Venting

There's nothing more annoying when some idiot driver appears from behind you, inching ever so closely behind you, hoping you'd move onto the slow lane in case s/he just might end up hitting your car...only to find that that same idiot had to slow down either because the fast lane had a longer queue (than the slow one) or s/he missed the green light thus having to stop - anyway.

So to all you road bullies out there, including the driver of a certain black SUV : karma's a bitch!

Overheard

"I hope the nation and the people will forgive my mistakes"
The now former President Pervez Musharraf in a televised address largely devoted to defending his record following his announcement of resignation as president.

Cupcakes galore

Vanilla Buttercream Colors

I'm officially declaring this week as Cupcake Week!

Thanks to Cupcake for posting those mouthwatering pictures of her creations as well as the countless photos currently circling around in Facebook of friends either sharing their own creations and wishlists, I thought it's about time I introduce the ultimate cupcake of all cupcakes.

Introduced by a cousin 2 years ago during my summer holiday in NYC, Buttercup Bake Shop makes these divine cupcakes which will make you forget all the cupcakes you've eaten all this time. Freshly made daily, they come in various kinds, from good ol'fashioned vanilla with chocolate frosting to German Chocolate to Spicy Sour Cream to the sumptuous red velvet - courtesy of F who, upon my recommendation, brought back and introduced me to probably the best-tasting cupcake out of all the Buttercup cupcakes I've tasted. Definitely not for the faint-hearted!

So if you're ever in NYC, do check it out. As the saying goes, "don't miss out on what life has to offer", or in this particular case, what Buttercup Bake Shop has to offer!

Assorted Cupcakes

Are you drooling again?

Photos courtesy of Buttercup Bake Shop

Rain rain go away, come again another day

Why it's been pouring heavily of late..

A woman in Taipei rides a bicycle in heavy rain on Friday.

Image courtesy of AFP/GettyImages

What a momentary lapse of will power can do

I thought I could handle the temptation..maintain my will power..but what's that saying..never say never? Seriously, I wasn't set on buying a bag, let alone two (!), during my trip. Instead counting the days and weeks before my next time out from all the daily hassles in life. But then IT happened. IT being laying my eyes on the gorgeous TODS Softy bags in a multitude of summery colours (purple, turquoise, soft pink, olive green, yellow...) How could anyone not fall in love with this?

Or this?

Never let it be said a girl can't have too many bags!

A trip to remember

Prior to my trip to India earlier this month, I'd often wondered what was behind India's appeal to travellers particularly the westerners. Other than the Taj Mahal, Mumbai, Mother Teresa, Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachan, Aishwarya Rai and the like, let's just say my knowledge of India was slightly limited..and most likely filled with negatory thoughts. Sure, preconceptions about Indians having a certain driving behaviour (which usually transposes over to the countries like here) and peeing at the side of the roads were well-founded..but at the same time, I discovered that the locals have a fondness for socialising, from going on boat rides on the parks to sitting down amongst family/friends/acquaintances on the grass lanes...and never have I seen an array of rich, colourful sarees either walking on the streets with their children to riding on the mini-taxicab/motorcycles.

If like me, shopping is a must-do activity whenever you're travelling, India is no different from the rest of the world. Having read and recommended to check out the markets, a couple of us hit one of the many markets in Delhi, aptly called Babu Market, some 30 minutes drive from our hotel. While most of the stuff sold there ranged from clothes to kitchen utensils to luggages to women's underwear, our mission was to check out the saree shops..and sure enough, Babu Market did not disappoint. Let's just say, had I brought a larger suitcase and more money, I would had swept half of the sarees on display!

Sarees aside, another must-buy in India are the jewellery. Blessed with a rich deposit of various gems from diamonds to precious to semi-previous stones, India is full of gorgeous bling-blings..from costume to the real deal. I was practically in tourmaline heaven *sigh*

The five days spent in India might seem long but there were plenty more yet to do and see including Taj Mahal which requires a good one day to fully appreciate the beauty of it...so India, you have not seen the last of me yet..

