Hong Kong Disneyland

Hong Kong Disneyland! Couldn't believe that I finally had a chance to visit this place~!! I remember being captivated and mesmerized by Disney since a young girl; couldn't believe that I have been to movie world where the Looney tunes character are but not Disneyland.

You know those Oh~so~lovable and magical characters~! Like Mickey and Minnie mouse, Mulan (Omg... I watch this one soo many times that the VCR, might as well overheat and melt~! =P), Goofy!! And... and... Winnie the pooh, Lilo and Stitch, Buzz Lightyears!! Or the most recent one, princess and the frog (not as classic as the others, though and they weren't among the characters in Disneyland). Anyway, just wanna share my pics and experience with y'all~! (Note: Before you start, appreciate it if you could turn on the music at the bottom of the page. Hopefully it gives you the feeling of Disney when you go through my long blog post... :D)

One game that I couldn't wait to play was 'spot the Mickey'~! The first instance I step into the MTR to Disney, I gasped in delight. (Apart from being delight that no more overcrowding, but I also spotted my first Mickey~!)


# Spot the Mickey~!


# Entrance to Disneyland, spot the Mickey~!


# Does this count?? Spot the Mickey!! Do you see it? =P

Though it was raining (not so heavily, thank godness~!), the parade was going on as scheduled. I LOVE the parades!! This place really makes me wish I am a kid again, then I can dance without a tinge of shame.

# Parade Pic 1


#Parade pic 2


# Parade pic 3: Gotta love the princesses~! They are so graceful~!


# Parade pic 4. This is the night parade, exclusive for Halloween month of October. Pretty good~! =D


# Disney Hollywood Hotel 1. We actually did a mistake by going in to check in during the daytime, sigh... wasting precious time. The tix for a single entry is HKD299 and for two days is HKD399. If we have just deposited our bags at the entrance and jumped straight to the park, we could only have needed one day to finish the whole Disneyland. Ah well...


# Disney Hollywood Hotel 2


# Arrgghhh.... spider in the room!! Actually this is so cute, I manage to frightened my bf by screaming 'spider in the room'~! This is actually a small towel tied together to resemble a spider. Wanted to bring it away but I was torn between righteousness and I-just-freaking-want-it!!! In the end, my angel won only to discover that it is infact one of the souvenirs from the hotel. I freaking paid HKD1900 per night and I didn't get the spider~! >.<


Alright, not forgetting some miscellaneous stuffs along the way...

# My really expensive buffet brekkie... Cost HKD198 per person. There was two westerners (Americans, I presumed) who kept complaining that the bacon doesn't taste like bacon and the hashbrown is so childish. Ah well, as long as it is cute, you can charge any price, right? =P


# My very expensive brekkie... Mickey's waffles... The food selection is quite extensive, but for that price, I could have gotten 6 star brekkie in Brunei, which should be way better. My major complaint was that for that price, I was hoping for MORE disney character food?? >:( Come on~! lol...

Anyway...

# Gold Disney castle and Mickey and Minnie~!


# Minnie Mouse and I...


#My cutie balloons~! A... not~! Fail~!


#Cinderella and her prince... Aw...


# Disney cookie! 'I seriously going to purchase this~! I just need to know whether it is photogenic or not~!' :P


# Daisy and Donald soft candy...

Overall, the queue for the rides wasn't that long. I think the longest was this one... the queue to take picture with Mickey and Minnie Mouse in the Halloween costume. Omg... we waited and we waited and we waited...


#Mickey and Minnie Mouse in Halloween costumes... Almost there... almost... when suddenly....

This must be so random~!!

# Must be like proposal of the year~! The guy was singing in front of the public!! Omg!! Too bad I couldn't go near enough to snap at the ring. It better be BIG~!!

Though the rides were pretty mild, more suited for childrens. The only exciting one was the space Mountain. I believe that the theme of the park was more of the magical and fun instead of hard core adrenaline rush, so it was enjoyable. (I did however... felt a pang of guilt as I waited in queue amidst parents carrying children dressed up in princess frocks... Aw... But it is ok, I am not the oldest anyway... ;p).

