Spa Break at Seaham Hall

A couple of weeks ago, my husband treated me to a few days at a spa hotel. He chose Seaham Hall Hotel and Serenity Spa near Newcastle, which turned out to be an incredible choice. It's a lovely hotel and spa situated on a cliff top near the sea.

I forgot to take a picture of the hotel exterior, so here's one from their website.

Our room was huge! It was just a regular room, but looked pretty much like a suite to me, with 4 rooms (including bathroom).

What I liked about this hotel was that you do not have to walk outdoors to get to their spa. We could then just get changed in our rooms and walk to the spa in our bathrobe and slippers.

The walkway from hotel to spa, with an elephant at the end. The whole spa had a South East Asian theme, including a Thai restaurant which overlooked the hotel's vast grounds.

The alternating mood lighting.. Sorry for the slightly squint picture. I took these pics with my husband's iphone and I'm the worst photographer ever.

One more elephant pic for luck. Sadly I couldn't take any pictures of the facilities (for the privacy of other guests and spa users).

The spa was simply amazing. They had a pool, hydropools, outdoor hot tubs, a hamam with jacuzzi, ice pools, saunas and steam rooms. My husband and I also got a massage in a twin room. It's the first time we ever had a massage in the same room, was great!

Hotel Website: http://www.seaham-hall.co.uk/

Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese (Lunar) New Year to you all! May you have a prosperous year filled with much love and joy. This year it's the Year of the Dragon.

I'll be in Malaysia to spend time with relatives for this special occasion. It would be the first time I've been back for Chinese New Year in about 10 years, and I'll be spending it with my mum's side of the family at my Grandma's house in Kuching, Sarawak.

Lets hope I get to see some Lion Dancing! When I was yo

ung these Lion Dancers would go from home to home and perform, so it was such a wonderful treat for to see them at my own front yard.

Also, it'll be the first time my husband goes to Borneo, so I'm taking to climb Mt. Kinabalu in Sabah.

As we're married, my husband and I have to give out ang paus (literally red packets). Typically, they are filled with money to give out to young relatives. I loved receiving them as a child (let's hope now that I'm grown up, I'll still receive some)!

Thankfully there's only one child in the next generation so my husband and I won't bankrupt ourselves. We'll probably be giving one to my grandma as well, so I bought a pack of cute ang paus!

I love cats, and so does my grandma, so I think these will go down very well.

Nude Heels and My First Sikh Wedding

Hi everyone, sorry for not keeping up with regular posts. For the past week, I've been busy with a week long Sikh wedding. It's been the longest and most extravagant wedding I've been to.

My husband was the best man, and I was made the groom's honourary sister-in-law. This meant we were invited to all the festivities including family gatherings and parties. By the end of the week, my husband and I were extremely exhausted. We had an amazing time though, the groom's family relatives we so welcoming that I really felt part of the family.

Here are a couple of pics of the bride and groom.They are such a perfectly matched couple with so much in common.

The bride is beautiful. She looked like a film star at the wedding reception. The groom is wearing a kilt, as like my husband he was born and bred in Scotland. Below is a pic of them wearing more traditional wedding clothing:

As sister-in-law, my duties included performing traditional ceremonies such as smearing the groom with tumeric paste, and applying eyeliner in a Punjabi eyelining ritual. Here is a pic of me nervously eyeing the eyeliner.

Here is a pic of me with husband and sister-in-law at the wedding reception. The sister of the groom generously gave me this gorgeous blue dress to wear and keep.

My husband was a little nervous as he had to deliver a best man speech to over 400 guests. His family were also invited to the wedding as his whole family has known the groom's family for years. My husband and the groom has been friends ever since they were five. The groom was the best man at our wedding.

The skirt of my new outfit was a little long, and I didn't own any shoes that were very high heeled. I bought this nude pair from Aldo, along with a pair of velvet in-soles to make them fit better. I love nude heels as they make the legs look longer and pretty much goes with most of my outfits.

My trip to Peru - Machu Picchu and The Amazon

Hi everyone. Sorry for the last of posts, I've been backpacking in Peru for the last 2 weeks. It's been a tiring trip of 3am starts, camping, cold showers/no showers and high altitudes but I enjoyed every minute of it.

Here are some pictures Id like to share with you. Bear in mind, I was backpacking. For more of the trip I was wearing minimal to no makeup. By the end of the trip I was severely sleep deprived, so I'm going to look pretty rough in some of these pics!

