Hola Yangon, Myanmar

 Day 1 - 24th December 2015

Time check, 5am. I have finally landed in the Yangon International Airport. With an aching back, tired body and sore arms. I left London Heathrow Airport on.....22nd December 2015. So basically, it took me 2 days to get to Myanmar. Well to be fair, I spent 13hr 50min in Doha Airport. My brain is so messed up at the moment on time zones and let's not mention my body clock. It was my first time taking Qatar Airways and it was a really really pleasant flight. Great food, great service and excellent choices of inflight entertainment movies (really it's because they have all 8 Harry Potter movies. yes I'm biased like that). They have a lot of Disney animations too!

Anyway, back to Yangon. So I was the 3rd in line at the immigration queue. Yay great! So that means that I can get out faster....right? Lol nope. Because my baggage decided that they would take ages to come out and give me a minor heart attack by making me think they got lost during transit.

Dear luggage....I have died everyday waiting for you, darling don't be afraid I have loved you

 So to entertain myself while waiting for my luggage and battling nature calls, I made use of the free wifi and called my aunt and mum who were waiting outside, and my brother who was in Singapore getting ready to board his flight. FINALLY. While talking to my brother, my luggage finally came out. Collected it and hightailed out of that place. Ahaha.

Whoo. That weather. I was melting. I really really do not like heat at all. Missing UK already. That nice cold weather, while I just bundle myself up under the duvet with movies playing on my laptop. That's the life. And I digress. So we drove over to my youngest's aunt place, dropped my luggage off, and went to greet my grandmother at hers. They live in different houses but it's literally a 20sec walk. ._. Good to have privacy while staying close to family right? Haha.

Time check, around 8am. I still have an hour's rest before having to head out for all the wedding prep. Right, 1st stop. Over to the seamstress' with my aunt while my mum went to pick up my dad and brother.

Selfie with le 2nd aunt in the car

 Whoo! Amazing work by the seamstress because even though I wasn't there for the measurements and all, the outfit fit perfectlyyyyyy. Pictures in the next post. Haha. But really though, she is soooo good. She was in charge of the outfits for my aunts and all the bridesmaids and wedding entourage. I don't even know what my position is called in English ._.

2 of the scarves that she was making.

Dusting gold powder onto hand drawn patterns on the corset

After I was done with the fitting, it was off to the next stop. We had an appointment at the jeweler's to pick out my cousin's wedding accessories. No pics from this stop =\ But dayumm, do Burmese people not know the meaning of ostentatious?! Cousin and I were opting for something slightly simpler since her outfit was already elaborate enough with lots of designs and blings. But no, aunt chose the biggest assed necklace, and jeweler was recommending that piece too. My eyessssssss.

3rd stop for the day. Hair Salon! Just for a quick wash and blow dry really. The service there was so so goooooood. Like really, the hair salons in SG can't match up to their services. I mean, I paid 5500kyts (est S$6) for a wash and blow dry. Got a massage, deep conditioning and styling together with it.

I've not had such a nice pampering session since I left for UK.

Time to get that hair dried and styled

Voila! Nice perfect curls after!

Cousin's soon-to-be husband came to pick her up from the hair salon to head to the hotel while aunt and I headed to the nail salon next. :D

Getting a manipedi woohoooooo

I think we spent about an hour and a half at the salon. From cleansing to scrubs to manicures and pedicures.

The completed work!

Okay! Now we are all prepped and beautified for the next day! My parents came to pick us up to head over to the hotel and join the rest. By then, I was running on non-existent adrenaline/fuel, I was going to crash any second. In my defense, I did spend 2 days traveling and only had 3-4hrs of sleep everyday the previous week.

Possibly the last selfie I took before I passed out on the couch ._.

So, we headed over to Novotel, location of the long awaited wedding. The adults and happy couple were going through the decor and placements with the hotel staff, while I went over to the couch meant for the bride and groom, sat down, took a few selfies. And promptly passed out on the couch 10min later.

Fast forward, I was woken up by my mum who said that we were done and heading back home now. Just trudged after her bleary eyed and all. On the way home, we were treated to darkness the whole journey. Woohoo! Another blackout! FML. I wonder how many districts are affected this time. And then, we found out, IT'S NATIONWIDE! YAY! WHOLE OF MYANMAR UNITE! IN DARKNESS!

