My CD Journey (Part 24-C) - My 2nd Overseas CD Gathering, Miss Y Studio 2024 CrossDressers Year End Gathering [Day 3]

Continuing from my previous post, by the time I headed to bed after cleaning up my make-up and packing CD stuff, it was close to 2am. I tried to get some sleep knowing that today is going to be another long day as I would make the journey back to Singapore. Somehow, I cannot seem to be able to get to sleep. It is not a sense of excitement but more of a sense of unwillingness for this event to end. Slowly, I drifted into dreamland. 

Been a light sleeper coupled with a full mind, I was awaken at around 4am when Micky came back. Seeing that she was back to the villa safely, I then continued to head back with my sleep. I guess this is the part where my sleep enters the REM zone as Jace left around 5am but I did not realised it. I was hoping to be able to bid her farewell but I must have completely knock out when I headed back to bed the 2nd time round.

My normal alarm sounded at 5:45am and i tried snoozing until 6am before I get out of bed. Usually at this time, MSR should be awake but I did not see her around, so that meant that she was not up yet. Since I could not sleep anymore, I decided to do some area clearing and packing up so that we will have an easier time before we check out and return the villa later. 

After I cleaned and finished the chores, I decided to just have a coffee and chill in the patio, watching over the seaside. Not long after, MSR was awake and she joined me for coffee and we both started to chat, enjoying the last few moment of the event before the returning of the villa, much just like last year. 

Not long after, Joyce came with MacDonald breakfast for all of us. We started to get the rest of those who are still sleeping to wake up and have breakfast before they started to pack for the return trip also. Much of what was brought from Miss Y Studio to the villa was put back into Joyce's car last night before she went back, so there were fewer things to pack this time round. 

Last night before Joyce left us for the night, she actually gave each of us a farewell gift that she specially prepared for us. I know that she wanted to give this to us on the last day (which is today) but because Jace has to leave early this morning, so Joyce decided to give the farewell gift last night instead. The farewell gift was a hand-written note of appreciation for the support over the years and also thanking us for signing up for this CD gathering. Of course, she also added her personal note for each of us. Besides the thank you note, Joyce also prepared small blocks of special handmade soap from Mama Lim. These soaps each has some special properties, you can check out Mama Lim's website for more information (they are written in Mandarin though).

By 10:30am, all of us were packed and ready for our return trip, we started to load our luggage into the cars. For the Singapore group, I arranged the transport allocation as there were six of us now instead of the initial five who made the trip on Friday morning. So the plan was to have Felicity and Katie in my car while Rachel will take Amanda and Ashe. At around 11am, Joyce called the villa owner to take over the villa as we cleared out from the place. After checking that there is no damage, the villa owner give us the green light to go ahead. Joyce returned the deposit that we put in for the villa in case there is any damage that might incur during our stay.

And with a heavy heart, we bid farewell and set off for our return trip. WeiEr drove out first and parked by the side while the rest of us drove by her, she waved goodbye to us all. That is really sweet of her. I guess she is also like me, could not bear that the CD gathering is over so soon.

Trip back to Singapore

The first checkpoint that I set was at R&R Pagoh, which is less than an hour drive from Melaka. I sent the location to Rachel and both of set off to meet there. Everything was well, we were on schedule and making good time as the road is relatively clear. 

However, when we were at R&R Pagoh, Rachel’s car are got hit by a reversing car. Thankful everyone in that car was okay, just that her car got a dent by the side. Apparently, the driver of the other car refused to pay and claim that it was a small issue. But a hit is a hit, what more was that the driver reversed without checking the rear mirror or blind spot. So, that driver said to meet him at the next toll. I doubt that this matter can be settled today, so I told Rachel to settle for either to have them pay around RM200 (that is really the least I can think of) or to arrange for a day, drive into JB, repair the car and have the driver to pay for the repair cost.

Not wanting to delay sending both Felicity and Katie back, I decide not to follow Rachel. This is where both groups parted and split up. Too bad my car cannot fetch anymore people because of luggage and passenger space limitation. If not, I would not mind fetching both Amanda and Ashe back so that Rachel can focus on settling the car issue today…

At around 2pm, we reached the next and final rest stop, which was the petrol kiosk before the last toll towards Tuas 2nd link. I did one last petrol top-up and the three of us proceeded on with the border crossing. The traffic was not as heavy as compared to last year when we attended the gathering. Maybe because the CD gathering last year was held in December and this year was held earlier. 

When we reached back in Singapore, it was around 2:50pm. Since the three of us did not managed to get any lunch, we decided to go to a hawker centre for a quick bite before I send both Felicity and Katie back home. But before that, we messaged Rachel’s group to ensure that they were also back in Singapore safely. The driver who reversed onto Rachel’s car said to have the car repaired in JB and they will pay for the repair, the issue is that Rachel will have to drive in and leave the car there. At least, there is some form of settlement for that issue. And with that, we concluded our Miss Y Studio 2024 CD Gathering. 

