Our Wedding (Part 1)

We registered on the 9th of March, 2013.
The wedding ceremony and dinner reception was on the 16th of March, 2013. Oh what a tiring day but good memories!

This is the slideshow of the morning event that took place on the 16th March. I think Jon Low did a great job. We're still waiting for the rest of the pictures so there will be a part 2.



I wanted to post some videos of the wedding reception that my uncle from Canada recorded but my old and lousy notebook kept on shutting down due to over-heating each time I wanted to process it. I gave up. Lol.

People I want to thank:
1. Mummy and Daddy - For everything and I love you!
2. My in-laws, Mama and Papa - For everything and I love you too!
3. Brother, Colin - For the night event coordination and you did a great job emceeing for the night
4. Sister-in-law, May - For helping me to coordinate the night event 
5. My beloved new sisters, Steffi and Eve - For everything, for helping Ryan and for coordinating the night event. You guys are awesome!
6. Maid of honor who is also my BFF, Jess Tan - For everything!
7. Bridesmaids, Daphne, Lena, Seowei and Pu Foong - You guys are really awesome!
8. Groomsmen, Kenneth, Alvin, Meow, Teh, Nicholas and Siang - Also awesome!
9. Cousin Edmund - For being the Chinese emcee for the night
10. To all the guests who attended the wedding - You made our day!

GlitterStraps.com

I've just been given a 1 week sick leave as the doctor advised me that I should not be moving around and that I should get a lot of bed rest. Oh my! It's only 2 hours now and I already feel like a prisoner. Imagine I have 1 week. Oh well, I'll just see what I can do. Since I have a lot of time to kill, imma gonna blog a bit for now.

Most of you know that I had my wedding last month. The dress I got for the dinner reception was a strapless white dress. The problem I had with the dress was that it kept dropping. My thoughts that time were if only the dress came with straps instead of strapless but the dress did have the fastening loop for bra straps. I probably had to buy my own strap.

I didn't want a plain ugly bra strap. So, I was thinking if I had those jeweled bra straps especially with Swarovski crystal, that would be perfect. I searched high and low around town but to no avail. There are a few websites from the UK and US selling them so I ended up buying one from this US website for USD35 + USD24.25 for express shipping. *faint*

This is the bra strap I'm talking about!

To those of you looking for the same thing and having a hard time looking for it locally, look no further because we have GlitterStraps.com now.

GlitterStraps.com offers a stunning collection of adjustable detachable jeweled bra straps in Malaysia. Please be informed that it is not encrusted with Swarovski crystal. It is encrusted with clear crystal rhinestone but it is just as bling.

The website is undergoing some maintenance but you can still shop from their facebook store cart. If you're browsing from your mobile phone, you won't be able to access the facebook store cart. It is only available on a normal web browser. 

San Francisco and Napa Valley

I've been really busy and that explain why I haven't been blogging much. I've been busy with my career, my family, my health, the wedding and now the new house.

Anyway, some updates on my trip to San Francisco and Napa Valley in January this year. We took Singapore Airlines (SIA). I always like SIA. It's expensive of course. I could have chosen Eva Air which is like RM1K cheaper for 2 person and with only one stop but the schedule wasn't right for me. So, SIA it is! =D

For the first 3 nights in San Francisco, we stayed at The Herbert Hotel which is right in the middle between Union Square and Westfield mall. Great location and not too pricey. I like!

Macy's in Union Square

The view of Union Square from Cheesecake Factory in Macy's

Cheesecake Factory
This is a must-eat in San Francisco

Original Cheesecake
Very very yummy and filling

More Cheesecakes

Around the city

Pier 39
Festival marketplace near Fisherman's Wharf offers shopping and dining guides, departures for Alcatraz tours, and the sea lions

We went to the Aquarium of the Bay and I think it's a total rip off. Nothing special. =P

Pictures from Aquarium of the Bay

Around Pier 39

Picture of us Alcatraz behind us

Another picture of us

We were sort of forced to pay USD2 for these pictures of the two of us. Well, there was this woman sitting at the bench and she saw us coming and she came to us saying, "Hello, would you like me to take some pictures for the two of you?" So, we let her and she snapped away. After that, she said, "Guys, can you spare me 2 dollars for coffee?". LOL!

