Happy Saturday peeps!

My week was amazing. I just returned from Genting Highlands.

Here's what been keeping me busy. Too good not to share. So, let's go!

In conjunction with the Genting International Magic Festival 2012, I was invited to attend the Media & Celebrity Night of  Superstars of Magic 2 one fine Friday night 

For those not in the know, Superstars of Magic 2 is the second instalment of the 90-minute production incorporating spellbinding magic, incredible talents, comedy and unbelievable illusions by a magician cast of 11, around the world all in one stage tonight.

Be prepared to be amazed! 

Here are some of the fellow guests that were with me for the show.

The four of us! 

Dennis, Me and Kon

Buddy Joe and I

Us with David and Andrew!

As it was already almost 9PM, we were ushered into Genting International Showroom where the show was about to begin.

The entrance itself was ethereal and had a glow of magnificence resonating from its walkway.

I'm so excited! 

We made our way to the VIP seats (thanks Genting!) and was prepared to be well-entertained and amazed.

The show started right on time! 

At 9PM sharp, our emcee of the show Chipper Lowell made his entrance and brought us lots of laughter with his hilarious banter!

He was chirpy and loud! Chipper made us giggle so much with his silly antics too 

He then introduced the first act of the night, Charlie Frye and company all the way from Las Vegas!

So happy to be able to watch the World's Best Variety Act right here 

His first show, Lord of the Rings was really cool. He held many interlocking large metal rings and somehow managed to separate them all and put them back together so quickly! 

It was comical when he entangled himself and then detangled himself again!

He did a second show called the Flying Bowling Ball.

Charlie made that bowling ball float all over his body and roll across his shoulders effortlessly!

Even balancing the bowling ball on his coat!

He also juggled so many things!

Come to think of it, I've never really mastered the art of juggling. 

I think I can only struggle at two tennis balls! Haha. Good job, Charlie! 

This stunt was the best one from Charlie!

He placed his vest and hat on the broomstick and balanced it on his forehead.. before dropping it all into the right places.

The moment Charlie dropped the broomstick, the hat automatically fell on his head and the vest on his body

Our emcee, Chipper Lowell, came back on stage to tickle our ribs and introduce the second act

One of dazzling dexterity, Nestor Hato, the card manipulation champ all the way from France! 

When the lights dimmed and his music began to play, something jolted me right outta my seat.

Out of the thousands of dubstep songs I have, my ringtone was chosen to play right on the stage by someone I don't even know!

How coincidental! 

As I am a hardcore dubstep fan, I took a double take at this guy in front of me

Which magician performs to dubstep anyway? NO ONE. No one but Nestor.

He was performing to Porter Robinson & Knife Party as well as Kairo Kingdom. 

Nestor shooting sparks from his fingers and creating explosions of flames from his palms 

I head-banged throughout his entire act while I watched him make cards fly everywhere like they had a life of their own.

The decks of cards swooshed out like a torrential flow from his fingers.. non-stop! 

I paid solid attention as he made cards vanish into silk cloth and confetti.

Such an excellent effect!  

There was just something about him that struck me. I didn't know what it was.

I felt an inexplicable connection with this stranger that night. Something that I've never felt before.

It was an epiphany. Like communication de pensees, thoughts spoken without saying a word. 

Wow. What was that?

I then observed him flicking cards into the air and straight into his mouth and pocket perfectly

Bien fait!! 

I felt my body moving progressively to the rhythm. It was crazy!

As he danced and performed his card tricks, I was dancing along with him in my seat LOL!

Flying cards!

Before we even noticed, he spun around and changed the colour of his t-shirt and hair.

Yup. From black to white. 

Voila! That was amazing!! 

Bonne Chance, Nestor! 

Keep up the brilliant act

He blew my mind. It wasn't just his act nor the music. But him, as a person

My instincts proved me right; our empathy was mutual. Needless to say, close friendship developed between us instantly after the show and we found ourselves having a lot in common! 

Not only is he talented & fantastic on stage, he is an amazing person & a wonderful friend to me as well 

No doubt, Nestor was my favorite act of the night 

The third act of the night was Christian Lindemann, all the way from Germany 

He is Europe's Best Pick-Pocket Artist. Everybody, hold on tight to your belongings! 

Christian picked Dennis from the crowd!

Haha! I loved how he played a little game with us about the

LITTLE YELLOW BAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL 

Christian was great and had such quick fingers too!

He managed to distract all of us and slowly but surely, pick-pocketing all of Dennis' belongings 

Look at Christian's right hand! That's one of Dennis' cellphones he took!

