A beautifully decorated taxi stand

picture taken outside Sungai Wang Plaza taxi stand

'How many taxi stand is so gorgeously decorated with so many red lanterns and ribbons for Chinese New Year? Ain't this taxi stand beautiful?'

p/s: this taxi stand was decorated overnight!

One lame 89th post...(No idea what to write for the title)

Yesh! This is my 89th post and eleven more to go to officially declare my 100th post in my blog which is still not a year old. hmm...surprising how much I can write about things happening in and around me. Decided to write a post because today, I helped my mum to create her own blog - amazing! My mum has her own blog! Congrats, mum! Looking forward for your posts...

And...
It's like only a week left for Chinese New Year and things are still getting ready slowly, day by day. And it's only less than 3 weeks before going back to Curtin for my second semester day...I'm very looking forward to going back to meet my friends again!

Okay, probably not a lame 89th post. Here I am, going to complain my 6 days of intensive Nannying 101 class which started last Friday and ended on Monday. I know, many of you asked me what Nannying 101 is about and here goes:
- a 6 days 5 nights of being at home without my parents
- babysitting my lil brother, Aaron
- also taking care of a dog and a cat
- making sure all the plants in front and at the back of the house stay alive
- house chores, of course!
- being a house guard as well
- watched Cloverfield and had lunch at Chicago 7

It was a really cool time I had because I have 2 cars at home all for myself, since Aaron doesn't have a driver's license yet! *evil laughter* Food was a nightmare. I just couldn't decide where we could go for breakfast, lunch and dinner and we finally had Pizza Hut, McDonalds and all those food that we could hardly eat with our parents around...hehehe... My main problem was SLEEP! I couldn't even close my eyes and take a nap even for a peaceful hour. So by day 4, I decided not to even go to bed at night and would stay up all night, on the internet and msn and slept only when the sun is about to rise...sigh~

Well, had fun though. It's not like everyday I get to do what I did throughout the whole 6 days with Aaron (I know Aaron is having a very big nose right about now when he reads this). The evening my parents got back from KL, I had my rewards; Dunkin Donuts, Hang Ten shirts, a Voir blouse, 2 Charmed books, a photography magazine...

Here goes me, babbling about my horrible but great week...Enjoying my last couple of weeks before another part of my 'interesting' life starts!

Happy early Chinese New Year!

St. Theresa Padungan Gathering Batch 98'

Hi all!
There will be a gathering for friends from batch 1998:

Date: 11th February 2008
Time: 6pm
Venue: The Wishing Well, Padungan

Please pass on this message to all friends in your list. Confirmation must be made by 31st January 2008 to Karen via text to my number (013-8168827) or msn (kayren_chris1912@hotmail.com).

Hope to see you there!!!

ps - this cafe is not halal. to the malay friends, please contact me for information. this was the only place I can find that is open to the gathering due to Chinese New Year. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Thanks!
Karen Kuek.

Tiffany's 22nd birthday

presenting...*drums roll*...the birthday girl!

That's Tiffany!...who will be turning 22 years old but forever will be 17...
my reasons:
- still as insane as she was
- still as blur as she was
- still as loud as she was
- still as cool as she was
(nothing of her is different since high school)

Celebrated Tiffany's 22nd birthday 3 days earlier due to 'unforeseen circumstances'. First stop, MY HOUSE STEAMBOAT for food! We girls are all about food, furthermore with 'all you can eat', it's just great! We were kindda late, so almost to 10pm, they were in the process of closing the shop...sigh~~

...food...


...two ladies cooking...and the mee got burnt!

After food, paid the bill and left. Took Tiffany for a ride to somewhere she didn't expect. This was the scene during the ride:

T: Where are we going? Thought you're sending Adengs home?
A: She is. I move house already.
T: You move house? Where?
A: Near the Friendship Park.
T: Really? Why you didn't tell me? No wonder you say you travel to and fro to Unimas everyday...
A: Yala. If not how I want to drive to and fro everyday. So far!
T: What happened to your Pisang Road house??
A: Umm...rented it out to people...

(was controlling myself not to laugh my head out. Tiff was so convinced with Adel's story.)

T: Eh, want to remember the road to your house, le.
A: Very near. Just behind Friendship Park. Turn in here... (turning into Friendship Park) Karen...you find parking here la. I walk back home myself.
K: (looking for a parking space)
T: Why not drive her home straight???
K: Her house not ready. She don't want us to see...
A: We go take a walk in the park first. Since still not 11. Still in time for me to get home by 11pm.