Unforgettable

I recall the day I received the phone call from one of my superiors. Asked me whether I'd be available on so-and-so dates. Unsure of how to reply mainly 'cos I was intending to submit my leave application, I ended up saying "nothing planned". Now technically that wasn't true since the so-and-so dates happened to fall during the week of my brother's wedding and I was intending to take time off to help my folks out with the preparations..but theoretically becos I had yet to submit my application, one could argue my reply was valid. Anyway turned out I was nominated by my boss to attend some workshop in New Delhi, India on those so-and-so dates. Shocked and speechless I was on a fence. How could my boss do this to me?? And of all places, India??!!??

Now I've heard stories about India from friends so I wasn't sure what to expect out of this trip. Armed with plenty of bottled water, Indo Mees and the likes and other snacks which I thought might come in handy in the event I got tired of the local food, I was sorta all set to go. Travelling with a colleague via Malaysia, the flight took almost half a day, not forgetting to mention completely full of Indian nationals (it's amazing how these group of 3-4 year old kids managed to stay awake for the duration of the 6-hour flight by yakking away like nobody's business!), that we only arrived sometime around 9 pm (India time..we're 2 hrs 30 minutes ahead so go figure that one out..). As we arrived at night, there wasn't much to see as we made our way to the hotel aside from the occasional locals walking along the pavements (or lack thereof) although I was hoping to see people sleeping on the streets/pavements, which there were none much to my disappointment.

Now usually prior to my travel, I'd go to the 'net to check out the hotel and its surrounding area..like, say whether there were any nearby shops or famous tourist attractions. This trip was one of those exceptions. All I knew, from my itinerary sent by the organiser of the workshop, was that we'd be staying at the Inter-Continental. With a well-known name as that, I figured we'd at least be staying at some four-star hotel so my concerns about hygiene, food, water and safety weren't that grave in the first place. So imagine my surprise (completely!) when this was how our rooms looked like. This was definitely not a four-star hotel!

Yes, that is the toilet..

Look at that big flat-screen tv!

The nice toilet sink

And check out the universal sockets which could be found within 1m of each other - my last count was 4 - how smart is that? To think my colleague and I were worried about the hotel not having any universal adaptors *hahaha*

Aren't they cool?

Currently undergoing renovation, our only gripe about the hotel was the slowness of the elevators coupled with the absence of any indicators which meant that if you missed a lift, you'd have to wait another 5 minutes til the next one comes along! Other than that, with facilities such as the 24-hour business centre and gym, salon and spa, restaurants and bar, and delightful shops selling jewellery and other local items most notably sarees and pashminas, it would be a shame not to make use of at least some of the facilities..let's just say, I woke up all fresh and energetic after a good Indian massage the day before.

TBC

Safe and sound

It's official. My life revolves heavily around the internet. After spending almost five days at the hospital, my poor but still-ever-so-trustworthy laptop is back in operation. Despite the loss of my entire iTunes library (ouch!) and a couple of things which will never ever see the light of day, I'm just glad my baby is alive and kicking!

So much has happened over the past two weeks or so that I can't believe my leave will be ending soon..and I haven't even fully recovered from the recent events. How I envy the two amigos aka Mr White and Mr SAF also known to some of you as my younger brothers whose two-and-a-half week stay back here has sadly ended and are now settling back in London as we speak...

On a more happier note, the little one has now reached the 7th month. Over the past couple of weeks, I've noticed that he's not fond of people sitting down when carrying him..I blame it on his grandpa who spoils him rotten by catering to his every whim/tantrum. But then how could one not resist spoiling such an adorable l'il fella particularly with those gi-normous eyes *hehehe*

Dreaming...of Cambodia

I could be checking out these places this week but for a couple of boo-boos down at the office today..

..or perhaps it just wasn't meant to be this time round.

All images Lonely Planet Images.

J Co Donuts

the cupcake has been off on holiday recently, galivanting off to KL and Singapore for eight days. since i was in the vicinity, i decided to wander down to The Pavillion, KL's newest shopping mall, specifically to check out J Co Donuts. they are an Indonesian company set up in 2005, with 16 outlets in Jakarta alone and another 21 scattered in the main cities. they expanded to Malaysia recently, opening two branches, the one in The Pavillion and another in Sunway Pyramid. they have been such a hit that queues at the Pavillion branch usually average one hour of waiting! (although i only waited for 15 minutes! guess i was lucky. after i joined the queue, another twenty people joined me...) back to the products, the donuts. yes, they are worth it. i am a simple girl at heart so i love the Glazzy, a sweet honey glazed donut. similar to the Original Glazed Krispy Kreme but not as teeth-meltingly sweet. their best seller is actually the ALCAPONE, belgian white chocolate with slivers of californian almonds on top. the list is endless, you can go crossed eyed while choosing your dozen or so (hell, if you have to queue that long, you might as well grab a few dozen!) my verdict...Love it!!! in the end, i picked up 2 Glazzy with 4 others. they were all gorgeous. if you are ever in KL, do drop by and grab some for me!

