Nicolekiss - Travel & Lifestyle Blogger : May 2012

May 30, 2012

Taipei Again

Been in Taiwan for half a week now.

Such a lovely city, such a lovable country.

Tomorrow begins my onslaught of shopping spree. Woo hoo~!

Well it's a tiring 'chore', considering that I have to travel all over the place to look for things to buy.

First, I would be visiting a monument, can't remember the name. First I would need to stop by the bank to get some money changed.

You have no idea how difficult it is to get money changed in this country! OMGGGGG!!!

It's like difficult + troublesome + long-winded.

First I have to fill in a form, then not every bank changes Malaysia Ringgit, it's like our money's some unheard of third-world currency that banks here have to charge exorbitant conversion rates and they're only changeable in certain HQ branch of certain banks.

It's insane knowing how advanced this country actually is.

Serving me right for not changing money (in time) before flying into Taiwan.
I knew it was going to be hard, since it's not my first time here, but I didn't know it was going to be such a $#% in the #@^&. -.-

Oh well, lesson learnt.

Here's one photo for the long absence.

Will try to update tomorrow night.
Hard to sit down to edit photos when one's travelling. -.-

May 25, 2012

Mini Jeweled Booklets from India

I got these from India, aren't they cute?

They're mini jeweled notebooks the size of a keychain.

And a jeweled mini hand-held mirror.

At first I wanted to give them out as little giveaways on my blog to my readers, but then I thought my mom would appreciate them more as gifts to her little grand-nieces and nephews.

Turned out she didn't really appreciate them and even forgot to give them away on my part. :(

Le sigh~ Moms... I don't know what they're thinking sometimes.

May 21, 2012

New Outfits Galore

I don't normally wear blogshops clothes because I had bad experience in the past where most of the items I ordered and sent to my doorstep was not what it cut out to be or turned out to be of cheap quality.

Contrast flare dress

Then recently I started wearing these items from Whitesoot and found them pleasantly good. I'm not sure if the blog shop markets have improved tremendously since I last checked years ago, but the quality was surprisingly good for something so affordable.

Maybe it's the age, but I've found myself dressing up in a more maturely manner as I found it more and more unacceptable to wear something cute and frilly. At least not for someone like me.

I'm not petite but tall and not exactly model-like skinny whom can pull something Anna Sui-like (lolita style) off; an average-body tall girl like me would look like she's trying too hard if ever she wears anything that's remotely cute.

It's a hard fact. :(

But I like how I look. I think I look my age, act my age (like, finally) and now, dress my age. ^^

Pair the dress with a black blazer cardi and I'm good to go for work; a fashionable work attire.

Black blazer cardi + Contrast flare dress
heels: Charles & Keith

I put it on out of modesty. *sheepish*

The other day I was attending some important interview so for the first time in god knows how many years I finally wore something really formal *cringe*.

But even that I couldn't go all traditional style with long sleeve shirt and pencil skirt. *double cringe*

So I opted for this.

White ruche drape shirt +
Black socialite dip back skirt
Heels: Zara

For modesty, again.

Chiffon cardi (olive green, I wanted an unusual color)

All from Whitesoot too.

Apparently it wasn't very formal in the end either. Heh, guess I can never work in a professional work field. I will die wearing what they wear everyday. -.-

My favourite piece, however, also the piece that I never stop receiving compliments on whenever I wear it, is this ruche spotted maxi. ^^

this is actually the front, but I wore it at the back.

My front has this dip with a tie gap which would reveal my bra strap if I wore it at the back, so I wore a bra that pushes my cleavage and wore what was at the back to the front. :p

added sex appeal lol

Max love this piece.

Everything was around RM40-70 per piece from Whitesoot, which was really affordable.
The maxi dress was only RM59.

I don't remember the last time I own a piece that's below RM100. Blame it on our weak currency and really attractive imported brands. T_T

Here are a few camwhore shots to end the post.

Love my curls in this one.

May 18, 2012

Diablo 3 Hiatus

Hell, be prepared.

Because I'm coming for you.

May 16, 2012

Maharaja Mac Mcdonald India

I made it a point to dine in every Mcdonald in countries around the world, and my latest expedition brought me to a Maharaja burger in New Delhi's Mcdonald, India.

India being India and beef being a big no-no in most meals, beefy Big Mac has morphed into the holy (and there lack of) Chicken Maharaja Mac.

