Bali Travels : Part 2 – Debs Joins In The Fun in Kuta and A Pre-Wedding Dinner at Jimbaran Bay

9th October 2010


After all the face-stuffing last night, I woke up early for a swim at the lap pool. Of course, Kris said he’ll join me and I woke him up half an hour earlier than the agreed time – 6.30am! I rang his doorbell “incessantly” as he puts it, and he grumpily shouted “Who’s that?!” and I cheerily replied “It’s me! Time for morning swim!!” to which he grunted a grumpy “I’ll join you later!!” Laughing at the mischief that I had caused, I skipped to the pool. I was surprised that the water wasn’t as cold as I thought it’d be. After my 50th lap, Kris finally came and joined me and I completed 2.5km before breakfast. I do not know how may laps he did :P After breakfast, I completed another 1.5km to make it a total of 4km for the day – and damn proud of it!

Before you knew it, it was time to check-out from Maya Ubud. Both of us did something really funny at our villas – seeing as we haven’t utilized our private plunge pool during our stay, we all undressed and skinny-dipped in the pool – even if for just a couple of minutes. Oh – Kris did that in his own villa and we did ours in our own villa in case anyone has any funny thoughts.

We skipped lunch and our transport took us straight to the airport to pick Aunty Debra. We arrived 30-minutes earlier and ok, we got bored with the waiting. We had even prepared a placard with welcome details for Aunty Debs. After half-an-hour, I was basically asking every Tom, Dick and Harry who came out of the arrival hall if they were Debra. “Are you Debra? Are you Debra?” – including a gwai lo. Out of boredom, the three of us had conjured up lots of theories as to why our dear Aunty Debs was taking soooo long! But finally, she arrived – grinning merrily as usual.

And it was away to check-in to Villa Diana at Legian which was pre-arranged for the wedding entourage. Most of the wedding entourage stayed here – including the couple themselves before they checked into the wedding venue. This was a really nice little resort hotel and MOH and I got upgraded to the Deluxe Villa!

As usual, we were starving by the time we settled in and our transport took us to the Double Six Beach for lunch. It was close to 4pm by the time we had lunch – but eat we did at Tekor Bali. And then, we took to the beach! Kris and I went into the water and really had damn a lot of fun with the rolling waves! MOH joined us later and Aunty Debra kindly looked after all our belongings. We resumed some of our “Bali’s Next Top Model” shoot here before heading back to get ready for the dinner at Jimbaran Bay.

We were a little bitchy with the timing and our rides – but we did get to the dinner venue – Teba Cafe right on time. However, being early doesn’t have much advantages if everyone else were hell-bent on keeping to Malaysian times :P We waited a good hour plus before dinner. Alas! Dinner was not great for me – the main was ….. fish! But the company was great (not sure about the other tables, but we had great people at our table!). Cindy and Connie finally joined us here and lots of catching up and sharing stories and tales – since Cindy & Connie both had been out with the bride & groom the whole day for their wedding portraits session.

After dinner, we all (all, meaning the younger crowd) went over to Ku De Ta for drinks. Jolly, jolly me – alcohol it will be since not training for the week! Kris, Debs, MOH and myself didn’t stay long at Ku De Ta. After lots of photos, we decided to call it a night.

10th October 2010

With Debra around to keep him company, Kris had automatically moved breakfast hour to 8.30am. Fine, MOH and myself adjusted to that too and after breakfast, we had a quick tanning session to get some glow for the night’s festivities before we headed out to Murano Spa.

Since the Boreh was highly recommended, MOH & I went with the Boreh as well. Now, I’m not a spa person because sitting still for a long period of time gets me restless and fidgety. Hardly relaxing at all for me. Well, the couple’s room at Murano wasn’t smelling fantastic – especially as soon as I placed my face into the hole. Oh dear. How am I going to endure 1.5 hours of this? That wasn’t the worse – the stuff they used for the Boreh was also not smelling fantastic – it was like minyak cap kapak to me – which I absolutely detest. OMG factor two. I tried to close my eyes and think good thoughts but the smell kept playing havoc with me. Needless to say, I was wishing for time to fly! Of course, whilst I was squirming in my hot wrap, MOH was snoring away and I also learnt later that Kris and Debs had enjoyed their session as well. They are all spa kakis!!

