Happy 2023

Happy new year!!

I mean, it's already the 23rd. New year is still a new year.

Oh, and also Happy Chinese New year too to those who celebrate. It's the year of the Rabbit and I'm manifesting that this will be my year of positive changes.

Life updates?

I have reached 15 years working life. In the same department. You have read and witness my break down becoz of it too. So, I decided this year, I will look for a transfer to another department and out of the company entirely. If I'm not happy anymore, I must make this change. Just the other day, I was watching and old video diary where I rant frustration of their treatment on me, the lack of appreciation. I also came across a post here where I rant about how I was being singled out for having a strong opinion and attitude. That confirmed my decision for a change, to leave. It's better to change environment and be scared of the changes that comes with it than to have stayed, knowing what's gonna happen.

Travels! I have one coming in Feb. for a Westlife concert! Finally!! I waited my whole life for this. like, literally. I said to myself that to go to at least one concert and my westgal life will be complete. I haven't book a flight tho. Hotel already done. I haven't got a chance to book flight yet. Not money problem. More like, I want to change the flight tix voucher I won at our Annual Dinner, from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore coz I'll be going to Westlife concert in Singapore. The hold back is becoz I wanted to just fly to KL using that voucher and buy a separate flight tix for Singapore. The thing is, going to KL is not in my plan! I have to settle this tho by this week. Hoping the company where the voucher is from is not on a long CNY holiday. :S

My crafts. My creativity. My passion. It's been how many years now that I have my second IG up? I started posting 30 Sep 2020 and and now already 23 Jan 2023 which means (as helped by my calculator xD) I have my second IG for 2 years and almost 4 months! wahhh..feels like I only started posting last year. The fact that I already did my first ever flip thru of 2022 should have made me realize time already flew by. wow. Speaking of flip thru, I feel like I want to do another one or three of my previous years' creations or recreations. but that would mean I need to dig out old journals. I am not spiritually ready for that LOL. I still like the idea tho. So, it'll still come true. hopefully to fill in the rest of my January post days. Hwaiting

Reading! I read alright. just not an actually books. My attention span isn't what it used to be. I finished at least two books last year. Wait, let me double check. anything that I feel I did last year is now suspicious. LOL ok ngam, last year. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins in January, and The Desolations of Devil's Acre by Ransom Riggs in Apr. I tried reading other books but it was just not happening. My body and soul just wouldn't commit! In November I tried again with Paige Toon's The Longest Holiday but by page 34, sudah tah ku. lol Luckily, I still read a fanfic by an online friend I met at Asianfanfics. I still count that as my 'Read' in my habit tracker. I've read many of her stories every since I found her. Currently waiting for updates on current story, Aquarius. a sequel to Water Lily. In December, I read two books by Rachel Gibson online. Spicy~ I have a physical copy of her book I bought from Besteastern. but those books in the end stop selling here in our country. lol pasal apa nah? Explicit content. hahaha I bought that book in my early twenties and didn't realize its genre until much much later. it's corn in written form guys. or as booktok and bookgram put it, Spicy~ The story line is still good tho. I have read three written by Rachel Gibson and all three has three different backgournd. All about writers tho. Until I realize, it was Writer Friends series from her. hahaha ah well, anyway. At least, in total, I have read 4 books in 2022. Hoping to get back to reading in 2023 coz booktok and bookgram made me buy books to read (or to simply collect to be honest).

Alrighty, that is all that I can think for a life update.

I suddenly have a sudden urge to update so many here but we all know how I be; Motivated one minute, gone the next. LOL

thank you for reading this far as always. 

Love,

AJ Awang.

my FAQ

other than the Solan Capo Emas (Soalan Campur Emas) "Ko bila lagi (kan kawin)?", 
I have another FAQ; about my travels.

without further ado, lesgo!


Question No.1
"Ke mana ko ari atu?" "apatah?"
"Where you go?" "how was it?"

You would think I love these kind of questions but not really.

Becoz:
1. People only asked to pass the time
2. People asked 'just becoz'
3. People genuinely curious but don't match my excitement when I started talking

When they asked me this, i usually become so hyped up and ready to tell them my 'adventure' time but then I see their faces. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
I have this intuition thing going on where I know I should calm down and minimize my story. It made me feel blergh and I wish they would not start up that conversation if they were not ready to hear my explosive with excitement story.

