Watch our first sister Q&A video on YouTube.
Click the link below and enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkrOcpprJtQ
Tuesday 3 April 2018
SISTER Q&A!
Hey ladies!
Watch our first sister Q&A video on YouTube.
Click the link below and enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkrOcpprJtQ
Watch our first sister Q&A video on YouTube.
Click the link below and enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkrOcpprJtQ
Thursday 15 March 2018
Hello!
I’ve just posted a VLOG Part 1 of our Boracay trip! ❤️
It was truly a memorable trip. Enjoy!
Link below:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AYjebxnGMco
Sarah
I’ve just posted a VLOG Part 1 of our Boracay trip! ❤️
It was truly a memorable trip. Enjoy!
Link below:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AYjebxnGMco
Sarah
Tuesday 13 March 2018
Boracay (3)
After waking up from our seafood coma, it was our third day in Boracay!
It was our last full day on the island before our flight back home the next day.
We were about to make the best out of it. Mum was up really early that morning, so we headed out with her on our usual tricycle trip and headed back to our hotel for breakfast.
After breakfast, we decided to make the best of our remaining day in Boracay. So, we decided to go for ISLAND HOPPING with Jerome!
Did I tell you guys about Jerome? How could I forget Jerome? Haha. One of the nicest guide we had. During our first day in Boracay, fresh on the island, we somehow had that newbie vibe. Our newbie vibe attracted more than 20 sellers / sea activity promoters selling everything and anything they've got to offer. Every step we took there was someone either greeting us, "Sir, Hi SIR. Island hopping? Parasailing? Kayaking? Jet boat. Sir sir!" or some offering ladies stuff "Madam, hat? Sunglasses? Phone casing? Cheap, madam. Best price for Malaysian. Apa khabar Madam?".
We were numb to all the callings but somehow were attracted to this nice looking, slightly tan Phillipino guy waiting for us at the beach leading to our usual breakfast spot. His name was Jerome. He greeted us with a smile and asked us whether we were interested in going for island hopping the next day. He somehow managed to persuade us. Due to his persistence, we were suddenly scheduled for a full day of island hopping. Yay for Jerome. *commisions for Jerome*
We got ready after breakfast and was asked to be at the beach by 930am latest. Typical us, we arrived at the proposed spot slightly later than 930am. The spot was empty. No Jerome. We looked around us and finally noticed another similar looking Jerome calling for us from a boat. From a boat filled with tourists just like us. They must have waited for us awhile now. There were all already strapped in their life jackets waiting for us. Malu gila.
We quickly rushed to the boat, strapped ourselves with the jackets and avoided all eye contact. The others acted like they were not looking but boy, were their eyes on us haha.
Finally, we headed out to the sea and landed at our first stop. In the middle of the sea! It was our 1 hour snorkelling session around the boat. How lovely! I quickly had my life jacket tightened, wore my snorkelling goggles and I was good to go! I was so excited forgetting that snorkelling terrified the life out of Omar. Truth is, Omar's not a swimmer. Well, he can't swim guys. There, I said it. Haha sorry Oms. So imagine how terrified he was to jump off the boat. I managed to calm him down, got his goggles placed properly and insisted that he try floating in the sea at his own pace. As eager as I was, he was finally in the waters with me. The minute his feet reached the water and he could no longer feel the ground, he was frantic. Frantic and gripped onto me like claws of a hawk. I could sense the anxiety, I immediately gripped his life jacket and swam him back to the boat. He was finally at ease. Poor boy!
Without hesitation, I continued snorkelling and spent time with the little fish who came to our boat. We were able to feed them bread and see them swim. There some good shots captured throughout our snorkelling activity. It would have been better captured if we had a GoPro. Maybe on our next island trip!
Then, we were headed to the next few stops which were PUKA island, Magic island for lunch, Cliff diving island and Crystal cove island. I enjoyed PUKA beach for its lovely scenery. We enjoyed the sunny weather and the clear waters. It was lovely. We also managed to taste one of the best Mango blended drink ever on that island! There were massage and hair braiding services on the island too.
We then headed to Magic island for lunch where they served us vegetarian food and fried shrimp. We were served lunch at a small hut (emulating the villagers / islanders of Boracay) and it was a wonderful experience. Done with lunch and we were headed to the Cliff diving and Crystal cove island. The cove was my favourite. There were two coves we could explore. The tides and waves were high and the waters was so fresh. It was jam packed to get down to the cove area but it was sure worth it!
We ended the day after the Cove and headed back to Station 2 (where we were staying) and spent an hour or so on the beach before heading back to our room. We took a quick nap and then got ready for the mum's APOC annual dinner. The dinner was themed a Mermaid's tale and we were all asked to dress in all white for the event that night. Super exciting!
The event started at 6pm that night. We took our usual tricycle to Fairways Beach Resort, near Eco Village and was shuttled to the venue via their free shuttle bus from the entrance of the hotel. We were greeted with drinks in Pineapples when we arrived. Little did we know, the drinks served all contained alcohol / vodka. Luckily before we took the drink, Omar enquired regarding the drink and the ladies serving us happily said "Yes sir, vodka." Pheww, close one! We immediately told them we don't drink and they hurried themselves away from us. Close call!
Entering into the venue, there were hundreds of delegates and participants all dressed in white. All of us were asked to register and was given hats as well as Ratan fans as door gifts. The venue was scenic. There were lights over us, good music, a pool just next to the venue with mermaids in the pool! Yes, mermaids haha. There were mermaids on the grass next to the pool for photo taking. It was so unique and interesting it made the start of the night so lively. The night was accompanied by good music by a group of guys on the drums which lifted the night even more. The night was indeed young.
