When Dreams Came True

So we've reached the end of 2010. Usually I avoid summing up my life at the end of the year due to well...mainly, laziness hehe. But also because I couldn't really decide which events are more important compared to the rest. To me, everything is important, a crucial milestone, and what makes you who you are today. Chewahhh...berfalsafah lah plak kan hihi~

But on a more serious note, I gotta admit that 2010 is the year when my life experienced a very, very significant change. A 360-degree kind of change. It's the year when dreams came true, even those that I felt were just too good to be true. It felt like the year that I finally became an adult, making tough decisions, sacrifices and discovering the real priorities in life.

So for next year and the upcoming years, I've decided that my main resolutions would not revolve around all these nonsense about losing weight anymore - I have finally accepted that the older I get, the lower my metabolism rate is; hence no matter how much I work my ass out, the numbers on my weight scale would always remain about the same, boohoo!

Instead, my focus would be, no.1 to always, always remind myself to be thankful with everything that I have - I know this should come naturally, like hellooo, it's common sense, right? But let's face it, we humans do take things for granted most of the time. No.2 to try live life to the fullest - easier said than done. How do you live life to its full capacity? I don't know, but I would like to try harder than before. And no.3 to simply do less complaining.

So happy new year everybody! Here's to a new year of less bitching and more living!

We Need To Talk About Kevin

I think the emotional reasoning, if you can call it that, is transitive:

You make me feel bad; feeling bad makes me mad; ergo, you make me mad.

Well, gotta admit. That's my kind of reasoning most often than not theehehe.

A Visit from the Moms

So the trip with the moms went well last week. It's funny how when young people go to a new place, it's all about enjoying the sights and taking pictures, but for the elderlies, it's all about buying little magnets, little key-chains and all kinds of mementos for everyone they know back home. And it's amazing how they have so much more energy than the youngsters when it comes to souvenirs shopping hehe.

Brought them to most of Dubai's attractions, you know, the usuals chewahhhh hahaha! But I was informed that the best thing about their trip to Dubai, the one thing that they enjoyed the most here was watching the fountain show. I agreee! And now, Michael Jackson's Thriller has been included as one of the fountain songs - memang cool giler bebbb!

For the desert safari, I specifically requested the organizer to exclude the moms from the dune bashing crazy ride (dude, if org muda like moi pun dah pening lalat, org tua lagilaa kan). So they brought the elderly women to the camp where they could relax, drink tea, ride a camel while we the youngs went for a little bit of adventure (while trying not to succumb to car sickness) at the desert. The dune bashing ride was not so bad this time, Thank God, so there were less freaking out screams. Just some ngade2-nak-make-things-more-happening kind of screaming je hehe.

All in all, it was not as weird and awkward as I thought it's gonna be since the besans memang get along very well. I guess, I just have to get used to the idea of our families taking vacations together2 now. Up next, a visit from the dads? Now, that's gonna be an entirely different kind of itinerary pulak, man =p

Love Is All You Need

All you need is Love, all together now!

All you need is Love, everybody!

All you need is Love, Love

Love is all you need =)

- The Beatles -

Knocking Me Sideways

You know it aint easy

For these thoughts here to leave me

There's no words to describe it

In French or in English

Coz diamonds they fade

Flowers they bloom

And I'm telling you

These feelings won't go away

They've been knocking me sideways

I keep thinking in a moment that

Time will take them away

But these feelings won't go away...

- Citizen Cope, Sideways -

Random Ramblings

Went to Dubai's old souks last weekend to look for mint tea (SRB likes everything 'mint' nowadays since falling in love with mint lemonade) and to practice the jalan2 route to bring our moms later. Oh, have I told you? My mom and his mom + auntie + brother are coming over next week. Yup, our moms will be sleeping in the guest bedroom together. How weird is that? Never thought that THAT would ever happen hahah!

So anyway, since the souks are famous tourist spots, it's normal to hear pakcik2 peniaga sekalian speak in various foreign languages, including our very own Bahasa Malaysia (Mari masuk! Murah murah! Malaysia boleh!), to attract tourists to check out their shops. But last week, this one Indian pakcik in Spice Souk, upon seeing us, started to recite the name of Malaysia's Prime Ministers; mahathirmohamadabdullahbadawinajibtunabdulrazak, real fast. And when he's finished, he stood there looking at us, smiling proudly, like a child seeking reward, a candy or something, for his extraordinary achievement. How odd.

In an effort to lose some weight before our moms arrived, I started to go to the gym. It's free, it's nearby, so why not kan? Whenever I'm there, there's also this Chinese makcik (and I seriously meant makcik yg agak tua, maybe 50+, a bit wrinkly and all that) sweating her ass off. And dude, she seriously makes me feel like I'm such a loser fat hippo! The whole time that I was there doing my definition of konon2 workout, which includes jog + walk on the threadmill, stop to drink water & watch MTV video clips, continue with cycling, stop to drink more water & watch more MTV video clips, then finally stretch down, the whole time I was doing all that, she was steadily running (not jogging, but actual running) on the threadmill, non-stop. She didn't even stop to drink, blink or catch her breath. And she's as old as my mom. There were many times when I felt like shaking her, screaming, "Stop, you crazy old lady! Just stop!!!". Talk about tak tahan peer pressure hehe.

