How Apt...

Just found this quote:

In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on. - Robert Frost

I think it goes really well with the theme of my blog. Don't you think so?

Cats Was Amazing!!

Am back from Singapore after Cats on Saturday night. Flew out on the first flight to Singapore. Met up with Max and his daughters for breakfast at Toa Payoh. Had some pretty good dim sum at Crystal Jade compliments of Max. (Max: Next time let me buy la!)

Breakfast was barely digested and it was time for lunch with Ivy and Tommy & family at Atria. We decided to head up to Food Republic for more choices and cost effectiveness. Not fantastic food but it's quite ok actually. We had a great time catching up although we're quite new friends to be frank. But what the heck, we had great fun. Tommy's daughter is the absolute cutest. Rolling big eyes just like her daddy.

We adjourned to Coffee Club at Takashimaya and it was packed! Luckily there was still 1 more table available for the 4 of us. Sadly we had to call it a day by 4pm as I had to rush back to Toa Payoh, freshen up and get ready for Cats.

Fortunately from Max's place, there's a bus that goes straight to Marina Square. Nice! It was a 40 minute bus ride. Stopped by the food court for a quick bite in case I got hungry halfway through the show.

Arrived at the Esplanade with 5 minutes to spare before the show started. Just nice.


Right on the dot, 8pm, the show started. I had decided to splurge this time and got really great seats. 10th row from the front right in the middle of the hall. The view was just nice. Not too near and not too far. No heads blocking me in front too.



I have to say the entire show is very entertaining and fun. The songs and dances all beautifully choreographed. The vocals were amazing too. The sound system in the hall was up to standard. No echo and bounceback so we could hear everything clearly.

During intermission, I was sooooo thirsty I had to get something to drink. I was quite flabbergasted at the prices but then again I really didn't have any choice. So I ended up with a very expensive can of Diet Coke. Quite unlike me to have Coke but it was either that or even more expensive mineral water or wine or beer.

Just as the break was ending, I entered the hall. There were some of the Cats roaming around the hall. I managed to snap a pic with one of them.


And by the way, I also splurged on the program booklet which cost me SGD 20.

Cats! Here I Come!

Yikes! It's tomorrow. Collected my tickets yesterday from the agent. Talk about procrastinating. Well, at least I didn't wait till today :)

Now to head off to the money changer. Believe it or not, this is what I do all the time. I won't prep until the very last minute. Let's just hope I get a good rate. I still remember one time I went to the money changer 2 days before my trip, she told me, "Singapore Dollar, sudah habis. No stock!"

I nearly fainted. Luckily I still had 1 more day...

Tonight will be just packing and an early night. Catching the first flight out tomorrow morning.

Cats! Here I come...

Countdown to Cats!

Countdown officially begins for me. 6 more days to Cats. I can't wait.

Cuteness

I couldn't resist taking this pic last week when I saw a little white thing hanging at the bottom of this pick up. I couldn't get close enough to take a clearer picture but that white thing is actually a Mashimaro soft toy which I suspect was one of those McDonald's collectibles a few years back. What a waste!

Kiasu-ness

This pic was taken a few months in Ipoh about 2 streets away from my house. Couldn't resist myself when I saw this. Talk about kiasu-ness and protectiveness over one's belongings.

Aka Momiji

Pics taken at Aka Momiji are up at my food blog.

Jack & Jill

Over the weekend, rushed back from Ipoh and decided to send Jack to the vet for a checkup. Had called up vet few days earlier and told him about the miracle puppies. As Jack was castrated way back 2007, it was quite impossible for him to impregnate Jill. But it did happen. Vet insisted that it's impossible but my response was.. how do you explain 7 puppies?

So off it is to the vet. He did a check on Jack and still insisted it is impossible. He tried to extract his semen but was unsuccessful. Jack just wasn't excited :)

Anyhow, decided then to bring in Jill for spaying and the 2 pups for vaccination. Vaccination and deworming for both of them cost RM80 which is quite a good price. And for Jill, she spent the night at the vet's and will have the procedure done the next morning. She'll be back at home in the evening.

Jill is recovering well. Back to her active self. Still caring for the pups but weaning them. Much better than when Jane had the procedure done on her. It was such an experience then.

Grandma's Birthday

Apologies for the silence but work has been hell with quarter close deadlines. And yours truly here is down with the flu. Wonder where the bug came from.

Anyways, was back in Ipoh over the weekend for my beloved Por Por's birthday. It's her 83rd! We had been cracking our heads where to head to for dinner. Knowing my dad, we'll end up in either Sun Lee How Fook Restaurant or Overseas Restaurant. No way!