# Cinderella Carousel...

One thing to totally opt for is the shows and performances~! Totally worth it, like the golden Mickey show.

# Beauty and the Beast... from the Golden Mickey performance.

Or the Lion king show. This is so embarrassing, I was running to catch the show and I asked the attendant 'Is this the Tiger king show?'. Sot jor...

# Lion king performance. One note to those out there, NO flash photography~! It is so annoying and distracting especially for a Peter pan like me. ;p

Another thing to gawk about is the decor... especially Adventureland~! Adventureland consists of the tarzan treehouse, river cruise and the tiki liki or is it liki tiki statues~? (Omg... I don't want to go and check the book now in the middle of the night!! SO... whatever... :P) Pretty nice and their man made hot springs and golvanic activities~!


# View of the jungle cruise from the tarzan treehouse. The jungle cruise is totally worth it. It takes you around the adventureland and though it is fake, it looks really real. The attention to detail is to the dot.


# Our funny guide in the river cruise, I think his name is Kevin or maybe Kelvin. One of the few english speaking tourist guide for the river cruise. His parting words were 'Do come and visit us another time, I will still be here... working... maybe forever' :P So kesian, just had to take pic with him to assure him that someone cares... lol...

As night falls...

# The ghosts comes out to party... Halloween special in Disneyland... Pretty creepy...

But there is always some pretty things around like Cinderella's castle~!

# Night view of the Disney castle... so pretty...


# Magical disney fireworks... Love it~! This is the main highlight of the park. DON'T go back until you see this. I know probably it is not sustainable burning those fireworks every night but the combination of songs, lightworks and fireworks is just... so touching... . Seriously... I tried to film it halfway but in the end I let the moment take over instead.

Perhaps I will return here another time, (Hopefully in the near future, before I look too old to squeeze in with the teenagers and kids~!) as Disneyland will expand and have two additional 'land' to accompany tomorrowland, adventureland, USA street,and etc.


# Good bye and till then, Happy Halloween~! =)

My Bday exp in HK~!

This is my first experience celebrating my bday during a holiday trip, definitely had to minus the presence of all my frens and family. Feels a bit weird but then HK was pretty fun, although the cloud was super sentimental that day!! It rained nonstop~!


# Whee... Happy 24th birthday~!


# It was raining really really hard, so I decided to forego make up and sunscreen...


# This is the entrance to the avenue of stars when the China tourist are still enthusiastic about taking pic. Pity them that the tour they chose happened to be on such a day....


# Posing under the rain (HE made me do this... luckily I had vit C before going on this trip~!)


# It was raining so hard, the view of the city from the avenue of stars was blurry...


# It was raining so hard till no one was posing infront of Bruce Lee when I was taking this pic... lol... so hard to get...


# Still nobody from this view... :P


# Jell & Bruce Lee~! Finally found him after been huddling under the pathetic umbrella for quite some time... :D


# Finally, we were able to duck into a Starbucks... How long have I NOT been in a starbucks?? For those who can't find it in their heart to pity me, FYI Perth doesn't have these anymore!! >.<


#Thank God for Hot CHOCOLATE!!!


For dinner, went to a new Jap place in Admiralty. I was so excited as when I first read the description, it mentioned that since the restaurant is on the top floor, you can enjoy the view of HK mainland while having dinner. But So sad.... why they cover the windows with un-adjustable blinds!! >.< The food was ok ok.


# So yummy~! But perhaps no take 2... :(


#Pity me~! Maybe it was overcrowding or clumsy me... Had these many bruise when I return to the hotel~! :(

My recent read

Usually, I get interested in some topics, I went on and borrowed a lot of books on it. Take an example, the korean language~! I borrowed three books and 1 disc from the library just last month and told myself I need to learn some extra skill. Turns out I didn't have the time or energy to do that even after I return home. I just wanna unwind with a nice game and no reading, thank you very much~!

It is really surprising then, even to me, that I bought three books on skincare from Amazon.
1. How to wash your face by Barney J. Kenet
2. Skin Type Solution by Leslie Baumann
3. The Japanese Skincare Revolution by Chizu Saeki

I got the notification that I would receive it sometime end of this month to the early of October, but again... surprise~! surprise~! I got book 2 and 3 two weeks ago and book 1 just last week.

