[Guest Post] Bohol, Philippines 2014: Jetting off with AirAsia Zest by Elie

Philippines as a travel destination has never been more appealing now that Airasia has flight routes there. Manila, Boracay and now Bohol. Airasia has certainly opened up plenty of traveling opportunities and as part of its Bohol media familiarization trip, invited a group of media members and bloggers to join them. Sugoi desu ne! 

But due to prior commitments, I was unable to go personally and instead suggested fellow cipet blogger, Elie Lam for the media fam trip in my place.

And after 4 days of frolicking on the sandy beaches of Bohol, here's the first of Elie's Philipines adventure posts.

An Indulging Charity at Indulge, TGV 1Utama

Now who says you can't treat yourself while doing some charity?

Taking the initiative to give back to charity, TGV in partnership with Omnicom Media Group have launched A Delicious Charity campagn in order to raise funds for PERTIWI Soup Kitchen and Fungates Superflow Foundation. 

From November 2014 to October 2015 (a whole year!), 12 different dishes will be featured each month, of which 5% of the 'dish of the month' will go to charity. The 12 dishes were selected and  made reality from the pages of the OMG Can Cook recipe book which only cost RM10.

In the coming months, here are some of the dishes you can expect to look forward to.

Gold Coast 2014: Day 2 - Hurricane's Grill & Bar, Surfers Paradise

So after running/walking 21km and overcoming 35 obstacles (or burpeeing our way through), it only seemed right that we treat ourselves to a scrumptious meal at one of the famous eateries in Gold Coast, Hurricane's Grill and Bar in Surfers Paradise. 

A good many blogs and TripAdvisor reviews recommended this place so we were excite to dine there especially after an exhausting day. Reservations were made a week in advance and a deposit was paid to secure our booking as we had a huge group of over 20 people. 

Gold Coast 2014: Day 1 - Arrival in Gold Coast

What do you get when a team of 20 people boards the same flight from KLIA 2 to Gold Coast, Australia? Absolute chaos and havoc. And that was exactly what we were when we boarded our overnight AirAsia X flight for Gold Coast to participate in the Reebok Spartan Beast race, held in Brisbane. With missing wallets and passports right from the start, we knew the trip was going to be an interesting one.

We landed early in the morning at Coolangatta airport and quickly sorted out our vehicles from Europcar while the rest of the team flew in from Sydney and Melbourne. Some of us who could not live without connectivity quickly purchased a prepaid Optus SIM card (AUD22 for 10 days of 1GB data a day) from a store before piling into our rented two 12-seater vans from Eurocar with our massive luggage and off we went to our apartments at Grande Florida Resort, Miami Beach [read my review on it here]

So You Think You Can ChiChi and Chacha

So you think your kid has what it takes to be the next star of ChiChi and ChaCha?

Kyanite TV and Big Fish Media is organizing "Be The Next ChiChi & ChaCha Star”, a star search for kids and teens aged between 6 to 18 years old. The show will give its contestants an opportunity to perform live with the hosts of hit TV show, ChiChi & ChaCha (CC2) in 2015.

Viper Challenge 2014 - BIGGER & BETTER

After a total of three hours of sleep and two scones for breakfast, I found myself at Sepang International Circuit in the wee hours of a Sunday morning for the second Viper Challenge. Hailed as the biggest obstacle challenge in Asia, Viper Challenge 2014 saw its tickets sell out like hot cakes within the first week and after last year's, um, incident, had to make a comeback in order to redeem itself.

And did they ever with a completely new circuit mixed with old and new obstacle challenges along the way.  I was a bit apprehensive at first about it, unwilling to get my hopes up until I heard the raving good reviews from Day 1 participants. It was a massive improvement from the previous year and has risen the standards of obstacle challenges around the region. Or so I heard the evening before. 

Firing a Gun for the First Time

In life, there are those girls that grew up playing with barbie dolls and tea parties. And then there are some girls who spent the better part of their teen years chasing boys and learning how to apply make up to lure in said boys. And finally, there are those girls who spent their weekends and pocket allowances in the arcade, practicing their shooting and driving skills.

Care to guess which girl I am?

Logitech M280 Mouse review

After 4 years of faithful servitude, it finally happened. My laptop's touchpad lost its touch. Like literally. I can barely control my cursor with the touchpad now and on top of that, whenever the laptop is plunged in and charging, the cursor runs amok and just starts clicking at random, causing me to accidentally erase my work multiple times. Several times, I have come very close to chucking my laptop out the window...

It's amazing how something as simple as a touchpad could be taken for granted. Then fortunately, I managed to get my hands on the latest Logitech M280 mouse. Compared to the M235 mouse, this one had a more ergonomically form for comfortable use. In other words, it fills my palm much better this time, making it perfect for long hours of usage.

Gold Coast 2014: Spartan Beast Brisbane QLD

About a year ago, I took part in the Viper Challenge and Tough Mudder in Perth and have since then grown addicted to obstacle challenges and after much persuasion from one of my friends (I hate you, Sunil Bangah), signed up for the Reebok Spartan Race. So on 4 September 2014, I jetted off to Gold Coast with my team over 20 people to take part in Spartan Beast, the second longest and most grueling version out of the all categories of Spartan (Sprint, Super, Beast, Ultra-Beast).

Beast was....21km of rugged terrain, trail running and 35 obstacles to overcome along the way. Failure to successfully complete each obstacle on the first try led to a penalty of 30 burpees for each obstacle. 

So if I failed all 35 obstacles, that would be... (does mental calculations, gives up and uses calculator) 1050 burpees.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Ma Blog!

This October 2014 has been a huge month for me. I ran my first ever half marathon at the SCKLM and survived. I also managed to raise funds for Malaysian Nature Society in the process. I also learned the right way to use and fire a Glock gun. But perhaps the most significant moment for me would involve this blog. 

Because you see....

Two years ago after leaving my job as a writer, I set out on a mission to continue writing (simply because I enjoy writing) and two years later, over 200 posts, thousands of travel and food photos and a new job in a new field later, here I am still blogging as frequently as my schedule would allow me.

And to commemorate my blog's second year in existence, I've finally purchased an official domain address and also changed its overall name to be shorter, catchier and with a touch of my long term fixation with Japan.