Koh Lipe: Day 2

Good morning, paradise!

It is now day 2 and we are ready for island hopping. But first let's have a hearty breakfast. We had a nice sleep on last night because the night was so cold. Tonight is different because I suffered till I had to wake up. I had a severe sunburn till my whole body was heaty and felt like my skin was burning. I did apply lots of sunscreen with SPF50 but idk it did not work.Check out my entry on Day 1 for more information about our journey.

While waiting for breakfast, you can relax at the beautiful well maintained garden. Be sure to check out Mali Resort coz this is the best resort for me after visiting other resorts around the island. There are other 5 star resorts in this island that offers even more spacious suites and facilities but they are too pricey compared to Mali.

Koh Lipe: Day 1

Hello summer!

After a long trip to Japan last year on September 2013, I have been staying at home ever since. Then hubby decided to bring me to Koh Lipe, the Maldives of Thailand (a.k.a. Dog Island...I'll explain later) on May this year! I was so stoked.

Bikini set from Summer Affaire and aviator shades from Phatculture.

Of relaxing in the summer sun, just letting off steam. Oh, the sky will be blue, and you guys will be there too. When I finally do what frozen things do in summer!
                                                                                                                                ~Olaf~

Japan: What to buy and eat in Japan?

Hi there! This entry will be picture heavy as I have uploaded most of my food and purchases in Japan. Kansai area (Osaka, Kyoto etc) is famous for street food like okonomiyaki, takoyaki, yakitori and many others. I was on a budget so I did not try luxurious food like kaiseiki, kobe beef, wagyu beef, fugu (pufferfish) and many more.

I also did not enter into any discount store like 100 Yen Shop or Daiso coz it is very common at my homeland however you should coz who knows they have more special things that you can't find in our local Daiso. Hence without further a do here are some of the recommended stuff I have eaten and bought in Japan.

Update: I received alot of inquiries regarding where to buy Kracie Popin' Cookin' in Malaysia. Do scroll down and read more to find out where and the price.

Okonomiyaki
Osaka is the birth place for this cuisine so you definitely wouldn't wanna miss out. Okonomiyaki is a savoury pancake that consists of batter, egg, vege and meat/seafood. It is usually topped with otafuku/okonomiyaki sauce, aonori flakes (seaweed), bonito flakes (smoked tuna), mayonnaise and beni shoga (pickled ginger). Okonomiyaki types tend to differ according to region like in Tokyo is smaller than the ones in Kansai.

Japan: Universal Studios Japan (USJ)

Other than Disneyland I'm sure you have heard of Universal Studios. There are 4 Universal Studios around the world; Florida (USA), Los Angeles (USA), Osaka (Japan) and latest one in Singapore. I have explained a little about the theme park in my overview post. It is very easy to get there just take JR on the Osaka loop line (counterclockwise) and interchange at Nishi-kujo station to Sakurajima line and get down at Universal City station. Normal admission rate is ¥6,980 for the 1 day while the 2-day pass costs ¥10,871. Children and senior citizens have lesser rate so do check out here.

We went during Halloween so you will see Trick or Treat theme everywhere. The Starlight Parade was replaced by zombies which was kinda disappointing for us. Instead of parading or dancing (well they did a dance for only 5 minutes) there were just about 5 - 8 fully costumed zombies chasing everyone.

Train to Universal City is so cute!

As you walk out from the station you will see this. Mostly fast food restaurants and cafes.

Japan: How to ride a train in Japan?

Hello once again. It's been a while since I blogged about my Japan trip. The last post was tough to write because I had to research all over again to get the facts right. Prices and entrance fees might increase from time to time because I noticed there has been an increase of  ¥10 - ¥20 as compared to 2013.

But now I am going to provide a simple guide on how to ride a train in Japan. Unfortunately, I am unable to teach you how to read the signs and name of places. I decided to write this post to help you travelers because I myself faced trouble when getting on a train in Japan. I come from a place where there are no trains or subways so I wasn't familiar and easily get confused. Just look at the lines and dots below to get the idea. It is a map of Japan Rail (JR) for Kansai region.

I have never been to Tokyo so I don't know how their railway system works but hubby told me its almost as complicated as this and has a loop line as well. I am also unable to teach you on how to ride a shinkansen because I have no experience on that but my husband does when he was in Tokyo.

Japan: Where to go in Japan?

Kansai is the southern region of Honshu island in Japan. It includes prefectures of Mie, Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo and Shiga which is why the main airport in Osaka is called Kansai International Airport. I will be covering Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo because I only traveled to these prefectures.

