Upcoming Entries

Oh no, this is a first for me. I have a to-blog-list. I’ve been away outstation the last few weekends for weddings and all. The radiant bride and charming groom dominates the night. But nobody will notice the punctual guests who attend all these weddings. *Shrug* Except our growling stomach ! lol.. Anyway, to my dearest friends – I had a lovely time at your weddings! :) Got to meet up old friends, dress up and photograph each other like mad!

Here are the upcoming entries I haven’t had the time to sit down to properly blog about and some teasers!

1. Cosmetic Storage
Do I just put into clear plastic boxes? Nice woven baskets? Strewn over the table? Or stuffed into the cosmetic bag and pour them out when I need them? Alas – I found the perfect solution in Singapore.

2. Hotel Review: Hangout @Mt. Emily
I was eyeing this hotel 2 years back when it just opened. The reviews were great and it seemed affordable. I managed to stay there this time around. Took pictures of the rooms we stayed.

3. Food Review: Ipoh Lunch (before Penang makan-makan)
Armed with information and a map from food reviews online, we searched for the famous food

4. Food Review: Day 1 – Penang
4 girls went to 2 locations with lots to eat for a tea-time snack!

5. Food Review: Day 2 – Penang!
Just 3 locations for 6 dishes for lunch

6. Parking Rates around
Pay parking on ALL days including public holidays? Pay parking almost 24 hours a day? What are the rules?

7. Elf Product Review
My haul arrived within 1 month of ordering from the spree but I have yet to test it out except one.

8. Eye-makeup Product comparison
I got 3 different brands to test out their effect – first time doing this but I was curious with the huge price difference for the same product

9. Online Shopping Review : Acmamall.com
I have been delaying this review because the items I got from there are Christmas presents!

10. Earrings Storage 2
I've mentioned how I kept my earrings before but it's worth repeating because I got this for my friend's birthday! I didn't realised there are more patterns around which are worth considering. I even saw one in a reindeer shape in a shop display. Where can I get that?

In the meantime, I guess these will be my “homework” on the upcoming public holidays I’ll be having – every Friday for 4 weeks! Yipee! :)

Reviews on Netbook Applications

I'm a netbook user of a HP Mini 5101 for about a month now.

So far - I've been very cautious in installing minimum software and am still scouting for "lighter" softwares. As netbooks are known to be underpowered or as someone once mentioned "anorexic" with minimal specifications, I try not to abuse my netbook like I would my desktop (pity my desktop)

I've found this site which recommends free softwares for netbook in laptopmag.com. My favourite softwares now are: Paint.net, Digsby, WinMove. Want to know more? Read on! :)

Softwares for netbook (Images borrowed from laptopmag.com)

360 desktop - Haven't tried yet.. looks Mac-ish or I misunderstood it.. hmm..

AVG Antivirus - There are just too many antivirus software around. Pick your own preference.

Digsby - currently using. (detailed review below)

Dropbox - don't need additional storage yet as I have an external harddrive. Maybe in future.

Gmail offline - It caches your messages offline so you can reply when you're offline. Nah - I don't want to put unneccessary info on my harddrive.

Launchy - think too many little applications for me to try...

Google Chrome - do I really need this? Might try installing later.

Openoffice - I have the full version Microsoft Office. So far it is okay.

Paint.net - Tried this and love it! Detail review below

VLC Media Player - I used this for my desktop... I think but real player works fine for me for the moment

I have also added a few more other application to ease my usage. Enjoy my brief review from my own experience!

Review: Digsby freeware

I've installed Digsby as an all-in-one application for Instant Messaging programmes. I have yet to try opening all the IM programmes at one go. So far, I've tried MSN messenger and was confused with the way my conversation chat boxes are grouped into tabs like the new explorer browsers. Took me some time to switch conversations by changing tabs. Phew! It was a panic at first.

I tried going online for both Yahoo Messenger and MSN messenger. I got confused with the way my contacts are all grouped together. Will try to chat with different users in different IM soon.

The downside, you can't use the added features of each messenger like: I love the yahoo launchcast on Yahoo Messenger. Oh well..

Will try adding more messenger to confuse myself further. Ha!