(parked the car. went down to the park. took photos)

T: Which one is your house???
A: Neh...the dark dark one over there. You see, the dark house there... (pointing at a dark house)
T: Where???
A: Later you walk me back there, you see la.

(was taking photos of the park. beautiful pictures at night...)
(Adel passing me the cake to get ready while she brought Tiff away to see the fountain)
(took me a long time to open the cake box, turned the cake around, put the candle and lit it)

A: Karen! Ready or not? *whispering*
K: Done!

...boo!... brought out the cake and surprised Tiff.

YESH! and she was surprised! cool~~ Our plan works out very well!
She had her cake, we sang 'Happy Birthday', blow a candle, make a wish, pretending to cut it as well, fed a cherrie to her...

(scene continues)

A: I got a confession to make! (laughing madly already)
T: What???!!!
A: I don't stay here!
T: WHAT???!!! (eyes terbeliak and laughing at the same time)
K: See, we're so good in acting...
T: And the whole time I thought you were taking pictures of that statue!!!
K: I wasn't at all. I was getting your cake ready...

(the laughing continues...all the way to the car...all the way back home...)

After the surprise, it was almost to 11pm. We hopped into the car, sprinted our way to Adeline's house and reached there at 11.05pm.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY DEAR FRIEND!!!

Got tagged...again!

Argh...got tagged again and this time was by Adrienne
*sorry, Adrienne...it's like a month after you tagged me! :)

list 8 random facts about yourself and tag 8 people

1. This is my second tag in blogspot and this time I won't tag anyone because it will be the same people in my list and hopefully I won't be tagged again because I will not know what more to write about me.

2. I'm a Chinese girl who doesn't speak nor write Mandarin/Cantonese and even Henghua/Khek (my dialect)... Quite 'memalukan' but it's just not me to learn these languages but after three years of seeing myself looking like a fool with people who are well verse in these languages, I finally decided to take up intensive course to brush up my very broken language.

3. It takes a while...I mean...a long time for me to know new people. I tend to be very slow in starting a conversation with a stranger but once I got the hang of the topic, it will be endless!

4. I moved houses many times.
- First home in Jln Stephen Yong to my dad's shop in Padungan
- Padungan to new home in Jln Stapok
- Kuching to Waizuri 1 (college hostel) in Wangsa Maju, KL
- Waizuri 1 to Section 4 (flats), Wangsa Maju, KL
- Section 4 to Happy Mansion (apartment), PJ Section 17
- Happy Mansion to Kuching
- Kuching to Lakeside Apartment (university hostel), Miri
- Lakeside Apartment to a house in Senadin, Miri

5. Love Kuching with all my heart and all my soul. Love the food, the people, the environment and of course, my room! But...after having a long 3 months holiday of 'keboringan' at home with nothing better than msn'ing, blogging, facebook'ing, friendster'ing, neopet'ing and changing parking coupons every hour, I wanna go away!!!

6. Love being a tour guide...specifically, a Kuching tour guide. I had already have four series of customers, I tend to know everything in Kuching; food, places of interest... inside out. One thing I can assure you - I'm a tour guide with a live GPS!

7. Videography and Photography are my passion. Love taking videos of everything and edits them when I'm free (that's when I'm really free) and add up into my video collection. Since I had my Nikon D40 SLR, I love taking photographs and soon find another interest; photoshop'ing!

8. Can't wait to have my Diploma graduation ceremony soon and can't wait to complete my Degree and off to work! Enjoying every bit of my schooling time before embarking on a lifetime of working 24/7.

*sorry, not tagging anyone here!*

My first 'MULTIPLE EXPOSURE'

Location: Reservoir Park
Date: 2nd January 2008

p/s: I'm finally loving Photoshop! :)

tHe Spring is OPEN!

9th January 2008
Launching of tHe Spring by Sarawak's Chief Minister.

10th January 2008
1st day of business. Newspaper filled with offers from Ta Kiong and Parkson.

11th January 2008

Off I go to tHe Spring! Thanks to Adeline, I went! ~Gracias~
If I were to be a Kuala Lumpur'ian, I will wait until a week or two later to actually drive to tHe Spring to check out the place. But, I am a Kuching'nikian, so...being 'suaku' for the day, Adeline and I went! Imagine Mid Valley Megamall in KL, tHe Spring is 1/3 of it...so called the miniature version of Mid Valley la - with four wings as well (north, south, east, west)

from left: front view and side view of tHe Spring

...the interior of tHe Spring...