WHY YOU PLAYING WITH MY FEELINGS! ლ(́◉◞౪◟◉‵ლ


Question No. 2
"Ke mana saja tah ko?" "Bahapa saja ko di sana?" "shopping tah ko?"
"where did you go (there)?" "what did you do (there)?" "did you go shopping?"

Ok, first of all, are you sure you want to know the answer to these questions?
second of all, "I sight seeing a lot", "I sight seeing a lot", and "not really shopping coz I'm on a budget but yeah, i did buy a few knic knacs"

These questions are the most intimidating to me.
Even though it's my travel, my plan, my time and money, and it's my dream, I still feel a little anxious telling people what I did or didn't do.
People often replied with, "eh inda kan di sana saja?" "rugi tu eh inda ke sana" "sayang jua inda shopping". 
🙄🙄🙄
These responses used to mess with my head. Like, if I didn't go to the place where THEY wanted to go, I'm missing something. and If i didn't buy that one thing THEY would've just bought (becoz it's from overseas 🙄), I miss the opportunity.

Akusmi (excuse me), whose travel is this for? You kah? Me kah?
Different people, different wants and needs.
Just becoz my travel plans/ideas are not up your alley, doesn't mean I'm doing it wrong.

I just had a deja vu. have I made this kind of post before? 🤔

*search blog* yup! i did. back in March 2018. LOL but this is the 2.0 version!


Question No. 3 
"Since ko pernah ke sana, tell me what to do" "What should we do about tempat tinggal?" "Ke mana patut di aga ni?" "Berapa patut ku bawa?"
"Since you've been there, tell me what to do" "what should we do about accommodation?" "Where should we go?" "How much (money) I should bring?"

These are the questions that pushed me into making this post.

(I have a feeling this one gonna be too long but I'm not gonna break this into two part post coz, I'm not rajin)

People have the notion that since I've been there before, I must be an expert!

Ok, listen up (or read up) people! I AM NOT. 

the answer to this seems so difficult for me to give. coz i strongly believe that different people has different idea about 'travelling'. Kindly refer to Question No. 2 for my anxiety ridden reflexes. More often than not, I got annoyed.

but, I decided, I'm gonna take this opportunity to educate people.

Here we go:

it's 2019 and internet is a thing.

I'm not being ungrateful but I always feel like I'm the one person who has the least internet access or the only one who doesn't have access to wifi. 

BUT I have my phone data, and if I can do this with just that, then you definitely could too! 


Step one!
Google is your new bestfriend!
I know it can be daunting. You might feel like you don't know what you should do coz you've never done this before, etc.
But in this age and era, you must know about Google.
So, step one, open your internet browser or chrome go to Google.com (if this is not you default page, what are you doing?)

and then ask away~ 
What I did was ask Google "what to do in Seoul"

Example: 

Youtube videos will pop up with this too. So, if you are not rajin to read, watch those suggested videos.

Step two!
Accommodation!
Agoda.com
this one, I seriously cannot recommend you places to stay.
Why?
coz my idea of accommodation is cheap and for sleeping.
If you're the type to say, "eh so small the room" "no wonder cheap", please, I can't help you there.
As far as I know, hotel is expensive every where.
There will be cheap ones, of course, but you can't expect a lot.
You can't have the best of both worlds in this.
And if you're with family, definitely don't book 'hostel'..be realistic. 'hostel' is dorm like hotel room, meaning bunkers bed, shared bathroom area, no personal space, etc.
Again, you can Google your specifications; room for family, cheap hotel for family.
Also, remember to choose a hotel nearer to tourist attractions. thank me later.


Step three!
As you Google/browse thru ideas after ideas of what you should be doing in the country that you're going to visit, you definitely will have a list of places to go and things to do.
List them down. on a piece of paper or on your phone if that's more convenience you. 
I'm always the pen and paper girl, so I would list that down on paper.

this is just a sample, not mine. 

and it listed down countries but I hope you got what I mean LOL

If you wanna be extra you can do a Travel Journal like me. 
Jot everything down, where you wana go, what you wana do there, etc.

again, just a sample, not mine.

