back from my yearly solo trip haha. solo travels are always full of deep thoughts for me. been travelling alone since 2015 but i dont consider myself to be an experienced traveller though. seriously a lot of things will happen to me on trips but i guess that's how we all grow and learn?

so what happened this time round hmm. i went to kl again (same as last year) but last year i squeezed in a one-day penang trip in the middle of a 3 day trip. this year i decided to just stay in kl for 4 days. i already booked a hiking trip and a pils class prior to coming so it would be less boring but still leaving sufficient time for recharging (ie retail therapy) and pampering hehe.

Summary of my trip:

DAY 1
on the day of my scheduled flight i woke up late as usual zzz (really need to learn to sleep and wake up earlier!!!) and i was so scared i would miss my morning flight because the departure terminal was at T4 and i had to take the additional shuttle from T2 in order to reach T4. it didnt help that there was a jam on PIE. so my panicked state was activated and i said some unkind words :/ thankfully i made it in time for my flight despite further hiccups with scanning my passport and checking of luggage etc.

flight was smooth, reached on schedule but then the MALAYSIA CUSTOMS were a disaster!! for about every 5 counters, 3 were closed? the queues were so long that they snaked to the arrival lounge *facepalm* dont understand why the customs will condone inefficiency but on the bright side, it makes Singapore comparatively the better country :D *insert proud face emoticon* anyway i was feeling quite guilty as i already booked a car to send me to my hotel and the driver waited for me about 1h because of the long queues >.<

anyway reached my hotel and i realized it was just opposite furama where i stayed last year LOL. okay im terrible at reading maps (another disadvantage for solo travels) so when i booked the place as long as it was within the golden triangle i was satisfied. but well the roads changed a lot since the last year i came so had to reroute and reposition myself again but i think i managed okay (:

then headed for brunch while waiting for my room to be ready

VCR: 2 Jalan Galloway, Bukit Bintang, 50150 Kuala Lumpur

quaint little cafe which was a bit ulu and had low tables and seats :/ but overall ambience and food were nice

and then watched Spiderman too. Zendaya <3 and the ticket was only RM 17 so cheap HAHAHHA. the movie was so good! highly recommend even for non-Marvel fans (Y)

DAY 2
fly pilates early in the morning. studio was within a walking distance from where i stayed so getting there was a breeze and i spent $0 on transport (Y). the place was rather quiet, in a torn down building but the interior was furbished quaintly. there were only 4 students that day, 2 first-timers other than me. we basically did pils using the hammock all the way it was so tough scary yet so fun. 100% would do it again

then in the afternoon tried to find back my shoe shop in BB but couldnt find ): so no new sports shoes this year

weather was insanely hot so thai milk tea FTW (only RM 5)

iron man at pavilion

and not to forget, overdose of BBT hehe (tealive, alley)

DAY 3
supposed to be the hike to maya falls day. according to google, the views at maya falls look like these, so stunning right but my trip got cancelled cos the guide's daughter fell sick and he needed to care for her aww )): so i went back to bed and went shopping the whole day (again LOL)

basically i did nothing i think. except for looking for food and shopping so here's some more photos of traditional breakfast and cafes hehe

 Feeka Coffee Roasters: 19 Jalan Mesui, Bukit Bintang, 50200 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah

DAY 4

last bf here. went back to the same coffeeshop cos i was lazy and i really wanted to try the wanton mee cos it looked real good the other day. i had a mini scare when the stall looked closed, but actually it was only cos they didnt turn on the lights. here's the pic of the wanton mee i was eyeing the other day. not particularly awesome but RM 6 only!!! #cheapthrills

and then last minute shopping to spend all my cash haha before booking grab to the airport. the airport's about an hour away so i catered sufficient time but again I FORGOT HOW TERRIBLE THE CUSTOMS WERE. plus i was stopped by the guards for oversized luggage :/ so i was forced to check in. another RM 150 damage but i just paid. it's really not that im rich. i just feel that it's not worth to argue over RM 150. i admit i do earn a comfortable salary but i scrimp A LOT A LOT and im quite stingy with myself. i basically walk everywhere to save money (up to 5km) and i dont buy things on impulse. i will take a photo/screenshot of the item i wanna buy and think about it for uber long before i purchase. and before i purchase i will search everywhere for cheaper options >.< and yes i do compare shops even for buying tissue paper HAHAHA

