Ferringhi's Best

Ferringhi Garden Restaurant in Penang is the place to look forward to for a posh dining experience. It is a paradise for food lovers with difficult-to-please-taste buds. Located 5 minutes away from the beach, the quiet settings of the restaurant with panoramic garden view creates a romantic atmosphere suitable for all lovebirds. I have dined in this place for the third time now and it still managed to catch my breathe away. The restaurant serves a myriad of ala-carte local to western cuisine.

Each beautifully garnished food platter are served by extremely friendly waitresses. They always bring a smile to the table. Even when using the toilet, I couldn't resist but to give a happy grin. You'd see why... *check the signs displayed*. :)

After a good dinner, I'd take a stroll at the Ferringhi Night Market near here, 10 minutes walking distance away. The Ferringhi Night Market consists of stalls lining alongside the main road, stretching a distant as long as 1 km. Souveniers, beach clothes, bags, local food are some of the things found in the night market. Everything is sold at a lower price *only if you know how to get a good bargain* So imagine why I never get bored of walking and shopping in this part of town.

-Photos are courtesy of Jean Ching. Edited by Jin & Jo-
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FERRINGHI GARDEN
95 Batu Ferringhi Beach,
Penang Island, Malaysia.

For reservations :
Tel: 604-88 111 93 Fax: 604-88 111


FERRINGHI NIGHT MARKET
Main road from Rasa Sayang Hotel to Casuarina Hotel.
Only opens after sundown.

Trick-or-Treat

T R I C K -or- T R E A T?

Halloween was also celebrated in Genting Highlands on the 31st of October. Youngsters dressed in weird costumes with thick bloody make-ups were marching into the biggest, most happening costume party here. They disguised themselves as werewolves, vampires, walking skeletons, witches and many other scary Halloween characters.

The haunted house was also packed with people waiting to be frightened by fake GHOSTS. Of course, there were some rumours of people claiming they had met with REAL spirits in Genting. Perhaps what they claim is true...

Since it's another main tradition of Halloween to share ghost stories, now I am going to share one real story. This happen to a friend of mine, KK. He has the ability to see these supernatural beings from a very young age.

'....... On one camping night, it was late and the scouts were still setting up the station games for the following day. KK and another junior scout was tying a rope to a tree trunk for a game called 'monkey's crawl'. He suddenly felt a presence. And as he looked up on the tree, he saw a woman dressed in a long bright RED dress standing steadily upon a small, thin branch. The woman's face was covered with her long silky hair. He didn't want to scare his friend by telling him what he saw. So he just told the scout to return to the headquaters with him. But as he turned around to make a haste back, there she was..... STANDING RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM.... face to face.... He had the scare of his life. He ran as fast as he could. He had forgotten about his friend. Feeling something amiss, the junior scout ran after him. They didn't return to their tent that night. KK saw that woman in red floating in and out of each tent. These tents were full of sleeping scouts, unaware of the whole horrible events that happened that night. KK did not revealed the story... not until the camp was well over.

I WAS IN THAT CAMP TOO.... Imagine how my blood turned cold when I listened to the story told by KK days after camp.'

My hands start to shiver as I write this blog alone tonight.... *yikes.. this is so creepy*

Love Jo.

Problems in long distance relationship

Coping with long distance relationship for long period of time is difficult. Common problems in long distance relationship:-

1. Easier to avoid discussion on a relationship related problem.

It's bad for the couple as there will be an accumulation of unresolved issues, waiting to erupt like the great volcano when the time comes. And nobody can survive this kind of fatal eruption. NOBODY.

2. Cold war can last longer.

Long distance means you may run away from somebody you don't like (even if that somebody is your partner) and you do not have to deal with him/her directly for as long as you want it to be.

3. There's a drastic change of routine.

Normal : Watching movies, cooking & eating meals together, gazing at the stars in the night sky etc.