*All the pics can be enlarged by clicking on them*

Boat trip on Lake Titicaca, located high in the Andes.

Me with our guide, and a new friend from the group

Tequila Island

The most amazing lunch ever. Was in love with the view.

My husband and I and the rest of the group. Was such a great mix of people from all over the world, and we all grew close during the trip.

Our 3 walled accommodation in The Amazon. The 4th wall is the jungle. No electricity, no hot water. Creatures found in our room included:

- a bug the size of my palm with super long antennae

- a mouse watching my husband shower

It got dark by 6pm, so we used our head torches for light or else shower in complete darkness.

The food was amazing. Always 3 courses, lunch and dinner.

The night walk was pretty creepy. You never know what's lurking at you feet. Above is a wild Rainbow Boa. I mustered enough courage (stupidity?) to touch it. Below is a Wandering Spider. The most venomous spider in the world.

As creeped out as I was about the night walk, I still enjoyed it. We also got to see Bullet Ants which have the most painful bite known to man. Our guide also switched off his torch to render us in complete darkness for a minute to fully experience the amazon at night. It was wonderful! My eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness and I felt like I was seeing the world in a new light. Like I was in the movie Avatar or something...

Children living in the Andes. So cute. They have to grow up fast though. The older girl is about 3 years old and already has to look after her little sister while their parents are out farming.

More adorable children.

Day 1 of our 3 day trek up the Andes. (Though we trekked so fast we finished a day early-yay!)

The view was spectacular, and made the hard trek really enjoyable.

Me at the second pass of the trek. 4600m above sea level. A few of us were horsing around until the rest of the group arrived.

Me in glasses in our tent. All vanity went out the window during this trip to Peru. I found myself bespectacled and makeupless a lot.

Finally we arrived at Machu Picchu. Such a beautiful sight, the whole place felt 'otherworldly'.

As if we hadn't had enough of hiking, we climbed up Wayna Picchu. In the above pic (with my husband in red) you can see what a steep climb it is. In the Incan days, Wayna Picchu was the spot of a guard tower for Machu Picchu.

Our group resting at the peak of Wayna Picchu, surrounded by clouds.

More pics to illustrate how steep it is. Sorry if we all look a bit rough, we've been camping for the last few days and have been up since 3am.

Husband on the edge of the abyss.

Machu Picchu is behind me covered by cloud. Have better pictures of the aerial view of Machu Picchu that I forgot to put up!

More pics of us exploring the great city.

We sat here for ages just enjoying the view (and recovering from our hike up Wayna Picchu). You can see Wayna Picchu in this pic, it's the tall peak behind.

For me this trip was a great experience. It was amazing to see places like Machu Picchu and the Amazon. We also got the stay with a local family in a small native island community (complete with frogs in the bedroom and toads in the bathroom). We learned the basics of the indigenous language of Aymara so we could speak to them. I learned alot from this trip and now no longer take the little things for granted like; running water, having a bathroom, and having a bedroom without frogs.

I also spent my birthday in The Sacred Valley (or Urubamba Valley of the Andes), which was a truly memorable experience.

13 Questions Tag

Thanks so much to Aint That Pretty for tagging me in this 13 questions tag. I love her answers, and had fun learning more about her. Here are my answers:

1. What do you order at Starbucks?
I always order the same thing - Caramel Light Frappuccino, and sometimes a Skinny Ginger Muffin.

2. What's one thing in your closet you can't live without?

This summer, I can't live without my Dune sandals.

3. What's one thing that most people don't know about you?
I'm randomly really into British Monarch History. Have quite a lot of books on it, and love to watch David Starkey documentaries.

4. Whats one thing you want to do before you die?
It used to be sky-diving until I found out that may you suffer from retinal detachment while doing it! Also, the older I get the more fearful I am. Then it was going to Africa, which I was lucky enough to go on my honeymoon. I guess, my new wish would be to hike to Machu Piccu in Peru and trekking in the Amazon (which I'm going to do in 1.5 weeks - really looking forward to it!)

5. Whats one food you can't live without?
I have a sweet tooth, so it would have to be fruit scones with jam and clotted cream. They only take about 15mins to make too!

6. 'What's one quote that you live your life by?'

Let no one every come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile -Mother Teresa.