My journal was supposed to be like my travel itinerary and what I'm gonna use when I was in Seoul but it became so personal that I ended up not bringing it anywhere in fear I could lose it.
but the point of this step is to just jot everything down and making a list.
so stick to that.


Step four!
After you have your list, it is time to organize.
Yes, you must. if you come to me for advise, this is what you gonna do.

You must already have dates set on when you're gonna leave and when you gonna come back from your vacation.
with the help of the list you just make from Step Three, you now can do some military precision planning!
No, but this is gonna be awesome. especially when this is your first time going there.

for this step, Microsoft Excel is your bestfriend!

it also helps if you divide your places to visit base on area/city.

Here you can see me dividing places to visit/see base on area/city; two places to visit in a day, during night time can do shopping, etc.

I also do research on how to get there, what train to hop on, where the exit to a place from the station gonna be, etc.

I'm a little OCD, don't judge me.

I mean, every little thing helps! especially if its your first time there.

This Excel timetable was what I printed out and use all the time I was in Seoul.

Ok, ok. maybe this is not your thing. You can skip this part. Do your own thing. Improvise. You do you.
I honestly don't use this to the T! I made adjustment where needed. this is just a form of guideline. like, if that castle is close, you can go else where. you know, so you don't waste precious time and money.


Step five!
Budgeting!

here's an example from my Seoul trip.

again, depends on your wants and needs

you can break it down by days too if you want. but I can't do that. (▰˘◡˘▰)
also, something worth remembering, again, different people, different wants and needs.
I was on a budget, and yes, I do jot that I'm gonna shop but really, depends on you. If your plan is to shop then you know you gonna have to bring extra. If you plan to try all the food, again, you gotta bring extra, coz food ain't that cheap, for halal restaurant food anyway.

and that is what, when, where, and how I do my planning before my travel.

Three responses to FAQ, and additional "STEPS" on how to plan yours. 
I hope I laid it down clearly. If not, feel free to comment and I will try my best to respond back. 😉

If you noticed, this is my first time doing my planning this thorough. Even on my first solo Japan trip I wasn't this thorough. All I did on my first solo was print out a one-week time table and wrote down the places I wanna visit and i winged it when I got to Japan LOL.

but same principle applies; that plan is just a form of guideline so you don't waste precious time and money. 😉

I know this too long of a post but I wanna get it out of my system.

I wanna say thank you to Iku Tree from youtube.

it was from her video that I learn to make 'thorough' planning for my trip.

Thank You! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Check out her video below.



Yes, her video is for solo travelling to Japan but there are a lot you can take out for your own non-solo travel planning.

and with that, I shall end this here.

Thank you so much for reading up till here.

you the MVP!

. . .

New Camera

Hi guys,

short post.

Yo girl right here just bought herself a new camera.

Fujifilm x-a3.

I wanted it in pink but they only have it in black and brown. So, brown it is.
it's pretty. and I felt a little weird with it. for now. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

I am no tech savvy but I know this is an old one. 
first released in Nov 2016.

but who caressss!!

i finally bought it!!

Why I decided to buy this? Because I want back-up camera for my next travel adventure. wehwehweh

I mean, I have my old digicam (Sony Cybershort) as a back up before. It still works and I have no problem with the quality. 

I just want a new camera and I have no other excuse. LOL

I've tried playing with it a little, trying to get the hang of it but I'm still blur (both my brain and the photo taken). I just have to give it more practice, I guess.

I also bought this tripod.

it's called KingKong Selfie Stick.

I didn't expect the boxing will be so fancy. velvety. it also comes with the fisheye/wide lenses. I only bought it because it has that mini tripod thingy besides the selfie stick. it also has a remote. like, yassssss. it's components are mostly metal so it's a little heavy but I guess it's sturdy? I have not tried putting my phone on it yet.

I'm gonna make it work. Solo travel here I come!! ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

I wanna thank CupOf TJ  (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ for this idea of buying a tripod/selfie stick.



of course, it's not Joby Tripod. but one step at a time. ᵔᴥᵔ

Ok, enough sharing.

short post tah apa LOL.

Ok, bai.

