Food Haven, Travels & Photos

Going to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah

admin — Mon, 12 May 2008 07:51:13 +0000

I have booked online through Air Asia to fly to Kota Kinabalu (KK) from 20th to 22nd June 2008. It is on a Friday to Sunday where there is less work. I did try to check out malaysianairlines.com of MAS Zero Fare advertised in the press now but found that it was about RM100 more expensive with transit in KL. With Air Asia, I can fly direct from Penang’s airport to KK in Sabah. The the cost? For 2 persons return is RM814 including taxes and RM3 per bag to check in per person. After I have gone to KK, I would have been to all states in Malaysia. I was in Bintulu, Sarawak in late 2006 and early this year, I went to Terengganu by car. I have been to Kelantan many times for business previously. And I have also been to all the other states in the west coast from Johor to Perlis. I have also stayed in a local hotel in Johor some time back, also for business.

Since I hate walking, I don’t plan to hike up Mount Kinabalu which will take at least 3 days. My plan for the trip is purely for holidays with my boyfriend. What I have heard about Mt. Kinabalu is that it is about two times higher than Penang Hill and the path there is not as steep and difficult compared to Penang Hill. So, next time I can boast to my grandchildren that I have hiked up Penang Hill by foot. Because of the MAS zero fare, my youngest sister and her church friends plan to hike up Mount Kinabalu sometime in November. And you can book online until 19th of this month of May.

Going back to Penang tomorrow

admin — Fri, 09 May 2008 09:37:50 +0000

I am currently in KL and have been here since 4 days ago. That’s why I have not been blogging to often or writing paid articles. It was a good break though I am here for business. In a short while, I will be going to Sunway Pyramid for 3 nights in a row as I love the shopping experience there. And I just discovered they have Teochew and Hakka restaurants in the new wing. I went to see the Japanese buffet nearby and my gosh, they have so many varieties of Japanese food that I wonder what will happen to them if they are not eaten up by diners. For RM55 per person, you get to dine here. As I am keeping watch over my weight, I shall give this a pass and dine other restaurants with ala carte food.

Staying in Dorsett Hotel tomorrow

admin — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:30:26 +0000

As usual, I will book Dorsett Hotel for tomorrow’s stay overnight and call up Mitzy Bistro to reserve a table for 2 as well. If I don’t reserve a table for 2 for the weekend, I will not be able to dine in Mitzy. It is always jam packed with diners during the weekend, simply because the food is delicious and affordable. For a set dinner of a drink, soup, main course and ice-cream, you don’t pay more than RM20 inclusive of taxes.

By now, I am used to the hotel’s ambience, its room furnishings and the like. And the best part is that it is only a stone’s throw away from my church in town - Georgetown Baptist Church. Incidentally, this church has 2 MPs or members of parliament as members. I also need to get ready on Monday to travel down to KL from Penang for business.

Pay to blog

admin — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 03:03:41 +0000

Blog advertising has been the rage since late 2006. Many bloggers and stay-at-home mums are making good part-time income blogging in the comforts of their houses. This blog for pay opportunity is a God-sent for anyone with a computer who wishes to earn some pocket money from home. I have seen ordinary housewives become bloggers extraordinaire earning more than USD10,000 for all their writing efforts in a year. The moolah comes in nicely for Christmas spending and new clothes for kids or a short holiday somewhere. The ordinary housewife with limited savings suddenly become wealthy with thousands kept in the bank, all thanks to paid blogging from companies like Bloggers Review plus others that I don’t care to mention.

I was surfing a web site when I was emailed about an exciting offer from Bloggers Review. I decided to check it out, sign up and submit my 3 blogs. You can send in at the most 3 blogs per account. And they have an online customer support for any enquiries that you may have. It is fast, convenient and easy, at the touch of the keyboard.