So I thought hard and finally decided that Japanese it is. Por Por has never tasted Japanese food so I thought this would be a great time to expose her. But then the problem is I'm not at all familiar with the Jap food scene in Ipoh. Up went a post in FB and Twitter and lo and behold, the replies started flooding. Ah! The wonders of social media marketing.

We finally decided to go ahead with one of my schoolmates, Yin Fong's, recommendation. After all she's lived in Japan for a period of time so she would know how authentic the food is. It's a new restaurant called Aka Momiji somewhere behind Tesco.

Off we headed to the restaurant. We were lucky to be just slightly early as it was almost full house. Very good variety of food and bento sets available. Price wise is also good value for money. For 8 of us, the total bill came up to RM300 and that includes a bottle of sake which my dad ordered.

Por Por was very adventurous that night. She even dared try sashimi with wasabi. When we brought out the cake and sang her the birthday song, she was absolutely estatic.

Later, one of the staff offered Por Por a small tub of imported Japanese ice cream. Even June got a tub. We shared it among the 8 of us as we were just too stuffed from all the food and cake. Delicious!

Oh yah, the cake we bought was from JJ Cake House by Jennifer Liau. Pandan layered cake without colouring and preservatives and also low in sugar. Lovely!

Pics to come soon.

Carelessness...

You guys wouldn't believe it but yours truly here forgot to put back the fuel cap after pumping petrol yesterday morning. Happily drove off and headed to Barcamp in the morning. I did get a funny feeling but couldn't really tell what it was until I decided to check and found that the fuel cap is missing.

Panic!!!

Headed to Tesco and they had replacement caps selling for RM7.90. But I thought I'd want to get an original replacement. So I called up Perodua this morning and you wouldn't believe how much they're selling it for.

A whopping RM99.00 for a fuel cap! I told them no thanks. I'll find another one.

Called up the spare parts shop that I frequent nowadays and they had 2 versions. RM10.00 and RM32.00. So I opted for the more expensive one since it is of better quality.

That's a lesson to be learnt. Never pump petrol when you haven't gotten a good night's sleep.

Another great lesson... (Part 3)

*** Warning! Continuation of a super-long post. Be warned! ***

Part 3 of my experience in Bali

When I signed up to crew at EBS, I knew I was in for a great time. But I never expected the exhilaration that I felt over the next few days. I sort of knew what I was in for but the emotional journey was just something I never expected.

It's really tough for me to refrain from telling people the right thing to do when they are going the wrong way. Believe me, it's really tough for me. So I know that's going to be my greatest challenge over the next few days.

Day 1 went on rather well. The team seemed to work pretty well together albeit being strangers. Some of them kept on asking what is going to happen next. But as crew, we cannot tell. They have to find out for themselves and learn the lessons themselves. All we can do is guide them. We cannot tell.

Le Meridien observed Earth Hour so lights were off in the whole resort from 8.30pm for an hour. Some teams took this time to really get to know one another more while some just went about and did their own thing.

For me, this EBS has given me a lot of clarity especially on the content. I guess it's because I'm able to pay full attention to the content and not working on a business plan. And with some new content, it's now even clearer.

But the biggest lesson is not in the content. It's about the journey one goes through at EBS and it's different for everyone. I learnt how to let go and allow people to make their mistakes and learn their own lessons.

I also learnt that in giving we receive more. So the more I give the more I receive. I received so much love from my team and though we've all gone back to our own lives, I still feel their love. Although I don't believe that I have given that much to my team but to see and hear their appreciation really makes me appreciate each and every one of them for who they are. Some of us shared a very deep connection in those few days and I believe this connection will stay on no matter where we are. After all, we have the internet and XL Nation and that's how we will all stay connected.

I am looking to crewing again for the next EBS. I have registered my interest. Hope to see some of you there.

Till my next visit to Bali.... (I hope I will get to see the dolphins then)

Another great lesson... (Part 2)

*** Warning! Very long post. Read at your own risk ***

Part 2 of my experience in Bali

Skipped breakfast next morning and waited for Wayan to arrive. Took us almost an hour to reach XL Vision Villas. There were so many XL members there. It was like a reunion. And there'll be an even bigger reunion at Le Meridien later.

Our day started with discovering that Bu Oka is closed for Hari Nyepi and will reopen on 31st March. Darn! There goes our brunch plans. Back up plan? Head up to Kintamani for brunch with a view. Food is not so great but the view more than compensates. Plus it was a very cooling day. Perfect weather to be up in the mountains.

While we were there, a guy offered to take us to Trunyan for a cost of Rp 1 million. We all agreed uninamously that it's way too expensive. So we got Wayan to drive us down to the lake side to find out more. We were greeted with freelance 'tour guides' when we arrived at the lake side. They offered to bring us across the lake for a cost of Rp 350k. But then we were concerned with insurance and all. So we decided to get on the official ferry and that only cost us Rp 375k.

