Wombeh & Domokun's Photo Album

Princess and I have this thing about presents. We've always agreed that we don't need an occasion to buy presents for each other. Be it Christmas, Anniversary or anything like that. We just decided that whenever we see something that we think the other person would like, we buy it there and then. It can be any time of the year. So we don't expect Christmas or Anniversary presents from each other. Except for Birthdays though. We still expect birthday presents haha!

So I'm not sure if I should call this a Christmas present because it isn't exactly one. What I can call it though is my "Best Present of 2009". All it was... a photo album with the pictures of Wombeh & Domokun.

Oh Princess and I refer to each other now as Wombeh & Domokun. Me being Wombeh (which comes from the word wombat because when she saw a wombat in Australia she thought it was cute). I on the other hand refer to her as Domokun because she sometimes goes "RARARA!!!". I'm sure the names we call each other will change in the next 3 months so don't get too used to it.

Okay back to the album Princess gave me.

In case you're wondering, the 10th of October 2008 is the estimated date that we got together as a couple. The exact date is still a mystery for us because I didn't exactly ask "Will you be my girlfriend?". We just... somehow started treating each other like bf/gf and I guess one day we both understood that we were in a relationship.

The great thing about photo albums with pictures in them is that they never grow old. I will never get bored of receiving photo albums with pictures in them because I think it takes a lot of effort to hand pick each picture. Besides, when someone gives you a photo album with pictures.. you're not just getting a "photo album with pictures". You're getting a whole condensed book of memories you've had with that someone.

That makes photo albums such great gifts! I'm sure some of you guys out there have done it at least once before for your other half. If you haven't then do it! I think it makes a great gift.

Princess' photo album was a page by page story of us. The story of "Wombeh & Domokun". She put in each picture and some captions on which period of our relationship was that picture taken.

With Princess' permission, I'm going to share a few of them with you guys. Notice the captions she wrote on each page.

This is the first picture.

This is us at the Nuffnang V-Post party in Singapore a year ago.

Yep... this picture was taken at the start of my Paul Frank craze. I now have like an entire wardrobe of Paul Frank t-shirts.

I LOVE GROCERY SHOPPING!

If you're wondering why "Sebastian babeh". It's because I turn red when I drink and that picture was taken after I've had a little too much to drink.

Ah yes it's true. We used to be so much more happening as a couple. Going out and all. Now all we (yes we.. not just me but Princess too) wanna do is stay at home and watch DVDs.

Princess with her "Stitch ears" in Disneyland HK noming me.

Yah Princess said she looked tall in this picture. With long model-like legs. So she loves this pic.

This is how she used her photo editor to sissify one of our pictures.

And the surprise or not so surprise birthday party she planned for me this year. It was a total failure of a surprise but I'm happy she tried.

Yes it's true. We became a boring couple that only hang out with each other on weekends.

This is us at the Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards (NAPBAS) dressed our best.

And the rest of the photo album I shall keep for myself :)

You gotta share some of the love... but you also gotta keep some for yourself right?

Heh.

Thank you for the great present baby!

The Nuffnang Team's Christmas Dinner '09

Ever since Nuffnang started, it has always been a Nuffnang tradition that every year end, the Nuffnang team would have a Christmas dinner together just to get together at the end of the year.

Last year instead of a Christmas dinner we did a Christmas lunch and it was held in Singapore.

This year however we held it in KL.

To add on to the Christmas Dinner, every year we also have a Secret Santa initiative where everyone is supposed to receive a present from a secret someone on that night. This was how some of our presents looked like last year in Singapore.

And this is the one THIS year!

The table seems to get longer and longer each year. Today there are some 40 people who work at Nuffnang all over the region but due to the logistics and depending on everyone's personal schedule not everyone makes it down for the dinner.

This year some 20 of us made it.

Here are some of the Nuffies that made it that night.

