Romantic Gayana Resort, Kota Kinabalu

Yesterday was definitely a very testing day. I guess there's nothing big that caused that. I have been doing great at work and things are going great with Jesse and Dug. It is probably hormones and little things that built up to piss me off.

I miss home and after a lot of back and forth, all my leave has been approved. So hurray. 

I usually blog on my way to work. That is the only time I don't have any distraction. 

Let's talk about something happy. Like my trip to #GayanaResort.

Chalet on the sea. The pier we got down from the speedboat.

Stupid Jesse walking #likeaboss after swimming all day at #BungaRayaResort. We were so tired by the time we arrived here.

So they invited us to chill at the infinity pool area that overlooked the sea. There are no beach at this resort but have other interesting factors like the Geocenter..or at least I think that is what it is called. 

I couldn't sleep and felt restless. So I went to check it out while Jesse snoozed.

On the way to the Geocenter you have to walk through these chalet. There were nobody there then, so I was slightly creeped out.

Okay so it is called Marine Ecology Research Centre.

They were shut when I arrived but you can still see stuff like starfish and corals outside the centre.

I love starfish. They are so cute ♥♥♥

Save the Giant Clams!

Pretty giant clams. I love the colours. Shame I have no interest in scuba diving.

By the time I was done, the sun was setting and Jesse was still snoozing so I made my way back to the pool to get ready for dinner.

Couldn't resist to take another photo of the view. I wish I live there w.t.f.

Alu-Alu Restaurant for dinner. Jesse is very picky with food when we eat out (he is not if it is my cooking heh!), so I wanted to take him to somewhere nice and romantic. This only happens once a year so gotta make it count.

We ate at this beautiful restaurant.

We were forced by the waiter to take this cheesy photo. It was forceful and cheesy even by my standards...

We even played outside while waiting for food. They had lights under the restaurant, so you can see bigger fishes feeding on smaller fishes. It was quite romantic.

The day concluded with a little man in a big sofa. Our experience at Gayana Resort was quite special. I would totally recommend this place to couples or a few friends who are looking for relaxation. 

#travel #wanderlust #love

Park Island, Hong Kong: My Island and The Weather

Of all my years of living in Malaysia, I have never intentionally sit under the aircond and I would always..and I mean ALWAYS order a hot drink. Rain or shine.

Last weekend was madness. It was so hot in HK, I was literally dripping with sweat standing in my kitchen preparing food for this week. Ew gross I know. I had to run to the bathroom to refresh every 30 mins, just so I don't add extra ingredients in my food. In fact, I have never sweat like that before. No even in the gym.

My gym #ootd.

I know you must be thinking why don't I just get an airconditioner or fan fixed in my kitchen (where I spend so much time in). But have you seen the size of HK properties. It is not even possible with the space. Sigh!

So I usually tell @milkystainz to crank up the A/C in the living room and hope that I get to benefit a little from it.

The thing is, I like to put on some crime documentaries when I'm cooking. I even bought a wall stand just for my tablet and speakers.

And J will be playing his latest games really loud with his speakers too. So at the end, I will end up shutting the door of my kitchen. He will offer to put on his earphones to play but it can't be good for his ears with that level of noise. I rather not.

Woah, so I started my Tuesday whining. I can't help it. It is my first working day. I hate long weekends because of the short work week. I am happy that it is June though. So much to look forward to. For one, @pinkytham is visiting in 2 weeks.

The weather was great for outdoor activities. I'm glad I didn't get a heat stroke. It was a great great feeling dipping in cold water with the sun out.

I find HK weather to be very drastic. It is either really cold or really hot. I only had a week of in betweens during my mom's visit. Thank god for that. My mom would have hated the heat.

On the way home from gym. 

Let me story you about this whole gym business. I have been dreading to join the gym since my #Nuffnang days because of the fear of commitment. Anything that wants to tie me down for 2 years or hell, 1 year is scary to me.

But the beauty of the facilities on my island is that we can pay per use. I NEVER REALIZED THAT CARDIO ON A THREADMILL COMES WITH A PERSONAL FAN. I guess that was how long ago since I have been to the gym. Everything has evolved.

The view when I cycle in the gym. I guess I never really appreciated a threadmill before. Now, I love everything about it. The airconditioner, the FAN, bottle holder and I can place my phone on a holder to listen to music without it bouncing on my arm or pockets when I run outdoors (which I still prefer but not in this weather).

The panda that I see everyday on the way home. Reminds me of@yuennyyee. 