After the highly un-enjoyable spa session (for me), we hit the extremely ‘macet’ Kuta/Legian stretch for shopping and lunch. We bought Crumpler bags and stopped at Oey for lunch. After lunch, it was a rush back to Villa Diana to get ready for D-Day!!!

Bali Travels : Part 1 – A Much Anticipated Trip with New Travel Mates

After more than a year’s wait, we have finally arrived in the month of October, which marks our annual trip to Bali. This year’s trip, would be different in so many aspects – new travel mates, a destination wedding where I get to attend as a guest (FINALLY!) and a small anniversary celebration for MOH & I.


The first part of the trip would actually be Kris, MOH and myself – with Debra joining us later. While MOH planned the itinerary (with some approvals from me, of course), there were much worry about traveling with friends whom I had never traveled with before. The usual thoughts – would the itinerary be suitable? How easy-going are we all? Would there be awkward silences? Would there be too much PDA (on our part that is!)? Would some feel left out? Ohh… the list goes on. I'm sure all of us have had our fair share of Travel-Zillas!! :P

Well, the worrying all amounted to nothing. As Kris put it – to be good travel companions, when one says “follow your itinerary”, they follow through and have fun instead of following-through and bitching about it. I guess it is important that the group you travel with are in-sync somewhat – always prepared for adventures and always ready to explore something new. Most importantly, is keeping an open-mind and with that, keeping options opened and using the itinerary as a guide (so we do not miss all the good food places!!) and not something to abide by strictly!

Kris & Debra proved to be really great travel companions (and hoping they feel the same about MOH & I!). They were sporting and conversations never ran out. I think Kris and I had a bit more of a “crazy streak” – as in, we really did let ourselves go during the holidays – taking endless photos (much to Debra’s annoyance!), eating non-stop (more me than Kris), rolling around in the giant waves at Double Six Beach… basically, just making sure we had 100% fun. We’ve worked hard and this is time to de-stress, yes? Of course, Kris wasn’t so impressed with the 6.30am wake-up call for a morning swim nor the “power walks” – I will never hear the end of this! Anyway.....

7th October 2010

Kris, MOH and I touched down in Bali and was promptly greeted by Agung, our driver who would be ferrying us to Ubud. The ride was uneventful but of course, spirits were high since we had only just arrived and we had more than a week here! Hooray! Bali had always been a favourite spot for MOH and I, simply because aside from all her charms and the extremely warm and friendly locals, here was where we fell in love, had our first kiss and coming full cycle – held our wedding. We make it a point to get into Bali at least once a year.

We arrived Ubud Inn at around 2.30pm. The Ubud Reader’s & Writer’s Festival was on-going when we arrived and I was disappointed that I would be missing it even though I was right there in Ubud. Nevermind, there’s always a next time! This also explained the full-house situation for almost all the resorts in Ubud! After checking-in we were starving! We took a walk out to The Laughing Buddha for lunch and agreed that lunch was good – because we were so hungry. After lunch, we immediately got down to business – SHOPPING! We went to the Ubud Market and finished our souvenir shopping right there! Talk about efficiency! For some reason, time just flew by when we were shopping and by the time we took a long walk back to the hotel, it was almost time to get ready for our dinner. But of course – there’s ALWAYS time for a quick dip in the pool.

