KONAD - Korean Nail Art Design

THE other day I visited my friend, Catherine who was helping her aunt out with her new shop in IOI Mall, Puchong. Well, it's not a shop actually, more like a stall located on the concourse area.

Catherine's aunt is trying to set up a nail art design store. All the products of the are imported from Korea. And she told me that her aunt is among the first to import and starting a business of this in the country.

At first she wanted to give me a try for free. But of course I didn't want because it looks so girlish. Somehow in the end I agreed to give it a try. Just a finger won't make any difference. So I requested her to choose a not-so girlish design.

She explained all the products and also the steps while doing it for me. It looked simple as it is. Anybody can just learn and use it without any difficulties. If you are creative, you can even decorate you nails with different mix and match of patterns and colours.

Clockwise from the bottom: 4 different plates, base coat, top coat, coloured nail polish (black and blue), stamp chop and scrapper

Firstly, she applied the base coat to the fingernail. It gives the nail a base layer and it will also protect the nail.

After that, I left my nail to dry a little while under this cute little nail dryer.

This is also imported from Korea

Next she applied the KONAD coloured nail polish on the desired pattern on the plate. There are many plates for you to choose from and each of the plate has seven unique patterns.

After applying the colour, she scraped off the excessive polish from the plate using the scrapper.

And using the stamp chop, she then pressed it on the pattern so that the image will stick on the surfaces of the stamp.

Before stamping the image on my nail. There!

Once again, leave the nail to dry.

Lastly, a top coat is applied on the nail. This acts as an outer layer for the nail and make it shine as well.
The results was not bad afterall. Easy and fast. So I decided to let her to do on the second finger.
And then the third one. Haha.
But then I asked my friend to removed the last one as it was too flowerish for me.

Before I left, she showed me one last product. It is called the Pro Salon Case contains all the full set. It has 19 different nail polishes, a big image plate contains 268 designs, 3 stamps, 3 scrapers, 2 top coats, a base coat, cuticle oil, two-way buffer, nail trimmer, tweezer, sponge, glitter etc etc.

Those who wish to open a nail art design shop will have to purchase this. And it looks so cool.

The briefcase of the famous Double O Seven James Bond (minus the butterflies).

Guess how much does it cost?

The Morning Call

MUM woke me up at 5 in the morning while I was sleeping so nicely in the bed. She said that my uncle called just awhile ago. He wanted my dad to bring him to the hospital so mum asked me to accompany my dad.

However it would take some time for us to reach his house in Sri Petaling. So my uncle asked his clinic doctor to fetch him to the UM Hospital in PJ.

Dad and I went straight to the hospital. It was about 6.45am when we reached there. The air-con was so cold inside.
Visit the uncle in the emergency room. Well, he said his stomach was cramp and was having some pain the body. The doctor came after some time and gave him a check up.

Aiyooo..paaain la. Pain.

The doctor collected my uncle's blood to be tested for any virus. After everything was settle down, dad and I went back home. Continued my sleep.

Satur-Day Out

I was sleeping till 11am yesterday when Nicholas called me to go out for gai gai. Met him at the Hang Tuah Station at 11.45am. First we went to Times Square. Then he suddenly remembered that he had to go Kelly Services to settle his EPF stuff.

Took the monorail to Raja Chulan Station. Nicholas had a trouble getting out of the exit gate as his Touch'N'Go value was less than RM5. He called for assistance and according to the station staff. He must have at least RM5 value balance to use the Touch'N'Go service on the monorail. What logic is that?!

The Lego display at Times Square

Anyway, after Nicholas had settled his stuff, we walked to the Pizza Hut at Jalan Sultan Ismail to have our lunch. We ordered the 4-in-1 festive combo for two person. It comes with the pizza, fizzy jelly drinks, a mango pudding, breadsticks and chicken soups. It was full. And I like it. I like pizza =)

Next, we went to Low Yat Plaza. Checked out some computer harware prices for Bee Li. She and Han Chee are going to buy a PC when they come to KL next two weeks. Asked different shops for the prices and at the same time I did learn many things from it.

However after comparing the prices, the graphic card that she wants is much more cheaper in Singapore. Maybe we'll get that in Singapore during the Christmas time.

Played Daytona in the arcade with Nicholas. I lost at the very last minute!!! Aiks..

