Friday, April 27, 2012

Turkuaz Fashion Spread - NUR May 2012





Turkuaz latest 4 page fashion spread in NUR magazine May 2012 issue (RM5.90 each).

The front cover is Syafinaz Yunus and Anne Ngasri on their role as mothers with career (page 28-31).

Definition of the meaning of "Dress Down" is explain byYasmin Siddik a grooming expect from pages 94 - 95.


My favourites are pages 151 - 155 with loads of "apam" recipes decorated creatively into angry birds, beetle, elmo and spider man. including the all-time favourite of Mini Pizza.

Pages 156 - 160 are recipes specially selected for our mom in conjunction with Mother's Day celebration in May.

Pages 172 - 173 are 21 budgeting tips for the single.

With a total of 180 pages this edition of NUR is full of fashion tips for the muslimah career ladies.


Thursday, April 26, 2012

Shiseido sponge cleaner

For a person who put on foundation everyday, I was shocked when told by a beauty advisor that I need to wash the sponge on a regular basis, which is once every 4 days considering there are 2 sides and 2 ends to a rectangular sponge..



Wow!! Clean every 4 days??? Hmm not one to be so diligent, I decided to used one corner per day, meaning I can stretch my washing duty to once every 8 days ;p hehe..

But then again the washing can be a chore when especially when I insist on restoring the sponge original colour... but then I dont like to leave any of the soap smell on the sponge...

The beauty specialist teach me to use a bar of soap but I dont really like the texture of the sponge after washing... So I use a liquid hand soap.. but I find the soap doesnt really do a good job...

That's when I thought of using Shiseido sponge cleaner! It cost Yen750 for 120ml (cos not available for sale in Malaysia) and I must say it work like a CHARM!!






After a few wash, I find the best way to use it is to
1) wet the sponge first
2) apply a few drops on each corner of the sponge
3) then proceed to squeeze and rub the sponge
4) rinse with water
5) repeat if necessary

I tried diluting the cleaner with water and then soak the sponge in the solution but it doesnt clean as well and I end up using more of the cleaner.

Using this cleanser makes cleaning of makeup sponge, brush, applicator, etc really easy and fast plus it leaves no smell or residue on the sponge! MOREOVER it has anti-bacterial function!! Wow!! So you can really consider buying a SPONGE CLEANER and it doesnt have to be Shiseido. Any brand will do cos since they are designed to clean the sponge, they do a pretty darn good job!


Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Sand Flies Bite And Treatment

Came back from my trip to Lang Tengah with 14 sand fleas bites, so I decided to google for more information on how to prevent and treat the bites..

I found the article from http://malaysiadivingcommunity.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=4622 very useful but after suffering from terrible itch, I decided to consult a doctor who prescribed me 3 medicines and a cream to prevent further infection.



On personal note, I feel that the best way to prevent the bites are to keep your body dry - example apply powder on your legs whenever you go for walks along the beach cos apparently fleas LIKE damp surfaces.

In treating the bites, one must again keep your body dry especially after bath and not to scratch. That is why it's important to see doctor or pharmacist to get anti-itch medicine especially during night time as we humans have tendency to unconsciously scratch when we slumber.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Recently I have also suffered from itchy face. For more details and how to treat it click JL Journal.what-do-you-use-when-your-face-itch

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Listed below is the very useful excerpt from Malaysia Diving forum:-

In many cases, a trip to the beach means a sand flea bite or several bites. What are sand fleas and should I be concerned if I get bitten?

A sand flea is also known by many other names. For example, this crustacean (although it resembles an insect, the sand flea is actually not one) is also called a sand fly, beach flea, hop-a-long, no-see-um, biting midge, and punkie or punky. The sand flea is less than 1/8 of an inch (3 mm) long and is often difficult to see. It is a shrimp-like creature in appearance and ranges in color from pale to brownish. The body has seven segments and it has long legs that are used for swimming or jumping. They are known to jump to a height of at least 40 cm and therefore, it is unusual to experience a sand flea bite on upper body parts unless the victim was lying down. The bites are normally found in clusters around the ankles.

Sand fleas feed on organic and decaying plants. A favorite treat is seaweed on the beach. Whenever seaweed washes to shore, there will be a large number of sand fleas around and a sand flea bite is likely to occur. In general, the sand on the beach is a popular location for these fleas to live.

A sand flea bite is most likely to occur at dawn or in the evening and night time hours on the beach or other sandy areas that are near water. Wetlands, swamplands, creeks, and lakebeds are other areas where sand fleas can be found. Sand fleas generally stay close to their breeding ground. They never wander more than 350 feet or about 100 meters from their breeding area. Sand flea swarms produce a high-pitched wine. Therefore, if you are on the beach and you hear something like this, it is best to move or risk a sand flea bite.

