Hopping On and Off KL

The next day of our honeymoon after we had breakfast, we asked the hotel front desk where the nearest stop is for the Hop-On Hop-off Bus. This bus goes around KL and stops at various tourist spots or places of interests. They pointed us to the Aquaria. We stepped out of the hotel and walked towards Aquaria. When we got there and asked where, the person we asked gave us directions - go up the esclator, turn left and then go straight. So we followed that but it lead us out of the building. We didn't bother asking someone for directions (which we should have, we learned later on) so we went on walking towards the Petronas Towers. When we got there, I was already getting tired so we kind of asked people for directions. We were pointed towards the main entrance and then from there we went to a bus stop right in front of KLCC. Good thing there was someone asking about the ticket or we wouldn't have found out that there were no booths to buy your tickets from, there was just someone there who you have to ask about the ticket. And then she will give you the ticket. There weren't even posters. She should have worn a big sign over her head "Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tickets Sold by Me". Anyways, if we'd ask the girl sitting on the steps just outside Aquaria, we could have bought our tickets from her and saved ourselves the walk. But that's part of the adventures of travelling. You make mistakes along the way. We bought our tickets (costs RM38) and waited for the bus. The bus has a guide who checks the ticket and orients you that it can be used for 24 hours and that you can get on and off the different stops. He even asked us our nationality, which I think because the bus is really for tourists. And there were actually headsets inside the bus you can use and you'll hear a guided tour of the route. Although most of the headsets on that first bus were busted.

The couple next to us, talked to us when they heard we were Filipinos. Apparently they've been in the Philippines so many times. They don't really like Manila because of the traffic and pollution but they've been everywhere else - Bohol, Palawan, Cebu, even Dumaguete and Siquijor to name a few. They were living in a hotel in Chinatown and when they got off they told us where the shops are there. The bus stop in Chinatown is not where Petaling is. Petaling is like their Divisoria, tiangge all over the place.

National Palace


Our first stop was at the National Palace. Not so much to see there because you can't enter. That's why the bus stops there for a good 5-10minutes so that you can take pictures. We took pictures of the palace guard and their horses and the palace gates. When we were about to go, a new set of palace guards were trodding down the gate. Too bad we missed the changing of the guards, it's supposed to be a visual treat watching the changing of the guards.

National Museum


I don't remember how much the entrance fee is but I think we paid RM4 each. Learned a few things about the history of Malaysia. Joema had fun looking at the old cars and artillery. There's this item in the museum that looks like a box made of metal and then the description was it's what the soldiers used as backpack to keep their things. It looks so heavy you wouldn't want to be the that soldier hehe

Old Railway Station


At the time we were at the National Mosque, it was time for their prayers so we went across the street to see the Old Railway Station. There's really not much to see there but the architecture of the building. That building behind us is now houses the KTM Berhad and the station across it is, I think, already a hotel although we didn't enter it. KL Sentral is the new railroad station of KL where most of their trains pass thru.

National Mosque


When we got back, we were finally able to enter the mosque. They lend women robes (so cute they're in purple hehe) and you have to be barefeet. When we went in I admit I was a bit scared. It must because of my ignorance of what to do and not to do in their place of worship. There were people there who oriented us on some things about the Muslim faith. I don't really remember much of it now. They handed us pamphlets about Allah and Koran and some other things you need to know about Islam. This is going to be those TMI (too much information) moment but I just have to share: when we were about to get out of the complex, I was reading the pamphlet and it's written there that women who are menstruating are not allowed inside the mosque and I'm like ohmigosh I have my period and I'm inside their mosque I'm gonna get killed here! Joema was hurrying me to get out of the place and even joked that "Is this our till death do us part already?" hehe I hope I don't offend any Muslims reading this..I'm so so sorry.

Titiwangsa Lake

It was just amazing to find a lake in the metropolis. It's like a park and that were the Eye in Malaysia used to stand. Too bad it wasn't there anymore around that time. Like in the National Palace, the bus stopped for 5 to 10 minutes at this place.

KL Tower


We didn't go up the tower, we just had our picture taken on the grounds. The bus also stopped here for a good 10minutes. There's a revolving restaurant at the top floor of the tower so it will also be worth it to go to the top plus you get to see a bird's eye view of KL.

Chinatown


We went back to Chinatown for some shopping. Bought shirts and keychains for our pasalubong. This was the last stop we made on the bus.

Here are the other places we've seen while inside the bus. We didn't bother to go down and have a look-see.

