Pretty damn sure you would've known how occupied I was the past week with my lovely guest from Australia.

If you follow me on Twitter or subscribed to my Facebook updates, I've posted up heaps throughout her stay!

I hosted my Aussie buddy on her trip to Malaysia and decided that I only yearn to achieve one goal.

To be the best host ever of all things Malaysian. I wanted to share our culture, people, food, nightlife, shopping, hanging out, nature with her and condense everything Malaysian lifestyle was all about

– into a single, one week!

Picked her up as she arrived! 😀 😀

I documented our (mis)adventures all documented on Twitter with the hashtag #aussieguest :

Brought her for a late lunch-tea time sesh at Secret Recipe to try our famous signature cheesecakes.

We shared a Creme Brulee Cheesecake & a Dark White Chocolate Cheesecake. Absolutely loved it!

Brought her back to my humble abode 13 stories above the ground in the cosy & busy suburb of Damansara

Rested for a bit and it's out the door for a shisha session!

Shisha has been deeply intergrated into the Malaysian lifestyle now – it's everywhere!

Another shisha sesh elsewhere!

Took her for the famous Satay Kajang! It's grilled/barbequed meat on skewers with yummy peanut sauce!

There were all kinds; we ordered all kinds! Chicken, beef, mutton, fish and duck

Rabbit wasn't available today – yes, I said rabbit.

No need to double take

Brought my lovely Aussie guest to experience another Malaysian way of life – PASAR MALAM!!!

Pasar Malam (night markets) come in abundance here. It boasts heaps of food, trinkets, clothes, gadgets, accessories, shoes – you name it, they've got it!

Best part is, everything is so cheap! 

Brought her to try a Chinese-Malaysian favorite, known as Lok Lok 

… she never looked back ever since then. Love at first sight!!

Told ya it's yummy! 🙂 🙂

Can't really explain what it is, something like cut-up food (anything!) on a skewer and then you boil it yourself then dip it in a variety of sauces. Pretty healthy too, if you ask me 😀

Homehomehome in my cosy room 😀 Wheeee

Carly somehow loved tormenting me with cotton candy (of which she calls fairy floss)

We headed to Singapore for a roadtrip with my buddies

Why? Because we were going to attend the biggest beach rave-party of the year – ZOUK OUT 2011

(more of that soon!)

Had some nommies at Esplanade, Singapore

Brought her to sight-see around Esplanade and its pretty sights, a lightshow and well-lit buildings across the water! When I last went to Singapore before my stint in Australia, Marina Bay Sands hotel wasn't exactly quite open yet.

So this is technically my first time here too!

Marina Bay Sands hotel

From a friendly local host, I suddenly warped into an over-enthusiastic tourist

Yes thank you I know I'm being all touristy

Moar photos with my chicas! 

The 5 of us headed to a Chinese Dim Sum outlet for late dinner/supper

Geez I look lika typical Asian here; with chopsticks and whatnot

Breaktime & breathers at Orchard Road

Public transport-ing it back home!

I'm so not used to public transport as I drive all the time!

More public transport-ing the very next morning!

Yeah, don't we look like over-zealous tourists waiting to excavate the city? 😀 😀

Writing our lovenotes & well-wishes for 2012

Some little cute tradition where the balloons will be placed into the sea & let it float away

Brought this foreigner to something all foreigners hate.

Is it REALLY just a stereotype?

Why on earth do yall hate durians when it's sucha soft, creamy and flavourful fruit? 

Ya'll say it's the smell. But really… WHAT SMELL? The only way to get rid of the "smell", is to eat it 

Ohhhh so delicious and creamy! It's like eating creme brulee or ice-cream

Apart from bringing her to Singapore, I also brought her along to a Christmas party that my clan and I have been planning for a few weeks! It's a houseparty + Christmas potluck + BYO drinks and MORE 😉 😉

Let the good times roll!

Christmas photo credits to housie Edwin!

We did some more touristy stuff like taking her to Petaling Street to eat local hawker food!

Some of which, I hardly eat myself. But here they are…

KL Hokkien Mee and Beef Tripe Noodles

Yes. Beef tripe. The 1st half of the cow's stomach

Teehee! Don't kill me, babe!

All I wanted was to have you remember at least ONE exotic food/animal organ you ate whilst in Asia 😛

More outings!

Ready to rumble?

Heading off to the city again – this time, to Pavillion Kuala Lumpur along Starhill

Thanks housie Edwin for all the photos taken tonight at Starhill! 🙂

Welcome to Bukit Bintang (Starhill)

The city never sleeps

One of our largest & most prestigious malls – Pavillion KL

Christmas time!