Met Xian Boon and Bee Kee in Sg Wang. Bee Kee wanted to get a notebook and Xian Boon found two packages with interesting prices and specs. One is Compaq and the other is Fujitsu. Their specs and price are almost the same except that Compaq is using Intel and Fujitsu using an AMD.

After asking Nicholas and my opinion, we think that getting the Fujitsu is better!

On that day, there was a Digi Feast held outside Low Yat Plaza. Stalls and games were being set up. One guy asked us to join the paintball game, for free! But we didn't want to trouble ourself so Nicholas and I just walked and see around. Took some pics.

Digi Feast

The yellow man from Digi ad

Walk around, up and down at Sg Wang. There were alot of people as usual. Had a drink in one cafe where it also has the in-line skating just started not long ago. RM12 for unlimited hour.

Christmas trees @ Sg Wang

At about 7.30pm we went to Starhill Gallery. On the way there saw an Australian guy doing a fire performance. It was for the charity. After the performance a guy came to collect some donation. As usual, most of the crowd just walked away and disappeared. Nicholas gave him some money.

Before going to Starhill, we stopped at BB Plaza to have a look at the christmas decoration inside. While I was sitting on the stage filled with the decoration. One Ah-Ma guard came to say: "Hello? Don't sit here pliss. Want to sit, can go to Coffee Bean and sit."

-_-"

BB Plaza Concourse Area

That's Nicholas on the BIG Swan

First thing that we did when arrived in Starhill Gallery was to look for the washroom. I must say this is a must-'visit' spot for everybody. No other shopping centers in Malaysia have washrooms like Starhill. Come and find out. Only in Starhill =p

Seems like the x'mas trees are floating upwards

Starhill is one of the place where you'll find branded and high class retail shops in it. The shoppers are not many compared to the shopping complexes in Bukit Bintang. It's consider an exclusive shopping mall.

Don't even think of entering the restaurants inside when there isn't a RM50 note in your wallet. There is a Japanese buffet restaurant on the upper floor where the price is quoted according to the customers' height. Growing so tall isn't so good anyway. Hehe.

Nicholas brought me to a cafe for a drink where it's considered quite affordable for us at that time. Anyway we just wana have a try. The place is called Tiffin Bay. It is more like a jazz lounge. There were people playing piano and singing jazz. We ordered milkshakes and enjoyed the atmosphere there.

As I was trying to take some pics of the place and then suddenly the waitress came to me and say no photography is allowed. However I did manage to snap some before that.

Tiffin Bay

Chocolate Milkshake for RM12

After staying there for some time, we left to Times Square. Hoping to get some cheaper food there as we haven't had our dinner yet. Went to The Chicken Rice Shop but the chickens wana sleep already. The shops are closing. It was almost 10pm.

So Nicholas and I walked to Pudu to eat the famous Teochew porridge. Cheap and delicious! After dinner we walked back to Hang Tuah station and took the LRT home.

Left the house at 11.30 am and reached back home at 11.30pm. It been a whole day out. My legs were tiring. I needed a good night rest.

每个人的秘密

今天上网时无意之中发现了一位朋友的blog。在这时候才知道一些事情。让我领悟了某些事。

人在生命中都会经历到很多事情。其中一个就是感情了。

昨天和两位大学朋友在[史帝分角落]喝茶。其中一位刚刚和她的男友分手不久。他们在一起已经有四年了。说分，就要分。听了觉得非常可惜。听她说话的语气好像很舍不得。看她那依然还是很坚强的表面，只好默默的希望她没事。

感情的事真的很难说。

虽然和你心中喜欢的人相处的时间不是很久，认识的也不是太多，但就是时时刻刻的想着他（她）。愿意为他（她）做任何事，只要他（她）开心。看着他（她）笑，自己就会觉得已经很满足了。这就是所谓爱的魅力吗？嘻嘻，听起觉得来实在太傻了。

我相信在恋爱当中是在每个人最快乐，最幸福的时刻。但是当在失恋的时候，是比你想象中的还要可悲呢。在这个时候你最需要的就是时间。但也少不了关怀和安慰。想起当时在一起的时刻，会使你感到更痛苦。让你感到好怀念。不是吗？如果觉得伤心的话，就痛苦一场吧。那是最好的方式。