Stop No. 6, strip of Bukit Bintang; Stop No. 16 Sultan Abdul Samad building; Stop No. 16 Merdeka Square; Stop No. 3 strip of restos and restos

We went back and arrived at our hotel around 8pm. We expeirenced rush hour traffic in KL. We were so tired that night that we just ate at Secret Recipe along Bukit Bintang. Not really your hole-in-the-wall resto where you get to eat authentic Malay dishes but you can eat Malay dishes from there nonetheless. Since I was so hungry, I didn't really want to be adventurous in my choice of food that night so I just ordered the grilled chicken hehe. After eating we walked around the area only to find out there were a lot of hawker stalls there. Tsk! Should have eaten there instead.

One of the malls on the cluster of Bukit Bintang

This high-end mall was just across our hotel; this is the entrance along Bukit Bintang.

Mother and Daughter

Mama emailed me this. I love you too, Ma! Mwah!

Crying Federer

Have you seen the final match for the men's single in the Australian Open last night? I'm not really a tennis fan but we chanced upon the match yesterday so we watched it. Kawawa naman si Federer. I can't help but be heartbroken for him when he started crying. And kawawa din si Nadal because he looks so "guilty" for winning over Federer hahaha parang he can't be truly happy in front of Federer because the guy was crying. Rafa even said sorry. You can see how much respect they have for each other. What good sportsmanship they have shown.

Photo from here.

My Birthday

It was my first birthday as a wife. :) I had to go to the office in the morning because we had a meeting but I was off to celebrate after that. Heard mass at SM Megamall during lunch and then met up with Joema afterwards. We ordered food from the nearby Chinese resto - pansit (for long life), crispy pata (for cholesterol which might lead to a short life hehe) and beef with ampalaya (wala lang).

Syempre I'm wearing red kahit hindi naman kami Intsik hehe

Since my birthday was on a weekday, we extended it up to last Saturday. We didn't throw any parties but Joema and I had our first "toma session" as husband and wife hehe.

Yeah..I was a bit tipsy =P Cheers to more toma sessions!

We didn't realize we were drinking that much because soon after we were both tipsy already. We mixed Absolut Kurant with Sprite. It's yummy! Maybe that's why we didn't realize we drank a bit too much.

The next day we had a hearty breakfast of pancakes and sausage. Haaay..this is the life!

I am so blessed to have everything that I need at this moment of my life. I'm just praying that He will continue to shower us with blessings and for us to be happy and contented with what we already have.

Cuppy Cake

Saw the news on this cute little boy (another Youtube sensation) on either the Today Show or ET (can't remember!!!). Apparently he guested on the Tyra Show where he sang with Tyra. He's sooo chubby because he has a kidney disease which requires him to take steroids. He's name is Sam and he is so adorable!!!

Arriving in KL

The title should actually be in past tense because this post is about our honeymoon hehe. And we've already flown in and out of KL as early as the second week of November last year. Most of the first day of our honeymoon was spent travelling. We were at SM Megamall by 7am to ride the bus going to Clark. Our flight was at 12:30pm that day. By 1:30pm, the captain announces that we are ready to land. WTF?!?! The travel time from Clark to KL was supposed to be around 2 1/2 hours. Apparently, "there's a very violent man at the back, and we have to return him to Clark. We cannot bring him to KL as this is going to be a long flight" (the flight attendants' explanation to us). Kaloka! When we arrived back at Clark, there were soldiers (?) boarding the plane to pick up the guy. Scary! Finally arrived at KL's LCCT at around 4:30pm. Travel time from airport to the city center was around 45mins to an hour. We just had enough time to checkin at the hotel, rest a bit and wander the city at night.




Here's us in front of the Petronas Towers. We had to take as many shots because we couldn't fit the two towers in the frame plus us at the bottom heehee.

2009 Philippine Holidays

Because of the wedding expenses (we haven't recovered yet), travelling will be limited this year. But that does not mean we wouldn't travel. It only means that we have to find ways to minimize our travelling expenses. The key to that is planning, planning, planning. Migs is already thinking of our summer outing. I'm already planning our road trip with the Flyfish Gang, although that will be mid of this year hehehe. Talk about excited! For those of you planning their long weekend getaways, let me share with you the the regular and special holidays for 2009 as declared under Proclamation No. 1699 from Malacanang.