My dad and I were going to sleep at my aunt's house. So...made our way around in darkness and searched for the heavy duty flashlights. WE HAD A CANDLE BURNING IN THE BATHROOM. Welcome to the '50s. Using a mini torchlight, I fumbled around trying to pack my bag for the next day. Did I mention that a group of us have to be out of the house by 4am to head to the hotel for makeup and hair? Yeaps. And people wonder why I'm so tired. It's not like I need to sleep or anything right.

Btw, the blackout lasted until late at night. So blackout = no electricity = no aircon. #firstworldproblems
Once again, in my defense, I have eczema and it is easily triggered or irritated by heat, so I like to stay in cool places as much as possible. December in Myanmar is not that bad because it's pretty cool at night and early mornings. My dad likes the cold so....this is what we ended up doing. My aunt's house is a 3 story house with a huge outdoor veranda on each floor. My dad and I moved the mattress and mosquito net(which is totally necessary before I become the new buffet spread for all the mozzies there) out, and we slept outdoors while staring at the stars. Nice bonding session eh. Only...I fell asleep within a few min.

Goodnight for today, and I'll see you with the post on the Big Day. Toodles!

I AM BACK

Hi Guys!

I'm back! For real. Legit. I swear. I sincerely apologise for the hiatus. I'm back on this blog, and I'm back in Singapore. Yay. So before I flew back to Singapore, I made a short detour to Myanmar for my cousin's wedding and a family trip (that consisted of 22 of us) and some other shizzle dizzles. okay I did not just say that. But yeah, stay tuned for the travel posts! I promise to post them up ever few days.

Rayna and Charmander out!

Hi everyone.
So....it's been 4 months since I last posted here. HOLY SHIZZ. I guess I just got caught up with life and didn't have time to write and post. *starts piling up layers of excuses*
There's been so much going on though. Yesterday was my last day of work, which means that now I have time to spare for my miserable, sad, neglected blog. There is sooooooo much backlog omg. Like my graduation. brother's wedding, my Japan trip, cosfest, comifest and so on. Watch out for it because I'm going to make sure I finish at least 3 of it by the end of this week. ........or I hope?....

*NEWSFLASH*
I'm not sure whether I've mentioned in my previous posts but I applied for some of the universities in UK, and guess what! I got accepted into Oxford Brookes University, straight into 3rd year! Which means, I'm flying off to UK in 3 weeks time. ^^;

*mental meltdown* I don't think I'm ready for this. Oh my god. As the D-day draws closer, I'm freaking out even more. Seriously, I have no idea what is waiting for me on the other side of the globe. Thank goodness for their buddy program though, at least now I'm talking to one of the students there and well, I won't be so lost when I'm there.
I've realised that these few days, I'm even clingier than usual with my mum. Maybe it's because I'm going to miss her so so so much. Really though, HOW AM I GOING TO SURVIVE WITHOUT MY MUM?! Of course, I can't tell her all these because she's just going to be even more worried.

On a side note, I think I'm pretty well versed with the UK uni application system so feel free to ask me any questions. Hahas.

For once I finished a post in 15min. Hahas. But this is just to announce that I'm alive and I'M BACK!!!

P.S. I think my Supernatural marathon is going to get in the way of posting. ^^;

This is Rayna signing off!

Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Who has the best hair of them all?

It's been like about 8 months since I last got my hair done and it's in a pretty bad shape now. And what do you do when your hair needs help? You call Jerry and go down to Headlines Hairdressing.
So I dragged Hui Hui along to accompany me, and for some girl to girl gossip session. no seriously, we can bitch a lot. In the end, she was late, I was late, she was later than my late so I just went to the salon first and told her to meet me there. I'm not a very punctual person.

As you can see, my hair is in such a bad shape. Jerry was complaining about it too. Yeah well...work your magic please? (On a side note, I absolutely love the makeup function on my camera. It's like, I don't even need to edit the pictures at all. Or maybe I'm just easily satisfied ._. wat)

Oh my god, look that that fringe. even when it's damp it's still so.....Q.... 