In hindsight, when I caught up with Concepcion at Le Meridien, I found out that the freelance 'tour guides' always offer lower prices than the official ferry. And when the boat is right in the middle of the lake, they'll turn to you and say that the actual price is higher. Kinda like blackmail I would say. There you are, stuck in the middle of the largest lake in Bali and you're told that the price you paid is not the actual price. Pure extortion!

It was a 25 minute speed boat ride across the lake. No life jackets in the boat though :)

Just as our boat was approaching the shore, we saw another boat filled with locals arrive seconds before us. As it turned out, they live in the village of Trunyan and they saw our boat approaching. They were really friendly and started explaining the history of the cemetery, showed us around.

The unique feature of this village is that they do not bury the dead. Instead the bodies are wrapped in linen and left in slots built of bamboo with their personal effects. An umbrella is placed at the area where the head is. If the person had held office in the village, a silver umbrella with trimmings is placed. For the layman villager, a white umbrella with no trimmings is placed.

At any one time, there can only be 11 bodies placed in the slots as the village people believe that 11 is a holy number. And they have a FIFO basis. As more people die, older bodies will discarded to the side. There was a whole pile of what seemed like garbage in one area of the cemetery. When we took a closer look, there were human bones and skulls amongst the garbage. What a way to treated...

At another area, there were skulls lined up on a ledge. The villagers offered to take a photo of me with the skulls in the background but I politely declined. That wasn't in my agenda to be photographed with skulls.

What's most important to note is that there is a tree that grows in the cemetery and it is absorbing all the smells of rotting bodies. The tree is called the Taru Menyan tree and the name of the village is derived from the name of the tree. The village is one of the Bali Aga Village which means that the inhabitants are descendents of the original Balinese people before the arrival of the Hindu Majapahit Kingdom in the 16th century.

And also, not everyone gets buried at the Kuban cemetery. Only those with families and those who died a natural death can be buried here. So those who commit suicide or died in accidents get a normal burial at another site. This cemetery is accessible only by boat and there are no treks leading into the cemetery from the other side.

Here comes the most interesting part. There was a basket with some money in it and as we guessed, it was for donations. I am more than happy to give a donation whereever I go but not if I'm forced to donate a fixed sum. They were asking for Rp 100k. I was just not for it. I was also low in cash. I gave them Rp 30k which I still think is too much.

And then.... as we were leaving the cemetery, the villagers started asking us for tips. For them taking the trouble to come over and giving us explanations about the history of the cemetery. Oh my gosh! I really wasn't left with much by that time. So I gave him Rp 15k. And that was all I had with me. I was left with Rp 4k. Can you just imagine that?

Amazing how sometimes we think that Bali is still a very holy and pure island and you bump into people who will just try to spoil our image of Bali. Oh well, I'll just accept it the way it is. There are still plenty of great people here.

Off we headed back to our car. It was just about time to head to Le Meridien and we still had to go to the money changer. Needed more money for the rest of the trip. Plus Bob wanted to get some booze to stock up in his room.

We made it just in time for Bob's meeting at 4.30pm and our crew meeting at 5pm. Short briefing but we know we're gonna be having really long days ahead.

EBS always starts off with a dinner party. All total strangers so it's really a great networking opportunity. You never know who you'll meet. After all, EBS attracts people from all over the world. I had the opportunity to meet some great people over dinner but I felt the strongest attraction towards a lady from the US of A. Lorrin Parrish. I was to find out later that she is one of the founders of Quiksilver and is now running 2 non-profit organisations in Santa Fe. I have never met such a down to earth person who is always in her flow. A person with so much success in her life, you would expect her to really know it all and have it all. But yet, here she was at EBS and the amazing thing about this is she'd only heard of EBS the day before and here she was. She had no idea what she's in for and yet she was all ready for anything that's going to come her way.

I was fortunate enough to eventually have her in the team which I was crewing for. She was so attracted to the plan of my team that she traded places with another member on my team. It was really amazing for me to see Lorrin interacting with the team and just constantly flowing even when the rest of the team were not in flow.

To be continued...

Another great lesson... (Part 1)

*** Warning: This is gonna be a very long post. Be warned! ***

Part 1 of my experience in Bali

For those of you who know me well, you will know that I am absolutely in love with Bali. I can't seem to get enough of Bali. People don't get it. My friends don't get it. Even my family doesn't get it. But what I do get is this sense of calmness and peace whenever I'm there so I've resorted to having my holidays there once a year. My annual retreat.

Last year was an exception though as I was there twice. Once for holiday and the second visit was to attend EBS. You can read all about my experience in EBS here. I learnt so much that I decided to come back as crew. After all, it's also in the giving back that lessons are to be learnt.