Elaine, Robb and Firdauz

Raine, Michelle and Rina

Karen, Elise, Jestina and Shun Yau

Xin Xian, Soon Tak and Yee Hou

At the dinner, Ming ordered like a huge slab of steak just for himself.

Something like 1.5kg I think. The surprise look on his face when he saw the size of the steak was priceless.

He ended up sharing it with everyone else.

Throughout the whole dinner, the Nuffies took turns to share what they hope to be able to see next year in Nuffnang (also another tradition) and of course Ming gave a speech.

Ming talked about how we're really grateful to have a really fun and open working environment here at Nuffnang where everyone treats each other like family but it's all up to each and every Nuffie to hold up our key Nuffnang principles and maintain this fun environment we have.

After all the great food and the sharing session was over, it was time for the highlight of the night. PRESENTS!!!

My secret Santa was one of our Singapore Nuffies who bought me an iPhone cover for my iPhone.

Yay! I'm using it now as we speak :)

I on the other was Raine's Secret Santa.

I was thinking really hard about what to buy Raine for Christmas but the thing that I always noticed about her was how she was very into make-up. So I knew she liked cosmetics and one thing I notice about my own girlfriend is that Princess is really into Japanese cosmetics. So I went to Japan and bought Raine a small bag of all different types of Japanese cosmetics.

I can't even remember what some of them are called... since I know so little about cosmetics. Fortunately I had Princess who did all the picking for me.

Raine liked the present... or at least she told me she did.

Now the Nuffies are really nice to both Ming and I. Every year they would prepare some kind of surprise for us. This year's surprise came in two big boxes.

Inside each box was a Christmas tree that was decorated with small little cards that closed up.

Each card was supposed to represent a Nuffie from the KL or Penang office and on the outside of the card they had a little clue about that person.

For example, one card wrote.

And inside the card was the person's face.

So they all made Ming and I play a game to take turns and guess who was behind each hint. Ming and I got like 60% of the guesses wrong... but it's not because we didn't know much about them. It's because the clues were like ridiculous.

Like one clue was "A pencil that needs constant sharpening".

Now what the hell was that supposed to mean?

To make matters worse for us, every time we got a guess wrong we had a punishment. Like they put on a pair of reindeer ears on our head all the way to shooting us with a water pistol.

In the end it was all in good fun and I went home that night with a great gift from the Nuffies. I always think that sometimes, the most thoughtful gifts are made... not bought.

So thank you Nuffies. Thank you for the great present and for the great night.

And to the rest of the Nuffies who didn't manage to make it that night, we all missed you!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Mister Potato Fiesta

I was at the Mister Potato Fiesta last weekend. It was Mister Potato's first really big foray into an event that aimed to engage bloggers in Malaysia and it was something my good friend Pierre had always wanted to do.

So Princess and I made sure we were there to support him. Heck even Ming came down from Singapore just for the event at Mist Club, Bangsar.

Here are some pictures from the night.

1) Liang was the emcee that night and once again he pulled off one hell of a show. I remember many people that night tell me that Liang was just freakin amazing. Really funny and spontaneous... always manages to get the crowd going!

2) Say hello to Princess and Mister Potato!

3) Even the real-life Mister Potato from the TVC made guest appearance. His real name is Sham but that night, we all knew him as Mister Potato.

4) Pierre giving a speech on stage wearing his sombrero.

5) He brought me a sombrero too. See?

That's my sombrero and me with Beautifulnara.

6) Me, Princess and Redmummy.

7) Some of the winners that night who went home with a total of RM20,000 in cash.

The winners were from the Mister Potato blog contest and also the best dressed that night.

The person who won the best dressed was this lady here.

And this is the blogger who did the best entry and won like RM5,000 that night.

RM5,000! I remember all of us looking at each other on how we could really use that money ourselves :)

8) Myself with Mr and Mrs. Pierre Pang.

You guys remember Mr and Mrs Pang right? Remember... the .... *grumble* perfect couple...