Long distance : Chatting on the phone and online (ie. MSN, Yahoo, Facebook, IDD calls)

4. 'Other-couples-are-out-dating, why-can't-we?' syndrome.

In times, couples in long distance relationship find themselves constantly asking whether they are in a real relationship. They start comparing their relationship with other loving couples they meet.

5. Easier to cheat.

There's only a fine line between staying faithful and breaching the trust of your partner.If you're not careful, you might fall into the latter.

Surviving a long distance is only manageable if both parties are mentally prepared for it. Identify all the issues before they pop up, discuss how you want to keep the phone conversation interesting, meet at every chance possible. It's not impossible to keep a strong long distance relationship. *Speaking from experience*

Love Jo.

More Sushi??

Dear Diary,

I'm seriously filled with too much sushi for a week *Surrender* I dined-in at Sushi King Restaurant for not once, not twice but three times in less than a week. How did that happen? All thanks to the RM 2 sushi king card Bonanza promotion. I am gaining the extra pounds. The half-priced promotion did a lot of miracles. You'd be surprised by how far I was able to push over my limits in eating sushi. For someone who hates eating plain white rice, I've been very generous in my rice consumption during these few days. Sigh. What to do... the promotion is only for rice-based sushi.

My friends and I queued for more than an hour for a room in the restaurant. Swarms of mosquitos were feasting on our blood while we waited outside the restaurant. I was the biggest donor of course since I only had shorts on. *ish* We were led to our room after my named was called. We ate like hungry wolves, finishing all the dishes within minutes. Plates after plates stacked on each other. Within half an hour, our pace slowed down. There were no more empty spaces in our stomach yet our hands were still pushing more food into our mouths. In the end, we had to call its quits. Satisfaction were written all over our faces. 49 plates stacked in front of us, all in various colours (purple, red, pink). The bill came to about RM 100 ++.

This promotion will come again next year. Arigato Sushi King for now. We enjoyed the promotion.

Love Jo.

Things that go bump in the night at Safira

Dear Diary,

Sunway Hotel Seberang Jaya was all booked out that night. Evon and I had no other choices but to check in at a neighbouring country club; Safira. We were surprised to find out that the rooms were mostly available when we called to make our reservations. The description of the chalet found on the website was too good to describe such a cheap place to stay for a night.

When we reached the front entrance of the hotel, everything dawned on us. The whole place was dark with only some distant places lit with dim street lamps. The road leading to our room, S2 was gloomy. There were also some unfinished construction along the road. I was so glad Evon was with me for the night or....... I really couldn't imagine what I'd do. *shrugged* Probably sleep in the lobby for the night. We girls decided to call it a night after reading some magazines and brochures. We knew the following day will be a long day. We shared a queen-sized bed; I slept on the bedside facing the window.

I told Evon earlier I wasn't afraid of anything that spooks at night. Ironically, that wasn't true. I was just trying to comfort her. We were sleeping quite soundly until...... there was a loud bang on our roof. I was awaken by the sound. It then sounded like a rat / a cat running about in fear. Then, there were soft knocks on our bedroom door. I was just waiting for the sound to leave us. But there were more. From a distant, two sounds of explosions echoed in my ears. I was thinking to myself, 'Can it get any worse?'

Evon was restless, I could tell. She was rolling about on the bed. She went to the toilet soon after. I didn't realized she was trying to grab my attention by making loud actions. When she came back from the toilet, my back was facing her. She was touching my back, trying to nudge me awake. I didn't budge. I was afraid when I do turn around it wasn't her there. So I was left stiff in my sleeping position, shaking in fear. I fell asleep after hearing a group of people chatting right opposite our room. It was comforting to know we weren't the only people there.

The next day we were talking about the spooky sounds we heard from the night before. During then only did we realize, we were both only pretending to sleep throughout. O how I wish I had just turned to her and woke her up. I would at least not feel so scared for the rest of the creepy night.

Love Jo.