I love where I live now. I think it is the only reason I can tolerate HK. It is so hard to explain it to anyone without inviting them over to see it for themselves.

The garden where we usually hang out with Dug.

The majestic #TsingMa bridge. It is such a beautiful view and sometimes I have to tell myself to not take anymore photos of it. They all looked the same.

Another hang out spot for Dug to play with other dogs by the pier.

The bridge from another angle.

The fishing village at the back of the island. You can find plenty of abandoned homes there. I think the people got evicted. It can be quite creepy at night but during the day, it is quite beautiful.

The view at the back of the island if you hike all the way up.

An altar on top of the hill. People still come up here to give their offerings and pray.

Sometimes you can find the most random stuff outside the villagers' homes.

Bunga Raya Resort. The beautiful Kota Kinabalu.

#TGIF!

It is really hot in #HongKong now. If you are travelling to this tiny country this long weekend, please pack light. 

I'd rather be the one travelling this weekend too but we don't know anyone who can look after him for us this weekend. So we have to play good parents and stay in. We always wish we can travel with him. Oh, the sacrifices we have to make! 

Since I can't travel, I can only reminisce.

I mentioned in my last two post about my trip to #KotaKinabalu that I had to book an extra location so that would at least have SOME good time if the Nexus really sucks.

My friend managed to arrange for a full day of activity for us at the #BungaRayaResort and dinner at #GayanaResort. So, we get to check out and spend time at two beautiful resorts on that day. 

We have decided that we will stay in one of these resort instead if we visit again. They only cost a little more.

The usual silly face and excitement. He love going to the beach! This punk don't want to sit with me because he want his own "window" seat.

Saw a rainbow on the way there. Definitely a sign of good luck. It was so pretty, I took like 20 photos of the same thing.

From the #JesseltonPier, it takes about 20 mins to get to the island. Look at the colours! Sigh, miss this little piece of heaven.

This is good photography skills. I looked very slim wtf.

Once we got there, we wasted no time to get into our swimming gear. Hat is from #HnM.

The sea was amazing.

We went snorkelling but there aren't many fish to see so we swam to the secluded side of the island. It was so tiring..even with the life jacket.

And we made it...

Probably the biggest outdoor adventure we experienced together in the last year and a half.

Maybe this will make @awendyy 's dream come true. I HAVE A SAND BABY WENDY, LOOK!

We were very hungry after all that swimming so we had lunch at the only restaurant on the island. The food was pretty good.

I had satay because long time no have. 

Went out for dinner. So TBC.

Hong Kong, Birthday, La Vache.

Happy Birthday Silly Man! You will always me my old man baby...or baby old man?!

My colleague Karina mentioned that we are like old married couple because I told her that J and I made arrangements that since I got him two birthday gifts, he will buy dinner! Haha 

Naturally, he always try to pick nice places (with or without an occassion) to take me and of course, he is secretly a diva and love going to nice places to eat too. Initially, he picked The Steak House at Intercontinental Hotel and up to 5.45pm today I didn't know anything about the place.

So, I asked him and when online to look at the menu and found out that just a Chateaubriand cost HKD1,700++. I told him it is too expensive to spend on a meal. He knew but he didn't mind but I feel so super painful paying that much just for the steak alone. Maybe, recently we have dined out a lot at many nice places but none of it cost that needlessly much. Okay, #MazeGrill is not counted. And that is in London. I'm sure the food will be fantastic and worth every penny.

Maybe as I grow older, I am beginning to feel the need to be more careful with my money (and now ours). I used to just buy air tickets with whatever money I have in my bank. We definitely make more than a lot of families in #HongKong but I want to make sure we have money saved for rainy days.

My boss commented that surely J already know what he has to pay when he chose the restaurant. Well, of course. He is the more switched on one between us on certain things and this is one of those things.

I actually felt bad after she said that. Maybe he wants to dine there badly..and it is his birthday. Why am I doubting his choices? 

I felt bad and told him that we could go there if he wanted. Turns out, he doesn't care. And I quote," I just want to go somewhere to eat and be happy together." I felt relieve after. He can be such a sweetheart sometimes.

I'm pretty sure I'm PMSing now as well because I've been feeling emo all day.

Anyway, we discussed and decided that we will go to #LaVache since we've always wanted to dine here together. But it was well busy and they didn't take reservation so we had to wait for an hour.

It was still relatively early so it was a great excuse for us to go and have some #cocktail around the corner. They make awesome Earl Grey Caviar Martinis.

It was at this quaint place called #Quinary.

