A piece of Serendah

So a bunch of us planned this trip to Sekeping Serendah as a mini reunion for Xin Ni and our other UTAR buddies since she came back from Kiwiland/New Zealand. We all met up at Hon Yuen's house which is all the way in Balakong which was so far away.

Pictures from mostly Hon Yuen, Xin Ni(professional cameras) and myself(using my Blackberry).

We were trying to get to Sekeping Serendah using Hon Yuen's phone GPS and his battery was dying so you can expect how worried we were or maybe it was just me. Hon Yuen drives like a madman too cause his car is a manual car and I was sitting in the middle so I get super scared when he tailgates the cars in front of him. I was yelling at him to drive slowly cause we ain't rushing. We almost got lost because we ended up at the waterfall instead but luckily we asked someone there for the right directions. It turns out we need to go to this narrow road at a corner and drive on until we reach the private land.

The caretaker greeted us and he was very helpful and he asked us if we want breakfast for tomorrow but we didn't take that offer cause we have to pay extra and besides, we went grocery shopping at Tesco, Rawang before we headed to Serendah. Bought insect repellant too since we were staying inside a jungle. He told us that he will come set up the barbeque pit for us at 6p.m.

That's our crib for the night! XD

The bridge to our glasshouse.

The barbecue pit with outdoor seating area.

The small kitchen with a fridge, stove, toaster, sink and a few utensils are provided too which was enough for the 6 of us.

The outdoor shower.

And toilet.

The bedroom upstairs and extra pillows, mattresses, mosquito nets(THE MOST IMPORTANT THING) and blankets were provided since we had 2 extra people. Oddly,there's a sink too and you can actually lock the stairs too. My Roxy tote makes the picture more real. Hehehe!

Played Uno and Playing Cards for a while.

Chee Keen and Kai Jun. Those two can go on and on about football and when they do, the rest of us just tune out.

Xin Ni luckily told Hon Yuen to bring his tripod along so with the camera's timer we managed to take a bunch of group shots. :)

From the left: Wilson, me, Xin Ni, Chee Keen, Kai Jun and Hon Yuen.

Suddenly, we used a tissues as our prop. I was going for the farewell handkerchief pose. Kai Jun just doesn't wanna pose with the tissue.

Xin Ni and I did most of the prep work and the cooking in the kitchen while the dudes handle the barbecue pit. We forgotten bring butter or oil or salt or pepper so we had to improvise with what we have.

Then, I had a lightbulb moment and suggested we used the oil from the Mee Sedap Instant Noodles that we gave from Tesco. So we coated some of the vegetables and put it in the toaster to make something to feed ourselves cause the caretaker was late in helping to set up the pit.

Then, we had another lightbulb moment! Xin Ni brought bacon so we fried the bacon on the frying pan which was provided and used the oil from there. Bacon is so useful. XD

Boys handling the pit!

It rained 3 times that day. Once in the evening and twice at night, halfway through the cooking at the pit and everyone had to bring all the food inside so that there's no extra flavouring from the rain.

The morning after.

I couldn't sleep at all cause the guys were making so much noise downstairs. I don't know how Xin Ni and Hon Yuen can sleep through the noise. It was really cold too and there was bugs but not too many. So I eavesdropped on their man-talk. Mostly about games and why none of them wanted to sleep beside Hon Yuen even when there's plenty of space. 

Xin Ni woke up early to prepare breakfast for us which was the leftover bacon, sausages, bread and instant noodles and she was laughing her butt off when she was those 3 Stooges sleeping together.

These 3 slept on the extra mattresses that was provided. They were proud of how they folded the mosquito net so that it doesn't cave in. -_-lll

I became so kiasu over the Scrabble match between Wilson, Chee Keen, Kai Jun and I. I kept getting 2nd and 3rd! Wilson kept winning! Their nickname for me in the game was 'Kilin the Pink' and 'Kilin the Eugene'. -_-lll

We were doing the Can-Can.

Another random pose shot.

Well, I had to hold something so the potato that was left overnight on the pit it is!

I really had an awesome time on this trip! It's time like these where you can really catch up with everyone and you will focus more on preparing good food too. There was no mosquitoes at all. I did not get a single bite when I was there. *touch wood* All of us were so worried about being dinner for the mosquitoes that night but we survived. There were loads of flying insects, moths and what-nots but I don't think they are harmful.

Read reviews before we came here that the hot water shower does not last so most of us did not use the shower because it was so cold. Wilson used it and he said that the hot water will be there for a few minutes then it will become cold water, then you have to wait a while until the hot water comes back. It was RM540 per night so each of us paid RM90. We had to pay extra RM100 for 2 additional pax.

