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Tuesday, 27 December 2016

Garfield Run Singapore 2016

Rachel December 27, 2016 0 Comments

2016 has almost come to an end and here is it, my final fun run for year 2016.

If you have been following me for quite some time now, you would know that I am a huge fan of themed fun run. Sometimes I do wonder if I really love to run or I just love collecting medal and t-shirt?

My answer is I love both; I love to run and I love collecting medal and t-shirt.

So far I have only joined 3 themed fun runs including Garfield run and I actually blogged about them as well so don't forget to read them if you have not already.

Click here to read ⇒ SCORE Cupid Run 2016 and Hello Kitty Run Malaysia 2016.

Okay, back to Garfield Run.

I am not a Garfield fan but you know, cute Garfield t-shirt, medal and plush, those sold me out.

That was why I HAD TO RUN!

Here is what we got for the race entry pack, nothing much or special. Like any other race entry pack, you get a race t-shirt, drawstrings bag, running bib and timing chip (we participated in the 5 KM competitive run and that was why we needed a timing chip).

We actually signed up for the 5 KM Garfield and Arlene Couple Run so at the end of the race, we were supposed to get 2 different plushies which were Garfield and Arlene. But too bad, there were some production faults that caused them to not able to produce Arlene plushies and it will be replaced with another Garfield plush.

Here is the Garfield plush that we received as the replacement of the Arlene plush, still looking cute though. The big head Garfield with a human body, haha!

This year's Garfield Run was held at The Promontory @ Marina Bay. This was my very first time to join a fun run in Singapore and running around Marina Bay was amazing. I loved how I got to enjoy the beautiful night view of Marina Bay while running my butt off.

This is me standing in front of Marina Bay Sands with my Garfield's tail behind me, what else could I ask for?

Shoes, checked ✓

Timing chip, checked ✓

And let's go! 🏃

Hairy legs, don't care! 😝

10 minutes before the flag off time, we did some warm up and took some selfies (I can never get enough of selfie).

Assemble the Garfields and let's run together! Who says Garfield is a lazy cat who doesn't run?

Few minutes before the flag off time, someone decided to make a special appearance and say hi to us all and he didn't forget to bring along his buddy as well.

Hi Garfield! Glad you made it out of bed and decided to be here with all of us even though we clearly knew that you didn't plan to run. That was a great effort from you, haha!

Oh, and hi Odie!

The flag off time for 5 KM competitive run was at 6:45 pm so by the time when we ran halfway thru the race, Marina Bay had already lighted up with beautiful Christmas lights.

We took a quick stop to take a picture with my favourite Christmas tree. The traditional green Christmas tree will always remains as my favourite kind of Christmas tree but I do find white Christmas tree gorgeous too.

White Christmas tree gives me the magical Narnia kind of feeling or maybe Princess Elsa from Frozen kind of feeling, they are just so white and magical, not really the usual things that you can see everyday.

After about 45 minutes of running and walking, we finally made it and that was my bf's happiest moment ever! Yeah, I kinda forced him to run with me. He is not really into running or exercising but too bad that you met me. I am sorry but this is for your own good. 👍

But at least we did it together right? We got the chance to go home with another new medal and plush.

I still don't quite understand why is Garfield wearing a diaper?

Another new medal added to the collection.

After we had completed the race, it was time for some pictures but taking pictures during the night was quite a challenge. We were having a hard time to make sure that our pictures were "shadow-proof" and bright enough.

This is an example of a failed picture, the bad lighting and the shadow that we couldn't avoid but to let it cover half of my face.

I spent quite a few minutes to adjust the camera to a perfect angle but I failed badly so I guess no finishing line selfie for us, haha!

But at least we still have something else that is better than the previous picture.

Look at my bf's face, his face says it all!

Read his face and tell me what was he trying to tell me. 😂

"Okay lady, you forced me to run and I ran so now it is time to go home."

"Pose for the picture to make her happy and satisfied so that we all can go home early."

"That is it lady, time to go!"

"UGHHH!!!" 😑

I only asked for 3 pictures, is it too much to ask for? 😝

I still can't believe that 2016 has almost come to an end, I am still in this denial stage where I just can't accept the fact that we need to say goodbye to year 2016. Where has all the time gone to?

Time does fly really fast. 😱

That is it for year 2016, my final run for this year.

As a newbie in running, I think I am doing quite okay. Time to train harder to year 2017! 💪

That is it for today's post, I hope you guys somehow find this entertaining, haha!

Thank you for reading my blog and I shall update you guys soon.

The girl who runs,
Rachel.

Christmas is coming soon, who else is excited for Christmas?

