PIKOM PC Fair 2009 in Melaka

Yes, PIKOM PC Fair is finally back in town again! And, I'm definitely going there with Choo this round to check out the Sony DSC-HX1 package. Keeping my fingers crossed and looking forward to getting a better deal there (hopefully). Choo and I went to the Sony outlet in Mahkota Parade 1 month ago but decided to wait for the PC Fair, which is just around the corner, to do some comparisons. We all love better offers, don't we?

For those of you who are interested to join the crowd, don't forget to make a trip down to Mahkota Parade Melaka between August 7th-9th, 2009 (11:00am - 9:00pm daily)! You might get lucky and find yourself a good deal there. You'll never know =)

For further information on PIKOM PC Fair 2009 at other locations, click here.

Ivory Romance (Part III)

I gave Ivory Romance a call last week. After much deliberation, Choo and I decided not to go for the photo shoot at Ivory Romance. Why? Well, I listed some of my personal thoughts...

1. Rigid: Not allowed to swap or change the content of the package while most of the bridal shops do. For example, there's no need for us to have the art magazine album and hence I thought of exchanging it with additional poses or other items. However, the salesperson commented that customers sign up for the expertise of their photographers, MUAs and designers. Even if I don't want the album, I'll get nothing and won't be able to exchange it for other things.


2. "Free" hair-do: According to the salesperson, the "hair-do" stated on the leaflet was referring to having me wearing a wig instead of really doing my hair with different hair styles. If I choose to have the MUA styling my own hair, I need to pay extra $$ for it. This is rather confusing by reading the leaflet.


3. Special guest features (FOC): When I signed up for this package, the salesperson Yin specifically told me that I can have my husband (or boyfriend back in 2007) as my special guests during the photo shoot for FOC. This was clearly written on the invoice. However, another salesperson now emphasised that there was a miscommunication back then as the special guest can only take photos for 10 poses only. If Choo were to participate in the photo shoot, we have to pay extra RM100 for it. This is absurb!!


4. Soft copies: No soft copies will be given. Additional RM50 is required to receive the soft copies of 22 poses chosen at 4R size. Please be advised that this is before touch up. Well, as you might have guessed by now, more costs involved to own all soft copies after touch up at higher resolution (or dpi).


5. Customer service: I made a request to the salesperson to arrange for us to view and select the photos on the very next day after the photo shoot as we would prefer reducing the number of trips to KL if possible. However, the salesperson told me that it all depends on the photographer and she cannot commit (though she'll try). Well, to me, this is not exactly the best customer service as the date that I've chosen was during the "off peak" period offered by her. Further more, most bridal shops that I know of are flexible about this and more than willing to accommodate outstation customers such as the Dawn's in JB. So, another minus point for it!

Well, I can go on and on and on but it was never my intention to condemn or criticise this bridal shop. I just wanted to express my standpoint and the bottom line is - be a smart consumer! Make sure you clearly understand the package before you sign up and have everything documented as detailed as possible on the invoice. Other wise, you may want to consider walking away from the deal. We have chosen the latter.

Basically, you would want to enjoy yourself during the photo shoot and not ended up walking out of the bridal shop with anger and dismay, wouldn't you?

Wa Zen - Japanese Restaurant in Melaka

Today marks the 5th anniversary for Choo and I. We had a nice and cozy dinner at one of our favourite Japanese Restaurants in Melaka Raya - Wa Zen. Nothing fancy. Just to spend some quality time together. Wa Zen offers a wide variety of food, ranging from bento to ala carte such as Tempura and Sushi. The food was good. The ambiance was good. And, the prices are reasonable as it costs less than RM100 for 2 pax with the amount of orders Choo had placed. Overall, it was a wonderful dinner. Click here for reservation.

Jie Jie's ROM @ June 14th

June 14th was a BIG day for my jie jie and jie fu! They had their solemnisation ceremony at Heng Ann Association Melaka with the presence of both Yap Family and Goh Family. The same place where Choo and I had our solemnisation ceremony.

My jie jie got up really early that Sunday morning for the make-up while we were still asleep. A big thanks goes to my papa as he was the chauffer who drove my jie jie to In Creative Bridal in Melaka Raya. I suppposed to accompany my jie jie but I overslept!!! [Note: Sorry, jie! It won't happen again. I promise =P] Any way, things went well and both of them are now legally husband and wife! The actual day ceremony and wedding banquet will only be held in another 3 months i.e. on Mid-Autumn Festival (八月初十五).