New discovery - it takes a total of 5 hours to sweep, vacuum, mop, scrub and polish every floor, every bathroom and every polish-able surface and item in the house. Now everything in my body aches, even in places I never thought could ache - or are those actually muscles I never knew I had? Ahahaha AS IF!

The Land of the Pharaohs

A behemoth of a destination that quickly brings out the explorer in all of us.

- Lonely Planet -

I AM SUPER EXCITEDDDD!!!

Thank you thank you thank you, dear =D

An Idiot Abroad

I noticed there was a cave across from it so made my way over and sat in it. And it was there that I finally proved my point to Ricky and Steve. It was much better to look out of a hole at a palace, than live in the palace looking at a hole. I think the same rule applies with humans. I think I'd rather be an uglyish looking person than a beautiful one, as how often do you have to look at yourself? If you're quite ugly and you're sat facing someone who is pretty at work, who's got the better deal?

-- Karl Pilkington @ Petra, Jordan --

He is just...HILARIOUSSS!!!

Snorkeling in Oman

My trip to Oman with the girls (and husband) was memorable in so many ways, especially since it's been a while since us girls went for a long trip together, but the highlight for me was none other than the snorkeling bit.

When Aida first told us about her plan to charter a boat, of course we're all excited and start berangan about percutian ala2 P.Diddy/the Kardashians with our big hats and oversized sun glasses, lounging around lazily while the boat glides through the ocean, sipping cola and eating grapes or whatever. But in reality hehe, not so much. I mean, there was a boat, we had sunglasses on, we had some canned drinks but the lounging around while the boat's moving part - noohooo =p.

The sea was rough and choppy that day so the boat ride to the snorkeling site was a very, very bumpy one. Memang seasick-inducing - one of us memang dah 'selamat' pun hehe. At some point, rasa mcm we're in a roller coaster, about to zoom down a 90-degree slope. Sampai ada yg tergolek atas boat jugaklah. At that time, it was a bit scarry but now, I just think it's funny coz we were unusually quiet, holding on to the edge of our seats hehe.

I tried not to get seasick by focusing on the beautiful and scenic view of Oman landscape. Luckily, there was plenty of that.

When we reached the snorkeling spot, pening loya semua hilang, just tak sabar nak terjun je woohooo!

The corals were okay (I think once you've seen the underwater of Malaysian East Coast, memang susah to top that. Unless you go to one of those exotic islands like Turks & Caicos or something). But, but, but we saw turtles! Yes, we swam with the turtles! And it was awesome!

In summary, saya memang suka snorkeling, no matter where and when, 'nuff said.

P/S: Most pictures are courtesy of Fera and her camera's canggih waterproof casing.

At the Top

By now, you're probably tired of seeing my pictures of Burj Khalifa already - what to do, that man-made giant never fails to amaze me everytime I pass by it. So as a change of scenery, now I'm gonna show you pictures taken from Burj Khalifa plak hehe.

Burj Khalifa's observation deck is located on the 124th floor, called 'At the Top'. Well, not literally at the top as in the peak of the building laa coz technically, it has a total of 160 habitable floors. But it's still the highest floor I've ever been on in a building.

See that centre of the ring? That's where the observation deck is.

Unlike PETRONAS Twin Towers back home, entrance to Burj Khalifa's observation deck is not free. In fact, it's bloody expensive - you have to pay 100 dirhams to view the earth from the world's tallest building. But, just for the experience, why not kan?

The smooth elevator ride up took a total of 60 seconds only; the high-speed elevator travelled at about 10 metres per second, quite amazing I'd say. Rasa macam naik elevator ke tingkat 10 je, sekali keluar2 je, voilà...you're on the 124th floor already.

The wooden, open-air terrace they have up there made me feel a bit gayat at first, but once I saw the view, the gayat-ness disappeared. Loook loook, that's our house there! =p

The city

The desert

The 'world map' islands

The posers thehehehe

Last but not least, menggedik with Pak Arab =p

I've Got a Feeling

Went to dear SRB's office party last night in Hilton Jumeirah. I love listening to his colleagues telling stories in thick southern accent (most of them are from Houston, Texas). Felt like I was in the set of True Blood hehe.

Finally managed to catch Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You' fountain show tonight. It was lovely. Filled me with this sweet warm fuzzy feeling.

Asked dear SRB this evening whether we have a torchlight in the house. "Ada. Kat bedside table on my side", he confidently answered. So I went upstairs, rummaged through the drawers a couple of times but still couldn't find it. It took us a while to realize that the bedside table with a torchlight in it is actually the one we have in our USJ home, not here in Dubai. Somehow, I found that sad and a little heartbreaking.