Regular Holidays

Maundy Thursday - 9 April
Good Friday - 10 April
Araw ng Kagitingan - 4 April (Monday), Monday nearest 9 April
Labor Day - 1 May (Friday)
Independence Day - 12 June (Friday)
National Heroes Day - 31 August (Monday), last Monday of August
Bonifacio Day - 30 November (Monday)
Christmas Day - 25 December (Friday)
Rizal Day - 30 December (Wednesday)

Special Non-Working Holidays

Ninoy Aquino Day - 21 August (Friday)
All Saints Day - 1 November (Sunday)
Additional special non-working day - 2 November (Monday)
Additional special non-working day - 24 December (Thursday)
Last Day of the Year - 31 December (Thursday)

No date yet for the Eid'l Fitr. (The proclamation was signed 24 December 2008)

Although of course, we here at The Bank, don't really follow some of these holidays. Blech! And Joema's company follows some of the American holidays. So we really have to schedule everything and file for our leaves in advance.

Family Visits

When Joema and I got married, I asked him if we'll regularly visit our parents during the weekend. He said we'll visit but not regularly like every Sunday we should be at my parents house or every other weekend we'll be at his parents house. So on the first Sunday after we came back from our honeymoon, we made plans with our friends to have lunch. My father and mother texted me (separately) that they had dinuguan cooked for them. I only replied "Wow sarap ng ulam ah" and then told them we were going out to have lunch. Little did I know it was their way of "asking" if we were coming to visit. I only knew of this when we went to visit Tita Zeny in Pampanga and Mama shared that they were sad that Sunday - walang kibuan sa house, yung kasama lang namin sa bahay ang umepal at nagtanong "Uuwi ba sila Cris ngayon?" ahaha. From then on, I told Joema we should visit them (my parents and his) more regularly. Although we really can't do it every week, we try to visit them as often.

******

January in our family is special. My parents' wedding anniversary, both my and my brother's birthday are all in January. My lola's birthday and a cousin's birthday are also in January. Last Jan 6 was Nanay's birthday so we went to Bocaue. And then this past weekend, we made our way to Antipolo, it was my bro's birthday last week. We had dinner at a Chinese resto.

Happy beerday!

Papa and Mama

Yummy Chinese food

My First Vegetable Dish

You know how I bragged about my adobo. Now, I'm going to brag about my chopsuey ahaha. I'm nearing my yearly annual physical exam again and I don't want to have to be told again that my cholesterol level is up so I told Joema we have to include vegetables in our diet. So when we went grocery shopping last weekend, we bought different vegetables. I'm so happy the finished product did taste like chopsuey. You see my husband is a picky eater and aside from that he really doesn't eat much (obvious naman sa katawan di ba?). Sometimes I have to force him to eat extra servings but when we had my chopsuey he ate a LOT! Yey for me! :)

ingredients for chopsuey

my plate

the happy hubby

Here's the recipe I followed, only I didn't use celery and sitsar; and added other vegetables like baby corn, cauliflower and red and green bell pepper. Again this is from my Maya cookbook (inari ko na yung cookbook..wala ng solian 'to!)

2 pcs chicken breast, deboned and cut into strips
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 eggwhite
1/4 cup oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, chopped
1 cup sitsaro, stringed
1 medium-sized carrot, sliced into rounds
2 stalks celery, cut into 1/4" lengths
1 1/2 cup shredded cabbage
1 cup water
2 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon soy sauce

Combine chicken, salt, cornstarch, soy sauce and egghwite in a bowl. Marinate for a few minutes.
Heat oil in a wok or frying pan. Saute garlic until light brown. Add in onions and cook until wilted. Add the chicken and cook until tender. Stir in vegetables and stir fry for 5 mintues. Add half of the water. Disperse the cornstarch in the remaining water. Add this to pan. Blend in the bouillon, sugar and soy sauce. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer until vegetables are cooked.

To My Brother

Happy happy birthday!

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When Joema and I were on our way home from Bulacan last weekend, he asked me if I feel homesick at times. I told him honestly that I really don't feel homesick even though there are times I am left alone at home because of the schedule of his work. But then I told him that whenever I see pictures of my family, I miss them so much especially my brother (although that's hard for me to admit hehe). So when I first got the CD of our wedding pics and started browsing on the photos, it was the first time since our wedding that I truly missed my family.

Sexy Back*

My Ninang Penny got married last January 3. It was a beautiful beautiful wedding. The reception program was a mix of different emotions. One minute I was teary eyed because of her dad’s speech the next I was smiling from ear to ear watching Penny and Pao’s first dance* (the first part of their dance was tango then the second part was Justin Timberlake's Sexy Back).

Here are some pics from their photobooth.