The pick-up service from Warung Murni came to pick us up for dinner. At Warung Murni, we ordered the Sate Lilit for sharing and I had the Mee Goreng while Kris and MOH both had the Nasi Goreng. Kris soon discovered that MOH was the Nasi Goreng King while I was the Mee Goreng Queen. Almost every meal – as long as it was on the menu, we’d order the same thing. Not for the lack of trying other stuff – but I love noodles and I especially love the Indonesian noodles so I am going to eat as much of those as I can whilst here!! So far, for this trip, Murni’s Mee Goreng turned out to be the 2nd best. You’ll have to read on to find out who served the best Mee Goreng for me this time around. By the way – I do not order my Mee Goreng as it is. It is always “tak mau sayur, tapi Cili banyak-banyak!!”

Our plans to get to the Gianyar Regency night market was scrapped due to rain. We ended up asking the driver to drop us off at Jalan Hanuman instead. We strolled the streets of Ubud under the light drizzle and found a place for desserts – Buntute, where we had cakes and drinks and listened to a Bob Marley lookalike doing his thing on stage. After that, it was back to Ubud Inn for much needed sleep!

8th October 2010

I woke up really rather early and I went out for a morning walk by myself while the two boys continued snoozing. The air was crisp and cooling and it was a really nice walk because the entire town was still asleep! I came back in time for our breakfast at 7.30am (again, a timing which to Kris & Debra was murderous!) at Ubud Inn. The spread was simple – which augurs well because it meant that we could eat more for our mid-morning tea! After brekkie, we walked to the Ubud Market again – this time to get garlands for Leticia and Tjun Hong – the soon-to-be-wed (of course, at the time of this article, happily married already!) as we were meeting them and their entire jing-bang at Ibu Oka’s for lunch. We customized two lovely, lovely garlands for them.

More window shopping and as we anticipated, a stop for mid-morning snacks at this place called Kafe. The ambiance was really quite nice and the cakes were not bad. I even had a scoop of the Sesame Ice-cream! Yums. Then, we walked back to Ubud Inn. Here’s where it got rather interesting – while passing Monkey Forest, I was robbed – by a bloody huge monkey. I was just only warning Kris and MOH to guard their belongings as the monkeys would likely snatch them when this huge-ass monkey came charging at me. Within seconds – he had snatched one of the garlands away and I was left there with a torn plastic bag! Oh – Kris and MOH just stood there laughing :P Well, what to do? The groom will have to go without the garland then :P I picked a bunga raya from Ubud Inn for the groom instead. That will have to do!

Leticia’s entourage arrived a lot earlier than the agreed plan so we hurriedly checked-out from Ubud Inn and joined her at Ibu Oka’s for lunch. It was really too packed and honestly, the babi guling here wasn’t that great – at least not for me or MOH. So far, the best babi guling we had in Bali was still the one served at our wedding in Kayumanis. Juicy, tender and flavourful! Anyway, after more photos, photos and photos, the bride & groom had coffee with us (this would be the 4th meal/drink break within half a day already!!) and after catching up some, Kris, MOH and myself left the lovebirds to do their thing while we left to check-in to Maya Ubud Resort & Spa.

The resort was ….. lovely! However, I can’t say the same about the service. It just lacked….. the personal touch. And it wasn’t nice to keep guests waiting for a room without notice – even after the room was ready! But I guess, running back-to-back 100% occupancy can do that to you so perhaps, it was just our luck. By the way – this stay of ours – where Kris and ourselves had one villa each for one night is courtesy of Journeys For Two – the Managing Editor and the Editor were clearly enjoying the fruits of their labour!

Without wasting much time, we walked over to enjoy the Jungle Luxe poolside. This was really rather breath-taking and the views were serene. For anyone wanting a wedding surrounded by lush nature, this should be the spot! Anyway, we all had a great time at the pool – which also marked the start of our “Bali’s Next Top Model” photo shoot session for the trip! *grin*. Let’s put it this way – we were all on a holiday and we were all not camera-shy – as long as the photos do not fall into the wrong hands! (FB here we come!!)

Afternoon tea was served at the Terrace and I went a little overboard with the cakes as after all that swimming and posing, I was starving!! We walked around the resort for a little bit before going back to our separate villas to enjoy the facilities there. The bath tub was huge – which was great. For some reason, MOH and I always enjoy our “deep meaningful” chats whilst in the tub.