See how he bombed my photo

We walked towards Fisherman's Wharf which is a popular tourist attraction in San Francisco. You must have seafood there. You can either buy from the stalls by the street or you can dine in one of the many seafood restaurants there. We tried both. We had clam chowder from the street and other seafood from a restaurant.

Fisherman's Wharf

Street stall selling cold shrimps, prawns, lobster

More seafood - so yummy

Oooh lobsters

Mmmm oysters

I'm all ready to eat that Dungeness Crab

After dinner, we walked 1.7 miles down south from Fisherman's Wharf back to our hotel in Union Square cutting through Chinatown using my Google Map on my iPhone to guide us. Long walk, tiring, but it was gooooooood.

One of the many shops in Chinatown and Chinese street performer with their erhu

Chinatown Entrance

Tram

Golden Gate Bridge

Alcatraz - Close up from our Bay Cruise

Sea lion

Painted Ladies - These Victorian row houses are in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood

We rented a car with GPS for our road trip to Napa Valley.

Our car for 2.5 days

On the road crossing the bridge to the Northern part of California

After and hour or so, here we are at the Silverado Resort and Spa. I love our 1 bedroom fireplace suite! So warm and cozy. On our first day there, the weather was lousy. I was supposed to head out to the outlets for some shopping but I decided to stay indoor and relax while Ryan attend his conference.

Our suite at Silverado Resort and Spa

I love the fireplace

Late night shopping at Walmart - I always love to go to angmoh's supermarket

The next day, I drove to Vacaville Premium Outlet which is an hour from the hotel to do some shopping while Ryan went to his conference. I enjoyed the journey very much, driving all alone, in a foreign country, left hand drive, etc. Well, yeah, I drove into the wrong lane once in Vacaville and that's because the road was empty. No other cars to guide me until I see a car coming in the opposite direction in my lane. Lol!

Vacaville Premium Outlet

On the last day before we head back to San Francisco, we drove an hour plus again to this new outlet called Paragon Outlet in Livermore. It wasn't listed in the GPS because it was so new. Thanks to my Google Map on my iPhone which brought us there. It was Ryan's shopping time as he did not get to shop with me in Vacaville. I like this outlet very much as compared to Vacaville.

Paragon Outlet @ Livermore

The Night Before ROM

Make up starts at 6:30am and I have to leave the house at 8am to Putrajaya for ROM (Registration of Marriage). So I really have to get enough sleep the night before.

The night before ROM, at 10:30pm, I wasn't home yet. I got a phone call from my dad.

Dad: Where are you?
Me: At the tailor picking up Ryan's suit.
Dad: Oh. So what time are we leaving tomorrow?
Me: 8am. Are you going to sleep now?
Dad: Yes, I want to sleep but I couldn't sleep.
Me: Why?
Dad: Don't know. Maybe excited I guess.

LOL!

It's really an awwwww moment. My heart smiles.

Vientiane & Vang Vieng, Laos (Day 3)

The reason we went to Vang Vieng was because of the tubing parties. Unfortunately, somewhere in June, the government announced that they'll be banning all the riverside bars because of the too many accidents or deaths from tubing while being intoxicated. Go search for "tubing in vang vieng" on YouTube and you'll know how wild the party could get.

Anyway, that did not stop us from tubing! It was still a great experience without the parties anyway. Quiet and peaceful and I felt like I was connecting to nature. Lol! The water was cool, clean and unpolluted. Along the way, we could see that all the riverside bars were demolished.