I had forgotten all about crewing until I received an email early this year reminding me to submit my flight details to the organiser. I didn't even have my flight tickets booked yet. I was still lucky enough to score really cheap tickets though. Under RM300 for a return flight, meals and travel insurance. Viva Air Asia!

And this time I thought I'd just coincide my annual retreat to Bali with EBS instead of flying there twice. Happily bought my tickets. 8 days in Bali! My longest trip ever.

Just few weeks before my trip, I found out that the day after I arrive was Hari Nyepi (Silence Day) in Bali. Clever me forgot to check the calendar and thought that I had gotten the deal of the century with the cheap tickets from Air Asia. No wonder!

I have all these great plans for my trip. I was gonna stay up in the north and take a boat out to see the dolphins at Lovina. I was also gonna visit the ancient village of Trunyan and its cemetery. Checked with Wayan, my good friend in Bali, and there is no way we'll be able to make it to Lovina. Trunyan is still doable.

So my new itinerary will be to check in to a hotel nearest to the airport with free wifi and pig out for a whole day. On the morning before EBS starts, we'll head off to Trunyan. Sounds good!

Just before my trip, I had the pleasure of meeting Bob Urichuck and his son, Dave from Canada. En route to EBS to be a mentor, Bob stopped by in KL for a momentum session with XL members in KL. That's part of his giving back.

We had decided to hook up in Bali before EBS to maximise our trip there. After all, Bob and Dave flew over 40 hours to be in this region. Nothing fixed but we'll just go with the flow.

I decided to read up more about Hari Nyepi and this is what I learnt. Every year on the first day of the Balinese Saka calendar, the whole island of Bali shuts down. And I mean shuts down completely, totally. It's basically no lights, no sex, no work and no play for 24 hours. From 6am till 6am the following day. Even the airport is closed for 24 hours!

So what do they do for 24 hours? I had a chat with Wayan when I arrived in Bali as we were having dinner to find out more. Celebrations actually start the day before Hari Nyepi. Families prepare meals as no work is allowed. There is a huge party on Kuta beach the night before. We were caught in a massive jam between our hotel and Kuta while searching for a place to eat.

For Wayan, personally, he refrains from talking for 24 hours. No chats with his family, no phone calls. He spends the day meditating and fasting. If possible he won't even reply to text messages on his phone.

At dinner, we also decided on our itinerary for Friday. Pick up from our hotel at 8.30am and proceed to XL Vision Villas to pick up Bob and Dave. Then off to Bu Oka in Ubud for brunch. We thought it would be nice to introduce Babi Guling, a traditional specialty food of Bali, to our friends from Canada. After brunch, we'll head to Trunyan and we'll be off to Le Meridien for EBS right after. Sounds like a plan...

On Hari Nyepi, it was a total day of relaxation for me. Had late breakfast and stuffed myself full coz I wasn't gonna eat much the rest of the day. I'm not a big fan of hotel food especially when it's prepared with limited supplies of raw material. Went back to sleep after breakfast and basically just spent the day taking naps in between tv shows on cable.

I was lucky that Harris Tuban came with free wifi and 60 channels of cable tv. Wifi wasn't very reliable on that day probably coz almost everyone at the hotel were stuck in their rooms and was clogging up the bandwidth.

Oh, and while at breakfast, I actually saw 2 policemen dressed down in black with the keris at their belts patrolling the streets to make sure that everyone is at home or in the hotel. Anyone found out on the streets will be issued a summons and fined. It's serious business.

And the lesson to be learnt here? Well, we create all this hype about Earth Hour and how great it is that major cities around the world are switching off their lights for 1 whole hour. Big deal!

When I experienced Hari Nyepi here in Bali, it's amazing to know that they have been practising this for centuries. A total shutdown for 24 hours to reflect on the year that has passed and to ponder on the year to come. It is in this 24 hours of solitude that true appreciation is given to all that they have. If only the rest of the world can follow suit and not make a big fuss about it when they do. And I believe if the whole island can shutdown completely for 24 hours, especially when tourism is the core of the island, I am sure that the rest of us can do it as well. After all it's only 1 day out of 365 days in a year. And if we, the rest of the world, can come to a common understanding and adopt this practice, I believe that all of us will learn to appreciate life so much more...

To be continued...

Pups Update

I have great news! All pups are now officially adopted. It's such a relief. No more worrying days of how I'm going to be able to take care of all of them. I still 2 of them with me though while their new owner gets her new house ready to take them in. It is very exciting although I will miss them dearly. After all, they are like my grandchildren :)

While I was in Bali for 8 days, they have grown a lot. And I mean a lot! They must have been having a great time at my friend's place.

Oh well, life goes on...