Love you, Malaysia - 53rd Malaysia's National Day.

31st August, 1957 - Is the Independence Day of my beloved country and tomorrow, we are celebrating our 53rd Anniversary on 31st August, 2010!

Cheers to Malaysia ♥ *¨*•.¸¸.•♥ *¨*•.¸¸.•

Hmm... Just wondering whether did you all noticed that this year, we can't see much of our flags around town, vehicles and wherever we went.

A little lack of Malaysian's spirit maybe?

Heard that, one of the reason is we can't celebrate it openly on this year in conjunction of Ramadhan month. However, there will be fireworks in my town as usual when the clock strikes 12am and not much programmes are included in this year celebration. Ask me why? And I wouldn't know how to answer you.

I'm celebrating my eve of National Day by chilling at home watching movies and surfing the internet.

And tomorrow, my family are going to buy materials from the supermarket for our steamboat dinner at home!

Weee~~~~~

Wish you all have a good holiday tomorrow!!

Happy 53rd Independence Day, Malaysia! ♥ *¨*•.¸¸.•♥ *¨*•.¸¸.•

1 Malaysia!!

MALAYSIA BOLEH!!

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone

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Coffee Club, Singapore

Remembered that me and my elder sister (meatballonline) were walking distances just to find the Ben & Jerry Outlet around Orchard Road for a cup of saliva drooling ice cream, and yet, we can't find the outlet that we saw when we were in the bus each morning.

*sigh*

However, we went to Takasyimaya for our afternoon tea session. Totally getting numb after the walk around the area over and over again.In short, we almost lost our direction in Singapore. It's sound funny, right?


We had our afternoon tea at Coffee Club, above the main entrance of the shopping mall and crowded with shoppers, tourists, corporate people and others. If I'm not mistaken, coffee club is quite popular in Singapore.

Found their official website : click click


I had Toffee Coffee Blended and can't recall my sister's drink.

The price is quite reasonable and the menus they served is more westernized.

My sister who's been on frequent trips to Singapore for the tour company, came to a decision to apply for Coffee Club Privilege Club. Woohoooo~~ Guess, she will be there again on this week's trip.

ATTRACTIVE!

A great place to chill and to fill. Come~~ we go there for another relaxing shopping moments!

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Popeyes the Sailor Man, Singapore

Popeyes the Sailor Man. Tutt tutt!!

Suddenly I remembered that I forgot to post Popeyes from my Singapore Trip!

My elder sister introduced the restaurant before in her blog, she love it very much and it only be found in Singapore's International Airport. It serves similar food like KFC but tastier and provide varieties food for us to choose from Burger to drumsticks!

Do you remember the Popeyes cartoon which we've watched when we are still little kids running around? Yea~~ The Sailor who eat Spinach to get all his energy to help others. The restaurant do show the cartoon continuously for guests to enjoy while having our meals.


Something quite special about the bread/ cake. It's like a combination between both. A bit crunchy from the outside and soft texture from the inside. Wonder how they did it... Hmm~~


Guess what? Some of the people even drive all the way to the airport just to have their Popeyes' meal.

It's taste good for real and must have it before our departure!

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【亚庇玩】 : 来来文化村 Fun in Kota Kinabalu : Mari-Mari Cultural Village - The Rungus Longhouse

As promised, my Mari-Mari's tour continues with the Rungus Longhouse. (Previously: The Dusun Tribe.)

"Rungus is the fourth biggest tribe in Sabah after Murut, Bajau and Kadazandusun.
The word Rungus comes from Tomborungus. He was the son of Aki Ragang, who lived at the top of the Mount Kinabalu."

Rainy season, therefore the words that made of ropes was ruin when its get wet.

Every culture have their own unique myth here.

Many tourist love to know more about all of our culture, especially Rungus Longhouse. Unfortunately, we have to go to other destination such as Kudat for home-stay, I didn't heard there is any longhouses for homestay currently in K.K.

Why it was called Longhouse? It's because, the whole village was staying together (just like an apartment) under one roof and each room represent one family, the more family stays together, the longer the house will be. Furthermore, there will be a leader to protect the village. And more to explain, if I'm one of them.


The Fire Making Session.
We have the chance to learn the method of fire making in the old times when there was no lighter or matches. One of the tourist tried to make the fire, he rub for minutes and sweating just to make it burnt!


