KL Ice Skating Trip: Sunway Pyramid

ALOHA~!

I know I know.
I haven't been updating my blog very often lately.

I'm going through yet another transit in life...

To begin with yes, Jackie and I have broken up.
About a month or so now.

Jackie has always been understanding, a stable, reliable & responsible guy however I was hoping for something more in r/s... affection, expressive, words of encouragement... 

They say a perfect couple talks like best friends, quarrels like husband & wife, protects each other like siblings. I'd say we talk like best friends, quarrel like best friends, protect each other I protect him like a best friend.  We SHOULD be best friends. 

When I first dropped him a message & told him I can't marry him anymore, he initiated a face-to-face session. Jackie kept his cool as we ironed our problems out. The session ended with a friendly hug. 

Thank you for everything, Jackie Goh.

Lady luck's really been a good friend of mine lately.

My music lessons will commence this coming NOVEMBER!
It'll be a 2-month(32 lessons) course where I'll be trained to improve my vocal techniques, dancing skills, speech & stage presence.

I. CAN'T. WAIT.

Hosting & Singing gigs are picking up really fast *Thank god*.  My schedules are pre-occupied with client-meetings, preparing my scripts, song rehearsals etc.

Amidst my busy schedule, my ice-skating friends organised a 2D1N KL ice-skating trip over last weekend and I managed to squeeze in time for this short getaway with them.

10 of us, 1 common passion -- ICE SKATE.
Actually I like their company more than the ice-skating session. I can't skate very well but skating with them is really fun! They are a group of heart-warming friends which I plan to keep for life.  :)

The ice-skating rink was at Sunway Pyramid (Sunway Lagoon).

My mum is so smart! She managed to google and find us an awesome & affordable 3-storey villa for 10pax in Sunway Lagoon.  The rate of the villa cost only S$412/night!  (Which means each of us only have to pay about S$40/night each.

Best of all, the villa comes with a back yard, a quiet neighborhood, a private pool & FREE wi-fi!
There was a tiny hiccup though. Apparently our booking via Agoda was confirmed but not the hotel booking so no one came to pass the villa keys. The villa was not locked and we could just walked in. The security guard came knocking in the middle of the night and told us that he has no record of our booking. IN MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT when we were all in bed.

Nevertheless it's only a small hiccup.
Agoda has offered a complimentary 3-night stay as compensation!

I'm going back because it's SO WORTH.
Even without the compensation, I'd go back. :)

The ice skating rink at Sunway Pyramid makes me think of the old Jurong Entertainment Ice-skating rink (Fuji): wet, soft ice, cold. In addition, the skaters were skating in all directions and peculiarly loved falling down on the ice. They'd create 'accidents' for themselves and would pull anyone who happen to be near them. If you can't ice-skate very well, you better not try to skate there.

In Singapore, you have to pay S$20+ (max) to skate for 2hours.
You only have to pay Rm20 (Max) to skate for a WHOLE DAY at Sunway Pyramid.

I recommend a weekday to skate if you must.



Sunway Lagoon:






Our Villa:

































My room:


Arghhhhhh...

Forgot to take photos of THE OTHER 4 bedrooms!

Click here to view the villa photos found on Agoda.
What you see is what you get, but I feel the actual villa looks even better. The photos you'll be seeing are of poorer quality.

Sunway Pyramid:

As quoted from one of my friend Jessie, the place feels like paragon + ION orchard + ice skating rink + Tampines Mall under one roof. The shops are generally similar to those in Singapore. The architectural design of Sunway Pyramid is extremely majestic and beautiful though.







I'm glad Xiao Razer (my younger Godsis) made it at the very last minute to come with us:





We chose ROMA DELI for late lunch/early dinner before our skating session and paid about Rm500 for 10pax. The serving was HUGE & the food was totally worth the price.






























The highly-anticipated ice-skating rink:

While the rest are handling the admission tickets, I was looking after the skates:









Everyone busy taking photographs. LOL.



Allow me to introduce my skater friends.


Jaime. I always calls him 'Meinu' because he has such beautiful hands. I noticed it when he helped me tie my skate-lace.


Dominic, a cheerful guy. I gave him the nickname,"the jackpot machine" as coins keep dropping out of his pocket.