Dennis obviously was not aware that his items were being taken away from him one by one!

He relieved everything from Dennis. You name it, it's taken!

His iPhone, his Blackberry, his cellphone, his wallet, his belt, his credit cards.. even his underpants.

I remember shouting "UNDERPANTS!!!!" when Christian asked the crowd what we wanted him to steal next

Such a naughty girl I am! Mwahahhahahaa!  Sorry Dennis!

His signature tagline of "I LIKE………………………" made me laugh everytime!

He also stuck a Facebook thumbs up "LIKE" on his coat after his show LOL

Whilst up in Genting earlier this week, I got to know Christian personally as well. 

Apart from being great on stage, he's a really fun person, down-to-earth and such a nice guy too!

The forth act of the night was an adorable young boy, Tigran Petroysan.

One-half of the World's Youngest Manipulation Artists from Germany, give it up for Tigran!

I loved his little schoolboy look and the umbrella

So cute! Oh and, today is his birthday too.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TIGRAN! 

He performed a really deft act with ping pong balls which kept disappearing and reappearing all around his fingers

I love watching young talents.. a star in the making perhaps? 

Gogo Tigran!

When he ended his act, I gave a loud applause!

Much support for this young kid 

The fifth act of the night was his older brother, Sos Junior Petroysan!

Sos Junior, also hailing from Germany, is the other half of the World's Youngest Manipulation Artists

I found this 16 year old very talented for his age!

More and more and more cards spun around and defied gravity when they were tossed high up above!

He also made cards fly everywhere

I seriously wonder, where do they keep their cards? LOL

From the audience's point of view, card manipulators appear to have cards sprouting outta their hands everytime!

This reminds me of the Matrix!

Our bubbly emcee, Chipper Lowell came back on stage to tickle our ribs again.

He made an attempt to guess a card that the audience picked… and got it wrong. (But just wait!)

Chipper's volunteer helping to pass him more and more wooden blocks to balance on his CHIN

When he turned around, the crowd was cheering loudly!

He guessed the card right and there it was, in bold, black ink written at the back of this wooden blocks 

The sixth act of the night was none other than the World's Best Escape Artist, flown in all the way from Canada!

Was so nervous to watch Dean Gunnarson attempt a death-defying act

Dean explaining what he is going to do

He's going to be hand-cuffed, locked up and chained inside that tiny red tank.

In attempting this dangerous act, he would have to hold his breath for as long as he can escape from the shackles and breakthrough the enclosure.

After getting a volunteer from the crowd to inspect the chains, Dean was ready to be held captive

Good luck Dean!!! You can do it! 

We were asked to hold our breaths along with him.

Dramatic music then ensued. Spotlights and flashlights shot across the stage. 

After 2 minutes and 20 seconds.. he was still in there. OMG!

We were all at the edge of our seats already. 

Will Dean escape victoriously before he runs out of breath? 

And he did!!

WOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Though it was expected that he could escape, the nature of his act was so tense and frightening.

If it was me, I'd probably shiver in claustrophobia haha! That was terrific, Dean! YAY!

In those few days I stayed in Genting, Dean and I became friends too. He told me that he has been doing this for decades now! Plus, I also spotted his fingers, or lack thereof!

This daredevil lost a few of his fingers while doing his dangerous escape stunts throughout the years. 

Impressive, yet scary! 

The seventh act of the night were the Grand Illusionist duo from our brethren down south, Singapore!

Get ready to be wowed by JC Sum and Magic Babe Ning 

After Magic Babe Ning locked  & chain JC Sum into the glass enclosure…..

Guess what happened after 2 seconds?

Yup! They magically swapped places!

Their next performance included metal blades in a large metal box.

Again, they managed to swap places when there was clearly nothing and no one inside!

Ohmy.

Their final stunt was a winner.

After locking Magic Babe Ning into a small box (with her hands clearly visible!) guess where she reappeared?

Big swipes of flames 

Are we ready? P/S – You can still see Magic Babe Ning's hands from the box

JC Sum then sliced the box in half and pointed to the crowd 

And Magic Babe Ning appeared in the middle of the crowd!

Gosh! Did she just teleport there or something?

That was pretty cool and unbelievable, no doubt! 

Our eight and final act of the night was World's Best Quick Change Artists, Sos & Victoria Petroysan from Germany!

Watching quick change acts can be very entertaining and puzzling at the same time 

Now you see this outfit

Now you don't!

