Paradise

KOH LIPE - a tiny island in the Andaman Sea located 70 km off the southwest coast of Thailand near the Malaysian border. The Thai name is transliterated many different ways into English. The most common names in English are Koh Lipe, Koh Lipeh, Ko Lipey and Ko Lipe. Koh Lipe is part of the Tarutao National Marine Park and is directly south of the larger islands Ko Adang and Ko Rawi and about 50 km from the island of Tarutao. It was settled by a band of sea gypsies originally from Malaysia, known as the 'Chao Lei' people or also known as Urak Lawoi. This island has four main beaches: Sunset beach, Sunrise beach, Karma Beach and Pattaya beach. Accommodation from grass huts to air-conditioned bungalows can be found on these beaches. It is possible to walk around the entire island in little over an hour.

This was my first trip for the year and it was heavenly!

Last bit...2010

Let's just flutter back to December 2010.

Christmas - 25 Dec 2010
As usual as it seems, this year Christmas was mostly celebrated in Uncle Ray's house. Cozy with the Christmas deco and family gathering. We even went back to grandma's on Christmas nite after midnight mass. She was so happy to see us there and excited as she gave us our lil' gift. It was nice to see her so happy, smiling and laughing with us. The best thing you can expect from a 90 year old grandmother, is to see her happy.

We had Christmas supper after some laughter in the room with grandma. She joined us at the dining table too.

Aunt Marie was also back from Canada and she gave out our presents too. Grandma opened her 1st present from Aunt Marie and it was all good for her to use. Thick blanket, socks, and even some Christmas chocolate and a candy cane. The Wedding - Mr & Mrs. Alban Leong ~ 29 Dec 2010
Soon after Christmas, it was Alban & Samantha's BIG day. The wedding mass was held at Assumption Church, PJ. I was there with Jon to of course, support and witness our good friend's marriage. The wedding dinner was held at Cyberview Lodge, Cyberjaya.
The Year-end trip - Kuantan ~ 30 Dec 2010 - 1 Jan 2011
One the very next day, Alex and I drove to the East coast for a unplanned-year-end-holiday by the beach. But of course the beach was not to be seen because it was the monsoon season at the east coast. We stayed at Swiss-Garden Resort & Spa, Kuantan. From the day we arrived until the day we left, it was rainin', rainin' and rainin'! Can't complaint as we've been warned! (Thanks Alan!) But we still had a good time :)The first night, we went to town for some local food and ended up in Kemaman Kopitiam. We had local food ~ nasi lemak, mee siam and LEKOR! *yumsss* After dinner, we just sat and chilled at the kopitiam (something i won't bother to do if in KL).
After chillin' and surfing the net on our phones for free, we decided to go back to the hotel to rest.

Day 2, ~ New Year's Eve
Again it was raining. Had breakfast, lazed around, and got ready to go to town. The hotel had prepared some new year's eve event for the night. Pay RM75++ and you will get a huge range of buffet layed out, entertainments and fireworks! But nooooooo, we decided instead to go into town for some steak :) Alex found a place called Sherwood and it seems it served the best steaks. So we gave it a go. Thanks to his trustful GPS, we made our way there without getting lost :)The steak was good, nice atmosphere with cozy surroundings and friendly waiters.

After dinner, there was nothing else to do. To go back to the hotel and wait for the fireworks [that we dun even know if it will happen due to the rain/drizzle] would be silly. So we went to East Coast Mall and decided to watch a MOVIE! All the way to Kuantan, to watch a movie on new year's eve!

What did we watch?
So we ended 2010, with a movie and at the same time started 2011, with a movie!

I won't say 2010 has been a GREAT year for me but it's been good and kind to me.
Let's hope that 2011 will be a much better year as I have a few things I have in mind to achieve!

Happy New Year! :)

Mr & Mrs Leong

CONGRATULATIONS! to the newly registered couple,

Alban & Samantha.

With the beautiful bride and the good-looking *ahem* groom at the lunch reception in Oriental Pavilion, Jaya 33 :)

May this be a Blessed beginning for the both of you as a loving couple in this life long journey.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

25 December 2009, Friday

Christmas is always the same every year, and every year I thanked the One above for giving me my wonderful family and friends, a job that keeps me active and sometimes challenged with the silliest things, great work colleagues and of course a happy life.

Here's wishing you a Blessed Christmas filled with abundance of happiness and love :)

The Lovely Birthday

20 Sept 2009, Sunday

Alex brought me to KLCC for the day. Plan was to have dinner at Nippon Tei Japanese restaurant. Unfortunately, it was the 1st day of Raya and many shops were closed. His back-up was Rakuzen @ Plaza Damas. Reservations were made and we made our way there when it was almost dinner time. The amount of food we ordered was "Guilty as charged" but oh sooooo heavenly! I can go there as many times as possible and will never be "jelak" with the sashimis and soft shell crab and ebi tempuras :) We enjoyed dinner to the fullest and had a nice quiet time together as we always do :)

This year's gift was Burberry The Beat perfume. Came together with it was Issey Miyaki - The Scent body lotion sample and CK - Euphoria Spring Tempatation sample.