从“你，要更我交往吗？”一直到 “ 我想我们还是分手吧！”都会有非常甜蜜的回忆。一个要珍惜的回忆。寻找自己的罗密欧与朱丽叶，不是一件很简单和巧合的事。最残忍的是，你所付出的爱不一定会得到回应。有些人会等，有些人会再寻找，有些却会暂时停止。

这就是每个人所要经历的。透过折磨和经年，才能让我们更进一步。不要气馁，不要感到失望，不要为了过去而感到遗憾。把它当作是一个教训。从那里学习，更改错误。让你懂得怎样珍惜。不管你做什么选择，一定是有你的理由的。

坚持吧！

Interchange Stations

KL transportation is undergoing some changes under the new management of RapidKL. It has taken over the LRT (Ampang, Sri Petaling and Kelana Jaya lines) and the bus system in the city.

Throughout this year RapidKL has been introducing new routes, systems and also new buses. I must say they are trying hard to improve the public transportation service in KL. However, there are still much things needed to be improved.

RapidKL new bus

First, is the use of common ticket. Instead of buying tickets are seperate counters for different LRT lines, why can't we just use the same ticket from our origin place to our destination?

Eg, if I have to get from Pandan Indah station to KLCC station. I have to interchange at one station, Masjid Jamek. So I'll have to buy a ticket from Pandan Indah to Masjid Jamek (For Ampang LRT line), then buy another ticket from Masjid Jamek station to KLCC (Kelana Jaya line).

Masjid Jamek is suppose to be an interchange station. Interchange station means we do not to exit the station and then purchase another ticket to continue our journey.

the green colour word says 'walkway'

Maybe is the lack of interconnecting between the 2 stations. Maybe the government of Malaysia should do some proper planning before carry on with the project.

The gap between the Masjid Jamek 'interchange' station

There are some other 'interchange' station which are actually not connected. Such as:

-Hang Tuah Station (connecting Ampang line and KL Monorail)

showing the distance of covered walkway

-Titiwangsa Station (connecting the Ampang Line and KL Monorail again)

walkway with without pavement

-KL Sentral Station (Connecting the KL Monorail and Kelana Jaya Line/KTM/KLIA Transit).

covered walkway over the open air carpark

It should be called 'Interchange stations with walking distance' instead.

Here is a short story about young couple from Singapore having their vacations in KL:

Anyway, we reached Royal Bintang Hotel at around 2pm, after battling the traffic jam, with the uncle honking at the crazy taxis. Then we checked into our room, located at the NON-SMOKING level. We were finally smoke-free!

We blasted the air-con in our room and scooted out to jalan jalan. KL is damn warm, but Singapore is worse. Trust me.

Midvalley Megamall was our first stop. But first, we gotta figure out our way there and the hotel staff were kind enough to help. Heh heh. We're really lucky.

We walked a short distance to the KL Monorail, Bukit Bintang Station. We needed tickets to bring us to Midvalley station.

Boy: "We need to get to KL Sentral first."
Me: "Ok, we go there to change train?"
Boy: "Yeah, but I think we need to get the tickets to KL Sentral."
Me: "HUH? Not to Midvalley?"
Boy: "No leh, the guy said go to KL Sentral first."
Me: "Not cross the platform at the Interchange meh?"
Boy: "We not in Singapore lah dey."

alfresco and freaking hot.

Me: Yea, we not in Singapore lah dey. We were in KL. Where transport SUCKS!!!
Big time.

try pronouncing all those.

