01 Nov 2015

We made an appointment with Master Long and today's the day we will be meeting him for our wedding auspicious dates!

He gave three years' worth of dates based on our Bazi and it was quite a fun experience listening to him explain all the traditional wedding details. 

My favorite part was the pink little booklet with our Chinese names printed on it. Although it isn't much, but this customized gesture makes it feel more special, like the dates and details in the booklet belongs only to us ❤️

Master Long's a nice grandfatherly man so we felt comfortable with him (:

After about 45mins, we left happy!

10.10.2015 THE AWESOME MAGICAL PROPOSAL

I'M ENGAGED!!!

10.10.2015

This date marks the first official step we take together as lifetime partners.

I still find it abit surreal at times, and I find myself staring at the ring on my fourth finger once in awhile, trying to come to terms with it. 

We have been together for 7 donkey years, and there have been too many ups & downs. But even then, I'm quite sure I can say that we already knew, in our hearts, that this is THE ONE.  

So anyway. Moving on to THE AWESOME MAGICAL PROPOSAL!!

According to the boy, he has already started his proposal planning 6 months ago (late May/early June). He went sourcing for rings with his friends & my girlfriends.The first stop was Michael Trio. And if I'm not wrong, he was quite set on buying a ring from there. He even paid a deposit for the ring!! :O

Thankfully, my girlfriends on the pretense of talking about proposal/marriage, managed to suss out my preferences. 
Sorry love!! Haha. In the end, he had to withdraw his deposit from Michael Trio, and resume his ring hunt again.
I'm so glad he managed to choose and buy the perfect pretty ring eventually!! Hehe.

On that night of 10 October 2015, I arrived at Once Degree 15 with Eli & Germaine, thinking it was Eli's birthday yacht celebration. We had even gone to Far East in the afternoon for a manicure & pedicure session! Then back to my place to do our hair & make up. 

Never trust girls dolling up to be on time, because we ended up late!! Haha. After parking the car, Eli called a guy up and he led us to the speedboat, which will then bring us to the yacht. So amazing!! It actually got very exciting and fun!!

Because we were slightly late, we rushed to the speedboat and got on board. By then it was already past 7 and dark. Even then! We managed to take snapshots of us on board the speedboat. Thanks to the very helpful and nice crew. The two men tolerated our camwhoring and even helped to shine their torch so we could have clearer photos. Very patient! *Thumbs up*

The waves were so choppy when we made our way out to sea! It literally felt like a rollercoaster ride and the three of us were squealing all the way to the yacht. SO MUCH FUN!! Although the wind totally messed my hair up -.- No more curls. 
After about 10 mins, we finally slowed down and saw two yachts in front of us! It's funny because both Eli & Germaine started debating which is the correct one. They were suppose to know because Jeff told them!! Hahaha. 

So it was the yacht with the pretty fairy lights all over. In the dark night, it glowed and sparkled, making it look so magical. I'll never forget that sight (:

Because the waves were so choppy, we had to wait awhile in the speedboat before crossing over to the yacht. It was then I noticed that, besides the yacht crew, there were two other guys. And they looked very familiar. There was a camera guy that looked like Jeff's sister's bf. And the video guy looked like Jeff's brother. On closer look, it was really them!! 
I was like EH??? What are they doing here? It is Eli's birthday party and they don't know Eli so how come they are there? 

Once aboard the yacht, Eli & Germaine dodged my questions and told me to go in and sit down in front of the TV screen first. And when I entered, my eyes immediately caught sight of the freaking amazing flowers decor. It had a simple food layout with lots and lots of my favorite flowers in the prettiest colours. And the table in front of the TV screen was even more amazing! It looked so much like a press conference/celebrity interview/running man set. There was a GoPro on a mount, a Microphone on a mount, and a entire row of flower arrangement. Too pretty!

So anyway, they made me sit down in the middle. ANDDDDD... silly germaine pressed the wrong remote button. Haha! Either one of the girls was supposed to press the ON button, but the blur woman went to press the red off button instead -__-  Haha
It caused abit of a commotion cause the girls didn't know what to do and why the TV wouldn't come back on. So in the end, they made me close my eyes while the Captain and a few other boys came in to salvage the situation. 

Finally, after all was fixed, the video started. And about 5 seconds into the video, I started crying. Hahaha. Touched lah. The whole video was done by the boy himself and I did think it had the effect he was hoping for. Me crying. Haha! I was very surprised at the friends' video part as well. So thankful for their effort.. 

After the video was done, the girls made me walk out to the deck. And there, I saw the "Marry Me" board (not lighted up yet). Turned around, and saw my love standing at the top deck stairs. He said a few words in a awkward and nervous way (haha) and it was also when I noticed the entire top deck had A LOT of people. So paiseh!!All my family & friends were there!!