Dinner for us was at Bebek Bengil’s – and we were not disappointed at all with our food. Cripsy Duck as well as Bebek Bertutu. After dinner, we took a 25 minute drive to Gianyar Regency to venture the local night market – Pasar Senggol. For all of us, this was our first time in Gianyar and this was pigging-out final round for the day. It was really gluttony when just right after dinner, we still had babi guling, sate lilit, sate kambing, fried chicken and bakso at Pasar Senggol. OMG indeed!! The babi guling – I have to say – was the best!!! So it had officially knocked the Kayumanis’ one off the top position now. Gianyar is said to be famous for its babi guling and for people who traveled into Gianyar and left without trying the babi guling, it is said that they hadn’t been to Gianyar! The bakso was good, the sate was good…. Mmmmm….. YUMMY.

MOH and I are really pasar malam junkies and wherever we travel to, we always love venturing into the local night markets. We know here is where the best local food can be found – as long as you have a strong stomach for it! Of course, I was delighted that Kris was as much a pasar malam foodie as I was!! This Gianyar trip was well worth it and glad the weather was favourable!!

After Gianyar, it was straight back to the villa for our second night in Bali – in a second hotel in two days.

Truly Grateful To The Owners of Shabu-Shabu, One Utama

Last Saturday night, I had a family dinner with my parents and my in-laws as well as bro and my soon-to-be sis-in-law at Shabu-Shabu One Utama. This was prior to our departure the next day back to da Penh.

Upon returning home and doing the final packing, to my horror, I realized that I had left my camera behind at the restaurant. In a panic frenzy, I called the restaurant - but alas! At 11.30pm, it was already closed and no one was picking up the phone. My brother even so kindly went all the way back to the restaurant and also announced that it was closed.

Along with the camera, would be all the photos taken of my recent Bali trip for Leticia & Tjun Hong's wedding and as well as my little anniversary-cum-honeymoon celebration with MOH. I couldn't believe how idiotic I was. After tossing and turning the entire night crying over all the memories, MOH took me back to One U first thing in the morning.

I called the mobile number available on the "Waiters Wanted" Ad displayed at the entrance. Lucky for me, the owner, Karen picked up the phone. I told her of my predicaments and she rushed over. They were not yet opened at that time, seeing that it was before 10am. After much waiting, two of the staffs arrived and I bombarded them about my camera. They claimed not to have seen my camera. Apparently, all lost & found items were always kept and returned to customers. When Karen and hubby came, they did a quick search and a few phone calls to their managers and all came back zilch.  

Thankfully, thankfully, they had installed a CCTV system in the premises and Karen and hubby were kind enough to view the footages from the night before to see if they were able to trace the whereabouts of my camera. Viewing the images a la CSI, I kept wishing I could say things like "Can you enlarge this image?" At the very least, I could do a 'pause' and rewind :P Strangely though, the CCTV captured me using the camera and placing it on the seat and when we left, it even showed MOH doing a final check to ensure we did not leave anything behind. So where could the darn camera be?

At this point, I was already bracing myself for the entire loss. It was not so much the camera but the photos - those were precious! I suspected it fell off the chair and we did not notice it. Stranger still, the footage continued, showing the staff doing the clearing and cleaning of our table and yet - NO CAMERA found!
I was near tears and just as I was about to give up, MOH said "Let's watch the entire thing till the end.". Karen and hubby happily obliged our request and allowed us to view the footages right up till lights-off for the outlet.

And there it was - the footage of one of the staff, suspiciously ensuring nobody was around as he bent down to pick something off the floor and deftly put it into his pockets. I knew it!! I knew the camera must have fallen to the floor! We alerted Karen and hubby immediately and without missing a beat, Karen pulled out the employee file and called the said employee. She didn't mince her words with him either - "You come now. You have taken customer's camera. You bring it back NOW. Customer is waiting. We can see it from the CCTV."