Jerry said that I needed another session of argan oil treatment to restore my hair back to the soft shiny silky state. :< It's expensive okay! But...for the sake of my hair...no choice. I sound really vain and all, but really, after doing this treatment, the hair becomes super low maintenance. I can just get out of bed and run my fingers through my hair and voila, my hair become outside world presentable.

Jerry was almost done with the first step before this girl reached. 

Since I needed to just sit and wait after the first application, it was time for some gossiping session. Coincidentally, there was this really cute guy at the seat beside mine. But it's not like I can start talking to Hui Hui about him since he would definitely hear us, and I wasn't sure whether he could understand Chinese. So....it ended up as '私の右の男わ可愛いですね' (the guy on my right is cute right?)

And we started conversing in Japanese...which might have been a little weird. Now that I'm typing this, I'm getting paranoid and thinking...what if he understood Japanese too?! /dies/ 

CAN YOU SEE THE DIFFERENCE?! Oh em gee. Welcome back soft shiny silky hair. 

I flipped through one of the japanese hairstyle magazine and saw a fringe design that I really liked so decided to get my fringe cut together with a slight trim. 

Decided to take random pictures just for the fun of it. While waiting for me to be done, Hui Hui decided to look up cafes in Singapore for us to go get our stomachs filled. It was almost 4.30pm and I had not eaten anything the whole day. 

The finished product! I'll need to wash my hair a couple of times to restore a slight wave so that the fringe ends up as desired. Right now le hair is a little too flat. 

This girl wouldn't stop molesting my hair. But really, with nice hair, confidence level multiplies!

Thank you Jerry my life saver! I can totally whip my hair back and forth now and the hair just falls right back into place.  

So Hui Hui felt that Jerry's assistant was rather cute and her type, so of course Rayna cannot hold still at that comment. I immediately texted Jerry after we left the salon and asked him for Mike's number. And the matchmaking fairy is back in business again. Hahas! But of course, I texted Mike first to sound him out, and I decided that he is not suitable for Hui Hui. (Don't ask me how I know, I just know.)

So after we were done at the salon, we originally planned on going to a cafe to grab a bite, but it was already close to 5 by the time we were done. And we had an appointment at Datsumo Labo for a consultation session at 6pm. We decided to just head over to Orchard first before going to the cafe. Since we still had some time to spare, we decided to eat at Monster Curry instead.

While waiting for the food, I was soooooo excited about my new hair that I couldn't stop camwhoring at all. ;_; (resist posting up the rest because I'm so going to get judged. hahas)

Our curry riceeeeee. 

Okay so after eating, we went down to Datsumo Labo to check out their prices and have a consultation session. (Btw, they have an outlet at Adelphi nowwwww. Omg. It's like...just a few doors down from my clinic (Y)) I'm actually still debating on whether to go for it or not, because while the price is reasonable and all, man, I still have tons of things which I need to get. But omg, it's so tempting. What should I do?
Anyway both of us said that we will think about it and left. /So conflicted/ Priorities yo.

So after that, we decided to head over to Hoshino Coffee to grab some dessert. (while typing this, I realised that I like to use the word 'so' a lot) Made a pit stop at Etude House on our way up to Hoshino. Ended up buying more stuff. Really, I should just cut my cards or something ;_;

But thankfully, this time Hui Hui bought more items than me. Achievement unlocked!

I couldn't stop camwhoring. waiiiii. /unleashes the inner bimbo/ But the lighting at Hoshino wasn't that ideal for camwhoring though. 

While waiting for our food, we set up the table for a manicure session. So I had to help Princess Hui Hui do her nails.

It's fun though. I really love doing manicures, and I only have this amount of fingers to do manicure for! I'm going to invest in a gelish UV machine soon. 8D

Hui Hui's fuwa fuwa pancake with soft serve ice cream. 

My molten chocolate lava cake with soft serve ice cream! What an excellent matchhhh.

Look at all the molten chocolate inside.

My ice cream pretty much melted so I'm just going to drink it down like milk!

Failed attempt at milk mustache. Hahahahaha.

