Mobile wifi review: Travel Recommends in Melbourne

We all read about that Olympic Champion who incurred a $5,000 phone bill just from playing Pokemon Go at the event. Noob. Like why you no buy local sim card or rent wireless wifi router? Gone were the days when we lived in fear during our travels over obtaining a thousand dollar phone bill just because we needed to google a location and address while on holiday.

What more with our constant practice of sharing and posting on social media and not to forget hunting region exclusive Pokemon such as this Kangaskhan.

[Hokkaido 2016] Day 6 - Dominica Soup Curry, Hokkaido Shine and Beer Fest!

My last day in Hokkaido and for the third time throughout that trip, it was raining....the urge to just curl up in my nice hostel bed was tempting. BUT then again, it was my last day in Sapporo and driving by a need for piping hot food, we headed out in search of soup curry.

This time we tried Dominica Soup Curry, a little hidden jem 15 minutes from our hostel. Located in the isolated hallway of an unsuspecting building, Dominica Soup Curry offered the most unlikely form an eatery with odd decorations and a tight seating space that can accommodate about 15 people at its peak hour. And even that meant elbows being bumped and rubbed occasionally.

[Hokkaido 2016] Day 5 - Self Drive to Lake Toya and Noboribetsu

Day 5 in Hokkaido brought on heavy grey clouds followed by a heavy downpour in the later part of the day when we were on the road from Lake Toya to the Hell's Valley aka Noboribetsu. It was yet another long drive into the countryside and after the previous day's adventure into Biei and Furano, I found myself wishing that we opted to stay an extra night out near Lake Toya.

Anyway, due to the weather we decided to play it by the ear and ended visiting the following places:
1. Silo Observatory
2. Lake Hill Farm
3. Volcano Science Museum
4. Sendoan,Toyako-cho
5. Noboribetsu

Lazada Online Revolution 2016: Retail Therapy for All

Well, we now live in a world where Donald Trump is POTUS. Not only had the idiots taken over with this victory but little do they know how their choice will also affect the rest of the world.

Let us console ourselves with some therapy and nothing works better than retail therapy. And where else than at Lazada Online Revolution 2016. Think over 1,000 brands, 55,000 international and local merchants. All for one month as part of Lazada's fifth Online Revolution since its inaugural event in 2012.

OCR Highlights: Great Eastern Viper Challenge Sepang

Viper Challenge has come a long way since its first event in Nov 2013 as Asia's Biggest Obstacle Challenge. The recent Viper Challenge Sepang (the final leg of the Finisher Series and the fourth long distanced challenge to be held at Sepang International Circuit) saw an attendance of 17,568 participants tackle the terrain and obstacles throughout the day, in the morning and at night!

It helped tremendously that the event was blessed with a cooling weather and an overcast of clouds that kept the sun rays at bay. Less heat meant less dehydration and that meant less injuries amongst the participants. Blessed weather aside, the organisers themselves were no slackers as they pulled out all the stops at this event with many big-named sponsors and new and improved obstacles.

In a nutshell, here are the highlights from the Great Eastern Viper Challenge Sepang.

Four Years on...

Sigh... it's quite bad that I missed my own blog's anniversary. And here I was wondering why people were congratulating me on LinkedIn. 

But yes, it has been four years. It's my blog's fourth anniversary and of late, I have questioned and pondered the direction of my creative medium amongst other other things. 

Four year ago, I started this blog to allow me to continue writing as I used when I was a writer at a magazine. It was quite simple then, the content potential unhindered and unbound but eventually I realised things were changing.

Things have changed. I've changed and those changes reflects in the way I write and what I write about on this site. From general lifestyle to food and travel to its current status - fitness, OCR and travel oriented.

It has been a long journey but I finally found my passion, my niche. I've been blogging about OCR when it first landed in Malaysia with Viper Challenge leading the way. Alongside the growing OCR scene in Malaysia, I hope to see this site grow with it.

Happy Anniversary and Happy Halloween, blog. 

Cheers, 

Tania 

Ezbuy Malaysia: Taobao in English

In this day and age, online shopping is the way to go. Easy, hassle free and your boss won’t catch you running off to a mall for a new wardrobe now and then. We are literally spoiled for choice with sites like Zalora, Lazada and Taobao for us to shop on for our fashion and gadget fixes.

While I have shopped plenty on Zalora and Lazada, I have not purchased anything from Taobao for one simple yet significant reason….EVERYTHING IS IN CHINESE. 