. . .

What I hate the most

Ever since I know how to travel,

I learned new things to hate.

One of them being?
When people asked me about my travels and then they made me feel like I'm doing my travelling wrong.

Man! people are annoying sometimes.

I know what you're going to say, I shouldn't listen to this people.

I don't. but that doesn't mean I can't hate it.

For a long time since my first travel, I've told myself so many times, that different people, different style of travel:

• some travel to shop
• some to be with nature (this includes mount climbing, camping, etc)
• some for the extreme sports (like parasailing, skydiving, etc)
• some for the culture (this includes sight seeing)
• some for food adventure
• some for theme park hopping

Those are some of the examples.

I guess, I'm more of a mixture between shopping, sightseeing, and theme park hopping.

of course, mine also depends on what country I'm visiting.

Like, I've been to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Singapore a number of times before. So, for my next trip there, I usually plan for more sight seeing/relaxing, and less shopping. (keynote: Plan. we know how plans always go :P)

With all that explained, and hopefully you got the point,

I hate it when people started asking, "eh inda ko pigi ..." or "rugi ko inda (go somewhere/do something) ..."

Ummmm ani travel story ku kah or kau?

If you think I'm rugi this and that, why don't you do it, if you're so perfect? 

Coz as far as I'm concerned, there's a different between dreaming of doing this and that/planning this and that, with actually doing this and that when you finally arrive at the destination.

You can planned things for months but still fell short of your plan when you were actually doing it, no matter how thorough your plan/research is.

So, unless you've done more travelling than I do, chill ko di sana and stop raining on my parade.

I'm not the best traveller. I'm still a baby traveller. still trying to get to know this world of travels.

Yes, I might missed a certain place to visit or take picture at, but who said that's gona be my one and only time there? I could always visit again. why you so worked up?

There you go,

my little rant on why I don't really like talking about my travel to people.

coz a princess once said, "the most boring thing is to hear story about other people's travel"

LOL that doesn't really make sense but I was never good at explaining things. :P

Anyway,

that's all for now and I will see you on my next post!

Happy Weekend people.

. . .

KL Trip Half Day Awesomeness

before I proceed with this post, 
an amendment: I just remembered I met with Bazilah and her nephews a few hours on Saturday, 9th Dec, later afternoon. hee terlupa.


moving on .. or moving back to the afternoon of Friday, 8th Dec.

Met up with Bazilah and her nephews.

Bazilah wanted to bring the boys to Bukit Bintang to purchase some game equipments.

I suggested we use the MRT.

We stopped by McD for drinks.

pastu we go to the famous electronics mall. erm..called Low Yat Plaza.

image not mine. got it off Google.

it was my second time being there. last time, untuk melintas kan ke Berjaya Time Square saja. LOL

it was pretty big for electronic products. everyone kept on "cari apa, Kak?" "Tengok lah dulu" to which I only replied with a smile. coz I was just looking around, Bazilah and nephews were the one looking for something. I join je~


After that, we went to Berjaya Time Square!

Bazilah wanted to show her nephews the indoor theme park.

My second time here and no, we didn't enter the theme park, again.

So, we eat at Sushi King instead.

SO YUM!


Next to the restaurant is an archery range.

So that's what we do afterwars, play there.

ada pose jadi tah. 

my target.
this would be my second time playing. but the first time was like 7 years ago?
so patting my own back for effort.

Zawir said he wanted to test my skill di Miri. hashtag BringItOnBruh

After acrhery, kami stopped by McD again and bought dinner.

The scenery from Majid Jamek Station. 

I think this masjid is called Masjid Jamek hence the name of the station. 

anyway, once di hotel, they melepak a while in my room, since i have such spacious room. i think at about 11 kali, they went back to their own rooms coz they had an early day on 9th Dec, while I'll be on my own going to KLCC.

So, I set out at around 10:30am, Saturday, 9th Dec but due to my clumsiness and bangang-ness with the train route, I ended up arriving at KLCC at around 12pm kali.

i didn't take many pictures there.

I shopped at Kinokuniya mostly. coz my sister bekirim buku baby.

I even shopped at Cotton On Kids. my sister bekirim jumper.

