New Year 2022

 2021 was let's just say, life changing! For everything that happened from the start of the year to the end of the year, it was a complete 180 degrees of adventure- way different from year 2021 haha. In the closing post of year 2020, I mentioned that I wanted to travel overseas. Well, I guess that dream came true *laughs*

Half of the year 2021 was spent half quarantining at home- because we could still go to work but just couldn't go out for entertainment due to Covid. So we were in and out of MCO because the government kept tightening and loosening the rules. I spent my birthday celebrating turning 30 at home as well.

On top of that, the scariest thing happened when my husband contracted Covid and was the most sick of his entire life. Plus, I couldn't even go near him and it totally messed up my household for the entire month. Thank God, he is fully recovered and kicking well.

And before that, I got so sick from the Covid vaccine. I was also the most sick ever after the jab. I popped close to 12 panadols in a span of 2 days. In that month when I was sick and my husband got Covid, just the both of us popped close to 50 panadols due to fever. Gosh, panadol company earned a lot from us that month LOL (well, now can laugh, but really the suffering was crazy)

We still managed to sneak in a few staycations. When the rules were relaxed a bit, we went for a short staycation at Shangri-la, KL and totally enjoyed a short stay from all the quaranti-ning at home haha. After that, we went to Villa Samadhi, KL when the borders re-opened after the Nth MCO. Finally, we managed to squeeze in some time to One & Only Desaru Coast right before we flew to Hong Kong.

I also honed a lot of my cooking skills during MCO. I probably cooked and baked the most in the last 2 years! Staying at home made me more house wife-y >.< I never knew I had it in me that I could actually cook on a daily basis LOL

On top of cooking, towards the end of the year when I had many farewells before leaving, I had so much good food as well! Luckily, I had incorporated some exercise routine into my life otherwise I would have put on so much weight this entire year. 

And then of course, we migrated to Hong Kong with my first ever time in business class and spent 21 days quarantine in a hotel. Yup, as I said, this year was life changing. Never in a million years, I thought we would actually migrate especially during Covid what more spending 21 days quarantine in a hotel LOL

I'm very grateful and blessed to be where I am today. I would not want to change a thing about my year in 2021. Everything happens for a reason and it has brought us to where we are today. 2021 came wrapped with full of surprises and I'm grateful to live through it all. 

2022 will be another year full of surprises. A new year living in a different country, different culture, different environment and without our families and not knowing when we would be able to go back to Malaysia to visit. Yup, going into the unknown is scary but adventurous. Well, I like to YOLO so 2022, bring it on! To new, joyful memories in the coming year <3

Here's hoping each and everyone of us will have a new hope in the coming new year and towards better beginnings. 

Hong Kong foodie

Yay! Now we can properly explore Hong Kong. The first thing we absolutely craved for was Five Guys! Haha this is because Malaysia just opened it's first Five Guys restaurant and we couldn't go in time to check out. And when in quarantine, I kept seeing people's social media eating Five Guys so we were firm that we also needed to eat Five Guys because we FOMO lollzz....kidding, it's because we tried in Paris and absolutely loved it.

This is the best milkshake combo-ever! No kidding. Must try this combo...and it's not too sweet.

Cajun fries-surpringly don't even need sauce haha

Beef cheeseburger with customised toppings...I kinda added 3/4 toppings off the list in our burger HAHAHA

Beef patty so soft and though it's pricey but definitely cravings satisfied!

I have the sweetest friends from Malaysia who delivered yummy desserts to me =)) We haven't even used any delivery platforms in HK but my friends were the first to deliver sweet treats to me *cries*

Christmas desserts from Sift Desserts.

The yoghurt flavour was my absolute favourite. Not too sweet and it's a bit sourish to balance the taste =)

There's yoghurt filling inside some of the cupcakes as well...so yummy!

First tong yuen festival without tasting mummy's tong yuen.

So have to make do with store bought ones haha

Korean alcohol & snacks in HK are surprisingly way cheaper than in Malaysia and there's a Korean snack shop just below our serviced apartment hahaha

But of course my most favourite pastry is polo bun and to have it in HK where it originated is the BEST!

We have tried a few shops and they never disappoint. Their generous amount of butter with crispy pineapple crust is just the perfect afternoon tea treat.

Their egg tarts as well are super soft, creamy and and melts in mouth! So yummy!

Left- pineapple lemon tart and right is normal egg tart. They do a lot of pastries with pineapple toppings.

Their toast is also not normal toast. It has filling in it and we had the cheese toast. Soo good!

Roasted goose rice shops are everywhere!

Roasted goose with siu yuk.

Roasted goose with char siew.

I loveeee roasted goose rice. I'm craving for it every alternate days haha. Their roasted goose are to be eaten together with sweet plum sauce. Soo yums!

It is also our target to try McDonalds in every country haha...and HK is no exception!

McShaker fries. I lovee McShaker but unfortunately in Malaysia it's seasonal.

Beef and egg burger.

