaked, June and CWei played chess

After kayaking we headed to Sri Ananda Bahwan in Hillside for lunchies!

Then, it was off to June’s beautiful condo for a round of Taboo!

When I said beautiful, I wasn’t kidding. Check out the views!

Infinity pool!

Of course, I also met up with the exMGSians for drinks.

See that little blue ball? Ms. Autumn”NowNotSoAerosmith”Tan uhm stole took permanently borrowed it from a buffet dinner to attach to her cell. Completely into the Christmas spirit she was!

Her super cute-super cool Fujifilm polaroid camera!

I also met up with my bestest friend during MGS days. We used to want to sit next to each other but knew fully well that we would talk so much that teachers would separate us! So we’d do the next best thing – sit in the same row, or same column either in front of (or behind of) each other or by the side with Di”Didi”yana and Hasmi”Mimi” dar! Those were the days =] Miss you girlie

Christmas was a blast and I attended a series of Christmas dinners and lunches. One of it was at Jason’s place – a scrumptious Asian Christmas dinner =]

“]”]

Vince, Chuan Wei, Jun and I at Jason's waiting for dinner =

Christmas dinner at Jason's

Jun and I with Simba, the "rug"

Of course, what’s Christmas without the obligatory family luncheon? I must say though, I miss having the Hartsuikers around each Christmas. Sin KP, Uncle Frits, Nic and Chris make each Christmas more enjoyable than the last! Without them around, you don’t see Shang and Chris running round Chee Seng like the overgrown monkeys that they are setting up firecrackers purchased from the every-Tuesday-night pasar malam in Tanjung Bungah (that also means that I don’t get to eat my fried chicken skin purchased from the said pasar malam!).

Christmas lunch at Chee Seng Gardens - the usual hoardes of people I call family

Christmas lunch at Chee Seng Gardens - Su Yin, Auntie Cheryl and I

This year (meaning 2008) there was an additional Christmas dinner with the family at Auntie Mandy’s and Uncle Lennie’s. Boy did we live up to the saying “eat, drink and be merry!”

“]”]

Aunty Mandy and Mum scavenging for food and wine =

Mei Yuiet Ee Ee

My aunts and my uncle having a chat outside

Su Yin and I

Shang and Su Yin

JiShern and I

Boys all grown up!

Chern and Shang (my brother who shaved his head and now looks like a monk!) with Uncle Pat

No complaints here!”]

The adorable Tan Ji Shern who seems to be fixated with my camera. =

Andddd one more shot of JiShern and I.

Late December saw Sim’s sister getting married after months of preparation.

Sim's sister preparing for the tea ceremony

Sim looking very pretty that night

All of us with the bride and her family

and one more group shot with Datin Lim XD

May in one of her usual bouts of vulgarity

Well, she returned the favour of my advertising by posting this picture of my reaction to being propositioned by Sim's relatives that night - not fun. ----Picture courtesy of May

OMGLOOKATMYKELOIDS! *gasp*

OkayI’mtoastI’llcontinuethissomeothertime.

x

LONDON, ENGLAND

My uncle's backyard in Southgate, London

Chrysanthemums on sale in a Farmers' Market in Enfield, Outer London

Berry-picking in summer while walking through a park in Southgate, London

Purple blooms from my uncle's backyard in Southgate, London

IRELAND

Daisy in the Burren, Ireland

The view from the Burren, Ireland

Pink stalks from the Burren, Ireland

Summer skies over the Burren, Ireland

Field of Daisies near the Cliffs of Moher, Ireland

Twin blooms overlooking the Cliffs of Moher, Ireland

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v310/xinch/EUROTRIPflowers/cliffsflowers.jpg

Flowers overlooking the Cliffs of Moher, County Clare

NORTHERN IRELAND, THE UNITED KINGDOM

Sprinkle of Daisies in Derry, Northern Ireland

Derry, Northern Ireland

VIENNA, AUSTRIA

Pathway to the Upper Belvedere, Prince Eugene's summer palace in Vienna

Summer blooms by the orangerie in Lower Belvederegarten, Vienna.

