2018

 
I initially wrote another blog post to sum up all the things that I've done and experienced in the year 2018 but I've decided not to post that one cuz it sounded quite emotional and sad. Here I am, sitting infront of the laptop writing a brand new blog post to conclude everything about 2018.

2018 is the year I turned 21. It's by far, the strangest (or should I say worst) year of my entire life because there were just way too many things that had happened.

Pewdiepie once said in one of his videos,

"2018 should never have happened. It's just getting worse.."

Well sometimes I kinda wished 2018 had never happened before but at some point, I'm grateful it did because it taught me quite of lot of things.

Let me sum up what are the things I've learnt and experienced this year:

1. I loved Bohemian Rhapsody (watched it 3 times!)

Google images

I cannot say enough of this movie because it was really good, at least to me. There are a few differences between the real Queen history and the movie's storyline but nevertheless the movie was beautifully shot. I really enjoyed the movie. If you haven't watched it, I'd recommend you to watch it! I'm so gonna get the DVD version of it once it's on the shelves. 😊

2. Became a fan of Queen's songs

Google images

Not jumping on the bandwagon but after watching that movie, I went to do some research on the band's history and songs. I listened to a few of their hits and I instantly fell in love with them. Their music just speaks to me for some reason. I expected rock songs to be a bit too loud for my liking but to my surprise, their songs changed my perception towards rock music. When I think of electric guitars and drums I think of the high pitched and loud noises they make but after listening to their music for a while, I sort of got used to these types of sounds already. I really do love a lot of their songs such as 'Don't stop me now', 'Play the game', 'I want to break free', 'Radio Gaga' and 'You're my best friend'.

Also, not to mention that each of the band members are actually really cute.

3. Went to Bangkok

It was definitely an eye-opening experience for me and my family. Loved the food and people there despite the not-so-amazing hotel experience. 

4. Went on non-dairy food alternatives

I had to stop myself from consuming dairy products as they are bad for my stomach. I tend to puke whenever I consume food or beverages containing dairy products like milk or cheese. This also means I can no longer enjoy ice cream, milk tea and almost anything that contains milk. 

Tried out a few alternatives such as almond milk, rice milk and oat milk and I preferred oat milk the best as it has that rich and fragrant taste to it. Also, I can only enjoy ice vegan ice cream or sorbet or sherbet.

It wasn't easy for me but I just had to do it.

5. Enrolled into year 3 of university

A little bit early to say this but hey, I'm completing my degree soon! This is my third year in the UOL LLB programme and things are getting way harder than it used to be, especially with the subject called Jurisprudence that deals with law philosophies. I personally do not quite like that subject even though it's pretty interesting to learn because when it comes to applications, it sucked big time. I really hope I can finish this degree smoothly!

6. First ever drum class!

I always had a thing for drums since young but I was afraid to try it out because well, I had no guts lolz. I wasn't confident enough to learn drums because I always thought they looked difficult to be learnt and all but after years of hesitation, I did it! I registered for my first ever drum class! As I'm writing this, I have yet to attend the class.. The class is on this coming Saturday and I hope I can learn a few tips and tricks from it. Fingers crossed! I might consider buying myself a drum set in the near future and start playing it during my free time. Can't wait!

7. Started making some vlogs (for fun)

I love watching other peoples' vlogs but I have never thought of making my own vlogs. After much thought, I decided to give it a try and I enjoyed making them! However, I have to admit such videos are quite time consuming and difficult to edit especially the subtitles, they can take you HOURS to do it. I'll make more of these whenever I have the time in the future!

8. Made my own bubble tea

After a few tries, my sis and I managed to create our very own bubble milk tea! The most difficult part of creating a nice cup of bubble tea is the pearl making part. That can take you literally two hours and a lot of hardwork otherwise you will end up getting a pot of oobleck (gross). But still, it was fun!

9. Tried out some expensive stuff (food)

Laduree macarons and Kyoho grapes. Both were quite expensive but didn't disappoint but not sure if I will ever get them again. Maybe I'll get those Kyoho grapes again next time cuz they're good.