Map of cities I have covered in the region.

I stayed in Japan for merely 3 weeks in September 2013 so I cannot say that I have lived like the locals. You have to stay here for a couple of years to really experience Japan like a local. One word of advise is do not visit Japan in September because the typhoon was horrible. During that time, news about more radiation leakage also caused quite a stir. So why did I stay there for a longer time than most tourists do? It's because I followed my husband on a business trip.

Therefore I won't blog with the usual format like Day1, Day2 and so on but will write on an overview like this post, a guide on riding JR, places I have visited according to cities and of course food and shopping. All budget and costs listed in this blog will be my personal expenses because the company my husband works for only pays for their employees. Also take note that most hotels and hostels in Japan count by head so accommodation was all on me.

My Wedding Series: Wedding Day

OK so the big day has come. As a child I have always dream of having a fairytale princess wedding where I would ride into the ballroom on a pumpkin carriage by white horses. That's possible as rentals are available but as we matured money comes into our mind. I know this is a once in a lifetime moment but even a simple wedding can be memorable. But I did dress up like a princess with a Tiffany blue sparkling ball gown and princess jasmine type of dark blue long tailed dress. And I emphasized that I wanted a crown lol.

So here's a summary of preparations we did for our wedding.
* Note that this is a Chinese wedding and its not really traditional.

1. Book a venue at least 6 months before to secure your preferred place.
2. Come out with guest list after you succeeded booking a venue.
3. Book photographer and videographer 3-4 months before event.
4. Send out wedding invites 2 months before event.
5. Choose dress with bridal house 1 month before event.
6. Wedding car rental 2 weeks before event.
7. Confirm guest list 2 weeks before event and print any necessary plans such as table arrangement etc.
8. Pick up dress and other deco 1 week before event.
9. Pick up car and decorate 1 or 2 days before event.

And so we held our wedding on 2nd March 2013 at Sea Palace Restaurant.  Had no idea why we chose that day. Maybe coz it's an auspicious day for Chinese as it was still within Chinese New Year lunar month. We wanted around 10-11th April because 11th April was our first date and 10th April was our ROM.

Total we spent about RM30k for a simple wedding that includes prewedding photoshoot, restaurant, car rental, photographer, videographer etc. Here's roughly the agenda of our wedding day.

My Wedding Series: ROM

Disclaimer: Some will call Registratration of Marriage (ROM) as engagement but technically you are legally married because you already signed the papers. I will still be known as Miss Boey because married Asian women do not take after their husband's surname. As in my social security card or passport or license will not be "Alicia Lee". Same goes to Malays, Indians and other races in my country. 

We held our ROM on 10th April 2011 (Sunday) so this is old news but I just wanna share with you what we have gone through.When I asked my husband which 1 of all 3 events in our wedding series does he like the most, his answer was the same as mine which is our registration day. It's less stressful and hectic compared to our pre-wedding photoshoot and wedding day. My complexion was at its best on our ROM too. Oh by the way, ROM stands for registration of marriage or some say paper marriage.

I will break this topic into sub-sections to guide those who are planning for their ROM. Besides, feel free to drop some questions. Note that I will only answer questions that require hands on experience or my personal knowledge and not those you can find answers on Google. Same goes to all of my entries.

Note: Other rules may apply depending on you or your spouse's condition such as divorced, parents deceased, non-citizen etc. Please consult registrar beforehand.

My Wedding Series: Pre-wedding album

Hello my dear readers,

This is the first post of my wedding series where I will share with you what I have gone through in my marriage process. My first step was signing a pre-wedding photoshoot package. I have no idea whether they have this kind of "ritual" in western countries but we Asians love to take pre-wedding photos before our wedding.

But first of all I would like to share some of hubby's little brother's shots in 2010. We went to alot of places such as Esplanade, temple, mosque, church, random street around Georgetown, Batu Ferringhi beach and Tropical Spice Garden.

Pulau Redang: Day 3

A very good early morning yo!

I ain't got much to share for the last day as we spent the whole day traveling back home. I remembered we woke up around 5am in the morning and breakfast was specially prepared for those checking out early. We had ours at 6am.

Here's my simple breakfast.

Pulau Redang: Day 2

Good morning readers!

It's 7am as we strolled along the beach with a beautiful sunrise.Then we had our breakfast at 8am and enjoyed the rest of the day. You can read about Day 1 here.

We love the sunrise.

Pulau Redang: Day 1

Before I start, allow me to credit my hubby's colleagues for some of the pictures below. I'm sure they understand what happened to our DSLR and wouldn't mind me stealing some pictures tee hee... Anyway, it's all for info-sharing purposes only.