After Hoshino, it was already 9+ so time to part ways. End of the day of outing!
And finally I'm done with one post. PS. It took me 2 months just to finish writing this post. *slow clap for self*

Back from the Dead

Oh my god. I'm so sorry everyone. I know, I disappeared for months. Omg the last time I blogged was in September '13. I'm not trying to make excuses but after I started working full time, suddenly I really hardly have time to blog. And now I'm studying part time too. I really admire those super dedicated bloggers now. I finally understand how my cousin feels too. She's been juggling work full time and school part time for 6 years.

Life's been pretty crazy nowadays, work is like 12 hours on certain days, I'm studying part time at Kaplan now and I still have my Japanese classes. Obviously I need to work on my management skills because I'm almost starting to get overwhelmed.

On a positive note though, I already got accepted into Oxford Brookes University so I'll be flying to UK in September. But because of that, suddenly time seems to be passing by really quickly. Right now I'm just like, wait, what happened to January. Well, I'm totally looking forward to it but at the same time feeling apprehensive too since it'll be my first time being overseas alone and for a super long period. I wonder how long it'll take before I get homesick and all. ;_;

I mentioned that I'm working full time now right? I'm working at a Chiropractice clinic now, as a chiropractic assistant. It's totally awesome and I really really love working here. Even if there was another job with a higher paying salary, I think I'll still stay here. Heck, I'm even considering coming back here to work when I finish my degree in UK. I'll talk more about my current work/workplace in the next couple of posts because I have loads to talk about.

This post is more of just a heads up for everyone that I'M BACK!!!!!!
So look out for more posts from me from today onwards. There will be posts on my dance covers, makeup, daily life and more!

Hair + Natsumatsuri + Another 21st

Heya everyone! Once again I disappeared for a quite a long while, my sincere apologies. I just came back from Myanmar a few days ago, and I promise to blog diligently.

So this post is another back log. Had a pretty busy day on 24th Aug. First had an early appointment at Headlines Hairdressing because I was sick of my fringe and wanted to cut bangs. Appt was at 10.30am and I was still at Outram Park station at that time. But....I still reached the salon before Jerry did! Hahahaha. And he still said that I'm late for my appt on fb. >_>

Horrid picture of me because I woke up late and didn't have time to put on any makeup. Look at those dark eye circles. And omfg I just realised that my face is swollen/bloated too.  /cries/ So I decided to just put a small picture.

After the haircut, I went down to Fendi for a bit to pass a bag to my ex-colleague who ordered from taobao through me. (anyone wanna order from taobao? I can help! shameless self-promotion) Only Haru-san, Gigi and the new assistant manager were there though. So after some catching up with them, I left. Next I was meeting my cousin to go shopping at suntec. There was this mega flea convention thing going on and I decided to go early on the first day itself so that I get first dips on the nicer ones.

There was this mega miscommunication between the two of us and I was waiting for her at bayfront station while she was waiting at esplanade station. /epic fail/ So after calling her to find out where she was, I headed over to esplanade station. Anyway, we were walking to suntec when we walked past an advertisement for korean food with lunch special. So we decided to go and grab some lunch before starting our shopping spree. hahas.

Yups, so lunch was at Kkongdon Barbeque at Marina Square (Marina Link).

Me, my cousin and my newly cut bangs. 

I can totally forget about eating because there's a TV right in front of me playing Kpop MVs. Like really, who needs food. xDDD Just kidding, I need food.

We ordered the chicken and pork BBQ set for 2. So together with their lunch set, there's like free flow of side dishes for us to help ourselves too. I took some of everything to taste and give comments on. Their kimchi wasn't that nice actually, it was dry and there wasn't much flavor to it. Oh their pickled seaweed was nice though, I went for multiple helpings of that. Pickled ladyfinger and pickled beansprouts were just so-so. 

Ever since I watched SHINee on Maknae Rebellion, I've always wanted to eat at a Korean BBQ with the ventilation above the grill. Wish finally fulfilled! 

One thing I like about this BBQ is that the grill is slanted, so all the excess oil just flows down and collects on that plastic sheet. 