I was worried that the guy would run away with the camera or just simply not show up. But Karen gave me her word. She said that she guarantees a safe return of my camera. I told her I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, I just wanted the photos back. I don't really care for the camera (not quite true either considering it was a new camera, but at that moment - let's prioritize right?!). Twenty minutes later, the guy walks up to me and returned my camera, with some lame excuse about safe-guarding it for me. I didn't care! My camera and my precious, precious photos were all there!!

I'm really grateful to Karen and hubby, for obliging, for helping and most importantly, for ensuring the return of my camera. I would say not many stores would simply allow anyone to view their CCTV footages without a valid reason (warrant :P) and mine was simply based on the fact that I was "cock-sure I left the camera on the seat!!". Even to the extend of obliging us by letting us view the entire footage from start till closing!

So for all my friends reading this, especially to the wedding entourage who went to Bali recently - especially Kris - please go and show support to the restaurant by having a meal there. Well, it is already always packed and reservations are preferred for dinner times - but still, it'd be a nice thing to do (by the way, my family is already a regular at the restaurant!) for such understanding owners.

The food is simple and you can have your own choice of broth. The hot pot is served individually. I would personally recommend the Pig Stomach & Pepper broth (YUMMY). Or else, go with the Chicken Yellow Wine broth. Whichever broth you take - the "Mix Your Own Sauce" buffet concept will enhance all the flavours of your shabu-shabu.

Once again - I extend a heartfelt gratitude to Karen and hubby. Hooray Shabu-Shabu! Hooray CCTV!

Partnerships

They say partnerships at work is very much like a marriage. You have to be careful who you bed. It could be a business partnership, client-vendor partnership, associates partnership, whatever it may be, it spells one thing - E-F-F-O-R-T. Just like a normal friendship / relationship, it takes effort. Sometimes, more and sometimes less.

Over the many, many years of working together with a myriad of people, I've climbed the learning curve. It's pretty damn steep, I must say! I started off being a very difficult person to work with and more often than not, I prefer to work alone - a "me, myself and I" concept. Going back to college or uni assignments that required teamwork, I would sometimes finish up the team's assignment and only delegated some minor bits and pieces to my team mates. No, no, don't get me wrong. I don't do that because I lacked faith in my team mates or I do not respect their opinions. I do that simply because I want to work at my pace, and I want it done my way, and I want the entire assignment to flow my style. I have no issues about sharing the credit, of course! We were always in the "A" zone :)

Of course, given the industry I chose to launch my career in, this didn't quite pan out as expected :P (I should've gone on the science skills and become an M.E. instead :P) Because I realized the fact that I generally lacked skills in other areas. Fine example is my disability to draw. I cannot draw to save my life! As such, in an ad agency environment, when a client's brief comes in, I have to partner-up with the creative team and try to get them to follow the brief. Needless to say, I learnt the skills to work with someone else because you relied on that person.

Many years after my starting fumbles, I have acquired some skills. Namely tolerance, patience - BOTH of which I am STILL learning to master, the art of dodging bullets - whether they be intended for you or not, the art of walking a tight rope, the art of keeping faith and having trusts, the art of coping with being sandwiched, the art of choosing your battles - the list goes on. My dearest Ah Por imparted this wisdom to me : "Sometimes, in life, it is necessary to drink both sides of the tea." Simply said, it is the art of not taking sides. Which ultimately leads to learning the skills of getting comfy in a sandwiched position :P It is a never-ending learning curve to climb. And it is pretty damn tiring!

A lot of work indeed, eh? Whilst different partnerships have different dynamics and require different "skills" in making it work, I do believe that partnership is indeed team work. There is no point in calculating who did more, when and what and there is no point in calculating who is "willing" and who isn't either. It is knowing that you can have your squabbles and cat-fights and disgreements and apple-polishing (you know how you sometimes need to pujuk, pujuk, beg and beg someone to do the job for you within deadline? :P) and what-nots, but you never lose sight of the goal post ahead of you at all times.