Our Little Hero

After a three-month absence, though it felt way longer than that, he's back. Our little hero. All grown up with a penchant for Thomas The Tank Engine, Argos' mini catalogue and saying "there"...though slightly more hyper than the last time we saw him (mozart, you might want to rethink about playing chase with him these days *hehehe*) but still the same adorable "hero" we've all come to love and cherish..

Extravagance at its best? You decide..

IF I had $22 billion, I don't think I'd know what to do (even though I'd settle for $1 billion thank you very much) with all that dosh. Donate half of it to the needy perhaps...make the necessary improvements here and there..place orders for Hermes Birkin bags for myself, mum and all my friends in every colour, size and skin...buy my own island at one of those man-made islands in Dubai..the list is definitely endless..

Alas, that is all but a dream..although if you happen to be one Mukesh Ambani of India, you'd take this whole being-a-rich-man business beyond what us normal folk people would dare dream of ...by building the world's most expensive house. Reported to be worth $1 billion (yikess! I guess $1 billion probably wouldn't be enough for me now), the house or, judging from the news report (see above), tower/building "is known to feature, at the least, a health club, multiple "safe" rooms, 3 helipads, 168 parking spaces and require 600 servants to maintain, and physically, the structure stands at 27 stories, or 570 feet tall."

Impressed? There's more...

According to the Mumbai Mirror, the tower will also contain:

Floor for car maintenance Sources said the Ambanis would prefer to have all their cars serviced and maintained at an in-house service centre. This centre will be set up on the seventh floor.

Entertainment floor
The eighth floor will have an entertainment centre comprising a mini-theatre with a seating capacity of 50.

Balconies with gardens
The rooftop of the mini-theatre will serve as a garden, and immediately above that, three more balconies with terrace gardens will be independent floors.

The 'health' floors
While the ninth floor will a 'refuge' floor -- meant to be used for rescue in emergencies -- two floors above that will be set aside for 'health.' One of these will have facilities for athletics and a swimming pool, while the other will have a health club complete with the latest gym equipment.

Family
The four floors at the top, that will provide a view of the Arabian Sea and a superb view of the city's skyline, will be for Mukesh, his wife Neeta, their three children and Mukesh's mother Kokilaben.

Air space floor
According to the plan, two floors above the family's residence will be set aside as maintenance areas, and on top of that will be an "air space floor," which will act as a control room for helicopters landing on the helipad above.

Now that is what I call living the life..

Brunei - Kingdom of Unexpected Treasures (Part I)

A big HELLO to everybody from me, KdotA, and a big THANK YOU to Mizz Kitty and Medulla for inviting me to guest on Talk Is Cheap. Optimistically I call this Part I, in case I am invited to guest again.


Photoblog competition

Sadly, Mizz Kitty and Medulla (did anyone see that film A Room With a View in which a young Rupert Graves plays a medical student who at some point plays the piano and sings a song about the medulla oblongata? Merchant Ivory production, 1986) did not win the prize awarded earlier this month for Brunei's Best Photo Blog. Even sadder is that Talk Is Cheap did not make it into the top five. (More details here). Ho hum, the prize was deservedly won by AnakBrunei, and never mind lah, Talk Is Cheap is not really a PhotoBlog site.

Here is my contribution to the next photoblog competition. It is taken from the suspension bridge at Ulu Temburong at the bifurcation of sungai temburong and sungai belalong (where?!). Um, that is somewhere up in the jungle; it is one of Brunei's unexpected treasures, known only to tourists and expats.


A visitor

Now, Mizz Kitty shut your eyes, I want to share with everyone a photo of a visitor I had recently at home. Apologies for the poor quality, but he did not linger long.