Post-event Reflection   

For me, after sending those in my car back, instead of going home. I decided to head to my lair to return all my CD stores. While in the midst of unpacking from my luggage and putting the things back to their respective place, a sudden feeling of sadness and loneliness engulfed me. I guess it just strike me that I might not be able to attend the CD gathering next year due to a change in my work and family commitment… Knowing that the CD gathering that just passed could be my last time I am seeing that group of friends, both old and new, and the uncertain fate of Francesca’s future… Tears rolled down my cheek uncontrollably, I cried my heart out at that moment. It has been long since I have such strong emotion reaction. I guess I really needed to let it all out… I will probably write more about my predicament for my 2024 reflection, but let us get on with my post-event thoughts and reflection.

Overall, I feel that the CD gathering this year has been quite successful and enjoyable despite things did not go according to what Joyce initially planned. The initial plan for the event day (Saturday) was for us to dress up and head out to have dinner in a restaurant around the outskirt of Melaka Raya area. In fact, Joyce did secure the dinner restaurant way ahead of time, confirming that the restaurant is fine to cater for a group of CrossDressers like us. Unfortunately, the restaurant ceased operation a month before the CD gathering. So Joyce got no choice but to revert the dinner plan back to buffet style in the villa. 

Sometime, when it rains, it pours… The buffet caterer who took up Joyce’s request was sick days before the CD gathering, so Joyce got to scramble and look for another buffet caterer. Thankfully she managed to settle for one just a couple of days before the CD gathering. It is definitely not easy to organise for this event even though Joyce had the experience from last year inaugural CD gathering. 

What seems to be just a small gathering (for 13 pax) but there were so much work to be done. From the planning phase which happened almost immediately after last year's CD gathering, to liaising with the villa owner to secure the venue, to sourcing for a CD friendly restaurant (even though that never come to fruition), to time factor consideration for Make-Up, asking for MUAs who were willing to help CDs do make-up, to publicity for this event, filtering through the list of CDs who registered their interest, to allocation of rooms to the CDs sisters, taking into consideration each of our nature and character, to solving issues that crop up last minute e.g. the buffet caterer who was sick and so on. All these were happening behind the scene even before the actual event, which lasted 3 days 2 nights. 

And on the actual day, like I mentioned in the previous post, Joyce had to wear the hats of been a MUA, a photographer and a facilitator. From planning to execution, Joyce was handing it alone. It is definitely not easy. I really appreciate the hard work she put in to host this gathering because it meant a lot to the CD sisters who had attended. It was a good catch-up session for the familiar faces, a platform for new faces to mingle and get to know other CDs. The sharing session also helped to give assurance to some of the CDs that what they have gone through or what they are facing now, they are not alone as some had gone down a similar path or are also facing the same situation now.

Anyway, back to the reflection. The villa is as per last year’s location, just that it was the biggest villa along that same stretch, located right at the end of the whole block. That allows for more car parking this time round. The front porch can house up to 3 cars parked side by side and since it is at the end of the block, some of the cars can park outside without affecting the traffic along that stretch. The seaside beach is just at the backyard of the villa, accessible with a backdoor. Really love the villa, really suitable for big group gathering or family. However, having said that, the private and quiet location of the villa also comes with a trade-off. I will describe more in the food segment. 

In terms of programme wise, I guess some of the CD sisters might be slightly disappointed as there is no dress out dining experience but I get the feel that most of us are actually quite okay not to have that segment. For the phototaking part, the villa this time round does not have the nice backdrop as compared to the one last year where there is a nice ornament structure in the backyard. Coupled with the fact that this is the rainy season, the photography session has to be done indoors instead. That really limits the photographer’s creativity in terms of composition for portraiture shots. However, Joyce still did her best to deliver.

For food wise, the catered buffet spread for the event day (Saturday) dinner was good. No more chucky pieces of meat so that we can eat in peace without having to worry about ruining our make-up. Good thing that Joyce ordered mainly finger food and she also requested for the curry chicken to be deboned and together with the potatoes, diced to be more bite size for easy consumption. Even though Joyce also provided MacDonald breakfast on the check-out morning (Sunday), we also need to consider about the prior event day food arrangement, e.g. Friday’s dinner and Saturday’s breakfast and lunch. 

As the early villa check-in arrangement was not part of the event, the arrangement for food will be up to the participants themselves. This was already made known to the participants way ahead of the CD gathering. As mentioned above, the villa was located in a quiet vicinity near the seaside, the supermarket nearby was not 24 hours and there was only 2 eateries around and they do not serve breakfast. Ordering Grabfood or Foodpanda does pose a challenge due to the “ulu” (remote) location, some of the CD sisters tried ordering pizzas on Friday night and they almost did not get their order. This is no one’s fault. Some of us brought snacks like prawn crackers, potatoes chips and cup noodles, but those are not really a decent meal. Maybe we should have gotten some frozen food or those easy heat up meals and store in the refrigerator to cater for this. Likewise, some of the CD sisters like beers, we should have gotten them when we were at Melaka Raya area.    