Kelvin Teng Yong Ming, my Naima (nanny) who looks after ALL of us and take care of our needs like a nanny. He is the soul of the group, always entertaining us with his jokes and bubbliness. He'll always be the first to open the bus door for us and rushes to unload the luggages for us. During grocery-shopping, he'll be the one carrying all the plastic bags.


(left) Rachael, Jaime's younger sister and my younger god-sis. I know her since she was 12 years old and watched her grow up. She's very into DIY and will always make me something sweet: cards, cookies, cupcakes (OMG her cupcakes are so freaking awesome. I ate 4!). She is someone genuine and close to the heart.

(Right) Jessie, our Dajie despite her petite size. A very calm person who she initiates all our outings, group chats, keep everyone's contact number and keep us closely-knitted together.



Joanne: My primary schoolmate whom I've never heard her say a word all my life until we went for a skaters-KTV session together. She's probably the only one without ice-skating boots because she seldom ice-skates. Being really spontaneous, Joanne was supposed to be tied down by work but made her final decision to go with us on the trip. Thanks for coming!


Colin! His new REEBOK white-K pumps (highly recommended by me) just arrived and it's the first time he's trying it on. He roller-blades but I got him 'converted' recently. Roller blade is very hot because there's no air-con! Spot him with his roller-blade habits on ice. (very obvious but still nice ok).


Not in the picture: Jowel & Yong Jian.
(Don't know where the 2 love birds went to)




After the session we went back to the Villa to play mahjong & games.






We had Lunch before heading back to Singapore. If you're in Sunway Lagoon, you MUST go to Restoran Ming Tien and try their local delicacies!






The noodle soup is so loved!

That's it for my shortcation in Sunway Lagoon! :)

Waterfall, Fireflies & Lobster Feast; Bloggers Malaysia Trip

Watch this trailer first before you even read on:


Video courtesy of Goh Yongwei.

You'll get to watch the full video at the end of this post. Yongwei did a wonderful job consolidating all the best & most fun moments we had. As for me, I'll be showing you more of those 'behind-the-scenes' moments.

On 8th May 2011, 17 friends(both bloggers & non-bloggers) set off to Malaysia for a 1-day outing--Kota Tinggi & Desaru.

Photo taken at Kota Tinggi Waterfall.

Front from left: Tomato(Yellow), Wee Rong(in specs), Kyel(lying down), Me, Jacqualine(behind me), Jia Nian(Red), Edison(black), William(White).

Back row from left: Yingzi(white), June, Jacky(behind), Chris(peach-red), Smith(Blue), Sze Ping(Blue & white), Jessie(My mom), Yongwei(behind mom), Calvin Timothy(Green)

The day began with breakfast by the roadside. The Kwey Chap I shared with mom was awesome!

Hiccup 1: We booked 2 12-seater buses with the 2nd one arriving much later as Yongwei overslept and turned up late in the morning. *Remember you have to repent for 5 years hor*

Hiccup 2: The aircon in Bus 2 suddenly broke down and 6 of us volunteered to travel in it throughout the entire journey.

Calvin Timothy snapping the food away as usual.

It took us about 1.5hr to reach Desaru after breakfast. It was almost 11am and the beach was scorching hot;

Despite the weather, we took jump shots of ourselves. The shots turned out superb-especially from Sze Ping's camera; we looked as if we're somewhere in Hawaii.

Photo courtesy of Sze Ping.

Girls' jump shot from Left: Tomato, Yingzi, June, Chris, Me, Wee Rong, Kyel & Jacqualine.

Like some sanitary pad poster ad. LOLX.

Photo courtesy of Sze Ping.

Guys' jump shot from left: Edison(Superman!), Jia Nian(strike 4D?), Sze Ping, Jacky, Yongwei(trying too hard), Smith(Epic!), William(Astroboy?!), Calvin Timothy(CJ7?)

All of us went under the sun for at least 10minutes & some of us even went bare-footed so as to achieve better jumps: positioning ourselves, trying a few more times to choose the best one for you. In actual fact while we were waiting to get ready, most of us were complaining about going Chao da.

The highlight at the beach was Go-karting. We spent 1hr taking turns on the Go-Karts.