Fascinating taste. Refreshing and nice at first bite, simply because it's a new taste to me.
But it's not something I would order again.

The patties were soft, and not very chicken-y in my opinion. Very seasoned soft artificial flavoured patties. It's nice at first, but then it gets urgh as you munch on. :S

I also ordered another odd meal which was the Big Spicy Paneer Wrap.

Which was REAAAAALLY SPICY. Oh god was it spicy. Not much other flavour other than spiciness.

Paneer is a form of soft white cheese that's very popular in Indian dish, it's sorta like cottage cheese.
It's basically a wrap with very little paneer and some tasteless chicken and lots of hot spice.
yuck.

Worth a try. You know, just for the sake of claiming you've had Maharaja burger.

May 12, 2012

Third Time's The Charm - Langkawi

Don't laugh, but I visited Langkawi three times already this year, and it isn't mid year yet.

The first time's for CNY with my family, the second's for my birthday and the third's with my girls.

I don't know why I always ended up in Langkawi, maybe because of the cheap alcohol, or maybe it's the closest island where I can do hours of jet-skiing out at sea; but I've always be able to find things to do in Langkawi. Most of them water-sport related.

However, I do think I had enough doses of Langkawi for now, at least for the rest of the year.

This post consists of some random photos taken during my second visit there (girls' trip post will have to wait) on my birthday.

Staying at the Andaman, full R&R on my birthday for me.

champagne for breakfast

The best pancakes I've ever tasted were served at breakfast in Andaman, gosh how I adore those pancakes. I wish I didn't need to pay a grand a night or fly over to the island just to savour these pancakes.

There's this little Caucasian girl who would wait in front of the pancake chef every morning at breakfast for her serving of pancakes. It's so good that she would eat up to 12 pancakes in one morning alone. Yes, I counted. o.O

She's wasn't fat anything, she was this cute little 5 year-old-ish petite frame that would ask, ever so politely, for her pancakes everyday from the chef. So much that her mom forbade her to eat anymore pancakes the following day (after her N servings). lol.

Yummy birthday chocolate cake made specially by the chef.

well, it was a bad year for me. So yes, BYE BYE! Don't ever come back.

Best cookie ever.

before heading out to dinner

There are two restaurants I simply love in Langkawi,

one would be Orkid Ria restaurant, which serves the best seafood in Langkawi (there's not a lot choice but don't compare it with the best in KL).

They do, however, have fresh lobster and do serve fresh lobster sashimi upon request, which was a bonus.
Though to be honest, lobster sashimi is overrated.

Give me salted egg yolk crabs anytime.

mega prawns!

The other restaurant would be Bon Ton.

Make sure you call in a day or two early to reserve a table at the corner to see the best sunset view, for two.

They serve a mean steak with fabulous sauce and absolutely divine mash. It's heaven at the price of RM70+.

favourite dish

I shall end this post with a satisfied me in bed.

Happy Belated Birthday Moi. :)

May 11, 2012

Secret Trip for Mother's Day

So Mother's Day coming and my best friend and I decided to buy a trip for both of our moms together, with us bringing them.

What better gift can there be than having your own only daughter bring you to a weekend trip away.

My mom has been wanting for the longest time to go on a random trip, other than during Chinese New Year, and I've been wanting to bring her to one but kept putting it off.

This year, I thought to myself: 'fuck it, I'm bringing her." She's not getting any younger and the fact that she's complaining about the pain in her legs made me feel guilty that I've traveled so much. I brought her on trips before, but those were at least 2-3 years ago. So far we've gone on trips to Taiwan, Bali, Vietnam, Italy and France. But not all were completely sponsored by me, my mom forked out money too and some where by other means (contest, etc).

So I'd say this upcoming trip would be an official cover-all mother's day gift to my mom.

I also decided to drag my partner in crime along with it. So now it's a girls only trip, two moms, two daughters. It's going to be like baby-sitting each other throughout the trip. LOL.

I don't want to share where I'm bringing her in this post, least she checks it; but then I'm fairly sure she has a certain idea where I'll be bringing her. It's no rocket science, afterall, I did mention once or twice in the past before and she has been nagging me she wanted to go for a while now.

But you know, just to keep the suspense going, for the fun of it. lol. To be revealed...

What did you get for your mom on Mother's Day?
Share with me in the comments below.

May 10, 2012

Outfits Through The Week

Not every day of a single week, or some random #lookoftheday I picked from my photo collection.
Together with some photos of yours truly taken from my phone.