Review: Picasa 3
Another site recommended using Picasa 3 for light image editing and so I tried. I find the interface very user-friendly for anyone with minimal knowledge of photo editing.
It has options like: crop, straighten, auto contrast, retouch, etc. in simple buttons. There is a drop-down menu for more detail adjustment. It can even automatically help you upload your pictures online.

I tried the option of uploading it directly to blogspot but found it a nuisance. I had to always login again everytime I upload a picture and it goes into a new entry separately. If I didn't save the entry, my picture will go missing. So, I don't really like this feature unless someone can tell me a more direct route to use.

Review:WinMove
I was annoyed with the netbook limited screen size the other day. I wanted to book a hotel through a flash pop-out website which needed a full screen (without any scrolling capabilities). The booking button was way above!!

I resorted to using a desktop to complete my booking.

However, I just only stumbled upon this software : WinMove which is supposed to help you "reach" those hidden parts of the window. I can't wait to try it for other sites. :)

You can also download it from cnet through this link. I stumbled on a review of this last time but can't seem to find the same site again. Will try to capture a view of the difference later when I have the time.

Review: Paint.net
This application is recommended for Adobe Photoshop users as it has a similar but simpler layout. They're layers, hues, adjustment, effects, etc. just like what is provided in Photoshop. I decided to try this after using Picasa 3 because I find Picasa 3 quite limiting.

Basically, it does very well the things I need to do: crop, resize, text, layers!

Will use it to work on my blog layout next. I have yet to check how much space it uses up in my netbook's memory though.

Conclusion

To date, I'm gradually getting used to a netbook (mind you, I've never been a laptop user) so perhaps it's easier for me. I'm looking for problems and finding freewares to overcome the disadvantages of using an anorexic-netbook!

Yay! It seems that I can install Autocad according to some discussion in this forum. Will try it next when I dare to.. haha Hope I don't crash my netbook while trying out all this softwares. Lol!

Musical Review: Victor/Victoria

Recently, I got to watch my 2nd musical: Victor/Victoria in the Esplanade, Singapore. It was very entertaining with flamboyant costume and nice sets to depict the nights and clubs of Paris. The interesting humourous storyline; made famous by the movie version staring Julie Andrews, brought laughter to the theatre. (the guy beside me was laughing out loud)

Do take note that all the opinions expressed here is based on my humble opinions of a beginner-theatre-goer who has only watched one other musical: Phantom of the Opera about 2 years back.

In MHO, Victor/Victoria by Zebra Crossing was worth watching but not as good as I've expected. My attention was captured at the beginning with the glittering setting and the busy scenes with many different characters on stage. Towards the end, perhaps knowing the storyline, I couldn’t wait for it to end. But overall, it’s a funny, entertaining musical. Wished I could afford better seats to see their facial expression though.

Briefly on the storyline (excerpt from wikipedia):
A penniless soprano, named Victoria, colludes with a struggling gay impresario to disguise herself as a man named Victor, who entertains as a female impersonator known as "Victoria" - and as a result becomes the toast of Paris. Complications arise when a Chicago mobster sees the act and finds himself attracted to the star.

Sets

It was impressive to see the change of scenes done smoothly to create a scene from the nightclub to the streets of Paris and so forth. The most impressive set was the 2 hotel suites side-by-side (2 levels) to show the scenes of contemplation/reprise by Victoria and King Marchan. At first introduction, I was very impressed as the backdrop for the street of Paris turned around to reveal the 2 levels hotel suites. It did became repetitive when these scenes appear again few times later.

The funniest scene was the hiding of different characters when King Marchan sneaked over to Victor’s hotel suite to prove his suspicion that Victor is a female with other bumbling characters sneaking and hiding under beds. Take note of the drunk housekeeping lady.

The scenes for the musical numbers are all beautifully done with nice framing for the nightclub to the grand steps descending down for the final number.

Dancers

The choreography of the dances is done very well. I only find the introduction scene a little too clutter with too many different dancing done at one time till I didn’t know where to look. In fact, in the scene where Victor and King Marchan had drinks, the dancers were doing very nice dance but it was not brightly lit yet to see it. I could only glimpse shadow of the twirling of the dance. A pity.. looks good.