One of the activity that the girls will do during their free time.


We took pictures with the "warriors" and the Rungus girl there. Their beaded costume are beautiful.

The end of Rungus Longhouse and the following is the external view of the Rungus Long House.

(Snap it while we are moving to the other tribe)

The journey continues with the

Tribe of Lundayeh Culture.

Tropical Holidays Paradise.

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Durian Dalit

At my mom's CD's shop for the whole day even till now.

This morning, my uncle bought few types of fruit and one of it was Durian Dalit.

A type of Durian, which is small in size and it can be small as a person's palm.

♥ *¨*•.¸¸.•♥ *¨*•.¸¸.•

Most of the people doesn't like its smell and taste, even for those who ‎​♥ normal durian. As for me, I can accept it's taste that is bitter and soft texture. ;)

It's wasn't cheap that it cost RM7.00 per kilogram lately. It's seasonal fruit and doesn't produce much in volume. I had the whole Durian myself today! :D

Can't eat too many, because it will make us feeling uncomfortable.

Go and have a piece or two and you will know what I meant!

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【沙巴美食】 亚庇 - 好吃冬炎！ Kedai Kopi Seng Hing, Sinsuran

The original Tom Yum Ah Chee has moved to operate his own shop! Therefore, Tom Yum of this post is no longer valid. 

Others, still remain the same.


Went to the coffee shop located at Sinsuran for the second time this year, I didn't realised that their Tom Yum really taste great until I had my first bite.

After fetching my sister's friends/ tourist from the airport, they requested to go to the coffee shop located behind Le Meridien KK for lunch and I wondered.

Most of us had Tom Yum with Prawns and other famous dishes too!

Kedai Kopi Seng Hing - since 1978


Besides various noodles for customers' choices, they are selling Mongolian Chicken Rice too~ Never heard it before, wonder how does it taste.. Hmm~~

Prawn Tom Yum Bee Hun. 

It taste heavenly and all of us were appraising all the food we had.


The Dry Fried Tuaran Noodles.

All of the ingredients they use are fresh and so much for all of us.


Another type of Fried Tuaran Noodles with Rice Wine.

The Rice Wine flavour was strong and that dish was good for me, but my mom prefer the dry fried Tuaran Mee more!



Teh C Special a.k.a. 3 layer milky tea.

I tried it before, it's nice but I don't really favour it much.

My sister's friend love it and always crave for it when he step his foot on K.K.



FYI, the owner is one the professional ballroom dancer here in Kota Kinabalu. =)

And his coffee shop ---- Deserve for the continuous visit by me!!

Location:
Sinsuran, K.K. and
behind Le Meridien, KK.

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【沙巴玩】 Kundasang： 玫瑰园 Fun in Sabah : Rose Garden

After we left Don Bosco Children's Home, we headed back to Kota Kinabalu and we stopped by at Rose Garden for a cup of Kopi O (black coffee) and enjoy the scene and scent of flowers in the garden.

Especially the ROSES!

Never been there and most of the ladies are excited about it!

With an entrance fee of RM2.00, we walked in to the Garden for a short tour and took hundreds of pictures for free! I didn't took much photos, but my younger sister loves to camwhore with it and even with the flowers!


Various plants like flowers, Orchids, Vegetables, fruits, Cactus and many other weird type of plants can been seen there.


I saw a portion of Strawberries plants when we entered the garden's main entrance. I guess they could sell the Strawberries when it's ripe later.


Thousands of tomatoes can be seen when we walked to the end of the garden. It's quite nice to see all the plants during the tour. Feels like biting of of it!


The plants that loved most of the girls - ROSES!
Thousands of blooming roses with various colours can bee seen. That's amazing, really!
FYI, roses are sold at RM1.00 per stick, even my bf did bought a bundle for me few years back.


The roses portion are too wide and I can't take a good picture of the blooming roses. *sigh*


The fresh and cooling air that makes the plants grew beautifully at Kundasang area.


Took a picture of this weird plant and there were millions of white flurry seeds in the ripe "thing". No idea what was it.

