4th Marathon - SCKLM'13

42.195 km was torture last time I did it in Shah Alam. I found out why I was so slow in Malaysia Women's Marathon, Shah Alam back in April. It wasn't that I lacked training because I sure did lots of runs; it was the shoes. Sad to say, Sketchers GoRun2 didn't do it for me for longer than half marathons. No offence, but my Sketchers did help me PB-ed through several half-marathons (e.g. Bidor Marathon 2012). I conquered a hilly route with those shoes, but I felt it was never as comfy as a Adizero Tempo for longer distances. Sketchers was light, but it has too much padding, hence I felt really hot and sweaty in it. Soon after I went through several races with my GoRun, I bought a pair of Adizero. I had once an Adizero before several years back, so I know my feet was very happy to have found its friend again. And this is the first time an Adizero has ever been featured in my Full Marathon.

I fed myself well throughout the week and had many good night's sleep. I surprised myself this year because every time I have a Full Marathon, I suffered insomnia and had jitters at least for 2 days before the race. This year, I slept at 10 pm like a pig, woke up at 2.30 sharp, drove my hubby and myself to JKR building and park (that's the 40 km distance marker!) and walked like a soldier to Dataran Merdeka. I felt normal. I believed the calmness was due to sufficient sleep and no expectations on my performance this year. All I told myself is that I am doing this ALONE this time as my hubby is not pacing with me anymore just like the previous 3 FMs before, and just beat my previous timing of 5hr:47min.

I was taunted by my hubby that I constantly hit the wall after 35 km. People called it 'hitting-the-wall' because you just wanna give up that time and there's like some 'wall' blocking your mind and physical self from pushing any further beyond this point. So, his words became my mantra throughout the race, and I wanted to prove him and myself wrong. I told myself no matter if my leg broke or if my mind went berserk, I need to beat that freaking 35 km. All by myself.

I changed strategy this time. I purposely started in my regular half marathon pace and reach the 10 km mark in 1:05. I also reach the 21 km mark at 2:20 which is also exactly where I would be at a half-marathon race. My strategy was such as I don't care because I knew I am going to hit the wall anyway, but at least I have locked in a quick 21 distance. And also beat the sun.This strategy was rather 'satisfying'. I didn't wanna do a 21 km in 3-hour like previously. I knew I can never run fast after 21km anyway even if I ran a very very slow first half, so my as well do a fast one at the early stage. I learnt a lot about myself after years of running. My limitations and fortes.

21 km mark was about Jalan Raja Chulan. I knew this is it! This is where the real challenge begins for me. The sun has begun to rise and I stopped on every water stations (every 2 km) for a very quick replenishing of my salty systems. I started my runs immediately after each water stations, unlike previous FMs, where I would walk about 500m before starting my pace again. Good strategy this time, it seems.

I reached the 30 km mark on a hot-spot/hot-stretch. Sigh. First, some driver from cars that were caught in the road-blocks were heating up verbally towards the volunteers and traffic police. And this was where the sun was the hottest. It was sooo damn hot that I had a bit of headache creeping up and start topping up on my sunscreen. I need to look pretty, fair, and lovely on my wedding, ok? I had a feeling that this year was hotter than last years. Are you sure this was the same SUN??!?!! Seems just like another solar system's just crashed onto our planet.

30 km was where I told myself: "haiya...just run lahhh". Because at that time my legs still felt great (no pain yet!) and I picked up pace, not bothering of the sun because I believed in my fully-secured white ICI-painted face. Some guy who passed me looked back to note who the hell is this hideous looking running clown. Escaped from a circus ke ape?

35 km: Hey, not too bad. Legs was still fine, but pain starts to creep in on my right thigh (only!) (as usual!). However, I guess the Deep Heat I was carrying was like holy water - soothing the pain. Stride problems, I know. Reached Jalan Duta, turning into our ever familiar Bukit Tunku where we do our weekly LSD/Double hill training. Legs still doing ok. Not bad. Hey, familiarity of the route is an advantage! Guess what, I took a can of Nescafe Ice and I literally fall to my knees and thanked the founder of this wonderful cold drink (Nestle??). Thank you non-official, friendly water-stations. These people are life savers and are wondrous people for standing in the sun serving FOC drinks and fruits. I noticed one of the supporters was my colleague. God bless them all!



