For the love of Nyonya Kebaya

I don't remember when my addiction to Kebaya Nyonya started, but what i did remember, that my ex-bf bought me my first kebaya for Eid-ul Fitri in 2005. It was black color with colorful motif of peacock and flower. I match it with black & gold silk sarong which look so exquisite and i cant resist to wore it again during my graduation day in 2006.

 (peacock motif)

(with my childhood friends)

I'm not the type of person who like to wear traditional dress based on fashion. For me old is always gold and  changes to kebaya nyonya is relatively small. Those changes might only on the way we tie the sarong, elaborate or simple embroidery for our top and maybe material we use to make kebaya. 

I was working in Penang in 2010 when i have headache to find my baju raya. I really didn't like baju kurung fashion at that time and im so choosy. I don't like to look the same as other people and prefer to have my own trademark. I was with my other ex-bf that time accompanying him cutting his hair at Gurney Plaza and decided to walk around. That was the time i come across Kim Fashion.  

So, my first body measurement taken and kebaya was done here and it was pink. Since handmade kebaya are expensive i only can afford cheap kebaya at that time which is cost me RM250 for the top only. My other problem when its come to kebaya is either i found the sarong first or the top first and never both at the same time. So for my pink kebaya, the case is top first and end up use satin as sarong since i didn't find anything i like till the last minute. 

(Raya 2010)

(at Fazan wedding)

Since i really like nyonya kebaya from kim fashion, i came back again the year after during ramadhan to get my kebaya. This time i came over with black and orange silk sarong i bought from Ampang Park. So i end up wearing orange  kebaya when my initial plan was to get red color. This top cost me RM500 and RM150 for it sarong. 

 (Love bird)

(Raya 2011)

For 3 consecutive years, i went back to Vicky who has my measurement and see me growing from S size to M size. And again i came back this time looking for red color kebaya. I didn't have top or bottom this time and really plan to find everything from vicky. We discuss and she showed me some material and unfortunetly  they don't have chili red color. So we look around to see if i will like anything and i was torn between 3 different top. One was black, another in turquoise and the last one in pink. I end up taking black color since i really love the striking motif color.

I only took this top for RM500 and didn't get any sarong since vicky didn't have so much choice. I bought kain batik in black with green leaf motif and i'm sure i feel like walking flower pot everytime i wear my it.

(Raya 2012)

(with edah)

France, Italy & Switzerland ~ 15 days to go

These few weeks has been a busy week for us. We've been busy planning for our vacation in France, Switzerland and Italy, busy planning monthly gathering with our friends, busy looking for souvenir to bring to France and not to mention busy with work. 

15 days to go before we will be on leave for 20 days and officially on vacation. Last summer i was excited to see Eiffel Tower but this time i am excited to see Venice. Nico suggest we do road trip from Brittany to Venice. The plan is to stop along the way which make Paris the first stop since we got appointment there. After Paris we will drove directly to Torino and stay over for one day, Verona the next day and Venice the day after for 2 days. On the way back we will stop at Milan, Aosta Valley, Laussanne and Geneva. Since its a long way to go back to Brittany we will stop at Nico's sister place at Tours in France . Its pretty hectic plan for a week trip and we might not be able to really enjoy it but its better than didn't see any at all. InsyaAllah everything will goes well and all we can do is do proper planning and pray it will be safe and enjoyable trip. 

(when 2 engineer plan for vacation)

(italy)

2nd May will be my 32 birthday and we will be in Verona on that day. Nico is so nice to plan, take me on this trip and especially for taking me to Venice. Besides Eiffel Tower, i always want to see Venice famous canal. It just because of simple reason, i am so in love with "Casanova" movie starring Heath Ledger. The movie really showed the best of Venice. And i cannot thank him more for making my dreams came true. maybe its nothing for him, but its everything for me. 

My friends all excited of my Venice trip and i already have one long list of souvenirs to buy. I love to collect fridge magnet and Nico like to collect miniature. I like fridge magnet since it didn't take space, wont make my home look like museum and most importantly it didn't collect dust. :)

(some of the collection)

Besides that, i also love Hard Rock Cafe t-shirt. Most Malaysian love these t-shirt actually. Maybe because, instead of buying "I Love Paris" or "I Love Bali" tshirt, these are made in better quality and as good as collectible item. Cant wait to have the one from Venice. 

As an asian i definitely going to take a lot of picture but that doesnt mean i didn't know anything about the place i visit. Usually i will check top 10 must see places recommended in the internet. Since i don't have one month holiday and to take my sweet time checking the place or learn the history,  i prefer to read and get all the information before i go. Unlike Nico, he will read all the info when we actually there. Instead of looking at the place he's going to spend time reading about it. emmmmm, matsalleh la....

This second trip to France i wasn't so clueless as before. It will be spring this time and more colder. I plan to take trench coat, denim jacket, leather jacket, light sweater, boots, high heel and snickers. Hey, i can take 30kg when i fly with Emirates later, so since i cannot stand cold, why dont take everything with me isnt it. I am also a tourist and not a traveler, so i do plan to look fashionable. Going to club wearing flip flop definitely won't happen to me. 

When i was in France last summer i have to face painful truth that there is no chili sauce and only ketchup available. Seriously, ketchup!! I felt like dying not be able to eat rice and spicy food for 2 weeks. Malaysian food are rich with flavor and eating French food a bit blunt for me, not only French actually but most matsalleh food. Nevertheless, I'm having fun trying them and at least i know without chili it also can taste good. Trying foreign food will indeed make your taste bud scream with new pleasure since it can be way different from your normal everyday food. I even missed Gallette when i came back to KL, imagine that. ^_^

 (my favorite instant noodles which have spicy and sour flavor in case i miss home food)

(30 small packet ready for europe)

We going to take with us some malaysian favorite to France for everybody to taste. When Nico's mom was here she really love our tea and this time she request we bring back some for her. Its funny that my favorite peach tea is from France and the french love malaysian tea. Besides that i also think to take tart nenas or pineapple tart and also kek lapis sarawak or layer cake for them. I make Nico taste all of them and he love it.

