Swing Sister's Birthday @ Man Mo

Last weekend a whole bunch of us had dinner at Man Mo to celebrate Swing Sister's birthday. Nestled amongst the busy strip of New Quay at Docklands, this Chinese (it's advertised as Malaysian/ Chinese, but I think it's more Chinese) restaurant is packed almost every night of the week. Thankfully I know the owners and the manager of the restaurant and managed to squeeze in a booking for 20 people. It doesnt help either that we are in the midst of the Christmas party period with most restaurants at the Docklands booked out for corporate functions.

The night was warm and balmy, perfect for us to be seated outside. Unfortunately, you still cant smoke at the Docklands even if you sit outside. The food was great. However, I must say that when I was there previously, the food was a lot better. Maybe it was just too busy or maybe they just dont pay attention when preparing mass meals. On my last visit, there were only 6 of us and the food was magnificent, although The Manager prepared us a special banquet for $62 per head. It wasnt bad at all for that price. We had oysters, scallops, lobster dumplings, patagonian tooth fish (a must try), truffle beef (to die for) and a huge dessert platter, which included my favourite creme brulee.

This time around, we ordered the $50 banquet and the food was not as impressive, but nevertheless still tasted great. The Manager had organised the old Sang Choy Bao for entree. What the?? Which Chinese person goes to a Chinese restaurant and orders Sang Choy Bao??? It did taste alright but never something I would order. It's such an Aussie dish! The drinks didnt stop coming for Swing Sister and she didnt stop drinking either, as you do on your birthday. It must be an international tradition for the birthday girl or boy to have atleast 1 Flaming Lamborghini on the night. Swing Sister did a great job too putting the whole thing away, not to mention the countless number of champers and vodka shots. Urrgh!

After dinner was done and dusted, me, Ball Breaker, BBs, VVB and November Cleo hung around with the owners and did what we do best; drink some more! It was awfully nice of them to have the drinks running on free flow all night. I think I drank the entire bottle of Grandfather Port myself! Thinking back now, I kinda feel bad that we made the owners and The Manager hang around with us till 2.30 in the morning and these people had to work the next day!

We tried to get into Allumbra after Man Mo, but no such luck as it was closing at 3am and Ball Breaker was pissed. So home it was and thank God we didnt drive. I dont think anyone was in any condition to operate a motor vehicle. I later found out that Ball Breaker had taken a taxi to her car in the city and drove home from there. Naughty, naughty girl!!!

Launch of Nuffnang Australia

Nuffnang, what an odd name. What is Nuffnang? The long and short of it is, Nuffnang is a wonderful platform where bloggers are chosen to place ads on their blogs and be paid for it. Simple. This ad network platform was the brainwave of 2 young fellas from Malaysia and Singapore. With its inception in 2006, Nuffnang now has over 80,000 bloggers signed up from all over the world including Malaysia, Singapore, Phillipines and Australia.

Nuffnang recently launched its Australian site where Aussie bloggers who sign up will run Aussie ads on their blogs. This in turn is a revenue generating stream for dedicated bloggers. Not bad for a bit of writing hey?

They have their own local team to ensure quality advertisers are placed into your blogs. The good thing about Nuffnang is it promotes itself quite heavily within its own Nuffnang blogger community by running numerous events for bloggers. This has been quite evident in Nuffnang Malaysia where charity and entertainment events are held throughout the year to give their bloggers the opportunity to network and meet other bloggers, not to mention those single people out there who blog, isnt this just another avenue to meet other singles??

Nuffnang Australia is looking for Aussie bloggers to sign up and help build this community. Imagine how many people you could meet just by signing up and placing ads on your blog. Just let your fingers do the walking and talking!

Some very interesting blogs I've come across (ofcourse they are Nuffnang members!) include:

*Snippets of Life by Karen Cheng

*Life Funtastique by Jase

*Autoshediastic Asseverations: Positively Non-sensical by Kelly

I'm sure there are many more out there, I just havent had the time to browse through them all.

The Nuffnang Santa is kindly giving away a Dell Inspiron Mini 9 to a lucky blogger who writes about their network on their blogs. This is my attempt at giving Nuffnang Australia a bit of a plug. Do I need the Dell Inspiron Mini 9? Well, ofcourse I do! I need one just to blog, so I can stop doing it at work!! Bad, bad, bad!