5 stops for RM2.10 per ticket. Summore cannot cross the platform one, nabeh.
We alighted at KL Sentral, and we had to find our way to the KTM Komuter. We were told it was just across the road from the Monorail station, but no dude, we don't see no KTM Komuter!!!
Nevertheless, we braved the traffic and crossed the road. My boy loves the traffic light's green man. Unlike Singapore's flashing of the green man, it RAN. The legs could move, holy shit. Hahahahaha! Kawaii!
Anyway, we found our way after walking through this pasar malam and crossing not just one road but 3? Quite scary, because the cars just zoomed everywhere. So we actually crossed 3 ROADS instead of just crossing one platform, after reaching their so called "Interchange". I'm stunned.
I'm so thankful for Singapore's transport. At least I know I'm not paying the hefty adult price for crap transport.
We bought 2 tickets to Midvalley Station (1 stop only lor!) for RM1 each.
So much trouble just for ONE STOP to Midvalley Station. Nabeh. Malaysia, please implement the cross the platform thing. Makes things easier, ok?
They really need to put some brains into their transport facilities.
Firstly, we had to wait for 15 long minutes (!!!) just for ONE train to bring us to our destination which is just ONE STOP away (can't get over this).
Secondly, it was warm (no air-con, just industrial fans) and dark (lousy lightings), without much seats (I think they damn budget).
Thirdly, we had to run after the train because it overshot our waiting area. Yes, the fucking train was shorter than the platform. What the fuck?!
Grr.
Anyway, we got to Midvalley Mega Mall and I was a little grouchy already. Wasted so much time just to get there.
Not that I support Singapore so much but hey, I think the Malaysian gorvernment can at least learn something from our neighbour country.
I have relatives staying in Singapore and my university is in Johor Bahru so I am a frequent traveller to Singapore. Their public transport system is well-organised. From detail signboards to digital displayboard showing the arrival times of trains at every stations.
Just see this. You'll understand.
Back to the common ticket. Well, perhaps the government ARE doing something about it.
Is Touch'n'Go familiar to you? It is a stored value card introduced years ago for Malaysian drivers so that they won't have to queue up paying at the toll plaza.
And don't forget that this card can also be used at LRT, Monorail and KTM stations. However everytime when I passed by the stations ticket counter I could see people queing up buying the single trip ticket.
Getting a stored value card for the benefit of yourself isn't very difficult, is it? Every Malaysian should have their MyKad by now, so everyone should have their own Touch'n'Go card.
Maybe there aren't many Touch'n'Go service counter for people to top-up their value in their card. And there was once my dad trying to use the Touch'n'Go card at a station but the service was out of order on that day.
There is still much work for the government and rakyat to do. Remember, Visit Malaysia Year 2007 is coming in a few days time! =)

Day 2 at Pangkor

From the previous day.

COULDN'T sleep the whole night so got up the bed at 5 something, took a shower then went to the beach. The sky was still very dark and only could hear the waves. Quite scary being alone there. Stayed at the swing and listened music.

It was about 6.30am when the rest had waken up, we went to Teluk Dalam trying to catch the sunrise. However there were many clouds on that day so this was what we got...

We stayed at the jetty and beach. Took some photos and enjoy the scenary. It was freaking cold when the wind blew. As we were riding on the motorcycle, everybody was shaking.

Reaching the jetty

We then headed back to Nipah Bay for breakfast. It was then my first time riding a scooter. It was easy, as long you know how to ride a bicycle. Should have rent another scooter on the day before. While having our breakfast, saw the Malaysian Navy armies were marching along the beach.

Everyday these people swim from the ship (on background) to the beach

After breakfast, we went back to change for water activites. There were some beach activities such as snorkelling, jet skiing, canoeing, boat trip etc.

We went for snorkelling first. It costs RM15 including the boat and snorkel set. They dropped us at an island nearby where we could see some corals and fishes. They also provided some bread for us to feed the fish.

Han Chee, Kelly and Hiang Sin

Catherine, Bee Li and Alans

There were many fishes but the water was not so clear compare to Redang. However we did enjoy ourself as they were not many people there at that time.

Some people fooling around

"Nemo, where are u?"

Sheltering from the sun

Somebody in deep thoughts

After that, we went for canoeing. They charged for RM10 per hour. Because they were 7 of us and each canoe only limit to 2 person, so I had to canoe on my own. It was my first time trying that and I must say it was a very nice experience. Too bad there weren't any photos taken, scared that the camera will get wet.

We then went back to our room and get ready to check out. All of us were queing up for the bathroom. So Bee Li and I had our hair washed using the pipe water outside. We checked out almost an hour late but the manager didn't charge us extra.

A last shot before leaving the beach

Before heading to the Pangkor town jetty, we had lunch at Pantai Pasir Bogak. There was one place that we wanted to go but didn't have enough time. It is a remote beach located at south of the island not known to many people.

Hopefully there is a chance next time. Hopefully.

Reached Lumut at 3 something. They went to buy some dried sotong and snacks before leaving for home respectively. I took the 4pm bus back to KL.