Guess what, I didn't hit the wall at 35km. At this point forth, I said: "wow, I felt okay. Let's walk a little at Tijani there and up the 30 degree slope". After the slope, it was 37 km and I was running(!) down towards JKR (saw my car, wishing I could get some aircon from it just for a minute!).


And for the first time ever, I passed the "hitting-the-wall' test.

About the 36th km

40km. I knew Jalan Raja Laut would be a pain in the ass because that's where you see pasar malam 10km, 21km runners (not all, but some berpegangan tangan, berpeluk-pelukan sambil berlengang lenguk). No offense y'all, but sometimes I wanna tell them that the finish line is soooo near di, just put some effort and run there, please. I had to maneuver the last 2.195 km like a freakin' retard to the finished line. Checked my watch: 5hrs:20 min.

Last few metres, I spotted Vincent who already made an agreement with me to take my pics at the finish line. So *snap**snap*. Checked my watched, raised my hands like a champion, no wall in front of me, smiled like a clown, and crossed the finished line in 5hr:25min. Definitely a Personal Best.

Vincent took this. Left 0.195 km to the finish line.

But if you don't know yet, I am-out-of-races (but not runs) for my wedding preparations and a lot of skin-conservation to be done.

Sporty vacay

Hey, dive trip (e.g. Tioman) don't count as vacay in my dictionary. Dive trips are dive trips, while vacations are defined as trips where your luggage is void of fins and masks. Let's not talk about BCDs, yah.

Welcoming mascot

Fong's company had their company trip in Vietnam last year, and this year the bosses want to do it locally. I have been to Pangkor Island many times and to Pangkor Island Beach Resort, is my second. It was previously known as Pan Pacific Hotel. This hotel is situated at Teluk Dalam and is the only hotel in that area. We've got ourseves the sea-view room, which is absolutely gorgeous. I could just wake up everyday to the twinkling sparkles of sunrays over the horizon.

I was warned before by my parents of its apparent infestation of little jelly fishes of Pangkor beaches. Which was true because I saw them with my own eyes (15 years ago?), a school of jelly fishes, transparent and as small as your thumb clouding the seaside area, basking under the rays of the sun. It's seasonal, I believed. I was unpertubed by warnings, and jump straight into the waters with my amazing new red bikini. I somehow felt liberated because it has been some time since I swam in the sea without the 'straight-jackets' (read: BCD) and I should say, inconvenience of dive masks and fins and stuffs dangling all over. The last time I sensed a similar 'freedom' was in Phuket beach.

From our balcony

 

Of course, people like us would never be satisfied, given the ample time for pure relaxation and given the luxuries of an amazing hotel room, if without some outdoor activities. To us both, and that's how our relationship remain sustainable, are the similar demands we see in our lives: SPORTS.

First up, canoeing. Hardest sh*t you've ever done. Case close.

Second, bicycling. Second hardest sports I've done. We've gotten ourselves a BMX each (FOC by the company) and ignoring the advice to only cycle within the vincinity of the resort, went beyond the boundaries. Not too long after cycling, I had crotch problems. I supposed that's normal if you don't wear specific cycling pants with crotch-padings? Yes, hard sports.

Third, archery: I was really keen to shoot an arrow or two, but once I saw the blue-blacks suffered by our local Legolas-es, I pulled out from the sport immediately. I guess sitting aside, being Arwen and maintaining my classic beauty ain't too bad. Sometimes, we can't have it all. Supporting my hubby, he sure did well. Amongst his colleagues, I think he had quite a good chance of killing more trolls than the rest of the heroic men of middle earth (though I wish he were taller, he would look more like Orlando Bloom, rather than the haflings. Opps! :-P)

Fourth, running: Of course, running! Why would we ever miss OUR sport out even if it's vacation, eh!? I doubt we can never give this sport a miss even in our romantic honeymoon. Since we've already had a good overview of the whole island from the resort's van who took us out for ikan masin shopping and luncheon, we anticipated the hilly routes of the entire island.

We started of from the hotel lobby of course (warming up at the lobby area), straight to Teluk Dalam, and then ran non-all the way to Teluk Nipah and lastly made a pit-stop (for a much needed teh-ais) at the infamous Pasir Bogak beach. Total 7 km. Felt like 10 km because the slopes and hills are really unforgiving. Double hill is airplane runway compared to the island roads. Then, all the way back to the hotel again for a full 7km. Grand total: 14 km (felt like 20km).

