The long long long Deepavali weekend.

It's been a wonderful break from work. Planning for holidays, even short ones like this, make work and time move so much faster. You can strike off each date from your calender when each day ends and count down to your break. In this case, I took Friday and Monday off and made my first trip back to Melaka since I started working. So my dad picked me up from work on Wednesday and we took a quick dinner before heading "home". The subsequent four days were filled with eating (popiah, char kuay teow, mee goreng, mee rebus, chicken rice balls, organic food), shopping (bought 3 pairs of shoes, 1 skirt from G2000, 1 lipgloss because I lost my only one) and driving.

I really like the Kancil. It's small and parking is easy. It has no power steering so I enjoy using my muscles manuvering the car around. Plus I got lots of drive practice and seriously, M'sian drivers are terrible. I know the KL drivers are supposed to be the worst around but let me tell you, drivers in Melaka are no better. They drive like there are no other cars around, cutting from left to right, they don't signal and they seem to drive without brakes. I think S'poreans come here and get influenced by this bad driving because I have seen some S'pore cars behaving badly as well.

I got a hair wash and trim at my favourite hair salon with a super shiok head, neck, shoulders and back massage for 15 minutes. All for only RM32!!! I actually wanted to get some highlights but the girl quoted RM130 for my hair length whereas if you did a complete dye plus highlights it was RM220. I decided to get the complete job next year instead.

I didn't have a chance to go to any pasar malams this time. I was really looking forward to the food and strolling around the stalls. Next time perhaps.

Life in Melaka is slow and simple. It's similar yet different from life in Brisbane. People here take things easy and eating good food doesn't necessarily mean spending a bomb, sitting in a beautifully decorated room with air-conditioning. The best food I've had here come from tiny, stuffy coffee shops with sticky tables. Sometimes these coffee shops come complete with slippery floors and smelly drains, yet the queues are long and the food is cheap. I think only those who have really lived in M'sia will understand. Perhaps it's all about the simple life. With food as good as theirs, they could possibly expand and earn more money. But they seem satisfied to earn enough to get by. They close their stalls and shops when it's a holiday or a Sunday sometimes. It's totally opposite from what you see in S'pore. Over here, it's earn and earn and earn while you can. Money, money, money.....

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!

It didn't rain and I finally got to go down for tennis. The newly refurbished courts are such a disappointment. I miss the old courts with the blue. Now the courts are green and red, like any ordinary court. It's no longer unique. Sigh...

Still, a court is a court and I really, really miss hitting. I missed tennis and I missed the guys. There were 8 of us who came down today. 5 of us were seniors and 2 were these new juniors whom I have never met before. You can tell that they are freshies by the way they hit. The weather was good though I'm quite rusty. Timing and footwork are all off today. I need to play more and I'm hoping that could be arranged with Keong. Apparently he plays from 8-10pm on weeknights sometimes and hopefully I can join in after work. Plus I can bug him to tell me stories and I have a direct bus home from his place. BEST PLANNING!!!

It was nice to see Jarred, Tian and Dave after so long. They are all the same jokers but there was a point when we were all sitting outside the courts resting and they were suddenly discussing Keong and Sjai. Jarred and Dave were on Sjai's side it seems, from what they had heard from Sjai. It's all quite strange because I hear Keong's side and I think it's not right to judge harshly when you have not heard the full story. As a friend, I really, really, really wanted to just speak up for Keong (after all, that's what friends are for....awww....so sweet) and defend him because it might not all be one person's fault. Then I remember that he prefers that I keep my mouth shut even at his expense and he doesn't wanted people to know too much. So I sat there like a dumbass, feeling so conflicted, unable to say anything and I was glad when the topic is over. I realise that as much as I like these guys, sometimes I really don't know them at all. Perhaps it's better that I didn't. Then I can keep seeing the good and nice side of them and not the ugly side. People can be so hard to read and you never know whether they are lying to you or not.Ahhh what the heck! I shall just play my tennis and keep quiet.

I went out with the student from work last night. We had a "date" as she called it. I wanted to bring her to Miss Clarity for dinner but they didn't take reservations for Friday night and the queue was pretty long when we got there. So we walked back to Bugis Junction and ended up eating at Terra Cafe. They serve mainly pasta courses and prices include a soup and dessert. It's pretty worth it and the food we had was nice. I tried the carbonara for $11.90 while she had the dory fish with linguine for $13.90. Prices are excluding service charge and GST though. After dinner she wanted to bring me to her favourite dessert shop. It turns out I've been there before. Mag brought me for my birthday and I brought Burger when he came down. Even though I had been there twice, I had never tried their signature dishes so last night I finally got a chance. I expect most people may not appreciate them. They are ginger-flavoured but I love the feeling of hot ginger sliding down my throat. The desserts were interesting, although a little sweet and extremely filling. Or perhaps that was because we already had dessert part 1? Ok so after dessert part 2, she was craving for coffee and we wandered around Bugis trying to find a table at any coffee place. Starbucks was full and so was TCC but the waiter was nice and let us sit and wait for people to leave. We sat there with the menu, slowly analyzing the drinks and deciding what to have. Fortunately we didn't have to wait that long and I ordered the Peach Me Up. It's some milk-blended peach drink. I guess it would have been more satisfying if I wasn't already so stuffed with food. Then she wanted to eat cake because the cake display was sooo tempting and the waiter just HAD to put us right behind the display. We ordered the Matcha (green tea) Tiramisu but it was....horrible. Too much cream and the green tea part tasted like red bean??? Plus I really hate red bean. Due to this very unsatisfying cake, she ordered new one, this time she got the American cheese cake which was, naturally, very cheesy. Dessert part 3 was just too much for me and I couldn't even finish my drink. We sat there chatting and laughing until closing. Why is it that we are always the loudest in any place? Still I had tons of fun and it was a new experience to go out with someone who can REALLY eat and still stay nice and slim. Phew...I love food but even that was too much for me. Interesting indeed!

Here are some of the food photos:

Matcha Tiramisu...please don't order it if you do go to TCC. The plate is really nice though. I liked it so much!

Dory fish with pasta.

Carbonara with lots of mushrooms. But it tastes pretty good. Almost like Pastamania's.

Left - Steamed egg white with ginger. Right - Steamed milk with ginger.

The lovely cake display.

Hot cinnamon choco latte and my Peach Me Up.

Overindulgence in just one night...but oh I had such fun doing it...haha...