okay anyway lesson of the year is to buy check-in luggage for my trips back, especially for malaysia and to rmb that the customs queues are insanely long hahha

it's been a rather emotional week..attended an interview on friday morning and i actually came out crying. not that it was so bad that the hiring managers screamed at me but it was the so good interview that i actually cried. the hiring manager was actually a prof at SMU who taught business mgmt too and when she was sharing her experience i could relate so much that tears just uncontrollably fell. thank you so much for the encouragement and the advice, mrs judy tan. it's just been so tough surviving SMU and then adulting but i'll work hard (':

“Everyone will disappoint you. No one is perfect. The point is, can you deal with the disappointments and the person and care about them anyway despite them disappointing you?” Alyne (Alyne and Nas Daily)

attended jane laoshi's father's wake last night.
dislike going to wakes for many reasons, firstly being very awkward :-X arrived too early for the 8pm memorial service and it was rather empty; said hi to laoshi, then not sure whether to sit down take food or just stand around. luckily other church people came so not so awkward, still can chit chat and kill time before the memorial service. then at memorial service when pastor yeung was talking dunno whether to use phone or not cos it's so serious and at some parts i felt like crying but it's so weird cos im not even related to the deceased..and then after memorial service dunno whether should just leave or linger to chat :/ so much awkwardness haha. anyway laoshi stay strong kay, praying for you and your family

(p.s. one of the older couples at church actually said they came cos they saw the ad in the newspaper! ahh so sweet <3)

today i chided my kids for being messy. cos teacher jane gave them kinder surprise eggs and they obviously started eating them right away, though we werent allowed to eat in class. anyway as usual they made a mess out of the classroom with their toys thrown everywhere and the manual for making the toys shredded into a hundred pieces -.-

and after class some ladies from the women's ministry came to use the classroom and i was so embarrassed that the place was in a mess. and one of the lady was more concerned that my class was rowdy, she said: “他们那么吵，你怎么能够忍受得了？” [they are so noisy, how do you tolerate all that?] tbh i cant HAHHA. but what to do? i have 8 boys in my class, and at this age all they do is to rebel and say stupid things. like i was talking about paul today and they kept saying porn (doesnt even sound alike!!) -.- and the s word and dunno what other taboo words. sighs. just childish lo.

but then i watched a fb video on this boy named gabe adams who like nick vujicic was born without limbs, but this story was sadder in that he was abandoned by his parents ): ): but thankfully a really nice couple in north america adopted him *tears welling up* and the video demonstrated how he went out his every day without limbs and i started sobbing. how can i compare myself to a mother who has to bring up this kind of handicapped child? to see that poor boy struggle in everything that we do so easily and so thoughtlessly; like walking up and down the stairs, texting, cooking, even interacting with others...it's really nothing compared to managing 8 rascals every week. and i think my kids will really appreciate what they have if they see this video, maybe for a short while only but still good enough i guess. #willworkhardertobeabetterteacher #mothersaresoawesome

okay i gotta write this story down before i forget..

so im a very "auntie" person..i do compare prices at shops and search for stuff online so that it's cheaper, and i do use discount apps as well #moneyishardtoearn so i had these 2 vouchers which were expiring end April and i felt the urge to use them cos #auntie you know. just nice both shops were at northpoint so i decided to make my way down on thu after work. and just nice kero texted to ask if anyone was free to join him for dinz after his interview (shh) so i asked him to pei me in northpoint since it's on his way home. the first shop i went to was a shoe shop in which i was entitled to a $5 off with a min spending off $19.90. so i was at the shop deciding what to pick when the shop assistant told me that they had an ongoing promotion where the 2nd pair was $10 off. hearing this i was super tempted to get 2 pairs (cos forever need shoes right HAHA) and i really did. but end up because i utilized this offer i couldnt use my $5 voucher meh :/

the second shop was gadget hub where i had 4 $5 off vouchers with a min spending of $30. i needed to get a new cable cos i always spoil mine but i had about $22 to spare to be eligible for the voucher. initially i tot spend $30 can get $20 off not bad leh but i checked with the shop assistant and he said that i couldnt use the 4 vouchers together (WHAT??) so i decided to forgo the rest of the vouchers and used only 1 instead. ended up buying a wireless charger (rip-off but ah wells) and kero felt it was a waste for the rest of the vouchers and he started approaching patrons in the shop and giving them my vouchers. super kind soul indeed HAHAHA. and then i went home to buy a wireless charger receiver online (just $2 okay!!!) cos my phone didnt have the qi technology. maybe i did spend more than i tried to save with my vouchers but im happy HAHAH

and disclaimer: im not all that cheapo. i splurge on shoes, coffee and travel >.<

Home-d!