After the evening party, we were asked to make our way down to the beach area and head to the actual dinner venue. We walked our way down and caught glimpses of the scene as we came closer. As we entered the venue, the open space was dark, with laser lights everywhere, good music and a huge screen on stage facing the audiences (us). There were easily 100 tables accommodating almost 10 participants on each table. There were huge white tents by the sides, holding the buffet spread from salads, main dishes to desserts and drinks. The night was accompanied by good hosts and speeches by the organising committee. Awards were given to researchers, poster participants and postgraduate candidates for all their hard work.
The official ceremony ended and the partying started. The committee invited a very well known singer in the Philippines, Ms. Bituin Escalante. She was the QUEEN of the night. She was singing songs from the 80s with her crazy wide range of vocals. People were on their feet listening to 'I will survive', to most of Madonna's hits. It was so cool seeing people in their 50s grooving to good old music. She entertained us with a total of 10 songs and ended the night with passing it over to the invited DJ.
It was now time for real good millennial music! By now, I've moved from one chair to another, grooved to the music, sat back down, jumped up and cheer and headed to the chairs way infront, closer to the stage. I was on a roll. Mum being the cool sport she usually is, stayed the night with me. We danced to music by Rihanna, Cardi B, Camilla Cabello to Selena Gomez! All music meshed into one good remix. The lights went on like crazy and the night was getting even better.
We enjoyed all the remixes for an hour or so. The night finally ended well and it was time to go home.
We walked our way back to the shuttle pick up area and took the shuttle back to the entrance. We managed to catch a tricycle back to our hotel. The tricycle we waved down could accommodate more than the three of us so we decided to share it with others who were waiting in line. As we got on the tricycle, we realised there were three other people climbing up the tricycle and seated just opposite us. I was busy on my phone when I overheard the person infront of me talking to the person beside her. Her voice sounded so familiar. I looked up. And got the shock of my life.
It was Ms. BITUIN ESCALANTE. RIGHT INFRONT OF ME. She looked at me and immediately put her hands up and said "Hello" with the sweetest voice. I screamed and fangirled for awhile. During that time, two other fans jumped onto the tricycle and were fangirling her too!
We went crazy on that tricycle trip!
We were asking her so many questions, I'm sure it suffocated her haha. We made friends with other fans of hers on that ride. Kim and Rochelle. We got talking and they were fans of Jericho too! We squealed and screamed at our conversations about all the soap operas he was in. Die hard fans haha. We got down at the same area, Station 2 and got ourselves another round of Halo Mango on our last night in Boracay.
They walked us back to our hotel, continue our girly chit chats and finally hugged us goodbye.
We ended the night and slept soundly to the sounds of the waves that night.
The next morning, we had a chilled breakfast before heading out to the airport. Did a little bit of shopping before biding the place goodbye. We were heavy heartedly leaving Boracay but was really happy to experience lovely memories in such a beautiful island.
We waved the island goodbye that afternoon, hoping to be back again one day.
Thank you, Boracay. You were amazing!
It was our last full day on the island before our flight back home the next day.
We were about to make the best out of it. Mum was up really early that morning, so we headed out with her on our usual tricycle trip and headed back to our hotel for breakfast.
After breakfast, we decided to make the best of our remaining day in Boracay. So, we decided to go for ISLAND HOPPING with Jerome!
Did I tell you guys about Jerome? How could I forget Jerome? Haha. One of the nicest guide we had. During our first day in Boracay, fresh on the island, we somehow had that newbie vibe. Our newbie vibe attracted more than 20 sellers / sea activity promoters selling everything and anything they've got to offer. Every step we took there was someone either greeting us, "Sir, Hi SIR. Island hopping? Parasailing? Kayaking? Jet boat. Sir sir!" or some offering ladies stuff "Madam, hat? Sunglasses? Phone casing? Cheap, madam. Best price for Malaysian. Apa khabar Madam?".
We were numb to all the callings but somehow were attracted to this nice looking, slightly tan Phillipino guy waiting for us at the beach leading to our usual breakfast spot. His name was Jerome. He greeted us with a smile and asked us whether we were interested in going for island hopping the next day. He somehow managed to persuade us. Due to his persistence, we were suddenly scheduled for a full day of island hopping. Yay for Jerome. *commisions for Jerome*
We got ready after breakfast and was asked to be at the beach by 930am latest. Typical us, we arrived at the proposed spot slightly later than 930am. The spot was empty. No Jerome. We looked around us and finally noticed another similar looking Jerome calling for us from a boat. From a boat filled with tourists just like us. They must have waited for us awhile now. There were all already strapped in their life jackets waiting for us. Malu gila.
We quickly rushed to the boat, strapped ourselves with the jackets and avoided all eye contact. The others acted like they were not looking but boy, were their eyes on us haha.
Finally, we headed out to the sea and landed at our first stop. In the middle of the sea! It was our 1 hour snorkelling session around the boat. How lovely! I quickly had my life jacket tightened, wore my snorkelling goggles and I was good to go! I was so excited forgetting that snorkelling terrified the life out of Omar. Truth is, Omar's not a swimmer. Well, he can't swim guys. There, I said it. Haha sorry Oms. So imagine how terrified he was to jump off the boat. I managed to calm him down, got his goggles placed properly and insisted that he try floating in the sea at his own pace. As eager as I was, he was finally in the waters with me. The minute his feet reached the water and he could no longer feel the ground, he was frantic. Frantic and gripped onto me like claws of a hawk. I could sense the anxiety, I immediately gripped his life jacket and swam him back to the boat. He was finally at ease. Poor boy!
Without hesitation, I continued snorkelling and spent time with the little fish who came to our boat. We were able to feed them bread and see them swim. There some good shots captured throughout our snorkelling activity. It would have been better captured if we had a GoPro. Maybe on our next island trip!