I shopped at Muji before that. bought some staff. seriously, inda banyak. LOL

the rest, I spent walking around KLCC and when my legs finally can not take it, I had lunch di Wendy's.

it was ok. 

once I finished, I finally balik semula ke hotel to rest.

I remember thinking, "faktor umur" coz my legs were so painfullllllll.

at around 2:30pm, I was back di hotel and slept until 3:55pm. woke up when Bazilah texted me to go jalan2 with the nephews. Planned to go to this famos Plaza in Masjid India area, called SOGO. I remember going there as a kid.

Image not mine, got it off Google

I'm afraid no picture too. 

I know we ate at Texas Chicken and walked around, browsing the kadai.

I don't think we buy anything there.

at around 6pm we already on the way balik hotel.

at around 9pm, I walked on my own down at the Bazaar. 
right out side our hotel was a Bazaar, but I realized they mostly sell clothes and accessories.

Image not mine. got it off Google.

I was actually looking for food. So, jauh lah jua jalan ku. way passed this sheltered area.

there are a lot of food stall the further I go. but I don't feel like eating mee goreng, cucur pisang, etc.

I only bali 3 items; air kelapa, Sotong King goreng, and Lekor goreng.

too bad nada gambar. :P

again, I apologize for the lack of picture. :P


It was a little scary at first walking on my own but after a while, I saw a couple of single ladies walking around buying food jua, so I relaxed a little.

Once i feel like I was so far off, I turned back around, back to my hotel, to feast. muahahaha

I think what I love most about this trip is that I spent so much time berelek and eating. LOVE IT.

The most relaxing travel I ever did. walaupun kaki rasa kan pulak, it was an awesome weekend for me.

as mentioned in the previous post, since drg ada MRT sudah, I might go there next time as a solo traveler. ;)


. . .

One Blonde Afternoon

Hello guys, 

fancy having me posting for 3 days straight, ey?

It's scheduled.

;)

I have a funny story I got from my recent travel to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

I don't know if the world know, but Kuala Lumpur have been upgrading their mode of transportation; introducing the Mass Rapid Transit, MRT.

Image does not belong to me. I got it from Google.Com

I think it starts operating last year.

and boy, it was so easy! Just like in Singapore!

but of course, it is still quite new, and me being so 'bangang' at reading train maps, I got lost a lot in the duration of two days I was there.

Plus, it is so new that even the local was asking me for directions! (but that's probably becoz I dressed like Malaysian :p. I wanted to just blend in and not be targetted as being a tourist)

I think 3 orang kali yang tanya aku if this particular train will reach to a certain place.

People, I am as lost as you are.

LOL

Selfie is essential for solo traveller. 

On the KLIA Express train from the airport to KL Sentral.

anyway, my Blondies (which in this context, means, bimbo) moment;

I arrived at KL Sentral (from the airport) with confidence. 

I looked around to buy my next train tix to reach my hotel.

Found the Kiosk and to my surprise, after inserting my 'wang kertas', a token fell on the 'collecting' pocket.

I looked at it confused, and ...is this monopoly money?

Trying to project confidence again, I walked to that 'beep' gate and got lost. 

"How am I supposed ..."

I stopped on my track, and quickly thought of a solution. I think I circled on the same sport once before I brave myself to ask the information counter guy.

He was looking at his phone when I stood in front of him.

I said, Hi, smiled and asked him, while holding up the blue token, "What do I do with this?"

• This is why I said, I was being blondies: I asked the guy in the most confused, not-so-sure, almost-having-a-panic-attack, voice.
• another reason why i think I was blondies: The guy put down his phone, took out a sigh of a breath and calmly said (or something along the line of) "You go to the gate, put this on the red area, and when you arrive at your destination, your insert the coin at the gate" 

I laughed my head of, "Oh. OK. thank you!" and laughed some more.

I WAS SO EMBARRASSED!

I saw the guy also smiled (I'm pretty sure it was more of a smirk) at me realizing how stupid my question was.

LOL

MANA LAH KU TAU YANG TOKEN TU RUPANYA TICKET TRAIN!

biasa, in Singapore, pakai paper card, datang2 di KL pakai token. 

but I said to myself, laughing to myself, "I swear i'm not stupid". hahahahahahahaha

LOL-ing forever.

the whole day I can not get his smiled/smirked out of my head.

