A nice ending to a good year!! :)

Hi there!

WOW! Is it the end of 2013 already?? I really felt like this year went past pretty quickly!! It must be because I'm slowly gaining momentum towards my goals!! Yay!!

As I reflect back on the things that I have learnt in 2013, it has been tremendous! Ok, there were some of the not-so-good experiences which taught me to be much wiser in the future haha....

Some of my highlights of 2013 were :

• I learnt a lot about making video presentations with still photos! Gosh, the number of hours/days spent on editing my videos must equal at least 3 month's work!

• I'm getting better at public speaking! (Don't need to read from a piece of paper anymore...haha) As proof, during my last book talk for this year in Penang, the emcee commented how much I have improved since the 'big fumble" back in 2012 at KL Convention Centre. I had to remind him that it was only a year ago when I was a "greenhorn" and he was surprised because he felt like it was ages ago!! hehe....even though I'm happy with my progress, I know I have lots more to improve on and it will come with practise, practise, practise!

• Did book talks at two international schools and enthralling the students with my stories! (or at least, I'd like to think so!) It was so refreshing to see these kids aged between 10 -14 years having so many questions to ask me! Really loved their enthusiasm and zest for life! Such a joy to be with them! Hopefully, I will get to do more book talks at other international schools in 2014!

• I actually won my first road bike....a Polygon road bike!! (but I decided to present it to my brother as the bike wasn't my size on the condition that he cannot sell it off!) and also a Thule All Round Trip Bike Case (which I'm keeping at the moment!)....pretty cool prizes for a day playing in the sun and rain!

• Met other foreign and local tourers who stayed at my landlord's homestay while in Kuantan and exchanged stories. After discussing with them, I realise I know what kind of tourer I want to be! Yup, there are many people with different touring styles :)

but the most memorable time for me would be the time I met Mr. Victor Chee in Singapore after almost 5 years and being able to give him a copy of my book to say thank you for all his kindness he had shown back in 2009 :) It was a great experience and I will definitely mention him in my next book!

And I had a nice surprise ending for this year! I did a phone interview yesterday with Capital FM, a radio station in Kuala Lumpur and they decided to air the interview on the last day of 2013 for an hour! Yay!!

But of course, there would be a glitch somewhere.....(not about the interview but with me!)

When I was getting ready to listen online this morning, (since the station is only for the folks in the Klang Valley), my newer laptop suddenly decided to create some problems just before 8am and it wouldn't allow me to listen!! Arrghh!!

The more I tried to solve the problem, the worst it got! After fiddling with it for almost half an hour, I decided to try with my older laptop and guess what? It worked perfectly! So in the end, I kind of caught the end bits of my interview...sigh! 

Yup, the story of my life so far ::) 

So until then.....here's to saying a BIG THANK YOU to 2013 for all your lessons, amazing opportunities and guidance and I'm looking forward to a GREAT ADVENTURE in 2014!!

Happy new year everyone!! May 2014 be filled with loads of laughter, happiness, abundance, good health, great friendships, thankfulness, peace and love for all of us!! :)

Cheers

Sandra

My next book talk.....Penang Island! :)

Many thanks to 邱繼學 (Kaye) for coming up with the nice poster above for me! :)

Hi all,

I had a great time in Singapore recently! My heartfelt thanks to all who took their time off to come and listen to my stories :)  

And guess who came for my book talk....none other than Mr. Victor Chee, one of the kindest and most generous Singaporean I have ever known! 

In order to locate him, I had to ask a good friend, Matt Chia in Singapore to help me find his whereabouts so that I could send him an invitation to come for my book talk. 

Luckily, it was pretty easy to find him under the list of Esso stations in Singapore!. Matt made a call at the outlet near Woodlands (which was where Mak and I first met Mr. Victor) and found out that he has moved to another Esso petrol station in the north east side of Singapore.

Matt managed to speak to Mr. Victor himself and told him about my intentions.  I wrote to him (after he gave Matt his email address)  and he replied! He said that he still remembers me after almost 5 years ago!! He said he will try to make it but didn't confirm so I really wasn't sure that he would actually come.