Gosh, looks like this woman doesn't need to take an hour to dress up or get ready whenever she wants to head out huh? 

 I can just envision her doing a quick change and ta-daaa! She's ready in 1 second LOL

What's next?

Sos performed a fiery act and immediate changed Victoria's clothes in a blink of an eye

And again!! What the….??? WOW.

They continued dancing and Victoria stepped inside a little portal-looking-thing and she changed again!

Next, she didn't step into any portal this time.

Sos placed a cloth around her and poof!

She flashed us this outfit!

So funky! The next outfit was also done in a split of a second

Victoria wasn't the only one that had her clothes changed, Sos has his outfit changed from black to white as well!

To save the best for last, Sos & Victoria made their final change of clothes and astonished us all.

She didn't walk into anything, nor had any cloth concealing her.

Sos threw a motherload of silver confetti around her…

And she appeared in a matching white wedding gown!

That was simply amazing. Hey, I wish I had those skills too. 

Then I'd probably only need less than 1 minute to get ready before I go out.

After everything was over, Chipper announced for the entire cast to come back to the stage one by one, for the finale.

A thunderous applause resonated from all corners of the theatre as they joined hands to take their final bow.

I was mesmerized by the entire 90 minutes of the show, and I'm pretty sure the entire audience felt the same!

Having wonderful acts from all over the world to perform for us in Genting right before our eyes? Priceless.

Tony Hassini, President & Founder of the International Magicians Society

was flown in as a special guest for the evening

Managed to get a photo with him! 

Two people who deserved their Merlin Award!

He presented two Merlin Awards for two very talented people, David Lai for Best Producer of the Year and Tigran Petroysan for World's Youngest Magician!

Yay! Congratulations to the both of you for the recognition of your hard work 

David on stage receiving his award

Thank you, David for a spell-binding production! Superstars of Magic 2 is like his little brainchild, his baby! 

You did a remarkable job, I must say!

My full support and love goes out to Superstars of Magic, always! 

Here are some photos I took during the Press Conference and interview session.

The Petroysan Family (Germany)

Dean Gunnarson (Canada)

Charlie Frye & his wife (USA)

Chipper Lowell (USA) and Nestor Hato (France)

Christian Lindemann (Germany)

JC Sum and Magic Babe Ning (Singapore)

Kevin Tann & David Lai giving an in-depth explanation of Superstars of Magic 2

Christian expressed how much he loved his Malaysian experience and the people.

Photo session and mingling time!

The night ended as quickly as it began.

I was still feeling enthralled by what I witnessed that very night. 

Tomorrow is the final show.

If you want to be dazzled just like I did,  make sure you BE THERE on Sunday night!

Details on how you can purchase your tickets – here

I had a fantastic time at Superstars of Magic 2.

Thank you very much, Resorts World Genting and David for a stupendous, magical night.

Oh and guess what? I'm more than proud to announce that Superstars of Magic 3 is confirmed!

More details soon *wink* Stay tuned! 

Wow, it's been a week already? Let The Sunday Times roll again!

This week, I am thankful for :

1) My trusty DSLR which has served me in innumerable moments that I aim to capture

2) My friends & to appreciate those around me even more.

This week has been crazy. Especially the weekend of back-to-back events!

Here's what rocked my week this time round :

Guess where we were at on a Friday night?

Media & Celebrity Night of Superstars of Magic 2 at the Genting International Showroom!

Thank you Resorts World Genting for having us tonight 

(Full blogpost coming soon!)

Did a longer routine on Tuesday afternoon spanning for an hour!

LOL typo! It ain't POT ribs for dinner (how I wish!) but *PORK Ribs lah! 

Did some catching up with thebestie Joyce & our other halves @ Chicken Hot Pot, SS2 Mall

The Asian bites here are really, REALLY yum! Especially the Pork Ribs one, which I had

Made dinner again!

Garlic-baked Mackerel, fluffy cheddar omelette & fresh lettuce with thousand island 

Caught sight of my cat sitting on my carpet listening intently to what I have to say

Sometimes, I swear he thinks he's a human being 

Indulged in some sin at New York New York Deli @ One Utama

Unfortunately, I didn't like it at all. The food (we ordered 4 dishes!) tasted meh to us

Attended Guinness Arthur's Day Media Launch!

Expect a great month of events leading up to the concert on Arthur's Day itself

(Full blogpost coming up!)

Theboyfie & I decided on Pasta Zanmai @ Mid Valley Megamall for dinner.