I SWEAR I'M NOT STUPID!

hahahaha

it's kinda a good thing though, using the token, save paper ticket/card. coz obviously the token is reusable. although not so hygienic. so, i suggest you put it just inside your pocket the whole time.

as mentioned in one of my previous post, I went there alone, but meeting up with Bazilah.

In truth, I only met her the Friday afternoon that I arrived and then the Sunday morning before I leave. I spent my entire Saturday on my own. I was that comfortable. I think with the introduction of the MRT, made my anxiety cooled down a lot and I was able to 'chill'. :D

to be continued ...

. . .

Life update (not that anyone care)

I change the layout of my blog again!
coz I was getting bored with the old one.

oh well

*shrug*


these changes are in line with my new life motto, "out with the old, in with the new".

I finally deleted my 2016 Japan photos from my phone!

transfer the rest of my 2017 photos to my harddrive too.

I've been feeling clogged for a while and after I did all the above (among other cleansing that I do), I feel unclog.

Hence, this post.

So,

I mentioned that I'm planning to travel again.

my nearest plan would this coming Dec, to Kuala Lumpur. 

I'm actually crashing Bazilah's family trip.

LOL

not really.

I've been putting it on and off since I first found out about it. Bazilah said I could tag along if I wanted to.
I booked my accommodation maybe two months ago thru agoda.com. which has this awesome features! where you can book first and pay later with free cancellation.
I thought, if in the end I decided not to go, I could just cancel the booking.

but last month, or maybe end of September, I was forced to clear my leave (work annual leave) and upset as I was, I finally decided on going to KL in December. coz I don't like the idea of taking leave off work and staying at home. That's not how I roll.

:P

Just bought my air ticket couple of weeks ago.

Lucky I managed to buy the slightly cheaper one. 

Now all I have to do is not spend money here.

hmmm

moving on~

I've finally decided to fly to Japan again next year.

I even block (book) my leave already!

ahahah

and I have been obsessing over it for almost a week now.

it's to the point of health concerning.

I have not eat properly for a few days now.

my stomach is acting funny too. :S

So, I'm taking a break now.

besides, the planning is much easier now since it would be my second time going.
although I'm not an expert, at least I know a few things, like, in regards of train rides, distances, food wise. 
I wanna go back to USJ for Harry Potter (like, duh!). and I wanted to go to Disney Sea this time around.
the main point is, I don't want to stress! I want this second time around to have more leisure time and more adventure time.

masih plan lah..the idea is confirmed. no tickets booked or purchased yet. 


things at work is tough since the beginning of the year. and I've turned into this person that I don't like because of it. 
actually, the work is ok. its the people that I can't.
*rolled eyes*

that is why, obsessing over my next trip to Japan is good thing.

it's my motivation to stay sane.

. . .

Solo Trip. Check!

Sooooo

I went to my first ever solo trip, to Singapore, like, three weeks ago.

I LOVE IT!

I love that I only have me to think and worry about.  (✿◠‿◠)

I went stationery hunting. I didn't find many. but I did find the pens that I was looking for. LOTS of them ( ･_･)♡

I also spent half the day at Universal Studio Singapore on the first day I got to Singapore.

I finally took the ride on Battlestar Galactica.

The first time I went to USS, I didn't get the chance to go. The second time I went, the ride was under maintenance.

and now! on my third time, I finally did it!

I even bought a print out for prove!

I don't think I was scared at all. LOL

as you can see, I was riding the Human, traditional seated roller coaster in red.

I should've gone and queue for the Cylon, inverted roller coaster track in grey, once I get off the Human one but I didn't. for some inconvenient caused by my contact lens. *shrug*

I will try them the next time I go ;)

Overall,
that trip was serene.
I love it.
I felt the same way I did when I was jalan-jalan alone here in Brunei but there, I was just minding my own business and I love that I don't have to think of anything else.

Now, I am confident that I'll be flying off for many more solo trips.
but not really ready to throw caution to the wind coz let's face it, it is still a very scary world we're living in.

I once read an article about how addicting this solo trip is and I think the writer is so right!

. . .