10. It's okay to be emotional

I confess, I've been through quite a numerous times of emotional roller coaster rides this year. Inevitable heartbreaks, arguments and bad happenings.. it was quite tough for me to cope with those times. There are also times where I felt lonely for god knows what reasons those are for. I think, after being in such situations it had taught me one thing, that is, to voice out your thoughts or to share your problems with someone like a friend or someone whom you can trust.

Surround yourself with lots of good and supportive friends. Seek help and not keep everything to yourself. 

Alternatively, keep yourself occupied with hobbies or activities or even trying out things that you have never ever tried doing before. From there, you might pick up one or two things that you like or discovering that you're actually good at doing them (not s*x pls lol). 

11. Just be the best version of yourself

Really, do what you love and just embrace your own style. Fuck what everybody thinks of you because darling, you only live once and so just do whatever makes you feel comfortable and great about yourself. 

Don't have to try hard to be someone else otherwise for the rest of your life, you will only be busy chasing other people's lives and not living in your own.

And remember, stay humble.

Thanks for reading, wishing everyone a happy new year and may 2019 be a smooth sailing year for the all of us!

Lots of love.

"Is this the real life, is this just fantasy.." - Bohemian Rhapsody

         
Hey guys! Just want to share my thoughts on the movie- Bohemian Rhapsody. I've never been a big fan of any movies, especially when it comes to one's biography or something like that but this one was quite exceptional. I fell in LOVE with this one. I think this is the best movie that I watched in 2018.

Image (gif) source: Google images

What is this movie about?

Generally, if you have watched the trailer then you'll roughly know what the contents are about and if you haven't, this is for you. The movie is about the rock band, Queen. Yes, the band whose songs are super catchy and popular such as "We are the Champions" and "We will rock you" that you've most likely heard during your school's sports day. In the movie, it emphasizes mostly on the late lead singer, Freddie Mercury's life and the band's music and history.

I'm not gonna share much details regarding the contents of this movie because I don't want no spoilers. Hehe.

What do I like about this movie?

I confess, I don't know anything much about Queen because I was born in the late 90s. I wasn't really exposed to their music except for both of the popular songs as mentioned above. I have never been a fan of rock music because the sound of certain music instruments in it- say the electric guitar wasn't my favourite type as it's sort of high-pitched. However, after watching this movie, my perception towards rock music changed a little.

I kinda started liking Queen's music.

And their members, they're really cute though (in real life).

Also, another thing to love about the movie is the fact that the movie is shot beautifully. From the scenes to the way of how they introduce or depict things is just beautiful. I love the quality of the movie. It wasn't over-dramatic nor was it boring. It was pretty interesting to understand the background of the band, their success and how they get inspirations to make their music.

The cast of the movie did a great job too. Rami Malek, the actor who played Freddie Mercury was spot on. It was difficult having to mimic the real Freddie's movements and stuff since he is a flamboyant person yet Malek managed to do so which is impressive. Another actor, Gwilym Lee who played Brian May looked almost identical to the real Brian too, we couldn't differentiate between the both of them! 😂

Personally, I have read some information about Freddie's personal life in a few websites the day before I watched this movie so it did helped me a little in understanding what the movie was talking about.

The movie has a mixture of feelings in it, from being happy to becoming emotional.The emotional part was when Freddie announced his illness yet he show signs of positivity, that made me cry a little.

One thing that I wasn't satisfied about was the fact that this movie was cut 24 minutes shorter (in Msian theaters) than its original movie. There are quite a bit of things which I wasn't able to understand while watching the movie due to these missing scenes but other than that, everything was good.

I enjoyed the movie a lot. ✨

So if you haven't watched the movie, go watch it! 

It's pretty darn good.

I'm gonna watch it again!

 

Ladurée macarons (Pavilion KL) - Best macarons ever?

 
What is the first thing you think about when it comes to macarons? Its color? Its price? Its brand? Or its taste?