They even have Ovaltine boba milk haha

Honey chicken.

But they don't have chilli sauce *sad* haha so had to bring our own LOL...but love the HK McD..suit our taste hehe...so far I dislike Singapore and Thailand's McD LOL

We went to Stanley to see the Christmas Market. It was raining yet people were queueing up to go into the market. We took quite a journey to Stanley so we had to YOLO.

But first, a hot French onion soup by the Blake Pier to warm ourselves before we brave under the cold weather to queue to enter the market LOL

Had a glass of beer as well. The beers in HK are so far all seem light.

I also found sushi in supermarkets super affordable in HK! Way cheaper than in Malaysia haha

I was super craving for sashimis because it's been a whole month since I had anything Japanese hehe

HKD16 only OMG

Mmm...totally satisfied my cravings with its freshness.

Never bought suckling pig before but it's quite famous here so decided to takeaway suckling pig for 2 pax and I cooked rice myself. OMG, skin so crispy, so fat, so sinful and so yums!

My husband saw that 1 crate of this beer is only HKD30 and got a shock because it's wayy too cheap. And so we bought a crate back =.= But it tasted not bad! Mixed with soju as soju bomb and goes well with the suckling pig hehe

Saw that there's a bakery around my area that serves croissant made with certified French products and it's apparently famous so we went to check it out. It's Urban Bakery in Hysan Place.

Salted Egg Yolk Croissant.

Oh my sooo good! HKD 23 for one and HKD36 for 2...always go in the evening for the combo price coz I think it's near closing.

Croissant egg tart. HKD15.

The most expensive egg tart we ever eaten haha but sooo goood!!!

Pineapple croissant. Like polo bun only this is croissant. Served with butter and with the crispy crust especially after heating with microwave, it's sooo delicious!

So far Hong Kong food did not disappoint hehe will venture more and try more because there's so much more to try here!!!

Christmas 2021 in Ocean Park Hong Kong

 Since we're away from home, this is the first time I'm celebrating Christmas without my family. So instead of moping with sadness, we bought tickets to discover Ocean Park Hong Kong on Christmas Day! But first things first, we had to do our final PCR test at a community centre 7 days after our hotel quarantine. But thank God, we didn't need to do home quarantine after the hotel quarantine. We found out during the quarantine period that the 7 days is not mandatory quarantine. We only needed to self- monitor and do the last PCR test 7th day after hotel quarantine. Best thing ever- not needing to spend Christmas in quarantine yipee!!

Luckily it's all free!

After that, we attended Christmas mass at Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

And then it's time to explore Ocean Park.

Beautiful view.

There were not many interesting rides. Some were merry go rounds and some rides just wanted to give you a headache by going the same round 20 times until you feel dizzy @.@ So we picked some and then the scariest among all since we saw the roller coaster was a bit complicated as I like to YOLO. Little did we know what is to come hahahha

My husband is scared of heights so naturally he is not into these rides. But since I wanted to YOLO, he had to follow me LOL and we got a heart attack on this ride called Hair Riser(literally!)

I might have sat similar scary roller coaster rides but maybe since didn't go to theme park for 2 years plus already (thanks to Covid) I think this is probably the scariest LOL..We overturned twice and honestly, if the roller coaster overturned us one more time, my heart couldn't take it anymore >.< The husband's mask flew off and his hands were so tight on the railing, he couldn't grab his mask in time LMAO! We were both so scared that we couldn't even scream hahahah...scream no sound from mouth come out one LOL. Because he was scared of heights, after the ride finished, I kept asking him, if he was okay, yet he kept saying, my mask flew off LMAO omg, the amount of laughter we had...and then didn't take another roller coaster in Ocean Park *laughs* Luckily, my doraemon bag had a spare mask.

Instead, we went to see animals which is the main attraction of Ocean Park...they have so many different places to see penguins, walrus and many aquariums to see the underwater ecosystem and it was beautiful!

Walrus

Happy Feet!

It was so beautiful to see the aquarium with so many sharks, fishes, stingrays all living together.

Seal.

We had so much food and drinks in Ocean Park as well.

Carbonara Pizza.

Curry fishballs. I really love HK fishballs. From quarantine hotel, to the street food curry fishballs to the ones in Ocean Park, love them all.

Cheers!

Onion Beef burger,

Mozarella balls.

Mmm this siew yoke was soo damn good especially with the sauce,

Merry Christmas! Together always <3

Must wait for the ending show at the fountain. Visual lightings with fountain performance.

It was super crowded during Christmas! Some rides took about 45 minutes to an hour to queue for the ride. Anyway we didn't take many rides also and certain performances need to pay extra money to enter the auditorium and like the Big Aquarium also need to add extra money so basically the main attraction is the animals. The Christmas Market was a huge letdown. We paid HKD360 per person (it was on Christmas discount) and additional HKD10 to enter the Christmas Market. It was overall nice to experience but maybe it'll be our first and last time here HAHAH