Southeast Asia's first Kit Kat Concept Store opens in Midvalley

I super love Kit Kat, especially those from Japan for their variety of flavours unique to the prefecture and season in Japan. Sakura match, hojicha, raspberry, cheesecake, red bean (not so much) and so on. I could go on and on about my favourite flavours but....oh wait I already did (link).

So when I heard that Midvalley was to house the first Kit Kat Concept Store in Southeast Asia, I was elated. Woohoo, odd, weird flavoured Kit Kat come to me!

Spartan Race Putrajaya 2016 - Sprint and Beast

The Kuala Lumpur leg of Spartan Race Malaysia concluded itself in a spectacular fashion with two back-to-back events, a Sprint and a Beast over one weekend. It was the final stretch for many pursuing their Trifecta, having completed their first ever Sprint event in October 2015 and the Super in March 2016.

Normally Trifectas are completed within a calendar year (Jan-Dec) but due to the requests of Asians who got their first taste of Spartan Race end of last year, Big Boss Joe DeSena made an exemption for the KL and Singapore Sprint and announced that it counted towards the 2016 Trifecta.

Indonesia: Tough Mudder Bali 2016

It was exciting news for OCR junkies in Malaysia to hear that Tough Mudder was finally coming to Asia, set to take place in beautiful Bali. And since Bali was sort of a part of Australia, it drew heaps of Aussies over as well. Malaysia and Australia weren't the only excited nations.

According to Coconut Bali, mudders from over 37 countries flew into Bali for what was deemed "probably the toughest event on the planet." For many, it was their first Tough Mudder. For a few other members of my team, the Mudder-in-Laws and myself, it was our second and third respectively. I had my eye on that blue headband and I wasn't going to let even a nagging hip pain and cramps get in my way.

The morning of the race, it was so humid. Imagine that. Our wave was 7:30am and we were already sweating. I loved that they brought down a few of the Australian Tough Mudder team to lead the warm up and especially the emcee who successfully got the crowd revved up. Tough Mudder always had the best pre-race routines where we had to incite the Tough Mudder code to look out for each other.

At 7:30am on the dot, we were released onto the course and off we went into the 13km course. I had heard the organisers had to shorten the route on account of the Bali heat. A wise decision I thought as heat stroke and dehydration were no joke. The heat and terrain also limited the types of obstacles they could bring to Bali.

However Tough Mudder does not fail to live up to its name as there was mud albeit not as much as Australia. But enough that everyone came away muddy at the first obstacle.

Of course, what was an obstacle race without wall obstacles? Tough Mudder was not without Skidmarked (slanted walls) and the Berlin walls. There were some obstacle that could be conquered alone like the Cage Crawl and the sand bag carry.

The infamous Artic Enema 2.0, a dread feature obstacle overseas was one to look forward to to combat the Bali heat. At least until we found our legs seizing up from the icy cold waters. What sorcery is this??

Still the nice cooling effects lasted about another kilometer before we came across the ever scenic Life is a Beach obstacle.

Which wasn't an obstacle but a photo backdrop....sighhhhh.

Quite a number of the obstacles were a disappointment as they were merely part of the terrain like the Gorilla Killer (which was actually a killer hike in the Melbourne Tough Mudder so that was legit), Bushwhacked, Stairway to Heaven and Cliffhanger. Like why....

Where Tough Mudder really excelled were their teamwork-oriented obstacles. The Pyramid Scheme and the ever iconic Everest 2.0 were my favourites because it basically forces everyone to work together.

Blockness Monster was a new obstacle for 2016 and one where we had to work with other racers. It also got us all nice and wet for the next and final obstacle........Electroshock Therapy.

Ah, what is Tough Mudder without Electroshock Therapy?

Also what is Tough Mudder without a cold bottle of beer and its orange headbands?

The first Tough Mudder in Asia clocked in 13km, the shortest TM I've done but on account of the blazing heat, it was a good call. As for the obstacles, well, let's just say the terrain should not be counted as obstacles. Loved the course though for its scenic views but wished there was more beach running and obstacles. 

Psst - I heard Jakarta is next on their list for a Tough Mudder Half and another full Tough Mudder for Bali next year. 

Ps: Sorry for the crappy action pics. They were taken with my iPhone 4s, securely protected in a waterproof bag. 

Pss - I missed my Olympus camera.... Olympus Malaysia, why you take so long to service my camera? It's been two months T_T