I personally think what makes a macaron stand out from the rest is not because of its beautiful colors but because of its taste and texture. I ain't a macaron fan so I don't really know how to judge whether  a macaron is fantastic or not but to me, what really matters is the taste of it. I enjoy macarons that aren't too sweet. 😛

Ladurée.. Its macarons are claimed as the best macarons you could ever find in Paris.

Is it true that these macarons are really that amazing?
I guess I just gotta try it out for myself.

But one thing about these macarons is that it is undeniably expensive. Classical flavoured macarons cost RM12 each whilst the premium flavoured ones are RM18 each. Pop one into your mouth and yeap, RM12 is gone within 30 secs hahaha.

I couldn't believe I have spent RM98 on a box of macarons! Mind you, there were only 6 pieces in it so you can imagine how quick my sis and I could finish them, maybe within 10 minutes? LOL. 😜



It's okay, you do crazy things once in a while in life.


So here am I, proudly presenting you the most expensive macarons I've ever bought in my life! 💥

Sis and I got the macarons in this little Napoleon box (fits 6 macarons).
We chose the blue box.

An array of flavoured macarons to choose from.

As far as I can remember, the ones with edible silver or gold foils on top costed RM18 each, an extra RM6 compared to the ordinary flavoured ones.

Here's what the bag looks like, subtle mint green with its logo on top.

There's the box of macarons!

The box of 6 macarons ✨

From left to right: Raspberry, Marie-Antoinette Tea, Rose petal, Strawberry and cream, Vanilla silver, Gold Chocolate.

Let's begin with Marie-Antoinette tea.

This macaron had a unique flavour which I really couldn't figure out what it was made of. According to one of the websites, this one is made of a blend of black tea, rose petals, citrus fruit and honey flavours. But it wasn't my favourite tbh.

Rose petals.

As literal as the name suggests, it tasted like roses. There's nothing much to it.

Strawberry and cream.

This was our favourite! It tasted very much like strawberry milk. Its filling is made with real vanilla beans (when you look into the cream, you can see specs of vanilla beans in it).

Very pleasing.

Silver vanilla.

Just a basic vanilla macaron with edible silver foil on top but I also liked this one a lot. It has a genuine and fragrant vanilla taste to it. Again, the filling of this macaron is also made with real vanilla beans, just like the strawberry macaron above.

Gold chocolate.

Chocolate macaron with edible gold foil on top and a rich chocolate-y filling. The chocolate filling tasted like expensive dark chocolate with hints of sweetness to it.

Raspberry.

Raspberry macaron with sour raspberry jam filling. The raspberry macaron shells are sweet so the flavours are balanced by the sourness of the raspberry filling.

Macaron flower formation.

Macaron tower!

My thoughts on these macarons

I think they're pretty good! I loved the texture of it, not too crunchy yet not too soft, just right. But it does taste a little bit too sweet for my liking. However, I gotta say I prefer these over the TWG tea macarons. The flavours of these macarons are much more genuine compared to the ones I had in the past. These macarons are best enjoyed with either tea or coffee. Worth the try but I don't think I'm going to get any of these anytime soon again because I don't want to break my wallet hahahaha.

Anyways, thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed!


Will you give these macarons a try yourself?

Ladurée

168, Bukit Bintang Street, 

Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur, 

55100 Kuala Lumpur, 

Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur

Lush shower jelly collection

My university days are back 😕 I've been attending classes for a month plus already and as usual, it's freaking exhaustive I'm not even kidding. My daily routine involves getting stuck in the jam for 1.5 hours in the morning, attending classes for 6-7 hours then driving back home, shower and have dinner, watching youtube and going to bed. Typical student life. But I'm thankful for having great study buddies and hilarious lecturers in college. Cheers to a bright academic year ahead!

New Youtube Channel?

     
Hey guys! I have some news to share with you all! 😄

Recently, I have been doing some random vlogs on my current existing youtube channel (that was pretty dead back then)! Pretty exciting right? 😆 I mean, I have never thought of making videos myself because I knew that it would take a lot of work and effort in terms of editing. However, after trying it out for some time, I kinda enjoyed making these short vlogs and decided to publish them.

