It’s not everyday that you meet nice people clubbing, or have decent conversations with them that lead anywhere and not everyday that you then get invited to an event, and get free goodies, free skincare products, and free lunch all in the same day!

…but that happened recently! Thanks to Kengyew of SocialWalk.com, fellow dotcom entrepreneur who introduced me to the lovely girls below:

From left: Josh Lim (Advertlets.com), Arina Kok, Kengyew Tham (of SocialWalk.com), Elena Hong. This was at Phuture, Zouk.

Turns out that Elena has a pretty interesting day job - she manages marketing for Che Che New York. I remember commenting on her bag when I met her (it was pretty cute, it had this HUGE flower on it), and she told me that she actually works on marketing and promotions for the brand! So she invited me to come by with bloggers to the launch of the Che Che New York x Hello Kitty collection at Mid Valley…

So I went with Hanie, Rebecca, Jeremy and his friend (will get her URL in a bit)…

(Photos mainly by Jeremy, with some from Che Che New York’s PR department)

The storefront.

Below: Elena giving her opening speech to the members of the media. Poor thing, she was rather nervous beforehand, as apparently her GM was supposed to speak, not her. But she did very well indeed, with an erudite and well-delivered opening talk. English also very powderful. She used some words I don’t normally use in daily conversation.

Notice how her dress matches the backdrop very well. She has a pretty infectious smile. I’m still trying to figure out who she reminds me of.

Since it was a Hello Kitty branded product launch, we found that it was necessary to act cute. Here’s my try:

Here’s my try. Hanie has all ten fingers up, not just two, so she wins the act cute contest.

It’s a Hello Kitty coin purse!

A close up of some of the Hello Kitty x Che Che New York collection…

And more…

Some of the celebrities who were there at the event…

Celebs with their bags.

This is the only pic you’ll ever see of me with a Hello Kitty bag:

Here’s a pic of me and Yasmin Hani Richardson - we first met years ago at Sazzy Falak’s birthday party years ago and it was nice seeing here there. I like this shot - we both look good here.

Above is a picture of Leonard (who works on Business Development with Che Che New York and other companies with the group) with the celebrities. He has a blog too. Leonard has what you might call a dream job - he gets to test drive lots of imported cars, and owns a Nissan GTR), and general fun stuff! Had a good time talking to him about cars, and looking forward to him arranging some exotic test drives. And yes, I’ll blog about it here when that happens.

Must say that Jeremy Choy takes very nice photos. Here’s some portraits he took of the awesome girls I’m lucky to work with everyday, Rebecca and Hanie. They help me with arranging events for bloggers, as well as advertising sales. Remember to check out their blogs, they are dedicated bloggers that update pretty often (We at Advertlets make sure we set aside some time to blog).

Anyway, after the launch and a chat with the owner of Che Che in Malaysia, we went down to Himalaya Herbals store a floor down…(apparently they also own the rights to Himalaya Herbals in Malaysia as well!)

There we learnt a few things. The brand manager described this as his favourite product - ever used grey toothpaste? Himalaya Herbals has this Dental Cream that is pretty natural, the grey color is due to the fact that no bleaching agents are used, which is apparently better for your teeth as it is more natural.

We spent a few minutes there, and we learnt about the benefits of the Neem plant (they had one in-store). I even ate one of the leaves after recommendation from the brand manager (yes, you can). It’s meant to freshen breath, but it’s an acquired taste la. It’s a pretty impressive plant - you can use it as toothpaste, to clear acne, to repel mosquitoes…and as a spermicide. I’m not making this up!

From Wikipedia: “In India, the tree is variously known as “Divine Tree,” “Heal All,” “Nature’s Drugstore,” “Village Pharmacy” and “Panacea for all diseases.” Products made from neem have proven medicinal properties, being anthelmintic, antifungal, antidiabetic, antibacterial, antiviral, anti-fertility, and sedative. It is considered a major component in Ayurvedic  medicine and is particularly prescribed for skin disease.”

I must especially thank the staff - not only did they give us all of us personalized recommendations based on our skin condition, they also gave us free products for us to try!

Jeremy (bboyrice) enjoyed the days events so far, and remarked that he learnt a lot. He also learnt something else - somewhere in between, we found the time to help Jeremy discover his natural beauty as well. This guy has eyelashes that would make some girls jealous. So pretty right?

After that we headed down to Warung Cafe, also part of the group. The food served there can best be described as Malay food. It’s kind of like the Malay version of Old Town White Coffee.

This is one of their specialties - I think it’s called Nasi Gulung, a variant of Nasi Lemak. It’s an interesting mix of Indonesian and Malay recipes - apparently the proprietor travels a bit, and combined recipes. It’s served rolled up, like a cone, and then you open it up and it has various layers of ikan bilis, sambal and lard rice.

Here’s a close up of some of the food - basically local favourites. Reasonably priced - you can have a full meal with a drink for less than RM15.Most menu items (if not all the dishes) are under RM9, and drinks are RM2-RM4.

It’s pretty filling - most dishes are quite carb-based (eg bread or rice), and portions are good without being too much. If you work around Mid Valley it’s a pretty good place for lunch.

Nice variety of drinks…kopi, air bandung, teh tiga lapis, barley…

Thanks again to the staff and management of Che Che New York, Himalaya Herbals & Warung Cafe! We had a great day. And of course, thanks again to Elena for arranging this!

PS: Elena Hong, you need to start blogging VERY SOON!