Then, we were headed to the next few stops which were PUKA island, Magic island for lunch, Cliff diving island and Crystal cove island. I enjoyed PUKA beach for its lovely scenery. We enjoyed the sunny weather and the clear waters. It was lovely. We also managed to taste one of the best Mango blended drink ever on that island! There were massage and hair braiding services on the island too.
We then headed to Magic island for lunch where they served us vegetarian food and fried shrimp. We were served lunch at a small hut (emulating the villagers / islanders of Boracay) and it was a wonderful experience. Done with lunch and we were headed to the Cliff diving and Crystal cove island. The cove was my favourite. There were two coves we could explore. The tides and waves were high and the waters was so fresh. It was jam packed to get down to the cove area but it was sure worth it!
We ended the day after the Cove and headed back to Station 2 (where we were staying) and spent an hour or so on the beach before heading back to our room. We took a quick nap and then got ready for the mum's APOC annual dinner. The dinner was themed a Mermaid's tale and we were all asked to dress in all white for the event that night. Super exciting!
The event started at 6pm that night. We took our usual tricycle to Fairways Beach Resort, near Eco Village and was shuttled to the venue via their free shuttle bus from the entrance of the hotel. We were greeted with drinks in Pineapples when we arrived. Little did we know, the drinks served all contained alcohol / vodka. Luckily before we took the drink, Omar enquired regarding the drink and the ladies serving us happily said "Yes sir, vodka." Pheww, close one! We immediately told them we don't drink and they hurried themselves away from us. Close call!
Entering into the venue, there were hundreds of delegates and participants all dressed in white. All of us were asked to register and was given hats as well as Ratan fans as door gifts. The venue was scenic. There were lights over us, good music, a pool just next to the venue with mermaids in the pool! Yes, mermaids haha. There were mermaids on the grass next to the pool for photo taking. It was so unique and interesting it made the start of the night so lively. The night was accompanied by good music by a group of guys on the drums which lifted the night even more. The night was indeed young.
After the evening party, we were asked to make our way down to the beach area and head to the actual dinner venue. We walked our way down and caught glimpses of the scene as we came closer. As we entered the venue, the open space was dark, with laser lights everywhere, good music and a huge screen on stage facing the audiences (us). There were easily 100 tables accommodating almost 10 participants on each table. There were huge white tents by the sides, holding the buffet spread from salads, main dishes to desserts and drinks. The night was accompanied by good hosts and speeches by the organising committee. Awards were given to researchers, poster participants and postgraduate candidates for all their hard work.
The official ceremony ended and the partying started. The committee invited a very well known singer in the Philippines, Ms. Bituin Escalante. She was the QUEEN of the night. She was singing songs from the 80s with her crazy wide range of vocals. People were on their feet listening to 'I will survive', to most of Madonna's hits. It was so cool seeing people in their 50s grooving to good old music. She entertained us with a total of 10 songs and ended the night with passing it over to the invited DJ.
It was now time for real good millennial music! By now, I've moved from one chair to another, grooved to the music, sat back down, jumped up and cheer and headed to the chairs way infront, closer to the stage. I was on a roll. Mum being the cool sport she usually is, stayed the night with me. We danced to music by Rihanna, Cardi B, Camilla Cabello to Selena Gomez! All music meshed into one good remix. The lights went on like crazy and the night was getting even better.
We enjoyed all the remixes for an hour or so. The night finally ended well and it was time to go home.
We walked our way back to the shuttle pick up area and took the shuttle back to the entrance. We managed to catch a tricycle back to our hotel. The tricycle we waved down could accommodate more than the three of us so we decided to share it with others who were waiting in line. As we got on the tricycle, we realised there were three other people climbing up the tricycle and seated just opposite us. I was busy on my phone when I overheard the person infront of me talking to the person beside her. Her voice sounded so familiar. I looked up. And got the shock of my life.
It was Ms. BITUIN ESCALANTE. RIGHT INFRONT OF ME. She looked at me and immediately put her hands up and said "Hello" with the sweetest voice. I screamed and fangirled for awhile. During that time, two other fans jumped onto the tricycle and were fangirling her too!
We went crazy on that tricycle trip!
We were asking her so many questions, I'm sure it suffocated her haha. We made friends with other fans of hers on that ride. Kim and Rochelle. We got talking and they were fans of Jericho too! We squealed and screamed at our conversations about all the soap operas he was in. Die hard fans haha. We got down at the same area, Station 2 and got ourselves another round of Halo Mango on our last night in Boracay.
They walked us back to our hotel, continue our girly chit chats and finally hugged us goodbye.
We ended the night and slept soundly to the sounds of the waves that night.
The next morning, we had a chilled breakfast before heading out to the airport. Did a little bit of shopping before biding the place goodbye. We were heavy heartedly leaving Boracay but was really happy to experience lovely memories in such a beautiful island.
We waved the island goodbye that afternoon, hoping to be back again one day.
Thank you, Boracay. You were amazing!
Signing out,
Sarah
Boracay (2)
So, where were we?
Oh yeah! The part where my mum was late.. haha on her first day!
The alarm clock blasted at 7am the next morning, unfortunately we snoozed it and continued to sleep for til a quarter past 7! Mind you, registration started at 730am ok. Imagine the craze that went in our rooms that morning.
My mum headed for the bathroom first, got dressed and was anxiously texting her other colleagues while Omar and I were frantically putting together photo worthy outfits in the next room.
Never have I ever gotten ready THAT quickly *awesome daughter. Pats back* haha.
We immediately headed out the door, got ourselves to the main lobby and before we knew it, we managed to flag down a tricycle driver, shouted '300 pesos (30 ringgit). Eco village!' and we were on our way in no time. Happy to finally be on our way but we were anxious about our mode of transport.