For the game segment, it was designed as an ice-breaker and also for CD sisters who were present that day to remember each other’s name. It was short but definitely fun as there were laughter all around. As for the sharing segment, it is always my favourite because we get to hear about each of our journey and struggle along this CD journey. However, maybe because the group was too big, there was an occasion when one CD was doing the sharing and some side conversation was happening also. Again, this is fault of no one. Sometime, when we hear something that we have an opinion, some tend to interject or share her view with someone close by. Maybe some ground rules should be set during the sharing session, e.g. when someone is speaking, all ears, all eyes and one heart to show respect to the person speaking. Hold back judgement and opinion until that person has finished speaking or sharing. However, maybe due to the familiarity of some of the participants, some would have heard the similar sharing or encounter before, so it is quite easy for them to forget about the basic courtesy in the art of conversion. That been said, it does not make the sharing session any less interesting or compelling. In fact, hearing some of the stories, it really touches my heart as I empathised with some of their experiences because we shared similar encounter, e.g. been found out by family members about our CD likings at a young age…

Overall, this CD gathering experience was still very pleasant, fun and memorable, it really left a void inside each of us knowing that the event ended in the blink of an eye. I know that Joyce really wanted to speak to each and every one of us personally but due to the sheer number of those who participated in this year gathering, she was unable to do it. But still, all of us had fun and enjoyed the CD gathering on the whole. We met some new faces, foster new bonds, catch-up with familiar faces and enjoying each other’s company within this short span of 3 days 2 nights.      

My heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Joyce for organising this CD gathering, I understand the amount of stress she has to face, the toll on her body on the actual day where she worked tirelessly for more than 12 hours. To me, this CD gathering is lovely and could not have been any better. Really a job well done Joyce, your careful planning and consideration for every details, filtering and ensuring those who joined this CD gathering can gel together. You really put in tremendous amount of hardwork and heartwork. Rest assured that I will always support you and your work. Thank you so much.

Next, I will like to express my thanks to the other two MUAs, Yaya and Jeslyn for the make-up. Even though I never tried make-up by Jeslyn before but seeing her make-up on other CD sisters, I could see the effort she put in. For Yaya, thank you for my make-up and also answering to my endless queries during the make-up session. I really hope to up my make-up skill after getting some tips from you. 

Next, my heartfelt thanks to MSR for sharing the cost for the extra one day of the villa stay. This really make things so much easier for all of us, especially the Singapore group as we do not need to worry about hotel stay and so on. Also, I always enjoy those morning where we just sat down, have our morning beverages and catch up and just talk about anything under the sun.

Last but not least, to all those CD sisters who took the time and effort and make the trip down to Melaka to attend this CD gathering, without your presence, this gathering will not be so engaging and enriching. Going to miss the time we shared over those 3 days 2 nights, it has been really great seeing, meeting and knowing all of you. And with that, this end my blog post update for my 2nd CD gathering organised by Miss Y Studio. Cheers. 

My CD Journey (Part 24-B) - My 2nd Overseas CD Gathering, Miss Y Studio 2024 CrossDressers Year End Gathering [Day 2]

Day 2 of the CD gathering started quite early as a few of us, e.g. MSR, WeiEr, Jace, Abby, Katie, Rachel and myself were already awake by 7am. We discussed if we should head out for breakfast. Some decided not to go out as their make-up timing was scheduled around 8:30am to 9am and it will be quite tight for them. The rest of us decided to head out for breakfast as we feel that we should have ample time. Jace volunteered to drive us out as she is also driving a 7-seater car. Based on Joyce’s recommendation, we drove to Melaka Raya area to get breakfast. However, when on the way to the breakfast, Joyce messaged us saying that one of the Make-Up Artist (MUA) Yaya will be there at the villa by 8:15am. When I checked the schedule, I realised that the 3 of us who was arranged to have the make-up done by Yaya were all on the car out for breakfast. Not wanting to affect the make-up schedule, we decided to buy back breakfast instead of having it outside and we arranged for Micky to have her make-up done first.

Make-up session

Since there were so many participants (13 of us) for this CD gathering, Joyce arranged to have a total of three Make-Up Artists (Yaya, Jeslyn and also Joyce herself) to do the make-up. Each MUA will have around four CD sisters under their care. That can speed things up as doing make-up for each of us can easily take up to 1.5 hour to 2 hours per person. Three make-up stations manned by the various MUA and were setup side-by-side. Once the make-up was done for anyone of the CD, the next CD who was scheduled was already on standby to minimize downtime for each station. The list of CDs and their Make-up artists are as listed.