In fact, there were little slip-ups which were not too noticeable. I think during the intro dance, one of the dancers drop the mouth-piece for the clarinet because I heard the clanging of a dropped item (my own assumption.. hah! Did anyone notice that?)

My friend told me towards the end, one of the dancers’ slipped but by then, I wasn’t paying attention so I couldn’t concur or disagree with her.

Still – well done! You must be really fit and have practiced a lot to dance during the whole entire musical.

The cast Laura Fygi (International jazz sensation) as Victor/VictoriaMatt Grey (British actor) as the capricious Carroll Todd
Jake Macapagal from The Philippines plays the debonair King Marchan.
Claude Girardi plays Squash Bernstein - King’s ever faithful bodyguard,
Shane Mardjuki (Life! Theatre Award Best Ensemble nominee) as Henri Labisse and introducing Australian actress Nicole Stinton as King Marchan’s peroxide-blonde, spitfire girlfriend Norma Cassidy.
Even Singapore’s very own fashion icon, Daniel Boey makes a special appearance as Andre Cassell, the owner of the fancy Paris Nightclub.

Laura Fygi’s voice overpowered Jake Macapagal’s. I wish the men would sound stronger and masculine. The same happened when I watched Phantom of the Opera – the lead female singer’s voice was stronger and overpowering. Wow.. women rocks! ;)

Matt Grey as the Todd was just right with the air of gentleman (who likes men) and a confidant to Victoria. His banter with Victor is enjoyable.

Claude Girardi was interesting as the tall, lanky bodyguard who later reveals his orientation. At the end of the musical, Girardi had a little number to sing but the orchestra was too loud so I couldn’t really hear him sing. The fight scene was little toned down but interesting choice of cast to select a small-sized man as the mobster against the tall Giradi.

The most memorable and funny character would be Nicole Stinton as Norma Cassidy. Just listening to Norma peak makes you laugh with her wrong pronounciation and blonde bimbo style. I couldn’t help laughing in the scene when she stripped to seduce King Marchan and sang lines like “France is for horny”. If you observe properly, during the 1st number by Victor, Norma was one of the spectators. She even move her body to the music to show that she was very into her character.

The other dancers’ singings were a little clutter at the beginning but became more in sync as the musical progressed.

Conclusion

In short, I enjoyed myself and this has sparked my interest to watch the movie version by Julie Andrews. I might have watched it ages ago so it would be nice to watch it again. Also, I want to get hold of the songs. :)

What’s your “little pig”?

I spent a lovely weekend with my friends having a makan-makan (eating) trip down to Penang. For the really first time, I had 5 meals in a day to sample all the hawker food down in Penang but I’m still not the type of person to crave for Penang food. Well, maybe one step closer to Penang-food-lovers because I have yet to eat the porridge with fried pig’s innards! ;)

Anyway, I’ll blog about my food escapades later.

First, I love this “pig” phrase my friend used. She is blessed with a no-worries-heart which allows her to sleep easily and anywhere. When I exclaimed my envy (I am worry-wart who needs to sleep in a proper room), she told me this.

“I have a little pig inside of me.” Hence, she can easily sleep anytime and anywhere.

The image of a sleeping pig inside of her flashes through my mind.

I think most of us have this “little piggy” in us; depending on which characteristics.

My little piggy inside of me is the type who would love to jump into a puddle of mud and wallow around (not literally!!) I would love to just jump into my un-made bed and “wallow” in the comfort of it without bothering about the mess and things I have to do. Yes, it’s called plain-‘ol-laziness. Hahaha… Just like “Lil Piggy” pet on my right here..

However, I don’t get the luxury to do that. Well, maybe sometimes… *grin*

And for most Malaysians, our “little piggy” likes to gobble down all the luxurious good food in our country… which will be shown in the next post. Greedy piggy...

So, what’s the “little piggy” in you?

Also Known As...

What is it in a name? Why is there an alias? What is three a need for a nickname?

Whatever names it is, basically it is selected specifically to address you; be it your name (given by your parents), a silly nickname (given by annoying school mates) or an endearment by your other half.