He came forward and passed me the roses.
Then..... tadah!! went down on one knee to propose!!
Of cos I had to look at the ring first. Then i said "OKAY!!" Hahahaha.
And about 3 seconds later, across the other end of the sea, at that prefect timing, 
fireworks went off!!!
It was so so amazing *Happy sigh*
Good planning b, good planning.

Thank you for planning this amazing proposal. It must have been a nightmare dealing with all the logistics.
Thank you for giving me the best ring I can ever ask for, because you said you only want to give me what I want.
Thank you for collaborating with my friends and working so well with them.
Thank you for the time you took to source for the perfect yacht, designing the "yacht entry tickets" & the proposal banner.
Thank you for the effort you placed into doing up the LED "Marry Me" signage from scratch. You took the effort to learn how to do it and didn't give up on it even when the connection made you pull your hair. Haha

Boracay June 2015

10 June 2015

In celebration of my 26th birthday and our 7th year anniversary, baby decided we should go on a holiday and he booked tickets to Boracay! Pretty excited because we've already been to Bali at least thrice and Phuket twice, so Boracay is a new beach destination for us.
I've always been wanting to go since three years back but stories of the troublesome journey deterred me from putting my foot down and booking tickets to the beautiful island.

So anyway! We booked our Tiger tickets for about S$600 for 2 pax.
I did a bit of research and found a few options for travelling from Kalibo Airport to Caticlan Jetty.

1. Southwest 
Seems pretty popular and booking of tickets from their website is idiot proof. But, I was afraid that it will be those big 30pax tour buses and I didn't want a slow and painful journey. Because big bus = hard to navigate around traffic.

2. My Boracay Guide
They have standard transfer and first class transfer (private).
We chose the first class transfer because we figured, for a 2 hours journey, at least we get to be comfortable and won't have to put up with noises (and smells) from strangers. Haha
For the first class transfer, you will be picked up in a sedan car/van exclusive to your group and for the ferry ride, you will also get to board a private Bangka boat. A perfect and stress-free way to start your vacation!

Upon exiting Boracay airport, we had a guy waiting for us with name sign.
We were welcomed with seashell necklaces, which is a lovely gesture. So happy to finally be in Boracay and I couldn't wait to see the famous white beach.


It was late 2pm in the afternoon and we were all set for the two hours car journey.

After what seemed like an eternity, we FINALLY reached the jetty.
Throughout the journey, we kept thinking "oh seems like we're reaching soon". But no, the driver kept going on :(

Once we stepped out of the car, a porter came and took our hand-carry luggage out of the boot. He was so quick on his feet and he literally walked so far ahead that even when baby kept calling him to return our bags, he just kept on going and pretended he didn't hear -_-
Just a heads up, you gotta tip the porter. A tip range of 20-50 should suffice. Depending on the level of service rendered or your generosity of course.

So because we chose the private transfer option, there was a logistic guy who came and basically guided us throughout the remaining journey.

On-board our private Banka boat! Entire boat could have sat at least 20 pax? Lol.

The ferry ride took a quick 15 minutes and there was another 10 mintues car ride to our hotel on Station 2.  For your information, Station 3 is the closest station to Boracay Jetty and Station 1 the furthest.

Hotel
We struggled quite a bit when making our hotel choice because the hotels in Boracay are not really worth the money. For the price of S$300/night, you could only get a decent hotel room in Boracay which doesnt even have an awesome view. You either get no view or a pool view. And honestly, I really do not feel like forking out $300-$400/night to face screaming children playing in the pool.

And if you go slightly down the range to $200-$300, you get really run down hotels that are dated and tired. And usually for our beach holidays, we always aim for at least a room with a view or a villa. I mean, that's what a beach holiday is about right? Walking out to your balcony and having an awesome sea view in the morning and the beautiful sunset in the evening. 
We could have just stayed in Shangri-la, which is the best the island offers, but that would set us back at least $1800 for 4 nights. Way too much we would pay for a Boracay trip.

In the end, we decided to split our nights into two hotels.
The logic was, since we will arrive in Boracay only in the evening on the first day, it would be a waste to splurge on a good hotel. As for the second day, we planned to spend our entire day at Ariel's Point, so we will be back in the hotel room only after 5pm again.

As such, we decided to make do with Zuzuni Boutique Hotel which has a simple and clean Scandinavian style. The hotel is right smacked in the middle of Station 1 and 2. So we wouldn't be too near to the rowdy and noisy crowd at Station 2 but the heart of Boracay is still within 5 minutes walking distance. Station 1 is another 5 minutes walk down the other direction. Location-wise, pretty much perfect. Another awesome thing is that this hotel is beach-front, so we had a balcony with a view! The only down side is that the rooms are small and amenities are not sufficient.

First Hello.

Year 2015.
Date 01 July

It's officially second half of the year.
I've decided to start a blog because I wish to have a record of my beautiful memories.
And since my aging brain has depleting memory space, this empty slate will do just the job.

Let's keep our fingers crossed that I will be able to keep the entries going.