So when Mr. Victor quietly came up to me after my talk, it was such a nice surprise!! Finally, I get to thank him personally for all his kindness and generosity shown to Mak and I in 2009! I gave him a signed copy of my book as a token of my appreciation and hopefully, he will enjoy reading my stories :)

Ladies and gentlemen, the ever cheerful Mr. Victor Chee!! 

Me, signing his copy :)

So for my next book talk, it will be in Penang! Details are as follow :

Date : Sunday, 8th Dec, 2013

Venue : Popular Bookfest 2013, Straits Quay Convention Centre, Penang

Time : 6pm.

Look forward to sharing my stories to all you folks up north!

See you all then!

Cheers

Coming soon....my first "overseas" book talk - Singapore!!!

Hi all,

I have some exciting news to share!!

I will be giving my first book talk in Singapore this coming November! After much "hassling" (for the past one year!), the kind people at MPH Singapore has finally agreed to arrange a book talk session for me. Yay!!

So for those who are in Singapore during my talk there, you are more than welcome to drop by MPH Parkway Parade on Saturday, November 30th 2013 from 2pm - 3pm.

Hope to see you there!!

Cheerios :)

POPULAR - The Star Readers' Choice Awards 2013 :)

Hi all,

A few months ago, I found out that my book was nominated for the Popular - The Star Readers' Choice Awards 2013 and I was pretty surprised! 

So today, the results have just been announced in a simple awards ceremony down in Kuala Lumpur. Congrats to the top 3 winners for this year's awards, namely Dr. Hjh Siti Hawa Mohd, Marina Mahathir and Lee Chong Wei  in the non fiction category :)

Wow, it was indeed an interesting event for me to attend and having the chance to mingle with some of the well known local authors and hear their stories like Dr. Siti (top winner in the non fiction category), Dina Zaman (top winner in the fiction category) and E.S. Shankar (3rd prize winner in the fiction category)

Although my book didn't get an award this round, just being nominated in the same category with some of these household names is rewarding enough for me.

Besides, there's always a next time!! :)

Congrats again to all the winners!

Cheers!

We just turned ONE!! :)

Hi all,

My book has just turned 1 year old today and we are only just starting!!

It has been a pretty amazing one year so far, lots of learnings but also lots of FUN!  Like an infant needing to  learn how to crawl first before he can walk then run (and then soar!), I guess my book has to go through the same kind of path as well !!

Thank you to all those who have bought my book since it was published last April and those who wrote back some really nice comments to me! I do hope that my book will continue to entertain lots more readers, near and far, from all ages, from different walks of life and from different nationalities, in the coming years!

Do drop by my site once in awhile for updates!

Time for me to go eat some yummy cake!! :)

Cheerio !!

Hot From The Press....Bicycle United Magazine, Thailand (BUMA) Issue #3!!

Bicycle United Magazine, Issue #3 :)

Hi there!

I just received the soft copy of the interview session with BUMA and they have given me an amazing coverage for my book! As this magazine is in English and Thai, they managed to use up most of the photos I sent to them :)

For the full story, just visit their website http://bicyclesunited.com/  and download the soft copy of their #3 issue. For my story, it starts from page 76 to 82  :)

Thank you Kris and your team for a wonderful job!

Cheers!!

First Malaysia, then Singapore and now, in Thailand!

 

 Bicycles United Magazine, Thailand

Hi there!!

Imagine my surprise when I received an email yesterday from the publisher of Bicycles United Magazine in Thailand, Kris Gomeze, saying that she has featured a short write up on my book in her February 2013 issue!

My book had caught her attention when she was at Changi Airport in Singapore :)

How amazing is this??

Her magazine is a free online bilingual magazine in English and in Thai as well as in print. The print version is distributed to bicycle shops, bicycle cafes, shopping malls, selected restaurants and shops in Bangkok....

To know more about her magazine, click on this link http://bicyclesunited.com/

And not only that, she was interviewed by Bangkok Post recently and she mentioned my book then and they featured my book cover in Bangkok Post!! haha....

Thank you, Kris! 

Needless to say, I'm pretty stoked....hope there will be more wonderful surprises coming my way !! :)

My book cover is in Bangkok Post!! ;)