Shopping Spree!

Malaysia is famous for being a shopper's paradise and I never really did take that phrase seriously until I came back from the States. Since I came home, I have gone out shopping every single week. I have gone crazy shopping here at most of the shopping malls here and I still can't get enough of it! lol! (So far, I have purchased a collection of footwear from casual to work and formal footwear. Please don't ask how many pairs because I have lost count already!) Some of the stuff are cheaper here compared to the States, and vice versa. I also get very excited going "jalan-jalan" and shopping at the morning and night markets since I can't do that in the States. Here's some pictures from some of my shopping trips!

What a great way to start the day with a walk around the morning market!

1 Utama

Sunway Pyramid

The green trio! We wore green to go Christmas caroling earlier that day. Then we headed to the Times Square Shopping Mall!

Midvalley Megamall

Pavilion Kuala Lumpur

Ikano

I have also visited The Gardens Mall, The Curve, Sungai Wang Plaza, Low Yat Plaza, Bukit Bintang Plaza, and AEON Bukit Tinggi Shopping Centre (unfortunately I didn't get pictures of these places). That's a total of 12 shopping malls conquered within 4 weeks!!! A big thank you to my family and friends for their willingness to accompany me on my bargain hunts and window shopping! This has been a splendid shopping experience for me!

THE GRAND CANYON!

This summer, we visited one of the seven natural wonders of the world! The Grand Canyon in Arizona is yet another reminder of one of God's Mighty Handiworks! I was in awe and just amazed at how majestic the view was! It's still vivid in my mind and I shall never forget that memorable experience of a lifetime. Enough said, now let the pictures speak for itself!

FOCUS Conference 2007

I went along with the Baptist Student Ministry (BSM) to the annual FOCUS Conference in Arlington, Texas. It was held from Sept 7-9, 2007 and 35 of us from the BSM went on this road trip. Even though Arlington is also in Texas, it's about 10 hours away from El Paso. We chartered a bus and we were supposed to start our long journey at 4:00a.m. On Thursday night, we had a lock-in at the BSM building so that we would all be able to get up at 4:00a.m. Well, the bus arrived at 3:00a.m., so we rushed like crazy to get in the bus and left around 3:45a.m.

It was a jam-packed conference and I learned a lot from the speaker, Mike Stroupe. On the 2nd night, he spoke about missions and how we could all "give so others can go". That night itself, about 600 of us at the conference donated willingly and the next day, they reported that we collected $12383.60!!! The entire amount will go towards missions. Isn't it amazing???

Enough said, now let the pictures speak for itself:



Eliana, Laura, Noemi, Christina, and Me!

The band performing during the worship session.

That's our BSM flag on center stage.

The keyboard player, lead singer (Charlie Hall), and cool drummer!

Group pic of the gals!

The pictures below were taken at the end of the conference. We were able to take pictures in person with each of the band member! By the way, they're an awesome band! They played at the worship sessions for 3 days and our group managed to get the first two rows right in front of the stage!!! I really had a blast!!! Woohoo!!!

The Drummer

The Guitarist

Alejandra, Charlie Hall, and Me.

The Keyboard Player

The Bass Guitar Player

Tucson, AZ: Part 1

This is a short summary on my last vacation to Tucson, Arizona.

Day 1:

It took us 5 hours to go from El Paso, TX to Tucson, AZ. We crossed the New Mexico state on our way. We took the Interstate-10 highway all the way. Thank God they don't have toll booths along this highway. Here's a picture taken at one of the rest area:



We arrived at Tucson in Mark's apartment around noon. He gave us a brief tour around his place and after settling our stuff, he suggested that we go for lunch at this Chinese restaurant. Coincidentally, they serve dim sum during the weekends. So we're in luck! hehe! I have to say that the highlight of the trip was having DIM SUM for lunch! That was really the best treat ever! I've been deprived of 'char siew pao', 'har gao', 'siew mai', 'chee cheong fun', and 'tau fu fa' (sweet soybean curd) for two years and finally, my dream came true! hehe!