Let me not miss out the details of the tricycles in Boracay. The tricycle was made of a small 'kapcai' motorbike, attached to a four seated trishaw with wheels on end. The motor was fairly powered to move a huge trishaw with 3 adults, easily 60 or more kgs on average. It was running at at least 60km/hour. So, imagine the bumps and hurdles we had to go through that morning haha.
The driver could sense our urgency so he was practically speeding his way through the roads. Being a Monday and all, traffic was not very kind. The main road was filled with easily 20 tricycles at a time queuing in a single lane with taxis and vans filled with newcomers in the opposite direction. It was like Bangkok all over again (will tell you guys about my Bangkok trip and its road traffic craze another time haha)
Our tricycle was speeding against cars, slipping between vans, going through small roads and bypassing schools, little shops and locals along the way. Imagine our first time in a tricycle and howscared adventurous we felt. Such tricycles had manmade belts tied to the bars over our heads used for us to guard our lives with! Well, I held on to it super tightly of course! Occasionally I would look back at Omar and was glad I wasn't him then haha.
Reflectively, I would glance over to the schools we passed and see the locals walk to their respective destinations that morning. It made me realise everyone had their own place on this earth. We were born in a family, living in a society or country and it was all set. We were destined to live the life we are living and we had absolutely no control over that. Regardless of the minimal life these locals were living, they still seemed so.. happy. So contented and so full of spirit. And that made me feel so #grateful.
After travelling half way across the world, we finally reached Eco Village. From a distance, we were able to see delegates and participants registering at the counter in troops. The environment was so lively. Everyone was dressed in beach appropriate formal wear with striking colours seen across the entrance hall. There was a huge banner written Asia Pacific Orthodontic Conference 2018 (APOC), welcoming the participants to the conference. We dropped mum off at the counter and waved goodbye. We then hopped back onto the tricycle and headed back for our hotel. It was another round of the bumps and hurdles which finally led us back to our hotel, intact.
First stop that morning was the hotel restaurant for our morning breakfast.
I was super excited to finally see the Boracay beach since we overslept and haven't visited the beach since we arrived. We decided to take our slippers off and walked the sands headed to our restaurant on bare foot. As we approached the beach area, we were able to get a closer glimpse of how beautiful the Boracay was. It was spectacular. The crystal sands reflecting the sunlight, the shimmery shades of blue over the sea and the sound of waves coming towards us was simply magical. The first scene we caught of Boracay was beautiful. It's no wonder people call Boracay the islands of Paradise.
As we were enjoying the beach, we got pretty good shots of the scene. A few of ORA shots as well haha. Check it out at *www.oraklstore.com* soon!
We then headed for breakfast and enjoyed the Pork free and vegan section spread.
The food was delicious. We mainly headed to the salad area and the egg station. Every where else had pork and non-halal meat in it, so we settled for the delicious vegan food.
After breakfast, we immediately booked our spot under the huge umbrellas facing the beach. It was a sunny morning, so we decided to get changed and headed for a swim. One of the best beach swims I've had in months! The water was so cool it was almost as if they were welcoming us to Boracay for the first time. The waves were not too vicious so we could float and enjoy the calm waters, the sun was also not too glaring so we could spend a little bit of time admiring the sea, the lighting was superb for good beach shots. We managed to enjoy the beach waters for close to two hours! Then, headed for the dock beds for a quick nap afterwards. It was just a chilled day by the beach for the two of us.
Later that evening, we grabbed late lunch at a nearby Halal Indian restaurant and managed to enjoy well cooked Lamb Briyani! The view facing the beach was spectacular. Full and contented, Omar and I decided to try the Mangoes and the Mango blended drink and desert at Halo Mango. Yummy desserts I must say! It reminded me a lot of the Taiwanese Mango desserts. Check them out on tripadvisor.com.
So we got in line with hundreds others and finally got a chance to taste the well known Mangoes of Boracay! We then walked along the small shops at Boracay's D mall and managed to get some items as souvenirs for family at home. By the time we were done shopping, mum texted me and said that she was taking the shuttle back to D mall and planned to meet us there for dinner with some of her friends. Thank God! No more tricycle rides for the day haha.
So we waited for her at a nearby shop and headed for dinner afterwards.
We were told by one of the locals about a nearby Halal Seafood restaurant, which had their service very unique to other restaurants. The uniqueness about it was that we would have to go to the market nearby, haggle for their seafood (lobsters, tiger prawns, crabs, you name it) and bring those items to another restaurant for your choice of cooking. My mum being the master of haggling got all our selected seafood for less than 500 pesos (that's 400 ringgit).
It was like a lot of food, you guys. The items we bought could cater to 8 super hungry people so that was considered SO cheap! So, my mum haggled her way through, made some new Phillipino friends along the way and we ended the night by having real good seafood by the beach. We're talking Chilli crabs, Butter prawns, Fried squid with Thai Chilli, Baked oysters and some Baked lobsters. I was in Seafood heaven!!
We were in seafood coma by the end of the night and decided to call it a day.
We headed back to our rooms and set our alarms in full blast, hoping to be one of the early birds for mum's conference the next day haha.
It was indeed a good day.
*Burp*
Missing the seafood,
Sarah
Oh yeah! The part where my mum was late.. haha on her first day!
The alarm clock blasted at 7am the next morning, unfortunately we snoozed it and continued to sleep for til a quarter past 7! Mind you, registration started at 730am ok. Imagine the craze that went in our rooms that morning.
My mum headed for the bathroom first, got dressed and was anxiously texting her other colleagues while Omar and I were frantically putting together photo worthy outfits in the next room.