Of course, sporty people like us have some downtime and coffee too: We enjoyed our romantic dinner on the first night; second night was barbeque buffet by the pool while the last night we gathered for 2 beer towers over an entertaining Filipino live band.

Coffee is a must any time, any where

 

 By the pool

Monkeys are a nuisance here. Well, having no fear whatsoever of humans, these monkeys enters rooms and stick to the hotel corridors in anticipation of generous guests offering food (please don't!). One of our friends was attacked as she was entering the hotel room cause...maybe the monkeys smelt ikan masin she brought back from the market...kott? And some birds here are also friendly (read: peacock and peahen). These birds may just perch on your baclcony and leave a poo poo or two as a daily welcome gift.

The queen's perch

Okay, food wise - fresh and taste good. I am not such a foodie, so my vocabulary for food is very limited, but I am glad we were given a sumptious seafood luncheon at one of the Chinese restaurants at Pangkor town. As usual, I sat back and relax while my hubby peels all the prawns for me to eat. Can I hear an Amen to that?



Other pictures:

 Some temple

 

                                               Some taxidermied, bloated porcupine fish

Some ikan masin factory visit: original satay ikan, ikan masin basking, etc

Some kota.

 

Coffee for runners

Runner or not, I am drinking my coffee. But being a runner makes coffee more worth it.

Pei Pei, our maltese

Not many people would've realised that our family has gotten ourselves a maltese. She's called Pei Pei.

Her name was never ours to give as Pei Pei's had a former owner was from mainland China during which Pei Pei (still a puppy) was obtained from this petshop. When she was 9 months old, the owner had to return to China and the owner couldn't sleep for weeks (very attached to Pei Pei) knowing her dog would be given away to another family.

Our family had many pets before this such as tortoises, a talking mynah and fishes, but never a dog. My dad was first to object to even the thought of having a dog in the house, what more, a dog that doesn't guard (not a guard dog). He thought of the most ridiculous excuses to say (to the former owner) even just before the owner and dog arrives from Penang. My mum had to brave herself to receive this dog too but was more opened to receiving the dog than my sceptical dad.

But lo and behold, when Pei Pei arrive at our doorstep, my dad had this broad smile - cheek-to-cheek. He nodded with approval of the cute maltese running across the porch. First sentence from my 'reluctant' dad was: "Wahh, nice, nice, nice colour".  Her fur is whitish-gold. The owner left in sadness and dare not even turn back to look when Pei Pei entered our door. Pei Pei cried, scratched the main door, and went berserk when she soon realised that her owner was missing for the longest time. But after a few hours, she kinda understood that her former owner will never be coming back. *Sobs* I can feel how heartbreaking that would be to a loyal dog. Any dog.

At the beginning she was most attached to my younger brother. Pei Pei never left his side while my brother watches TV, washes his car, eats, etc. But when my brother left for KL, Pei Pei is more than ever closer to my mum 'til today. Pei Pei wants nobody (not even my dad) but my mum. She will quiver and show all sorts of (human) emotions when my mum plays or doesn't play with her. She takes orders very well - in both Mandarin and English! She doesn't poo poo or pee pee in various places in the house but one particular corner outside the house. My dad was delighted with Pei Pei's behaviour and decent toilet habits, and now she's inducted into the family as...Chai Pei Pei. :-P

Characteristic of Pei Pei: Brilliant round eyes as if lined with mascara. She has this seng-mouk demeanour and has this attentive look all the time (except sleeping or sad). Yes, she expresses sadness like any human by cupping her head lying on the floor. She hates visitors and barks and snarls at visitors, but if she realises the visitors are here to stay for a while she'll be all right. She is all out playful and love her stuff toys, but loves to play throw-catch at any time of the day, with anyone.

She is especially annoyed with 'UGLY' people or dogs (read: dirty). That's where our parents called her a China-doll (got this trait from previous owner?? :-P). Apparently she's hates all stray dogs, ignoring them, but lures our neighbour's handsome & sturdy poodle. Our new home in Tambun is still renovating and she doesn't like any of the workers or contractors touching her. Opps. She will knowingly bite them if they do. Though her bites are absolutely harmless, her teeth glimmers in evil as she snarls at 'ugly' people. Pei Pei barked at my hubby incessantly when he was drench in sweat after some carpentry work on our new house in Puchong. Pei Pei doesn't like dirty looks. She smells ugliness. Yes, call it racist.