I really liked it. Imma bring @pinkytham here when she come next month. Can't wait!!

Check out the caviar. Come to think about it, maybe they should go easy on it.

More photos of him because it is his birthday!

The cliche looking but very pro bartender making our drinks.

We were only there for merely 40 mins before La Vache gave us a call back. So we headed back to the restaurant.

When we got back to the restaurant. It was more packed than before so thank god for the waiting list.

Everything was simple at La Vache. What you see is everything there is on the menu. The only thing you get to choose is how you like your beef/the temperature of the beef (depending on which part of the world you are from). The waitress asked J what temperature would you like your beef and he said,"Warm." I burst out laughing and told him what she meant. It was so funny.

He said nobody ever asked him that before when he ordered steak at other restaurants (steak is one of his very unhealthy choice of staple food). To be fair, I only know because I watch a lot of reality TV shows like Kitchen Nightmares and Hell's Kitchen. I swear I know what will bring success to any restaurant watching every single episode of them.

Green salad and walnut.

Trimmed Beef Entrecote and unlimited fries. I ordered medium and it came just right.

They served it on one of these hot metal plates to be kept warm.

The photo bomber and my #TarteTatin. I think I came back mostly for this but they were so busy so it doesn't taste the same as the first time I ordered it.

Lastly, what I bought him for his 31st Birthday. He was so excited about it, he didn't even waited till midnight last night to open his gift.

He can haz a new wallet! He took this photo himself. So rare.

I'm going to bed now. Goodnight!

My First Year in HK and How We Celebrated: Bistronomique

14th May 2013 is a very significant date for me. I took the leap of faith and ended up in Hong Kong.

I'm not going to lie, my relationship with J was pretty rocky just right before I relocated here but we decided that we loved each other and tried to work on it.

It was worth it.

My first and second month here I was still working in #Netccentric but I was frantically looking for a job since I arrived. This is because, like any other foreigner, I needed a visa to stay in Hong Kong for longer than 3 months. I know another similar couple where the girl was a SIA stewardess who quit her job to relocated to Hong Kong for her businessman boyfriend. She was going through this whole job search thing for a long time before I arrived.

So she would travel to Macau (because it is the closest different country and nobody would rather go to China for this) every 3 months and return to Hong Kong to restart her 90 days tourist visa again.

In my first week here, I honestly thought that that would be my life considering it is so hard for the locals/foreigners who are already here to find jobs, what are my chances? But J encouraged me to be positive cos he said that I'm a lot brighter than the people he have met and found jobs.

I was hopeful after he told me that. Even though I know he had to as my boyfriend. Haha.

My strategy at that point was to look for whatever reputable/non-local company that would hire me. I thought hey, new country, new directions. Story of my life and all that shit. I got in touch with the ex #HongKong #nuffies as well just to make sure I got all my bases covered. They were very helpful and gave me plenty of advise.

During my first week, I sent out loads of CV but no calls. To be honest, I was feeling rejected because I have never in my life I had to look so hard for a job.

Any job really.

So I cried a lot and J had to comfort me a lot. He said, "Come on Deng, it is only week 1. Hong Kong people is fast but not THAT fast."

And it is true. I got plenty of calls on week two, went for a few interviews and got offered a job in the next couple of weeks and by then my contract with Netccentric was coming to an end. So everything worked out perfectly.

I can't say my first job in Hong Kong was though but that is a story for another day.

Yes, my current job is my second job in my short 1 year in Hong Kong.

Okay, I guess what is important is that I've made it. J was right and I am proud of myself to a certain extend.

We celebrated it at #Bistronomique. It is a hidden restaurant in #Central. The food was truly amazing and I rarely say that.

Fish chowder. It taste a lot like a lobster bisque. So, I really liked it.

Lobster tail salad. It was really fresh.

Beef entrecote. It was done at the perfect temperature. And by the time we finished, we were too full to have dessert. Which is a shame because I'd love to try their banofee pie. Anything with banana, caramel and whip cream really. #fatdieme

We were so tan after our #KotaKinabalu trip. It is hard to get him to take a decent photo with me. So, this is a really good one though I did grumpy at him for not leaning forward - now I look like I wanted the photo more than he did (even though it is TRUE).

But you know you only have one chance or maybe two when the waiter is taking the photos for you before they dash off.

Finally, he got me a #DanielWellington watch as gift to remember my first year in Hong Kong. Also, because I lost my retro gold #Casio at Nexus. It was a surprise. I woke up on the Saturday before the dinner and he handed me the box.

I wear it everyday now.