Shanghai Night New Year's Eve

Last year, I had the opportunity to countdown for 2012 on The Bund in Shanghai. This year  I had the chance to visit Shanghai again for work but it was a week after the new year so instead of counting down for 2013 in Shanghai, bro and I rushed back from KL after sending Daniel and Donna off to welcome the new year with our family in a 'Shanghai-themed' dinner at Straits Quay.

Our family in full suit...my purchases in Shanghai last year was definitely worth it. =P

The line dancers (including mom) performed a few dances for the night...they practiced hard for this event for quite some time and it turned out great! 

Surprisingly bro won the 1st prize for the male category best-dressed...lol!!

D' December

Here comes my long update about what I was up to back in December. For the first half of December, I was busy with work and for the second half of the month, I was busy hosting Daniel & his mom in Penang. Luckily dad, mom, and bro were awesome tour guides and helped to bring 'em around Penang while I was rushing to finish up my work before Christmas. =) This was Daniel's 2nd trip to Malaysia (he was here for the first time 2 years ago) but it was his mom's first time in Asia...talk about culture shock...lol!! At least she's quite adventurous so her biggest culture shock was probably the ridiculous amount of food that my bro and dad can eat...hahaha!! =P

15 December 2012: After traveling 40 hours across the globe, they finally arrived Penang with their check-in bags still stuck in Singapore. After resting for an afternoon, we started overwhelming them with yummy-licious Tambun seafood! =P

Happy to have him around and do ordinary simple things together. =) Almost had to work over the weekend but thanks to my manager for being so thoughtful. Cherished the short weekend with him before I continue to get busy with work while he tour around Penang.

The 3 awesome tour guides and the 2 tourists. =D

Got these pics from bro's fb coz I haven't copied the pics from him. They did a pretty good job covering so many places within 2.5 days!! 

Thanks Donna for the lovely presents!! Love the cool SwitchFlops and sand dollars from Fort Myers!! =) 

Finally received my cheque and freebies from AXA and AXN. =)

20 Dec 2012: Dad, mom, and bro continued to be the tour guide as all of 'em flew one day before me to Langkawi. Thank y'all for helping me to host!! =)

21 Dec 2012: Finally completed my work and it's vacation time!! =) Thanks to Daniel and Donna, I had the chance to stay in Meritus Hotel in Langkawi...very nice hotel overlooking the beach!!! Perfect place to chillax and enjoy the sun, sea, sand!!

We managed to catch some skydivers as we were walking around the hotel...pretty cool!!

Dinner at Red Tomato.

22 Dec 2012: Itinerary for the day was to take the cable car in Langkawi, not knowing that there would be a surprise for me. =P

We arrived around 9 something and the queue was already quite long. The queue wasn't moving at all coz the cable car service couldn't start due to strong winds. We ended up waiting for 2 hours just to get on the cable car. Someone was almost freakin' out coz his plan would be screwed if the cable car doesn't work...lol!!

Going up Machinchang mountain in the cable car. 

Nice views from the cable car!!! Daniel is kinda scared of heights so the cable car ride definitely wasn't a pleasant one for him...lol!! 

Here comes the story. =P There are actually 2 stations for this cable car ride. All of us took a cable car from the ground station and everyone else got off at the 1st station apart from Daniel & I. So as we continued our cable car ride from the 1st to top station, he took out a photobook that he made from his backpack and asked me to read it. ♥ The content in the photobook was basically our story and the things we've done together since we first met in my UAH dorm back in Fall 2008. I'm quite impressed coz this is the first photobook that he made and it looked very nice!! =) As I was slowly flipping through the pages, we saw that we were approaching the station so he made me close the book first coz we had to get off the cable car. He didn't expect that the distance between the 1st and 2nd station to be so short...lol!! We went over to the viewing platform and I continued flipping through the photobook and the 'important' question was printed on the last 2 pages. He then took out the ring from his backpack and popped that very 'important' question. Even though he was nervous, he still managed to say his 'script'...I was touched. =P And of course my answer was YES...hehe!! Here comes the funny part, as he was trying to take out the ring from the box, I realized that there were gaps in between the planks of the platform so I quickly asked him to put keep the ring in the box so that we don't risk dropping it...hahaha!! Yes I'm that practical and realistic...didn't mean to spoil the romantic mood though...lol!! He then took out another box of present...yes the proposal present came in a 'package' (photobook+ring+ipad)...he definitely put in a lot of effort and thoughts for this proposal...thank you bby!! Love you!! ♥

Continued enjoying the breathtaking views after the proposal. Good job bby for picking a place with such beautiful view for our 'special' moment. =)

Too bad the skybridge was closed for renovation when we were there.

