The-like*love-effect

I always felt I haven't really found myself yet in HCMC until a couple of weeks ago. Other than shopping and work, I hardly do anything else! I ate at the same places for the most part (due to Halal issues & I can't read the names of the dishes!) and since the past 1 month was Ramadhan I wasn't that much of an "explorer".

This year's Ramadhan felt more blessed somehow; the kind you felt after you've done something extremely virtuous. I tried to "khatam the Quran" but I was not successful (sigh) and I only got to juzuk 16 :( Since I spent my Raya offshore, I got back onshore with a vengeance of some sort. That's when I feel I found myself. I'm not in any ways trying to portray a certain lifestyle, but I just want to share some of the things I love, like JAZZ!

They played great music. We wanted to request Sade's "Smooth Operator" but we were 10 mins too late. They were already playing their last song which was James Brown's "I Feel Good" (cliche dohh!)

(at Sax 'N' Art, HCMC)

The fruit punch was awesome! It was a bit pricey, but nevermind I just got back on land!

...And CAFES!

Back to going around trying out different places but for I always left my camera out most of the time. Sigh.

I like cafes and I guess you probably know/realize that already. I passed by this cafe everyday to work and the only question I had was when oh when! So, I had lunch at Rita Cafe, Nguyen Van Cu. I had Hot & Sour Seafood Noodle and can I say it was freaking good! Anyways, I somehow think the shops in Vietnam are always very well decorated!

I'm loving the paper umbrella decor on the ceiling :)

...And MANI/PEDI!

And it comes down to feeling all good bout your body. I'd go to mani/pedi all the time here and I think I'm getting very comfortable with people doing my nails for me. Now the thoughts of buffing my own nails spelled M.a>laS! Manicure or pedicure is about $3-$5 here so why bother doing your own, right? The thing is, I never went to nail place in Malaysia haha! I have no idea why, but this kind of lifestyle has got to stop cause doing your nails at the nail parlour is expensive in Malaysia tee hee! My favourite here is Armani Spa at Dong Du St, but when I went there last Thursday...the made my my lateral nail fold bleed :(

...And ORGANIC THINGS!

Since I always berangan to go all-*cough-cough*-organic*, I sort of took the first step: I bought Yves Rocher "Organic Vanilla" shower gel. I know, you would say OMG perlu ker? but it's good to use organic-based product! I thought the L'occitane lip balm I bought was organic-based, but it wasn't. Sigh. I can't read both French & Vietnamese! BTW, I hate the lip balm. Chapstick $1.69 Strawberry flavoured is even better than this!

Love the vanilla smell and I like how the bathroom smells of vanilla afterwards :)

The smell is quite long-lasting.

...and the SEMANGATNESS of things!

The last time I went for a formal dinner event was five years ago. Now I'm in Vietnam, the company celebrated it's 20th year in Vietnam with a dinner for all the staff at one of the hotels here. I'm like, what do I wear? As if there's a lot of options as to what I can wear and where to get them! I don't have something to wear, handbag (I only brought my Lesportsac sling bag to HCMC! Imagine how colourful that is!), no high heels (pakai flats murah yang boleh buang je pasni) and no tudung! I somehow got excited about this dinner and bought almost all the things I don't have. This is me talking about how much I like to waste money in this sense just to look the part.

Anyways, it was a great dinner mainly cause I get to watch traditional Vietnames dance & songs (I didn't get to watch it at any other place). On the more lucky note, I get to mingle around with all the Mr-big-shots. It was nice to listen to their stories, work & off-work related. It makes you feel it is not impossible to be like them one day cause they started pretty much like where I am right now.

Terpaksa beli baju kurung, selendang licin (OMG!) and kasut...

I never tried wearing tudung like this and I only wore it this way for the dinner cause the scarf I bought was too "silky" and it was impossible to wear it!

(satu gamba dinner je lah)

BTW, you bet I have more than just the ones I shared here

I'm going back to Malaysia soon. Now I felt everything came sooner than I anticipated

p/s: has a love*like effect for someone tee hee