Coincidentally, there was this United Buddy Bears campaign going on along the streets of Pavillion.

Every single country and nation acknowledged by the United Nations will have their own version of a bear – fully designed by a national of whatever country they represent – portraying their culture or their identity.

There were so many; couldn't take all! Here are a few which I took an instant liking towards

The two main Western capitalists & movers of the world, United Kingdom and the United States of America

I'm in love with all things Egyptian

My wrist tattoo of the Eye of Horus testifies that!

Here's the Greece bear which bears Goddess Athena's name!

My other tattoo along my ribcage, are ancient Greek quotes in scriptures

Israel bear!

But of course, the country which I was born and bred in – MALAYSIA!!!!! 

Carly found her Australian bear too!

See the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge motif in yellow?

Shisha and mamak sesh at NZ Cafe right beneath the Petronas Twin Towers

Malaysian food omnomnom

Wondering what this is?

One of my mamak faves – Roti Tisu 

Malaysia loves you Carly! 🙂 

You assimilate so well with us… and your Malaysian slang is pretty good hahaha!

So technically that sorta sums up what we were up to within the week – albeit a very summarized version!

If given more time, I could've shown her so much more 😀

It's time to play host again. My 2 new Aussieguests

Allyce & Lauren has just arrived Malaysia yesterday

Three cheers for Round 2!

Thanks for coming to Malaysia, Carly. T'was a pleasure hosting & showing you the very best of Malaysian lifestyle!

It's my 1st time playing host; here's to hoping I did a good job teehee! 

Oh and….. your best friend says goodbye 😛

Express blogpost with my iTouch! 🙂

Just got home from dad's Malay aristocrat friends' houses after our rounds of visiting & sharing the festive joy

To be honest, I had no idea we were going to visit our Muslim mates so I totally did not bring anything decent back to Penang. Yikes.

We ought to be respectful towards the Islam religion anyhow, so I sorta panicked when I had nothing "proper" nor formal to wear.

And so I thought to myself – the Malays are going to wear their traditional Baju Kurung, Baju Kebaya and Baju Melayu; the Indians are going to wear their traditional Sari and Kurta.

What about the Chinese? Why don't I wear a Cheongsam instead? ^___^

It is our traditional attire after all.

And so I did.

I know it's not common for the Chinese here in Malaysia to wear Cheongsams or Samfoos just because we're assumably "modernized" enough not to wear our traditional outfits, I take that as plain garbage.

Cheongsams and Samfoos are hot! 😉

Especially if whoever wearing it is able to pull it off (not making any reference to myself whatsoever just to clarify)

Although Hari Raya Aidilfitri is celebrated my Muslims everywhere,

this festivity has been essentially part of my family as our housekeeper (for 19 years) is Muslim.

ANYWAY

We had all sorts of local delicacies like Roti Jala, Ais Batu Campur, Cendol, Satay, Laksa, Mee Rebus, Nasi Tomato, Popiah, Char Koay Teow, Mee Hoon, Beef Rendang, Lemang, Nasi Goreng, Kari Ayam Masak Merah, Kuih Raya, Teh Tarik… and the list goes on.

It's just insane how much we ate. Hari Raya only comes once a year; what's there not to indulge? 😉

The VVIPs soon arrived. Guess who?

Daddy, Mom and I with Former Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Dr Helmi Yahaya

….and that's our Governor!

Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Dato' Seri Haji Abdul Rahman bin Haji Abbas

Sad! Didn't take photos while we were at Yang Berbahagia Dato' Syed Mohamad Aidid Syed Murtaza's house.

He was such a down-to-earth and friendly man, despite being a multi-millionaire. And coincidentally, his daughter Sharina and I were from the same high school together. T'was funny when we saw each other, we were like, "OMG! Heyyyy!!!!"

She was 2 years my senior so we hardly hang out; I had no idea that Datuk Aidid was her daddy! 🙂

At the final house we visited, I just couldn't take it any longer. I simply *had* to find out how to recreate these awesome Malay food.

So I seized the chance to ask the chef – personally – how she made everything from scratch.

It will be my turn to cook these Ramadhan delicacies soon!

Uber spicy beef & chicken curries with Tomato flavoured rice. Delish 

After visiting so many Raya houses in a span of 6 hours, all our stomachs have hoisted the white flag.

ENOUGH!!! We were bursting at the seams anytime now.

Daddy : my point illustrated

I love how I always enjoy myself during Raya every year. That being said,

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI TO ALL MY MUSLIM READERS & FRIENDS OUT THERE!

Much love, Jess