Say My Name, Say My Name

I’m getting frustrated with this whole changing of my maiden name to married name thing. First here at the office, my name’s already changed in the online directory but the IT department hasn’t changed my email address yet and my name in the Lotus Notes address book. Hence, people can not find me on Lotus Notes if they use my new surname. Plus I haven’t received my new ID yet. So I don’t have any ID’s with my married name on it. I don’t really plan on changing my driver’s license and passport yet. I’ve just renewed my passport and I don’t want to go to DFA again to have it changed. My driver’s license won’t expire until 2011. I’m planning on having my name changed on both IDs by the time they are about to expire. But now I think I have to have it changed because I went to my bank earlier and they told me that I need to present 2 ID’s showing my married name to have my account name changed from maiden to married. And I only have one – my company ID – which technically I don’t really have because they haven’t issued it to me yet. Are you still with me after all this blabbering? Argh! So what I can do as of the moment is just change my account from single account to joint account but retain my maiden name.

The Day Before The Day

Let me start the new year with my backlog posts about our wedding hehe.

The day before the wedding I was up and about really early because we had to fetch Grace and take her to our modista. Grace was really happy with her dress so she decided to have other dresses sewn for her. Good thing the repair of her maid-of-honor dress was done in less than an hour. After that, we went to Tria’s shop to get the body form. And we finally headed back home but before that we dropped by the bank (for Grace’s finances) and the salon (for our mani/pedi). See I don’t really have regular manicures and pedicures so I just had my fingernails cleaned and had a foot spa. Sulit talaga when sa trusty neighborhood salon namin dahil a little over than P500 lang ata nagastos ko for the two of us. When we got home, a hearty lunch was waiting for us. Grace had time to sleep for an hour before we all (me, Grace, my brother and mother – my dad has work) left for the hotel. When we were loading the boxes with our chocolates, I noticed that there were tiny ants crawling in one of the boxes. Hay, di na matapos-tapos ang mga langgam! Good thing we had a lot of extra holders so we just discarded the ones that were “infested” by the ants.

Marj was already texting me by 2pm that she’s already at Astoria. Sheesh we arrived there around 3pm. I surrendered most of our wedding stuff to Marj. We didn’t have time to talk much because she had another appointment after. So we bid her farewell and checked into our suite. I wanted to sleep for a few hours but wasn’t able to. I just lay there on the bed with my eyes shut but my mind wandering about. I don’t know what time Joema and his family arrived at Astoria because my mom was the one who gave them their room keys. And I really told him that we shouldn’t see each other before the wedding. Ang arte!

By 6pm, we fetched my dad to have dinner at Megamall and then Grace and I had more shopping to do. She bought new shoes for the wedding. The ones she brought were not really for formal occasions hehehe so I forced her to buy new ones. Then I bought black socks for Joema, some toiletries for me, and bottled waters and biscuits for us (we had this at the bridal car for the ride from the church to the reception). Before we went back to the hotel, Marj texted me about the projector that will be used the next day. There was some misunderstanding with Bim but everything was cleared that same night. She informed me that eveerything’s okay and that I should get some sleep. This was around 9pm already. But I had some last minute things done and probably slept by 11pm. Oh and just before we slept we were still looking for ants crawling around the chocolates hahaha.

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let not this blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore, be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams; it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.

Strive to be happy.

- Max Ehrmann

from http://marilee.us/desiderata.html

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An officemate came by today to make chika about her recent trip to Hong Kong, but somewhere along the chickahan she talked about Desiderata and that she's writing it down in a small notebook to give as a gift to her son. She said she's been living by these principles and read a few bits of it to us. I admit it's the first time I read it although "Desiderata" sounds vaguely familiar. It's beautiful isn't it? And her idea of giving it as a gift is wonderful!

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Have a blessed Christmas everyone!

Wedding Photos are Up

Yehey! Jayson blogged about our wedding (nawala ata yung sakit ko nung nakita ko mga pictures) and I'm pasting all the photos he posted here at my blog mwehehehehehe. But head on over to his blog to see all his other couples. We actually have the CD for a few weeks now but we haven't got the time to sort everything out. So thank you so much for this, Jayson! And belated happy birthday sa photographer naming asteeeeeeeg!!!

Slideshow: http://www.redefineweddings.com/slideshows/joemacris.html

Christmas Decors

I'm not feeling so good since yesterday. :( I've been popping pills since I woke up yesterday afternoon. Must be because of the cold weather plus we slept in late last Saturday night, or should I say Sunday morning. Anyhoo, Christmas is just around the corner and we haven't finished shopping for Christmas presents yet. Promise, next year October pa lang mamimili na ko ng gifts.

My mother-in-law gave us some Christmas decors which we've used in our little home.