The fleas will jump onto the feet, ankles, legs, and then bite. They are very persistent and quite annoying. Because of their small size, a sand flea bite occurs before individuals even know any sand fleas were in the area. Like a mosquito, a sand flea bites to thingy blood. It is the female sand fly that bites. It does this in order to get the protein from the blood that is necessary for its egg laying. The sand flea bite involves the injection of saliva to thin the blood, making it easier for the flea to take blood from its victim. This same saliva triggers the body’s immune system to react.

Despite its size, the bite from a sand flea is quite painful. In fact, most of the time the bite is more painful than one from a typically larger mosquito. In addition to pain, the bite causes a large welt or rashes on the skin that can persist for several days. A fever may also occur. The welts or hives produced from bites are very itchy. Scratching the bitten areas should be avoided in order to prevent the development of an infection. Scratching will also prolong the symptoms of swelling, itch, and skin redness.

Sand flea bites are also known to carry various diseases such as Carrions disease, the Pappataci fever virus, and various parasites that can cause conditions such as Leishmaniasis.

Leishmaniasis is not as widely known as malaria, but is just as painful and dangerous. Because the sand flea feeds on human blood, there is the possibility of transferring protozoan parasites that are responsible for this disease to humans.

Leishmaniasis is more likely to be encountered in the Mediterranean, North Africa, The Middle East, South East Asia, Central America, and the Caribbean. There are various forms of the disease:

Mucocutaneous: Skin ulcers form which spread and cause tissue damage to the nose and mouth areas in particular.
Diffuse Cutaneous: Widespread skin lesions develop which resemble leprosy.
Cutaneous: This is the most common form of Leishmaniasis and is characterized by numerous skin sores on the body that develop weeks or months after experiencing a sand flea bite. The sores usually leave scars that can be quite disfiguring.
Visceral: This is the most serious form of the disease and can be fatal if left untreated.

Other problems, which may become present anywhere from a few months to years after the bites occurred include fever, damage to the spleen and liver, and anaemia.

Treatment procedures and prevention steps for a sand flea bite are similar to those of mosquitoes. If more severe reactions are encountered or if there are signs of Leishmaniasis, then the sand flea bite requires professional medical treatment. As of 2006, there is no vaccine to combat Leishmaniasis caused by a sand flea bite.

Treatment

In order to get relief from the bite symptoms, a bite treatment is required. A bite treatment involves washing the affected areas with soap and water to ensure no infections develop and to help reduce the itch. Applying soap directly to the bite has been suggested as an itch remover. Use a cold compress on the bite site to help alleviate the itch, swelling, and redness. Bite treatment may also involve some of the procedures listed below.

Making a paste of baking soda and water and spreading it over the bites.
Using calamine lotion or a topical anesthetic to help relieve the itch and pain.
Itching can also be relieved by using a one percent hydrocortisone cream.
Anti-inflammatory medication such as Ibuprofen will help with the swelling and pain.
The use of antihistamines is also a useful mosquito bite treatment because they will alleviate the itch and swelling.
Aloe vera gel is an effective all natural mosquito bite treatment. This compound reduces swelling and itching and soothes the affected area.
A mosquito bite treatment is also available in the form of commercial products specifically designed for this purpose.

Not scratching the bite area is an effective bite treatment. Scratching prolongs the swelling, itch, and discomfort, and can open the skin and cause an infection. If the bite area becomes red and swollen and if the area around the bite feels warm to the touch, the bite may be infected. If this condition persists and does not respond to a standard bite treatment, then consult a physician.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Putrajaya International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta 2012

Since I have two japanese friends coming to visit, I thought what luck that their arrival is on the same date as the event!!

So after picking them up from LCCT at 530am, we had breakfast, a short rest and lunch, before driving to Putrajaya on the assumption that the balloons will be there from 7am till 9pm.

Upon arrival at Precinct 2 at about 1pm we were quite surprised to see EMPTY skies... so we were kind of prepared for the worst... but having difficulty in finding parking space kind of give us some hope that since there are still such a big crowd of people coming, perhaps, just perhaps the balloons could still be there.

We got down, ask around and were very disappointed to hear that the balloons are only up from:-
7 - 11am and
5 or 6pm till about 9pm
(depending on the weather conditions). SIGH!!

Huge huge disappointment!! Apparently the balloons cannot stay afloat in our Malaysians' exceedingly hot afternoons.

So we just walked around the stalls before deciding that the open air space was indeed too hot for my japanese friends and even for us locals and headed for Curve, Damansara ;D

We will try again next year as I have checked other blogs and these balloons look huge and interesting! These are some of the photos from KenWooi and My Sweet & Twisted Life blogs...


Better luck next year as now I know their modus operandi ;p

Monday, April 2, 2012

Lang Tengah Island - Overview and tips


LOCATION
Lang Tengah Island is located in between Pulau Perhentian and Pulau Redang.