Price:

RM70/kart for 15min(1 pax)

Or

RM120 for 1hr(unlimited pax)

Szeping can ride really fast & Jacqualine was the best female rider for the day.

Photo: Uncle Jiaming, one of the driver who took us around.

Photo: A boliao Smith capturing a photo of a worm he found.

There's a shelter area where the rest of us can wait and cheer for the others on track.

Lunch Time in aircon room!

A table full of seafood dishes: Chilli Crabs, Salted egg lobsters, Steamed lobsters, Steam Grouper, Abalone, Hotplate Oyster Omelette etc. YUMMY!

That Kyel scooping rice for us.

I really x 100 heart this group photo! :

Yongwei love the prawn crackers so much he decided to take a nap hugging it, & crashing some.

Next stop: Taman Buaya aka Crocodile Farm.

The place is under renovation. I believe the next time you visit, there'll be crocodile shows & sheltered routes for wet weather programme.

Photo: *Poke poke* Wake up Croc!

When it got super irritated, it splashed smelly water on us. Everyone ran for their lives and we dropped the stick into the water ON the poor croc.

What if... Sze Ping dropped his camera ON the crocodile?

Amazingly, this crocodile somehow found its way into a drain in between the crocodile cubicles. We have no clue as to whether its alive or dead.

Hiccup 3: Both buses broke down near the croc farm.

We ALMOST couldn't make it in time to Kota Tinggi Waterfall! The place is like a mini water world where there are water slides & steps along the stream where you can play. I'm actually quite please to reach there at a later timing for we got the entire waterfall to ourselves! Led by my mom, some of us climbed down to experience the cooling waters.

Don't ask me what Yongwei's doing to my camera. I had no idea he took this shot until I came home to review the photographs. You looked like you had an orgasm or something.

That's William, Edison, Calvin Timothy and I trying to reach for the waterfall. We fell into the water a number of times because of the slippery rocks & uneven riverbed. Because of teamwork, we managed to reach under the waterfall in the end. :)

Our final stop: Fireflies sighting along Kota Tinggi River.

The boat sailed deep into the mangroves in pitch darkness. We saw fireflies, thousands & thousands of them, lighting up entire rows of trees on both sides of the river. You'll think it's Christmas.

The fireflies were extremely friendly that night. They danced their way onto our palms, making us so excited we couldn't stop snapping away with our cameras(turns out cameras can't really capture the real ambiance). The boatman was really pleasant as well. He parked the boat so near to the trees a few times we can easily reach out to touch the leaves and branches! If you think fireflies sighting looks like those on TV, you are so wrong.

Put on your life jackets, get onto the boat;

The world of fireflies awaits you!

PS: please do not capture & bring these fireflies home. They will die within 24hours if you do so.

Finally, we had dinner before heading back to Singapore.

Yingzi and I fell in love with the fried calamari in the restaurant. So tempting we ordered another plate! Our table ordered another plate of oyster omelette too!

Here's the FULL Video I promised:

Video courtesy of Yongwei.

Going out with a fun-loving crowd is really shiok ttm!

I heard the other bloggers are planning a Malacca Photography, Genting & Muar Waterfall Trip.

*Chant: I want to go!*

Iterinary of Bloggers' Malaysia Trip:

Breakfast

Desaru: Go-Karting

Desaru: Lunch: Lobster Feast

Desaru: Crocodile Farm

Kota Tinggi: Waterfall

Kota Tinggi: Fireflies Sighting

Kota Tinggi: Dinner

Price per person: $80 NETT, includes lunch & dinner

Minimum: 10 pax per bus

Transportation mode: Private 12-seater bus

2 pick up points of your choice in SINGAPORE

2 Drop Off Points the same as the Pick up points

Contact Person: Jessie Chua, 9221 6663

Keep it up:

You get to choose places of interests which you preferred with this Agency. (Give them a budget or some preferred destination & they'll list you some suggestions)

The buses come and fetch you in SINGAPORE, 2 pick up point of YOUR choice.

Can be improved:

Notify the passengers of the next destination.

Help keep track of time so that we can get home on time. (our end time was 10.30pm but we reached Singapore only at about 11.30pm)