BANGKOK - TILL DEATH DO WE PARTY

I mentioned about a surprise trip a few posts back and OMG it was totally life-changing. Me and a very good friend Nik went to Bangkok for BodyJam instructor workshop and it was an experience like I have never had in my life. And for me one of the challenges was we didn't have one single clue what we got ourselves into. We had no idea where the training was and that our hotel though fairly comfortable was a bit out of the way and quite difficult to find. And our total ignorance of the Thai language made things harder.

The taxidrivers were a bit cekik darah, especially the hotel ones. Other than that the Thai people are really friendly and sweet. I especially love how they greet each other, it really reflected how much respect they have for everyone. But I think they must've thought that we were also Thai because almost everyone would talk to us in Thai and we would correct them and ask them to speak in English. LOL.

Fitness First

Let me just say this. The Fitness First where we trained were soooo frikking HUGE. You can throw a party at the lounge. They even have a juice bar. And the changing rooms have two entrances each. And get this, TV in the changing room!!! How cool is that. The cycling studio has like 4 rows and the Mind Body studio is like three times as big as the one in KL. And my favourite is they have TWO GX studios. TWO!! And both were the size of two studios here. When we first saw them we were totally in jakun mode it was not even funny. And the gym was the THIRD biggest in Thailand. It boggles the mind how big the BIGGEST would be.

Anyway, we spent a good three days in the gym and the people there definitely made us feel welcome and for the both of us it definitely will hold a special place in our hearts. Its where we had our first taste of what it feels like to be an instructor. Where we had our Masterclass with the coolest trainer, Arnold Warren from Phillipines. BTW, the Masterclass was mind-blowing. I had soo much fun. The FF there was also where we met a few incredible friends. Most of them don't speak in English but they were still awesome. And most importantly that was where we received the official recognition of being a BodyJam instructor trainee.

Fashion Island
Fashion Island is literally located in the middle of nowhere, yet the stores in there are largely recognized brands. I guess Thais don't really mind the travel because on weekends there seem to be much activities going on in the open areas, especially for children. Arnold even showed us a space used by kids to practice dancing.
-Starbucks
We spent some time in Starbucks, even sat for a good two hours there talking and finishing up our pizza. I tried the Peppermint Mocha (not available in Malaysia) but no drink can ever top Toffee Nut in my book and both of us got the Happy Birthday Starbucks card.

-Pizza
On our first and last day at the mall we ate at this Pizza Place. You wanna know why. They have Cheese Garlic Bread. We bought one each the second time. At first we ordered the Tom Yum Kung Pizza. It was OK. Our waitress was soo cute, she didn't understand English, so we ended up pointing our orders on the menu. And she would write down our orders giggling.

-Movie

We had some time to kill on the first day, so we thought why not catch a movie and it turned out Sherlock Holmes was on as we were buying the tickets. As we took our seats, we were surprised when suddenly everyone stood up. It was to sing their national anthem, which I thought was a good practice to instill a bit of patrioticism in their citizens. Anyway, the movie was nice. The Thai subtitle were a bit distracting but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Thong Ta Resort and Spa
The hotel that we stayed in was near the airport but was bit far from Fashion Island. But our room was quite spacious (Queen beds for each) which made it easier for us to practice for our presentations. I would however like to apologize to the people below us (as we were jumping quite a lot) if somehow we annoyed you. Haha. We met a nice staff whose name is Earth. Very original. And I love how they folded our towels after we checked in.

So that's about it. Our very first step in our journey towards becoming an inspiring BodyJam instructor. We couldn't get over how lucky we were to be training in Bangkok with Arnold, doing BJ 59. It was like fated. Can't wait to see and face our challenges ahead. Dear God, please give us strength, courage and determination in our new endeavour.

BEGINING AND ENDING

If one is to begin the other has to end

But is the other's end at one's fault

What if both one and the other continue on

Will there be enough for both

Or will one be left with dashed hope

Maybe the other will also have a new beginning

At least the other can still smile in the end

And one is utterly content with the new beginning

SECRET SANTA

After the semi-successful November babies birthday celebration in Times Square, (I say semi-successful because we were kinda complaining towards the end.. Heh..) Kevin was in full organizer mode. So he proposed another get-together for the gang... SECRET SANTA!!

After much planning and changing dates and venue, he finally decided presents were to be exchanged on the 20th December at the KFC near Menara MBf at 9.30pm. Names of Santees were drawn four days before and I have to thank Ecah for drawing out my Santee because I was out of town for the ceremony. I was however a little pressed for time and only barely managed to get the present(s).. Hee~ Just one hour of shopping yo.. So apologies to my Santee if my gift(s) were short of your expectations.

Kevin had a last minute shadow at Axis, so we started the party without him. We pooled all the presents on two tables and then ordered food. Most of us just finished Zumba with (none other than) Uchop and were absolutely ravenous. I only got a tiny cute little chicken wing, corn on the cob, Twister and Oreo Krusher.. Suddenly that sounded like a lot, LOL.. And Sherli even brought candies for everyone.. Nice~

After Kevin came, there was a bit of photo session going on and not long after gift exchanging time..!! One by one names were called and each time everyone wanted who their Santa was. And surprise surprise yours truly got TWO presents. Haha.. My friends joked that the other was from a Secret(?) Admirer. As it were I would once again like to thank whoever it was that gave me the gifts. They are lovely.

