Most frustrating experience with CIMB bank

Dear Mr. J,

I have submitted my request letter for home loan interest reduction more than 1 year ago. 

Ms. JJ said that I needed to submit the letter personally to your branch and that I can't send by email/fax.

So, I took leave and went to your branch and submitted the letter. A few months later, I called to check since I have not heard from her.

She said that she has LOST my letter!

Fine, so I made a trip to your branch and submitted the letter for the 2nd time.

A few months later, there was still no reply from her and I called again. She said that she needed two signatories for my request letter and I only had one in my letter. Apparently, she has FORGOTTEN to inform me.

Now, the FUNNY thing is that she said that I could submit by fax/email instead of coming personally to the branch. So I did that, and this is my 3rd submission, and you can see from my emails below that she has yet to reply me. Maybe she has FORGOTTEN again. 

Dear Mr. J, my interest reduction might have been approved 1 year ago if the officer is more competent. Do I have to bear 1 YEAR of interest differences due to your staff's negligence? Please advise.

Secondly, I asked Ms. JJ if my fire insurance charges has been waived and her reply is very inconsistent as you can see from the emails below. I wonder why she has to take so LONG for such as simple enquiry. I have also called her a many times on this.

I hope that you can help me on this. 

Thank you so much.

Regards,

Elle

*names have been changed

My Journey with 30-Hour Famine

I am finally back from my World Vision Famine Advocate study tour to India! It was really an eye-opening experience and I really couldn't wait to share the experience here!!! But please wait till my write ups are published on World Vision website yah? =P

This was the short article which I wrote when I apply for the role of Famine Advocate, I hope that it will give you more reasons to join the 30-Hour Famine. Here it goes: 

Five years ago, I signed up for the 30-Hour Famine camp without much idea of what I am going to experience. Little did I know that the experience is going to be "life-changing”. Being in the fasting mode which I have never done before, I was horrified as being hungry was so gruelling.

We started fasting early in the morning at the stadium. By the evening, my body had already become weak and so was my mind. Each minute seem like hours when my stomach was growling. Despite the hunger, everyone participated wholeheartedly in the activities and we were in such a high-spirit! Not only that it was a lot of fun but we’ve learnt so much about absolute poverty. There were also a lot of teary eyes as we finally empathized with the sufferings of living in hunger and poverty.

The most unforgettable experience was when we had to build a shelter from scrap materials such as newspaper and water bottles. We were to imagine that our house has been ruined from a disaster and we had to build a new one. We then had to squeeze in that little shelter which we built. The organisers even had the lights switched off and put on a commotion noise to make it more real and challenging! This was the closest that I can get to living in such horrible conditions.

As the night hits, I was shivering and had a terrible numbing headache, resulting from lack of food. How could I bear the thought of others especially children having to go through the same, maybe for most of their life!

As someone who always has sufficient basic needs, it’s only now that I could finally understand how precious basic needs are and how tormenting to be lack of it. From then on, I’ve vowed that I will make a difference for the needy by volunteering and other means.

(Due to words limit, I left out the interesting part like how I screamed my heart out when my Wang Lee Hom (30-Hour Famine Ambassador) appeared from the backstage (when I was volunteering), and how I get to rub shoulders with all the interesting people...hehe. This year I hope that Van Ness Wu or Henley Hii won't be getting a deaf ear from my scream.) 

Vanness Wu

Henley Hii

So, please sign up today ok? Go to: http://famine.worldvision.com.my/

Yes, we shall overcome hunger and poverty! 

I managed to dig out my old photos from the previous years 30-Hour Famine. 

2009
I know. Very blur photo because my phone camera wasn't very advanced then :P

Still 2009

Me and my buddy Shirley, we were in the security team. ;)

2012

 2008, with William, my favourite 30-Hour Famine MC.

Look who I found, he's Owen Yap, 8tv news presenter.

It was raining but everyone were still so upbeat!

That's all, for now.

Please please support by joining this year 30-Hour Famine, or you can also sign up as volunteer or you can  make a donation. 

https://www.worldvision.com.my/

My dream trip to Europe - France: Day 1 & 2

Visiting Europe is one of my life-long dream since more than a decade and it has been times (many times) when I wanted to go so much (on working-holiday) that I had arguments with my hubby. Well, now that I have been there, I have realised that going for holiday would be much better than staying there itself. :P

Well, well..after 10 years of wishing, I finally made it! So my life is already half complete now. The other half would be a baby and a bungalow. One can always wish right? (referring to the latter)  :P

Air France's meal did not disappoint! Here's our dinner - rice with fish and brocolli, mushroom salad, red & white wine, cheese, bread, chocolate cake and fruits.

Breakfast was very pleasing too - hams & cheese, buns, meiji yoghurt, fruits and juice.

Paris, France (4 days)

After about 17 hours of flight + transit, we touched down at 6:10am, checked in the hotel, had a quick breakfast and headed to our first destination which is the Louvre.

Haha..our first meal in Paris - the Vietnamese's pho. Yum, it was good.

This is the restaurant. Chamroeun has seriously good Vietnamese and Chinese food. In fact, we had 3 meals here. 

Day 1: The Louvre

Note: All photos in this post could not justify the beauty and magnificence of the structures as compare to seeing it with your own eyes.

The glass pyramid of Louvre which serves as the visitor's entrance

Inside the glass pyramid. 

The super long queue for entrance ticket. 

Louvre has two wings which are connected to each other and this photo was taken from the other wing, that's how big Louvre is.

I would never expect a museum to this big and interesting and I was "severely" enchanted by their very beautiful sculptures, paintings and decorative arts.

The crowd at Louvre. Can you spot Mona Lisa on the far right?

The most famous painting in world, Mona Lisa by Leonard da Vinci  behind bullet proof glass. She was the reason why I wanted to visit the Louvre. After seeing the masterpiece, I still have  no idea why she is so famous and  that everyone was squeezing in to take her photos including myself. I think I have squeezed for about 15 mins or so before getting to the first line. Haha

My favourite section of the museum, the decorative arts.

After Louvre, we adjourned to the Christmas market.

Christmas market at La Defense
It's sort of like our flea market but in little huts

The Grand Arche, a famous landmark which is just next to the Christmas market

Food at the Christmas market

Went to a mall nearby and tried this big macaron with ice-cream.

So, that's our first day.

Day 2: Disneyland, Paris

Seriously, if I am only limited to visiting Disneyland, the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower for this trip, I would be satisfied already.

The Sleeping Beauty castle

Some ladies get super excited when they see the latest LV collections, I get super excited when I see the Disney's mascots! I actually teared when I saw Mickey & friends during the parade. I really have no idea why I am so emotional with the mascots. Lol, and as if I am crazy, I really think that Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story looks so strikingly handsome in person mascot. When he looked at my way and waved, I think I melted. *true story.

The charade

My new crush - Buzz Lightyear!

Duffy!

My favourite thing to do in Disney is trying on hats

Haha..the funniest hat ever

The carousel which is everyone's favourite and I got the biggest horse. Hehe. 

The very eerie Phantom Manor

Tower of Terror whereby they have this escalator that travel up and down at neck-breaking speed. When it reaches to the top,  it will open up to the great view of Disneyland. However, I was so terrified and I don't think I can enjoy the view in such a way.

The giant christmas tree. It's Disneyland Paris 20th anniversary!

Well, that sum up our 2nd day which we spent entirely at Disneyland. =)