Surprise Guests

We had a surprise guests from Malaysia yesterday at about 7:00 in the morning - at first I thought the non-stop annoying sound coming from my handphone was the alarm snooze. With eyes half-opened, I kept on turning it off a few times before realizing that ehhh...that was not my alaram, that was actually my phone's ringtone and ehhh...someone's been calling me rupanya! Wooops! He/She must've been getting a busy signal from me all these while eheh.

Turned out the caller was actually SRB's cousin who was in Dubai for a 7-hour transit stop with his wife, before continuing on to Istanbul for a week long vacation. Coincidentally, it was UAE's National Day yesterday so dear SRB was at home - memang good timing lah.

Brought them to one of Dubai Mall's outdoor cafes for a big English breakfast, then a photo session with the world's tallest building, Burj Khalifa, nearby. Stopped by our place for them to take a shower and freshen up before heading to Souk Madinat Jumeirah for some souvenir shopping and a photo op with one of the world's 7-star hotels, Burj Al Arab.

Before going to the airport, asked the cabbie to make one big round at Palm Jumeirah (the palm-shaped islands) to show them David Beckam's bungalow. Well, not exactly his bungalow laa of course hihi berangan je lebih, just some of those mansions by the beach that who knows, could belong to some A-list celebrities jugak hehe.

By this time, tadaa...you pretty much covered almost 90% of Dubai important landmarks already.

So boys and girls, if you plan to travel anywhere, make plans to stop over at DXB International Airport and get a glimpse of Dubai by signing up to an exclusive tour by moi hahah! You can choose to go for the half-day, full-day or X-day (please specify the 'X' number of days) tour, preferably by appointment but if you want to make it a surprise visit and I'm available, then greattt!!!

Okay, the poyo-ness stops here =p

Chasing the Waves

As I once mentioned, one of the things I love in Dubai is its long stretched white sandy beach. So when the girls came, of course picnic and mandi-manda at the beach adalah perkara wajib yang perlu dilakukan!

Seriously syok gile coz the water was very clean, warm and the waves memang just nice, not too big, not too small - great for some amateur bodyboarding. We didn't have the bodyboards yet when the girls were here but dear SRB and I just bought them last week and dude, memang super awesome!!! I mean, we didn't really manage to successfully ride the waves or anything, but who cares, we're happy to have the waves crashing down on us anyway woohoo!

Chasing the waves sambil mandi-manda till the sun went down = a perfect weekend and for now, I honestly couldn't ask for more...

Looking forward to do it again this Friday woohoo!

Desert Safari Vol. 1

I'm not really sure how to write about the trips I had with the girls around Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Oman since there's just too much to tell and some funny stories, you just had to be there to understand why they're funny. But since I've promised some friends and I'm now in the mood to show some pictures anyway, here it goes...

On the day the girls arrived, I invited some friends who have been living here much longer than we have for dinner at our place, just so everybody could get to know everybody and also for me to get some advice from them on interesting places to go in Dubai. It was the first time we had people over for makan2 since we moved into this new house.

It was also the first time we had people sleeping over at our house. (Fatma, my guest bedroom is waiting for you now =p).

One of the girls took the midnight plane from M'sia which arrived in Dubai at 3am. We overslept and only woke up at 3.30am wooopss!, rushed to the airport to pick her up and was worried when we couldn't see her at the arrival gate. Rupanya our unfortunate friend was being interrogated by some immigration officers in a small room, like seriously, ala 'The Terminal' movie (I'm from Krakozhia!!! =p). Thank God it all turned out okay in the end, they bosan takde bende nak buat at 3-4am in the morning kot, and she was later released.

So the first activity- Desert Safari, a must for everyone who visits UAE. It started with dune bashing - a rough ride up and down the desert's dunes in a 4WD, driven by a professional of course (you need a special license for this), mcm roller-coaster, sangat pening and memang boleh muntah, especially if you sit at the back of the car, which I did. So naturally, I was the loudest screamer during the whole ride (seriously dude, there were many times when I felt like our car was about to flip over okayyy).

Then we're brought to a Bedouin-style camp, where we got to go for a camel ride (again, I was the loudest screamer. What to do, my camel was making this weird, angry noise; it's my reflex bebeh =p), have some henna painting (aahhh...teringat masa zaman kawin dulu), enjoy a delicious barbecue while watching a belly dancing show oolala and end the day with a few puffs of shisha.

It was an exciting experience, especially with the girls around but honestly until today, just thinking about the ride can make me feel carsick all over again. Speaking of carsick, a special thanks to Naza for being our asam supplier for that day. Without it, I think I would've "blessed" the car with my 'projectile' hehe.

I know I have to bring all our visitors to this Desert Safari tour coz I think it's fun and a very middle eastern thing to do. Coz you know, when you think of middle east, you think of deserts, camels and perhaps belly dances too. I just don't know whether I can survive the dizzying dune bashing ride again and again and again without vomitting at some point yeeessshhh~