Yaya 

• Micky Micky 
• Rachel Meng 
• Jace Jace 
• Francesca Koh 

Jeslyn 

• WeiEr 
• Katie Shaya 
• Abby
• Felicity
• Ashe

Joyce

• MSR
• June
• Amanda
• HuiYi

I was arranged to have my make-up done up by Yaya. The make-up that she used for my face as base is quite light, much of the emphasis was placed on the eye part where she used eye shadow, eyeliner, two layers of fake eye lashes and also double eyelid tape. Throughout the make-up session, I was asking Yaya about why she does certain things so that I can try it next time when I CrossDress. After my make-up was done, I proceed on to my bedroom to get change.

Traditional Costume Theme   

The theme for this year CD gathering is traditional costume. This theme came about because we felt that if every year the theme is confined to evening gowns, then there is no creativity or novelty. However, having said that, there is a limit to the amount of traditional costumes that Joyce has in her studio. That been said, we were informed of the theme way ahead so that we can plan what we wanted to wear as traditional costume or we can search inside our stash what we have that can considered as traditional costume.

For me, I decided to wear a black cheongsam as my traditional costume, I also brought along a set of SIA sarong kebaya as a backup in case. MSR initially wore cheongsam but seeing that quite a lot of us are wearing cheongsams, she decided to change hers into a set of Nyoya Kebaya instead. WeiEr worn a set of RuQuan (襦裙), which was a type of costume worn by women during the Tang dynasty and that really stands out. The rest of us decided to be more “conservative”, so most of us worn cheongsam as our traditional costume. There was option of wearing HanFu but too bad I did not managed to get it during the recent 11.11 sales… 

Just realised that I did not managed to do a full body shot of my black cheongsam but seeing my selfie below, you can see what I was wearing. 

Individual Photoshoot Session

By around late noon, at around 3pm or so, the make-up for all the participants were done. Really tough of the MUAs, a great job well accomplished. Once the make-up was done, all the CD sisters were busy taking selfies and wefies with one another, really quite a fun session. 

After a short break, Joyce proceeded on with the individual photoshoot session for each of us in our traditional costume. I am really looking forward to share the individual photoshoot photo once it is done. 

While the photoshoot was still in session, at around 6pm, dinner arrived. Joyce arranged for caterers to have a small buffet spread for us. Learning from the experience last year, she indicated to the caterer not to have big pieces of food e.g. large pieces of curry chicken, but more of bite-sized items or finger food so that it is easier for us to eat without spoiling our make-up… You can see the fabulous spread of food from the photos.

Bonding Game and “Pillow-Talk” Session

After my photoshoot session was done, I decided to do a change of clothes to a one piece dress suit. This one piece dress was quite similar to the one that I wore last year, just that it is white in colour instead and the jacket is ¾ sleeve instead of a full sleeve.  

At around 6:30pm to 7pm, Joyce was done with all the individual photoshoot. She continued on with a quick shower and went on with a quick change into a Nyonya Kebaya to get ready for her last two parts of the activities for today, which is the bonding game and personal sharing session.

The bonding game was designed so that the CrossDressers who took part in the CD gathering can get to know each other by their names. Each of the CDs (with Joyce as the game master included) took part in this game. The game starts with the first person calling out their own name, then come with a certain action or gesture, then point to the next person. That person appointed will have to say the name of the previous person, repeat the action/gesture of that previous person had shown, say out her own name, comes up with her own action/gesture, then point to the next person. The third person appointed in line, will repeat the name and gesture of the 1st person followed by 2nd person, then say out her own name and comes up with her own action/gesture then she will point to the next person and so on and so forth. All the action or gesture must be unique and non-repeated. This will continue until the last person. Luckily, there is no forfeit or punishment for this game as it is more for us to bond. When someone forgets the name or action, the rest will try to help her to remember. It is quite a fun and exciting game as it is like a brain teaser and a test of memory. 

After the game session, it is time for the “pillow-talk” segment where we began to share about our crossdressing journey, how we began crossdressing and so on. This sharing session is really soul-baring as we revealed our inner most secrets and feelings and also the intimate details about how we started crossdressing and so on. As the sharing goes, I realised that most of us started with either a lingerie, or clothing, or even make-up from our mothers, sisters, cousins or even aunties. The sharing session does touched the sensitive part of our inner emotion or hidden memories. I can sense and hear from the voice of some of those who were sharing that they were trying hard to control their emotion so that they would not break down during the sharing. 

I do empathise with the hurt and pain, that feeling of guilt and shame that engulfed them as they shared about their sad experience and sorrowful encounters. That stigma that our society casted upon the CrossDresser community, the degradation with those piercing and judging eyes that despise us crossdressers, branding us like lesser human or someone with a mental disorder, the suffering and agony that we faced. That is why quite a lot of us chose to keep our CrossDressing likings, “hobbies” or secret from others. It is really a deep session as we all get to understand each other, our beginning and our struggles as we uncover and reveal our most private thoughts, feelings and memories.

