A Trip to Medan & Lake Toba

My open diary is in a mess lately; the events are not recorded according to its order. Now its time for me to back track a bit of my life, i.e. my Medan and Lake Toba trip in early September!!! I've finally gathered all the pictures and decided to blog about it all in one post...so you should expect to see 50 over pictures in this post.

I've spent 3 days 2 nights in Medan. We (those in the same trip) were lucky enough to have a local friend show us around Medan town and a place to stay. Thanks for the great hospitality Harvey if u stumble upon my blog :)

There isn't much to do in Medan besides eating...really, just eating! Some of the things to eat in Medan including

1. JCO donuts
I know we can find it in M'sia too but Hey, its origin from Indonesia!

2. Bikang cakes

3. Bakso Mee
-it has a very strong favor but tasted nice

4. Sate Padang

this one that we went to have a lot of varieties. i.e chicken, beef, seafood and eggs.
other stores by the roadside only have the classic chicken and beef.

5. Pecel +Peyek Pecel

6. Gado-gado

7. Curry Mee

8. Lontong

9.KewTiau Kerang at JL/. S Parman No.22 Medan, its opened since 1973

10. Wan Ton Mee- different from what we get in M'sia.

11. hmmm damn i forgotten what is this called already but its good! i shall ask my friend again

12. Cat fish with rice

13. famous local instant noodle -IndoMie

14. ice-cream is the no.1 dessert there. They have ice-cream shops everywhere.
One of the specialty is chocolate ice-cream with blended avocado paste.
I had this at Fountain Ice-Cream Cafe, Medan Plaza.
15. this will be McD caramel ice-cream :)

16. of course not forgetting the famous layer cake, bika ambon and bolu gulung (didn't take picture tho)
17. Locally, they have their own drinks.
all these are local bottled tea. i would say the famous one is TehBotol.

18. Badak its their local Sarsi drink19. Local beer-Bintang.
Sorry to say but it tastes horrible.

20. Bintang Zero catered for muslim but it still taste equally bad.

Like i said earlier, Medan is all about eating. So yea, i think ive covered more or less what i did there. We hired a driver to Lake Toba, its about 5 hours drive from Medan.

we took a ferry there

and these are the 'we' that i am referring to all this while

The lake is set in the caldera of a giant volcano and i swear it has the most magnificent view i've seen so far besides Scotland!

We stayed a night at Carolina Hotel and the room were very affordable.a room like this (well, its one of their best there); similar to our crappy room in PD is around RM30 per night

Some of the view in the hotel compound

a wooden bridge

with sweet pink water lilies growing underneath

ferry passing by

A shelter with Batak Style Roof

we visited the museum but it was already closed down :S

but we saw a pregnant pig nearby *Oink*

We went around the lake and saw more batak house...

This particular batak house is for tourist like me...

They have a weaving machine inside
These is how they produce the batak blanketi did not buy any of them tho

The tribe that lives in Lake Toba is called the Batak Tribe also known as the "hugahuga" tribe in my dictionary. Because they used to scarify human being and eat the body (from what i heard).

They scarify the person by chopping off the head.
can u see the head lying on the table???

Their cemetery is everywhere! Normally in the middle of the field; they field that they own.
and its all in the shape of a batak house.

Day2 at Lake Toba, we rented some bikes to go around

its my first time riding a bike

of course, the PINK bike is mine!
okay im not actually riding in this picture

but i managed to ride the bike on my own :D
pretty fun

hehe camwhore at the backseat
as we were exploring, this signboard caught my attention.
They openly sell magic-mushroom there :S
looks like normal white mushroom...none of us give it a try so im not sure if its real.

At the end of the day, i got my unsexy tanline*sob sob*
its still here until now :(

but i manage to add up to my bridging collection!
-bridging at Lake Toba :)-

i would love to go Lake Toba again some day :)

A LI YAA

We haven't hang out for a very long time...

and that night, our long lost friend ferdi finally showed up :P and it was a great night. Thanks for organizing. From the left Jing, Ash, Ferdi, Ivan and Me

a picutre of the girls. i felt like a pig-fat and short :Sand a picure with my crazy ex-coursematesWe happened to bum into Anne too. (Me and Ivan were just talking about her...long life...)The chat, the drinks, the band and the ambience were all good

except there's quite a few pictures that i dont remember taking :S
i.e #1# acting cute; Ivan looked sooo cute hahaha

#2#Pouring beer on Ivan's head!