It wasn't so much of a jam that Friday afternoon around 3pm. Smooth drive all the way to the underground parking and got a spot, quite near the entrance after few minutes of slow search for nearer parkings...hehehe...(lazy to walk so far ma :)) There were a lot of school kids were loitering around the basement.

Being 'suaku' and trying my best to look like a 'blogger', I took my camera out and started taking photos. Sorry ya, Adeline~~ *she had to bare with my photo taking craze at that moment*

Was anxious to get to MPH to check out my books but we decided to start our tour from the top floor and back down. Out of four escalators at all four wings, only one was operating. ~sigh~ The funny thing is that we can only reach the top floor through Parkson. So embarking on the new journey into Kuching's 2nd Parkson store, it was WOW!

Kay : Wah! So like KL one le!
Adengs: Yah...
Kay : I'm in KL!!! *hopping up and down with joy* Aiyak! But I'm still in Kuching. Chech~

...Parkson tHe Spring...

Went into Parkson, went to the top floor and ~sigh! again~ coz there was this shutter closed with a security guard standing there. 'CANNOT ACCESS!' Fine...we walked around Parkson and met Isabel (primary schoolmate) and talk and talk lo. Done talking, walk again lo. Went down to the next floor and walk again and out we went from Parkson. Time for shop hopping!

Really kindda look like Mid Valley Megamall lo, just the miniature version. Here you can find a list of 'Kuching's First...' let me list it down:
1. elianto
2. Face shop
3. MPH
4. Factory Outlet Store (FOS)
5. Axxezz
6. Kluang Station
7. Ta Kiong Hypermarket
8. K2 Factory
9. Quicksilver
10. Roxy
11. Guess
...can't remember all...

...some of the 'Kuching's First...' shops...


...my favourite shops; Starbucks and Kluang Station (for good coffee!)...


...the Food Bazaar where you can get so many types of food...

There are many shoe shops too! Ok, enough of promoting the place. Want to mengkritik also... Here's my critic list:
1. Very the 'luan' (messy) coz there are some cabang-cabang at the wings!
2. Not ready! why open when all shops are not ready! apala!
3. Say got MPH, where?!
4. Mana Burger King???!!!
5. No directory (how to find a shop when there is no directory?)
6. Escalators not functioning!
7. The DJ playing songs quite cacat lo...no offence :)
8. Why Sushi King? Why not Teppanyaki?!
9. People simply park the car...
10. All branded goods. (No credit card, susah want to do shopping here!)

Ok, maybe it's just me, but seriously - no credit card, no shopping!

An amazing thing I found amazing in tHe Spring is.... *drums roll*
tHe Spring has SEATS!

Of course also have to check out the toilet (new jamban). Went in and ... speechless! What can I say about toilets, they are all the same! Cleaner only la~~

There was a funny announcement made when we were in the Hypermarket...and...it relates to THIS!'Dear shoppers. Please do not throw coins into the pool.'
...all pools in new shopping centers are wishing wells??!!...

Guess, everyone has their own interpretation about tHe Spring. I had a great time being 'suaku' at tHe Spring *wanna know how it feels like to be a 'suaku' only* Finally, Kuching has a shopping center which is in par with shopping centers in KL and it has been YEARS since the last shopping center was open (not including Boulevard of course).

HAPPY SHOPPING IN THE SPRING!

Catherine's Kuching Trip (Episode 1)

Day 1 (28.12.07)
I was late to the airport and was surprised to see Catherine nannying two boys! Yeap, Catherine became a nanny in the plane from Miri to Kuching. How nice of her...Soon after that, it was off to breakfast! First stop, Golden Arch Laksa. Had a big bowl of laksa with big prawns but she gave them all to me...yummy!

...the two boys Catherine nannied from Miri...

...the bowl of laksa Catherine was craving for...


...the first shot of us at the start of the trip...

After breakfast, I took a drive around 3rd mile area and of course to introduce Boulevard to Cath. Then, it was an introduction to Darkie Kuek *my dog* and off to town to get Cath's hair highlighted. It was a 4 hours process and walah! So headed to Song Keng Hai Food Court for our late lunch..

...belacan beehoon, sotong kangkung, rojak, char kueh, jagung-peng...

After food was a ride to Civic Center. Finally, the bubble lift is operating. So, took the lift and went to the highest spot in Kuching to have a look at the entire Kuching city area. With a record-able MP3 player, Cath recorded all the information I said throughout...sigh~~ *a very digital tourist I have here*

...from left; the 'suaku' face & the going to be 'bazhang' face...

...wonder how we took this photo without a tripod?...

...the tiger and hornbill from 'entah apa year punya sukma'...