After the sharing, it is was around 10:30pm or so. It is quite late already and Joyce has to take her leave to go back home. It is really a tiring day for her as she has to wake up early, go and get some light breakfast for us, then come to the villa and do make-up since 8:30am in the morning. She continued on with the photoshoot in the afternoon and then facilitated the game and sharing session at the end of the day. She really stretched herself, not just doubling up, but tripling up as the Make-Up Artist, the Photographer and also Facilitator, all by herself. It is really not easy and tough on her but she still push it through. Words cannot expressed how much all of us were appreciative of what she did and put in to make this gathering so successful.

End-of-Event

After Joyce left, some of the participants contemplated if they should head out for another drinking session. Jace has to leave early on Sunday morning as she got something on back home, so she decided to rest early. Felicity was not feeling too well because she had an eye infection, so she also decided to rest for the night. Only Micky decided to head out for the night. WeiEr decided to just chill and watch TV at Level 1 while the rest of us decided to go up to the entertainment room at Level 3 for a Karaoke and dice-playing session.

We opened up three bottles of red wine that Joyce bought for this gathering and we had a toss while enjoying each other’s’ company before the night ends. Some were enjoying a game of dice, Katie was busy doing her manga drawing while the rest of us just chill and relax, enjoying the music from the Karaoke system and chit chatting. It is really an enjoyable and memorable moment. 

Before the night ended, I decided to do a last change up to the black sleep gown that I brought with me and took some selfies before calling it a night. With a heavy heart, I changed back to my male clothing and started packing as we will be checking out of the villa by 11am tomorrow morning and head back home to Singapore. After packing, I removed my make-up and clean my face before heading to bed. It has been a long day for all of us, I believe that all of us had enjoyed ourselves and this has been a memorable gathering like last year. Good times always passes by so quickly, before we know it, the event has come to an end… Cannot bear the fact that today has ended and tomorrow is where we bid farewell to each other… 😢

My CD Journey (Part 24-A) - My 2nd Overseas CD Gathering, Miss Y Studio 2024 CrossDressers Year End Gathering [Day 1]

You read it right, it is Part 24 of "My CD Journey". I decided to write and complete Part 24 first before releasing Part 23 even though I had started work on that piece. I will publish Part 23 in due time because of the nature of the event.

Anyway, this blog post is to share about my recent experience for my 2nd overseas CD gathering. I was really much looking forward to Miss Y Studio 2024 CrossDressers Year End Gathering ever since I attended the first overseas gathering organised by her last year. You can read all about it here. The gathering this year is a 3 days 2 nights arrangement (spread over Friday to Sunday) instead of 2 days 1 night (Saturday and Sunday) and the venue for this gathering is at the same location as last year but we are getting a much bigger villa this time. Last year, the villa can housed up to 8 pax but this year, the organiser Miss Y decided to get a bigger villa to allow for more new participants, in fact, up to 13 pax. 

The 3 days 2 nights arrangement was made because based on last year experience, the check-in time for the villa was around 3 to 4pm, by then we would not get to enjoy the villa much. The other reason is, the participants for this CD gathering are both from Singapore and all parts of Malaysia, most of which, do not live in Melaka and that will take some travelling time. Some of the CDs might want to come a day earlier (Friday instead of Saturday) and they will have to stay in hotel, that will incur additional cost. So having all these considerations, we decided to have a 3 days 2 nights arrangement instead.

Out of the 13 participants, 7 (including me) attended last year gathering, so there are a total of 6 new CD sisters who joined this year gathering. Last year, only Katie and myself are from Singapore. This year, 6 (including me) were from Singapore while the rest are from parts of Malaysia. Here are the list of participants:

• MSR (from Malaysia, 2nd time attending)
• June (from Malaysia, 2nd time attending)
• WeiEr (from Malaysia, 2nd time attending)
• HuiYi (from Malaysia, 2nd time attending)
• Micky (from Malaysia, 2nd time attending)
• Katie (from Singapore, 2nd time attending)
• Francesca (from Singapore, 2nd time attending)
• Jace (from Malaysia, 1st time attending)
• Abby (from Malaysia, 1st time attending)
• Rachel (from Singapore, 1st time attending)
• Felicity (from Singapore, 1st time attending)
• Amanda (from Singapore, 1st time attending)
• Ashe (from Singapore, 1st time attending)

This is quite a good mix of participants from both Malaysia and Singapore and also familiar and new faces for this event.

Preparation

As usual, the preparatory work for me, started one month before the event date, which is on 22nd November. I sent my car for servicing in order to make sure my car does not breakdown halfway as having a car breakdown in a foreign land is always quite stressful. Next, I went for my pedicure and manicure sessions to get my nails smoothen out to avoid ruining my delicate female wears. And of course, I went for hair removal using Smoovee Skin services, mainly to remove hair from my legs, under arm, boyzillian and my whole beard area. I also started to pack my luggage that I am bringing a week before the trip. 

Since the Singapore group is quite big, I also started a telegram with them to coordinate the trip up North to Melaka. Luckily, besides myself, I still got one more driver Rachel who was driving up also. Hence we split the 6 participants into 2 cars. That gave us comfortable space to sit for the long journey and also enough space to house the luggage that we will be carrying.