She loves her weekly bath and my mum would dry her fur with hair-dryer. She wouldn't move an inch when my mum blow-dry and combs her long tangled fur. You can tell, this china-upbringing doggy doesn't mind the pain of being pretty! She is also very 'Chinese'  kiasu where she can play with you one minute and then bark at you when you don't let her win in the game. Say for instance - she wants to play catch, but you don't let her pick up the ball (after the throw), she will be super furious and hurl (read: bark) *dog profanities* at you and later ignore you...forever. She has to win in any game and throws.

Tricks: Pei Pei can stand up on her hind legs for 10 seconds(!) and at the same time doing "Gong-xi, Gong-xi" (think: Chinese New Year) with her body turning around 720 degrees! She knows the command: "Shake hands, left hand, right hand" (by right, legs actually). She also leads my mum to fetch her something by gnawing her finger and leading that finger to the unreachable toy. She once licked my mum's cooking wound daily until it healed!

Pei Pei pakai mascara

As for me, dogs are really smart, loyal and no doubt are really men's best friend. Since I had Pei Pei, I just cannot imagine now our lives, particularly my mum, without her. I finally have a sista! There's a recent case in the news of a Muslim dog trainer caught feeding and training dogs, and she was caught and brought to jail. Oh well, I don't really know what the Quran said about dogs (sorry, not ignorant, just not versed), but I generally think she's still not a CRIMINAL to the extend she had to be handcuffed. She may have broken an Islamic law or two, yes, but it ain't hard core criminal yah? Let's just say, she probably shouldn't show it openly and put a religious music as background, but on a personal note, I had veterinarian Malay friends that touches dogs every single day; saw her at the annual Dogathon checking 100++ dogs for fleas, and no qualms. She was her hands with clay after a days work. You know who should be handcuffed? - those who physically abuse dogs, cats and other cute pets and irresponsible pet owners who let their dogs out to bite joggers.

Ok, just my 2 cents.

Peace out. Woof-out!

There will only be one shot at this.

Unlike those times (yes, your mum and dad's time) where wedding consisted only of a:

1. Wedding reception/day/dinner/luncheon in a restaurant/community hall.

2. Studio photo which photographs you and your spouse, and it only consist of 2 frames:

    i) First frame: Bride and Groom standing hand in hand with each other.

    ii) Second frame: Bride sits on a chair and Groom standing next to her.

3. All with camera film rolls. Photoshop does not exist yet.

....while in this decade, a wedding gets much more complicated.

Reception

This part cannot avoid if you are Chinese. But hey, exceptions exists whereby I've got this colleague who has not conducted her wedding reception since 5 years back. She's legally married, but no reception. Well, not a problem actually. It was for the reason of cost and hassle. Wedding receptions ain't cheap anymore. If ambient is your choice i.e. hotel, then there might be a trade-off in terms of food quality and taste, and vice versa. No doubt some places have the best of both worlds.

Customs like tea ceremony for the Chinese is unavoidable. I've not seen a Chinese wedding that has not had their tea ceremony done. But many Chinese (many Gen X and Y who has had their knowledge of Chinese customs diluted) do not perform the traditional guo dai lei (betrothal gifts) anymore. Also many Chinese has followed the western tradition completely - which is completely fine - though I find the traditional Chinese customs still relevant, symbolical, and personally - a must. Nothing to do with religion, mind you. It's all customs that I believe should be kept through the generations and not get adulterated by other wedding styles.

Helloooo, we even sought Mak Seng Loong for their timing and date selections. Again, nothing religious.

Don't ask me the content. All in chinese wei.

The great outdoors

The biggest trend setter in the current wedding scene. To say this trend is 'current' is not entirely correct either. Indoor studio photoshoot has always been a normal thing to do. But the biggest wedding trend is to bring your outdoor photoshoot to some scenic or lomo places, and trendier still - a foreign land where glaciers, trees, seas and sand are considered exquisite and exotic. Many couples has gone the distance to personalized their pre-wedding shoot in some alien country or location, somehow to distinguish themselves from the rest of the pack. NZ, Melbourne, Bali, Taiwan, Korea, Italy, etc. are no longer a dream-come-true but rather an affordable and practical feat for many couples.

