Tea Obsession

Sunday, 30 July 2017

What I have been up to: a Putrajaya Wedding & 2017 Bon Odori in Shah Alam

Hello internet! I know I've been MIA-ing for quite a while. That's what happen when work's a priority. Aside from that, I got a lil more time for technology detox with my internet provider P1 WiMAX doing their best at failing the couple of fortnights ago from some upgrade (or rather downgrade). The problems have started manifesting since early of this year but it took them awhile to explain that. Neat.

Although I find it may actually be a blessing in disguise now that I can use those time to rest properly after work and on weekends. During those times I missed my blog, writing though I did vlogging but the videos left untouched. Now that I've been on hiatus long enough, I thought I should fill you in on what I've been up to.


1) Our family is growing!!!!

Sis' and bro-in-law ROM just ended last month and soon it's upcoming wedding banquet food tasting with the extended Tans. Later this year you bet I'll be filling you more on the Hens Night & wedding! This is so surREAL, it's true how adult years pass by so fast!!

Because of the whole occasion, I've been spending a lot of time with my sister and her new family.


2) Baby, baby, baby oohhhh

Aside from that, my sis' welcomes motherhood this year. Not that kind of baby. But a babi baby whom the new parents pampers like crazy. Meet Buttons, the cat whom at 6 months is a healthy, super discipline and you betcha, proud Persian. 

She's not pissed, she just looks like that. She's so cute lol


Ok, in this pic she was really pissed. My sis brought her to the vet to check on her ear mites issue which my sis discovered recently. She was clearly not pleased and ignored my sis the entire day...


On less grumpy days, she's super photogenic!


If you've seen my insta, you'd noticed I posted this pic with a funny caption.


Almost everyday our Whatsapp group is showered with photos of Buttons not that I mind ahahhaha. Most of my fam except the dudes loves cats so she definitely stole my sis' limelight lol. Our attention was for her and her only and she was happy to be the center of it, rubbing herself close to our legs when we visited her. 

I bought her a mini tent on the same day I met her but she carefully examined it but afraid to explore further. My sister showed me her first and last attempt later that day. Tadaaa~~~ 


Hilarious! The tent was rather out of shape since her body was longer and she, large for her age. Imagine how big she'll become when she grows! I guess its just in a Persians' gene, she's biggest among all the cats my mom adopts!

You can't tell it from here, but from aerial view, she's bigger than the tent!

"I dowan to play with you anymoreeeee..."


Ya, I can bombard this post with more photos of Buttons but let's move forward because that'll take forever hahahaa

3) Bon Odori Shah Alam 2017

Yeshhhhh! This is the first time in yearsss since I attended Bon Odori and my first celebration in Shah Alam's Stadium. I have initially guessed the crowd was going to be huge (like Penang's) but turns out they came in a throng! Mind blown!!

Impromptu decision to attend with my best friend and adventure buddy, Ben! Ben wanted to take videos undercover because he is shy. Yalah tu! Nah, he was sick LOL.





There were crowds in circle dancing, picnicking, shopping or just viewing fron the platforms. When the fireworks went off suddenly, people went silent in awe admiring the spectacular showdown. Cheers and whistling erupts when it quiets down only to be surprised that the fireworks displays were far from over. Hahahaha. Bestest fireworks for the year! (I'll try to be edit the videos siob


Think it took me a few hours to go through the stalls, the place is so huge! I bought Hokkaido's sea salt flavored gelato (Japan's ice cream never disappoints me?!), German sausage and dew drop jelly with fruits in them. 

Partly, I regretted not wearing my yukata, partly I don't cause it's super hot what's more with the huge crowd! Perhaps I should've invited a few girl friends, that'll be fun and prolly making the sauna experience worth it Lol 


4) Tourist in my own country

This was two months back, I was at Putrajaya for a colleague and friend's wedding and decided I should make time to explore the place. It's my second time there, but my first checking out the place. 

I spent most of my time at the pink mosque and Putrajaya Botanical Garden, the latter particularly to check out the Moroccan Pavilion.




Managed to graze both my knees when I had a horrible fall, falling from a bike with seat so high my legs barely reach the ground. Perfect especially when I have a dinner to attend... (°ロ°٥) Thankfully after wiping off the blood, they didn't look that bad that evening. 

Loving the bride's pretty dress! She looked great in it!!


Subsequent days were agonizing, with the swelling and pain I barely walk properly. I still miss biking and truly considering one, something my size. 


5) One of my many obsessions _Feng Shui!

It has been going on a while but I didn't want to write about it on my blog thinking I'd be laugh at (Why did I even bother about people's opinion then?!). I started reading Feng Shui books, attending Lillian Too's talk (recently I attended my third and first Spiritual Feng Shui), and start sharing Feng Shui articles/conversation with my mom. I'm still new at this so I don't really put them into practice 100 percent, perhaps next time. It's just becoming one of my many fascinating hobbies. Though, I was surprised to find one of my friends from uni attending the talk with her family too! So the next round I'll have companions, so fun! 

In my opinion, growing spiritually and more religious are part of growing up. Still I will never be part of one whose disciples are small minded, thinks of themselves as more superior or ostracise other religions/believes. That's so backward and stupid! Speaking of growing up, I may have a post to write about this topic but still considering if I should. Maybe next time!