Just a disclaimer - I don't intend to become a full time youtuber and I am merely posting these videos for fun. Since I'm a full time university student, I will only record and edit the videos whenever I have the time to do so. I'm still not really sure if I will continue posting these videos for a long time but in the meantime, I will post as many as I can!

My videos are mostly travel and lifestyle based. I love visiting different places and so I wish to share my experiences with you guys through my videos. Let me show you my world through the lens of my camera. 😜



Okay, it's time to be shameless a little..

*breathes heavily*

DO DROP BY AND GIVE MY CHANNEL A VISIT!

Or maybe you can.. subscribe to my channel too?! 😝

Here's my latest vlog!

That's all I'd like to share with you guys today.

Thanks and hope you enjoyed my work of art!

#shameless.

I'll be back to posting more blog posts soon too 😘

Gastric pain? I know it sucks.

 
Hey dudes! Sorry that's just my new way of greeting people I don't mean to exclude girls. By the word 'dude' I mean both boys and girls. 😊

Recently, I've been seeing a lot of people complaining about their gastric problems on social media and so here I am writing this post today to share my gastric pain experiences with you guys. Gastric problems are of no joke and they could be serious if not treated.

If you know me personally, you might have already known that I have gastric problems. I got it since I was around 13-14 years old. 'What was the cause of it?' you may ask. As far as I can remember, back when I was still a school prefect I kinda used to eating late or skipping my meals because the teachers let us out of the class late to do our duties and my seniors told us that we weren't allowed to eat unless we're done with our duties. After some time, my stomach began hurting and I constantly burped, like a lot. My mum then brought me  to visit the gastroenterologist (sounds so 'atas' right it's actually known as the stomach/digestive system specialist) at Gleneagles which costed a whooping RM500+ (with a few pills included, lol).

That's when I got to know that I was suffering from gastric pain.

Gastric pain is the discomfort or pain one experiences in the abdominal part of the body. It occurs when you do not take your meals on time or skipping meals, causing the gastric juices to attack the walls of your stomach, causing the discomfort. My personal gastric symptoms include vomiting and constant burping. It sucks big time because once I have this problem, I tend to burp a lot (which could be embarassing sometimes) and the pain comes almost immediately when I do not take my meals on time.

Here, I have my very own tips and tricks on how to reduce gastric problems that I'd like to share with you guys.


1. Avoid dairy products

This is the saddest part that I have to deal with. I really love dairy products like milk based food and beverages, ice cream and cheese. The thought of having to give up on these things makes me really sad. But trust me, your stomach will thank you later. If you can't avoid them all, the least you could do is to reduce your intake of such products. Dairy products can trigger the stomach acid, causing stomach inflammation or nauseous feelings. Hence the best is to avoid consuming them till your condition improves.


2. Reduce intake of spicy foods

Spicy foods can irritate your stomach, causing huge pain to your stomach. If you really love spicy food and you can't live without it, again, the least you could do is to reduce it. For example, when eating chili pan mee, don't pour the entire plate of dried chili into your noodles. Of course you can enjoy your noodles but consider cutting those dried chili intake into half. That way, you will not irritate your stomach so much.


3. Reduce intake of carbonated drinks

Carbonated drinks are so good and refreshing. But do you know that it also triggers the stomach acid even more due to its acidity? Yes it does!


4. Eat moderately, not too much

Whether you're eating out with your friends or family or at the buffet, one tip is to never eat too much. Eating too much stresses the stomach and it might cause you to puke since your body can't handle processing that huge amount of food. Just eat the right amount of food.


5. Never skip meals

No matter how busy you are, the rule is to never skip any meals. Eat something whenever you feel hungry. If you are a really busy person or you're a student, always have some biscuits with you for convenience. I always have a packet of biscuits/crackers with me in my bag so that I can just grab them and eat whenever I feel hungry in class.


And if your condition is really serious, consider visiting a doctor for treatments. Don't wait till it's too late!

That's all I'd like to share with you all.

See you!