Book 2 and 3~!


Book 1~! One week later...

O well, knowing the kind of person I am, I haven't finish all the books yet. But I am in the process of doing it~!!

Chizu Saeki's book was pretty basic and straightforward, so I finish that book first of all. Not a lot of words, more pictures. The second book that I finish is the 'How to wash your face' book. Definitely do not judge a book by its cover. Doesn't talk anything about how to wash your face. But it did gave a good overview of how to care for your skin, hair and nail.

When I first bought these books, I had the intention of learning new ways to pamper and treat my skin. But I soon realize I may have committed some cardinal sins all along. These are some interesting points I learnt:

1. Overwashing your face: Both of these books mentioned that the trend nowadays is overwashing their face. Chizu Saeki related that how some gals think that the key to beautiful skin is by constantly cleaning their face. Go out for a while, wash... Come back, wash... before sleep, wash. Our skin have a natural self-cleaning mechanism which will go to waste if we do not use it to our own good. So, both Barney and Chizu recommended going one day without washing your face. Barney even went so far as to suggest going one day without bathing. Now this is hard, if I were back in my hometown where it is sticky and wet most of the time!! I would totally be shunned.... maybe earning me some solitude space in MRT and KTM. Lol... Anyway, he did come out with better idea than me!! He suggested doing it in winter when you don't sweat that much anyway. (No wonder soo many smelly people during winter!!)

2. Overfeeding your skin: I think I did this very very often, but only coz the media taught me to... Chizu actually suggested taking look at the mirror in the morning after waking up and determining what type of skin care your skin deserve. Instead of (a) lathering and layering every product on your dressing table or (b) sticking to the same old routine. That is me. I only find new stuff to apply to my face and not reduce. Even skin need to rest.

Some key points to look out for:
- Clarity or Bright skin
- Moisturize
- Complexion (Blood circulation)

Just go through the checklist and determine what your skin needs today. After reading this section, I went back to reading my normal beauty bloggers. And honestly I was horrified at how much they layer stuff. One of my fave beauty blogger can apply 3 - 4 toner per video without any indication she removed the previous one. O no....

That is why I say the marketing gimmicks are to be blamed~! I know when I go to the departmental store, some sale girl always like to sell me stuff I don't need. For e.g. eye cream. I have loads of eye cream at home~! I just need sound rest... So some of the sale girls would actually suggest that I layer it on with my old one, coz their product is very safe. Hmm... I have never think twice about it then, but I would now. If I can't memorize every single elements on the periodic table, would I trust this sales person with no chemical background what-so-ever to know which chemicals in their product would or wouldn't react with another?

And to top it off, some of them just wanna meet their sales quota. Some products are formulated for mature skin, but these sale girls just keep selling it to us. Then they scare us with visions of premature aging. Yikes~!

3. Which brings me to the final point for today. If you are soo.. so... so... scared of premature skin aging (like I am). These three books couldn't emphasis more on the importance of sun screen!! Our skin also has a natural immune system call the Langerhans cells. However, these cells slowly deteriorate as we age. Or when exposed to high UVA and UVB rays. So lather on sunscreen, everybody~!

But I haven't finish these books yet. So, till next time~!
XOXO~! =)

Things I wished I’ve known before taking up PHD

Yes, I am making a list of things I wished I have known before committing myself to taking up PhD. Before anyone begin to take offenses, I do remind you that all these quirks are for your laughs and understanding only, not meant to embarrass/humiliate or offend anyone. =P

1. The role you play
As a Phd student, you are unlike undergraduate student / master by coursework student or even staff. You are neither of these but at the same time, you are all the above. As a student, you have your own research to do. The extent and the quality of your work are closely tied to your supervisor and timeline. As a staff, you have your own workstation and an office to accommodate your research resources. But as a Phd student, you do not enjoy the full privileges of a staff. There are still places and facilities that are cordoned just for staff members where you could not enter or use. That is not too bad, but as a student, your needs are way behind normal undergraduate students. They have priority in terms of equipment and facilities wise. Even if you have good time management and project timeline, if an undergraduate student does any last minute booking of the equipment/facilities? O well, bad news to you.
Sometimes the most annoying bit comes when you are doing sessional tutoring. The needs of the undergraduate students are always paraded infront of your eyes. They take up a major chunk of your time even after office hours which you secretly wish could be used towards doing your own research. If you don’t entertain their needs, complaints would flow in. Your only hope is to speak in strange accent and write in a cryptic manner that reinforce their motivation not to seek you out in the future~! =P