To me, a partnership is deemed dysfunctional when either one or two parties start pointing fingers or start passing twit remarks or threatening remarks or remarks that are tainted with malicious intent and most importantly, loses sight of the goal post. Don't even talk about screwing a partner over - that's just a straight-into-coffin option for the partnership.

For me, keeping the big picture in mind, I choose to to achieve higher tolerance levels (ok - I just laughed at this statement :P) or rather, I HOPE to achieve higher tolerance levels to make things work. At this stage of my life, I have the option of choosing my battles. If it ain't my battle, then it just ain't my battle to win. You can call me a dumb-ass for all I care! Focus-On-Goal-Post.

Now, hand me that cup of tea, please!

My First Tri in 3 Years - Vietnam Triathlon 2010

The sun was blazingly blistering over Cua Dai Beach in Hoi An, Vietnam - venue of the 4th Vietnam Triathlon organized by Tribob. I looked at the choppy waters of the sea and I felt ill with worry. The race director had already warned us about the sea condition in the race briefing earlier and it only made my nervousness grew.

As I nibbled on my energy bar, the athletes from all over the world trickled into the transition area. They looked seriously intimidating with their ripped muscles, professional tri-suits and expensive-looking bikes. The butterflies in my stomach grew in quantity! I tried to recall all of the experiences I had from previous races - but alas! Zilch. My last race was in 2007 at the Miri International Triathlon. I guess it helped that I had a bunch of race 'kakis' with me then. But here in Vietnam, I was alone. My only fan - MOH. But as with all ardent fans of endurance races, it was easy to make friends. We may come from different backgrounds, countries, etc... but cheesy as it sounds - we were united through our love for putting our minds and bodies through torture :)

The race was really well-organized and I was impressed with the fact that everything was on-the-dot as per scheduled. At exactly 2pm, all athletes were requested to gather at the beach start line and the countdown began. I wished they didn't. The counting down from 10mins right till the last 30 seconds was particularly nerve-wrecking for me! But finally, the horn blew and we ran into the water.

I wasn't even 5 minutes out when I swallowed a big gulp of water, thanks to the rolling waves. Every stroke that I made, the current pulled me back. But slowly, I found my rhythm and pace. It was still very tough though, especially when I made it too wide and ended up swimming an additional 200m at the U-turn! After the first lap, we had to get out of the water, run around the start line and get back into the water again. Aargh! Believe me, after getting out of the water, the last thing I wanted to do was to get back in. Here is where your mental strength really needed to be strong. I've trained hard enough and traveled far enough, not to mention, paid a lot (or rather, MOH "invested") for this, I sure as hell ain't giving up. What would all my friends say? :P After all the motivation they had given me to train and get back into race-fit shape, I give up? No, no. Cannot. (If I did, Kris will surely "slap" me!) As such, I kept going. Stroke by stroke, telling myself that I will find a way to train in the ocean next time and not just the pool :P Of course, the frequent thought that came to my mind was "WHY OH WHY did I put myself through this?!"

Finally, after what felt like hours and a gallon of sea water in me, I finished the swimming leg. It was off to gear up for my bike leg next - biking, being my weakest amongst all the three. I hadn't serviced my bike for the last 3 years and only managed to squeeze in a quick service with the bike mechanic that was provided by the organizers. Actually, I am thankful that they do provide this service. Another kudos to the organizers. My bike is actually a second-hand, fancy-free bike, but one that has served me well in all of my races. I was counting on that again this time around.

For those who know me, would know my abysmal sense of direction and as such, I was afraid of missing the turning points or directional signages! The route was flat and disappointingly boring (apparently, they changed the route from last year to make it safer for athletes) with no scenic views or anything like that to see. So nothing to take your mind off the pain and the heat. Just you and the long road ahead. After over-taking a few fellow racers (particularly the men :P), I felt my confidence being boosted and I pushed ahead faster and faster. Along the way, I saw many athletes having problems with their bikes and I uttered silent prayers - that my beloved, beloved bike will keep it all together. "Please don't die on me Bikey! I love you! I love you!"