ACCOMMODATION
Since Lang Tengah is really small compare with Redang and Perhentian because there is no village (meaning no hospital, school, police, shops etc), currently there are only 4 resorts on the island.

Listed are the 4 in the order of their proximity with the government built jetty:-


1) LANG TENGAH RESORT - great for budget travellers.

Contact them for actual price as the prices listed in their website are just a general guide.. I managed to get RM269 per person (tirple sharing) for 3D2N include meals, snorkelling, jungle trek and boat transfer. Exclude bus transfer to airport/bus station and rental of snorkelling gears.
http://www.redanglangresort.com.my/intro.asp

2) SARI PASIFICA - the best for high budget - but mostly targetted to Italians or foreigners.

I was told that the furnishings in the rooms are so opulent that you cannot differentiate the wash basin from the toilet bowl (the toilet bowl was that luxurious it seems!)
http://www.saripacifica.com/index

3) LANG SARI (formerly known as Blue Coral Island Resort) - the website is really nice but in reality, quite run down as at March 2012.

It used to be the best resort as it still have the longest stretch of beach in Lang Tengah but since the new management took over with no effort of upkeep and maintenance it has fallen into disrepair with alleged 2 staffs only on the resort.
http://langsari.com/v3/index.php

4) D'COCONUT LAGOON - the best for mid range budget
It consists of EAST and WEST wing but apparently the East wing is better just like how for nature, you need to go to East Malaysia. It's a resort with 2 swimming pool in case the beach dont strike your fancy.
http://www.dcoconutlagoon.com/index.asp 


My thoughts on LANG TENGAH ISLAND

- less mat sallehs here but plenty of tourists from China.

- less malay but still I see some

- not much animals on the island - they claim to have no venomous or poisonous animal - only monitor lizard or iguana.. not much geckos too now as apparently geckos weighing 350gm above can cure HIV so they can fetch up to RM100,000-00 each!! A bit of bats and 4 - 5 keluang (which is a bigger version of bat)

- best place to buy souvenir (t-shirt or key chain) is Lang Tengah Resort as price is more reasonable.

- a fresh coconut is sold for RM6 and beer is RM10, stout is RM12 in Lang Tengah Resort souvenir shop (open from 8am - 11pm)

- a must to get full meal and board as there are no independent restaurants on the island...

- wear long sleeve for the snorkelling as it can get very very hot.

- must have bread for snorkelling as then you can get really up close with the fishes

- it's good to be friendly with the staffs as they meet different people every 3 days... so initially they are not that instructive. But if you get to know them, they'll tell you more about the island and it's secret places.

- you can go turtle watching on Turtle Bay (when there is no moon) and there's a special place to watch the blue sands (on nights with full moon only) but you need to jungle trek and rock climb in the middle of the night for both activities.

- there is monsoon season in Malaysia's east coast.. so plan your trip well!

I met plenty of people (staffs and tourists) and asked them on their preference on islands and gist of their answers:-

Lang Tengah vs Tioman - beach wise, Lang Tengah is better but in terms of mountains, scenery, flora and fauna - Tioman is better

Lang Tengah vs Perhentian - different crowd as Lang Tengah is really isolated

Lang Tengah vs Redang - Laguna Resort Redang if you can afford the price is the best of all these 3 islands as staff and hotel is really good.

But for me, just paying RM269 I have no complains about Lang Tengah as the quality of the sea and beach are fantastic!!





GETTING THERE

Getting there is through Kuala Terengganu and NOT Kota Bahru.


TRAIN

Therefore going by TRAIN is out of the question as the station Tanah Merah is really far from Merang Jetty.

BUS

From Kuala Lumpur you can choose the day or night bus from Putra bus station (near PWTC) cost about RM40 (one way). Journey is about 7 hours and the last bus is 1030pm so you'll reach Kuala Terengganu about 6 or 7 am really early.


Recommended bus companies:-
A) SANI EXPRESS (originate from Kuala Terengganu) but buses are all double decker
http://202.190.123.247/online/Main/Main.asp?pageID=002

B) Konsortium Transnasional Berhad
https://www.ticket4u.com.my/


PLANE
Air Asia, Firefly and MAS flies from KL to KT.

However return from KT to KL is really inconvenient with Air Asia as they only have 2 flights per day (morning and night) so Firefly is better albeit more expensive (cos they serve drinks and a piece of cake PLUS 20kg baggage allowance - but major plus point, it lands in Subang so you can save the taxi fare from LCCT)


SELF DRIVE
Then you can just park you car near the jetty and pay like about RM30 for someone to look after your car.

* * * * * * * * * *

For my comparison between Redang Island and Lang Tengah, click JL Journal/redang-vs-lang-tengah