(source: Phdcomics.com)

2. Flexible working hours
It sounds nice on the surface, but when you begin to receive emails late at night or during weekend, you are gonna think twice~! Initially, probably you would be tempted to stay awake late into the night waiting by your computer to anticipate each and every email your supervisor would/might be tempted to send your way, but all this would seem worthless after the appearance of your second eye bag!

(Source: PhDcomics.com)
And if you are unlucky, your supervisor would call your office phone only on days or time when you are not in the office, thus earning you the merit of a lazy Phd student. *sigh* (Note to self: always choose a quiet café for lunch…)

(source: PhDcomics.com)

3. Be kful with your supervisor + co-supervisor
If you are naïve, you would place the first and foremost priority on the topic of your research. But I have learnt that it is important that you select a proper supervisor and co-supervisor. That is equally or even more important than the topic you choose.

(source: Phdcomics.com)
I have heard of many scary experiences with supervisors and co-supervisors. Some of these supervisors treat their Phd student like their personal helper. And don’t choose a supervisor based on their first impression; always take an opportunity to talk to their student. Their student would inevitably reveal some interesting tips and experiences when dealing with their supervisor. And sometimes, you gotta read between the lines.

(source: Phdcomics.com)
But apart from that, the reputation of your supervisor can affect your standing in your field. Editors of top journals would sometimes check on the reputation of your supervisor before deciding whether or not to publish your work. So unfair but true!!

4. Know what you are doing
I think this is the most important note to self. Always remind yourself your main objectives and your aim. Your methodology may change along the way to reach your final goal but you should not shift goal every single time. As I learnt, not everyone would know what you are doing because if it is worthy of a PhD, then it would be something technically specific.
So along the way, your supervisor or co-supervisor may sway you by suggesting you to do things that may not be aligned to what you intend to do. Always remind yourself of your intention before blindly following their guidelines. The best quote that I encountered is ‘the reason why I am sitting behind the table and you in front of the table is because I have more crazy ideas than you’. And those crazy ideas can often lead to more PhD topics, but thank you very much as I am trying to finish MY OWN PhD topic within the allocated time of 4 years!

5. Health implication
Whether your research is experimental based or modelling based, you will realise you have less and less human interactions. I have spent quite a few days in front of my computer calibrating my models without exercise and without meeting another person except my fiancé till I have a major migraine. But my case is nothing as compared to my friend who spent almost 10 hours straight in the lab, even having to skip her meal because (1) she can’t consume food in the laboratory and (2) her equipment is sensitive and requires constant monitoring. At best, the fat gets fatter and the slim get thinner. My friend have even been known to consumed a huge tube of yoghurt (1kg, btw!!) when he is stressed out.
And as I personally experienced, there are times when you feel depressed with all the downside of PhD. For example, when you have worked so hard and the data didn’t turn out well, your equipment failed, you had to redo the whole model, your supervisor gives you shit; you just wanna cry your eyes out and hide under the duvet for a few days or maybe eternity… It is times like this; you really need the support and understanding of others. But these leads to the next point…

6. People just don’t understand
Most of the people I encountered, do not understand the real meaning of a PhD. They think it is similar to an undergraduate degree course, where you have an exam or assignment. Personally, I prefer that kind of environment because I am sure that I would ace it. Studying with a pre-outlined boundary is a very ideal situation, BUT this is not the case with a research. In order to perform research, it requires a coupling of sometimes different majors such as electrical and mechanical… something that you have never encountered and sometimes you may dislike. And unlike undergraduate studies, if you do not like that unit, you can easily withdraw. If you do not even attempt to master it, at best you would end up with a bad quality thesis, at worst you won’t be able to finish. And if you could complete a PhD based on a pre-defined outline, then anyone could have a PhD.
When I go back home, the worst thing they could ask about is ‘when are you going to finish?’ At best of times, I would have to answer through clenched teeth and a fake smile. At worst, I would pull my hair, un-conceal my eyebags and yell ‘Do you think data rain down every single day ar? You think this is high school ar?’ (I am very tempted to do that, but luckily I am not to that point! Lol…).