And it was dinner again. It was off to Hui Sing Garden Food Court where we had Pork Satay, Fried Noodle with clams and a glass of white lady. *forgotten to take any pictures because the food was great* wahahahaha... After dinner, we went for National Treasure 2 with Angeline, Natasha and my brother, Aaron. Great movie though...I mean...minus the 'duck' scene in it!


Day 2 (29.12.07)
Got up, picked Natasha up and breakfast. We had fried noodles with fried fish fillet in Sekama and headed up to Sematan (1 1/2 hour drive)...something to be proud off... (got full permission to drive there from my parents!) *evil smile* We drove to the Sematan NS Camp where Cath's sister was posted to and drove to a beach in Sematan and back to Lundu town and to Pandan Beach and to Siar Beach and *taking a deep breath* and after traveling almost everywhere in Lundu and Sematan, I drove my car into a big 'batu' which left a scratch underneath the side skirt...

...the Sematan National Service camp...

...Natasha, Catherine and I at Sematan Esplanade...

...somewhere in Sematan Beach...


...some weird photos for the fun of it...

...syok sendiri in Pandan Beach...

We headed back to town and had our late lunch at Chicking Eating House at 3.00pm! It was a tiring day but, it's not everyday that we can drive all the way there. Drove Natasha home after food and went out again to Saberkas for look-see and had our supper at Open Air Market.

...don't have to go Singapore for the chicken rice...

...our 16 pieces of seow bee in Open Air...

My goal at the end of this trip is to get Catherine to turn 'bazhang' and with the amount of food intake every meal, every day, I'm so reaching that goal...*evil laughter*

Catherine's Kuching Trip (Episode 2)

Day 3 (30.12.07)
Another morning breakfast and this time, it's off to Carpenter Street Kim Joo kolo mee. One spot where you don't need to queue up to get the best 'cheng' kolo mee in Carpenter Street. Two bowls of kosong mee and a big bowl of ingredients costs about RM10. But, it's all worth for the taste.

...Cath's bowl of kolo mee and a cup of coffee...

Aaron tagged along today as we headed to Sarawak Cultural Village...and wow! The entrance fee is RM60! Lucky for us, we have our student ID so it's only RM15 per entry. *phew* Yeap, the tour begins. First, the Bidayuh longhouse and then to our daddy's Iban longhouse...very educational.

...we crossed this same bridge 3 times...

The performances started at 11.30am and ended at about 12.15pm. We continued the tour after the performances and the one part that I love most is the orang ulu man, Francis playing sape (an electronic sape). We waited for about an hour just to listen to him playing and it was all worth the wait.

...these two pictures are taken simultaneously...

...that's us at the main entrance of SCV...

We had our light lunch in the car before leaving to Santubong beach. All the resorts are now closed to public-guests only. I took a ride to Santubong village and walah! found a nice beach to go for...but...it was low tide and the water was far far away from the beach. We walked and reached the water and took a 100m sprint back to the car. 'Why did we do that?' 'I have no idea'. But, it was fun!

We got back home and went out for dinner with Tiffany at Jalan Song. Our first attempt to try the new Pork Burger was a disappointment because it was closed. So went to Expert Food Court and ordered from the stalls.

...kueh chap, shrimp & chicken wantan, glutinous rice ball, fried char kueh...

Day 4 (31.12.07)
New Year eve! We had to come home by 3.30pm to get dinner ready, so it was not much of a far exploration for the day. Breakfast...Rex's Laksa (my favourite laksa stall). Sarawak Museum was our first stop. Around the museum was the Aquarium and the Tugu Pahlawan and Summer House. Couldn't take any pictures inside the museum *sad* but it was another educational trip.

...Rex's Laksa...yummy!

...don't they both look alike?...

...~when you wish upon a fountain~...

...an encounter with a snake climbing the tree...

We then went over to Cats' Museum, paid RM5 for a camera and there, Catherine finds here families...of cats! wahahahah... yeap! the must-go place in Kuching.

...the miniature version of the cat statue in Kuching city...

We had another series of late lunch at Kaya Toast in Central Park before packing Sunny Hill ice-cream home. New Year eve dinner was at home with my family - steamboat, satay crab, prawn salad, fried chicken and ngo hiam and a bottle of wine.

and...we were off to party at The Links @ Civic Center for New Year eve. Paid RM60 for entrance fee and stayed over midnight there. Although the crowd was not much, but music was great, a glass of Blue Margarita each with beers. It was a great New Year eve countdown...at least not the traditional way; as said by Catherine "Turn on the radio...3...2...1...Happy New Year! Turn off the radio...sleep.