NARCISSISM IS NECESSARY

Phew, finally I found some time to blog about this trip. Read the 1st day here.

On our 2nd day in Bali, we decided to check out Kuta Beach.

After taking two pictures of the beach, we left. Even then I felt like we had stayed far too long.

Firstly, it was hellishly hot! I felt like I was going to melt. My feet were burning, it was like walking on burning glass. Secondly, there were so many touts! I don’t like touts, leave me alone!

# – Kuta Beach picture 1.

# – Kuta Beach picture 2.

After spending less than 5 minutes there, we left Kuta Beach in our rental van to go to Tanah Lot. As usual, we were stuck in a traffic jam. Almost an hour before we managed to leave Kuta alone!

# – Traffic jam. Yawns.

While stuck in the jam, I tried this coconut juice in a packet. I was a bit skeptical cause packeted coconut juice sold in Malaysia are nasty. This one was very nice though.

# – Hydro Coco.

Finally we reached Tanah Lot! I was mistaken as a local and got my ticket dirt cheap. Too bad G will never pass of as local anywhere in Asia :P

# – My ticket only 10,000 rupiah, whereas G’s was 30,000 rupiah. Score!

There were so many people at Tanah Lot! I thought to myself, Tanah Lot would be such an amazing place if it was quieter. Too bad it’s never going to be that way.

# – Tanah Lot entrance.

# – Tanah Lot.

We joined the trail of people queuing up to be blessed with holy water.

# – Holy water.

# – Q-ing up.

I think we donated like 5000 rupiah each for some rice to be stuck to our foreheads and frangipanis behind our ears. We also got to wash our hands and face with the holy water.

# – Getting blessed.

Then we went up the side of the temple, but we were not allowed to go all the way up. So we hung around the stone staircase for a bit and camwhored.

# – Trying to be artistic.

After mucking around for a bit, we decided we had enough so we started exploring the nearby shops.

# – Saw phallic carvings.

# – Saw coffee beans pooped out by civet cats.

Then we went to sit down at one of the restaurants overlooking Tanah Lot. We decided to wait for the sunset.

# – Camwhored again.

By now, I must had taken over 200 shots of Tanah Lot from various angles permissible by how much I could twist and turn my arms. But I ain’t posting any of them.

Then, the sun set.

# – Pretty.

On the way back, we stopped by a pretty famous Babi Guling restaurant called “Babi Guling Chandra” in Denpasar, found by my white husband.

During this trip, we went to two babi guling places and while both were good I prefer Chandra more.

# – Babi Guling Chandra.

# – Babi guling special. Delicious!

The meat was really moist, the urap (some kinda salad) was juicy, crunchy and flavourful, the sambal packed a punch, the satay was meaty & juicy, the crackling O M G!! They ran out of the crispy skin but I didn’t miss it.

And then, I absent-mindedly bought two bags of cracklings called “Krupuk Babi Rejeki”.

# – Yeap, I forgot to take pictures of them so these I nicked from somebody else. Krupuk Babi Rejeki

I wish had bought more cause ladies & gentlemen those are the best gawddamn cracklings I have ever tasted in my life. It was crunchy but not jaw breakingly so. It was so well-seasoned, once you popped you can’t stop. It cost 40,000 rupiah a bag and it’s so worth it. Amazing stuff.

Apparently you can only get them in Babi Guling Chandra, so don’t miss it.

Babi Guling Chandra
Jl. Teuku Umar 140
Denpasar – Bali
Tel: +62361 221278

Till the next post!

The hubs and I watched Ironman 3 recently. With the film still fresh on our minds, our topic of conversations naturally revolved around Ironman, Tony Stark, Robert Downey Jr and my current favourite – the menacingly sexy Guy Pearce.

Anyway, while on the way to dinner, I mentioned to Gareth that I noticed someone we both know has the “Tony Stark Walk”.

Chest thrust forward, calculated steps – a walk that has swagger.

“It’s a purposeful walk”, said Gareth.

“Successful people walk like that, cause they don’t waste time walking around aimlessly. Every step is taken with an intent”.

So I asked Gareth whether he thinks he has that walk.

“I don’t. But I used to walk like that when I was working as a waiter”.

“……………………”

“What? I was a very good waiter!”.

Yeap, so incredibly sad. And angry.

Am not angry because the opposition lost, to be honest I was’t even expecting an opposition victory but I really didn’t expect that it could get that dirty.

Localised blackouts at places where opposition was expecting marginal wins followed by appearances of “new” ballot boxes, delible “indelible” ink, non-malaysian voters, phantom voters, criminal intimidations, the list goes on.

And then when they’ve won through these filthy means, they had the cheeks to say that Chinese Malaysians’ complete abandonment of MCA would cause discord among Malaysians. WHAT THE FUCK?

If anything, this general elections have united Malaysians more than anything. My mom said in all her years of voting, she had never ever needed to queue, what more queuing up from the road? 80% turnout, wow Malaysians! Just wow!

In a moment of anger, I said I was devising exit plans on Twitter. Oh well, nothing wrong with some planning, just in case shit hits the fan. But, on 2nd thought, I think moving to Penang is a good enough alternative. A state government with a humble Chief Minister that flies economy, who got imprisoned for standing up for the rights of a girl of different race and treasures national heritage….dude, I’m completely sold.

5 more years of public funds abuse, racial politics, unhealthy amount of political patronage, no press freedom, the poor gets poorer, the middle-class getting more and more in debt, the rich finding themselves having to pander more to the powers that be, education going to the shitters, plundering of our environment, the list goes on.