Poker Face

This song so reminds me of Ball Breaker and her sexy moves at Man Mo the other night. It's such a catchy little number that makes me wanna dance whenever I hear it. Heard it on the radio on the way to work this morning and wanted to share it with y'all.

I Almost Became a Ping Pong Girl

Well, not me. Here, I am going to tell you the story of how Samantha Jones (SJ) almost became a Ping Pong girl in Thailand. Last month, SJ, SJS and NNQ embarked on an adventure to Thailand. After spending a week in Koh Samui, the 3 of them headed for seedy Bangkok. On their second night there, they decided to take a walk on the wild side and headed down to Patpong. Oh man, when SJ was telling me this story, I already knew there was going to be trouble for 3 foreign girls walking down Patpong alone. Anyway, as you do, most people only head to the colourful and seedy area of Patpong for one thing. Well, actually you can do some shopping there too, but really, Patpong is famous (or should I say infamous) for its enormous variety of strip bars. And when I say variety, I do mean variety. Not only are there straight strip bars for men, there are also strip bars for women, for straight men, for gay men and almost all these bars have live sex shows.

So, back to my story, the 3 ladies walked along the streets of Patpong with several men touting strip bars and yelling out "You want to see fucking show?". So these 3 freshies to Bangkok decided ofcourse they want to see a "fucking" show. After much negotiation with one lad, that they would pay $100 Baht per beer and the show would be free, they followed him blindly to where they would watch the "fucking" show. "Blindly" is an understatement, they were lead through small alleys and laneways and finally up 6 flights of stairs. At this point, they still didnt question the lad. I guess this was merely an adventure for them? And at this point I was almost screaming at SJ "Is this your first time to Bangkok????" and she sheepishly replied "Yes". Oh man, my heart was pumping and I was very excited to listen to what eventuated next. Deep down I knew nothing of harm had fallen upon SJ or else I wouldnt be sipping a Sauvignon Blanc with her at Cho Gao last night. But just the thought of being all alone in a strange country, following a strange man who claims he's taking you to see a "fucking" show is scary enough.

They get to the top of the stairs and behind the closed doors was a stage and a bar. Nothing unusual looking about the place plus there were a group of foreigners in there. As the group of foreigners were leaving, SJ overheard them arguing with the manager of the bar but I guess didnt really take much notice of it at the time cos they were too busy focusing on the Ping Pong girl and watching to see where she would aim her next ping pong ball. You really wouldnt want one of those ping pong balls to end up on your lap, let alone on your face. Anyway, when they decided to leave, they were presented with a bill for 3800 Baht; 300 Baht for the 3 beers and 3500 Baht for the show. Their eyes nearly popped out of their face. Then fear set in, they looked around and realised they were the only customers in this so called bar. 3 girls, all alone and nobody to protect them. NNQ called for the manager to ask him why they were charged for the show when the lad who had lead them there told them the show was for free. A huge argument broke out and SJ had a flashback of the group of foreigners who had left a while ago. The manager had the door blocked off and the 3 of them had no way of pushing past him to get out.

NNQ: We were told beers were 100 Baht and show is free!

Bar Manager: No, no, no. Beer 100 Baht, show 3500 Baht

NNQ: No. Beers 300 Baht and show is free!

Bar Manager: No! Show no flee. You slip for flee??!!

NNQ: No. We are not paying!

Bar Waitress to SJ: (eyeing SJ up and down) You slip for flee??!!

NNQ proceeded to get 300 Baht out of her wallet and threw it at the bar. She then forced her way pass the bar manager, out the door and down the 6 flights of stair. SJ and SJS were in shock and this whole time were lost for words. All SJ could think of was how they were going to make her a Ping Pong girl in this seedy and dodgy looking strip bar. But as soon as she realised NNQ had pushed her way past the bar manager, her heavy feet lifted and both her and SJS ran after NNQ flying down the stairs. As soon as they got out on the street, they ran for their lives.