Made our way down the mountain on the cable car after taking in all the stunning views. Dad, mom, and bro flew back in the afternoon while we stayed on for few more days.

Strolling on the beach with my fiance. =P

So here are the 'packaged' proposal presents. He said that he spent hours picking out the ring...lol!! Thanks bby...me likey the ring...it's gorgeous!! ♥

Had dinner at the hotel restaurant coz we were all too lazy to go out. Daniel and his humongous burger...lol!! 

Beautiful day to chillax in the pool

Paradise!!!

Thanks to Donna for arranging this lovely sunset dinner to celebrate our engagement. =)

♥ ♥ ♥

A 3 hour dinner on the beach with wine, champagne, good food, good companion & nice sunset.

25 Dec 2012: Christmas dinner with the family. =)

26 Dec 2012: Took a week off from work...my turn to be the tour guide. =P Went around Penang (literally) stopping by Straits Quay, Tropical Spice Garden, Batik Factory, Teluk Bahang, and ended the day with dinner at Khun Thai. 

29 Dec 2012: Traveled down to KL with 'em and stayed in Traders Hotel. =)

Magnificent view of the twin towers from our room. Best view in the city!!

30 Dec 2012: Woke up at 3.30am to accompany my boy to his 25km marathon in Kinrara. He was supposed to do a full marathon in Huntsville before this trip but couldn't do it because he hurt his knee earlier but somehow he managed to find this marathon in KL and decided to do a marathon here. =P 

Right after the race started at 5.30am, we went back to the car and slept for 2 more hours before going back to the the finish line to wait for him to complete his run. He completed his run in 2hr 27min...good job bby!! ♥

Met up with Josh and Shalinni for some drinks at Marini's on 57 (nice view of the city) & Indonesian food for dinner at Bumbu Desa. It was great to meet up with 'em after 1.5 yrs. =)

31 Dec 2012: Time to say goodbye (again) as they fly off to Singapore for transit while bro & I head back to Penang. Thanks bby for traveling across the world to visit me and spend some valuable time together but 15 days was too short...me want more time! 

Amazing 2012!!

Happy ‘Belated’ New Year!! The last few weeks have been a rollercoaster...been busy with work, travelling, tour guiding, etc and the New Year just flew by in the midst of all these craziness. Since the world didn’t end, I shall do a recap of my past year which could best be described by only one word...AMAZING!! =) 

Jan: Started off the year with a blast overlooking the stunning night view of Shanghai from The Bund. That trip was my first time being in Shanghai and somehow 2012 brought me back to this city for a few more times. 

Feb: Flew to Shanghai on our own expense over the weekend for a 20-minute audition for China Rush at Shanghai TV Station. Words can’t express our excitement when we received the email informing us that we were shortlisted as one of the contestants for the 3rd season of the Amazing Race China Rush...absolutely a dream come true!! P.S. Sometimes you’ve gotta want something bad enough to get it. =P

Mar: Had a wonderful family vacation in Japan. My self-planned itinerary turned out pretty good and we saw lotsa breathtaking sceneries in Osaka, Takayama, Mt Fuji, and Tokyo. 

Apr: A month-long dream come true racing across China in the Amazing Race China Rush 3. The beautiful things that we’ve seen, the cultures that we’ve experienced, the people that we met along the way, we can’t put a price tag on that. It’s really been an incredible experience. 

May: Travelled back to Huntsville after 3 years for an apparent reason. =P Had a month-long chillaxing vacation with Daniel and his family.  

June: Back to work after 2.5 months of vacation was tough but was welcomed by a promotion. Big thank you to my colleagues for helping to take over my work while I was away. 

July: Spent the weekend with some new UGRADers during the UGRAD retreat in Penang. It has been 4 years since I travelled to the States for this exchange program and it’s always exciting to see more people getting this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to realise their dreams. 

Aug: The 3rd season of The Amazing Race China Rush started airing in China. It was fun and cool seeing ourselves on TV for the very first time!

Sept: Travelled to Redang Island with the company. Flew to Shanghai again over the weekend for the viewing party and met up with our CR friends.

Oct: Took part in the AXN Big Challenge for the 2nd time and won the 1st-runner up.

Dec: The boyfriend (fiance) traveled to Malaysia with his mom and came with a big surprise (a bling bling ring + ipad + lovely photobook). <3

Looking back at 2012, life's been great and I'm really thankful and blessed for all the wonderful things that I've experienced and for all the wonderful people around me. Always counting my blessings and reminding myself not to take anything for granted. 2013 is gonna be a busy year for me but I hope that the new year will be as AMAZING as 2012! =)