ME! ME! ME! MMMEEEEE!

p/s: intended to publish this blog before Christmas but somehow the laziness got me. 😅 #laterpost

# diary

Thursday, 8 December 2016

Where The Adventure Begins

Rachel December 08, 2016 0 Comments

The big day had finally arrived; the day I actually moved to somewhere far away from my home and a place where I would be living on my own.

Okay, that is it, too dramatic. 😅

Hello Bloggies (this just came out of nowhere)! A little update from me, I had moved to Singapore! Yeah, you read it right, I live in Singapore right now. Brace yourself, you are going to see a lot of my new "Singapore blog post". 😁

Phew, now that I have kind of settled down in Singapore (at least I have a desk now in my room) and it is time for me to update my blog a little bit.

Moving and staying at a few different places have always been my wildest dream. Yeah, I know it may sound crazy but I am into that kind of life. I have been living out of my hometown which is Melaka for almost 6 years now and this was my first time moving out to a foreign country. Don't worry, I am not alone because my bf is here with me. 😁

Flashback to about 2 weeks ago when I was struggling to pack my stuff. Did not know that I had accumulated so many stuff over the past 3 years. Seriously people, never ever underestimate the amount of stuff you have. My clothes had already occupied 2 of my 26 inch luggage bags, I did not know why I would end up in this situation and why on earth I still do not have enough clothes to wear? What kind of sorcery is this? 😱

Not only clothes that I had to worry about, all those cute plushies that I had collected throughout the years was another pain in the butt (Hello Kitty plushies from McDonald's 😒) but I still love them all though. Another kind of love-hate relationship between me and my plushies. 😂 I have to promise myself that I am not going to buy any random plushies that I find cute at the shopping malls so dear plushies, please hide and don't let me find you. 😂

After days of packing and this happened.

Why did I have so much stuff again? No one knew why and it was a mystery that I did not even know.

That was it, after staying in KL for almost 6 years and finally it was time for me to leave. I don't think I will have the chance to go back KL anytime soon since my home is in Melaka. This part of moving had made me sad because most of my friends were in KL and I had to say goodbye to a place filled with memories.

Honestly, I cried the night before I left KL. It is always hard to say goodbye. 😢

I know I could always go back but the feeling would no longer be the same.

I understand that this is not the end of my life, it simply means that part of my life has over and it is time to flip over the page to another new chapter of my life; just like how we do it when we are reading a book. You would not want to read the same page over and over again right?

With all the tears streaming down my face, I suddenly realized just how blessed my live had been over the past few years. Everything in my life was so perfect and I could not ask for more. I am truly grateful for that.

Yup, I am one of the lucky people on earth to have something that makes saying goodbye hard.

One day, I actually stumbled upon this great blog about saying goodbye and I really liked it. It says there "If it's hard to say goodbye, your life's been truly blessed", awesome read. 👍

Living abroad has always been my dream and now moving to Singapore is like living in my own dream. It felt quite surreal to me when I knew that I was going to live there for some time. Although Singapore is like a 4 hours car journey from Melaka but hey, I am taking my first baby steps towards my dream. I should be proud of myself. 👍

When I was a kid, my parents would take us to Singapore every Christmas to visit my aunt who was staying in Singapore and I fell in love with this place. I am just the type of girl who enjoys the hustle and bustle of city life. I do enjoy the feeling of catching the bus or train to work every morning or rushing to places where I need to be; it makes me feel like I have my life together and I am always on the go (if that even make sense 😕). Okay, the bottom line is that I love living in a busy city, the end.

I am grateful for the live I have right now; I have a job with a stable income, I have a roof over my head when it rains outside, I have a comfy bed to sleep in after a long day at work and most importantly, I have the chance to live the life that I want. I am blessed. 😊

Another milestone achieved and there are more to come.

Crazy dreams do actually come true sometimes so dare to dream because there is nothing that you can't achieve. 😉

Okay, I think I should just end my post here. I am not even sure what am I typing anymore, starting to lose control over my fingers on the keyboard. 😝 First, I was cursing myself for having too much stuff to pack, then I felt emo about saying goodbye and now, I am here talking about dreams.

Maybe I should just give my brain a break.

So yeah, dear Singapore, please be nice to me. And if you happen to be in Singapore too, don't forget to drop me a message through Facebook, Whatsapp, Line, Hangout, Skype or wherever you can reach me.

Looking forward to the new adventures in Singapore!

The girl who lives in Singapore,
Rachel.