Kimchi tofu soup to wash everything down~

After lunch, finally headed over to the convention hall to check the clothes out. By then, it was already close to 2.30pm. And I was meeting Renyue and Tien Yeh at Tanah Merah station at 5.30pm to head to Natsumatsuri together, the thing is, I was also going to go back home to change and get my makeup done. So yeah, I was rushing everywhere~~~~~~~

Anyway, I didn't really find much items that caught my eye at the flea. But, I managed to find this really pretty floral blazer from FYN which was so so so pretty. You'll see a picture of it in my next post! You should check out their stuff though, they have loads of lovely clothing at affordable prices. Walking around, I also spotted a pair of earrings that would have looked great on my aunt so I bought that as an early birthday gift for her. I was out of cash by then and was lazy to go all the way down just to withdraw, so I ended up just walking around with my cousin and checked out the other stalls. I couldn't stay for long though, and left slightly past 4.

After rushing home and changing and getting my makeup done, finally on the train, but I was going to be on time. Was. That is until, the train in front decided to break down and after Paya Lebar, I was stuck at every stop for 5min. 5min. At every stop. Until Tanah Merah. And I only had 56% batt left so I couldn't just randomly surf the net to entertain myself. Anyway, apparently RY was in the train before mine.........

For once TY was one time and he ended up waiting for the 2 of us at Tanah Merah for about half an hour. Oops. While RY claimed that she purposely took her own sweet time and came late because TY was always late and she didn't want to wait for him. 

But either way, we made it to Natsumatsuri finally, and I ran into so many familiar faces. 

At the entrance to the festival. Even though we came at 6+, the entrance was still pretty crowded.

While hunting for the ramen stall, I ran into Hui Hui and her friend. 

I was pretty surprised to see Brice at the festival. But either way, picture plox. 

It's been a really long time since I last saw G'maine. But omfg, her hairrrrr. /likes/ /wants/

The sausage stall!

Finally met Xeth. Who has been bugging me for a meet up but I always had something on D:

Because I went late, I missed Twinnie's performance. D: But still, managed to catch him for a picture. 

Bon Odori! The ladies dancing on stage were so cute. 

Was walking around when I ran into some of the JCC peeps. And asked them where the rest were. And Shota is acting shy and covering his face because it was red from drinking too much beer. HAHAHAHAH.

PENGGGGG. Mah gymming buddy back when we were in school.

Sam pouring the first cup of sake for the birthday boy. P.S. The one in thick black framed specs at the back. 

Was about to leave when I remembered that my top was with Hui Hui and I desperately gave her 7 missed calls. Luckily she made it out on time before I boarded the shuttle bus.

Natsu was great though. Because I got to meet so many friends whom I had pretty much lost contact with. 

I stayed at there until about 8pm, after which I had to head over to another friend's birthday chalet. So me, all alone, waiting for the shuttle bus, while being partially high from doing one shots with sake and rum. And...I only had about 10% batt life left. Not exactly the best combination. 

Before I reached Pasir Ris station, my phone batt decided to die on me. And I was in the middle of talking to Shi Min!!!! Luckily I memorised her room number. Or else...GG. At Downtown East, I went towards the wrong side and ended up at Costa Sands Resort. (Note: the party was at Aloha side) After I went in, I was like...omg where is that room? After asking the ticketing people, they told me it was at the other end. @_@ But even after I got to the correct resort, I spent abt 15-20min being lost because apparently her room was all the way at the end. But I finally made it there, in one piece, with aching feet, but I still made it. HAHAHAHAHA. Just in time too, as they were going to sing the birthday song and cut the cake.

Fondant Cake! My turn next yearrrrrr.

Picture with the birthday girl before the song!

Singing the birthday song now.

Cutting the cake!

Picture with the birthday girl before I leave. 

I felt really bad because I could only stay until the cake was cut and I had to leave soon after that. So...I reached the party about close to 9.30pm, and I left slightly past 10pm. But really, I still had to rush home because of curfew and stuff. =\ (and I also had to pop by at Dream to sign in at the gl before going home since I didn't know what time I could leave that night)

Either way, I had such a busy day on sat. While rushing everywhere. But it was great though, because I got to meet up with so many people whom I've not seen for close to a year and all. And I also filled certain cravings for certain kinds of...liquid. :ifyougetwhatImean:

I should sign off now. This post is long enough. Next few posts will be about my trip! ^_^ Bye~