You can open your eyes now, Mizz Kitty!

2007 Lah

The year 2007 has been fascinating, full of exciting adventures and voyages of personal discovery - more of this another time. One of the most important events was finding that I was saying "lah" without even thinking! OMG, I have been here too long! A friend now says she will fine me 1 BND for every occurrence.

Tasek Merimbun

On a less important note, does anyone remember the hype surrounding the Donnavventura team, eh? Those leggy blonde Italian ladies who zipped through Brunei one day in September.

Visit: here if you need reminding.

By a strange quirk of fate, in one of those happy accidents, I and a friend were visiting Tasek Merimbun when these bini-bini Italian were due to drop by. It was a great day, we introduced ourselves to the Dusun community there and were fascinated as we discovered one of Brunei's unexpected treasures once more.

Pak Cik was rehearsing his gulangtangan and even let me have a go on his priceless instrument, more than 100 years old.











There were other muscial instruments and handcrafted artefacts on display as well as local fruit (cempedak, membangan and something red).










After waiting, waiting and waiting some more, Team Donnavventura arrived, and kept everyone waiting yet more while they fixed their appearances and did a photoshoot on the lake. After a simple but delightful Dusun lunch (ikan, ayam kampung, nasi biasa) the lovely lasses were treated to traditional dances performed by the Dusun community.






My companion and I were enchanted by the magic unfolding before our eyes, which is more than can be said of the gorgeous girls, who departed swiftly.











A big thank you to you Jungle Dave, and my companion, for making the waiting tolerable.


Out-of-State

On one of my trips Out-of-State, I found myself somewhere outside Kota Kinabalu, on the road toward Rannau (where the best durian kampung come from). Sorry, I cannot remember the name of the place, but it was a Sunday morning and they had the equivalent of an English village fete. For those of you who do not know, at a typical English village fete there will be, amongst other activities, competitions for vegetables, flowers and fruit. For fruit and veg usually biggest is best, but sometimes quality is taken into account. These competitions are taken very seriously, and the keenest will guard their marrow patch by night lest a desperate rival trashes their crop.

Anyways, imagine my surpprise at finding the same thing in this quaint little kampung, with competitions for the best mangga, rambutan, durian, cempedak, jagung, betek, kelapa and more, even oil palm fruit and blocks of rubber lah! Yakah!


Another of Brunei's unexpected treasures...
Ku merindu lai!









KdotA

Life as a duckling

Sometimes being an underling/duckling/junior officer has its moments. Not only are we subjected to superiors who are at most times fickle, indecisive and impatient, we also have to bear the brunt of their behaviour and decisions. And do we get any credit or even a word of thanks? Not unless we live in Timbuktu!

So what is it that makes them difficult you ask? After all it's not as if these people had not been in our position before so surely they would understand, let alone appreciate, the endless number of phone calls we have to make or the extra hours put in (including working on our off days) to ensure everything from hotel accomodation to protocol is sorted out prior to departure. Hah! Only a fool would dare to think life as an duckling is easy. A naive fool that is.

Honestly, if you ask me, these people secretly thrive in making our lives miserable and difficult. No resting on our laurels. Not even for five minutes. Yet they whine, moan and grumble when, say their travel allowance doesn't get released on time despite, DESPITE, making changes three hours before departure! Er, hello?? Surely they jest! That is like expecting Santa Claus to drop by at the very last minute bearing gifts when their names have yet to be registered on his "list".

Such is life as a duckling *SIGH*

The power of art

Sometimes I think I'm in the wrong profession although the lack of artistic genes is enough to justify that I'm no way near any of the talented people who come up with such interesting and breathtaking designs such as these..

"The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance." Aristotle

Pictures by Fred R.Conran and Richard Perry (The New York Times)

Adieu

Although she'd originally intended to stay for three weeks, Miss L's annual trip back home was, as always, memorable..an excuse for us ladies to get together which normally involves catching up with each other's lives (as well as others *wink* *wink*), reminiscing the good ol' days and exchanging notes on the latest purchases and best eating places (just to name a few)...and so we bid adieu again to Miss L who's making her way back to the UK.

Safe journey and good luck with the job hunt!

Just giving my two cents

Some random thoughts floating in my mind..