Thanks for the wonderful day, dear!

The Surprise

A week before my birthday:
Seok Boon says, "I'll take you out for your birthday dinner, on Friday ya.. keep that day free.." Just like every year, I enjoy very nice dinner with her, we catch up on lots of things... work, friends, colleagues, personal life.. so i say, "Sure :)" not knowing for one bit that there is something going on at the back of it all.
Janette says, "Wei, since it's Raya weekend and you are working from plaza, i celebrate with u your birthday when you some back next week la ya" She gives me reasons that Friday night she has things to do and weekend she won't be free... so i say, "Sure :)" not knowing for one bit that there is something going on at the back of it all.
Suje says, "I'll drop by and see you on Sunday if you are free kay babe" She was cool as a cucumber and for the drama queen that she is, she showed no excitement.. so i say, "Sure :)" not knowing for one bit that there is something going on at the back of it all.

Friday, 18 Sept 2009 @ 7:30pm:
Seok Boon and I left the office and headed towards Puchong in the heavy downpour. She did a very good cover-up when Janette called her mobile. It was her sis it seems and when we arrived there, she made me wait for her in the rain with the umbrella while she made a quick call to Jan that we have arrived.
We arrived at the German restaurant and that's where it all happened:

I heard the birthday song and as I turned to see who's birthday it was, I saw Jan and I was so overwhelmed, shocked, excited and a feeling that I myself cannot describe! Then I heard a voice which sounded familiar... VJ!!! OMG! It was VJ!!! He was carrying the cake and I did not even notice! It was the bestest feeling ever!

Oh, the cake! The cake was my favourite from secret Recipe :) It was my favourite Chocolate Chip Walnut * yummmmmssss*

Suje joined us soon after. She had to drop Devan off at Kelana Jaya station and came back all the way to join us.

The birthday pressie came after we finished our food.

The necklace and earring was not bought at the same place and it did not come in a set. Seok Boon was lucky enough with all her effort, to find a matching pair of earrings to go with the necklace :) As for the bling butterfly necklace, it's just perfect! :)

The whole process to get the birthday card signed was also quite challenging for Jan. She had to make sure i don't suddenly pop-by her place or when someone is there to sign the card. But trust me, it was done so quietly and discreetly i was not suspicious at all :)

Thanks for the BESTEST memorable birthday surprise EVER!

You guys are the BEST!

Since June

...so much has happened... be it at work or with my buddies. and since photos are more interesting to see than reading, go make your stories with the lil captions with the photos.

Updates are from July - Sept 2009 for now.

JULY 2009

Went to FLORIA 2009 @ Putrajaya with Jeng, Lynn, KC and Lili.

AUGUST 2009
Month of many happy moments.

The launching of IBM Smarter Planet.Suje's Pre-bday celebration at Red Box, The Curve.Then dessert at Dessert Bar with cutie Q Pei :) 2 days after her pre-bday celebration, the IST ASEAN team (+1 from Finance, Joanne & Learning, QPei) celebrated Suje's bday at Secret Recipe. Happy was the Queen of the day to see all her friends from work there :) Due to heavy lunch, after singing the bday song, we took the cake back to the office to eat during tea break :) Notice how the cake says, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME"

After choosing the cake, we left the counter and back to the table without writing the message on the cake for the bday girl. She had to write it on her own! *sorry babe*

Chillin at the cafeteria after having some cake *yums*

Celebrated Jeng & Chiang's birthday at a much later date at Maria's Restaurant & Cafe at Damansara Perdana.

Celebrated my 8th Anniversary with Alex. Had dinner at Jake's Charbroil Steakhouse @ Damansara Heights (din take any photos there) and then headed to Dessert Bar for some light dessert :)

SEPTEMBER 2009

Even more happy moments.

Buka Puasa buffet with the ASEAN team at Putrajaya Lakeclub

Went for Michael Learns To Rock (MLTR) concert at Arena of Stars, Genting with Janette, Suje, Joanne and her sis, Cath. Then there was Satu Malaysia presentation for the VIPs from the US. We were asked wear traditional for this Town Hall event. It was also VJ's birthday on that same day.

We celebrated VJ's birthday on a later day. Dinner was organised at Chakri Express, Alamanda. It was in conjunction with Buka Puasa cos it was Puasa month.
Towards end of the Sept, friends from Hong Kong came to KL to celebrate the auspicious day with Chee How and Wei Wei.

Photo with the lovely couple - Chee How & Wei Wei

My 2 friends i hosted from Hong Kong, Polly & Samantha.

So, that wraps up my entry now. There will be more updates on a separate entry.

So stay tuned...

How long has it been???

... very long i know!

I promise to update really soon. I need to stop procrastinating. Alot has happened since the last blog - that would be 3 months ago!! EeeeEEEkKKEkKKkkk!

I will be back to update, kay!