It was a bit late by then and we were tired out from the workout and the fun. I was among the last to leave as I had another business about an unexpected, awesome and most probably life changing trip. Stay tuned for more..

NOVEMBER BABIES

Just got back from my fourth surprise birthday party this month. Haha. It just so happened that there were a lot November babies among us and we got addicted to throwing suprise birthday parties for some of them at the gym.

First up is dearest Ecah. Her birthday surprise clashed with a dinner I had at a nearby hotel, but I braved the drizzling rain and were there to sing "Happy Birthday" with the rest of the gang at Menara MBf. We smeared some cake on her and presented her with a birthday card. Then, they trooped into the studio for BodyJam and I took my leave for dinner. However, I did manage to catch the end of the celebration back at Avenue K, where the girls thoughtfully kept some cake for me. Thanks...

We had a surprise celebration for Uchop after his Drums Alive class in Mont Kiara. Tila and I rushed out as soon as the class finished and then we turned off the lights in the studio and came bearing cupcakes with candles lit. This was a smaller celebration and we brought the cupcakes out to the lounge for some munchies and keropok.

A few days after, Nik organized another celebration for Uchop in Avenue K. There were more people this time and we had a to-die-for cute cake and cupcakes made by our own Shireen. Nik brought out the cake after Uchop's cardio Dance class, which meant BodyJam that day started a bit late. And also that the cakes had to wait until class ends before being shared with everyone.

And then totally last minute, tonight we surprised Sherlin with a birthday cake after BodyJam at Mont Kiara. It was a belated celebration so we didn't manage to prepare a birthday card but I'm sure it's the thought that counts. We munched on the goodies and took pictures. All in all, fun night.

I enjoyed and had fun at each and every celebration. I especially LOVE their reaction when we present them with the cake; singing "Happy Birthday". Priceless I tell you. I certainly hope that made their birthday extra special. Hee~ OK, now gotta burn off all those cakes. Ciao~

FRIENDS FOREVER

28th November 2011 for some reason was celebrated with both old friends and also newfound ones. Err, family time will be reported in the near future.. LOL.. Here's hoping that the friendship forged will last a lifetime.

So I woke up quite early and inexplicably unable to go back to sleep after Subuh. Which meant I was ON TIME picking Illi up and also despite a brief detour was half an hour earlier than Ama's promised pick-up time. Not really a good thing for Ama because her nap time was cut short. Heh.. The get-together was agreed upon a while ago and by this time both soon-to-be mothers are showing significant baby bumps.

When we got to One Utama, Seoul Garden wasn't even open yet so we walked around a bit. Into a candy store, into Himalaya, into a collectibles store... But when we made the turn around back to Seoul Garden, there was already a long line at the counter. What the.. 0_o After confirming and paying for our order, we were shown our seats.. Right at the back.. Thanks..

I took the Coffee Chicken (it seriously tastes like coffee) and the beef. Ama can't really take chicken, so the beef was mostly gobbled up by her. The kimchi this time was surprisingly nice. Illi was the veggie freak as she came bearing one whole plate of greens to our table and Ama got busy with her mushrooms. As per usual, we spent more than an hour eating through the food, talking all the while. Seriuosly, not even one moment of quiet. Mostly we were updating each other of our stories. Ama and Illi exchanged pregnancy stories. I find it extremely cute that Illi is still undecided on what her baby will call her. Ibu? Ummi? Bonda? LOL.

In the end, we were unable to finish all the food we took. Tummy. Too. Full. So we upped and left. Ama suggested we walk around to let the food settle, so we looked at a few sports shoes and items. I NEED NEW SHOES!! It was raining when we got out of the parking lot. We stopped by Ayam Kampung to buy lunch for Ama's parents. After dropping her and Illi off, I headed straight to Berjaya Times Square.

Uchop was invited to do the Sh'bam launch at the Sports Toto Fitness Centre that evening. When I got there, everybody had already arrived. Since the theme for the class was red and blue I decided to dance in my jeans. Aah, the DIVA in me. Hee~ The class was absolutely fun, with all of us dancing to all kinds of music. I LOVE the studio. I could totally check myself out dancing with the full length mirror at the front and at the side. Nice~ However, due to the intensity of the workout I almost felt like all the food I had before was slowly making its way upwards.. Ugh..

When the class was over, there was the usual camwhoring session and then all of us trekked to the changing room. I must say, I also love the shower room here. It's much more spacious than at Fitness First. It took a while for the gurls to finish getting ready (makeup and all uolss..) we were at Johnys by 6.30ish where Kevin and Sean were waiting with a looong table. Nik brought a HUGE teddy bear for Uchop and a Cute one for Emmyl, the November babies. All of us ordered the rice/noodle set, which IMO was a bit of a waste because going to Johnys and not having steamboat is like going to Venice and not riding on a gondola.. Haha.. Sorry, couldn't find a more apt comparison.. Anyway, I had mee hoon tom yam and a sundae (even though it's a Monday LOL and I'm still suffering with a flu).