Physical Nicknames

My friend is annoyed for being called small-eyes as typical Asian has those slanted, squinty, single-lid eyes. I have similar eyes too. Hence if I just woke up, my eyes are very squinty. So far, I’ve been called “Mata Sepet” (squinty eyes) during my university days when I’m lack of sleep which is rather often if you stay up late finishing up your projects.

Thankfully, my eyes are not squinty enough for some people to say “No eyes”! Yes, it has happened to some people. (don’t be so mean!) Caricature would have captured all these features with grossly-exaggerated sketch of your facial feature.

The other typical nicknames would be like: “Four eyes” (wearing spectacles), “Chubby”, “Metal teeth” (braces), “Shortie” (height). I bet there are more out there with creative and sometimes hurting consequences.


Actions

I was quite surprised that I’m quite popular to Ms. A’s Facebook friends. How am I popular? I’m known as the girl who pollutes her wall. I’ve met 2 of her friends who said, “Ohhh so you’re the girl who’s always commenting on her wall”.

Hmm.. This tells me I should not comment anymore. It was more of conversational and teasing comments. I guess to have an image as a “wall polluter” is not something I would like to have an award for. Imagine meeting potential bosses/clients who happen to see your award of “wall polluter”! The impression is someone who doesn’t have anything better things to do. Lol! Yes, Facebook is not good for you! :p

Other more controversial and daring figures would be this Malaysian guy who calls himself “namawee” and is widely known for his video entitled, “Negarakuku”. You know this, but you don’t know his real name.

What about the guy who said "Looks like me, sounds like me, but it’s not me”? I see this phrase plastered on t-shirts after that incident.

In the end, what is a name to you? People can even change their names if they don’t like it. But most importantly, if you cherish your name, don’t do silly things to get known as other names. (unless of course, you want to do unintentional branding) I bet my friends who read this blog will think of me when they see pigs.. hahahahah (because of this blog’s theme) – unintentionally branding!

Disgruntled & dissatisfied

We have the right to voice our opinions, complain, congratulate and advertise.

If your food is bad, you ask for the manager and complain about the quality of food.
If you’re cheated as a consumer, you write to the newspaper and complain to the National Consumer Complaints Centre.
If you’re asking for a boob removal surgery and got a nipple removal botch job instead, complain to MCA Public Services and Complaints Department.

But if you did not do well in your professional exam, do you write to the newspaper too? This writer did in today's Star newspaper.

But then again, I am not the upset writer who was hurt and disappointed. Everyone has a right to overcome disappointments his or her own way; be it complaining or withdrawing oneself from everyone.

I know you have the right to upset as the passing rate is low, but is it right as a professional to air your laundry in public? Is it right to pressure the society to question? Or would the society even care unless a family member or a friend is in the same situation?

Can you remember the time way before meritocracy was introduced whereby intakes to local universities were based on quota of races instead of your scholarly achievement?

Life is not fair but the government, people of authority has their reasons to do so. It’s not that I condone their act as many a time I’ve heard of unfairness but there is a reason it is done.

Not everyone is a professional hence the term “professional”. Professionalism consist of a set of requirements like: intensive specialized study, enough training/experience, governed by the code of conduct/ethics, self-governed by a professional body, etc.

I have to admit with the current awareness of the importance of education; there are a higher percentage of professionals out there. But in the end, it’s the game of need versus supply. In the end, they have to increase the passing rates to comply with the demand of globalization.

In an ideal world, we wish everyone has equal rights, equal opportunity and equal share of the cake. But reality says otherwise. Hence, go on and fight with your best and grab every opportunity you can. Sitting back and complaining will only be a temporary measure as the topic can be “hot cakes” for a week or two.. and then shelved into archive – forgotten while your heart is still angry for blood.

I know… a year of studying, sacrificing time with family, juggling with work, forking out money on tutorial, enduring mental anguish and torment for waiting for almost half a year to know the results. Then to start all over again, I salute to those who have consistently re-sit their exam papers year after year to obtain their professional qualifications. You’re brave and strong! Please persevere! You can do it!

And when you do it, a note of caution, use your professionalism wisely – whatever you gain, you can easily lose it to.

~Dedicated to all my dearest friends in the field who are going through similar conditions~

Exploring the blogosphere

Hmm.. there IS a term called blogosphere. I was just wondering.