We had Squid, Garlic Fried Rice with Omelette & Teriyaki Chicken and Unagi & Avocado Crepe Maki.

I'd recommend these three!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR13EKA9D_8

This week's eargasm : Nicky Romero – Toulouse!

Was introduced to Kairo Kingdom too! Digging their electro-dubstep beats 

Clocked in my 5KM run routine in 36:45mins @ Celebrity Fitness, One Utama

Stir-fry veggies for dinner! Deliciously healthy bites 

Attended ELEVATE KL in Black Magic @ Voodoo KL along Jalan P.Ramlee

(Full blogpost coming up!

Saturday night shisha (drunken) crew! Apart from the usual suspects theboyfie & thebestie Pamela,

Jeremy and two old buddies, Ragu & Dylan from my Penang days joined us too! 

2A.M shisha & delicious Iranian food @ AVA Bistro along Jalan P. Ramlee

Ended my weekend on an impromptu trip to Malacca, one of Malaysia's World Heritage Site!

Not only did the 4 of us go random food hunt, I ended up getting to know more about my beloved country 

(Wait for the full blogpost!)

That's all this week has to offer. Can't wait to see what next week has in store for me!

Have a great seven days ahead, dear readers 

Much Love! 

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The Sunday Times is a new once-a-week series; published every Sunday night to recap the highlights of my week, capture what piques my interest and to share recommendations for to-go places and to-eats throughout the week

Some of the photos in this edition are posted instantly on my Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr & Facebook as it happens.

So follow me to get instant updates and pretty photos of the sights & sounds all around!

After I left Penang to come back to the city KL, I guess the homies and I missed each other's crazy hangout moments, parties, late night suppers and random pillow talking.

SO THEY ALL DECIDED TO MAKE A ROAD TRIP DOWN TO SEEEEE MEEEEEE

and as you already know from this post, we drove up Genting Highlands too for some fun.

Minny snapped this piccie of bestie Joyce and I

All of them crashed at my hood for the night

Not wanting to miss out on the KL party scene, they wanted in. I then brought them to where else but Zouk KL? That's my fave haunt on most weekends

Us getting ready… I begged Christopher to lemme make him up! 😛
 

and bestie Joyce joined the fun with some shimmery lip gloss!

FHL

We gave him the mirror and ran away. 😛 Needless to say, he cursed my whole house down and disappeared into the bathroom to wash everything off! bwahahhaha.

En route to Zouk KL

So we got there and hit the Mainroom and Barsonic. Our poor boys weren't able to enter Phuture as they were a year short of 23 LOL

(actually can one lahhhhh.)

Caught you red-handed Carter!

Thought you said you didn't smoke? muahahhaahhahahaa

Double Iconography ring by Soak Republic. So pretty right! My fave

My babe Minny and I coincidentally in blue 😀

When Penangites storm Zouk KL
 

Headed back home pretty damn late into the night. Took turns taking showers and couldn't exactly get to sleep after that.

Before we knew it, dawn broke and we packed out bags and hit the road. No sleeeep tonighttttt!

After a one hour journey, we arrived Genting Highlands!

Pretty damn coincidental that all of us were in hoodies!

Back indoors for a while for some lunch. As expected, we got ripped off! How could an average plate of Zhap Fan cost me 12 bucks?? And a normal bowl of Bak Kut Teh costed Joyce and Chris 42 bucks. RAWWWRRRRRR welcome to Genting.

My favorite girls in the world!

loves

We were talking loosely about the future one fine day and sorta made a pact that we would be each others' bridesmaid on our Big Day. But the question remains, which one of us will end up married first? 😀 😀 Guess only Paul the Octopus knows the answer!

Mirror mirror on the wall

Which girl will be first walking down the aisle?
 

Back outside.. time for the Pirate Ship! No not the lame ass Pirate Train but the Pirate Ship! I could remember riding this years back and got awfully nauseous! Let's just see if i can stomach it again this year!

Us waiting for the loooooooooong queue

by the time we got closer, we saw this signage.

Looks like we're not tall enough 🙁 Woe!

Kidding! We rode it anyway.

This is bestie Joyce and I
 

BEFORE

DURING!!!

It's a wonder how my camera didn't get flung 100 meters up in the air!

Played more rides and waited for more…

I'm a certified BB Addict 🙂

Mine was pimped courtesy of Berry Addictions! Go get yours done if you love your BB too!

And we finally reached my favorite ride of all time! The Flying Coaster ala Spiderman!

