Tokyo and Jekarda

Ok so I definitely did NOT realise it's been a year and then some since I last blogged. Not just 'last blogged' but since I last came on here at all. It's a tab on my laptop but I just never bothered clicking on it. I can't believe this is the ONE post I've done for this whole year. 

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Hi!! It's 9:45am on a Sunday. I woke up early today because fortunately my body has finally attuned itself to a decent sleep cycle. I'm sipping on Moom's green juice and heading out in a bit to go to a tailor for raya. Yes! Raya! That's all the way in April but tailors close orders soon-ish cause of the early Chinese New Year in late January. Puasa's in about 100 days as of yesterday I think? Something like that. Basically... the year's running out and covid would have been 5 years ago in a months time. That's wild.

What have we all been up to! For those wondering, I'm still working at the same place I've been for the last 5 years. I keep warming up to the idea of moving to a new place but haven't gotten the capacity nor time to look around. My seat's getting bit warm and I'm getting bit too comfortable. I need a change but I just don't have the guts for it!! What if my new work place is worse and I don't have friends? I'm so grateful that I have found great friends in the two (2) work places I've been at. How do people do it? I have had friends who have moved >4 times over the past however many years it's been. Gutsy.

What else.... ooh! I traveled to Tokyo this year with Mun and Nana. The very definition of 'The trip made it out of the groupchat!'. We have been talking about traveling together for ages but really really made it into a reality this year. We booked our tickets early like in March for our trip this past September. Btw pro tip, NEVER travel when it's hot. You'd think September would bring autumn foliage and dipped temperatures. My sisters and brothers, it did not DELIVER. It was bleeping hot and we were so defeated by the humidity and unforgiving blue skies. Beautiful pics ofc but masyaAllah... we could only take so much. Thankfully, we had a great living space we called home for 9 days so that was so great and we had so much fun watching late night movies with late night snacks and laughing and doing hauls for each other. We had suchhhh a fulfilling trip and I loved every second of it. Tokyo's wonderful and if you can, you really should plan a trip out there. We went at a time where the Yen was not too crazy expensive? I mean... it was still expensive but since we planned this trip early on we managed to save up for a decent trip that we properly enjoyed. We spoiled ourselves to the best food and an omakase even at the end of the trip. Another pro tip: DO NOT pick an omakase meal at the end of your trip because I don't think you'd enjoy it as much as you think you would. Ngl I was done with Japanese food 3 days in. Hahahaha - I can only do so much sashimi, guys. But grateful for the opportunity to travel and the rezeki of it all. The rezeki of having great friends in the first place, of the financial means to travel, and of our health to permit travel at all. Things we don't think about but man, just really grateful for it all. 

Then just last month, my friends and I also went to Jakarta! It's got to be one of my favourite cities to travel to - its not far and therefore non committal, they speak in a language I can kinda (?) understand or atleast not totally foreign, their food is MY TYPA THING, and the shopping is incredibly affordable. Like why is there not to like? Ok fine traffic's bullshit but yknow what - am not too bothered. I love it and I'd honest to God get on the next plane out there if anyone asks/offers. 

I have my own recommendations but here are some of the things I did:

+ Coloured my whole hair (it initially went from "just the roots please" to "ok semuanya aja terus" at a salon in Grand Indonesia. With a manicure to boot, it totalled to ~RM400. 

+ A 90 minute reflexology session for RM50. Yes.... absurd. I got it at Sendja (the one in Jakarta serves women only. Their Bandung branches cater to both men and women). 
+ Makan nasi padang at Pagi Sore, ayam penyet at Waroeng Mebo and nusantara food at Uma Oma (Blok M). 
+ Shopped at Thamrin.

+ BEST tiramisu in life at Scarlette's House in Blok M. 
+ Shopped at a bazaar in Blok M (seasonal ones, something like our Riuh/Pasar Seloka). 

+ Walked around Blok M on my own, had a quick mocha at Filisofi Kopi.
+ Grabbed Ayam Gepuk Pak Gembus to our accom. Underrated experience is getting food delivered to ya on a vacation. 

Jakarta is humongous and no way I could have covered all the places I had saved on my Tik Tok but that's fine - all the more reasons to go again (and again). 