So this is the story of how SJ nearly became a Ping Pong girl in Bangkok. She can look back now and laugh about it. Thinking back, can you imagine if these Thais decided to gang rape them or bash them up or do whatever the unimaginable may be??

How dangerous and dodgy is Thailand? But I still love the country except I would never venture into Patpong on my own. My advice, when in Thailand, always call on BKK and let him take you around, atleast he's local and speaks the language, and he will never let you become a Ping Pong girl!

The Camberwell Market Experience

Here in Melbourne, we have this wonderful trash and treasure market in Camberwell where people can hire a stall and sell whatever they like. Sad thing is, Camberwell Market opens every Sunday at 6.30am and closes by 12.30pm. So, stall owners have to get there real early to set up and be out of there by 1pm.

Several months ago, Siew Yum, BBs and I decided this would be a great opportunity to ged rid of the stuff we dont want and make a little cash for it. We were so excited with the prospect of making some money, we couldnt wait to unload our pre-loved items in hope that our thrash would becomes someone else's treasure. On the morning we were to open our stall, BBs and I were too lazy to even get out of bed! We were so close to calling in sick. But, our dear friend Siew Yum was already enthusiastically setting up shop at 7am. So along we went, with our cars full of crap. When we got there, it turned out to be a cold yet sunny day. Earlier in the morning when I was in bed, I was so tempted to stay under the doona because of the pouring rain outside. But all was good, and we were there ready to earn some dinner money.

I carefully laid out all my precious clothes on the ground. We were so unorganised and as a result had to just throw our clothes into heaps on the floor. If we had've been bothered to be there by 6am, we could've gotten some nifty clothes hangers and stands. Anyway, the sight of our messy Forges looking store made many people turn to look, but not many actually stepped in to pick anything up for a real inspection.

BBs was the first to sell an item. She got rid of her wakeboard for a whopping $50, or was it $100. I cant remember exactly, but I do remember she made more than any of us in total! I managed to sell my old Play Station for $30 with atleast 50 games included. What a bargain.

Samantha Jones came to visit us and tried to help by getting customers in. She did a terrible job and ended up taking 2 dresses home instead!! But the day was great fun, although it was cold and business was quiet. I want to go again but this time, I'm going to be prepared and more organised. Now I just have to psych myself up for the 5am start on a Sunday.....

A Time To Give

Christmas is just around the corner and it's this time of the year when people find it in their hearts to give to the less fortunate. I was sent this link to help tranform the lives of homeless Australians. Unfortunately, with the economic situation we are facing today, many are facing homelessness this Christmas. All you have to do is click on this link:

Transform Homelessness

and create a butterfly in your area. For every butterfly created, you will help raise $1 for Mission Australia to transform the lives of the homeless in this country. If you havent made any donations this year, or you simply feel like helping but cant afford it financially, here's your chance to do something good this festive season. I've done my part and created my own purple butterfly wings. I named my butterfly Prosperity. Well, yeah, I couldnt think of a name at the time.....so mine symbolises my wish for Prosperity to touch all.

Ku De Ta

Clear blue skies, tropical warm weather, surrounded by the sun, sea and surf. What more could I ask for? There was no better place to be, over the Melbourne Cup Weekend but Bali. Mind you, at the time, Bali was on red alert travel warnings for Australian tourists. But then again, I'm not Australian.

This was my first ever trip to Bali and it was magnificent. The one place you must visit when in Bali is Ku De Ta. An upmarket restaurant/ bar which sits right on the beach in Seminyak. The atmosphere here is to die for. The hypnotic sounds of huge Bali waves almost sends you away to another time and place. At night, the bar has 2 huge spotlights shining out to sea, so guests can appreciate both sound and sight of the waves. It is a truly magical experience. When I was seated at one of their relaxing lounges by the beach, enjoying the waves, I just couldnt imagine a more beautiful place to relax. Very romantic indeed.

Apart from its beautiful setting and chic decor, Ku De Ta also has delicious cocktails and tapas. Unfortunately, when I was there, Bali was facing a nation wide shortage of alcohol! And I'm not kidding!

This place is highly recommended for the atmosphere, the food and the cocktails. Hell! Even their little boutique retail store has beautiful things! Make sure you dress well and be prepared for a wonderful experience.