Fiery blooms in the orangerie in the Lower Belvederegarten

Purple pricklies, Lower Belvederegarten in Vienna

KRAKOW, POLAND

A wild daisy blooming in the Jewish Quarter in Krakow

PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC

Lavender stalks in the Old Town Square in Prague

PARIS, FRANCE

Daisies along the Seine in front of the Notre Dame de Paris

Notre Dame de Paris

Notre Dame de Paris

Tufts of Pink, Notre Dame de Paris

DISNEYLAND, PARIS

Walt Disney Studios, Paris

Cross-section in Disneyland

Purple in Disneyland Paris

SOUTHEND-ON-SEA, ENGLAND

Orange bells in my aunt's backyard in the seaside borough of Southend, England

A closer look

Like true Penangites, Bee Sim, Jo, Lyn and myself headed out to eat the morning after we (the KL students) returned to the motherland.

The food….

The people

We were later joined by

Mamasan of Chulia Street, Chow Kit and Lrg Gharu

Aerosmith Tan

Every outing with the ex-MGSians have similar recurring themes

1.  A hideous Ops Ayam photo of MamasanMel

2. Pictures of some people looking damn tam chiak (greedy)

*from Sim’s FBook album*

3. AerosmithTan with funny new paraphernalia. In this case, a Fish Eye Lomo! No more bling for AerosmithTan!

*from Lyn’s FBook album*

4. Embarrassing moments with Aerosmith and Mamasan around laughing like hyenas and witches

With those two around, it’s impossible not to attract stares…. -_-’

5. And of recent developments, a very vain and camwhore-y Chao Wei-Lyn

Combination of all that makes (almost) every outing a blast… except maybe the lethally embarrassing combination of AerosmithTan and MamasanMel… that’s just a little too much to take! More of Penang soon

]]> http://xinch.com.my/guess-where-i-was-last-week-150/feed/ 3 http://xinch.com.my/rockup2008-142/ http://xinch.com.my/rockup2008-142/#comments Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:17:04 +0000 xinch http://xinch.wordpress.com/?p=142

Rock Up! is a fundraising event that uses the influence of music to make a change in the lives of others. The event includes a concert where musicians, singers, dancers and celebrities come together to highlight the plight of the Agathians Shelter Home.

So why “Rock Up!”?
According to UrbanDictionary.com (yes, how reliable ;]) “Rock up” means to be present, and by using that, we are asking you to show up and be present at the event to make a change in the lives of these children.

Why Agathians Shelter?
There are so many shelters in the Klang Valley, orphanages that need our help. But why Agathians?

1. They’re relatively unknown.
Unlike larger organizations such as Ti-Ratana, 90% of you probably have never heard of Agathians Shelter!
All these not-so-popular homes without the backing of large organizations are the ones that truly require our help

2. Agathians is a fully independent shelter
No government backing, no organization backing them and definitely not under any religious organizations. Therefore, no funding. They rely solely on donors for their monthly expenses which touch RM13K a month for 30 boys and when times are tough, the only pockets to turn to are their own.

Most of all, this is why

How you can help?

1. Raffle Tickets are going for only RM5 per raffle and there are some amazing prizes to be won!
2. T-Shirts sales have commenced. These are ltd edition t-shirts exclusively for the event itself! Only RM25/t-shirt available in S, M and L.
3. Donations. Yes, we’re also accepting cash donations.
4. Sponsored goods. Electrical items for the home, paint for the house, whatever you, your friends or your family can come up with would be greatly appreciated

Help these kids get their new home. I’m already doing my part. Why not do yours?

You can contact us at rockup2008 [at] gmail.com
OR
drop me a comment
OR
contact me at chin.xc [at]gmail.com

ROCK UP!