#3#Taking picture just outside the ladies...

#4# "I'm watching You!" or "i wanna dig out ur eyeballs with my fingers=="'

#5# Last but not least, (i find this picture ugly but epic)
attempt to poke ferdi's armpit :P

LOL my friends are quality based not quantity =)
love you all xoxo *hugs*

p/s: AlIYAA is the name of the place.

Pork Chop + LALA= Gross!

I wanted a change for some time and so this is what happened. I went to Phuket (will blog about the tour later) and did my hair in this dodgy salloon :S. There's two barber light poles outside the shop. Very traditional and not stylish! The worst part is, the hairdresser can't speak english!!!

I asked for hi-light! i think its pretty cheap, it was RM100. I had hard time communicating tho...
here's the conversation between me and the hairdresser (H).

Porkie: I want to hi-light my hair, can i choose the color?
H: ?_? color?
Porkie: Yes, what color?
H: Hi-light color
***i was like what the heck is hi-light color???
Porkie: But what color? *pointing at another hairdresser brown hair* This color???
H: No No, hi-light color...very naissss...:S
***before i can say anything more, she started apply the dye on my hair*** :S

not knowing what color it gonna come out is SCARRryyy enough
when she unwrap the foil my hair is BLONDE!!! :(

I dont really like the color.. maybe i am not use to it yet but
i felt so LALA

plus my henna tattoo ,its worst! LALA-ness level increased!

sob sob, i might re-dye again someday!

ooh my boss commented that my hair looked like her puppy

stop Growing!

This post is about how my sibling STOP growing! grr....

standing from left:2nd sis, bro, 1st sis and me
sitting: lovely parents

you must be thinking what is wrong with me right? Oh well, its the fact that i am the youngest in the family; my sisters are 7 and 8 years apart, my bro is 10 (TEN) years apart! But they sort of stop growing/ageing??? i dont know....but i am still growing/ageing!

My "23"years old brother (he claimed himself to be foverever 23) is not 23!He is 10years OLDER. MAny mistakes us as couple because we are quite close and many thought we were only few years apart... sighs. not good for me but im sure he is very happy!

My1st sister, the one standing next to me. See the close resemblance? When i was 14, she's 22...that is when we looked so alike (ultimate stage) that ppl always mistake us as Twin! i was naive that time, so i thought i was fun to fool ppl that im da twin sister. But now that my brain works better, i dont like to be the twin sister anymore! She is 8 years older... i dont wanna be 8 years older :'(

Last but not least, my 2nd sister. Ohhh thank godness, no one ever said we are same age or me older than her so far :S MuaHAHA *Evil laugh*

The Pink Spider Pig

Do you remember my neon green top?
well, it was during Juice 7th anniversary.
i won myself 2X taster try climbing session, 2X basic wall course and 2X 10concession passess at Camp5

A month back, i did my Basic Wall Course with Camp5 at One Utama.

ive received a cert for that :D anyway, i've tried climbing before, so it wasn't my first time but im still excited to learn more about climbing.

The course normally accomdate up to 10 people in a group

Noel was my instructor that day...
he started by introducing a bit on what is climbing and the basic climbing equipments which i have forgotten half of them by now :S and How to use these equipments.

One of the basic equipment is carabiner!
i snapped a picture because its pink :S

these are the belay device

of course, the most important tool is the rope which can carry up to ermm 2tons if i remember correctly. After hearing the amount of weight it can carry, i remembered whispering to Kalai (my guest) that now i know which to use if i needed to suicide someday! LOl :P

We learned how to tie knots
a double 8knot
it reminds me of girl scouts tho...