After that, we went to Tempe which was about an hour away from Tucson. IKEA was the first shopping place we visited. I haven't been to IKEA for two years. The IKEA here was similar to the one in Damansara in terms of items sold and the floor plan. However, the main difference was that we paid in terms of US dollars instead of Malaysian Ringgit lar...lol! Next, we went to Lee Lee Supermarket (also in Tempe). It's a huge oriental store and they had a small jewelry shop (like Poh Kong), roast duck, roast pork and I even saw cendol there...was tempted to get it but I didn't...sigh... Well, one can't have everything in the world right? After all, I already got the dim sum treat! hehe!

We went for dinner at Chandler (one of the major suburbs of Phoenix) after shopping at the oriental supermarket. Unfortunately, Olive Garden had a long waiting list before we could get a seat for dinner. So we went across the street to Chili's.

Day 2:

Mount Lemmon was our first destination for the day. It was an hour drive and the view was simply magnificent! Here are some pictures of Mt. Lemmon:



Here's a bird's eye view of Tucson city from Mt. Lemmon.



There were many cyclists that cycled all the way up to Mt. Lemmon like this guy in the pic.








See the black patch? That's the spot where there was a fire a few years ago.




There's a skyride as we approached the peak of Mt. Lemmon but it costs $9 for an adult. We all agreed that's it not worth it.



All of us felt dizzy going up and down Mt. Lemmon because the road was winding but I think it was worth it in the end. We also enjoyed the cool breeze at the peak of Mt. Lemmon.

We headed for lunch after that. Too bad the Japanese restaurant was closed on Sunday. So we decided to go back to the Chinese restaurant again...hehe! This time, we had the dishes and rice. It was so good!!!

We went back to Mark's apartment for awhile and then, we went to the Foothills Mall. This mall was just a block away from his apartment and it is an outlet mall. They sell branded stuff for less. After that, we went home to cook Nasi Lemak and Sambal Udang!!! yay! we managed to get some ingredients from the oriental supermarket but they didn't have ikan bilis. In a way, it was a blessing because it would have smelt very fishy in his apartment....After dinner, we went back to the mall because they had a cinema there.

We watched Rush Hour 3. It was a great movie but a tad too short for me...only 1.5 hours. It was also more expensive in that cinema. Mark mentioned that they give students a discount in all the cinemas throughout The States ( I wish I knew that before...). I showed my student ID and it was $8 for me and $9 for the rest of them. I don't even want to convert this amount to RM...

To be continued...

My Last Vacation

Destination: Tucson, Arizona
Duration: August 11-14, 2007

Yes, this will be my last vacation during the summer vacation before the Fall semester starts on August 27th...sigh... Well, I can't wait to go there because it'll be my first time in Arizona a.k.a. The Grand Canyon State! We will also visit Mount Lemmon in Tucson.

That's all for now! I'll definitely come back with dozens of pictures! Y'all have a great weekend!

White Sands: Part 2

Continuation....

After sand duning and simply enjoying the gorgeous view from sunset till nightfall at White Sands, we had to leave at around 9:30pm because the Security Patrol Officers came around and said they were gonna close the gates at 10:00pm. Then we headed to look for supper (p/s: we didn't eat since the small snack time during out trip and all that was burned out when we went sand duning downhill and climbing back uphill... up and down and up and down...I think you get it right?). It took us 45 minutes to get to a small local town called Alamogordo, New Mexico. Thank God some of the fast food chains opened until midnight and some even opened for 24 hours. So we stopped at Wendy's (it's similar to McDonalds) and got some food.

Oh, we also used their restrooms because the ones at White Sands National Park were horrible! It was one of those portable cubicles with NO FLUSH, NO T.P., NO LIGHTING and boy, it was soooooo STINKY!!! You can call us spoiled city brats but I feel that since it's a tourist attraction and a national park, the least they can do is have some lighting there! But thank God we brought our flashlights. Phew!

Once our appetites were satisfied, we went to look for another camp site called the Oliver Lee Memorial State Park. That was when we noticed the flashes of lightning! Instead of changing plans to stay at a hotel or whatever, we prayed and prayed and prayed, hoping that it would not rain. Or else, we might be soaking wet. We arrived at our camping site at about 11:45pm and that place was pitch dark with all the crickets and animals sound...mother nature...