My bike once again, did not fail me. I finished my bike leg in one of the fastest bike times in any of my races! I zipped into the transition area and zipped out again for my last leg - the run - in which I was pretty confident I was going to ace because of all the three legs - my strongest was my running.

How was I to know that of all times, my body decides to throw a tantrum 10 minutes into my run? My quadriceps just spasmed and then... it locked!! I had not anticipated this at all. I couldn't move! I seriously wanted to cry because I've come this far. I bent over, trying to stretch my legs out and I was in so much pain. Where was the bloody medic service now? Many runners just ran past me. Until one stopped and asked me if I was okay. When I told him I couldn't move from a cramp at my quads, he immediately told me to lie down and he stretched me out and massaged my muscles and then he urged me on to walk. "Keep walking, I will walk with you!" he said. And so, I limped on. "Next lamp post, c'mon. Keep walking," he kept urging me on until we reached the first drink station. "Drink isotonic and get the wet sponge. You'll feel better," he told me. In the heat and fatigue, I only mechanically followed his instructions. "Now jog, c'mon, jog with me. C'mon." And I jogged and the only thing I remembered about this guy who so kindly helped me out and urged me on was his first name - Stephen. I honestly do not even remember his face! After a few minutes of jogging, I felt better and I surged forward - not before saying "Thank You" to Stephen, of course. I realized that in the chase for pride and glory, some people may leave you dying by the side of the road. But there are still kind-hearted souls who will offer their help sincerely. God bless them.

By the time I went through my last lap for the run, my pace picked up a lot and I refused to stop even as my legs were protesting in pain. I was trying to make back the lost time. And through the entire final 3.3km, I was shouting profanities at the devil in my head who was trying to provoke me to give up. Damn if I will! I sprinted on, ignoring the pain in my legs and crossed the finish-line in 3:20.

It surely wasn't my personal best. But at least, I gave it all I had given the conditions of the sea, the weather and my idiotic legs. For my effort, I finished 6th Place in my category, 18th Place for women's overall and 97th Place for total overall. So amidst some pretty intimidating-looking professional athletes, I wasn't all that bad after all. But you know what? As the race director said "Anyone who finishes the race today in this weather and condition is a winner already."

As always, we forget the pain after the race is completed. Only the immense thrill of finishing and overcoming the physical challenges and absolutely feeling great that you did it - for me, again. Like a typical masochist, I ask "When's the next race, people?" with utmost gung-ho-ness :)

I would like to spare a few moments to say Thank You to my beloved MOH. Besides "investing" in my race (sorry the ROI wasn't as expected :P), he was my one-man-entourage. Not only was he my Bike Mechanic - dismantling and assembling my bike, he was also the Bike Caddie throughout the journey from Phnom Penh to Saigon to Hoi An and back; my Manager - getting my race kit laid out and ready for me, checking that I had all my race gear before setting off; my On-Site Coach/Nutritionist - making sure I was doing my carbo-loading, reminding me to drink lots of water before, during and after the race, ensuring I had taken my energy bar pre-race; and of course, my Number One Fan - who promised not to laugh at me if I finished last. What would I do without him?

Official Timing for my race can be found here and here :)

Sentimental Fool

Over the weekend, Sunday, to be precise, I had the uncanny experience of being stripped off all my memories, so to speak. Firstly, my FB account got hacked and thus deleted - for no apparent reason. And that "no appeal shall be entertained". With that, I lost all my friends' contacts, all my photo albums, etc. But this was still bearable.

And then, as if Someone up there hadn't had enough fun with me yet, on the same day, I got robbed by two sonofbitches on a motorbike here in Phnom Penh. Right under broad daylight in the middle of the main road. The two SOBs managed to take off with my cash, camera, bank card and my phones.