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Haha this post went from what initially was meant to be a life update to then a travel update?? 

I'll end it here because I gotta get ready to go out. But this was lovely. Getting to write again. I love writing and I wished I had more time to do it but insyaAllah more soon. You know how it is with me - once I get into a funk, there's no saying when I'd get back on the horse. I don't expect anyone to read this and honestly kan, I only remembered to get back to this when I got an email reminder from this site's host about its annual payment. I was like oh right... the blog! 

Hope everyone's well and loved. It's so, so important to be happy but if you're not in the capacity to do that yet then that's fine. I find being grateful to be so key to being content. Once you've acknowledged the things to be grateful for (your eyesight, your limbs, your health, you waking up today, you having the money to eat a good lunch, your family, your friends, your religion), you find life to be lighter. It takes time and a lot of energy to persevere, but you'll get there. We will all get there! 

"Here are two truths that you might wanna hear today. First, you have not yet experienced your happiest days. And second, you still have all the time in the world to be who you want to be"

All my love, guys. See you in the next one.

xx

Vintage Thrift Shoppers in Penang

I'm in Penang! After more than a year, I'm back in my hometown. You already know this but this island is my second home. Two of my favourite people I've ever known live here; my grandparents. After such a long year of being stuck at home, I finally got to fly back to Penang for a good break. We (my sisters and I) flew here on Thursday evening and came in enthusiastically. My Pak Tok doesn't have great memory as of late so it takes a while for him to recognise us. I said "Nadia! I'm Nadia!" and he said "Oh.... my sweet Nadia". I mean, pure unadulterated tears.

Today was a rather fun day out. It started with my sisters going out to buy lunch, we had Bangkok Lane mee (I highly recommend!) and after we were all full and happy, we went out to get drinks. But before that, we went to this vintage shop at Jalan Nagor called Fujiyama Jeans. It's just SO cool, it's a thrift store for both men and women, a record store, and they also sell bit of coffee and film cameras! It was such a pleasant experience because the people were really friendly and their curated collection of clothes (imported from Japan!) were really top notch. And super affordable too! I managed to snag a beige sequinned evening bag and a Ralph Lauren-esque cardigan. Tania also managed to get herself a genuine vintage Moncler jacket! Love it. You have to go if you're around the area.

Then after that we drove to La Vie En Rose but we just so happened to find parking right in front of this shop called TEMU Coffee. Coincidence because I had just looked up this cafe on Instagram the night before so we just kinda got in and decided to have some drinks and desserts first before going to La Vie En Rose. We had the waffle and it was genuinely SO good. It was the topped with cream and ice-cream and had burnt bananas on the side. SO YUMMMMM. I love Penang and alllll its alleys and streets of really obscure but insanely cool cafes and eateries. So unassuming but they're always so occupied that you often had to be waitlisted or like... denied entry completely. So this was great that we had seating and no waiting time and the food was really good. 

We weren't quite done with thrift shopping so we Googled the next one and it was our stroke of luck that it was just a 3 min drive from where we were. It's even MORE obscure but we got there in the end haha. It's a smaller shop but still full of gems. Iman got an oversized rugby shirt and Tania got two blouses for super cheap. As we were leaving, there was a rack of t-shirts outside and we spotted one that was Harry Potter themed, had 'I solemnly swear I'm up to no good" and Iman freaked out, she's in her Potter phase now. Took the tee and went to the cashier to buy and the guy was like "If you buy 3, it'll be RM10" to which Iman said "No it's okay, I'll just take this one" and he just shrugged and said "Ok, then you can have it for free" and just put it in her bag. How sweet! Iman's a happy shopper.

Then we drove back home in time for a pizza dinner! Hahaha I know everyone who comes to Penang for holiday must want to kick me where it hurts but we actually don't always eat famous Penang food like chendol, nasi kandar, laksa and all that. We do have nasi kandar, that's a must of course but we rarely ever go out to eat it. We'd take away and have it home. So we don't really see the food sitch in Penang, unfortunately. Not until recently at least. 

Ok photo time! 

This was at our first stop; Fujiyama Jeans at Nagore Road. Not in photo: the divine beaded evening bag I got for 50 bucks.