I've got my pre-wedding shoot in a distant place (disctant from KL lah) but not a foreign land.We chose this place as to capture pre-wedding photo with my husband because this was where we had our first out-of-KL&Ipoh holiday trip and how we together hike up the hills and took paths that no normal person would do. Regular people will just drive up there, but because we both ain't 'regular people', we walked up miles to get to that scenic site. Albeit the local venue, it was one of my most memorable trip ever. It was our connection to that location. The cooling weather was also one reason I select this location. When you've got cool weather, the whole tedious photoshoot process becomes bearable and pleasurable. My elaborated dress has got no sweat! We brought our own props to personalize our outdoor shoot. On that day, rain clouds are missing (yay!), the sun gave just the right amount of light (to the photographer's delight), the crowd and traffic was forgiving (it was non-peak period, puasa month), and the sunset was amazing!

Baby boomers just like my parents never had such chance to go to a outdoor photoshooting found such trends intimidating and a waste of money. Oh well, how could they understand when their marriage consisted only of 2 studio photos - one with their bodies in it and another with my late grandparents and their....err...tai-kam-che in it. wtf!

Copy-paste, Alt-delete

One of the greatest invention ever(?) is the digital camera. So I thought. Then, came Instagram with various lomo filters. Those already brought great differences between the baby-boomers compared to the present Gen X and Y. We now have many options in photography:

Those times, camera film rolls are expensive and processing them into prints requires at least a week (dark blue room, remember?). Photographers at those times take every shot extremely cautiously so that they don't waste frames. One chance only. Nowadays, photographers go frenzy with the snapping. If don't like...just delete. Actually, if don't like....can Photoshop. 

So these Bridal Shop offers you packages that has >100 shots, indoor and outdoor. Plus giving you the option to choose your photos to photoshop before printing them out in albums. They photoshopped out my mole. wth. That's like....travesty ok! I knew my albums would be nicely wrapped and collect dust until one day my grandchildren finds them under the bed or on top of the cupboard and decided to sell them off at a junkyard sale, therefore I didn't splurge on our pre-wedding shoot although we've gotten ourselves a great bargain from this bridal shop in Ipoh. 

Any bridal package comes with makeup and hairdo, of course. Make up for the photoshoot was purportedly done unnatural (read: OTT) because in prewedding shoots, the background elements and picturesque scenery may drown your looks. Imagine a leafy tea bush looking nicer than my beautiful face? I can't. So my make up artist (FYI, she's patient and amazing!) put on tonnes of foundation and concealer and spent 3 hours/day mainly on my eyes alone - carving out my brows, bringing out my lashes, and reinforced my double eye-lids. Total: 3 hours X 2 days of photoshoot = 6 hours. I had this huge big eyes that even my mum can't recognize me. Plus, you can Photoshop everything, so...imagine the outcome?!

Argh, a blurry handphone pic of me. Love this hairdo

One of the 7 dresses. SEVEN!

Getting ready for family shoot

We've gotten ourselves an award-winning photographer for my actual wedding day and night (Read: mahal giler). My justification: I tone down on my pre-wedding, but I splurge on my actual day wedding photographer.

Now, if my parents are reading this, they are sure to mutilate me. 

One chance to do this in this lifetime. Tell you honestly, I didn't think earlier I would have enjoyed planning my wedding this much . It' ain't going to be a royal, dreamy or a fantasy wedding like Kim Kardashian's. In fact, I don't have a dream wedding in mind since young. But it's good enough for me. Personalized.

1 Day, 2 Celebrations

6th May 2013: A day after election, when I was still berdebar-debar with the near-death election results (esp. Perak), we went to JPN (National Registration Department NRD, Ipoh) to submit our marriage application. Thank God my hubby and I are both from Ipoh which makes registration much easier and business was as usual at the government's offices despite the GE13 frenzy a day before. One of my bestie thought NRD was the name of some cafeteria. Lol!

Somewhere in May 2013: Bought a dainty LWD for my ROM (great buy: good quality taffeta material) and a pair of ZangToi's for the occasion. Most expensive shoes I've ever bought...yet. (the furthest I went was Aldo).