Little santa penguin and dog (?) with an angel

Christmas ribbon by our bathroom door; detailed shot of the ribbon

Decors by the stairs; view from the top

My First Adobo

Before I blog about my first adobo let me tell you first about my cooking skills, or lack thereof. I don’t really cook. In our family, I’m the only one who doesn’t know how to cook. So when my brother and I are left at the house he’s the one who has to cook and I wash the dishes haha. There are only two times in my life when I attempted to cook - the first time was when we didn’t have a maid and I cooked tinola, I remember having to taste the dish every so often because I was afraid it won’t taste right, by the time it was cooked and ready to eat, I didn’t eat anything at all. The second time was when I cooked a simple pasta dish for Joema, I don’t remember if it was his birthday or it was our anniversary. My problem is I don’t know how to tell if the dish is cooked already - I know everything in theory but I don’t know anything in real life haha!

One of the wedding gifts we received was the George Foreman grill. I figured it will be a breeze cooking in this thing. So we bought chicken breasts and barbeque marinate. The manual of the grill says that the chicken should be cooked in 9 minutes. I set the alarm in my cellphone to 9 minutes and popped the chicken in the grill. After a while, I started smelling something – not like when someone is cooking. Basta it smelled and I was afraid I was going to burn the chicken. And then I heard a toot toot tooot. I was panicking already and telling Joema that it must be a fire alarm or I’ve set the smoke detector of our unit. Joema followed the sound and he tells me “E yung cellphone mo lang yun e nag-aalarm!” holding up my cellphone for me to look at. LOL That was hilarious! I was ready to call someone downstairs to help us. But anyways, inspite of the anxiety attack that chicken caused me..it tasted good (thanks to Mama Sita haha!) But suffice it to say, we haven’t used the grill after that.

I’ve only ventured into frying chicken and pork after that. Or we buy cooked dishes. The other day, I attempted to cook my very first adobo. I know it’s a simple dish for those who really know how to cook. But it’s still a milestone for me – cooking something that’s not fried haha. And I used other ingredients other than salt, pepper and oil *teehee*

Pork adobo (recipe from Maya Kitchens cookbook, which was lent to me by an officemate)

1 kilo pork, cube
1/3 cup vinegar
2 tablespoons crushed garlic
1 bay leaf, crushed
2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
salt to taste
½ teaspoon pepper
water
1 tablespoon oil

In a saucepan, put pork, vinegar, 1 tablespoon garlic, bay leaf, soy sauce, salt and pepper.



Bring to a boil then simmer uncovered until pork is tender. Remove meat from sauce.




In a skillet, heat oil then sauté remaining garlic. Add meat and fry until light brown.



Add the sauce.


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We only bought half-kilo of pork so I divided every measurement of the ingredients by two. Nasarapan naman si Joema. :-)

For Resty

Here are my answers to your questions:

1. POSD is Public Order and Safety Department. The family planning seminar is held at the back of the POSD building. Parang walang phone line dun sa mismong place where they hold the seminar pero here's the contact number that I get in touch with to ask questions...697-1325.

2. Pwede ka na magsubmit agad ng requirements for the marriage license sa Office of Civil Registry ng city hall without the seminar. Kaya lang kailangan mo pa ulit bumalik para sa seminar dahil nga isa sa requirements yun. Since we don't have time to go there again and again kaya we went on a Thursday para after the seminar, diretso submit na lahat ng requirements. Yung iba namin kasabay sa family planning pangalawang balik na nila yun sa city hall dahil yung una nilang punta wala pa silang dalang certificate ng family planning.

Here are my related posts regarding the marriage license application in Antipolo City Hall.

While Waiting
Marriage License

Best to call the contact number I gave you if you have other questions na hindi ko nasagot :)

One Month

I can’t believe it’s been a month since the day we said our “I Do’s”. Yes it’s been 30 days since our wedding and I haven’t finished blogging about it. Yikes! I don’t think I’ll be able to blog about it in one go because of work (year-end is hectic!) and Christmas is just around the corner (we haven’t started shopping for gifts yet! Sooo bad!). We haven’t received our CD from our wedding photographer yet. They’ve been busy with work also – can’t blame them because December is the busiest season for wedding suppliers.

I only realized that it’s our “monthsary” when I got here at the office and changed my date stamper to the correct date. So it was a delightful coincidence that Joema prepared my baon for today. It's the first of, I hope, many more baon preparations to come hehe.

I fried the fish last night but he was the one who cooked the rice, cut the tomatoes and put them in their containers.