(Source: PhDcomics.com)

Just wanna share one law that I find very true:

(source: PhDcomics.com)

Lol... The worst comment I have received is ‘wow, you sure like to learn’. As I went out to point it to this person, learning is a lifelong process. Every single day, you are exposed to new things; be it in work place or at home and you need to learn. Learning does not start and end in a well-defined boundary call school. But to be fair, as this person commented in chinese, the direct translation would be ‘wow, you sure like to read book’, which doesn’t really make sense. Hmm…


So right now, I am just trying my best to finish what I have started. Fingers crossed~!

XOXO till next time~!

Review on Hot cleansing gel by Kose Softymo

Black head (BH) has always been a dreaded thing to appear on a girl's face, the only thing to top it would be a full blown acne. O gosh... *gag*

According to one sales girl, our pores only got bigger as we aged. I guess this is because the muscle that is pulling our face taut becomes more 'relaxed' over the years due to the loss of collagen. So we are prone to more BH and open pores problem. This really awakens me as I do not ever want a strawberry face (no offense to strawberries, they are great medicine against cancer by angiogenesis) or should I say strawberry nose? lol...

So, I have been looking for products and lifestyle tips to help combat that~! Well, my first step is searching for different ways to get rid of BH and whiteheads~! The most traditional method is by applying pressure on the skin around the BH, i.e. pinching. But this method is extremely harmful for the skin. It might be alright to do that a few times when you are young, but you will realise that your skin do not recover that much faster as you age. According to a beauty therapist, our dermis could be categorized into 7 layers. The outer layer is our present skin and the inner layer is our future skin. When excessive pressure is applied, not only our present skin is wounded, but also our future skin. Meaning to say even when our outer imperfect skin is shed, we would be faced with the wounded inner skin. Complicated much? lol... bottom line: Don't do it~!

Since no pinching is allowed, I turn to pore packs~! With seemingly easy mechanism, you can easily apply the pore packs to your nose and T zone to remove BH. But... How about ppl like me? BH can be categorized into two different kind: the first one is what I would term as the 3D one, it can be seen and it can be felt, part of it just protrude out of the skin. The second one, also the one I am born with is the one I call the 2D. You can see it, but you can't really feel it. So, while pore packs can easily grab hold of 3D BH and pull it out easily, it can't really grab hold of my 2D BH much.

So I was so excited when I discover about Kose Softymo's Hot Cleansing gel. Though I couldn't read a word it says on the packaging apart from 'Thoroughly removes excess sebum from pores', it is a match made in heaven for the pore packs. The steps are pretty easy. Wash your face with your normal cleanser and then put a small dollop of the product on your face (those area you want to apply the pore packs) and scrub for about 1 minute. The slight exfoliating nature of the gel removes sebum from open pores while the slight heating effect (I suppose) opens up the pores.


Kose Softymo Hot Cleansing Gel

I wish I would at least have an idea what active ingredients help make it the product it is, but unfortunately I don't read a word japanese!! But anyway, let me show u the end product...


Ta da!!! Are you one of those person who finds it both enticing and creepy to see how much BH you can pull out of your nose??!? Well, hands up for me!! I do~! It makes me wonder how could I have walked around with all those SHIT in my pores!!


O well, this pore pack isn't exactly mine, it is just that this one sends shivers down my spine~! lol... So I decided to share it a bit...

It isn't 100% cleaner, but definitely cleaner than the average pore pack. And for the price of $6+, it is definitely worth the try. The next thing I am looking forward to will be pore minimizing/refining serum~!

Till next time,
XOXO~!

Japanese Skincare tips

I was digging through my old magazine when I came across an article on Chizu Saeki~! For those who have yet to know her, by now she should be approximately 69 years old japanese woman with important beauty tips. One word to describe her skin at her age: UNBELIEVABLE~!