I wish I could end this with “You asked for this!”, but we all know that it isn’t true.

Good luck Malaysians!

I will be voting for the very first time. I stupidly missed out the last opportunity due to personal reasons. Okay, truth was I was afraid that G might get deported hahaha. Laugh now..it wasn’t funny then.

Anyway, this year I have decided to cast my vote because well, a pair of sandals at Charles & Keith was going for RM134. I blame the government for that.

Jokes aside.

The things that truly changed my perceptions aren’t the sandals…but the below:

1. Both my younger brothers are in danger of never affording their own homes, and that pains me.

2. Traffic jams, which I genuinely believe stems from corrupted driving schools=bad drivers, terrible road conditions and severe lack of reliable public transportation.

3. Rampant animal abuse and mistreatment of animals by local councils.

4. I don’t feel safe walking down a well-lit street alone.

5. The horrendously tacky & narcissistic home-made music videos which led me to think, “Seriously, these are the clowns that are supposed to govern our country!?”

6. MRR2. It’s feels like am playing Russian Roulette every time I’m forced to drive on that road.

7. The education system.

So yeah, that’s why I’m going to vote…despite still having a nagging feeling that G might be deported, hehehe.

It’s been several months of intense discussions, talks and speculations about our Election Commision. How much of those said are true and how much are made up? Nobody knows. Actually I don’t care lah.

Not like I can do anything!

I did print out my details on SPR website just in case those rumours of people’s names being struck off were true.

Honestly, I think it’s just technical glitch but just in case lah…you’re only wasting some ink and a piece of paper.

I’ve also heard that people wearing nail polish might be stopped from casting their votes because EC might claim that they “can’t tell the difference” of a finger with indelible ink from a finger with nail polish.

I haven’t been able to find anything official about it; the only information is that they say don’t get a manicure because the indelible ink will ruin your nail colours.

Anyway, I removed my gel manicures because just in case lah….what if they really can’t tell the difference between nail polish and indelible ink. I’m bored with my nail colours already anyway and them nails need to breathe from 3 consecutive gel manicure treatments.

Since we’re on the topic of indelible ink, I also don’t understand why they decided to mark people’s fingers before voting. Mark it after voting makes more sense right?

Apparently, it’s some kind of trickery to encourage spoiling of ballot papers. I don’t think there’s anything dodgy about it, maybe they are just scared that people might wipe it off within 30 seconds.

But just in case you’re worried about spoiling your ballot papers with the indelible ink, they say you can ask for a new ballot paper. In case they won’t give you a new ballot paper, show them a printed version of this news article. From NST one okay, must believe.

But just in case they still refuse to give you a new ballot paper anyhow, haiyaaaa vote only, lodge a complaint and cross your fingers. Most importantly, don’t be a clumsyass with your fingers.

Then, there’s a rumour that despite the increase of 3 million new voters in the electoral roll, the number of polling stations will be reduced compared to year 2008.

Apparently, this is a tactic to get voters to give-up midway queuing.

Also, there are words that polling centres would close at 5pm sharp regardless of people still queuing. I don’t think so, but just in case lah….bring a book, some snacks, umbrella, your printed details from the SPR website and lots and lots of patience ya.

I am really quite excited about voting for the first time. I’ve never felt so much ownership towards Malaysia. Whatever the outcome is, just in case lah….remember to stay home to celebrate/mourn privately ;)

Recently I was introduced to this video about the New Olay Regenerist Micro-sculpting cream. According to the video, the New Olay Regenerist Micro-sculpting cream can reduce the appearance of lines and wrinkles before one jar finishes.

Really??

Every single anti-aging brand out there in the market has claimed that its product is superior. But how can we know that it’s true? Many women, myself included buy all these products and give up shortly after because yeah it smells nice and all…but making me look younger? Really?

The one range that seems to have worked is Olay Regenerist, and you can read all about my experience with Olay Regenerist here, here, here and here. Even my girlfriends are fans, you can read about it here.

After watching the video, am really curious as to how well the New Olay Regenerist Micro-sculpting cream can perform. I realised that the only way to know is to test out on myself.

# – The New Olay Regenerist Micro-sculpting cream.

With 20% more anti-aging ingredients; higher level of Amino-Peptide and innovative ingredients like Olivem and Lyslatine which can boost collagen and make the product works faster/ deeper within skin layers….I reckon it should be pretty good?

The first test I did was the water dispersion test. As skin is made mostly of water, the theory is that products with good water dispersion will get carried deeper into skin.

# – First I filled two shot glasses with water.

# – Using a cottonbud, I picked up some product from a jar of New Olay Regenerist Micro-sculpting cream.

# – I repeat the step with another anti-aging cream I own.

# – Then I stick both cottonbuds into the shot glasses.

# – Then I stirred the water in both shot glasses vigorously.

# – The results….

# – Which product has dispersed better?? Olay wins hands down.

# – Not clumpy like the other one.

The verdict: New Olay Regenerist Micro-sculpting cream certainly disperses in water at a much better rate. Theoretically, this means it should be absorbed better into our skin cells.

Even without the test, I could feel that it absorbs into my skin really quickly, leaving a nice, soothing smell.

# – Love it on my skin.

I’ve used it for a couple of weeks now…what do you think for a LATE 20s without makeup and a horrifyingly stressful lifestyle?

# – Not too bad eh? No photoshop also okay!

Don’t even need to finish a whole jar to see the results. This old dame is pretty damn impressed ;)

For more information, check out Olay Malaysia facebook page. Of course you can get the New Olay Regenerist Micro-sculpting cream at all major supermarket and pharmacies.