Travel Up North

Coordination to travel up was done mainly using Telegram group chat where the respective drivers got the addresses of those CD sisters they are supposed to pick up and arranged for the pickup time. Both Rachel and myself rendezvous early morning around 6:30am at a checkpoint in Singapore around the West side after we picked up all those CD sisters under our care. However, one of the CD sisters Amanda was not able to join us as she got last minute work commitment to attend to. However, she made arrangement to travel by coach once she is done with work.

After we met up at the rendezvous point and doing a quick intro to each other, we proceed to do our border crossing using the Tuas 2nd link. Thankfully, the traffic was quite smooth that morning as there is not much of a jam. The next checkpoint that I planned was at Yong Peng Bus Terminal, we reached there around 8:45am or so. Yong Peng Bus Terminal was chosen because it was around the midpoint between Singapore and Melaka, it is a good place for a bio-break and also grab a quick bite. After stopping over for 40 minutes of rest, we proceeded on to continue our journey up to Melaka.

Our next stop was Melaka Raya. Since we are early and Joyce is only opening up her studio around afternoon. I planned for the Singapore group to go to Melaka Raya to have lunch and also to walk around. As usual, I chose the Noble Resort Hotel Melaka as my stop because that area has lots of eateries around and it is quite near to a few shopping malls around e.g. Dataran Pahlawan Melaka MegaMall and Mahkato Parade Shopping Mall. We reached Melaka Raya around 11am but it was still too early for lunch, so the five of us went over Mahkato Parade Shopping Mall to shop around.

I checked the Facebook Messenger group to see the updates from the other CDs who are attending the gathering, to see their progress and whereabout (this group was set up by Miss Y Studio). I saw that Micky is in Melaka already and was looking for lunch. So I asked her to meet us around Noble Resort Hotel Melaka so that we can have Bak Ku Teh together. When we met Micky at the Bak Ku Teh store, I was quite surprised that she had already dressed up in CD mode and rode a bike to meet us. I was quite impressed.

After lunch, I need to go to Jonker Street to run some errands. However, I do not feel that it is fair that the rest of the Singapore CD sisters to wait for me, so I told them to proceed on to Miss Y Studio using Rachel’s car first while I rush down to Jonker Street to settle what I need to do. Once done, I rushed down to Miss Y studio around 3pm and quite a few of the CD sisters had arrived, e.g. Jace, Abby, June, HuiYi and MSR. The whole studio was bustling with activities as one of the sisters tried out a wedding gown while others see what to bring to the villa. 

Around 3:30pm or so, we started to help Joyce to move some of the stuffs into those cars that are going over to the villa and off we go. 

The Villa

At around 4pm, we reached the villa, WeiEr was already there waiting for us. The villa we are staying in is the Sunset Villa Malacca located around Alai Crystal Bay. The villa is Balinese style with three floors and five bedrooms, which is suited 13 pax 

• Level 1 has 1 room with 1 king sized bedrooms. (with attached bathroom) and a super single room (with attached bathroom)
• Level 2 has 2 rooms with 2 kings size bed in a bedroom. (with attached bathroom) and 1 room with 1 king size bedroom (with attached bathroom)
• Level 3 is Entertainment Karaoke room with 1 bathroom and a big balcony with sea view. 

You can see the pictures attached to get a feel of how the villa is like.

After we check-in to the villa, we went to our respective rooms which was allocated to us by Miss Y and settle our luggage. There is no real programme planned for Day 1 because it was more to allow the CD sisters to gather so that we do not need to rush down and also to cater for last minute situation. So, we spend the time to get to know the newcomers and also to catch-up especially for those “old-timers”. In order not to make Day 1 so empty, Joyce actually proposed to teach us make-up. MSR, HuiYi and myself took part for the make-up session while a few of them just watched on, the rest decided to just chill and rest in their rooms as most of us have to wake up very early this morning in order to make the trip down for this gathering. After the make-up session, I actually did quite a simple dress up in my office wear attire, just a simple long sleeved shirt and pencil skirt outfit.

Micky reached the villa around evening time, Joyce also left around that time. All the participants for the gathering has arrived at the villa except for Amanda. Since there was no programme planned for that night, 7 of the CD sisters decided to head out to the local pub and have a drink. They took a 7 seater car out while the rest (including me) decided to just chill and stay to enjoy the comfort of the villa. As it has been a long day of travelling for quite a few of the participants, most of them decided to sleep early while WeiEr and myself were in the living room watching television and talking about Chinese history, which is our favourite topic. We both chatted until around 12am or so and we decided to call it a night. I went to dress down and clear my make-up. It really took me a while to clean up everything. 

By the time I was done, it was close to 1am. At the same time, those who went to the pub also reached back to the villa. Not long after, Amanda, who took the coach from Singapore, has also arrived at the villa around that timing. Finally, all the participants for the gathering has arrived. After helping Amanda to settle in, some of us stay on to chit chat until 2am before heading to bed. All of us are tired but we are all excited for what lies around later today (technically, it is Day 2 already, haha…).