Monday, 14 November 2016

Girls Road Trip/Food Trip

Rachel November 14, 2016 0 Comments

Before I left KL, we had been wanting to go on a short trip to wherever life might took us to and one day, we decided to go on a short road trip to Seremban, Port Dickson (last minute decision) and Melaka. 🚙

Our initial road trip plan was to put a night each at Seremban (KaiSin's hometown) and Melaka (my hometown).

3 girls with their backpacks on their backs and they were ready to go!

First stop was Seremban and we took the KTM all the way from KL Central to Seremban.
It was about an hour train journey and poor Halen had to sit on the floor because the train was so crowded.

First thing to do when we reached Seremban was to fill up our tummies with the delicious local food.

With KaiSin's recommendation (the local's point of view according to Halen 😂), we decided to try Yi Poh Noodles.

I am not really a noodles person but this was so delicious 😋. I loved it so much and seriously, you guys have to try it out.

Don't worry if you don't have the time to travel all the way to Seremban to give it a try because currently there are few branches available in Klang Valley.

More details on Yi Poh Noodles' Facebook page.

While we were chilling at KaiSin's place, the idea of going to Port Dickson came up.

A few days ago when I was surfing the net, I actually saw this beautiful place in Port Dickson which is called Bukit Batu Putih, Tangjung Tuan.

Since we didn't have any plan until dinner so we decided to drive to Port Dickson in the search of this beautiful place that people were talking about on the internet.

It was about a 30 minutes hike to get to the peak of Bukit Putih, Tanjung Tuan and it was totally worth the sweat! 💦💪

Don't mind the slippers, it was a last minute trip and I didn't have my sport shoes with me. I was hiking dangerously but don't worry, I survived! 💪

The weather was really nice and the view was beautiful! 🌄

After we spent some time chilling and taking selfies, it was time for us to hunt for a great dinner to reward ourselves after hiking. 😂

According to KaiSin, Seremban is famous of its seafood 🐟 and that was what we ate for dinner.

We ordered Cheese Crab (actually recommended by one of the waiters at the restaurant), Cereal Butter Squid and Fried Rice, all of them were so damn tasty!

We didn't order any vegetables because KaiSin is a 100% pure carnivore. 😂

I know Cheese Crab sounds like "what???", that was what we thought at first too but it turned out quite good. It was like dipping the crab meat into a cheese sauce and it did not taste like those kind of heavy and cheesy cheese taste that will make you puke after 2 bites.

I am a cheese lover and I approved Cheese Crab. 👍

We went back to KaiSin's place and ended the night by snuggling together in bed watching Train To Busan. 🎥

Have you guys watched that movie yet? It was quite a good movie to watch and the part where people are running for their lives from the zombies were quite intense. If there were a zombie apocalypse, I would be the first one to die because who on earth could run as fast as a zombie? 🤔

The next morning before we departed to Melaka, we had our breakfast at Pasar Besar Seremban. "We need to have our breakfast like the locals", that was what Halen trying to achieve. 😁

We ordered some Char Siew Pao, Mee Hoon Sotong and Beef Noodles for our breakfast., yummy and satisfied! 😋👍

Then we decided to make a stop at Haji Shariff's Cendol to satisfy our sweet tooth.

That was my first time having cendol with glutinous rice (or some may refer it to as sticky rice) and surprisingly, it was quite tasty.

It wouldn't consider as a complete trip if we were to leave Seremban without their famous Baked Siew Pao.

And we were a little greedy so we decided to get their Egg Tart and some tiny Tau Sar Piah.

Okay, tummies were full and it was time for us to head south to Melaka.

🚙 About an hour car ride to Melaka 🚙

First stop in Melaka, Tong Bee Stall - Longkang Siham.

Tong Bee Stall - Longkang Siham

I am a 100% Malaccan (born and bred) but I had never tried Longkang Siham before. That was actually my very first time trying Longkang Siham and it actually lived up to its name. Longkang Siham is quite famous in Melaka and every tourist who visits Melaka will surely wants to have a try at this place.

We ordered some lala (clam), siham (cockle), chutchut (blunt creeper snail, I Google-ed this word but I'm not sure is this even the name of it), century eggs, vegetables and rojak.

Next we tried Bunga Raya Popiah, this is also one of the must-eat food in Melaka and it is located next to the Longkang Siham.

There is one departmental store which is called Madam's King next to the Longkang Siham and the Bunga Raya Popiah stall is situated right in front of Madam's King.

We then continued our food hunt in Jonker Street.

We tried Hokkaido Ice Cream Puff, Coconut Milkshake, Candied Fruits and Durian Cream Puff.

That was our tummies maximum capacity for that day, we were not able to shove in anymore food into our tummies and we decided to call it a night.