Never have I ever gotten ready THAT quickly *awesome daughter. Pats back* haha.
We immediately headed out the door, got ourselves to the main lobby and before we knew it, we managed to flag down a tricycle driver, shouted '300 pesos (30 ringgit). Eco village!' and we were on our way in no time. Happy to finally be on our way but we were anxious about our mode of transport.
Let me not miss out the details of the tricycles in Boracay. The tricycle was made of a small 'kapcai' motorbike, attached to a four seated trishaw with wheels on end. The motor was fairly powered to move a huge trishaw with 3 adults, easily 60 or more kgs on average. It was running at at least 60km/hour. So, imagine the bumps and hurdles we had to go through that morning haha.
The driver could sense our urgency so he was practically speeding his way through the roads. Being a Monday and all, traffic was not very kind. The main road was filled with easily 20 tricycles at a time queuing in a single lane with taxis and vans filled with newcomers in the opposite direction. It was like Bangkok all over again (will tell you guys about my Bangkok trip and its road traffic craze another time haha)
Our tricycle was speeding against cars, slipping between vans, going through small roads and bypassing schools, little shops and locals along the way. Imagine our first time in a tricycle and how
Reflectively, I would glance over to the schools we passed and see the locals walk to their respective destinations that morning. It made me realise everyone had their own place on this earth. We were born in a family, living in a society or country and it was all set. We were destined to live the life we are living and we had absolutely no control over that. Regardless of the minimal life these locals were living, they still seemed so.. happy. So contented and so full of spirit. And that made me feel so #grateful.
After travelling half way across the world, we finally reached Eco Village. From a distance, we were able to see delegates and participants registering at the counter in troops. The environment was so lively. Everyone was dressed in beach appropriate formal wear with striking colours seen across the entrance hall. There was a huge banner written Asia Pacific Orthodontic Conference 2018 (APOC), welcoming the participants to the conference. We dropped mum off at the counter and waved goodbye. We then hopped back onto the tricycle and headed back for our hotel. It was another round of the bumps and hurdles which finally led us back to our hotel, intact.
First stop that morning was the hotel restaurant for our morning breakfast.
I was super excited to finally see the Boracay beach since we overslept and haven't visited the beach since we arrived. We decided to take our slippers off and walked the sands headed to our restaurant on bare foot. As we approached the beach area, we were able to get a closer glimpse of how beautiful the Boracay was. It was spectacular. The crystal sands reflecting the sunlight, the shimmery shades of blue over the sea and the sound of waves coming towards us was simply magical. The first scene we caught of Boracay was beautiful. It's no wonder people call Boracay the islands of Paradise.
As we were enjoying the beach, we got pretty good shots of the scene. A few of ORA shots as well haha. Check it out at *www.oraklstore.com* soon!
We then headed for breakfast and enjoyed the Pork free and vegan section spread.
The food was delicious. We mainly headed to the salad area and the egg station. Every where else had pork and non-halal meat in it, so we settled for the delicious vegan food.
After breakfast, we immediately booked our spot under the huge umbrellas facing the beach. It was a sunny morning, so we decided to get changed and headed for a swim. One of the best beach swims I've had in months! The water was so cool it was almost as if they were welcoming us to Boracay for the first time. The waves were not too vicious so we could float and enjoy the calm waters, the sun was also not too glaring so we could spend a little bit of time admiring the sea, the lighting was superb for good beach shots. We managed to enjoy the beach waters for close to two hours! Then, headed for the dock beds for a quick nap afterwards. It was just a chilled day by the beach for the two of us.
Later that evening, we grabbed late lunch at a nearby Halal Indian restaurant and managed to enjoy well cooked Lamb Briyani! The view facing the beach was spectacular. Full and contented, Omar and I decided to try the Mangoes and the Mango blended drink and desert at Halo Mango. Yummy desserts I must say! It reminded me a lot of the Taiwanese Mango desserts. Check them out on tripadvisor.com.
So we got in line with hundreds others and finally got a chance to taste the well known Mangoes of Boracay! We then walked along the small shops at Boracay's D mall and managed to get some items as souvenirs for family at home. By the time we were done shopping, mum texted me and said that she was taking the shuttle back to D mall and planned to meet us there for dinner with some of her friends. Thank God! No more tricycle rides for the day haha.
So we waited for her at a nearby shop and headed for dinner afterwards.
We were told by one of the locals about a nearby Halal Seafood restaurant, which had their service very unique to other restaurants. The uniqueness about it was that we would have to go to the market nearby, haggle for their seafood (lobsters, tiger prawns, crabs, you name it) and bring those items to another restaurant for your choice of cooking. My mum being the master of haggling got all our selected seafood for less than 500 pesos (that's 400 ringgit).
It was like a lot of food, you guys. The items we bought could cater to 8 super hungry people so that was considered SO cheap! So, my mum haggled her way through, made some new Phillipino friends along the way and we ended the night by having real good seafood by the beach. We're talking Chilli crabs, Butter prawns, Fried squid with Thai Chilli, Baked oysters and some Baked lobsters. I was in Seafood heaven!!
We were in seafood coma by the end of the night and decided to call it a day.
We headed back to our rooms and set our alarms in full blast, hoping to be one of the early birds for mum's conference the next day haha.
It was indeed a good day.
*Burp*
Missing the seafood,
Sarah
Monday 12 March 2018
Bora Boracay!
Just a little update about my recent trip to.. the long awaited Boracay!
It was a dream guys. Finally being able to make a trip to Boracay was a DREAM.