Tania spotted this vintage Moncler jacket after buying her bucket bag. She couldn't stop thinking about it after trying it on. It looked pretty sick but we were weighing the pros and cons especially since it wasn't cheap. Like?? Where was she going to travel to warrant a purchase like this?? She said "With this jacket, I'll plan a damn trip somewhere". I told her to think about it and she put it back on the rack before heading out to our next spot; coffee and cakes at a cafe.

I definitely think I want to get a film camera for my birthday. I just don't know where to start looking.

But why are the tiles here so freaking cool.

The next thrift shop was an obscure one, hidden among small houses/shop houses. It's called Doppel Ganger (spelt that way).

Tania bought those two blouses for 40 bucks in total.

Ok so after that TEMU and La Vie En Rose trip, we went back to Fujiyama cause Tania decided she'll just get it instead of worrying it'll get snapped up by someone else. Idk who else is planning a winter trip but ok. Happy she got it though! I can pinjam duh.

It's about 1:16 am now and my uncle's buying nasi kandar for breakfast tomorrow and I'm so excited! Now I'm going to continue on this Downton Abbey episode before calling it a night. Have a great weekend, guys! 

xx

Cuti Cuti Malaysia 2020

There truly is nothing like an island retreat. I haven't gone to a beach/island since my Garnet housetrip in KY!!!! Which was eons ago. I've graduated from university and moved jobs since then! 

We were at Chidas one night (I just checked: it was the 15th of March 2020, just three days shy from when MCO started) and clearly everyone looked just about done with their work so we just randomly planned for a trip to Langkawi! We had always talked about going somewhere but never really seemed to work on making it happen. But we just got on our phones and checked flights and holiday homes and even made a group chat. Afnan and Ina just so happened to be at Chidas as well but were sat another table so we roped them in the trip. And also they're our good friends haha. And quite quickly we had a rough plan on the holiday date and how many people we wanted to bring along. 

Then three days later, MCO took place. And well, we all know how long that went on for. We were initially planned on going in July but that was obviously not going to happen. We dropped the plan for a bit but eventually picked it up again in July when cases dropped and travel restrictions got lifted. It has been such a pleasant experience planning this trip with the boys. Because I really didn't expect for them to really go all out and be so sporting about it. They made PROPER presentation decks and every decision has been made with collective reasoning with in-depth research. Blown away! Hahahaha though it was funny to me, I really appreciated that they took this super seriously. We have been looking forward to this trip since the group chat got revived in July hahaha

So we finally went! Tickets booked, accommodation booked, itinerary planned, bags packed! Stoked!!!!

DAY I

On our way to lunch at Cili Kampung! This one Amir Azam recommended and upon looking it up, apparently a lot of celebrities go there. It wasn't as crowded when we got there and we got a table easily! But it slowly had its late lunch crowd coming in later. It's a small place with not many tables to cater so I suggest either coming in early or late lunch? 

Service was very slow BUT dear Lord was the food worth the wait. Like. It was insane good. It was my favourite meal of the whole trip! I've recommended it to everyone far and wide. Took photos and sent to my mum immediately. They specialise in masak lemak cili api and ayam masak kicap but we ordered a bunch of stuff off the menu. Including the terung which has become my favourite favourite vege dish ever since my mum cooked it that one time for lunch and I just tried it for fun. Really, really, really recommend Cili Kampung. But don't go if you have to rush elsewhere lah after that, it'll take some time for you to get your food haha.

After happily stuffing ourself from lunch, we drove to our Airbnb. Which has been so popular since we've uploaded Stories on IG. For those who want to know, click here! It was a fabulous place for all 10 of us. We spent so much time at home because it was so fun and spacious. I highly recommend though I will note that this place is comfortable for a party of 8! We squeezed 2 more people so it was quite tight for the boys who slept upstairs. And I feel like it's necessary to have a driver if you choose to stay here. The windy road up to the place can be very tough to manoeuvre through, especially at night. It was a very steep climb with super narrow roads. So highly suggest you get yourself a driver!

Also, it's quite far from the places we went but it is relatively near to the airport.

Can you tell how excited we were!! We weren't even in the house yet! Hahahaha

I was quite ambitious to want to go to the beach on our first day. But upon arriving, we quickly knew that it wasn't going to happen! Boys quickly got in the pool and played rugby and frisbee (which never made its way back with us to KL sob sob). Got situated and even had a nap haha. Best gila just to be away on a holiday!!