• Judging from last night's impressive turnout for the Cadaques Orchestra, it's pretty obvious that we do appreciate the arts and over the years, there has been an interesting presence of mini plays/stage shows/stage performances..which begs the question : why aren't we getting Mamma Mia the Musical? or the recent P Ramlee the Musical?

• The continued love-hate relationship between the locals and basement parking. Having seen the extent to which the locals avoid basement parkings, the authorities should see this as an opportunity to penalise these lazy idiots for irresponsible obstruction!?!

• Having bumped into an old friend awhile back, I noticed how this old friend treated me as if we'd never been friends before. Granted that this old friend is now happily married with two beautiful children (with another on the way..aww bless!), I can't seem to understand the reason behind the not-so-cordial treatment. Fear of wife's wrath? Fear that I might accidentally spill out his past? I prefer to call it selective amnesia..go figure.

Photos: Medulla

A question of morality..or is it more than that?

Here's the scenario:

Mr X and his partner have shelled out XXXX amount for a double suite in the much-hyped A380 where amongst the perks include a double bed. Having just celebrated a grand wedding and heading off for their honeymoon, a thought comes to mind - since this is a private room (and the very thought of it suddenly turns both of them on) does that mean they can indulge in some hanky *cough* *sex* *cough* panky?

Are they morally obliged to keep your horny hormones intact for the next 5-6 hours out of respect for the other passengers - bearing in mind that the walls of the 'rooms' aren't soundproof? Or would you argue that, having spent a ludricous amount for this trip, they are entitled to carry out whatever extracirricular activity in the privacy of both themselves in that 'room'?

As with most things in life, there is no right or wrong answer to this. Some might (and have!) argue that having sex in an airplane bed is not only indecent, but also the very thought of occupying a bed which had been deflowered does not exactly bode well for some - think *ewww! grossss!" or "I know the sheets look clean but how clean are they?" Whereas there's another school of thought who thinks if people can have sex in the loo, then what makes this scenario any different? Or if people can be discrete about it (HAH!!) then surely no harm has been done, no?

But then it shouldn't really be about sex (though the current state of the world seems to be suggesting otherwise). There are still people out there who thinks going on plane is a means of getting somewhere..things like beds are added perks (mostly reserved for the well-to-do unfortunately *sigh*) where the idea is for people to get some quality sleep before they reach their destination, irrespective of whether they want to have or had sex or not.

So to Mr and Mrs X, I say make the most of it (yes, any form of ECA included though it would be fun to see how much restraint they can hold *LOL*). What's the most the airline stewards can do? Throw them out midflight? Lock them in the room? Impose an indefinite ban?

Aahh, the complexities of morality ...

Guilty pleasures

6 reasons why Gossip Girl is my current guilty pleasure (though it shouldn't really ..the guilty part that is!):

1. New York. Not only is the show about filthy rich young socialites in New York's Upper East Side (think Manhattan), the show itself is shot in NYC so some of the places kinda brings back fond memories of my summer break in NYC last year...*sigh*
2. Forget Marissa Cooper and Summer Roberts - Serena van der Woodsen and Blair Waldorf are the 'It' girls of TV-land. Plus Blake Lively and Leighton Meester are 10 times cooler than Mischa "what-is-she-famous-for-again-other-than-The O.C" Barton and Rachel Bilson..p/s: anyone who caught episodes 3 and 4 of House season 3 might recall seeing Leighton Meester as House's underaged blonde stalker girl Ali ....yup that was her alright!
3. Love, love, love the clothes, bags, shoes and even their hairstyles. As Miss L and I were discussing earlier on..the Gossip Girl style is more sophisticated and quirky a la Sex and The City compared to the more laid-back style of The O.C.
4. Rufus Humphrey aka Dan and Jenny's rock band-playing dad. Now I wouldn't mind hooking up with someone like him *looking for tissues to wipe off drool from face*
5. Still trying to figure out Gossip Girl's true identity. Current suspect: Jenny.
6. 'Cos I need to indulge in something shallow and superficial..never could understand the hype surrounding The O.C...I blame it all on that Mischa whatsherface!?!
   

Some of life's l'il luxuries

Guess what arrived from London this morning...thanks mum and 'Uncle' T!