Bought a bridal package which was great and no hard-selling, woohoo! Nowadays, bridal packages (e.g. prices and offerings) are extremely competitive, thus some bridal advisors resort to hard-selling, which often turns me off.

31 May 2013: I've gotten myself a Korean Wave (read: hairperm like those Korean babes) and new hair colour for a change. I did think I went over-board (read: too adventurous) with the colour. Whatever! I do feel 'changed'...for once, for real. I applauded myself for being brave.

I learned two new words during the process: 'Boutonniere' and 'Burgundy'

7th June 2013: I drove down from KL to Ipoh the night before, picking up my uncle and aunt who joined the rest of my more-excited-than-I-am family members. This day was not without its trauma: my bridal bouquet and cupcakes (doorgifts) delivery was delayed for 4 hours, when that 4-hour delayed could bring me back to Ipoh much sooner. The florist gave me much excuses: it was Friday, traffic sucks and Malaysians abide by Malaysian time. I did panic.

7th June 2013 (pm) until dawn of 8th June 2013: I slept with my Maltese, Pei Pei. Woke up with her by my side.

Bantah?? My ex-high school classmate (Freda Hew) spotted this by chance, and snapped this for me at Ipoh's NRD.

8th June 2013 - I turned 3# years old and I am going to change my name on this very day!

8th June 2013 (am) - Put some make up on, set my burgundy hair into a Korean wave, spend a few minutes for some candid pics at home with relatives and we're good to go!

Me and the Godfather(!)

Pei Pei and I

I though I reached NRD early, but the Fong family was already there. Pinned the *swallow* Boutonniere onto his blazer and we went in to take our queue number. We are the second couple. Saturdays only receives 4 couples at NRD.

Meanwhile, my bestie, YP and my aunt snapped some pics of us in the waiting room. Thanks Pooi!

Mr. and Mrs.

My brother will marry first, but we ROM first. So, Fong don't need buy him trousers to hang.

Aiya....photographer tak pandai Macroshot. (This is where I did miss you Kenny Law, with your photography skills)

Okay, boleh masuk dah:

Satu kampung MASUK!

.....and I thought witness is supposed to be >18 years. 

The angkat-ikrar room is not too huge and the sign in front says: "No Children Allowed". But my witness is my nephew. Cannot?

Then the whole lot of family members, friends and kids(too!) went into the room and the room was packed to the brink! But I am blessed everyone's here to witness our signing together. Just blessed. Mum and my uncle, as usual, made crazy jokes, and we laughed and laughed just before the Registrar came in. Everyone suddenly turn quiet. Can hear a pin drop. She's like Judge Dread.

Okay, start The Registrar said a few legal stuff....bla bla bla, angkat ikrar...signed, habis. I am now known as ....same lah: Ivy...what else. Thank God for first names. Lol!

Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm yours.

After coming out from the Registrar's room, the photo-taking frenzy begins:

 

      Original Chai family: Eric, Dad, Mum, (Mr. and Mrs. Fong) and Andrew and future missus Chai!

L-R: Bestie forever YP, Fong, I, Leng chais Meng and Beh

Passing the baton. My siblings

My parents and parents-in-law

My new family

8 June 2013 (brunch): After taking a whole lot of pictures...like A LOT, we went to old town for dimsum. Once back home, everyone begin celebrating my birthday. Once again I felt blessed. I was over-joyed by the presents and presence. My hubby got me charms from Thomas Sabo. Blessed gilerrrr!

My 1-candle-cheese-cake birthday at home with everyone!

8th June 2013 (pm): Okay, remove my make up but still no rest. I had to rush to another appointment: Meeting my Actual Day photographer. and he is like the BEST! Better than you, Kenny Law :-P

Tired like mad.

Ivy-KongOUT!!


More photos on my Google+ account or on Picasaweb.google.com/cchivy

Hard selling

I bet most people has had an experience with hard-selling. It is where you receive some great services or was offered one, and before the service is bestowed upon you (or after), the service provider talks incessantly about the benefits of buying their service/product packages and subsequently to commit you long term (read: membership) with them, and that comes with a greater costs $$$$.