If you all didn't know, I have been a die hard fan of Phillipino series / movies / romantic comedies since like forever. Particularly the ones with Jericho Rosales in it (yes girls, Jericho Rosales. That's how old I am haha). I was a crazy fan of his from Pangako Sa Yo to Sanay Wala Nang Wakas to the Legal wife. I was onboard anything Jericho. It was even more perfect to know that Jericho wedded his longtime girlfriend, Kim Jones in Boracay. So imagine how excited I was to finally know we were taking a trip there!
My husband (Omar) and I had it planned since months ago.
We were scheduled to fly in mid March but we had it planned since.. last year? Haha. Fitting in the right time and our crazy schedules took time haha. A lot of time. It was also perfect timing as my mum had to make a trip there for her annual Orthodontic conference happening in Boracay. So we decided to fit our schedules and mesh the two plans to make it into a 4 days 3 nights trip. The best week of my life.
We flew via Cebu Pacific and landed in Manila airport. It was a 3 hour transit and we took a connecting flight to Boracay. I must say the trip was rather exhausting. We flew at 1am on Sunday morning, reached Manila at around 5am the same morning, transited for 3 hours and boarded our flight to Boracay at 8am. The trip to Boracay was another 1 1/2 hours which made it almost a total of 10-11 hours to Boracay! We would have been in London by then. #priorities
We finally arrived in the lovely sands of Boracay at around 1200pm local time. I was the happiest when the plane landed. Finalllllyyyy we're here! Not knowing, that we've only made it half way.
Little did we know, we had to take two buses from one terminal to the jetty, with the waits in between. We waited for almost an hour at the first terminal. Got on the bus. Arrived at the second stop. Waited some more. Took another bus. Arrived at the jetty. Waited for our ferry for nearly half an hour. Got on our ferry, arrived at the main land of Boracay and waited for a good half an hour for another van to take us to the hotel. All in all, our trip post landing in the Philippines took us almost 2 hours!
By 1pm, I was exhausted, sunburnt and super hungry. Boracay didn't seem like Paradise anymore haha. After the long ride on our van, we finally arrived at Hannan Regency and Spa, Boracay! We checked in, got our bags delivered and we were out and about.
It was quite late when we arrived so my mum wanted to get her stuff settled at her conference. She participated in the Poster presentation and had to have it hung at the main hall before 5. We immediately headed to Eco Village, where the event was held and got her registered.
We were initially under the impression that Eco Village was just 'a few blocks away'. Well, what we didn't know was, 'a few blocks away' meant we needed to take a 15 minute ride via their local tricycle to the next part of the Island! Most of the delegates and participants of the conference booked a place just next to the Eco Village ; Savoy for ease of movement. Well, we didn't. What's new? If you didn't know me by now, I am never the type who would stick to the norm. I would do my research and plan things MY way. Well, MY research and MY plan failed miserably this time around haha. With my plans, mum had to take a 15 minute tricycle trip every morning to her venue *Great job daughter*.
Being in a foreign place and all, we had to accompany her at 7am EVERY morning. We are such golden kids kan? #terpaksa sebab dah tersalah plan haha.
I digress. So, our first stop on our first day in Boracay was Eco Village. Mum got registered and we hung her poster at the designated section and made our way around the hall. It was a busy day for the organisers. Speakers, mics and visuals were being tested. Everyone were on their feet, getting all of it done prior to the commencement of the conference the next day. Hearing Tagalog (Philippines official language) spoken everywhere made me feel I was finally in Jericho's home haha. YES!
So once we were done, we took a trip back to the hotel afterwards and planned to freshen up before exploring more of Boracay. When we arrived at our small suite, we decided to make ourselves a hot cup of Maggi we brought from home (Super Malaysian) and a cup of tea each. Utter bliss. We freshened up, prayed then we decided to take a 'short nap' hoping to have dinner by the beach and explore more of the island that night. Guess what? Our short nap went on til almost 7am the next day! Well, guess who was almost late for her conference the next morning? Not forgetting the 15 minute ride we had to take by flagging any random tricycle by the road haha. *Great job daughter*
That's the end of our Day 1 in Boracay!
Watch out for my next post to know more of our adventures.
Signing out,
Sarah
It was a dream guys. Finally being able to make a trip to Boracay was a DREAM.
If you all didn't know, I have been a die hard fan of Phillipino series / movies / romantic comedies since like forever. Particularly the ones with Jericho Rosales in it (yes girls, Jericho Rosales. That's how old I am haha). I was a crazy fan of his from Pangako Sa Yo to Sanay Wala Nang Wakas to the Legal wife. I was onboard anything Jericho. It was even more perfect to know that Jericho wedded his longtime girlfriend, Kim Jones in Boracay. So imagine how excited I was to finally know we were taking a trip there!
My husband (Omar) and I had it planned since months ago.
We were scheduled to fly in mid March but we had it planned since.. last year? Haha. Fitting in the right time and our crazy schedules took time haha. A lot of time. It was also perfect timing as my mum had to make a trip there for her annual Orthodontic conference happening in Boracay. So we decided to fit our schedules and mesh the two plans to make it into a 4 days 3 nights trip. The best week of my life.
We flew via Cebu Pacific and landed in Manila airport. It was a 3 hour transit and we took a connecting flight to Boracay. I must say the trip was rather exhausting. We flew at 1am on Sunday morning, reached Manila at around 5am the same morning, transited for 3 hours and boarded our flight to Boracay at 8am. The trip to Boracay was another 1 1/2 hours which made it almost a total of 10-11 hours to Boracay! We would have been in London by then. #priorities
We finally arrived in the lovely sands of Boracay at around 1200pm local time. I was the happiest when the plane landed. Finalllllyyyy we're here! Not knowing, that we've only made it half way.