Jie Fu and Jie Jie

We're SOOO happy for both of them! Wishing both of them a blessed and blissful marriage life that filled with love and joy =)

An Effort for a Good Cause!

The NSRCM supported a blood donation drive yesterday. The event took place at my Company's sports complex. The medical officers from the Melaka General Hospital arrived shortly after 9 am to set things up. All the NSRCM members also take turns to be at the sports complex to help out.

[Right] The medical staff from the Melaka General Hospital diligently performed their tasks with due care. [Left] Employees registered themselves for the campaign since early morning.

As my duty is only scheduled at lunch hour, I was doing my work at my workstation as usual and out of a sudden, Sharon and Eileen showed up at my workstation with boxes of Brand's chicken essence. Of course those boxes of chicken essence are not for me but for those blood donors *LoL*

They needed a place to temporarily store those boxes and my area is conveniently the nearest to the sports complex. Once things had been set up at the sports complex, we handed over those boxes of chicken essence to the medical officers for distribution to the blood donors together with other food supplies such as apple and bread.

We received an overwhelming response from the employees. Even the MD himself also participated in this campaign. In fact, the sports complex was getting a little bit crowded. It was a heartfelt event and everybody should take pride in the success of this blood donation campaign!

National Idol 2009

I have never organized any singing competition before until recently. I was one of the two organizing committee members for the plant wide karaoke singing competition. Yes, this program is also part of the NSRCM annual activities. Kak Rosnah and I had been planning and preparing for this event since few months back.

All the contestants happily took a group photo before the competition began. "Say Cheese, everybody!"

We reached the plant on Saturday early morning. All the contestants registered themselves by 9 am. The program was officially kicked off by the MD shortly after 9 am and as a bonus (also requested by the crowd), he actually sang a song from everyone's all-time favourite female vocalist Theresa Tang.

Group Photo with the MD and panel judges from Alin Production. It was a pity that some committee members already left before the photo session.

With the help of other NSRCM committee members, the event was on schedule and we managed to crown our "National Idol" by noon. Of course there were some minor unexpected incidents along the way but things worked out smoothly at the end. Everyone had a blast that day! And so did I! All the hard work really paid off! A big thanks goes out to those teammates that helped us along the way. This can never be a successful event without all your efforts! Cheers to all that helped!

Tips on Choosing Honeymoon Destination

I was browsing through some of the forum topics in Malaysia Brides lately and observed that honeymoon destination is definitely one of the "hot" topics that most brides-to-be or newly weds are interested in.

Of course there are many sources of information e.g. top 10 asia honeymoon destinations or top 10 most beautiful islands for honeymooners, but I personally find that there are 3 questions that honeymooners should ask themselves before jumping into any conclusions.

1. $$$: [Note: Well, if "Vitamin M" is never one of your concerns, you may just skip to the next consideration!] Based on the feedback thus far, most honeymooners are concerned about their budget. After the huge spending by throwing a grand wedding banquet, signing up expensive bridal studio photo sessions and so on, it's wise to step back and take out your calculator to perform a quick up-to-date budget. It doesn't take a genius to do the computation but simply summing up the total spending to-date (or a rough estimate) and comparing it against the initial budget. If you're running at negative balance and do not have extra allocation for a grand 13D10N Europe tour or 7D6N Korea autumn/winter tour, you may consider signing up for budgeted tour packages offer by some local travel agents or even airlines. Air Asia Go Holiday, for instances, offers good 3D2N packages to various hot spots for honeymooners such as Bali, Krabi, Phuket and even Taipei!
   
2. Timing: Once you have chosen your honeymoon destination based on the revised budget, the next question would probably be "when should we go" or "when's the best timing to go". Fear not! Most websites such as Tripadvisor or Government Tourism Official Websites provide various informative and accurate travel information or tips, including different events/activities at different time of the year. So, just simply google for those travel web links and you should be able to gather more information before making any decision.
   
3. F&E or Travel Agency: Once you have set your destination and timing, the next thing you may want to consider is the honeymoon arrangement i.e. "free and easy" or tour packages. Of course this usually involves personal preference as some honeymooners enjoy planning their own trips while others would have a concern over the language barriers, lodging, and so on. Click here for an example of planned honeymoon trip to South Korea via "Trip Planner by Yahoo! Travel". Well, you'll never know if you ended up planning your own special honeymoon for your loved one. The web links to some of the Malaysia tour agents are also available in my blog. Feel free to browse through them for further information.

Well, the above are just some general points for your consideration. No matter what decision you'll make or have already made, hope that you'll enjoy your honeymoon with your loved one and have an unforgettable time of your life!