Blog Templates

Anyway, I have not explored the different possibilities with the layout of blogs, widgets and all till I saw my friend’s new blog. I was impressed with the layout and then I learn about free templates online. (Ooohh.. no wonder I came across nice ones on-and-off; thinking they must be graphic designers or love tinkling with the graphics- I know, I need to get out from under the coconut shell - "Katak di bawah tempurung" or stop being such a hermit)

I really love the designs available for wordpress. There are converted version to blogspot but with certain limitations and kinks. I am still reading up on it before I revamp my website. I still love my pigs images but I think it’s time to change. I have some ideas which will incorporate the real pigs of the Piggilot Kingdom– do stay tune! I’ve prepping them for their photo shoot (haha) but I need props!

What do you think of the layouts? The ones I like have restricted post space which I prefer wider (I’m not sure how to edit this) There is a missing link of knowledge between the many years back when I learned in html to make websites to user-friendly-blogs these days.

Widgets

Widgets – I thought were merely scripts for advertisements to be added at the sidebars of blogs until I saw my friend’s pet hamster running in a wheel! You can feed it with sunflower seed and water. Awww… so cute with its big goo-goo eyes. Best yet, it won’t die on you!

Hence, did you notice my pet pig on my sidebar? I know when you click it, it squeals rather loudly but this was the only pig widget available (hmm.. unless I try to make one myself? Heeh) If you click it further, Lil Piggy would happily wallow in the mud and get dirty. Remember to click on the "extra" button to wash my pet, okay? You can feed it with an apple too. Thanks! ;)

In the meantime, stay tuned for more exploration which I would need my desktop to do.

Review: Melaka Food-trip

Yay! Finally, the day I’m waiting for. I admit – I went down to Melaka to eat and not to attend a friend’s wedding. Haha! All right, the couple is a second-degree friend; so besides the wedding – food is the main aim of going down to Melaka.

1st Destination: Capitol Satay Celup (supper)
Have you seen men oogling at pretty babes? Well, I’m like that with good food. Lol! Can’t get that image out your mind now?

I was initially disappointed because we had to stop-over elsewhere before eating here. I thought it would have been closed but boy, was I so wrong. We arrived about 11.30pm and left almost at 1am. People were still coming. The next night when we drove by around 1.30am, we saw a long queue of people by the road side. There's pictures of this in this link or a review here.

Why is Capitol Satay so popular? It’s because they serve a new pot of “satay kuah" for new set of patrons instead of the usual shops/stalls which lets the same pot boils there for all customors. Satay celup literally means putting sticks of raw food into boiling pot of peanut-gravy (which is normally served with satay elsewhere) In Bahasa Malaysia, “celup” means dip. Hence, the term – satay celup: dipping the “kebab” into the boiling gravy.

You cook your own meal. I love eating the unhealthy food (the innards-pig's intestines, cockles!). Normally, you don’t get to eat these elsewhere with this kind of yumminess.

Altogether – about 9 of us gobble down more than 100 sticks. I was kind of full from the earlier meal but I was not going to miss eating this. I wish the cockles would have been bigger but most shops don’t serve that (except those by the roadsides). People tell me if it’s too big – you’ll be gross out.

The highlight of that night was the huge prawns they served us later. Take a look of the biggest prawn my friend got and how much he is enjoying his prawn. (He claimed he got an even bigger one during his other visit)

2nd Destination: Chicken Rice Balls (lunch)

Have you eaten chicken rice balls? My coursemate who hasn’t even seen this food before thought the chicken rice balls were fishball! Haha

Anyway, our “tour guide” (I'll call him Russell for now) who is a food fanatic brought us to this place for chicken rice balls. He even ordered and tell the shopowner to prepare for us the food.

Guess how many can 9 adults eat? (6 men and 3 women). 100 balls of rice and 2 whole chicken! He told us we could finish it and we did. Try guessing how much is the bill for all that and 9 drinks? Less than RM60! ( I thought it would have been almost RM100). So it was about RM7 each.
Take note of the two orange plates of rice balls and there's actually four blue plates of chicken.

The red light is from another camera.

Look at the chicken rice balls. The one sold in Klang is bigger and has a rougher texture.