7. 'What do you like and dislike about the youtube community?'
I really like watching random videos like cats playing keyboards and people teaching Kung Fu. I dislike it when people write hurtful/hateful comments and hide under anonymity.

8. 'Whats your number 1 song on itunes?'
Muse - Undisclosed desires (really love that song, and Muse in general)

9. 'What kind of style would you describe yourself as having?'
Honestly, I sometimes fear that I have no style. Makeup wise I really like pretty, romantics looks with lots of pinks. Fashion wise I like the soft romantic look in summer. I'm inspired by pics such as this one from Elle Denmark that i found on Silkybow.


For winter, I like a slight gothic and leather with lace look.

10. 'Favourite Number? '
Number 7, and always has been since I was 6. Don't know why!!

11. 'Two hobbies?'
1. Hiking. My husband and I love the British Countryside and Scottish Highlands, and like to get out of the city for some fresh, clean air -whilst exercising. These are a couple of pics I took on our hikes.

2. Blogging. I really enjoy working on my blog, reading all your lovely comments, as well as reading the blogs of others.

12. 'Two pet peeves?'
1. People who have so much in their lives, yet remain discontent and complain that they have nothing.

2. People who think too much of themselves and treat others like they are beneath them. I see quite a few of these girls in Selfridges and Harvey Nichols. They walk around with their noses in the air and look disdainfully at others when they pass as if there's a foul odour around them :)

13. 'Your guilty pleasure?'
I love watching DVD box sets of shows like 'Desperate Housewives', 'The Tudors' and 'Gossip Girl'. I also like watching 'The Only Way Is Essex', a guilty pleasure for sure!

I tag the following:

WillWorkForMakeup

Lifeandlensofbeauty

Coffretgorge

Bangbangsheshoots

Shazreeyana Shukri

Sweet Xmas pressies from my family

Hi everyone! I've almost run out of things to post about, so decided to write a post on some of the really sweet Christmas presents I've received from my family. I know it's so late to be putting up Xmas presents but I've been waiting awhile for some sunlight over here so I can take some pics!

Xmas in KL was wonderful. Eventhough I had a terrible cold on the day itself, it was just so great to see my family again. We all chipped in to cook together a traditional Christmas dinner, and invited some relatives and close family friends to join us.

One of the things my lovely husband got me was a necklace from Tiffany's.

Since my engagement and wedding rings are from Tiffany's, my husband thought he'll get me a necklace from there too. I also like the name Tiffany as I had a beloved cat with the same name! You can almost see a heart in the pic below!

The pic below is the one that represents the true colour of the necklace the best. It's a really pale sea-green crystal.

My mum got me quite a few things things year, but my absolute favourite has to be this Ruby and Diamond ring. She chose the stones and designed it herself and got her jeweller friend to make it. My mum also designed a Sapphire and Diamond ring for my sis, which my sis loves the sentiment but thinks it's too 'bling'. Sigh.

I've never owned any rubies before. This is a pinkish-red one. My mum also took me to her jewellery making friend to design my own ring. It was the most fun hour and a half I've had. As it's the first ring I've ever designed, I decided not to go overboard and go for something simple instead. The ring is currently being made, and will be ready around March. Will show you a pic of it once it's made!

I also got this fun looking retro fan from my parents. It's a Malaysian brand, and I'll have to wait until it the temp here warms up slightly before I can use it!

Seeing as I really like rings, my mum also gave me this Citrine ring she got from China that she never wore. I really like the slightly Gothic look about it!

I got beauty related gifts from my sis in law. She gave me these great products from Nars. A nail polish in Adelta and Lip laquer in Chelsea girls.

My sis in law has a great eye. I LOVE this nail polish. It's such a beautiful pale peachy-gold. Really subtle for everyday wear.

The lip lacquer is a flattering nude shade:

My father got me this book entitled 'Kebaya Tales'. I know for a fact that he bought all his Christmas presents last minute in a mad rush on Christmas Eve, but I'm really pleased with his choice!

It's a collection of short stories on the Peranakans. Or Baba Nyonyas (an ethnic group originating 700 years ago when Chinese travelled to Malacca, Malaysia, Dutch-controlled Java and other locations). This book is special to me as I am a Nyonya/Part Nyonya and love to learn more about my Peranakan heritage. The concept of Peranakans is difficult to explain, so I may do so in a separate post, and add some nice pics to make it more interesting!