Little did we know, we had to take two buses from one terminal to the jetty, with the waits in between. We waited for almost an hour at the first terminal. Got on the bus. Arrived at the second stop. Waited some more. Took another bus. Arrived at the jetty. Waited for our ferry for nearly half an hour. Got on our ferry, arrived at the main land of Boracay and waited for a good half an hour for another van to take us to the hotel. All in all, our trip post landing in the Philippines took us almost 2 hours!
By 1pm, I was exhausted, sunburnt and super hungry. Boracay didn't seem like Paradise anymore haha. After the long ride on our van, we finally arrived at Hannan Regency and Spa, Boracay! We checked in, got our bags delivered and we were out and about.
It was quite late when we arrived so my mum wanted to get her stuff settled at her conference. She participated in the Poster presentation and had to have it hung at the main hall before 5. We immediately headed to Eco Village, where the event was held and got her registered.
We were initially under the impression that Eco Village was just 'a few blocks away'. Well, what we didn't know was, 'a few blocks away' meant we needed to take a 15 minute ride via their local tricycle to the next part of the Island! Most of the delegates and participants of the conference booked a place just next to the Eco Village ; Savoy for ease of movement. Well, we didn't. What's new? If you didn't know me by now, I am never the type who would stick to the norm. I would do my research and plan things MY way. Well, MY research and MY plan failed miserably this time around haha. With my plans, mum had to take a 15 minute tricycle trip every morning to her venue *Great job daughter*.
Being in a foreign place and all, we had to accompany her at 7am EVERY morning. We are such golden kids kan? #terpaksa sebab dah tersalah plan haha.
I digress. So, our first stop on our first day in Boracay was Eco Village. Mum got registered and we hung her poster at the designated section and made our way around the hall. It was a busy day for the organisers. Speakers, mics and visuals were being tested. Everyone were on their feet, getting all of it done prior to the commencement of the conference the next day. Hearing Tagalog (Philippines official language) spoken everywhere made me feel I was finally in Jericho's home haha. YES!
So once we were done, we took a trip back to the hotel afterwards and planned to freshen up before exploring more of Boracay. When we arrived at our small suite, we decided to make ourselves a hot cup of Maggi we brought from home (Super Malaysian) and a cup of tea each. Utter bliss. We freshened up, prayed then we decided to take a 'short nap' hoping to have dinner by the beach and explore more of the island that night. Guess what? Our short nap went on til almost 7am the next day! Well, guess who was almost late for her conference the next morning? Not forgetting the 15 minute ride we had to take by flagging any random tricycle by the road haha. *Great job daughter*
That's the end of our Day 1 in Boracay!
Watch out for my next post to know more of our adventures.
Signing out,
Sarah
Saturday 10 March 2018
ORA by Sarah
Hello ladies!
Hope you're all having a splendid weekend!
Its the usual Sunday afternoon for me, at home with my Netflix.
It doesn't feel like a weekend when my husband's not home. He's at work today and he'll be home tomorrow so it's just me and my Netflix all Sunday long! Anyway, I promised to talk about my baby brand and new fashion line ORA to you all so let's get started!
ORA was officially registered on the 1st of March 2018. That was when I decided to officially launch my online store and have my small company registered under Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia (SSM).
I have been thinking about the idea of having my own company as a side business for awhile now. It's been almost a year but I never had the time courage to start! Not knowing the loops and heaps can be overwhelming for someone who's just starting. Plus, I'm not the kind who's super critical when it comes to analysing a business, viewing its market strategies, what more doing allll of that for my own brand. But, I took the courage. I took the chance and just leaped off the cliff.
You know what they say, there's no looking back now!
The reason I was also super careful about starting my own business was because I've always seen this as a side thing and juggling between the business and my full time job can actually be pretty overwhelming. But I thought to myself, if not now, when?
That was when I decided to take the risk and just go for it. And so I did.
Just weeks before registering ORA, I started sketching prototypes of the pieces I would like to have in my brand. I was brainstorming ideas with my husband and family and with all ideas listed, I finally decided to launch my very first collection based on a design very close to my heart. I decided to design pieces inspired by the well known traditional wear,
The reason I chose this as my inspiration is because of my family. We originated from up north. I grew up knowing my great grandmother loved wearing Baju Kedah. It was practically her everyday wear and I tell you, her vintage shots looked so fly back then! She looked so good in those pieces. Looking back at those photos made we want to recreate such pieces and make it trendy again. It seemed just perfect as the first launch. The collection that inspired the origin of ORA.
So, with that, ORA started with only 5 pieces of different motives, an iPhone, a model (ME) and a photographer (HUSBY) with an outdoor background (just about anywhere with good lighting!). It was just us two, with a vision. A vision to make this happen.
We were on vacation in Boracay recently so we took the chance and brought all 5 pieces and shot every piece on different days while we were there. We were editing the shots and posting it as we went along. It was even a good time for me to fully feel the material of my clothes, the quality and the wear as a whole. It really gave me a good idea on what I wanted in this collection and the next.
I made sure all photos were properly edited. The details of the clothes were visible in the shots and the flow of the pieces were captured.
When we got back from Boracay, I got down to business and started working on our official website. I started exploring options related to the website design, look and the business management aspect different web designers were providing. It took me awhile to decide on a service. After all the research and googling, I finally decided to launch our official website on shopify.com. with our very own domain name! www.oraklstore.com
The other huge hurdles we had to consider were the finances and banking aspects of our items. The shipping flow and the overall management of the business. We had gotten some advice from a few of our friends who were experts in the field and had a plan set up within days. Alhamdulillah. So with that, we were ready to get down to business.
Imagine how thrilled I was seeing it all come together. I immediately contacted my tailor and had all the designs shipped to her. The materials were posted and we were finally up and running.
We plan to launch our first collection very soon with hopes to celebrate the Raya season with our pieces for ready wear.