Back to the event, I had a chance to hear Guru Rinpoche speaks and find he is so humble and as Lillian said, rather wise for his age _ he takes into accounts different angles of perspective and his logic is rather, well logical to the sane minds.


6) Planning for my epic Trip of The Year!

It's still a few months to go before my trip but tickets are booked, itinerary is 80 percent completed, and my excitement is still unwanning. I wish I can tell you about it but at the same time, I want to keep it a secret. To keep the suspense growing, you know LOL. Anyway, the plan is to go on a budget which I am unsure if I will achieve it. Gahhhh, I need more discipline with my moniesss!!!

So ya, these are pretty much the significant events in my life. Not so glam eh (≧∇≦)

Sunday, 31 July 2016

2016 Taiwan Hauls

I want to get started with my vacay bits but decided to share with you my haul first LOL

Let me start with the ones I posted on Instagram just recently. Sent this via po stage to my family back home cuz I won't be going back anytime soon and some of the stuff I really wanted them to try before it expires LOL

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The two items in red are teas which I got from Maokong. Dad's been obsessed with tea apparently so I got him and mom more. Then clockwise from top left are magnets, birds' nests, Taiwan instant coffee, some ginger tea cubes, Taro/Yam cakes and pineapple squares.

Taiwan Magnets

Also got myself luggage stickers! They're so cute I want moreeeeee!

Luggage Stickers

More haul!

The Taro cake is a MUST try. I had some last year when my ex-colleagues bought some as omiyage from Taiwan. I LOVE IT! So much that I brainwashed my ex-roomie and my friends whom travelled together with me to get some. Thankfully you can get this at almost everywhere like in Taoyuan Airport, Taipei Main Station and almost all touristy places. Even the night markets! Initially we wanted to get the ones from ShanMai (there is a branch in Taipei Main Station) but was too rush so we bought some random brand. Tastes equally as good!

Chia Te's pineapple cake is a must try too! I thought they tasted much more buttery and liked it but my parents said it tasted almost like the one in Bukit Mertajam. Worth trying! Last but definitely not least is the TaiYang Bing or Sun Cake. Didn't buy some back but it is good. Super buttery!

When in Taiwan, buy lotsa tea LOL. Bought Oolong, Tie Kuan Yin, Ginger (My fav!) and Blooming tea

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So I got back and was so eager to try the ginger tea so I used a cube which makes about 3 cups or more and drank them myself.

Immediately I felt myself warm up and a while after I finish the tea I got nosebleed... (>___<) Hahahahha.

Reminding myself not to drink on hot days...

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I also got some Tie Kuan Yin tea nougats from Maokong, which IMO tasted wayyyy better than most nougats I tried in Malaysia. The taste of tea is so-o-o defined, Chinese tea lovers will love it!

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I also got tons of_like thirty_ beautiful hand painted postcards from Maokong. Distributed to my colleagues and friends. These are the ones I have left, which will be given to my friends and family hahahaha

Aren't they prettay??

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Next up are cosmetics and beauty products, mostly masks and stuff from Naruko. Taiwan cosmetics are quite popular in Malaysia and my friends been raving about Naruko so when I told them I'll be going, I got a list of to buys since they're much affordable there.

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These are the items I bought for my friends.

#Naruko Bird's Nest Mask

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Another brand was L'herboflore, which my other friend recommended me to get. I found a counter at K-Underground Mall and as you can see, sapu (Malay for sweep/swept) quite a lot from the counter.

Let me tell you something super annoying that happened when we went to purchase the L'herboflore masks. So my friend Amelia and I went there solely to purchase the masks and were browsing the many choices deciding to buy before we were cornered my sales personS bombarding us with all the products. At first, I thought they were very helpful and friendly, trying to get to know where we were from after noticing my ineptness in handling the language and letting us sample some mini masks.

This mini masks. Aren't they cute?

L'herboflore

But after a while, they level up their games and introducing us the other many, much more pricey products trying to sell them to us to the point it got very annoying.

And the most annoying part?

They said if you buy this set, we will give you like X number of masks for free, whispering the words to my ears. Saying stuff like, this is specially for you girls. So our identity as tourists actually is advantageous, huh. Mind you, there was no poster around stating this sorta deal. Aha.

And you know, I'm the type who DON'T like close contact with some people so the whole whispering act annoyed me more.

Like seriously. One other friend managed to duck another (Yes, they have that many sales people) and just hid somewhere. She observed that when a sales person is unable to convince a customer, they obtain help from someone apparently more senior/experienced to try to preach the customers.

Very questionable work and business etiquette.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE SALES & DISCOUNTS and I'm in LOVE with L'herboflore's products, I just don't like how they operate...I would actually buy more too if not because I've spent on SK-II recently. Same goes to Amelia (I intro-ed SK-II to her before our trip LOL).

What do you think? Have anyone experienced the same when shopping in any of their outlets in Taiwan?

If you're ok with these overselling sales people, just make it obvious you're no local and you prolly able to snap the products on pretty good bargain prices. You so-o didn't hear this from me.

Another tip: Purchase minimum 20 sheet masks for discounts!

Last but not least, I got myself this alpaca magnet from Taipei Zoo, cuz alpacas are cute LOL.

Alpace magnet from Taipei Zoo!

Because I only brought a carry on with me, I had to buy another luggage (the one in the picture above) and actually filled it up with all my haul LOL






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