This manner of 'compelling' you to buy stuffs/services is not new. I am now committed to a facial package, that I did not regret being in, but from which started off as a hard selling from this lady. I initially called the lady a bitch (I regretted the name calling) because she was annoying and 'forceful' into making me get the package (and I did fell for it). Until now (though no regrets and with intermittent update of my package), I am still using their facial services religiously which has maketh my skin much much better than before, but like an elephant, will never I forget how unhappy I was initially with the way they talk me in into buying it.

Of course, I admit being susceptible to hard selling. Services such as facial, hair, gym, credit cards, spa, etc. may offer you the service one-off, but during which you may have to listen to their lectures during the session. I managed to stop myself from being convinced into getting the package in several occasion e.g. gym and hair, but it wasn't easy. I was literally in hell. You have to be brave, thick-skin, not say much (mute your mouth), and trying not to be rude, just took my bag, stand up and leave. If he/she talks talks talks to you to buying some expensive packages, just walk out the door, smile, say NO Thank you, and leave. Don't sit there and try to talk him/her out (I always try to out-talk them but that turns the game against me). You are unlikely to win. They will find all excuse to counter your reasons.

Giving you an example: GYM. I was happily doing my own cardio, strength training and carrying weights in the gym, when this PT approached me said I was doing it all wrong. Of course, I didn't tell him I used to hire a personal trainer for 12 lessons in year 2005 at a previous gym. I have good knowledge with many gym equipment, and dare he misled me to say I am running wrong and doing the wrong stuffs for toning! I know my body weight has been stagnant for years, but don't you dare tell me I am not running well....because...I have been running for a long time, and I have had 12 f*cking personal training sessions before. He wants me to get a PT package from him and claim I will have a beautiful toned body in 6 months which will attract many guys(?!). What angered me is that I should stop running as my body has got so used to running, it has plateau-ed. Yes, I know my body has been stagnant, and I can run 21 km with one eye closed with zero weight loss, but that's not the point. I just want a healthy heart, I love running and being in 'The Zone' and yak all the nasi lemak I yearn for. My goal is not to lose weight. Probably he didn't understand my goal.

I eventually told him I play badminton every week, run 3 times a week long distance (>7-10km each time) and swim in the weekends. That did shut him up a bit. Because I said to him loudly: WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT FROM ME? I have had too much exercise in my life. I think the yucky fats around my legs did cushion and prevent me from various running injury :-)  Please, I begged him, to just let me do my own sh*t in the gym (even if it's wrong) and eventually told him I have HAD 12 PT lessons before this, and I don't want anybody to control my food intake. I'll accept my flabby arms and my eventual weight gain...like a MAN.

I am not snobbish, but sometimes people tell you white lies just because they wanna get their commission. You are actually cheating me off my money. Why can't you just leave me in peace and not in pieces after my facial, or hair do, or gym or bodyspa? If I wanna jump like a monkey and do crazy cartwheels in the gym...just leave me! If I wanna have a bad hair day for the rest of the year, just let me, and if my body has acne, what gives?

I don't blame the other end either. I know it's not easy getting business nowadays bearing in mind, businesses are very competitive lately. Metro-sexual men and women are rampant in the cities as we know it, and they have good money to spend on beauty, clothings and other personal care. They have therefore become easy targets (or voluntary victims) for various indulgences. I have a friends/family who sold me credit cards, and I did see how difficult it is for him to sell even one in a week. They need to be thick skin to endure rejections. I quietly applaud their effort. That is why I don't mind listening carefully to the seller at the end of the line first, and not reject them immediately. I do not slam the phone down at any sales. I am quite kind in that sense.

Everyone needs to SELL at some point in their life. SELLING is a skill that is actually very useful in life. You have to set your sales pitch right. But when it comes to a point when your pitch becomes forceful and irritating, then that's when you may lose your customers. What's worse: customers turning angry and ugly.

First vacay of 2013 - Tioman Island

Finally, my first vacay of the year 2013. And what's better - it's a dive vacay! Weee! My logged my last dive in August 2012, at Phuket - Kho Phi Phi which was to say the least - epic because of the 'shit' weather (as termed by my Japanese Divemaster) and we ended up puking more than diving. Read about shit weather diving here.