Why eat chicken rice balls? Guess it's unique - the rice are rolled into a ball which you can eat finish within bites. Then normally, it's served with Hainanese chicken (the meat is soft and tender) with the slicky skin. Add in the chilli for an umph (the chilli is not spicy- more of sour and a tinge of spiciness). You can add in dark soy sauce too for a more sweeter taste.

Here's a review which has the map and address for the restaurant Huang Chang Chicken Rice restaurant in case you want to try out yourself.

How many rice balls can you eat? I ate more than 5… hehe Not going to reveal the exact figure! I told myself, “Eat! You’ll never know when you’re going down to Melaka again. And what happens when you indulge in gluttony? I don’t want to think about it for now… and wished I had more time to try beef bak kut teh, ikan bakar, durian cendol, etc..

3nd Destination: Cendol, Rojak/ Mee Rojak (brunch or tea break)

The venue of this stall is walking distance from our hotel: right across the street with a walk of hardly a minute. We had cendol (normal one) with rojak for tea break after our chicken rice balls lunch.

I didn’t really want to take any pictures because at first, I was apprehensive about it. The stall owners have set up folded tables and chairs around the foot of Bukit Cina next to the road. You sit next to unmarked graves in mounts under large shaded trees.

Food wise – refreshing cendol in a shaded area! Thumbs up!

Oh, I just googled about this and it seems this stall appeared in Ho Chak!

I had mee rojak the next morning for brunch and enjoyed it. Perhaps I was hungry. It was a little spicy and drier from the mee rojak I normally eat in Tanjong, Muar. No pictures – sorry because I didn't want to take "other pictures" too. ;) Pictures of the mee rojak can be seen in this review.

4th Destination: Tangkak Beef Noodles

After that, I had to try the Tangkak Beef noodles next to our hotel. I suspect it is a branch from the one my parents used to bring me to eat in Tangkak, Johor. We ordered a bowl of mixed (beef and innards) soup without noodles to sample the delicacy.. Mmmm..

Sorry no picture – was interested in sampling right before we checked out from the hotel.

Conclusion
Not enough! Why so little? Well, we are there for a wedding dinner so one meal less to try other food. On the last day, our to tour guide, Russell had to rush back to work because the client called. So sad for them. Hence, we just checked out Dataran Pahlawan Mall to see why they sacrificed historical site to commercial.

On such a hot afternoon, I guess Dataran Pahlawan Mall is a success for shopping and walking in air-conditioned space. But as a historical city, I fear this mall, the on-going-renovation of Mahkota Parade and the being-constructed new mall, Hattan Square, will make Jalan Merdeka a shopping haven instead of a historical site.

Oh yeah, did u notice the puny little A-Famosa standing hidden behind Pahlawan Mall. Helo? I said A-Famosa and not A-Famosa water resort. People have already forgotten the true historical city of Melaka. (I’m amazed it’s still considered an UNESCO world heritage site)

A final note, thank you dear "Russell" for bringing me to eat the satay celup and chicken rice balls... Perhaps we need another trip again when the clients do not disturb. Our dear tour guide is known as Russell because he looks like the adorable kid in the Disney-Pixar animation, Up. (Mind you, I'm not saying you're adorable. *rolling eyes* :p )

Review: Hotel Seven, Melaka

Over a weekend, my friends and I went down to Melaka for a wedding. We also wanted it to be an eating-road trip. My mouth has been salivating of all the food I haven’t eaten for ages, especially those local specialities.

This will be a 2 part review- one on the accommodation and on the gastronomical feast. Enjoy!

We needed a budget and decent hotel – hence, the groom recommended this recently-opened hotel about RM108 a night for a twin bed. Other hotels would have reached RM200 above for a night. Initially, we wanted to stay in Mahkota Hotel but the reviews with pictures from the previous visitors scared us. (Plus it was also RM200 above per night)

Hotel Seven, here we come. Yes, it is just opposite Hang Li Po well which is next to Bukit Cina. Yes, the hotel is across from a hill of cemetery which is not really a big deal (wait till you read about eating next to the tombstones!) No, we did not have any “special visitors” – if you know what I mean.