She doesn't market or hard sell any particular cosmetic product or invasive treatment, however she focuses more on natural beauty methods and common sense (that is so hard to find). I did a short research (i.e. GOOGLING!! LOL...) on her and found some interesting interview articles on her as well as her book, i.e. skincare revolution~! My curiosity peaked and I find my finger inadvertently left clicking on the buy tab in amazon.com~! The book should reach sometime end of September to early October, can't wait~!

But that aside, I just wanna summarize some tips that she emphasized on in the article I found. I.e. :
(a) Lymphatic massages - She believes that lymphatic massages ease toxin removal leaving the skin energized. Not only that, I recalled other beauty gurus like Niuer laoshi from Taiwan also incorporates some lymphatic massages when teaching how to effectively apply eye cream. There are pictures of some lymphatic massages in the magazine, but my camera is outstation today (meaning someone removed it from my room, :( Need to wait a few days :P ). So instead, I found another video on youtube showing how to do lymphatic massages on your face. (It was originally japanese but someone dubbed it in chinese, and I couldn't find one in english. So sorry...).

In order to get the best result, I need to get a good smear of massage serum for the face. So far, I have only seen one by Kose. Hehe... another reason to visit sasa online... =P If you have any better alternatives, do comment below~! TQ...



(b) Proper make up removal - Most girls spend 15 - 30 minutes putting on make up but couldn't be bothered to spend half of that time removing the aforesaid make up. I already have eye bags, and when I don't clean properly, my eye bags are 'enhanced' to the point of looking like I just got socked! So, I do try to remember to be patient in this arena. =P

According to Chizu, the time spent putting on the make up should be almost equal to the time spent removing 'em. Wow... totally put me off make up. lol...Show you more pics next time~!

and last but not least...

(c) Lotion mask! - One thing she utterly swears by is the use of lotion mask. You just need your lotion, facial cotton, water and 3 minutes of your time. Utterly simple and yet so good!! I found a video by Chizu that shows you how it is done~!



Currently, I am using Kose sekkisei's lotion, couldn't be more happier with the product. O well, what else to expect, it is after all the star product of kose. =P
If you love skincare as much as I do, pls share your thoughts and inputs along with me. Till next time~!

XOXO

Food, food and food...

I didn't realize that it has been a while since I last updated my blog, and to think I wanted to attempt to write a blog every week. Earlier this month, my housemate commented that I slimmed down, I guess those comments triggered a series of food binges for me~! Yikes!!

One of the food I love is the japanese bake cheese cake~! It is so nice and fluffy~! Normally I would be very lazy to bake this, but I couldn't find it anywhere in Perth. So, I attempted to bake this today. Ta da~!


This is how it looks like after 1 and a half hour of baking in the water bath~! As I was waiting for the cake in the oven, I could smell the creamy cheese smell from my room. Yum yum...


My cake mold could not fully accommodate all the cake mix, so I use my souffle bowl and spread a bit of aged cheddar on top of the cake~! Yummy~!


This is how it looks like~! :D
The recipe I used is found here.

The second food binge is STEAMBOAT!! Ooo.... I love steamboat~! Especially during winter, the hot steam wafting from the pot and the hot soup from the pot helps warm up my stomach.


Look at how many things we managed to stuff in the steamboat pot?? lol...


One lesson I learnt from lazy DIY steamboat at home:
just simple chicken stock for the soup is enough for a flavoursome meal. But remember to check that the chicken stock contains no MSG. If it contains MSG, you will feel really thirsty after the hot meal. Especially after stuffing myself with lots of fishballs, meat and soup, drinking some more water makes me feel like there is an alien in my tummy... =P

My other favourite (also my lazy method) is to dump corn, the stem of chinese cabbage (or wombok, as they call it in Oz), goji berry and dates into the slow cooker and leave it overnight before the steamboat~! =D absolutely yummy~!

But dang, winter is drawing to an end. Time to slim down and get fit for spring~! I will attempt to go on my healthy diet from next week, will blog on it soon~!

CHEERS~!