My Time Capsule: November 2013

23.11.13

A Letter To Myself

Dear DebbZie,

I've been waiting the right moment to write a letter for you and since today is your special day, I'd like you to read this...
I often see you as a person who's not comfortable with yourself. You lost your confidence because of  mean things people said to you since your childhood. You were struggling to grow up in a community where people judge based on appearance.
"You are Chinese but your skin is so dark, are you adopted?"
"You're short and chubby."
"Your mom is beautiful. How come you don't look like her at all?"

darkest skin among the family

Their comments hurt your feeling very deep and it has changed the way you think about life. Suddenly all those trophies you've won from various competition didn't matter anymore. You ignored all the achievements you've accomplished.You started taking diet pills from a very young age. That's because you grew up with an idea that beautiful means skinny body, fair skin and long straight hair.

As you're getting older you often feel lost. You look at your reflection on the mirror and thought you actually are not ugly at all, but nasty comments keep coming and saying otherwise.
"Why are you still single? You're getting old and you're expiring soon, you know?" (as if you are some kind of canned food which has an expiry date).
"You're fat. You must lose some weight if you want to get a boyfriend."
"You will be lonely for the rest of your life."
The wound in your heart is getting deeper and deeper. You're very sad yet you refuse to show it to the world. Cheerful smiles never faded from your face, little did they know you have spent countless times crying and feeling shattered.

Dear DebbZie,

Please stop being too hard to yourself. You may not skinny, tall and have a supermodel face but believe me, you're beautiful just they way you are. You just need to love yourself more. Even though you're very stubborn person, rebel, forgetful, moody and undisciplined, still you deserve to be happy. You should appreciate all the good things you've done. It's fine to focus on more useful things than just your appearance and worrying about other people's thought. It's your life, you don't need to prove anything to anyone. Just do things that make you happy, like rescuing and feeding the street dogs or visiting the orphanage. They never fail to put a smile on your face, right?

adorable kids at the orphanage

taking the hit and run victim to the animal hospital

they're happy to have a place called home
don't be sad, let's play with us!
my new bed is so comfy
 And don't you forget about some accomplishments that you should be proud of. Earlier this year you were invited to be one of the speakers of a cool travel event called Wego Hangout. As a person who's lack of self confidence, you dread public speaking. But you fought it and braved yourself to share your stories in front of the audience. You were also interviewed and featured in Joy magazine and some of your works have been published on book and magazine. 


nervous but you did it!

awesome people


featured in magazine
  




When in doubt, just remember all these good things that happened in your life. Ignore the people who have negative influence in your life and stick to those who always support you no matter what. 

Happy birthday to you! Wishing you many fabulous travel adventures ahead. Let's repeat your mantra every year. Age is just a number and you are as old as you feel.



taking a nap on the roof of Milan Cathedral


I love you, myself
           D

14.11.13

The Cafe At The Mulia, Mulia Resort & Villas

Eat till you drop. It's the first thought that ran through my head as I walked past each stations in the restaurant. My eyes widened in excitement when I saw rows of tasty food waiting to be savoured. Various delicious aroma teased my senses and my tummy started to rumble. I was greeted with a friendly smile from all the staff that walked pass me. I knew I've arrived in the wonderland (in my case, a place full of yummy food).


please pick me

The Cafe is one of the lavish restaurants at the Mulia, Mulia resort & villas. The three luxurious properties that set along 30 hectares of scenic landscape, on the dramatic coastline of Nusa Dua, Bali. The Cafe serves 'all you can eat' buffet for breakfast (07.00 - 11.00), lunch (12.00 - 15.00) and dinner (18.00 - 23.00). Set in a contemporary design and decorated with delicate art pieces from all over the world, The Cafe is the perfect setting for all occasion dining, mingling, and entertaining. Not only for the hotel guests but also for the non-hotel guests.


sushi from Japanese corner

a friendly staff ready to serve you

Chinese barbecued station

oh yummy !

the Western corner

penne carbonara for me

from the Indian corner

sweet naan

I was spoiled with abundant choices of International menu and was having a hard time to decide what to eat. Whether to choose barbecued meat at Chinese corner or sushi and oyster at Japanese corner or the a la minute pasta at Western corner and the list goes on. Each stations has its own native international chef to ensure the authenticity of their food. And unlike other buffet style restaurants where they serve a pile of food at once, here the food is served in small quantities in the warmer. Then the chef in each station will cook and refill it frequently to make sure all the food are always fresh. Or even better the chef will prepare the food according to your liking.


chocolate fondue at dessert station

homemade ice cream and sorbets

so tell me....how to choose ?