9) And those two faces you see on that cardboard body of a Mexican band is... Princess and me.

10) As if Liang's emceeing and people dressed in Mister Potato outfits dancing around wasn't enough fun for the night, Mister Potato even got Hujan to come perform.

I've always heard a lot about Hujan but never once got the chance to see or hear them perform. They were great... so energetic and they really knew how to engage the crowd.

I loved the part they sang the Mister Potato jingle. Everyone went wild!

11) Some of the Nuffies that were there that night.

12) This is a group of us who were there that night after the party ended. Ming in the blue shirt was already tired from all the excitement earlier. Yawning away.

13) And our last cheers to celebrate the end of the night.

Ah what a great night.

8 Things I Love About Japan (Part 2)

5) Harajuku

When in Tokyo, Princess brought me shopping twice.

The first time at Shibuya, at this mall called Shibuya 109.

Now Shibuya must be a girl's shopping paradise but if it's that to a girl, it's a disaster for a guy who likes to shop. Why?

Simply because just about every shop in the entire huge mall was selling only stuff for girls. Nothing for guys. So I spent an hour or two in there just walking around with Princess and looking at the other pitiful boyfriends who were doing the same national service for their girlfriends.

It was terrible I tell you.. terrible! At one point I even wanted to go to the toilet and I couldn't find one for guys. All the toilet signs let to a single door that had the female toilet logo on it.

A mall with shopping only for girls and toilets only for girls. That's like saying "fuck off guys!". Then again maybe the gents toilet did exist but I was just too blur to find it.

After Shibuya though we went to Harajuku and there.. while they had a lot of girl things there, they also had a LOT of guy stuff.

The guy clothes they had there weren't expensive. About the same price for a shirt that you would pay in Malaysia but they were a lot nicer, had very unique designs too. If you guys are interested then comment at the end of this entry and maybe I'll post a blog entry with some of the nice shirts I got from Harajuku.

6) The Trains

I love the trains in Japan. It's not just the bullet-train but even the public transport.

The trains come so frequent and they're very very punctual. The bullet-train of course is... totally out of this world.

The commuters in Japan often eat these kind of packed meals on the train. So trying to act like local, we bought some ourselves.

Here's what's on the inside.

The food was cold but nice nevertheless.

They move so fast you feel as if you're on an airplane.

7) Hot Spring

I took the bullet-train from Tokyo to Hakone and spent the night there. Hakone is a place in the mountains not far from Mount Fuji.

It's a little hot springs resort village where people go just to relax.

We stayed in this Japanese-style resort that was really nice and had some really traditional Japanese elements to it.

The rooms for example were all Japanese-styled with tatami mats and all.

The whole point of going to that resort is just to relax, chill, eat the good food they all prepare for you and then go sit in the hot springs (Onsen).

The Onsen is a whole new different experience. There are outdoor and indoor Onsens but its divided by gender because nobody is allowed to wear anything when they go into the Onsen. Not even swimming trunks.

Being a bit shy and not wanting to compare cocks or anything like that, I opted for the private Onsen where I had the whole thing for myself. It was an outdoor one so first you go out in the open all naked when it's like 0-5 degrees out there. Then you take a quick shower in the open and then slowly go into this pond of hot water.

Being so hot you sometimes have to gradually go in toe by toe but when you do get your whole body in. It feels just great.

8) The People

The one last thing I love about Japan is the people. Even coming from a developed country like themselves, they're all so humble and obliging. A lot of the people there didn't speak English but even the ones who didn't, always made a bit effort to help us out and try to understand what we were saying in order for them to help us.

This is a picture of two of the resort staff that was with us in the Hakone resort.

I will miss Japan. I told myself though that I probably won't be able to go back there in the next 5 years because it's just too expensive. With the money you spend on a trip to Japan, you can probably afford to go anywhere else in the world.

I highly recommend that if you have the chance... go ahead and go for at least once in a lifetime. It is worth experiencing Japan.