Bless Afnan and Ina for cooking us our dinner that night. We had spaghetti and it was so, so sedap, licin semua orang makan. I still remember how good it was! It was a labour of love so thank you very much Afnan and Ina <3 <3 

DAY II

I only had one request. It was to go eat nasi dagang by the sawah padi. So we woke up early and left by 9am to Pak Malau Nasi Dagang. We were so lucky because we managed to sit by one of those huts just next to the sawah padi. So we had the full experience! It was so beautiful. And the nasi dagang was so good too! My tip is to come here early because by the time we left, a streammmmm of people came, completely overcrowding the place in no time. So I do recommend you come early! 9am's good but any earlier would be great because you won't get too much sun.

With Pak Malau himself I assume?? We asked for a discount for fun and he said if we can balas his pantun, he'd give us a discount. And we did!! I don't remember how it went but we did. He was so lovely too.

Our second day is action packed. When I mean action packed, I mean going to literally 2 places hahahaha. First we went to the jetty place I guess? Good thing we were a sizeable party so we got the boat all to ourselves! It rained, unfortunately so water was a bit choppy. But nevertheless I loved it! Haven't been out on a boat since I was 18-19?? Gila to think how long it has been. So it was thrilling. I was holding Ina's hand the whole time because we were going so fast and it was a bumpy ride. 

When we got to Pulau Dayang Bunting, it was raining. So we walked up all the way in the rain, drenched even before getting in the water. Ina, Azam and I decided to not take a dip because of the rain. Lucky me, there was also a tempat urut so I chose to do that all while the boys were swimming. Hahaha, I was in pain when she urut but it was pretty satisfying. The lady who massaged me was a local so she knew all sorts of cool, haunting stories of the island. Wished we had been there longer because she was a fab storyteller. With her loghat Kedah and all. It was so fascinating. I would've paid just to hear more but by the time my urut was done, we took the boat back to the beach. 

The rain had stopped then so it was nice and cooling. We were lucky lah that it wasn't scorching hot. Our tans aren't too bad now that I think about it.

We were at Beras Basah island and settled at the corner of the beach that had no one else there. I loved the privacy of it! It wasn't very crowded which I appreciated because I was scared it was going to be packed and stuffy. Seeing it was the Merdeka weekend, I expected a lot more people in Langkawi.

I had Iman's film camera with me but have yet to develop any of the photos because I didn't get to finish the whole film so I'm trying to do that as quickly as I can. 

Eeeeep I loved the beach. The last time I remember being at a beach was during Garnet's house trip in KY! That was when were 18/19!!!! Too long. I loved soaking in the salt water but because I'm dead scared to get so tanned I had my straw hat with me haha. Felt so at peace! We were lucky the sun came out to play. We had our frisbee with us so we played that and just chilled by the side for about 2 hours? 

Time for lunch! For the life of me, I can't remember the name of the place we went but it was recommended so why not. It was just nasi berlauk and it was pretty good! But this is me and I haven't met a nasi + lauk that I don't like.

We went to go buy some chocolates at the duty free place. I bought the fruit and nut Cadbury chocolate that Mama loves (and buys every chance she gets) and Kit Kat bars. I even got minyak gamat because apparently Langkawi is famous for that?? I didn't know this up 'til then. Peer pressure beli sebab semua orang dok beli.

Went back to our accommodation and the boys went for another dip in the pool! I showered and got ready for dinner out. We had made reservation at Wonderland Seafood. The owner was SO nice to us and was so accommodating. The food was great and the place was packed. So much so that the owner said he won't be open for Merdeka because he knows how the crowd will get and because of SOP, he won't be able to control the queue out. 

If you cant' see, it says 'Nadia Hotel'.

For fun, we went to Pantai Cenang. It was... meh. Underwhelming. And the shops closed pretty early! But because we were so adamant on checking out the night life in Langkawi, we went. We walked around but nothing much to see/buy. We went to pantai cenang and watched a fire show? Impressed as all hell because one of them was a young boy! Who had no business being that close to fire but he was so good at it! Shortly after, we called for a Grab and headed back to the villa. It was a long drive back so everyone fell asleep on the way back. As we were reaching the villa on its long and windy road, the driver got a bit lost but was so sweet about it. I was scared he was going to give up and refuse driving us up. This is why I recommend getting a driver for your trip because it's so difficult finding your way up there. Bless him, he didn't complain at all! 

