Maxim Swimwear Model of the Year Grand Finals & Pastry Brunching at Pandoro Patisserie

First of all, I'd like to take a second, exhale, and say I'm really glad that this month is going to be over. March was a pretty tough month. Not just for myself, but especially for the family members of the people in flight MH370. While conspiracy theories seem to be growing like mushrooms on the net, I just pray that the family members will find peace and strength, as it could have happened to anyone.

I hope things will be better in April, and hopefully I'm less accident prone. Seriously, my first month back and pop goes my kneecap. What are the chances? Anyway, it's healing up slowly together with my rotator cuff injury on my right shoulder with the help of an amazing acupuncturist. I love acupuncture. It does wonders!

Having a hectic schedule these few weeks have been driving me bonkers. Also, I've just survived my first uni orchestra performance with a healing arm. Thank God I didn't have any recurring pain after the 2 hour long program, plus a 2.5 hour rehearsal before that! :) 

My current favourite coat! It's so comfy and warm. Though not quite helpful when it's raining. Lol

Went out last weekend to town for brunch with Doug & Shu Run to check out Pandoro Patisserie on Allen St. I absolutely loved the place! It was like... heaven. It was a perfect day to be there because I had cravings for sweet stuff and baked goods. Besides, I've been good the whole week and cycling my carbs. ;)

Chocolate Danish. 

Very yummy, but too sweet for my liking. (wth is wrong with me)

Now this, I liked. 

Blue Cheese and Bacon Scroll.

Not an avid fan of cheese, but this level of cheesiness in this one is just right. The mushrooms inside are an added bonus!

Shu Run's mega impressive Chicken Sandwich.

It was Crumbed Chicken Schnitzel on Turkish bread. The bread from Pandoro itself. The helping was so huge she needed help to finish this. Haha

Another winner - Doug's Mediterranean Lamb Burger.

The meat is heavily spiced and it's beautifully accompanied by coulis, cheese and beetroot. Also a very big portion. 

Needless to say that we were full for the entire day.

One highlight of the week for me this week is the Maxim Swimwear Model of the Year Grand Finals. 

(Kinda funny how I'm blogging about food and about to write about bikini models.. lol)

It was still kinda blurry to me that I made it to the finals in a bikini contest in another country. 

Was it scary? Yes, but it was exciting. It was quite an experience to be the only tiny Asian girl competing with the tall Angmoh beauties in their bikinis. Haha! It definitely drove me to be more disciplined with my diet and workouts though.

The pictures are quite crappy because they were taken by my phone in a really dark venue with irregular lighting. Bah.

It was quite nice to meet the other girls! They were really friendly.

Thanks Doug for this picture! <3

 It was really hard to take a good usable picture.

 So, I was introduced as a model featured in FHM Malaysia. (2012 Jan issue, hehe) 

While I was going backstage to change, some dude hollered at me "Eh Malaysia, kick ass ah!" in a very Malaysian sounding accent I was pretty stunned. Lol. That's a first.

All the finalists for the New Zealand round in bikinis. 

The winner gets to go to Gold Coast and represent NZ in the Australasia round. Can you guess who won? Hehe.

Tadaah!

Congratulations ladies. You all deserved it :)

Make us proud in Aussie, Sarah babe!

Group photos.

 Looks shitty but thats about as much as my phone and editing skills can do. T_T At times like these, a good camera is handy. Unlike my stupid Samsung PL120 -____-

Although I didn't get a sash, I'm really glad to be a part of this competition despite it being just my 1st month back in Wellington. Also, it's another tiny title to put under my belt. :) It was a nice experience! My 2nd swimsuit competition, aside from the Roxy one in 2012. 

One of the best parts of this competition was to be escorted to the entrance of the stage by bouncers and bodyguards!! This is so that we don't get harrassed by drunks or just hamsup people in general. :P 

I felt so special and safe. 

We should have this in KL!

Oh yeah, I've managed to do this to my hair that night.

 Updo with short hair. Nailed it. Also gave a crap to pin flowers into my hair.

April, I'm ready for you!

xxx,

Ashley Mah.

Reasons NOT to go to Gold Coast Morib Resort.

Last Tuesday, Kim and I have gone for a 1 night stay at the Gold Coast Morib Resort 

and I have to start by saying this,

  I am so thankful that it is only for a night's stay.

This blogpost is dedicated to explaining why I am so horrified/disgusted/appalled ( the list goes on...)
by this place. I am not being overly critical, but brutally honest.

 

You must be thinking, why go there in the first place?

About a few months back, there was an online deal on Street Deals for a one night's stay at this place. Out of good will, love and knowing that I can hardly spend time with my sister since I'm studying abroad, my mom got us the deal voucher. I totally don't blame her, in fact, I am quite touched that she did this for us without us even asking. That's my mom for you. Amazing woman she is. :)

 Kim and I knew it would disappoint her to know that we had quite a crappy time at Gold Coast Morib (GCM for short), but she understood and was quite horrified herself when she saw the place after dropping us off. Hah! How deceiving the pictures were on the deal site!!

Let me walk you through the many reasons of why you should not go to GCM, by numbers. 

Brace yo-selves.

1. The foul smell lingering in the air everywhere you go.

I always giggle like crazy when I hear people use the phrase "smelled like ass". 

But this would be the perfect time to use it! LOL. Seriously. You know why? Because there's a chicken feed just a few kilometers away from the resort.