Will I go back there? Yes! Maybe I'll try out the other houses in the future when I have the budget. :)

Last Christmas

I spend last Christmas with my girls at The Gardens. It was a few days after Christmas since everyone spent Christmas with their families and friends. I spent my Christmas with the beau and we watched 'The Hobbit' at GSC Premiere, The Gardens. It was my second time watching that movie but it's awesome so it was no biggie. XD

Mainly, it was to exchange presents and catch-up since we haven't seen each other in ages. Emily and Audrey are working while Amanda and Samantha has to prepare for their finals. I'm the only one on break till the end of February.

Amanda, Emily, Samantha, Audrey and 1. :)

Once you dine in Hokkaido Ichiban, you can't miss ordering desserts as much as you are too full to eat another spoonful.

What I ordered, Brownie with Vanilla Ice-cream. I think they warmed up the brownie so the chocolate is all melty and yummy. Hokkaido Ichiban has really good ice-cream too. Try the Salted Caramel, Vanilla and Wine flavour. :)

My Christmas gifts from the girls! XD Who doesn't love getting presents? I hope the girls liked my gifts to them. I can't wait to try out the recipes in that cookbook that Amanda got for me! I already tried the Chamomile Tea that Emily got for me and it's really soothing. I always drink it every night because it has no caffeine. I'm starting to take a liking to teas. The other day, I saw Regina, my Mexican friend posted a picture of her tea collection in Tumblr, I was like O_O. She really loves her tea.

Ice-Cream Class

I attended my first ice-cream appreciation class recently with Emily at The Bee, Publika. It was organized by The Last Polka. I first discovered The Last Polka's ice-cream when I was in university actually. The V Cafe actually sells their ice-cream and the first flavour that I have tried was Nutella. I was in love ever since. Next was the Guiness, Horlicks and Strawberry Cheesecake and etc. I think I tried all.

Sad thing is the cafe closed down last year and I never had my Last Polka fix until the ice-cream appreciation class. Just discovered that there are certain outlets which carry their ice-cream such as The Bee, Fat Spoon and etc. Now I am a happy girl again! :)

They let us try the Pomegranate+ Summer fruits sorbet first! I think this will be really good on a hot day (everyday in Malaysia).

5 Ice-Cream Commandments from The Last Polka!

Lemon sherbet that was more sour than it originally is but it's ok to me.

I think this was the Apple Pie flavour. It was awesome!!! I love the pastry bits!

Emily and I. :)

Us with the creators of The Last Polka, Ee Vee and May Yee! :D They were really nice and friendly and they really thought us a lot of what they know about ice-cream. Like the difference between sorbet and sherbet.

Sorbet- Just ice, syrup, fruits and etc (No cream/milk)
Sherbet- All of the above with cream/ milk

The difference between a mass production ice-cream and premium ice-cream is that the mass produced one is churned more hence, more air = more volume. No wonder it's cheap. They let us try vanilla ice-cream from a mass produced brand and a premium brand side by side. Boy, you can really taste the difference! Try it one day and you will have that eye opening moment. Then we got to try their own, Vanilla Bean. It's awesome!!! XD

Then they let us try some of the bad things that could happen during the ice-cream making process. The pandan one was so bad because they put in store bought pandan essence instead of using the natural one. Also because they put more to exaggerate the pandan leaf flavour. I felt that I was eating grass. Then they let us try ice-cream which is re-frozen, not churned enough and more.

Emily and I said that we will never look at ice-cream the same way again after this class. I can't wait for the next one! I heard they have tasting sessions too so I hope I can go for that!

The BIG 21

I turned 21 on the 27th of November last year which makes this post very delayed. I had a small family celebration back in Ipoh a few days before my birthday when my family and I came back to visit my grandpa who was diagnosed with Stage 3, Blood Cancer. I hate it when cancer strikes someone when you least expect it.

Pictures in this blog are taken by my family, my friends and my so I took it with permission. :)

My aunt, cousin, little sister lurking behind, grandma, mum, me and my youngest sister.

Add in my dad and minus my aunt in this picture.

Found a wild rabbit behind the abandoned dog house at my grandparent's front yard. Which is very surprising because their backyard is just an fruit orchard with tall grasses. How the bunny came from there, I have no idea but this cute bunny has a really cute story.