Besides, few types of Hibiscus (the National Flower of Malaysia) are found too. And it was large as my face. =D

The Garden had divided in to many sections for different kinds of plants from young to the grown one. However, we can't expect too much for an entrance fee of RM2.00 right? At least they have the basic needs to let the plants grow beautifully within the Garden's area.

And that's the end of my trip with my parents and their friends, we headed back to KK - Home Sweet Home.

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【沙巴玩】 ： 亚庇 - 来来文化村 Fun in Sabah : Kota Kinabalu - Mari-Mari Cultural Village - The Dusun House

Wake up early on a Saturday morning and get ready for the amazing visiting to Mari-Mari Cultural Village together with tourists who book their tour package from Tropical Holidays Paradise.

I heard good comments from many people who visited that place and I'm fortunate that I have the chance to visit it this time. For your information, Mari-Mari does not entertain walk-in individual customers, therefore the locals and tourists all over the world have to book their tour package from Tour Companies around Kota Kinabalu. The price are fixed and no worries for visitors to book their package with the local Tour Companies.


In the village, there are the Sabahan five (5) largest traditional culture tribes that we can experience their lifestyle in a day. The 5 largest ethic tribes are the Dusun, the Rungus, the Lundayeh, the Bajau and lastly, the Murut.


We gathered together at the assembly area and wait for the tour to start.

The tour will start once we walk through the hanging bridge and entering the world of the traditional Sabah, Borneo.


Put a little imagination, and it's frighten us when the local villagers came forward.
They even act like the real warriors of the past and we enjoyed ourself a lot.


The Dusun House.


The explanation are made by the staff of the Cultural Village and questions can be ask during the tour.

Saw the staircase and the room? It was the traditional way of keeping the unmarried girls a.k.a. Sumandak from men. The staircase will be removed at night, to prevent unforeseeable circumstances. Besides, one house can fits all family members from grandfather, father to children.


The traditional way of cooking. Not a very easy life, they need to protect themselves, by creating many useful tools (one of it was their drinking cups), hunting meat for themselves and many.


When we walk out from the Dusun House, we can learn and taste the Dusun ethic food and drink.

Bamboo Cooking.
It was fun. The ingredients was well prepared, we only have to mix all the ingredients together and pour slowly in to the bamboo tubes, the Dusun girl will burn the bamboo for us and it will be serve during our lunch.


Rice Wine.
Rice wine are served to all. They even taught us the method of rice wine making.


Our Dusun House visiting end at the Rice Wine Stall and next post will be the

RUNGUS LONGHOUSE!!

So, stay tune! ;D

Do visit http://www.tropicalholidaysparadise.com or click my advertisements on top or at the side bar to support me. =D

Thanks thanks!!

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Breakfast at San Francisco, K.K., Sabah

Updated on 22.09.2011 - The Cafe under the name of "San Francisco" has stop operating. Therefore, the Cafe has been taken over by Tong Hing.

Breakfast in a cafe, breakfast at McD, Dim Sum breakfast and everything about breakfast that we could mention...

It wasn't really the American San Francisco, it was the San Francisco Coffee Co. outlet located in Tong Hing Supermarket, downtown of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

One of my colleague told us that the breakfast was superb, however, it takes time for the chef to prepare the breakfast. One of the recommendation by her is the Beef Burger, its flesh was fresh and we could even see the goodness of fresh meat's when we cut it. *Imagine the flesh of the Burger we saw from those advertisements*

Before I headed to my make up class by The Body Shop on one Saturday morning, my elder sister and I had our breakfast there for the first time.


Besides having various All Day Set Menu, they serve Ala Cart too! We even found out that they even includes set menus for a cup of afternoon tea with Ice Cream (Ben & Jerry or Baskin Robbins) Waffles, Cakes and others.

Both of us ordered two different type of Breakfast Set which took about 15 to 20 minutes to prepare. Furthermore, we need to choose drinks either Coffee, A huge cup of Tea (Sabah Tea and Lipton Tea for our selection) or Juice which came together with every Set Menu selected.


FYI, the slices of Ham, the bread and other ingredients is supplied by the supermarket to maintain their standard, therefore, we doesn't need to worry about the freshness of those ingredients. Even the Bake Beans are good to eat (I'm not a Bake Beans Lover, but its really taste good!)


