Birthday Celebrity
For my birthday, SK singlehandedly organized a staycation and a photoshoot for me. Our talk of a photoshoot had originated a decade ago, and it finally happened. On Saturday morning, mum and I skipped marketing at OUG. We went to breakfast with SK instead. Three of us shared a large bowl of fish head noodles (with extra fish) at Woo Pin, Taman Desa. Think the foreign worker was a bit surprised by our order.
At 11 AM, all three of us went to 49 Hairdress Café to get a haircut. Been a long time since my hairstylist worked on both of them. With our hair all done up (asked my stylist for something more outstanding), it was time for us to start our staycation and photoshoot. Went home, loaded our bags, and headed to Lot 10 to meet Apollo for lunch. We went around J's Dining Gate, Lot 10's latest addition to their concept of all things Japanese. Quite a selection of ramen, teppanyaki, katsu, etc.
In the end, plopped into Izakaya Hanazen for hot pot. The star here is the “Motsunabe” aka Collagen Pot, a specialty hot pot from Fukuoka. When the hot pot started heating up, the smell of the rich chicken broth really made our mouths water. Once boiling, we added in the collagen ball that made the soup have a thicker consistency. In addition to chicken meat, there's leek, carrots, cabbage, glass noodles, and mushroom inside. Enjoyed it three ways (three-way, hehe)~ as-is, with vinegar, or with yuzu. Very interesting. The grilled pork don was also pretty good. However, avoid the sashimi. Not the good stuff.
Once we were done with our late lunch, we walked out to Jalan Bukit Bintang. Traversed the busy crossroads towards Mekdi, and walked towards Jalan Alor. We found the street art at the back lanes of shoplots bordering Jalan Alor, Jalan Bukit Bintang, Jalan Berangan, and Changkat Bukit Bintang. Although given a cheerful face-lift, the alleys are wet with all the condensation from air-conditioning compressors. And the art is a bit faded from all the exposure to the sun and rain. A year later, and there might not be much left to see. Although it wasn't perfect, our photographer had enough experience to bring out the best of the situation. Had a fun time posing for photos. And we were very lucky that the sun was a bit shy that day.
Once we were done, we headed to E&O Residences to check-in and continue with part two of our photoshoot. E&O is located at St. Mary, the location of the old St. Mary, a public all-girls school at Jalan Tengah. The school stood there for more than 80 years before it moved to Selayang. The land was developed into a compound with three towers, which were split into private residences, and hotels. Inside, it was cool, and a little gloomy, as though the sun had difficulty penetrating the three 28-storey towers.
The family suite that SK booked was spacious, with two bedrooms, living room, kitchen, reading room, and three toilets. The master bedroom toilet could very well be a room by itself. We took full advantage of the setting. Can you believe we even had a few changes of clothes? A couple of hundred photos later, we were finally done!
That night we had dinner at Life Center, just a short, leisurely walk from where we stayed. Because it was China's Golden Week, a huge flag of the PRC was draped hung across the entrance of Naughty Nuri. Apollo warned us not to say anything about a birthday, else the staff would break into song and dance. Got ourselves a meat platter, a crispy pork salad, and a jug of their signature soda. Perfect celebratory dinner.
Back at E&O, we continued with a chit-chat and beauty mask session (Nu Skin Galvanic Spa!) over snacks. While we talked, we had China's 70th National Day Military Parade playing on the TV. Apollo didn't sleep over that night as he had an early day at church the next day.
At 11 AM, all three of us went to 49 Hairdress Café to get a haircut. Been a long time since my hairstylist worked on both of them. With our hair all done up (asked my stylist for something more outstanding), it was time for us to start our staycation and photoshoot. Went home, loaded our bags, and headed to Lot 10 to meet Apollo for lunch. We went around J's Dining Gate, Lot 10's latest addition to their concept of all things Japanese. Quite a selection of ramen, teppanyaki, katsu, etc.
In the end, plopped into Izakaya Hanazen for hot pot. The star here is the “Motsunabe” aka Collagen Pot, a specialty hot pot from Fukuoka. When the hot pot started heating up, the smell of the rich chicken broth really made our mouths water. Once boiling, we added in the collagen ball that made the soup have a thicker consistency. In addition to chicken meat, there's leek, carrots, cabbage, glass noodles, and mushroom inside. Enjoyed it three ways (three-way, hehe)~ as-is, with vinegar, or with yuzu. Very interesting. The grilled pork don was also pretty good. However, avoid the sashimi. Not the good stuff.
Once we were done with our late lunch, we walked out to Jalan Bukit Bintang. Traversed the busy crossroads towards Mekdi, and walked towards Jalan Alor. We found the street art at the back lanes of shoplots bordering Jalan Alor, Jalan Bukit Bintang, Jalan Berangan, and Changkat Bukit Bintang. Although given a cheerful face-lift, the alleys are wet with all the condensation from air-conditioning compressors. And the art is a bit faded from all the exposure to the sun and rain. A year later, and there might not be much left to see. Although it wasn't perfect, our photographer had enough experience to bring out the best of the situation. Had a fun time posing for photos. And we were very lucky that the sun was a bit shy that day.
Once we were done, we headed to E&O Residences to check-in and continue with part two of our photoshoot. E&O is located at St. Mary, the location of the old St. Mary, a public all-girls school at Jalan Tengah. The school stood there for more than 80 years before it moved to Selayang. The land was developed into a compound with three towers, which were split into private residences, and hotels. Inside, it was cool, and a little gloomy, as though the sun had difficulty penetrating the three 28-storey towers.
The family suite that SK booked was spacious, with two bedrooms, living room, kitchen, reading room, and three toilets. The master bedroom toilet could very well be a room by itself. We took full advantage of the setting. Can you believe we even had a few changes of clothes? A couple of hundred photos later, we were finally done!
That night we had dinner at Life Center, just a short, leisurely walk from where we stayed. Because it was China's Golden Week, a huge flag of the PRC was draped hung across the entrance of Naughty Nuri. Apollo warned us not to say anything about a birthday, else the staff would break into song and dance. Got ourselves a meat platter, a crispy pork salad, and a jug of their signature soda. Perfect celebratory dinner.
Back at E&O, we continued with a chit-chat and beauty mask session (Nu Skin Galvanic Spa!) over snacks. While we talked, we had China's 70th National Day Military Parade playing on the TV. Apollo didn't sleep over that night as he had an early day at church the next day.
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What hut?