A Brand New Year - Blue Pumpkin Cafe

2015 was not a very pleasant year to me, many sh*ts happened but anyway, it's 2016 that I will spend the rest of my 21-year-old before the end of April! I spent my countdown last night in my dream at the hostel just like last time, waking up to this brand new year in a cloudy drizzling morning. Many university students are still having exam before and after this new year, but me and my roommate decided to spend some nice lunch time out of the campus today!

I like cafes, and the cafes should meet these 'basic' criteria: nice comfortable atmosphere, Wifi available, power supply provided and of course, decent coffee (never ever in paper cup please). I have seen Blue Pumpkin by the Barista last year when I went to South City Plaza, ok I mean, two days ago. So I have decided to come and have a look some time, which is two days later. I know I am impatient, but this cafe name just attracted me! The name of the cafe is the first thing that will make customers decide whether to come in or not after all!

It is located within walking distance from the South City Plaza.

Dear Xiwen --- A Letter from The Younger Me

Dear Xiwen,

With all the epidemic diseases and crimes going around, I am really glad and thank God that you survive through this mangled world until where you are now! Every breath is a blessing, isn't it? This is the first letter I have ever written to you, even though it is a bit late (the letter should be written 3 years ago so that 3 years later you can read it, but, nahh it's ok you won't mind, just assume that this is another procrastinated work of yourself, haha), I hope that you are in whatever colour you prefer now. 

Life was tough during high school time. Waking up at 5am, taking the bus at 6am, reaching the school at 7am, prefect duties, school works, cocurriculum activities, meetings, reaching home around 7.30pm, and maybe having tuition at 8.15pm. Yeah it sounds crazy, but that was the life you had for 5 years! Every Jit Sinese living in Nibong Tebal should be crowned as survivors, hahaha. We do all these so that one day we can get into the public university. The aim is crystal clear and everyone is fighting for it, and probably fights for a scholarship as well so that we can go overseas while securing a job upon graduation. Your life slows down after SPM, gets better during matriculation time, and hits the laziest ground in university.

Georgetown Exploration Day Out - Cupido Cafe

Although I have been a Penangite for 21 years, you have to believe that this was the first time I explored Georgetown, a renowned heritage site in Penang (don't be surprised, for those who are living in mainland of Penang, we will even say that we are going to Penang when actually we are just going to the Penang island). Georgetown is well-known for complicated one-way streets, limited parking space and also busy traffic. After gaining some confidence in driving, I think it was time to challenge my driving skill there. So I parked the car at the parking area beside Fort Cornwallis and walked under the sun with Cho Sing all the way into the centre of Georgetown (hahaha yes I cheated by walking instead of driving).

After some walk, I found that Georgetown is a great place for backpackers if you can endure the scorching sun as you can find cheap accommodation, rend bicycle and get nice food in this warm little town. One of the main reasons that I invited this lady to accompany me here was to hunt down this cafe - Cupido Cafe in Love Lane (feeling all lovey dovey when you heard of the names of the street and cafe, right? Haha).

Family's Day Out - Purrfect Cat Cafe

Finally I am here - The famous Purrfect Cat Cafe in Penang!!! I rarely come to Georgetown even though bloggers and friends on Facebook have been taking photos in various cafes with unique themes in Penang because of the super crowded streets, limited parking space, blahblahblah... BUT, surprisingly, on last Sunday late morning, everything went smoothly as my dad was driving with quite some parking spaces available. The reason? People had headed to the shopping malls for free air-con instead of visiting the heritage sites on a typical Malaysia weather (which was proven true as we went to the Queensbay Mall and could barely get a parking space, but the weather was gloomy by then - shopping malls are suitable for sunny and also rainy days!). This was my first time walking along the streets in Georgetown and I was surprised by the concentrated number of cafes and inns found there! Definitely a good place for cafe hopping, you just have to park your car and start walking!

KindMeal.my - Your Tasty Journey Begins Here!

I believe that there is always some compassion towards animals within a person, regardless of his or her diet preference. Even though many of us eat meat, we will still squeak with excitement and get drown in cuteness when we see videos of adorable kids (kids here refer to young goats, hahaha) leaping around the lawn. We feel that we want to protect them, love them, but still it is so hard to change our diet to a fully cruelty-free ones because we were raised with the diet which our parents were raised with too. Sometimes I feel like a hypocrite, saying that I love animals, but doing the other thing, consuming animal products which contributes to the animals' suffering. Shutting our mind off away from animal welfare issues is easy, but when you can make a little change, will you do it?

Have not heard of KindMeal?

KindMeal.my might not be an animal-rescue organisation, but it is a platform run by PetFinder.my (if you didn't know about it yet, PetFinder is an organisation that facilitates pets adoption) to encourage meat-free dining among Malaysians. So far they have reached over four states and one federal territory: Selangor, Melaka, Perak, Penang and Kuala Lumpur.

The webpage of KindMeal.my. The first step you have to do is create an account, if you are really that lazy just like me, just sign up using your Facebook account and enjoy a wide variety of meal deals you can find there!

Girls' Day Out - Penang Hill

A painting-like scenery of Penang from the Penang Hill! #nofilter  It was kinda fogy in the morning and it got better in the afternoon. I am glad that you can still find greeneries among the cities. Photo credit goes to Xin Yi and Vikee.

A real semester break rest is the one with no laptop.   --- Xiwen, 2014

Ok I quoted my own saying, please don't judge, haha. After some putting in some serious determination, I made it to the second trip of this semester break with Vikee and Xin Yi (the first one was with my family to Taiping) to the Penang Hill! This was my second visit to Penang Hill for the past 21 years and I think it is one of the best places to go in Penang to escape the scorching hot sun. Well before you go, you should check out their official website and fell in love with it before falling in love with the actual place!

'Bukit Bendera' stands for 'Flag Hill' in Malay. When we mention Penang Hill in other languages such as Malay and Mandarin (not sure about Tamil and other languages), we don't call it Penang Hill. For Mandarin, with direct translation it is 'Raising Flag Hill', hahaha.

Small Matter Cafe - Nibong Tebal

Yay all of us know that there are lots of cafes in Penang, but......most of them are located at the island or Butterworth, which I will rarely go due to inconvenience as I used to hide at home throughout the semester break (somebody please jio me out!!!). Recently two cafes popped out in my hometown, Nibong Tebal, and this time I am blogging about Small Matter Cafe, which is pretty new compared to Mr. Gee Bakery Cafe (hopefully will cover it next time).

I like the design of the signboard, clean and neat! The cafe is located not right beside the main road, so it is kinda hard to detect it without going into that street.

I LIKE THIS WALL IT'S YELLOW =P. The light bulbs in a diamond shaped frame are unique!