The next morning after our tummies had finally digested everything, we went out to get some breakfast.

We got the classic Eggs & Kaya Butter Toast for breakfast.

Greedy us also decided to have some Char Siew Pao, Chicken Ball Rice and Chai Tow Kway (Carrot Cake).

The Chai Tow Kway (Carrot Cake) was the best, one of my favourite food! 😋👍

Done with our heavenly delicious breakfast and it was time to go shopping with the girls. That was actually my favourite part of the trip because my tummy could finally rest. We had been abusing our tummies since day #1 so yeah, a good rest was definitely needed. 😅

The definition of road trip is definitely different from everyone because to KaiSin and Halen, it actually means food trip. Seriously, we had been eating non stop since the minute we departed from KL. This road trip was all about food and yes, everyone was happy despite the bloated tummy! 😁👍

We had a little too much fun in Cotton On and we actually found our swag sides.

Girls got SWAG yo! 😎✌

Before heading back to KL, we had some home-cooked nyoya food 🍚 by my mom, thanks mom! 😁💖

The best thing about coming home is my mom's home-cooked nyoya food, it will always be the yummiest food on earth! 😋🍚

Had an awesome lunch at home and it was time to hit the road to avoid the heavy traffic. 🚦🚙

That was it to our 3 days 2 nights road trip to Seremban, Port Dickson and Melaka.

I had a lot of fun and really enjoyed myself during this trip with the 2 craziest and funniest girls on earth, I love you girls 😘 There were so much laughter and food throughout the whole trip and I am looking forward to more trips like this in the future! 😁

That is it for this post and I hope I didn't make you guys hungry. 😝

Come to Seremban and Melaka for some great food! Trust me, you will never regret! 😉

Happy Eating!

The girl who loves to eat,
Rachel.

p/s: Sorry about the countless emoji in this blog post. I just found out today about this emoji thing in blogger and I had to make a good use of it. 😂

Sorry but not sorry. 😝

# diary # random

Thursday, 3 November 2016

3 Years Ago & 3 Years Later

Rachel November 03, 2016 0 Comments

It all began about 3 years ago.....

1st of August to be exact, it was the day where I embarked on this amazing journey in Silverlake, the place where I worked and grew into the person who I am today.

As a fresh graduate who just got a first permanent job as a programmer, everything was so overwhelming when I was not even really a technical person.

Why am I saying that I was not a technical person?
Because honestly, programming had been my greatest weakness in my university life. I flunked in most of my exams that were related to programming. It was not really my proud moment, but thank God I survived!

I struggled to code at work and I didn't even know how to declare a simple variable until I met 3 of the funniest and craziest people on earth, Ian, Mervin and CK. They guided me a lot in completing my tasks at work although there were times when CK almost smacked my head because I was too dumb to understand stuff. Don't blame me, I was born dumb, what can I do? LOL! xD Soon, the 4 of us became best friends and until now, I still cherish our friendships and the time we spent together.

Throwback to 3 years ago when we attended our very first company's annual dinner.
Look at how young and innocent we looked back then, haha!

After working in Silverlake for about one year, I was given the opportunity to work onsite in Brunei. To be honest, working onsite was not easy, but months and months of tortures had shaped me for who I am today. I had gained a lot of valuable knowledge and experience, and I am really grateful for that.

Besides than the torture working onsite, I met a bunch of great people and together we had fun.

And also not to forget, that was when I met Halen and KaiSin, the funniest girls on earth who never failed to make me laugh every single day.

After coming back from Brunei for about one and a half year, then only I decided to leave Silverlake.

3 years later, it was time for me to leave.

The decision to leave was quite bittersweet; I felt sad to leave this place that had become my second home with all my wonderful friends, but I was also happy that I was able to spread my wings and fly higher.

After I had tendered my resignation, farewell lunches and dinners started flowing in. Honestly, each and every farewell lunches and dinners that I went to made it even harder and sadder to leave this place.

After numerous of farewell lunches and dinners, I would like to thank everyone for the free meals! xD
You guys seriously had been feeding me well with delicious food (I still hate that stinky tofu that you fed me, you know who you are xD) throughout my final few weeks in Silverlake and I am so going to blame you guys on the calories right now, haha!

Once again, thank you everyone. Thank you for the memorable memories, thank you for all the laughter, thank you for all the craziness, thank you for being my friends who I can count on and I am truly sorry if I have ever offended or hurt you.

To all my friends here, thank you and all the best! I hope our paths will cross again in the future.

Don't forget to drop me a message if you happen to come to Singapore! ;)

As for now, goodbye my friends.

Love,
Rachel.

# diary # random