Kalai looked so serious tying her knot. :S

we also learned how to belay our friends (mr. sandbag)

After learning the theories, we get to climb and belay our friend.
what's interesting was when a thin guy belaying a heavier guy, he literally floating above ground a little. He needs two sandbags to hold him down. hehe

We also saw another scene whereby a kid got stuck at the top to the wall, he was too frigthen to let go his hands and they couldn't lower him down. He was all teary, poor feller. Noel climbed to rescue, upon reaching the group, the kid shouted :"i hate wall climbing"! hahaha

The last thing we did was bouldering; climbing without rope!

that's me

and that's not me :S
i wonder when i can ever do this...

To conclude, i can belay someone now! but do you trust me? hehe

Witchy-Witch

I've never celebrate one Halloween before this! But i always thought it would be fun to be part of it. :) However, i am not ang mo so i dont really know much about this holiday. I always take Halloween as the English version of ghost-festival whereby people put on their scariest costumes to scare off demons/ghosts. I always wonder if the people dressed up to scare off demons/ghosts?or do they dressed up so that they cant differentiate the real demons and the costumed demons? :P

Anyway, i had a strictly girls night out for the holiday. I disguise myself as a Witch that night.

I got a hat, the witchy nose and i drew a lil spider web right at the corner of my eyes!

thats me and JC (i still like calling u JC :P short for Jesus Christ :P).
we were at Sanctuary, The Curve.
Sadly, JC only came for dinner and hang out a short while in Sanctuary before she was on medication.

me and kalai who claimed that she's poison ivy :S
Alice and me.
Damn, she still pretty even with that witchy nose

Me and Carrey

another picture with Carrey

And ashley

Another one with Ashley

Chiaw Hong, Ash, Kalai, Porkie, Alice and Carrey
yeap, i was the only one in group went with costume. Thank godness, i didnt spend much$$$ and time, i did it just for fun hehe

Well, that night, i met Amanda i knew from school time :S
havent seen her for ages.

As usual, girls being girls will go like "one more, one more"
so heres take two!
but damn...who is that behind???

oh well, most of the pictures that night us ruined by random pepople putting 'bunnies' ears on us :S

Okay this is litterally bunny ears :P hehe
i stole it for pictures.
That will be me and Amanda's friend. Dont remember her name :S

Once again, see that fingers popping up in between kalai and my head? ==

More bunny ears...
Some random guy from next table.
He PUKE on the floor and bits of it splashed on my leg! EWWWWWw...

it was really hot packed that night that we couldnt really move around much...
i was sweating like crazy that i felt uncomfortable bumping into ppl but i can't help it :S. I think ive never sweat this much in my life

more group pic and we called it off

My feets hurt so i walked barefoot to the car together with Kalai and Ash
the last time i walked barefoot on the street was back in Liverpool.

We end our party playing jenga at Ash aunty's apartment in Hartamas.
Nice place to trash :P lol
Once again, i will love to thank Ash and Carrey for all the arrangement :)
Love you gurls
muacks xoxo

Nuffnang Awards 2009 in Singapore

I was one of the lucky one to receive a pair of invites to attend Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards in Singapore. We get free stay, free dinner, free transportation, free tour...everyone loves freebies right? well, at least i do :S But hey, i did put some effort into it (fyi: i made a silly video of me for my pringles post)

I can see Nuffnang had put a lot of great effort for the event. Just by looking at the itinerary is exciting but i didnt totally enjoy myself for several reasons. Main reason was i really wasn't feeling well!!! NOt ACTING to get sympathy or to isolate myself!

I was coughing my lungs out and my throat sore badly that it hurts to even speak at audible volume!

Okay forget about me, zoom back into the event. The event was held at the grand ballroom of pan-pacific hotel, singapore.

it was one of those posh looking event...
check out the proper table setting with lots of cutleries

and the impressive menu

it started with some bread and butter (Didn't take picture), followed by
Marinated Smoked Tuna with Feta, Herb Salad and Balsamic Olive Oil
i took a bite and chucked the fish to my brother... i never like raw taste of fish.

then we have our Light Cream of Asparagus and Green Peas topped with a Chive Mousseline (didnt take picture as well)

Next was Rosemary Marinated Chicken Breast with Saffron Cheesy Mash Potato and Balsamic Reduction Mediterranean Vegetable in Mango Coriander Salsa Sauce
this is my plate: Before

and this is my plate: After!
couldn't eat much... :S told u im not well that night! :P

And for dessert we had Praline Hazelnut Gateau with Raspberry Jelly.