DAY III

Waterfall day! Again, it was about a 30 minute drive to the waterfall. It was called Durian Perangin. Again I say, we were so lucky because at the time of us there, we were the only ones at the waterfall! It was a mini hike to the waterfall but so worth it because we had the whole place to ourself. We've been lucky this trip to have had private spaces like these to have fun. It was bloody cold but best lah mandi in the morning. We didn't bring any breakfast with us though we wished we had. After we played a round of taboo (?), we headed back. Just as we were walking down, there were some people coming up to the waterfall. Just in the nick of time! 

We went back to Cenang to buy more things at Duty Free. I don't know how we got there but a bunch of us ended up buying perfumes. Hahaha from not wanting to get anything (but chocolates) to buying Gucci and Rocha perfumes! We also ended up having McDonalds for lunch. McDonalds anywhere is sedap. I was too hungry so I had my lunch in the van while the rest waited to have it back at the villa. 

I swam in the villa's pool for the very first time that day. Don't know why I didn't do it any earlier. I think I was most calm and at most peace then. I was swimming alone and I just settled by the edge of the pool looking out into space. Like, proper zen! I just felt so serene and light. Didn't think of my work stress (and I have to say, I am incredibly grateful that my colleagues/bosses didn't kacau me at all during my break), all I did was count my blessings and exclusively just things/people that make me happy. Me at my most calm in weeks and months! 

That night was pretty exciting! The boys had thought of having everyone wear only white. No denim, no patterned tops, nothing. Just white!! I love that this wasn't even my idea haha. We got ready for our BBQ dinner to great music. Ina and I cooked the chicken earlier while the boys got ready and when it was turn to get ready, we had a super lovely time in our shared bathroom really getting to know each other. I'm so lucky to have had her on the trip because as much as I love the boys, sometimes you just need a girl with you to help out with things like changing in the car or help you out with a hairdryer. Such a simple trick but she brought around a kain pelikat which could double as a fitting room almost. So I managed to change in the van, on the boat, at the waterfall, with absolute ease! Best gila. I'm so going to bring a kain pelikat to all other vacations. It came in so handy!

How cute are we!!! This is probably the one time my friends have ever been 'on theme'. So fun to see everyone put an effort into dressing up on our last night there. Burnt from the sun but lookin' cute in white huhu. We had bomb food and once we settled, we brought out Avalon. I don't know why I still play this game with this group of people. The most stressful people to play with. I have played this game with so many other people and no group has been more intense that this one here. I love the game but I LOST MY SHIT. The last time I got this angry was when I played the game in London. WitH THE SAME GROUP OF PEOPLE, JESUS. Y'know how I was so zen in the pool earlier? Yeah, all gone by the time we played Avalon.

But loved it lah regardless hahah sorry boys, I still hate playing this game with you all. Always have always will xx

The next day we got up pretty early and packed up to leave for the airport. So sad to be leaving our home for the past 3 nights. We had brunch at a local kedai nasi just down the hill from our villa before heading to the airport.

That wraps up our trip! It was super fun and highly anticipated by us organisers. We had this planned since March! Sigh. I had the best time with my friends and would do it all over again in a heartbeat. We plan to go to Perhentian/Redang next but since it'll be the monsoon season end of the year, we'll probably have to plan for something next year. But I'm already itching for another holiday. My bosses won't be too happy so I'll have to go through another breakdown at work before applying for leave hahah

Thanks for reading this far! It was such a fun trip and I had such a great time there. Bila lagi nak bercuti ramai ramai like this kan. I highly recommend taking a holiday especially a beach retreat. It does wonders to renew and realign your spirit and soul. Everyone needs a break from the chaos that is work/Kuala Lumpur.

 Can you imagine the last time I went on a holiday with this many friends was in Nice, France??? Let's hope the next one won't be that long of a gap.

My special thanks to my fellow Singletons boys (who aren't single pun) and to Ina, Amran, Farhan, Kamar for joining in the fun. 

xx