 (ready to bake Malacca famous pineapple tart)

(Sabah tea from Borneo)

(Layer cake famous from Sarawak)

One thing for sure on this trip to Paris, i want to eat good expensive pastries. My mouth drooling just by thinking about it. Last summer Nico didnt take me to a good one and i am so want to try from Luderee. Hope everything goes well cos i am so ready for Europe. 15 days to go!!!!

(yummmy from Laduree)

(Backup plan :D)

KK, Sabah

As everybody knows Kota Kinabalu or KK famous for its seafood and mount kinabalu. So we plan to have seafood lunch and do island hopping once we land. 

But first lets talk about food. Me and Nico love seafood so much and we also know that people from west Malaysia came here specially for that. We didn't expect it to be this good and cheap. Sayur sabah are highly recommended and all seafood here are fresh and giant size. Basically you can find seafood restaurant everywhere and we only can hope we will find a good one. We went to kampung air seafood village for lunch and dinner where we took lobster, sayur sabah tumis belacan, bbq squid, kangkung belacan and chilli crab. It was weekend when we was there and the area full with people 

 (love sayur sabah, must try)

 (Chilli Crab)

 (BBQ squid)

 (Lobster in butter sauce)

(kangkung belacan)

We also stop at pasar malam which nico and me agreed to be one of must return place if we go to KK. The pasar malam called pasar filipina. Typical pasar malam selling fresh vegetables, seafood, meat but the main attraction here is their grill seafood. It was extremely cheap and taste good. You can have your dinner here since its open starting from 5pm till late. There's zillion of place to choose from and your grill seafood will be accompanied with sambal belacan or air asam. We already had our dinner before we found this place. Since we still full but cannot resist the temptation we decide to try few and we definitely love it. 

 (One piece of grill fish for RM7)

 (one stack of grill squid for RM8)

(RM8, XL size prawn)

Sabah also have a nice island, since we are staying in city centre we can walk almost everywhere. Jesselton ferry terminal for island hopping and ferry to labuan is only 10min away. We took tour to Manukan Island & Sapi Island. Weather wasnt so good on that day, when we left jetty the sky already dark. Since we didn't chartered a boat and join other tourist for that visit they only stop at Sapi island for 30mins and an hour at Manukan island. If im not mistaken it cost us RM40 each to go to both island. Its so frustrating since our waterproof camera still in workshop for repair and we cant take picture because of rain.

Sapi island are more crowded with tourist since it small. Unlike Manukan the island are bigger with wide beach. We have to pay RM10 for Malaysian once we enter any of this island and with the same ticket we didn't have to pay for the next island. Snorkeling equipment, life jacket can be rent at each island if you don't any with you with reasonable price. The best part is you can do snorkeling right from the beach, there's no coral to see but all the colorful fish and sea creature are enough to entertain you and keep you in the water even on raining day. If it wasn't raining we definitely going to have blast swimming here. Well, better luck next time. 

 (Sapi Island)

(Manukan Island)

The next day weather are so much better and its bright and sunny when we start our trip to see Mount Kinabalu. We rent a car for a day, fill in the tank and headed to Kota Belud. It was scenic view along the way, we cant resist to stop few times for taking picture. I thought its going to be cold like Genting Highland or Cameron Highland but surprisingly not. We are so lucky because of sunny day and we are able to see the peak of mount kinabalu. 

(enjoying the view)

 (almost flew, very windy)

(Glorious day)

Kinabalu Park is the starting point for all climber. If you didn't intend to climb mount kinabalu hiking at its many trails can be entertaining also. We did try one trail, unfortunately i didn't wear proper shoes and the track is slightly slippery for my slipper. It feel so fresh in there, everything seems moist, fresh and alive. 

We drove further up to Ranau since i wanted to see tea plantation called Sabah Tea, We make a stop at kundasang where the place also famous for its mountain and scenery view. This area can be very cold after sunset and its really weird how the temperature drop from hot to cold. 

Unfortunately Sabah Tea plantation wasn't as good as Cameron Highland tea plantation. Nothing much to see and not so many choice of flavored tea. But they have flavor that cameron highlang didnt have such as misai kucing and ginger which i found interesting and a unique souvenir for my parents. 

 (sabah tea)

Since we have to turned, to go back to KK we make a final stop at Poring hot spring. Honestly the place is boring, it just an area where people seat and dip their feet into the hot water. Thankfully, poring hot spring have more to offer. They also have canopy walk and waterfall further up in the forest. We reach there at almost 4pm and the canopy walk already closed for visitors, so i guess we are not so lucky. We continue to kipungit waterfall and happy that it was nice. 

 

 (Kipungit waterfall)

Its a short weekend visit and there's still a lot more we want to see but cannot make it. So on our last morning in KK, we make an effort to go to Kok Lawi Wildlife Park. Its a zoo, a small one but really make you feel connect with the animals. They seems to live in their own habitat  their cage is big and close enough for people to see them. Unfortunately there's no orang utan, since their place been renovated at that time. Their animal shows is a must see shows, it was so entertaining and the staff really interact well with audience. 

I really hope we will get a chance to go to Kk again this year since we haven't check their cultural village, didn't spend so much time on sunday market and definitely want to come back for its seafood. We both agreed that Sabahan are so lucky to stay in KK and enjoy all these. Envy you Sabahan!!!