lombok honeymoon ~ day 1 & 2

My 5D4N trip from 120309-160309.

Silkair MI 128

We were greeted with a rainbow upon arriving at Selaparang Airport.

A good sign, perhaps?

Our Honeymoon Villa.

The resort, at night.

Our (very) own private pool.

The resort's main pool.

View from a hill.

Pura Meru.

The largest temple in Lombok built in 1720, under the patronage of Balinese Kingdom.

Sunset at Sengigi Beach.

Right at the resort's doorstep. Not only that, we also got a bonus, in the form of Bali's Mt. Agung right there.

It's what I'd call, 'strategic location'.

More pics H.E.R.E
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Stayed at Qunci Pool Villas. I took the Honeymoon Package with the resort. Which includes a free city tour, romantic dinner and spa treatment. Got the 1 bedroom with Pool. Uhuh.. our own personal/private pool. Size around 8m x 3m. Makes for a decent lap pool, if you ask me.

Yee hah!

Morning after waking up, jump into pool. Afternoon before dinner jump into pool. Before sleep, jump into pool.

I swam until my hair got tangled up. I swam until I became tanned. I swam until all the henna patterns on my hands disappeared.

And yes, I'm missing the pool pretty badly now. Make that the both of us. Him especially.

Save for the scenery, Lombok is NOT like Bali. Cultural attraction here is almost zilch but the peace and serenity here is much appreciated, unlike bustling Bali.

And the thing I appreciate most is the ease at which I can get 'Halal' food since majority of the population here are Muslims. There's hardly any qualms about entering any retaurants and order pretty much anything.

Even though the resort we're in is owned by a European man and they do serve alcohol, they do make an effort to serve Halal meat as a form of respect to their Muslim staff. Bacon and ham are beef and sausages are made of chicken-meat.

The resort I reside at is at Sengigi, a mere 1/2hr drive from the current Selaparang Airport at Mataram. However, a bigger and much bigger international airport is already being constructed, so as to cater to (much) bigger planes.

And that airport is more than an hour drive from Mataram but a mere 1/2 hr from Kuta. And Kuta is so sooo idyllic, serene and gorgeous. With the new airport nearby, of course plans are underway to develop Kuta big-time and that to me, is going to be a massacre!

I had wished for that area remain untouched cos' I don't think I can find a place like that anywhere. Seriously. Imagine with the big planes flying in with more tourists.... Lombok might just be.... ANOTHER Bali. Eugh!

Oh, and the weather couldn't be better. Despite the heavy downpours reported to me from S'pore, the weather there was all randy-dandy. That rainbow must have been a good sign after all. . .

another 'Joong'

First it's Jae Joong from DBSK. Now it's SS 501's Hyun Joong.

Blame it on the Boys Over Flowers fever that's raging in Korea now. I somehow got infected too.

Geez...!



















Why wasn't it a surprise that he's YET another androgynous-looking fella on my list..?

What...? I've always liked my boys pretty...!

(It's no wonder some of them actually bat for the same team...)

sky

The bedroom set finally arrived at MOH's palce last saturday.

Seeing it already being set up there... well, the feeling sank in somehow. You know... the one that says, "Hey, you ARE getting married..!"

That's MY bed there. That wardrobe will eventually house my clothes... That master bedroom (that the parents insisted on giving up for us) will be MY room....

And the feeling..? It's sad.

Cos my parents came along and they were there looking at the daughter's new bedroom in a place that's not OUR home. Their daughter's OWN bed. OWN bedroom. Albeit having to share it with a certain someone, of course.

Those who know me well, will understand the significance of the above paragraph...

Ok, ok. Back to happier things.

It was really hot that day. Braved the glaring sun, I looked up to see this.

Cloudless sky.

No wonder! I imagine the night will be sooo cold with a sky like this. Just like in the deserts.

Beautiful, nonetheless.

Which brings to mind the song that's playing over and over in my head since I watched the movie.

Heavenly Day OST Sky of Love -

The soundtrack to the Japanese movie, Sky of Love - Koizora.

my Sunday breakfast

It all started on a day during the chinese new year holiday period, when my bro had asked that I send him to work.

Since he start work at 8am, I end up having much free time at that hour. So I ordered McD's breakfast at the drive-thru.

And had it wayyy near the end of East Coast Park, very near the lorry parking at Area F.

I sat cross-legged on one of the stone benches by the small road with music blasting from my car stereo.

It's funny that I'm looking at active, health-conscious people having their morning jog/cycle/walk and there I was, eating McD's BIG Breakfast. Oh, how nice.

Then I realised that's when I get to really languish in some 'me' time. Just me, myself & I with the sun, sand & sea... Aahhhhh...

I had always thought that I might not be able to do this EVER again, seeing that the only time that I can drive my car out on the weekends is on Sunday and I have my weekly appointments with my masseuse then.....