Now, what I'm thinking is, why would you build a resort so close to where chickens feed and poop? Hence, when the wind blows, you get the smell of that everywhere. On the beach, at the poolside, in your rooms and even in the bathroom. There's no escape.*gag*

2. Service was HORRIBLE.

 

The receptionist was very rude to me when I checked in. With a face that simply spells out "I hate my job", how do you expect to work in hospitality? Besides, I think they are not well trained because they did not seem to know how to check me in and not understand when I asked them if I needed to bring a receipt with me when collecting my keys. By the way people, check in is at 3pm. So if you go at 12pm like me, you've gotta wait for your keys which will be given to you at...3pm at a separate place from the reception area. 

Also, Kim and I asked for our towels to be replaced as we took them to the beach. We never got our new towels. Period.

3. Our room was filthy.

It's that feeling my sis and I got when we entered a room that had hair on the floor... which were not ours. Gross! Before I took a shower and the floor had residue of soap. Coffee stains on mugs. Curtains were stained, made me not wanna touch them. The glass door had hand prints on them... like yucky children's hand prints. Gross. Seriously, at the very least, you expect a not super extravagant, but a clean room a"resort". Kim and I got the suite by the way which was priced at RM400-ish per night if I am not mistaken.

4. The waterpark and sea = a big No-no.

I would certainly not want to swim in brownish murky waters and risk getting a skin infection. Being bored in the hotel room, I went online to read other bloggers' reviews of this place and one of them had a skin infection so bad that the family had to go to a skin specialist for treatment. *shakes head* Needless to say, Kim and I didn't even bother going into the sea waters to play or swim. Yuck.

5. Lack of good dining choices.

I am not paying RM40++ for a hotel buffet that does not even look the part. Or a weird Korean buffet located at the beach area? Or The Pier that sells just finger food or Nasi/Mee Goreng for RM16++ a plate? Kim and I thought we'd be happier buying cup noodles from the convenient stores located inside the resort. I bought a loaf of bread with cream filling in it. I took a bite of it and it was sour. SOUR. I checked the expiration date before swallowing. IT WAS EXPIRED. I spat it out immediately and went downstairs to change it for a new one. The look on the convenient store lady's face was super duper beh song. Thank goodness I didn't swallow that shiz. Fml.

I've read on some blogs that there's good food nearby the resort. However, we didn't have a car. So there.

6. Going on a school holiday made it worse.

Screaming children everywhere, one almost crashing into me near the pool area. Some parents really do not know how to look after their children! Also, I woke up at 7am to more screams of children from neighbouring hotel rooms. Not ideal for a honeymoon holiday. 

7. Dodgy and possibly unsafe.

Some areas of the resort actually felt unsafe for 2 girls to be alone, like the lift area. It did not feel like a resort at all. Should have taken a picture of these places. The areas were quiet, dark and dodgy. Kim and I usually do our business and run into the lift by ourselves and make a quick dash to our room. Makes my heart beat faster when I see some man lingering around the lift area and looking at us. I had to have my pepperspray on standby. Better to be safe than sorry.

8. Breakfast... was the epitome of bad.

We went for breakfast at 8.30am, as we had the buffet breakfast voucher. The inside dining area was already full by then. We had to go to this tent that was outdoors and to my horror, there were flies everywhere, the place was filthy, it smelled so bad and there were tons of people finding a place to sit. The seating was like a round table that could sit 12 people.... plus at least 3 flies per table. I am not kidding. I found it so hard to bring myself to eat especially since I almost swallowed expired bread the night before. The food selection was so-so. They ranged from pancakes, to dimsum stuff to sausages. I was quite annoyed by the people pushing me while lining up. Seriously, ill-mannered people just push their way to get food or sauce. This lady just cut the line, shoved me out of her way saying that she wants chili sauce. What the hell man. Not only is this place disgusting, the people here are uncivilized too. Worst resort dining experience ever, if you could even call it that.

9.  Very poor cleanliness overall and bad maintenance

As if my rant on the filthiness of the hotel room was not enough,Kim almost puked in her mouth when she took a trip to the bathrooms located next to the "waterpark". The resort, the "waterpark" and the facilities were extremely dirty overall. Also, the air conditioning in our room was not working well. It was so hot and hard to sleep at night! Call maintenance? I doubt it'll happen (period) if our towels won't even reach our room. Lol it's okay I'll just sleep in my bikini.....no biggie.

10. The spacious room.

This is probably the one of the only "pro's" to this mega cons list. Yes, the room was very big, I think mainly because Kim and I got the studio suite.

11. The Jacuzzi was working!

No pools for the two of us. Instead, we just chilled in this bad boy.

Lesson learnt. Check out reviews before purchasing any kind of online deal especially if it is a hotel stay kinda thing. Mom and dad had a good laugh in the car after picking Kim and I up from GCM the morning after. Boy were we in a rush to check out! 

Verdict : 

Not worth the money if it wasn't for the discount deal.

 Never going back. Don't let the pictures fool you, including the ones in this post. They may look good from afar, but the real thing may just shock you. I didn't really have time or wanted to linger around long enough to take the pictures of the dirtiness or dodgy areas. Now that I think of it, I really should have.

Here are the rest of the pictures that we took. I was so glad that I had my sister's company. Spent the whole night bitching about things together and laughing at nonsense nonetheless. :)

All Kim and I did on the beach was take pictures and camwhore. 

It's the holiday season and I'm pretty sure there are many other affordable places to go than Gold Coast Morib, so make the right choice, people!

Happy holidays!

xxx,

Ashley Mah.