In a way, thank God for the flashes of lightning because that provided us with some lighting so that we could pitch our tents. One of the youth brought a lantern (it was battery operated) and with that, we pitched two tents: one for the guys and another for the girls. At first, us girls were a little slow with putting up our tent, but nonetheless we figured it out. We couldn't see at first but the poles for the tents were color-coded and all we had to do is slide them through the tents and tie knots. And there we have it! YAY!! What a great accomplishment! hehe! I think by now you get the picture that I'm not really an outdoor person... But I'm beginning to get the hang of camping!

Picture of Israel and David (father & son) as they were the macho men who set up their tent the fastest!

Now, the most wonderful part of this camping trip is that IT DIDN'T RAIN!!! Hallelujah!! But in the girls camp, we had some issues because some of the girls had to go to the restroom and we didn't see any on this camping site. But one girl brought those wipes (kinda like the baby wipe) to use as t.p. So off they went behind the big cactus bush....it was pitch dark anyway. No one could really see them...I think...Well, we're on a camping trip and we're out in the wilderness. So it's just us and mother nature! Just in case you're curious, "NO, I did not go with them behind the cactus bush!"

Before dozing off, we saw the twinkling stars and it's breathtaking! All of God's wonderful creations on this planet... We finally slept at around 2:00am and woke up at 5:30am. It was getting bright and we eagerly waited to see the sunrise! It's magnificent! Oh, and since we had plenty of sunlight now, we spotted a restroom just downhill and we rushed there! Thank God this restroom has t.p.! I mean, sometimes we take small things like toilet paper for granted, don't we? (Reminder to self: Next camping trip, bringing t.p. is a MUST!)

See that small hut? That's the restroom downhill that I was talking about...


Oh, and Jennifer noticed this old faucet right in front of our campsite.

It's a miracle! woohoo! we got to brush our teeth, wash our faces and freshen up!


Here's a couple of pictures of the mountain view from our campsite:

Ain't it pretty?



We had breakfast and then it was time to pack up the tents and head out. Guess where did we go next???




Yes, we went back to White Sands again because we wanted to have more fun sand duning!!! Anyway, since the $3 entrance fee was valid for 7 days, we might as well make use of it. We went for more sand duning and this time, I did something that I never did in my life before! I let them bury me alive! CHOI (as the Cantonese people say)! Well, they buried me in the white sand and those who got buried agreed unanimously that it's actually very therapeutic! Since it's summer, the weather was actually very hot that day. But being buried under the white sand was so soothing and cooling because out bodies were beneath the sand and we didn't get sunburned! lolz!

Check this out! We went to the gift shop at White Sands and something caught my attention. It's a Pressed Penny Souvenir machine! We put in a penny and another 50 cents for the process of making this pressed penny. Then the machine will press that penny and mold it to become an oval shaped penny with some engravings! It was really neat! hehe!



When it got too hot at White Sands, we left to go to Holloman A.F.B. At the entrance before we entered the A.F.B. they checked our ID's (that's a security measure that they do in all army and A.F.B. gates). Since most of the youth and their parents had military ID, and I was the odd one who didn't, they didn't allow us (or rather, ME) to enter without a visitor's pass. So we had to turn around and go to the A.F.B. office to get a pass! It's actually very troublesome but I understand it's for everyone's safety. They can't just let anyone without proper identification to enter their military grounds right?

Finally when we managed to get inside the A.F.B., we headed to the swimming pool! While swimming, the lifeguard on duty shouted out that it was time for Adults Swim only. So the younger ones under 18 had to leave the pool and I stayed behind to swim with one of the parents. After a few laps, we took a break and talked at the side of the pool. Then the lifeguard approached us and and I got a shock when he asked me, "Are you under 18?" I was so stunned!!! I was thinking in my head, "You've got to be kidding me!" Of course, I told him I'm 20 and I even asked him if he wanted to check my ID, and he declined. I've been stopped and questioned by so many people during this weekend camping trip that it's not funny anymore! Give me a break, man! Gosh!

A group picture of the youth and their parents

The water slide that I enjoyed very much at the pool! haha!

All in all, I have to say that I had a blast during this camping trip even though there were some glitches along the way... like the ones below:





Thank God for His safe journey mercies and protection throughout the entire trip.

The End.

(Sorry if I was long-winded in this post but I just wanted to jot down all the wonderful memories that I've been blessed with... even the not-so-good memories)