...Unless.... I get up early, that is. Then again, waking up early on Sunday will mean sending my bro to work... Then I have only around an hour to head to ECP, buy breakfast, have breakfast AND head to my masseuse's place.

What's a lil' sacrifice if it means that I have some time for myself..? Besides, do you know just how fun it is to hit the road on that hour on Sunday morning....? The ECP seems to be all mine! How often do you get the road to yourself like that? I can drive for more than a km in the KPE tunnel without seeing another vehicle on that stretch.

Anyway, whenever I end up being in a hurry, I just park head-first at the hawker centre carpark, where it's the nearest to the beach, hence a getting myself a good view. Then I just open all the windows and start feasting.

When I thought of taking pictures, I lost my camera.

When I already buy a new one and the weather was fine, I forgot the camera.

When I finally remembered the camera, the haze started. %&$#!

That particular day, my masseuse pushed the appointment an hour later than usual so I had ample time for a more leisurely breakfast. And photo-taking.

Beach in the morning (east).

Beach in the morning (west).

Darn the haze!

My breakfast by the beach (look, airplane!).

Sun, sand sea. Due to the haze, the sun didn't penetrate much, making it more comfortable to stay out. Or so I thought...

I later realised that there's a stark contrast (tan line) between my upper arm, which was covered and my lower arm, which was exposed. And I thought that the sun wasn't too bad. Pfft!

my BK breakfast.

I'm starting to favour this over McD's version. Must be those lil' hash browns. It's quite a delight to pop these into my mouth, one at a time. Such little bites!

a guy, warming up on the water-breaker.

This guy, he got nearer and nearer as he did his stretches to a point that it got a tad uncomfortable. A bit masochistic, this fella. Expect me to see his rippling muscles, is it?

couple, fishing

It's sweet isn't it? A couple in their golden years, enjoying some leisurely time, doing what they like together.

'hen' nite 01

Who would have thought that my 1st hen nite was with some guys...?















...Ok, ok. No sleaze involved :P

What..? They're my buddies, la.

Come to think of it, they did suggest having some (male) strippers over but I casually turned them down. Unless they can get me the F4 from the Korean version of Boy Over Flowers, I won't have any of it. Hah!

It's all good, clean fun (really!).

Having 3 guys 'serenade' you during a karaoke session was quite an experience, no?? Heh. More like, we were terrorising one another with our atrocious singing. Well, save for Kai, who's pretty experienced in karaoke-ing so he has pretty much honed his singing prowess.

The reason behind my voice's increasing pitch as the night gets later is still a mystery (it's true, it gets squeakier!). That means, singing at night should have been a big no-no for me.















It's quite a sight for the people outside, when they looked into our room and saw 3 guys and a girl singing/screaming + dancing/booty-shaking to Gloria Gaynor's 'I Will Survive', ABBA's 'Dancing Queen' and more. Some of us had pizza in one hand and chicken drumlet in another.

And clumsy me had to spill some water on the floor, making the jig even more challenging what with it being slippery and all...

3 hours passed, just like that.

We then we trooped over to their fave haunt and I got down to yet another favourite pastime of mine, people-watching (more like 'cuci mata').

Reached home past 2am. Given a choice, I wanna reach home an hour later. Me thinks, driving at the wee hours of morning has got to be one of the greatest joys in my life.

Orang semua cakap, dah nak kahwin nie, 'darah manis' (whatever that means). Jangan balik lambat2x.

Apa-apa aja lah...

And what's a hen-night without a (sneaky+cheeky+thoughtful) gift? Thanks many many for that $100 voucher, guys! To Blush! no less.

They had wanted to buy the stuff itself but dun wanna risk getting the wrong size. Haha!

Oh, many thanks to Agil for not forgetting me when he brought back souvenirs from Turkey. The bag he made himself was sooo pretty that I have to keep it. Sooo sayang!

Zahrah's belated b-dae 'bash'

Ok, yeah. About the 'other' cake....

Sue and I, we had collaborated with another cousin, Ate (ah-ti) to plan a (very) belated birthday surprise for Imah. There's always a birthday celebration of sorts on every New Year (the first 100 to be born on that decade!), seeing that it's a public holiday and everyone was able to make time for it. This year however, that event was absent somehow.

Even though this celebration was 23 days late, at least it's still on the same month. Will do.

The plan was to bring her to Marina Barrage post-dinner and venture to the roof garden, where we'll 'accidentally' bump into Ate & family. Ate will be the one bringing the cake.

And so we tried to look for Ate & family in that dimly lit place, while trying to act cool at the same time, like we're not anticipating anything.

Then...
"Eh, what are you doing here?!"
"Just chilling with my family. You guys just arrive? Where were you from?"
"Oh, we had dinner at Marina Square and came here to check out the place."
"Wow, never expect to see you here!"