My CD Journey (Part 22-B) - Solo Drive Trip Up to Melaka [3rd Visit to Miss Y Studio - Day 2 and 3]

Saturday (Day 2)

Woke up early and drove down to the studio at around 10am to meet Joyce for breakfast. We went to a coffeeshop nearby the studio (driving distance) before we started today’s photoshoot session. For me, I have chosen the white jacket and emerald colour one piece dress as the outfit that I wanted to shoot because I have been wanting to see how I look. Back during the CD gathering last year, I wore that same outfit and other CDs commented that I looked like a female CEO. That piqued my interest to see how it will look in an actual studio shoot. That is why I chosen this outfit. As for the other outfit, I seriously got nothing in mind initially and was open to Joyce for suggestions. 

So after I dressed up in my first outfit, Joyce began to do makeup for me. As she did that, I was recalling the steps and checking with her about the makeup lesson we had yesterday. This is one good way to remember what I have learned as she was doing my makeup and I tried to make sense of what she was doing. After the makeup was done, we began the photoshoot. Joyce did said that too bad she never bring the leather whip, if not it will be quite an interesting set. However, I was quite happy that this outfit was used for this shoot and I was quite excited and looking forward to the outcome of the photos. 

As for the 2nd outfit, Joyce asked if I brought the sleep gown that I wore during the CD gathering. Luckily, I did brought that whole set just in case. So I changed up to my white lingerie set (Rago shapewear, white bra and panty, Secret-in-Lace white stockings) and white sheer sleep gown. I feel so sexy and sensual in that outfit. The feeling was so feminine and I really enjoyed it. The photoshoot went well, I was asked to give a seductive look and I was quite surprised that Joyce said that I managed to nail that look. Haha. I wonder how will it look like. Maybe this outfit brought out the desire in my heart, that is why I managed to get that looks, I really wonder… Can’t wait to see the outcome of those photos. Hehe…

After the photoshoot, instead of removing my makeup, I decided to keep it on as I wanted to wear it back to the hotel. I changed from my white lingerie set back to my emerald colour one piece dress outfit and I started to pack my CD stuff and guy stuff (that I wore to the studio) into my luggage. I also changed to my own wig as I was using Joyce’s wig for the photoshoot. My original wig was quite messed up due to poor maintenance. Thankfully Joyce helped to resort the wig by combing and cutting off those dead knots and crossed portion of the wig. She also helped me to style the wig so that it goes well with my dress. Joyce said that the wig that I purchased has volume and it goes well if I am wearing those gowns or dresses that has a flare bottom. So in order to match my one piece straight dress, she helped to tie both sides of my wig to the back and used a ribbon clip to clip it. It changed the look totally and I simply loved that look. 

After that, Joyce and I started to pack up and clean up the studio before I left the place. As I have never tried driving in heels before, I decided not to risk it. So I wore a pair of white socks over my pantyhosed feet and put on my track shoes. Joyce commented that I looked really funny and we both just laughed over it. I guessed I must have looked really comical as I was having quite a nice and semi formal emerald colour top dress but I was wearing unmatching white socks and track shoes instead of heels… 

I brought the luggage and makeup kit back to my car and sorted out all the things needed and so I began my drive back to the hotel truly as Francesca. I was all excited as it was my first time driving in CD form as Francesca. In my mind, I was worried about other drivers looking at me but I just dismissed those thoughts and focus on the road. There is a first time for everything but I was all happy, excited yet also a bit scare. I just followed the GPS and acted normal, I tried not to look around too much and try to blend in. 

The thing about CrossDressing in South East Asia region is the hot and humid weather. My car was parked in the open air carpark opposite Joyce’s studio and the interior of the car was like a sauna when I entered. I tuned up the aircon to full blast so that my perspiration does not damage my makeup and also I need to cool my head under the wig. Thankfully I was able to manage my anxiety, if not, my sweat will be flowing down my face and body like I had just taken a shower… 

The drive went well and I reached the hotel safely. Something I loved about the Noble Resort Hotel Melaka (also The Straits Hotel and Suite) was that it has 2 levels of carpark. The entrance to the lift lobby for Level 1 carpark was right in front where the security table was located. I did not feel confident or comfortable parading myself in front of the security especially when I need to move my luggage back up to my hotel room. For the entrance to the lift lobby for Level 2, despite there is a door for staff located next to the lift lobby entrance, there is hardly any human traffic there. So I chose to park my car in Level 2 and took the lift up to my hotel room. When the lift door open, instead of an empty lift, there were already a few people inside. I just acted normal and use my room card to access to my floor. Throughout the process, I was just looking down and tried not to make any eye contact. In my heart, I was hoping no one is judging me. Once I reached my floor, I went back to my room and made a sigh of relief that I made it back without any issue.