As a person who used to work as a pastry chef, the dessert corner just blew me away. It felt like home to me, surrounded by scrumptious tiramisu, chocolate mousse, pudding, ice cream, frozen yogurt, brownies, cheese cake, fruit tart, jelly, chocolate fondue, traditional Indonesian dessert and a lot more (please stop me!). If only I had more than one stomach...

All in all with excellent taste, high quality ingredients, fabulous food presentation and top notch service; I'd say it's a luxury experience at reasonable price indeed.
I was invited as a guest. But opinions, happy tummy and the dancing taste buds are all mine.
Special thanks for Andry and Mika for the warm hospitality and fun chit chat during the lunch :)

Jl. Raya Nusa Dua Selatan, Kawasan Sawangan,
Nusa Dua 80363, Bali, Indonesia
T: (62-361) 3017777
F: (62-361) 3027888
www.themulia.com - See more at: http://www.beeamazing.com/where-to-eat-in-nusa-dua-the-cafe-at-mulia-resort-a-luxury-gourmet-getaway-2/#sthash.Ba5A61mp.dpuf
Jl. Raya Nusa Dua Selatan, Kawasan Sawangan,
Nusa Dua 80363, Bali, Indonesia
T: (62-361) 3017777
F: (62-361) 3027888
www.themulia.com - See more at: http://www.beeamazing.com/where-to-eat-in-nusa-dua-the-cafe-at-mulia-resort-a-luxury-gourmet-getaway-2/#sthash.Ba5A61mp.dpuf
Jl. Raya Nusa Dua Selatan, Kawasan Sawangan,
Nusa Dua 80363, Bali, Indonesia
T: (62-361) 3017777
F: (62-361) 3027888
www.themulia.com - See more at: http://www.beeamazing.com/where-to-eat-in-nusa-dua-the-cafe-at-mulia-resort-a-luxury-gourmet-getaway-2/#sthash.Ba5A61mp.dpuf
THE CAFE at The Mulia, Mulia Resort & Villas – Nusa Dua, Bali - See more at: http://www.beeamazing.com/where-to-eat-in-nusa-dua-the-cafe-at-mulia-resort-a-luxury-gourmet-getaway-2/#sthash.Ba5A61mp.dpuf

The CAFE at The Mulia, Mulia resorts and villas
Jalan Raya Nusa Dua Selatan
Kawasan Sawangan, Nusa Dua, Bali
Phone: (62) 361 3017777
www.themulia.com

5.11.13

Photo Essay: People Around The World

I love people watching but I'm terrible at photographing people specially portrait photography. Most of the time I'm not happy with the result. Wrong angle, bad timing, bla bla and another bla. I don't know...maybe I'm just being too perfectionist.

Though without realising during my trips I capture lots of picture of local people while they were doing their activities. I am often amazed about how a facial feature, skin and hair colour of one ethnic is different from another. To me all the differences makes this world even more beautiful and travelling becomes more interesting.

I was looking through my photo collection when I said to myself, "Okay, I guess I'm not that lousy at candid photography. These pictures looks quite decent." So I thought I would share some of my faves with you...


gambling grannies in China

one hard worker lady in Bali

the seaweed farmer in Bali

a friendly food seller in Hokkaido

some men in Dubai dessert

traditional kitchen in Turkey

Jewish family in Israel

a Palestinian boy in Bethlehem

the guard in Morocco

a security guy in Egypt

a Bedouin guy in mount Sinai

a pretty Bedouin girl

some street seller in South Africa

a little girl in Russia

the painter in Poland

friends gathering in Austria

a musician in Czech Republic

polices in Italy

a lady in Croatia

a souvenirs seller in Bosnia

Do you have any good tips for candid photography? Please share with me :)

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