It's my fave because this is the only ride that didn't give me the butt-away-from-seat feeling which I so despise

because this ride required its patrons to STAND during the rollercoastering

not sit 😀 But we loved it anyway.

Sadly this wasn't the kinda ride where you can sit over and over again like the rest of the rides. This ride costs 10 bucks each time we enter. and I wonder why! 🙁 Maybe it's privately owned.. bah humbug.

Walked around catching a breather in the chilly weather

A short Vlog I did!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T60u2_GA1E

😀 😀

okay where was I?

Yeah. the compulsory spot to take photos

Don't know why I never fail to do so with each visit to Genting!

Took a lil stroll around as some of the rides were closed for maintainence – namely the Corkscrew (damn!) and the Solero Shots. So we ended up in Jurassic Park look-a-like thingy and spotted this very STIM bird who was trying to keep his eyes open  :

Go sleep lah hou sum lei.

Don't need to entertain us one.

Mushroom land!

We kept exploring and arrived at the carnival part of the Outdoor Themepark.
 

You know how there would be fun fairs where simple games can be played to win big fluffy toys?

I had my eyes glued to this adorable sea horse!

Didn't exactly want to give those ring tosses a shot. Come ON! What are the odds your ring gets hooked onto that tiny stick? The probability of your bouncy tennis ball to nestle quietly into the pail 5 meters away from you are extremely slim anyway.

BUT!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABQt1RjOxoE

IT'S SO FLUFFAAYYE WE'RE GONNA DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

We wanted it but Tannie tried…. tested…… and gave up LOL. Told you the odds were close to impossible. heh.
 

The one that the fat man with skinny pointy legs and equally pointy nose (sorry can't remember his name) aka stepdad managed to win for the adorable Agnes in the movie Despicable Me was just well…. VIOLENT. haha!

Saw lotsa people wearing this woolly hat thing too

Likewise, snowboots and winter jackets.

DOOOOOOD! IT REALLY ISN'T THAAAT COLD IN GENTING HIGHLANDS!

Minny and I even counted how many people were overdressed for winter that afternoon

Our Verdict : Malaysians have no where else to "winter dress" in Malaysia
 Genting is plausibly the best excuse to don pretty winter clothing

So as much as I would love to purchase this furry hat, I put it down in the end 🙁

But I will come back and buy it before I jet set to UK next year I swear!!!

*secretly hopes to go in time for winter*

Another Vlog!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAjpnQBivts

😀 😀

Underground at the Rolling Thunder Mine Train

The queue was so long we decided to jump over the ledges and leave midway

Night fell and we kept ourselves (and pockets) busy at the Monte Carlo casino all night long! It's really amazing how time actually STOPS when you're in there, really. I had my rounds at Baccarat, French Boule, Roulette, Big & Small, Casino Wars and the rest.

Not gonna tell you how much I won (and lost) in total! 😛 Simply because.

Compulsory shot again

kthxbai! 😀
 

So we were on the way up the hill on the lowest gear ever to Genting Highlands and finally reached the Cable Car skytrain after 40minutes. But alas, the skytrain was closed! 🙁 🙁

The homies and I were dejected but we decided to drive up furthermore anyway.

BUT JUST BEFORE TANNIE TURNED THE IGNITION, WE CAUGHT SIGHT OF THIS :

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAyAeSzP8Ss

Hmmmmmm… looks like the monkeys are having a jolly good time feasting on our McDonalds breakfast!

Initially the car windows were open but when those monkeys were getting a little vicious, we winded the window back up.

Glad we fed them a wee bit of breakfast for a change! Should there be a monkey swarm at the nearest McD, don't look at us! 😛 😛

Woot woot!

The homies came down to KL to visit me 😀 

After spending a night at my crib and indulging in yummy IKEA Swedish meatballs, we set off early this morning up up up the hills of Genting Highlands. The city of Entertainment awaits us!

Had lotsa fun the entire day chillaxing in the chilly weather of 20 degrees celcius with yummylicious freshly made food and cuppa coffees to keep us warm. Most people around were basically talking with mist coming outta their mouths!

All ready to hit the rollercoasters!

(taken when it was still fairly warm)

We sat on many insane daredevil rides at the Outdoor Themepark and had a ball of fun, albeit the insane queue too. 🙂 I took lotsa videos this time round! But that's another story soon, okie? It's time to hit the sack!

Also, we just came back to our hotel room after a 4 hour spin at the casino and late night suppers a moment ago.

It. is. still. freezing. I. SO. need. to. hibernate. Like a polar bear in winter. Night night loves!