My colleague, whose dive nickname is Fox, organized this Tioman dive trip for us and we stayed at the most happening area in Tioman, called Salang. It has duty-free shops, several reknown dive centres, and of course, restaurants and pubs. People who enjoy night life prefers Salang to Air Batang or Tekek which are relatively quieter.

For the first time in my life, I flew to a dive destination. First, it was safer and economical. Second, it was less exhausting. Tioman was way too far to drive; I had experienced going on a road trip from KL to Lang Tengah and also Langkawi which I found too taxing and tiring even if I was just a passenger at the backseat. During our trip to Lang Tengah via Kuantan, one of our drivers in the convoy of cars dozed off and skidded, but nothing happened as he self-consciously slammed on the breaks. At one point, the car in front of us slammed on the emergency break because in the middle of the morning, approx. 3 am, there was a herd of cows/buffaloes crossing the village road.

When I landed on Tekek air strip (which belongs to Berjaya), I was pretty surprised to see how coffee-shop-ey the airport was. Technology was so minimal, I smiled gingerly when I saw how simplistic the baggage collection procedure was. Just take from the buggy....and go! I am not complaining, of course. I am just tamed by the fact that, many times, things can just work out perfectly and smoothly if we don't involve technology. And I thought Kerteh Airport was minimal.

This plane is smaller than the one to Kerteh

Gostan gostan gostan! 

No frills baggage handling

Jetty to Salang

Made 5 dives in this trip. The dives were so so as nothing fascinating about the fishes, except for a school of barracudas was spotted very near us as in one of the dive spots. One non-scary shark spotted. The most memorable dive was at Pulau Labas where there were several caverns in between rock-fall formation (my colleague is Ph.D. in Geology, he told us about the terms. ZzzZzZZZz). We had to swim in between those small caves which was quite interesting as this is where your buoyancy skills is put in used. Excellente!

Day 2 - Impending storm

Day 2 : Choppy waters + lightning. From our dive boat.

Rain also dive. Just do it.

Although it's the hot/dry season in Malaysia, Tioman saw thunderstorms on the second day of our dive. Lightning and thunder can be seen from our dive boats, and it was raining incessantly til nightfall. Visibility was bad in several dives which was basically contributed by the full-moon this week. Ohh well....another 'shit weather'?

Batu Malang. Supposed to be a great dive, turned our to be okay-okay only due to poor visibility

Yes, it's full moon.

I think accommodation was great for the price we paid. It's peak season, but I've got this cozy room with great air-con working and fan in place (just in case it gets too cold). But my hotel room was the hub for mahjong every night we were in Tioman. We have 4 Mahjong kakis...and they are basically Professionals/Gods/Kings in mahjong...whatever you wanna call it. I just charge them rent/tax for the use of my hotel room as gambling den.

At night activity: Dry swimming.

Third day: back to hot weather. The sun was high up and the clouds were gone. Yah, I don't get it either. Extreme weather back-to-back. Made 2 dives in some bay, but again, visibility sucked. Didn't see anything significant but some regular skunk clown fishes. Did see a shark, but it swam away swiftly after seeing us approach. Sissy shark.

Basically, a pretty laid back vacay in Tioman. I slept like 10 hours a day including naps. You must forgive me, but I haven't had evening naps for a very looong time. So, this Tioman trip gave me soo much hours of sleep and meals, I felt.....hmpphh....guilty. Busy corporate women is like dat wan...dunno how to relax/sleep/be wasteful.

This cat sleeps every time we sees it. I need this kinda good life! - Sleep Sleep Sleep

Red Snapper

Sotong bakar

Oh yah, meals!!! Seafood was soo fresh I had a spike in my cholesterol (I think!). The fish (red snapper) was soo large and fresh, I fainted in awe even before it was bbq-ed. It was grilled ngam ngam hou. And so were the prawns. The grilled sotong was done beautifully, but self-control got the better of me. I also had way too many ice-creams in this single trip alone. Two-three sticks per day, everyday in Tioman.

I finished a beautiful book which talks a bit of Cesar Millan, The Dog Whisperer, and why dogs listens to him and not you....bla bla bla. OH, BTW....I've got a new family member! Yes, for real. My family has gotten ourselves a cute doggyyyyyy called Pei Pei and we love her like mad.


Back to reality. Back to the city. Back to my money-making routines. Back to whitening cream on my tanned skin.

 So, Sunset, when will I be seeing you again?