Around mid July this year, hubby unexpectedly took me on a vacation again. He kept complaining he was broke after Taiwan and Korea which was just a few months gap but surprisingly he said we are going on a getaway again. It was just a local trip to Pulau Redang which is located at East Malaysia, Terengganu to be exact but I was quite happy. This was my 2nd time to this island. First time was when I was about 14 years old with my parents and dad's diving group (besides a Taekwando master, dad is a diver too).

Korea: Day 8

Good morning! We woke really early today at 4:00am in the morning and were given an uncut roll of sushi (I believe the Korean version is called kimbap) with a gaseuos can drink for breakfast. Then we slept for 2.5hours. Why is it the international airport had to be so far from Seoul?

  My so obvious sleepy face!

Korea: Day 7

Rise and shine! It's the second last day of my honeymoon and also last day of sightseeing. Today is a cherry blossom day as we will stroll along Yeouido cherry blossom street. The road was closed for only a week and we were so lucky to made it in time. Sakura sighting was the highlight of my trip because that's what we paid so much for and what spring is all about.

We left our hotel around 7am in the morning and it was very misty with ultra tiny raindrops that made us feel like having natural facial. Never get to experience this feeling before.

Korea: Day 6 (Jeju Island)

Rise and shine! Good morning, Jeju!

We had a fun time yesterday. Today we will embark on a rapid tour around Jeju. We will start off with the sunrise peak then the filming spot of All In drama then cultural village, mysterious road and end with dragon head rock. But there was a surprise for us at night courtesy of the tour company!

We woke up around 6am in the morning. Here's the view of the town outside our window. The buildings were so low that we could see the ocean.

Korea: Day 5 (Jeju Island)

We woke up at 6:05am and had breakfast at 7am. The hall wasn't as big as in hotels in previous posts but it was the prettiest. We will be "shopping" the whole morning then lunch then fly to Jeju island, the Hawaii of the East just like Hokkaido. It's true Jeju share alot of similarities with Hawaii; strong winds, strong waves for surfing, has a volcano, Tikiman (Dol Hareubang) and very cultural. One thing missing is hula dancers.

  Omo...the deco counter just before entering the breakfast hall is so pastel. So Korean-ish!

Korea: Day 4

안녕하세요. 좋은 아침! Anyeonghaseyo and good morning!

Today will be Winter Sonata day as we will head to shooting street in Chuncheon and Nami island. In the afternoon we will be going to Gyeongbokgung. Then in the evening we will shop at Dongdaemun. It's gonna be a long long day. So we woke up at 6:30am and had breakfast at 7am.

 Misty view of the golf course directly from our balcony.

Korea: Day 3

 

Good morning! We woke up at 5:50am to this awesome view outside our balcony. Daebak! As I said in previous entry, this hotel is called Kensington Flora. It has recently been renovated in 2014 and the lobby looks even amazing. (I updated this post again on 2014)

I edited this pic till so tumblr. The stream added a touch of serenity to the view of agricultural fields and mountain. Feels so dreamy looking at this...miss the view so much

Korea: Day 2

Good morning! It's another day of our sweet Korean honeymoon. We woke up at around 5:30am to pack our luggage and had breakfast at 6am Korean time. All timing from now on will be in Korean time which is just an hour ahead of Malaysian time. This post is going to be photo heavy although I had removed 50%.

Our first breakfast with kimchi and pickles. This went on for the whole trip everyday just like Malaysian hotels serve you nasi lemak and roti canai for breakfast.

As usual we had to run to our bus because it was 4°C in the morning. Brrr... So after 3 hours and 20 minutes of bus ride from Incheon, we arrived at Everland in Gyeonggi-do. Our bus dropped us at the carpark and a free shuttle came to pick us up to Everland. It was only about 10 minutes ride. Everland is operated by Samsung Group hence you could see Samsung LCD everywhere.

Korea: Day 1

Okay finally I got the time to update my blog. On April 2013, hubby and I went for our honeymoon in  South Korea after we got married in March. Spring was the most expensive season of all but what the heck, it's our sweet honeymoon!

At that time, North Korean president made a threat to South Korea but we had to stick with our plan. We made a decision to follow a tour package as we wanna avoid the hassle of planning this trip so I can't tell you which train or bus to get on or which station to get off or how much our hotel costs. We just hop on our tour bus everyday and slept throughout the journey. Isn't that simple and relaxing? By the way our package costs RM4088 per person. Do change at least RM1500 for shopping as things are quite expensive.