Being new, we sincerely hope our efforts would bring fruit and ORA will one day be known worldwide as a brand that celebrates tradition yet embraces modern style. We thank you for your support!
Visit us on Insta @ora.kl and www.oraklstore.com.
Stay tuned for our Raya collection!
Signing out,
Sarah
Hope you're all having a splendid weekend!
Its the usual Sunday afternoon for me, at home with my Netflix.
It doesn't feel like a weekend when my husband's not home. He's at work today and he'll be home tomorrow so it's just me and my Netflix all Sunday long! Anyway, I promised to talk about my baby brand and new fashion line ORA to you all so let's get started!
ORA was officially registered on the 1st of March 2018. That was when I decided to officially launch my online store and have my small company registered under Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia (SSM).
I have been thinking about the idea of having my own company as a side business for awhile now. It's been almost a year but I never had the
You know what they say, there's no looking back now!
The reason I was also super careful about starting my own business was because I've always seen this as a side thing and juggling between the business and my full time job can actually be pretty overwhelming. But I thought to myself, if not now, when?
That was when I decided to take the risk and just go for it. And so I did.
Just weeks before registering ORA, I started sketching prototypes of the pieces I would like to have in my brand. I was brainstorming ideas with my husband and family and with all ideas listed, I finally decided to launch my very first collection based on a design very close to my heart. I decided to design pieces inspired by the well known traditional wear,
Baju Kedah 💞
The reason I chose this as my inspiration is because of my family. We originated from up north. I grew up knowing my great grandmother loved wearing Baju Kedah. It was practically her everyday wear and I tell you, her vintage shots looked so fly back then! She looked so good in those pieces. Looking back at those photos made we want to recreate such pieces and make it trendy again. It seemed just perfect as the first launch. The collection that inspired the origin of ORA.
So, with that, ORA started with only 5 pieces of different motives, an iPhone, a model (ME) and a photographer (HUSBY) with an outdoor background (just about anywhere with good lighting!). It was just us two, with a vision. A vision to make this happen.
We were on vacation in Boracay recently so we took the chance and brought all 5 pieces and shot every piece on different days while we were there. We were editing the shots and posting it as we went along. It was even a good time for me to fully feel the material of my clothes, the quality and the wear as a whole. It really gave me a good idea on what I wanted in this collection and the next.
I made sure all photos were properly edited. The details of the clothes were visible in the shots and the flow of the pieces were captured.
When we got back from Boracay, I got down to business and started working on our official website. I started exploring options related to the website design, look and the business management aspect different web designers were providing. It took me awhile to decide on a service. After all the research and googling, I finally decided to launch our official website on shopify.com. with our very own domain name! www.oraklstore.com
The other huge hurdles we had to consider were the finances and banking aspects of our items. The shipping flow and the overall management of the business. We had gotten some advice from a few of our friends who were experts in the field and had a plan set up within days. Alhamdulillah. So with that, we were ready to get down to business.
Imagine how thrilled I was seeing it all come together. I immediately contacted my tailor and had all the designs shipped to her. The materials were posted and we were finally up and running.
We plan to launch our first collection very soon with hopes to celebrate the Raya season with our pieces for ready wear.
Being new, we sincerely hope our efforts would bring fruit and ORA will one day be known worldwide as a brand that celebrates tradition yet embraces modern style. We thank you for your support!
Visit us on Insta @ora.kl and www.oraklstore.com.
Stay tuned for our Raya collection!
Signing out,
Sarah
Introducing..
Hello ladies!
I finally gave in to the idea of joining the blogging world!
It’s been awhile that I’ve been wanting to share my life on the internet.
I’ve always been a fan of fashion and street styles! Very Pinterest looking easy wear makes me go crazzzyyyy! So I thought, what better way to do this than having my own blog?!
Also for the love of fashion, I’ve finally decided to start my own small business.
It was mainly to cater to the kind of clothes I love to wear. Simple yet sophisticated and traditional looking with a modern twist.
It’s been months that I’ve been thinking about it but never had the time to really invest in making it happen! I’ve been on break for about a month now, so I thought why not launch my own line like now, while I’m on break?! Sure enough, I picked up the courage to just take the risk and started creating my own designs. I was taking baby steps in learning the fashion business. From fabrics to street style to comfort and modest wear. It was all in the span of 4 weeks. YES 4 weeks!
I’ve been sitting infront of my laptop day and night, cracking my head on producing something different which would cater to others who are in love with fashion just as much as I am!
So ladies, I’m officially introducing all of you to my brand new line! Give a warm welcome to:
I finally gave in to the idea of joining the blogging world!
It’s been awhile that I’ve been wanting to share my life on the internet.
I’ve always been a fan of fashion and street styles! Very Pinterest looking easy wear makes me go crazzzyyyy! So I thought, what better way to do this than having my own blog?!
Also for the love of fashion, I’ve finally decided to start my own small business.
It was mainly to cater to the kind of clothes I love to wear. Simple yet sophisticated and traditional looking with a modern twist.
It’s been months that I’ve been thinking about it but never had the time to really invest in making it happen! I’ve been on break for about a month now, so I thought why not launch my own line like now, while I’m on break?! Sure enough, I picked up the courage to just take the risk and started creating my own designs. I was taking baby steps in learning the fashion business. From fabrics to street style to comfort and modest wear. It was all in the span of 4 weeks. YES 4 weeks!
I’ve been sitting infront of my laptop day and night, cracking my head on producing something different which would cater to others who are in love with fashion just as much as I am!
So ladies, I’m officially introducing all of you to my brand new line! Give a warm welcome to:
Find us on Instagram at @ora.kl and visit our website at www.oraklstore.com
Read my next post to know all about my brand and how the idea all started!
Signing out,
Sarah
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