Yeah right..!

Of course Imah got suspicious but we convinced her that it was all a coincidence. Sometime later, I took her further down for some 'photo-taking' while Sue and Ate get the cake ready.

Imah had this inkling that something sneaky was going on and strutted back to where Ate was.

Tadaaa!

The lighting was sooo dim there that we have to shine a torch on it to see what the cake looked like.

Chocolate Marquise cake from Prima Deli.

Yes, that strawberry belonged to the centre... Can see the imprint, can you?

Cake cutting

Since we're too shy (ahaks!) to sing a proper birthday song in public, Ate played one from her handphone, a pre-recorded version that's sung by her little daughter.

Real cute!

Nah kau! (Take that!)

The obligatory 'feeding' ceremony followed by....

*Bam!*

....Some chocolate cream facial.

Now, stick out you tongue and lick around your lips.. What as waste of good cream! Hah!

Despite leaving the place at midnight, it was still teeming with people, young and old alike. In fact, as I drove out of the car park, I see more driving in!

Guess it's another new 'night haunt' for Singaporeans on weekends. I wonder what time they sleep. Those kids especially...

Have you been to the airport past midnight on weekends? The whole place is like a heee-yuuge playground! Most of the kids are in their PJs, rolling around the floor (I know Changi Airport is very clean but...)

I guess the parents want them to tire them out and just tuck them into bed upon reaching home...
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Next are pics that I've taken while I was goofing around with the camera's night mode.

The setting at Marina Barrage, what with the dim surroundings and lots of colourful spot lighting. It's a good location to get funky effects in the photos taken, due to the slow shutter speed (esp. with the Olympus).

That's actually Imah in the background. Her face totally covered by the light 'squiggles'.

Those colourful spotlights in the dark fountain was such a delight to play around with.

One of my favourite shots. That's my cousin Sakinah being my candid 'model'.

Have yet to try this on my new cam. Gotta see if I can get the same results, if not better.... But the shutter speed in night mode is a tad fast so I'm not sure about that.

Have to tinker around, I guess...

camera found!

Yes, it's found...!

Was about to send my bro to work early Sunday morning. I was adjusting the passenger seat when bro bro started to accelerate, causing my seat to roll all the way back.

Grumbling under my breath, I looked down, trying to reach for the seat lever again when I saw that long-missing black pouch lying tacitly right underneath the former position of the seat.

*Gasp!* MY CAMERAAAAA!!!!!!

Needless to say, I was a happy camper early that Sunday morning. Frankly, I'm just more relieved that no one else got hold of my pictures.... Seriously!

So here goes.. The loooong overdue pictures from 23rd Jan. Pics that I didn't manage to upload before that Olympus decided to go M.I.A from me.

I didn't know what the occasion was. I think I owed my cousin Imah (or Zahrah as she calls herself) the birthday bag which I had kept for almost 3 weeks since her birthday on New Year. And I think I also owe her a birthday treat.

Take it as an excuse to spend the Friday night out of the office. Dinner was at Secret Recipe - Marina Square.

Sakinah's (Imah's sis) Lychee martini Smoothie

Imah's Chocolate Milkshake

Mushroom soup

Very much the outta' can variety. Bah!

My main - their famed Lamb Shank.

I totally digg their mashed potato!

Sakinah's Beef Lasagne

Imah's Chicken Cordon Bleu

Cheese & chicken ham wrapped in chicken fillet, coated with bread crumbs and deep-fried. And pair that with sweet thai chili. Yum!

Sue's Tom Yam Goong

She's been craving for a 'spicy noodle dish'. She took the chili padi (bird's-eye chili) and crushed them with that ladle of a spoon. Shiok!

I remember my friend 'S', she'll go all the way to Secret Recipe just for their Tom Yam. Vegetarian version, of course.

Blueberry cheesecake

Both Sue & I ordered the dinnet set. I opt for the soup while Sue settled for just 1 cake cos' we're gonna have 'more cakes' later on.

More on that in the next post. ; )

nada sou sou

I feel like these japanese movies are making my tears seem cheap somehow. The way they flow so freely when watching these shows...

I had always wanted to watch this movie for 1 reason: It starred Satoshi Tsumabuki, one of my fave Japanese actor, both for looks and talent.

Sue & Sri, remember when we were in HK, I never failed to stop in front of the Nada Sou Sou posters whenever I saw them in the MTR stations? To think that I only remember to watch it now.

I didn't think much about this movie. All I know that it's about a bro and sister and their struggle to live.

Turns out there's more to it than meets the eye.

A story that start on a somber note, then become upbeat and lively. And then it went back down into the shadows. Even then, I didn't expect such an ending.

It's like being thrust forward into the path of an oncoming truck, the headlights blinding you. And the next thing you feel is just pain. Lots of it.