It's been 2 days and I'm still feeling really bummed about it. I know, a lot of people have offered their words of encouragement / moral support and we all hear the usual - lucky we're physically unharmed, old things must go for new things to come, it happened to "buang suei" so that better things will come my way, etc... etc.... and I know all that. It would be the same words I would be feeding them should it happen to them.

Don't even get me started on the inconveniences it has caused me. But I think for me - more miserably would be - the loss of my "memories". My camera still had some photos that hadn't been downloaded - of our anniversary celebration. Also the phones - one of the phones that was stolen was a fit-for-the-museum Nokia. I don't even remember which model it was - but they no longer even sell it at the shops. It has been with me for donkey years - and even though it had died on me once, I spent the money fixing it rather than to change or upgrade it to a newer model.

That's the sentimental fool that I am. If today, someone were to give me an option between the iPhone4 or my old crappy Nokia - I would choose my old crappy Nokia - without a sliver of hesitation. So, I guess the word "fool" attached to "sentimental" is quite apt. I am one who cling on to my memories and I get attached, not just to people, but to objects too.

Yes - to that extend, I am a hoarder. My room - much to my parents' chagrin is filled with junk - right up to rulers that are no longer straight from my kindy days to musical mugs from some ex-boyfriends right through to old casettes that are already fungus-infested.

MOH had been nothing but superbly sweet. He's gone to buy me a new phone (although, as I said, truth be told, I would much rather have my old one back - unfortunately, they no longer sell this model) and here's what he said "It is all a sign - that you need to change everything that were not bought by me, to things that are only bought for you, by me." A month ago, I lost my silver bracelet that has been with me for 18 years and I was crying over it for a week - MOH got me a look-alike replacement too.

Perhaps, it is time to learn to let go. Don't you think?

Every Excuse To Celebrate

August, as always is the favourite month of the year for me. Since I was a kid, I knew the month of August to be my birthday - and the signal for the start of all celebrations begins when every building, car or private home in Malaysia flew the national flag. I went around being delusional that this flying of flag was in honour of MY birthday :P Of course, one day, I grew up and not being a very patriotic person, reality descended on me :P

Starting from 2009, I had a whole lot more reason to wish for August to come as quickly as possible. Together with MOH, we celebrate our Wedding Anniversary on the 25th August. And then a week later, we celebrate my birthday. In between that - on the 27th August, we celebrate something a little more intimate too ;)

Add another week after my birthday - stretching into September - we celebrate our Wedding Registration Anniversary on the 3rd September. And then 2 days later on the 5th of September we celebrate our Kampung Wedding Anniversary and finally, a week from there, on the 12th September, we celebrate our KL Wedding Anniversary.

Not to mention, on the 21st of every month, we celebrate our "Monthly Anniversary" - counting the months from the time we first made the "matured and adult" decision to ... embark on a relationship. The big one for this is in October :)

The other night, after a small chocolate cake from MOH with sparklers and all (did I tell you that I MUST have a cake with candles for my birthday - EVERY YEAR? Without fail :P), MOH and I talked about all these dates. We laughed at the fact that there were just so many dates to "celebrate". It's true - looking at all the dates, we might as well just have tattooed them onto ourselves. Hmm... maybe it isn't such a bad idea!

But - really, it is just another excuse for us to make yet another normal day "special" for the both of us. Even though the reason behind the dates holds meaning to the both of us, there isn't really so much of a fancy celebration required - well, not for every single date! All it takes is just to wake up in the morning and say "Happy-First-Time-We-Hooked Up-Anniversary!" or "Happy-2-Years-We've-Been-Legal Anniversary".

It is just a constant reminder to the both of us - of the journey we took to be together, of all the fun (and wild) stuff that we share and of course - to be happy - with each other. When you're counting 1 year, 2 years.. and it seems like time flies, but it really makes you realize that "Holy Crap! We still have a long way to go!!"

So here's to MOH - Happy Anniversary to all the August-September-October dates we are celebrating about and let's carry on with our journey, hand-in-hand :)