   

Bangkok, Thailand trip - Day 6 (Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport > Malaysia)

   
We have finally come to the end of my Bangkok trip blog series! I can't wait to finish up the entire Bangkok trip blog series already 😊

I woke up at 9 am, showered, put on some light makeup and then proceeded to pack all my stuff into the luggage. We didn't get to go anywhere that morning since we were pretty busy packing all our things into our luggage ensuring that nothing is left behind. Also, we didn't want to risk getting to the airport late and miss our flight. At 10.45 am, I walked over to Big C to get a set of McD breakfast for myself (which is right next door to our hotel). I ordered a set of sausage mcmuffin with egg with a hash browns and a cup of tea for 150+ baht. The breakfast sets are a lot pricier than the ones in Malaysia though. 💥

Messy white blankets.

Here's my breakfast!

I chose tea over coffee.

Hash browns and my sausage mcmuffin. 🍔

After we're done packing everything and had our breakfast in the hotel room, we went to checkout at the hotel lobby and waited for our cab to arrive. We took a 7-seater cab to the airport. We departed from our hotel at 12.30pm. 🚖

Passed by some old shops along the way. 

The traffic was busy at that moment.

Arriving at our destination!

Here's how the inside of the airport looks like on a sunny afternoon.

It's almost similar to our Malaysia's KLIA 2 layout.

Since we arrived at the airport early, we couldn't check in our luggage yet. We sat and waited at the sitting area. 

If you've purchased anything which is about at least 2000 baht in a single receipt then you will be eligible for a VAT refund. Just head over to this counter and they will stamp the forms for you but this is not the end yet, there's still one more counter that you have to go through to get your refunds back in the departures hall.


We checked-in at 2pm and made our way through the immigration and customs to get to the international departures hall.

An interesting statue at the entrance of the departures.

Here's what the departure hall looks like. ✈

It has a lot of shops ranging from luxurious goods to souvenir stores to cafes and restaurants.

This is the VAT counter that tourists must queue up at in order to get their tax refunds. The queue was reallllllllyyyy long and it took us almost about an hour just to get our refunds back. ⌛😩

Most of the things sold at the airport are really expensive. Take this bottle of Nestle mineral water as an example. You can get these guys for about 5 baht at the convenience stores but the airport here sells them at 40 baht per bottle. The price difference is crazy!

Also, the food sold at the airport is also pricey. Went to take a look at the burger king menu and one burger costed about 200+ baht? We then decided to head over to auntie anne's to get some pretzels for 60+  each (didn't take any pictures).

The airport has an interesting information machine that allows you to print your flight details and whatever details you may need for your trip which is pretty convenient.

You can even print for directions to get to your boarding gates if you're afraid of getting lost in the departures.

Our flight was at gate E1.

We didn't actually board the airplane directly from the gate E1 itself. We had to take a mini bus to get to our plane.

Got into the plane already!

The seats on this plane aren't multi-coloured like the ones that we saw on the first day of the trip.

They did serve me a seafood meal this round and I was delighted about it. Hehe. 😁

The set comes with a bottle of mineral water, a vanilla pudding custard, a mini potato salad and a plate of spinach fettuccine with seafood in it. I loved the fettuccine cuz it was pretty good! 👍
The orange juice is given to me by my mum.


Below are some airplane shots that my sis took during the journey back home.

We arrived at KLIA at about 7.30pm.
Home sweet home.

After that, we just took the aerotrain back to the main KLIA building, claimed our baggage, waited for our cab to arrive and headed straight back home.


Short vlog for day 6:

My experience in Bangkok (all summed up)

This was my first time ever going to Bangkok and overall I think that the trip was pretty good. We did encounter some issues with the hotel bookings and certain minor stuffs but we really liked the place and their food. The city feels almost like KL but busier in traffic and everything is in a foreign language- Thai. Most of the people there are friendly and are well-mannered. But it is advisable that you always keep an eye out on your surroundings. Would definitely return again for another holiday trip soon!

With this, I hope you guys have enjoyed reading this series as much as I enjoyed sharing it with you guys!

See you guys again in the next post.