Been wanting to write about my trip each day but everytime im back at the airbnb im just so tired. plus every 1 or 2 nights we change airbnb so hard to sit down and write and all (OKAY EXCUSESSSS. like how it's 1am again and im still awake idkw??)

anyway maybe i'll talk about my feelings coming back first. always v v v grateful to be back in Singapore, because it's so efficient! just 2 weeks ago i had to queue 3h to clear JB customs (18 counters, but only 14 were open cos the rest had no staff?) it was so packed, so hot, my legs were so tired and if they just. just. just. adopt the electronic machines like Singapore everyone can clear within 15 minutes. okay but then again if malaysia is efficient, they will be more successful than us (OKAY NO WAY PLS) and maybe they're just trying to create jobs HAHAHHA. and two days ago when we were transiting at Munich it was such a bad experience too. we were on the 2nd floor and we had a 3h transit period so we wanted to grab dinner. saw some eateries downstairs BUT WE COULDNT FIND THE ESCALATOR/STAIRCASE TO GO DOWN TO LEVEL 1. quite ridiculous. we tried asking the security guards who said we had to go through passport control to get down? means we had to leave the transit area. which shouldnt be the case. but then they directed us to some dodgy escalator where we ended up in the train area, which sent us to another terminal instead. zzz. and rmbed another experience in chiang mai where there was no electronic board to dictate the gates for connecting flights, so everyone had to ask the staff holding direction plates who had to check manually on paper sheets for the allocated gates two thumbs down to thailand. meh. hence so so so glad for clear directions at changi airport and those fast automated clearance gates

and then after we collected our luggages and all me and perx decided to visit jewel since we were already at the airport and we wanted to grab some food (MISSED NOODLES SO MUCH!!) the route to jewel was insanely long?? like 6 travelators and 200m walk before we reached the entrance. and it was extremely packed though it was a monday evening which i absolutely hate. squeezed our way to the middle to take the iconic waterfall and then quickly went off to the pokemon center. but when we approached the center we saw 2 long queues with like 10 employees managing the queues? really insane much. unanimously decided we wont queue for the center and just walk past instead. saw people trying to selfie with the "special limited edition" pikachu and i laughed to myself. it was the same one at narita airport! (or was it at osaka) i rather go to the one in japan okay. no queue and so much bigger. but good job pokemon center for creating jobs. two thumbs up.

and our last stop was food. we cheapos so we went to the food court haha. insanely packed as well, (where do all these people come from???) had a hard time finding seats boo. but there was a kind staff who helped (kudos to creating jobs too) and we managed to get a table. we were both craving for ban mian so i went to queue for it. frustrating incident also. first, the normal ban mian was not at the top of the menu but rather no. 5 after spicy noodles and fried dumplings and whatsoever. and when i was ordering i asked if i could change the noodles to you mian and the shop assistant said no, cannot change. and then the one making the noodles (some old woman) heard it and she came over to tell me she only had you mian. and i pointed to the menu which said ban mian in which the counter staff said couldnt change. so what was what? and then this old lady said it's correct. their stall sells "ban mian de you mian" i was like huh??? ban mian is ban mian and you mian is you mian (sorry to non-chinese people who may not understand this, but basically both are handmade noodles but in different shape so they are two different things) but i had no choice but to agree (didnt want her poisoning my food you know) and after the staff served the food i realized the noodles were dry ones (usual is soup) so i asked her if it came with soup. she then poured some dubious soup into the bowl (i think it was the one for boiling the minced meat cos it was brown) and the worst thing was, after all that ruckus the food didnt even taste nice and was horribly expensive ($5.90 >.<) jewel sucks HAHAHHA.