Hotel Seven
No.8D-8G, Jalan Laksamana Cheng Ho, Melaka. Telephone no: 06-292-1301

Anyway, it is situated on this row of shops just across Hang Li Po well. Not too sure if it’s a renovated old shopoffices but to me, it looks like a new row of shops.

The hotel encompasses of about 4 units (I think) of shophouses renovated to suit with the two staircases at the sides. There is a sub-basement as storage and carpark at the bottom of the shophouses (due to the slope site) We were given the back rooms on the 1st floor, facing single-storey houses. (but then view weren’t our concerns.)

The room is very basic and decent. What’s provided?

1. Bed with clean sheets (the pillow is quite low – perhaps you can try asking for extra if you need; we forgot to ask and were too tired. The downside is the sheets smell musky and your clothes will definitely smell like it too in the morning)

2. A side table next to the bed with 2 bottles of complimentary mineral water.
3. A table with a stool and a place to hang your clothes with a shelf below. The table is a little small (would have been better if it was slightly longer or wider)

4. There’s a CRT television (please don’t expect LCD!! :p) and electric kettle to boil water if you need hot drinks. However, there is no mini-fridge.
5. Attached bathroom is rather spacious. Bath towels are provided. The only downside is the shower area has no drop or upstand to avoid the water from flowing to the whole toilet (like most bathrooms normally have). Water pressure is good – so you don’t have to turn the taps too much.

6. There is no hair dryer in the room. But you can go to the receptionist and put a deposit of RM50 (refundable) to get your hair dryer.
7. Each room is fitted with a split-unit air-conditioner. Something to note, the rooms' electricity only works with the hotel-key. So don’t bother trying other cards to keep the room cool. ;)

Overall, it is a clean room and no ants swarm around the pineapple tarts in the containers we left on the table (heard about this problem in another hotel)

Other facilities
1. There are 2 computers next to the reception area with internet connection. Yes, you can facebook there. ;)
2. The receptionist and staff are friendly.
3. Even though the website states there is sufficient carpark, a caution to you – there isn’t enough if it’s fully occupied. One lot of shophouse can fit about 3 carparks- so do your math. In front, you can try parking at the row of shophouses (but the shopowners of the eateries next door need to park too)
4. We went with 4 cars and decided to double park since the parking is limited. However, remember to reverse the inner car out when you decide to carpool together. The hotel does not warn the other guest not to double-park your car and you might find yourself trapped there by other guests you don't know.
5. There is CCTV all over the place (corridors have more than 1) and there is a few at the carpark area too. You can see the surveillance monitors in the reception area.

Conclusion
It is a decent clean room for about RM108 a night. In fact, you can walk to some tourist spots if you’re wiling. Downside – the musky bedsheets and limited car park (but the whole Melaka town has limited carpark! Lol)

I would definately go there again if I’m looking merely for basic accommodation. However, if I want to enjoy and relax in the hotel room with a swimming pool, I’ll pay more and stay at Equatorial Hotel! ;)

Sesame Street invades Google

Have you seen Google’s latest image on their search engine?

Cookie monster greets you when you open Google search engine in conjunction to Sesame Street 40th Anniversary.Google is giving the ultimate 21st-century tribute: a series of Sesame Street-themed logos on its search page.

There was a period with Ernie and Bert. (last week)

Now, it's Elmo waving at you.

This brings me back to my childhood to Sesame Street days. These puppets were created by Jim Henson.

Which is your favourite muppet? (The list of the muppets can be found here.)

The mature, smart Big Bird? The green Oscar the Grouch popping out from garbage can? The bright blue glutton Cookie Monsters who gobbles up cookies messily? The cute bright red young Elmo dancing happily around? There's just so many memorable characters to name!Take your pick and remember the lessons Big Bird would teach us. Those were the days…

Kids these days are spoilt with choices of education programmes to watch. Which are your kids’ favourites? Do you like them more than those your generation?

Whatever it is, it’s evident Elmo’s a success with the Tickle-me-Elmo plush toys who laughs and fall laughing as if its tickled by laughter.

And of course, when he sees a plate of cookies, Cookie Monster would go: “Ccookies!!” *Gobble gobble* Lol.

This makes me hungry for cookies. ;)