I only ate half of Praline Hazelnut Gateau :S

i think im so going to hell for the amount of food i wasted that night. :S

The awards was presented simultaneously with dining.
XiaXue won the biggest award of all. The region's best blog.
Congrates to all winners ;)

***
Okay, from here onwards its all gonna be pictures of me and other bloggers
i did not take much pictures tho and sorry the pictures are quite unorganized :S

Kim and Porkie
Kim wasnt the first blogger i took picture with that night but she is the first person i remember taking picture with if you asked me offhands. Why? she made me realise something. She is such an inspiration to me!wth== nehhh, it was her body language and the super short conversation we had. What happen was as i walked towards kim, she said:"i know who u are, pinkporkchop". this sentence + body language made me felt that i might appear to be some cocky arrogant,'she-thinks-she-fehmes' kinda blogger all this while! :S im not sure if you understand where im coming from. When i replied her:"you are kim" she was surprised that i knew her name. Well, i knew their names but Im just not used to "hello followed by name rules" its okay if this doesnt make sense to u :S

with christhoo

lil jo, porkie and zues

with KristineAnis (if im not wrong) aka Diese
two blues and a black
diese, me, jac

kimberly chun in her prom dress...

Vven always cute and sweet looking
(ooh didnt not take with natalie :S)
Zoe the sweet young girl

very friendly Jeremy aka Bboyrice
nice meeting you :)

with sam who can dance, ermm jeremy too..
two of them can be great dancers

it was great to see Jess and Haze there too...(the "maybelline" bloggers") lol



Me and KY



me and simonseow
i gonna said this again- i looked frighten in this picture:P



with soon seng





violet in her adorable dress





Sandwiched by two hot chics can be depressing! haha
Adele, me and Tziaaa
Audrey in her cute cream color dress-kinda felt like im attending her wedding rather than nuffnang awards :P

with the nuffie

met some other bloggers too i.e yat, jackie loi, xiang, and etc but did not take picture with them ..

groupie

At the end of the day...
i regret that im sick :S it could have been better!

Maybelline Simply Fabulous Finale!

Simply Fabulous Finale was held at MOS Euphoria last week.

I reached the venue at 8pm only because it was on a working day.
Traffic from my place to Sunway is always crazy between 5-8pm!
as a result, i missed my chance to look simply fabulous *sob sob* :S (They have makeover for girls) but its okay, i still have quite a fair bit of maybelline product myself :D

Anyway, everything was practically simply fabulous just like the title! serious, i am not exaggerating!

1st, the stage was gorgeous. love the set!

2nd we have hot host; Henry Golding and Sarah Lian!

3rd: not forgetting The 10 simply fabulous finalist-all dressed up like supermodels!

Before they announce the results. The girls strolled down the walkway in their most confident self! some of them were cheeky and some were hot.

Zhareen

Preeta
Bei Shan
Steffy
Syifa
Susie
Calista
Kimberley
Nalin
Diana

in between the break, one of the performing artist that night was Shawn Lee-the beatboxer!
Small feller with big voice.

Some of the bloggers were there too including, jess, emeryn, christhoo, dusty, vox and etc

and what we have been waiting for,

the results...


Calista was voted for the most striking confident award.

“Striking Confidence Award is a Bloggers’ Choice Award as voted by Bloggers – benjicajess, pinkporkchop, emeryn, blush-berry, prettybeautiful, beetricesreviews and youcallitmakeup"

hehe i was only of the lucky blogger who get to vote :D

and Dianna won gorgeous award...she got pretty face :)

10 girls but only 1 winner

and yes! Nalin won the simply fabulous title.
Congrates :D

the intense kisses and hugs from other contestants :P

She won herself a trip to New York and Prize totally up to RM10,000

these were the judges for simply fabulous

a groupie in press conference

me and few of the finalists. Preeta, Kimberley and Bei Shan

i was happy to see haze there too
me and Shawn Lee...he is soooo young :S

Once again, congrates to all the 10 finalist...
especially to the three
Nalin, Diana and Calista :)

ps: also thanks to those who have participated in my 'mini contest'