Imagine how hard I cried. Sigh, I'm becoming more and more emo like that. Know what? Go and watch the movie if you want. I assure you it's good.

Here's the ending that made me broke down. It had to be that song, la. Despite it being a tradional Japanese music, I was just soooo drawn to that poignant singing. The strain in the singer's voice just tells you how much sadness and pain is in that song.

This is a quote from a youtube user:
"Imagine someone sacrificed a lot for you.
You owed em (sic) a lot but by the time you wish cherish and show gratitude and love, that person died."

There's English subtitles. Read it. And get the tissues ready.

V-day dinner

I finally got to meet up with a dear friend, 'S' (she's a rather low-profile person, so let's just stick to the initial, shall we?).

With us, it's either East Coast Park or Changi Airport.

Hungry as we were that night, we settled for Swensens's to have a decent meal. It may just be my last meet-up with her with me still keeping my 'single' status, after all.

Well, all those times we spent together, just rambling on and on about random things that struck a chord with only us. Topics may vary from travel ideas, Hollywood gossip, movies, music etc. We were contented just doing simple things and going only to places that we really like, which are what was mentioned above.

We used to like the Old Merlion spot near the Waterboat House. Well, until we discovered that there are geckos crawling on the timber floorboards....

Talking about the Waterboat House, we once hoard dreams of residing in that quaint building. It had looked so desolate, then. But we can see the beauty behind that dull white facade. We imagined have afternoon tea on the roof, enjoying the sun and breeze . . .

Of course that was long before it was eventually revamped to house that souvenir shop and famous French restaurant ...

... I think I've strayed too much from the initial topic. Sigh, such nostalgia....

testing the new cam.

Anyway, Swensen's was having this Valentine's Day promotion where a 4-course meal will only set us back $68++ (not inclusive of SC & GST).

1 side dish + 2 food items + 2 yoghurt smoothies + 1 couple-sized ice-cream cake.

Obviously we took it up!

While I pondered on what I should have, the friendly manager came over and informed us, "Since the price it's fixed, you should order the most expensive item on the menu. Worth it."

Which is so darn true.

So order the Rib-Eye Steak, I did. Hehe. Me love meat! S stuck to her choice of pasta. She's a self-declared vegan, by the way.

Our side of deep-fried mushroom.

Seeing this made me miss the one from Zingdo. Theirs had mushrooms of different varieties...

S's order of Black Pepper Pasta w/ Mushrooms.

If you wonder why this isn't in the menu, it's because this was a special order. The actual dish was the Black Pepper Seafood Pasta. But S had requested that no seafood be added. Only mushrooms aka vegetarian.

And oh, make it extra spicy, please.

My order of the Rib-Eye Steak - done medium.

They gave me medium-well instead of simply medium but I'm fine with it. As long as the meat ain't tough to the bite.

Steaks are usually served with seasonal vegetables and I'm glad to see the Dou Miao (pea shoots) on my plate. Those little greens were just so crunchy yet tender. And sweet.

The squash and carrots are kinda bland. But the baked potato totally rocked. I still prefer the ones served at Eatzi, though.

Yoghurt smoothie ~ my Berries-Merry

Berries & Apple Juice. S had the Strawberry-Kiwi.

Don't you just wonder, where the yoghurt was? The thin consistency was so unlike a smoothie. I take it that it's supposed to be similar to the Indian lassi...

Valentine's Day ice-cream cake

We chose, 'Lovingly You' over 'Be Mine', which is: 'Peachy Mango ice-cream w/ crumble bits, topped w/ peach chunks, blueberries & strawberries.

'Lovingly You' meanwhile, is chocolate ice-cream w/ pitted cherries, topped with strawberries & mixed berries.

Look at the pic. The whole cake was obviously still in frozen state (read: really hard!). Check out all that frost! We almost thought them to be icing sugar.

After 15 minutes, the ice-cream was still impenetrable (the knife can't even cut through!) so we just dug out the berries first.

They should have taken note when our when our main course was served that they should have already brought the cake out of the freezer by then. Thankfully, we had a lot of time on our hands. What if we had been in a rush?

halfway through eating digging the cake

When the cake was first served, we initially thought it to be too big for us both. Initially.

But all that endless conversation while plunging our forks into this eventually made us realise that it's not impossible to finish it up after all!

Free balloons.

The whole deal includes free photo-taking and printing, where they'll put the pic in a customised cardboard frame.

Also a discount coupon and free heart-shaped balloons.

S is horribly camera-shy and is pissed that the manager kept asking when we'll like to have our photo taken. She had vehemently refused.

The amused manager eventually gave us one balloon each. We're supposed to get only one, actually.

Good nite!

To those celebrating V-Day, enjoy the company of your loved ones!

To the others, have a happy weekend!