Temple Tree at BonTon, Langkawi

I came across an article in Times magazine about this place. I was surprised that it's located in Langkawi. Very nice... I like. Would love to spend a night in this place just for the experience. :)

This place is run by an Australian in Langkawi and to help her finance an animal shelter (Langkawi Animal Shelter and Sanctuary Foundation) , she started this resort. :p So there's sure to be some cats or dogs to be found around the resort. There's 6 different types of colonial and old kampung houses that was disasembled, moved to Langkawi and reassembled there. Amazing...

Check out the photos below.

The Straits House

Penang House (wooden bathtubs!! :p)

Estate house

Colonial House

Colonial House with outdoor bathtub ;)

Black & White House

Chinese House (a bit creepy :p reminds me of chinese ghost story house)

The Pool

The Temple Tree, Langkawi

KLDW 2009: A Good Effort but still not good enough

I attended the KLDW 2009 last week. I was pretty excited about this event. Finally a design event, with forums, seminars & masterclass in KL. We don't have to visit our neighbours anymore to attend a decent Design Forum. Good place to meet up with fellow designers in Malaysia as well. However, the event organiser kind of let me down in a few areas.

First of all, I only found out about the KLDW 2009 from a friend. There was no prominent publicity on it at all. I got the web address and surfed there. It all looked really good and after checking out the price & package for the event, I've decided to register to attend but need to check with my compnay if they would sponsor me. :) A few days later when i check the website again, i was surprised to see that the website has changed. A total change of website design and the change confused me. Why change an existing website 1 week before the event? The way the information for the price of the event was presented was also confusing.

So, i finally managed to attend the Masterclass 1. When i arrived, i was expecting to register and collect some writeups about the speakers, what are the intinerary for the class would be like or even a small doorgift. All i got was a lanyard and a piece of triangular cardboard with the words Masterclass 1. Imagine my shock, I paid real money to attend this event, and all i got was a lanyard? Not even some writeups about the speaker at all? Pen or even a piece of Paper?

Ok fine! Hopefully the content of the Masterclass would be worth it but the organisers did not plan this whole thing out properly. The Masterclass started late. Speakers had to set up their own laptop. No one introduced the speakers or even guide the speakers on what to do. The speakers were great, they did their best to present their work. However, I left the Masterclass really disappointed with the organisers. I am grateful that they managed to get such great designers/speakers to Malaysia but it's a shame that the participants were totally left out of the equation of creating a successful Design Forum/Masterclass. 

 

Audrey is on the way!

Went for my first medical checkup today at SMC. I am getting nervous because the checkups are going to get more frequent now. Once every 2 weeks. Met the doctor that is going to deliver our baby. :) We did an ultrasound and the doctor confirmed that it's going to be a baby girl.

Looks like all the old folk's are right. Heheh... Pretty pregnant mummies usually are carrying baby girls. :p Hahahaah! So we are going to welcome baby Audrey into our lives soon.

Pray that she will be a strong and healthy baby.

Happy Birthday Jeff!

Yesterday we had a small birthday celebration for Jeff at my place. It was a small gathering, with food provided by my top chef Jean Pierre. :) There was sarawak laksa & whipped potato on toast. I contributed the Bubur chacha but chef Jean Pierre experimented with it, added a tapioca starch balls which made my bubur chacha all starchy at the bottom but still edible. :( Now, he is not allowed to experiment with my desserts. Hmm, have to quality check his experiments first before allowing him to add it into the food. Hehehe!

That aside, I enjoyed the quiet evening with great company. I am glad I could catch up with friends over the weekend. I am happy that you guys are doing well and enjoying life. Take care my friends and happy birthday Jeff. Hope you had a great birthday! Too bad Bawang cannot make it. Get well soon, dearie!

Heaven & Hell by Paulo Coelho

A man, his horse and his dog were traveling down a road. When they were passing by a gigantic tree, a bolt of lightning struck and they all fell dead on the spot.

But the man did not realize that he had already left this world, so he went on walking with his two animals; sometimes the dead take time to understand their new condition...

The journey was very long, uphill, the sun was strong and they were covered in sweat and very thirsty. They were desperately in need of water. At a bend in the road they spotted a magnificent gateway, all in marble, which led to a square paved with blocks of gold and with a fountain in the center that spouted forth crystalline water.

The traveler went up to the man guarding the gate.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning,” answered the man.

“What is this beautiful place?”

“This is heaven.”

“How good to have reached heaven, we’re ever so thirsty.”

“You can come in and drink all you want.”

And the guard pointed to the fountain.

“My horse and my dog are thirsty too.”

“So sorry, but animals aren’t allowed in here.”

The man was very disappointed because his thirst was great, but he could not drink alone; he thanked the man and went on his way. After traveling a lot, they arrived exhausted at a farm whose entrance was marked with an old doorway that opened onto a tree-lined dirt road.

A man was lying down in the shadow of one of the trees, his head covered with a hat, perhaps asleep.

“Good morning,” said the traveler.

The man nodded his head.

“We are very thirsty - me, my horse and my dog.”

“There is a spring over in those stones,” said the man, pointing to the spot. “Drink as much as you like.”

The man, the horse and the dog went to the spring and quenched their thirst. Then the traveler went back to thank the man.

“By the way, what’s this place called?”

“Heaven.”

“Heaven? But the guard at the marble gate back there said that was heaven!”

“That’s not heaven, that’s hell.”

The traveler was puzzled.

“You’ve got to stop this! All this false information must cause enormous confusion!”

The man smiled:

“Not at all. As a matter of fact they do us a great favor. Because over there stay all those who are even capable of abandoning their best friends...”

One Lazy Saturday Afternoon

I am enjoying a lazy Saturday afternoon, where tomorrow is a Sunday and no work to be done. Sigh! Such bliss! :p The best time of the week. Sunday would never be as enjoyable as a Saturday afternoon. Now, what do i want to do? Hmmm..... basically nothing. Hah!

Last week was an ON and OFF week. Monday was a public holiday, then you go back to work for another 2 days, then Thursday is another public holiday then you have to go back to work on Friday. Which kind of doesn't make me enjoy the holidays as much. It's like you start the engine and go into WORK mode, halfway there is a HOLIDAY mode, then WORK mode, then HOLIDAY mode and WORK mode again. Truthfully, i didn't get much work done. Physics taught me about inertia. It applies to moods as well. :p It takes time to get into the mood to work and to maintain it there for the whole week. No breaks allowed. Then only you get to enjoy the weekend even more.

Barking Mad

Occasionally when working in the office, there are some really amusing things that happens. Recently someone in the office apparently quite unhappy with the cleanliness of other colleagues, sent out an email to everyone about keeping the work area clean and picking up after themselves. Someone cc'ed the boss as well. o.0 This sparked off a sort of email war among everyone.

I kept quiet of course. This email was indirectly started by my unassuming "Smoking is bad for health and don't smoke in the office" mail with a nice little PSA attached for effect. :p (but that's beside the point )

Anyways, my colleagues are all very verbal about the email and some amusing remarks were made. Which includes 3 year olds, old enough to marry someone's mother and sharing graves together. ^^;;;;

We all work together, respecting each other's space is really important especially in a cramped working environment, where sometimes, some of us don't even have our own personal work area. I believe in being polite and nice to each other. I also believe that if you want something, you've got to look at the other person eye to eye and ask.