We finished eating at 8pm and had approximately 3++ hours to kill. The gurls headed to the bowling place for a couple of sets, Uchop and Nik went to find a massage place and Kevin went to look for new shoes. I sneaked out and went to Starbucks and Krispy Kreme with Fendy and Emmyl. Then we met up with the gurls and it was karaoke time. Tila and Fendy kicked off with "Dua Insan". I sang "This I Promise You" and had a duet with Tila ("Hati Kama"). Ecah and Shahnaz also had a turn with the mike. We had fun with "Stop" and the encore song was "Oops I Did It Again". Brilliant.

By this time we had almost an hour left, so we decided to just sit around listening to the music blaring from Kenny Rogers while the crew was cleaning up. Most of us were pretty much tired and sleepy by now and just about ready to collapse. So at 11.40pm we trudged into the cinema for "Breaking Dawn: Part 1". I must confess this is my first time watching a Twilight movie at the cinema. Heck, this is my first time seeing a Twilight movie. Not counting the snippets I caught of the first two movies so I was completely ready to fall asleep. Therefore it came as a pleasant surprise that the story moved with a realistic pace and I didn't really feel out of loop. It was however a shame that they cutout the delivery scene because we were left wondering what happened to Bella after she gave birth to Renesmee. The movie finished at 1.30am. We said our goodbyes and all headed home. Gotta work in a few hours..~ ~

FUTURE FUNK OF PARIS

I have mentioned it in a few posts before, but there was never an official post on my gymming activities. Since I had the awesomest nite I felt I just had to blog about it now. So, just for the record, I joined Fitness First on 19th February 2010. It was not so much to lose weight but the time felt right and Ama also joined just a week before I did.

Because I was a Platinum member, I have acess to all the FF clubs across Malaysia and also worldwide. Initially, me and Ama would frequent the club at Curve. We would do BodyJam (cardio workout by dancing) and EasyMove. Ama would also sometimes join EasyStep. There were also other group exercises like BodyAttack, BodyPump and BodyStep but those classes were not really to my liking. We would also go to the club at Menara Maxis (later relocated to Avenue K) where we discovered Line Dance Funk, which is only the awesomest class ever..!! Hee.. Now I mostly join BodyJam, LDF and also Cardio Dance. Only dance-based classes for me..!!

So, every three months there is a new release for the group exercises by LesMills and the launches are usually grand events. For the recent launch of BodyJam 58 Future Funk of Paris, instructors Uchop and Jason joined forces at the Menara MBf club and totally rocked the workout.

The theme for the class was red and blue, the official colour for Paris. It so happened me and my friends were together the day before and so we bought the same shirt to wear to the launch. That caused many eyes on us and also photo ops. We took pictures before jamming and lots more after. The release itself was awesome. The "Party Rock Anthem" was in the playlist, so all of us shuffled. As with all releases I love the recovery section. We were almost to the front of the studio, in front of the mirror which made it easier to check all the four of us out. Haha.. Then Britney took center stage with "Till The World Ends" and all of us took off to Paris.

After the jam, there was a brief QnA and prize throwing session. Then we took A LOT of pictures even though most of us were drenched, got hydrated, washed up (most of us) and went home.

WHAT I DID ON MY 28TH BIRTHDAY

I just realized that I didn't have this post last year.. Now I'm wondering what I did to celebrate.. Huu~ Gotta check the trusty ol' diary after this..

First of all, huge thanks, hugs and kisses to my family and friends for the birthday wishes.. Be it on facebook, SMS or even with just a simple call.. Those really made the day extra special and made me feel remembered and appreciated.. I heart all of you..

In terms of activities of the day, nothing really out of the ordinary. Went to work as usual, wore all-pink.. Totally unplanned BTW.. Since my inbox was overflowing with fb wellwishers, replying to them took some time.. Which meant I didn't really do much work that morning.. On a side note, the big bosses of my company signed the deal for the sale of our land on my birthday.. Not really sure whether that's an event to celebrate or not.. Heh.. But it literally means a whole lotta work for us in the future and... Possible relocation?? Gulp..

After work I went to the gym. We did a new song for Cardio Dance but Uchop taught us only for like 2.5 sets.. He still haven't finished choreographing.. Tsk tsk.. My gym buddies then asked me to join them for Bodyjam and I just couldn't refuse. It's been awhile since I jammed due to Ramadhan, so I was quite out of breath towards the end. And the fact that the studio was kinda hot didn't really help. 

Since we haven't had a decent meal for buka puasa, me and the gang headed to Subway where we got a bit carried away with giggling at every little thing. They were playing raya songs and we were choreographing each song.. LOL.. I tried the spicy Italian, it was nice but BMT is still my favourite.

I got home and washed up.. Wanted to watch "Princess Man" or "Best Love" but ended up sleeping in front of the TV..