Stumbled upon an interesting blog post

admin — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 08:57:13 +0000

I was surfing the web site when I came across a blog that sells t-shirts on Christian theme which is based in Singapore. Check out the link as it has a YouTube video of American Idol 2008 singing “Shout to the Lord”. The blogger reminds me of my years staying in Singapore from 1988 to 2000. He also happens to attend my former very annointed church, New Creation which has more than 15,000 members. So, if you are looking for Christian apparel, you can click on the link. It has been 8 years now, since I left Singapore for Penang; and the only thing I miss is the window shopping in Ngee Ann City and not being able to attend New Creation Church live in person at The Rock, Suntec City. But luckily I still get to listen to his sermons by purchasing CDs and books from www.newcreation.org.sg

I keep rare coins

admin — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:52:12 +0000

Besides collecting stamps, I also look out for rare coin for my private collection. I have an album of coins dating back to my father’s time. And they are getting rarer because they are no longer in production. They are a form of investment besides being a hobby of sorts. Rare coins are hard to come by and only the trained eye can tell its value. I am still learning to tell the difference by reading widely from books and the internet. Sometimes, you can go to ZoomCoin and look out for such items that are worth collecting. And you get the genuine stuffs. They are compact and easy to keep in a coin album.

Could not sleep, what to do?

admin — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 23:02:43 +0000

The whole of last night and until this morning, I lay awake all the time, shutting my eyes but I just could not fall asleep. Perhaps my mind was too active from reading a book in MPH plus the fact that I am enriching my vocabulary by trying to remember difficult words which I come across in the newspapers. Since I could not sleep, I naturally went downstairs to begin blogging at about 6:00am. My dad thinks that I have paid posts to do, but far from it. I have given up hope of doing paid posts anymore and have ventured into writing articles for lower payment. Not as lucrative as paid posts previously but it is still moolah in my Paypal. Now I am feeling groggy and less alert.

Working with Words and Got Paid

admin — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 00:38:45 +0000

I was paid USD36 for a week’s work of writing 10 articles for a client from India. She has overflow work from USA, and sub contract them out to me. She used to be a medical transcriptionist earning USD750 a month until her hearing problems due to repetitive work and now she is into writing articles for USD450 a month. Not bad for someone who works from home with a young daughter. I am now into working with words for my part time job. And I love to write and read widely for a richer vocabulary. I keep a list of the vocabulary that I have learnt from the newspapers and search out the meanings from Google and from my own dictionary. This make reading all the more fun

Disney on Ice 2008 in PISA, Penang

admin — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 05:56:13 +0000

Last Saturday, I went for an ice-skating performance in PISA. It was Disney on Ice. We sat right in front and got a very good view and we could the skaters’ expressions. I ordered the tickets online at RM135 per person and it was well worth the money. I paid for my ticket while boyfriend paid for his. Disney on Ice comes to Penang once in a year. We saw many award winning figure skaters doing flips, turns and twists in mid air. It was all so exciting with the props and giant blow up cartoon characters with fireworks and other special effects.

There was Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald and Daisy. I especially like 101 Dalmations with the lead skater Cruella De Vil. There’s also Lilo & Stitch, Peter Pan, Ariel the little mermaid, amongst others. The show lasted about 2-3 hours.

Unit trusts - is it for you?

admin — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 09:46:30 +0000

I don’t believe in buying shares and to speculate. I have seen too many people getting burnt due to high investment in shares. My aunt invested S$2.5 million and it was reduced to S$500,000. My mother lost a lot of money in shares and my dad lost the amount of 2 proton wiras. My mum max out the limit and used my name to buy more shares in the past. Similarly, unit trusts are a group of shares managed by other people for you.

As a habit, I normally put my money in Fixed Deposits (FD) at 3.7% per annum. Though it is less profit, but you will never lose your capital and gain the 3.7% extra at the end of the year. This year alone, I lost RM4,000 within 6 months after my dad instigated me to buy unit trusts saying I will definitely earn more money than FD. His greed for more money make me lose more as a result of investing RM$30,000 taken out from my FD. First of all, I had to pay for the manager’s fees at 5.5% totaling about RM1,650. This is a loss in capital already. The next few months my unit trusts drop below what I invested in and cause a further loss of about RM2,500. I have had enough! So, I sold off all of it at a loss of about RM4,000 and put back into FD. That’s the lesson I had to pay for listening to my dad who had sold a semi-detached house to play shares. His RM200k were reduced to RM20k in the end.