According to my Granduncle who lives next door, he said that the rabbit just appeared one day and she was already good friends with Fatty, one of his dogs. His dogs are huge and they were picked from the streets when they were still puppies and they are fierce. Apparently, the rabbit sleeps with Fatty and follows him wherever he goes. It's adorable! I recently witnessed it as my family and I were driving out. Fatty was walking around the bushes and you can see the rabbit hopping along behind him. :)


I finally had a birthday party with my friends! I celebrated it on the 25th since some of my friends are working on the weekdays. Thank you to my parents for paying this as a gift for my 21st! :)

We rented one of the VIP rooms in Red Box, The Gardens since there was 15 guests. I feel thankful that my friends came to my party. :)

Seriously, I am pretty sure my mum told them my name when she made the booking.

My parents almost threw a B.F when they said that the PS3 was not provided in our room. The lady who made the booking with my mum already promised that there will be a PS3 in the room so after debating with the manager, my parents won. Woot!!! 

Too bad the games they provided were not fun enough except for the Grand Tourismo 5. My little sister complained to my dad and my dad actually bought the latest Tekken game for us to play. I feel so lucky that my dad's a gamer. Nigel's face lit up and the kiasu-ness came out.

Le beau was singing to Bee Gee's Stayin Alive. Ayesha has the recording of it. It's gonna be used as blackmail when the time comes. *inserts evil laugh* . Nah, I won't do it, maybe.

Le sister, cousin and other sister.

Charmaine and Jaclyn! One thing nice is that they provide party packs so a bunch of us were playing around with it.

The KARATs!

I thought I was under-dressed for my own party because I wore a plain top with a skirt. I had my make-up done for free at Stage, Mid Valley because I had the birthday promotion thing. But my hair was a mess and it's damaged from the colouring that the hairstylist did for a hair show back in October for Matrix. My mum couldn't stand my hair that she immediately dragged me to a saloon in Carrefour, Mid Valley to curl my hair. I wish I have someone to curl my hair for me everyday (Only in my dreams.).

So I told Jaclyn and Charmaine that I was not wearing a dress and I felt under-dressed for my own party and they wanted to smack me and Jaclyn said, I wore a dress for you and you didn't even wear a dress. Obviously, they didn't after they saw me. Thank god!

I can finally cross this out from my bucket list! My dearest best friends/homies from high school aka Emily, Amanda, Samantha, Audrey and Salena surprised me with this pinata! XD . They made my beau take me out of the room and walked around the mall for a while so that they can bring it out from the counter. Emily brought her brother's baseball bat too. I LOVE THIS PINATA! IT'S SO BLOODY CUTE AND IT'S A UNICORN/ PEGASUS!!! They know me well. :)

The beau had to stand on a chair and hold it so that I can hit it. You know how in Hollywood movies, they made it look so easy for it to explode, trust me, this was bloody hard to break open. Everyone in the room was screaming for me to hit it harder when I already am. The beau's fingers got hit by the bat too and he only told me that the party ended.

After hitting it in the air a few times, we gave up and we just put it on the floor and I start smashing it. It wouldn't break open then too. Until we tried hitting it in the air again that some sweets actually came out and slowly it broke open. I kept the head for memories cause the body is gone already.

If you're wondering what they had in the pinata, here's what it has:

-Kopiko sweets and some chinese candies.
-Gummy bears, worms, cola.
-5 G-strings
-5 condoms, I think
-Something else that is best not to be mentioned here.

I kept some of the feathers cause it's cute! :)

Later, the waiter brought out a birthday cake and Jun Hin bought me another cake from Delectable bakery, which was really nice of him. I prefer Red Box's cake cause it was chocolate and it was full of chocolate chips. Chocolate FTW!

The new official Karat family shot! :)

Now to the polaroids! Borrowed my cousin's Fuji Instax and some of her films for this. XD For some reason, polaroids makes everything look prettier.

This was taken when the girls were singing some One Direction's song to me. I can't stand One Direction, seriously.

With my high school loves!:) Samantha, me, Audrey, Emily, Salena and Amanda.

With le beau. <3

Ivan, Jeremy, and Vivien! :)

With Jun Hin! :)

Cousin, sister, sister and cousin. :)

Trying to smash the pinata.

Dickson and Joyana! One of the sweetest couples I have ever met. :) Funny story was that they went to the wrong branch because they thought I was celebrating in Red Box, Pavillion so they ended up in Pavillion then they rushed to The Gardens.

With Ibnu aka Nunu, the family architect in training. :)

With our Turkish boys! Can and Kemalcan! So sad that Berk left for France a few days before or else it would complete the Turkish boys photo.

The 3 Instagrammed photos were taken by Ibnu. He, Charmaine and I were belting out to Lana Del Rey song's all the way! :)

Nunu with one of my G-strings which has fallen out from the pinata.

Lastly, I did my part for Movember too. :)

It's one of the birthdays that I will never forget. :)