KL Fashion Week 2005

It was pompous, glitz and glamour when I entered Hall 5 of KL Convention Center on 26 Nov 2005, Sat, 8.30pm. The meticulously dressed and made-up hostesses standing by the door was prove to its glamour, garbed in silk batik or beautifully woven kebaya.

Typical of Malaysian culture, the event started half an hour late, but it gave us the opportunity to mingle with the socialites in the event. Among the audience I spotted Camelia in a beautiful green attire and thick gold necklace with ethnic elements, Irene Santiago in beige dress and sparkling silver handbag, Serena C in an elegant black dress with sequined halter neck and some very famous fashion designers like Bill Keith, etc. I even heard Ling Tan was there but pity I could not spot her.

The moment the MC announced the start of the event, it was fashion, fashion, fashion all the way. I have always loved Khoon Hooi's designs themed "Hopeful Romantics" but this time it looked to me like he just put a few pieces of white and black cloths and chiffons together and call them dresses. Melinda Looi's designs fared better as she experimented with a more outrageous gothic style where all her models are in masked in white with a grey veil around them. Anybody with a slithe figure could be her model when they are covered like that! However, some of her designs are worth a mention with a combination of gold and denim colors. Villiam Ooi designs were not bad but the most fun catwalk was by Tom Abang Shaufi as Camelia made an appearance to sing the song that the models catwalk to. At least that was a change and made the whole place more vibrant. Daniel Cho's all-men designs were not bad with the appearance of all almost naked men as the first model, and boy, did I oggled at some of them :)

With less publicity on the event, I feel the designs were not inspiring and impressive enough but well, good enough for my first experience. Would love to go for the gala event by The Star but too bad I missed it. Till the next fashion encounter, I got more inspirations for my wedding attire already ;)

Half-A-Million Ringgit Race Part 4 in Singapore

Memories of Singapore lingered in my mind like the aftertaste of a chocolate mudpie. It was the ordeal of finding the next clue that led us to various places in Singapore from the North to South, East to West.

Our 1st clue goes like this:
In brave colours, off they go
To other lands in search of greater control
This loner now sits silently
Resonating with pride, for those in the know

Who would have guessed this to indicate a ship setting sail in the vicinity of the Malay Heritage Village. I for one did not expect the first two lines to indicate the people of Riau instead of the Japanese soldiers during World War 11 setting us into places of WW11 in search of the historical icon who went against the soldiers during the Japanese occupation. We looked under the tombstones of Kranji War Memorial, the seats in the chapel of Changi Chapel and Museum, the pants of Sir Stamford Raffles near the Asean Civilisation Museum and almost ventured into the Harbours in the south like Keppel Harbour near Sentosa Island. We finally found the clue on the bottom of the roof of a hut near the ship beside the Malay Heritage Village. The sight of the 2nd clue printed on a small A4 size paper was a one to be cherished. You could not imagine the satisfaction and sense of achievement I and my bf felt after walking for hours and taking various public transportation around Singapore.

It was a small island of a country with enough places to see and visit for days. Compact is the word for it.

2nd clue was worse. So generic, it could be anything and anywhere:

Hi Lady, your new form seem to have lost much

Still this delectable treat you must not start

Whoa....what the hell could that be. A lady who has lost weight and wants to eat something but can't? Sounds to me like a restaurant with a very tempting dessert with the name of a Lady? Could it be that easy and staight forward? U tell me...

Anyway, this clue led us to more places in Singapore which we would never have thought to visit: there is this one bar called Opium Bar in Empress Place near Espalanade (again!), Lady Hill street which used to house a hotel called Lady Hill Hotel, Raffles Hotel (which is a very beautiful and opulent hotel btw) as it was used to be called "Old Lady of the East and serves a terrific cocktail called Singapore Sling (wasn't that close, but that is not it) and Holland Village with bars of names like Original Sin and Diana Bar. We even pondered on going to Nude Bar in IndoChine, Orchard Road but decided to go against it as we realised the clue most likely might not lead us to restaurants or bars but something not related to food since there is no indication that the treats cannot be eaten! Arrghhhh, they just keep leaving me in suspence and I am back here now awaiting for results. But it was a well-worth and fun trip nevertheless.

Half-a-million ringgit race in Singapore

Sitting by a quiet path,
It is hardly nature's warth,
If you set your sights hard enough
You will catch a glimpse of a fruit that is just so tough

This is the riddle that made all 5 of us ran all around Singapore for the past two days, sweating profusely from all the running, sun burnt from walking in the scorching hot sun and frustrated for not being able to solve even one riddle for the treasure hunt. We ventured into the "lion" country with high hopes but came back with such enjoyable memories of Singapore. Now, I can say with pride that I know every inch of the Esplanade as that is where the riddle led us to. Up and down, right and left, even bottom and on top we went around the Esplanade and every inch of the park around the big "durian" like building.

However, all of us enjoyed the trip immensely. Running from parks to museums to restaurants and shopping centers, the A4 size clue could be hidden anywhere. So enthusiastic were we that we booked into one room in Orchard Road to rest and spend one more day loking for the clue. Christmas lights set me and my close friend in the mood as we traversed along the busy roads of Orchard. We loved how the lanes between shopping centers were converted into beautiful bars with lanterns and candles hanging everywhere. We were fascinated with songs from 2 guitarists who serenade the pub goers with beautiful chorus.

On the 2nd day, we got the oppotunity to explore this pub called Eski Bar aka The Fridge. With ice all around, the whole bar is frozen to below 0 degrees. My god, was I freezing when I entered the place! But cool concept though to have your drinks in such a cold place.

We continued our search until 7pm before we called it a day. It was disheartening but we had to give up due to work commitments the next day. And at the moment that we are suppsoed to leave, we got a very important clue which could have helped us tremendously. Why does things always have to be like this. Such coincidence u call it. Anyhow, we could do nothing except to ask another one of the participant to check out if the place we thought based on the last clue was right. Until today I am waiting in anticipation.

My trip to Korea

Yellow and red leaves adorn the environment, cool breeze billowed everywhere we go, the sweet aroma of seaweed insinuated the air. That is what I remember from my trip to Korea this Oct 2005. A trip planned for Beijing or Shanghai turned into a trip to Korea due to money constraints. Despite the lack of time to visit most places since we were on a tour, I enjoyed the trip immensely.

Food is great, take note: their vegetables are not sprayed with insecticides, thus explaining why the vegetables there tasted better. Why the rice and meat tasted better, I could not explain. Meat and vege barbequed together with rice was one of the main attraction for me. Almost like eating Korean-version of rojak.

One unforgettable place is "Everland" bought by Samsung, the biggest brand in Korea. Colours were everywhere, kids in fanciful clothes and parades with smily ghosts brandished the whole place.

In terms of brands, Korea is a proud country. Brands like Cadbury is replaced by Lotte, Nokia replaced by Samsung, Mercedes by Hyundai. They are not in favour of imports making them incredibly independent but lack in innovation, at least that is what I feel. There are more shops than customers, making the shops empty all the time. I wondered how they survive. The high cost of living has resulted in an extremely thrity society there where everyone is materialistic. And they even say Malaysia's petrol cost is extremely cheap. And boy are we complaining. :)

So, be grateful to live in Malaysia, where the grass is green all the time and we get to enjoy Haagen Daz and buy a Honda or BMW if we want to. And to watch English and Chinese movies all over the world whenever we can. And the price of petrol and food has not escalated to an unbearable level.