Tube rental store

Do not wear bikinis, bathing suits, swimming trunks or be shirtless on town street

Tubing rental was 55,000 kip (approx. USD7). We also had to pay a refundable deposit of 60,000 kip (approx. USD7.50). All these include a tuk-tuk ride to the starting point of tubing.

Excited boys

Tubing in Vang Vieng

After 2 hours of tubing, we got back in town and we were hungry. So we had burgers from these roadside stalls.

Roadside stalls selling burgers and sandwiches

Oooh burgers!

Alvin's money got all wet from tubing. He had to dry them under the bedside lamp. Remember, if you plan to go for tubing or any kind of water activities, make sure you invest in a dry bag. I did and I got a good one and for cheap from Groupon before the trip.

Drying those kips

I wanted to go to the famous Blue Lagoon so we rented two motorbikes again for a total of 70,000 kip (approx USD9). Blue Lagoon is 7km west from town. The bike rental provided us map on how to get there. We were told that along the way, we will see some fake "Blue Lagoon" and we should just keep to the main road and head straight until we see the real Blue Lagoon. We had to pay a fee of 10,000 kip (approx. USD1.25) to cross the Nam Song bridge by motorbike. We also paid an entrance fee to Blue Lagoon of 10,000 kip.

Blue Lagoon is a spring fed lagoon at the bottom of a cave (Golden Cave). It's a nice place to relax, swim and play on the rope swing. The water was really cold and clean and the colour of the water was so pretty. It's like emerald or turquoise.

After 7km of biking on bumpy road, here we are at the Blue Lagoon

  Some pictures I took on the way back to the hotel.

What is Alvin pointing at?

Hello there!

Oooh cows!

Here we are back at Ban Sabai Bungalow. It was really cold that night.

On Day 4, we took the minivan back to Vientiane. Ryan and I was not so lucky this time. We were seated at the back and it was so bumpy I felt sick. At night, we went to the famous fountain for dinner and drinks and then we made friends with this guy who was drinking alone.


On Day 5, it was just a flight back to KL. It was a great trip. If I had more time and if I could take more leaves, I would plan it differently. I would fly to Vientiane, take a domestic flight to Luang Prabang, spend 1 night or 2 nights there, then take a minivan to Vang Vieng, spend another 1 night or 2 nights there and then take the minivan to Vientiane and explore Vientiane for the day and come back to KL the next day.

Complete posts:
Vientiane & Vang Vieng, Laos (Day 1)
Vientiane & Vang Vieng, Laos (Day 2)
Vientiane & Vang Vieng, Laos (Day 3)

Vientiane & Vang Vieng, Laos (Day 2)

Day 2 (Vang Vieng)

The cost of the trip via minibus from Vientiane to Vang Vieng is 50,000 kip (approx. USD6). You can buy from any travel agent in Vientiane.

We were picked up from the hotel at 8:30am but because the driver had to pick the other passengers as well, we actually left Vientiane at 10am. It was a good thing that we were picked up first because the last one will have to sit at the back of the van. It's not fun sitting at the back because the journey is not a smooth one. We had to endure winding and bumpy road for three hours to Vang Vieng but it was worth it.

This is our minibus to Vang Vieng

You can get some junk food from the rest stop and you had to pay 2,000 kip to use the toilet

This is the highway to Vang Vieng

The temperature was lower in Vang Vieng because it's up north. It was even colder at night that we had to sleep without the air-condition.

We stayed at the highly recommended on tripadvisor, Ban Sabai Bungalow. I highly recommend this place too. I just love it here

Our room in Ban Sabai Bungalow. Very rustic, I like!

We often chill here by the clean and unpolluted Nam Song river under the cold weather with Lao beer and local food. I love the view!

There are a few joints here selling happy pizzas and not-your-usual-brownies :P

Complete posts:
Vientiane & Vang Vieng, Laos (Day 1)
Vientiane & Vang Vieng, Laos (Day 2)
Vientiane & Vang Vieng, Laos (Day 3)