I had American Breakfast Set, I can't finish the whole plate because it portion was huge with slices of Ham, 2 slices of bread which cuts in to four, scrambled egg and Bake Beans. The scrambled was wonderful! It's fluffy, soft and tasty.


Egg F.
Never tried it before, and it taste great with the spinach, the whole meal bread and the 90% boiled egg. *Scrumptious* and taste heavenly. The taste of the creamy cheese sauce on top was quite special that it doesn't taste like cheese.


See my satisfied face with the Breakfast Set I had!!

My sister suggested that we had our breakfast there at least one day in every month. And I can't wait for the next date to come. =)

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Grand Final of Miss Borneo Tourism International Queen 2010

Last night, 20 persons of us attended the Gala Dinner at Hyatt Regency Kinabalu to support my younger sister.

I took half day leave from my office for a rest, so that I do not have to rush to the dinner at 6.30pm. Even my elder sister, mom and others back home early to prepare for the amazing night!

The theme for the night is Hollywood Glam and all of us dressed beautifully for this special night to support our Miss Chloe Lee.


The emcee for the night was Daphne Iking, one of our famous Sabahan beauty. Try to google search her if you don't know her.

The opening of the function was welcomed with cultural dance named "Borneo Exotica" by our very owned Kebudayaan Association, they are amazing and I'm enjoy watching they show each time they performs.


The Gala Dinner was served with Chinese styled dishes. Overall the food was okay and I love the soup very much.


Here comes the first show by the finalist - Traditional Custom. Most of them was wearing beautifully and they've work their best to impress the judges!
However, there was no prize for the best traditional custom, even though it was one of the show included.


The show includes Casual Wear and Dinner Gowns too.

The shows end with the Dinner Gowns Show and the gowns they were wearing as below and everyone of them was beautiful that night.


Saw the above picture and the three ladies in the middle among all the finalist and the organiser (Cassandra Patrick)? They are the Top 3 and the winner for MBTIQ 2010 is Elaine, a sweet and talented girl who won the Best Talent in the Talent Show previously. Proud to say she's a Sabahan too!

As for my sister. Hmmmm~~~~~ :D

Although she didn't won the Top 3 places, but she is happy with the three title won in the pageant competition! Namely, Miss Popularity with 7077 votes (saw it from Borneo Post this morning) from all of her supporters by using Tune Talk, Miss Charity and Nature Guardian appointed by PADI/Borneo Divers.

Something that I've learn from last night event and we really need to keep in mind, we really need to love our Earth (the sea, the mountain and the environment). We have been told that , all the finalist went for diving for Project Aware, and the result were 71kg of rubbish (includes plastics, bottles etc etc). OMG!


It's easy as its seen, but you never know if you never tried.

Okay~~ Going to end this post now. =)

p/s: I love my new tailor made dress.

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Her journey in Miss Borneo Tourism International Queen 2010

3 more days to go and the grand final for the beauty pageant is going held on this coming Friday (06.08.2010).

Last Friday (30.07.2010), more than 10 of us went to Shenanigans Hyatt Regency Hotel to support my younger sister - Chloe Lee in the talent competition held. Her talent is singing and in addition, she plays with the piano while she's singing. She didn't won the competition however think it as an experience and we hope for the best for the coming one!! =)

One Saturday night, she informed us that there will be a fashion show at Hyatt Regency Hotel on Sunday and she's a bit disappointed that we doesn't want to attend it at first. But in the end, we went there to give her some supports and it was wonderful.

We had Ala Cart menu for our lunch and our sits was so near to the stage. I love potatoes!!

The Tiara which worth more than RM25,000 (if I'm not mistaken) that all the contestant would love to have.

But, only the one person a.k.a. winner can bring it back!! It wasn't easy to become its owner, different kind of nasty people they need to face and they need to treat it like nothing happen and accept the comments given by others.

Yea~~ That's my younger sister and she really slim down a lot within weeks. In facts, it wasn't easy to become one of the icon where time and money are the big issues. She's lucky that her friends, family and relatives supported her all the way!!

Wish her all the best in the pageant competition and make all of us proud!

After the fashion show, there were few program held - makeover + photo shoot by Benny Liew which cost RM25 only, children face painting etc etc~~ Few of us (even my dad) had our individual photo shoot and we hope that the photos turns out to be great!!

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