Since the weather was still quite hot, I decided to just take some time to rest inside my hotel room to cool myself down before I plan for anything. I doubt I will be heading to Jonker Street or what but I was planning more like walking around the hotel neighbourhood or visit the Watson, which is just nearby the hotel. While resting in my hotel room, I did a couple of selfie and costume change.

As the night drew closer, I decided to have instant noodle (which I bought the night before) for dinner before heading out. Once I checked that I got all my things ready in my handbag, I walked out of my hotel room with my selfie stick and camera phone in my hand, recording my process. When I walked past the Ground Level lobby, I was feeling all confident. However, when I walked out of the front lobby and past the hotel front door. I realised that all the other people were quite casually dressed while I was in my one piece dress, which I felt a bit out of place because I think I was overly dressed. I guess I still do not have the confidence to go very far… So, I walked to The Straits Hotel entrance, which is just next to The Noble Resort Hotel entrance, took the lift up to Level 2 carpark and made it back to my hotel room… Was quite disappointed with myself as I was hoping to at least walk one round around the hotel. I guess I am still not confident enough to dress out as I just feel so out of place with my dress sense… Maybe I should start investing in those more causal female clothing so that I can blend in more easily… Maybe…

After returning to my hotel room, I was contemplating if I should make another attempt to walk out again but I guess fatigue gotten into me as I have not been sleeping well over the past weeks due to work and other stress matters. So after a few moments of "camwhoring", I decided to call it a night...

And with a heavy heart, I decided to remove my makeup and wig and started to transit back to my male alter self… After washing up, I packed all my CD wares into my luggage and also started to get ready for my return trip home tomorrow… So sad that my solo drive trip is coming to an end so soon… Well, I guess all good things must come to an end some day…

Sunday (Day 3)

I was woken up in the middle of the night by the noise of spattering on the window, then I realised that it was raining quite heavily. I actually could not sleep after that as I was just enjoying the view and sound of the rain over Melaka from my hotel window… I guess I was just reminiscing the experience over the past 2 days and looking at how I have to head back and go back to my normal male alter self-life once more…  Could not help but feeling quite sad actually.

Slowly, I just try to catch some more sleep as it is going to be another 3 hours of drive home later. I managed to doze off a little and woke up at around 6:30am. After that, I began washing up and started to move the luggage into my car to get ready for my return trip.

After a Bak Ku Teh breakfast at the shop just opposite the hotel, I started on my return home solo drive. The drive was quite normal just that I was caught in a bad weather situation when I was nearing to Ayer Hitam area. Luckily everything went quite smoothly. There was just a short jam at the Malaysia side check point but much to my surprise, the actual jam was at Singapore check point… I left the hotel at around 8:45am and managed to get home around 1:15pm. 

After I got home, I immediately took some of the lingerie for washing so that they can dry by tomorrow as I will be returning and keeping all my CD stuff back into my lair.

Looking back at this solo drive trip, it was quite fun and exciting. There were some learning points about going on a solo drive trip, these serve as reminders for myself to never repeat those mistakes again… But then, I also had fun for 2 days and I do crave for more CD time. However, I do not know when will be the next time when I can CD or visit Miss Y Studio again. That is why I really treasure every moment I get when I visit Joyce’s studio. Well, back to my male alter self and start slogging again, until next time… Cheers. 

PS : After I settled down, I began to tidy up my thoughts and penned down the procedure from the makeup lessons that I learned from Joyce. I did my best to capture the essential points and I do hope I get the chance to practice them. If you asked me, I do not mind going for refresher again if needed. 😁

My CD Journey (Part 22-A) - Solo Drive Trip Up to Melaka [3rd Visit to Miss Y Studio - Day 1]

The month of June has been a busy period for my male alter self especially the 2nd half of the month. Events after events, incidents after incidents, activities after activities, endless matters to settle, family and work. There is hardly any time for a breather or energy left after each day let alone to CrossDress and let Francesca out…

However, Francesca did managed to get a break that she wanted so badly. She managed to go on a solo drive trip up to Melaka to visit Miss Y Studio again *grinning happily”. It is those once in a blue moon period where the stars are aligned, the wife is out for overseas work trip and the peak period for work was just over and I can make a quick getaway over the weekend to Melaka and let my male alter self just disappear for over 55 hours (close to 2.5 days).

Previously, I have made a few trips up to Melaka, either for Francesca or for my male alter self. However, this one is different because technically this is the first time I am driving up to Melaka alone. The first time I went up to Melaka, despite that I went up alone, I took a coach, so I did not have to worry about driving or traffic. The previous trip where I went for the CD gathering, I was with Katie. And for the rest of the time when I went up to Melaka, I was with my wife and her friends, so driving up alone is quite exciting but also scary for me as I do not know what to expect.

There are a few reasons for doing this solo trip. Although I would very much like to have some company to go up to Melaka but each of us have a different work schedule and I do not like to impose on others just to accompany me. This was especially true since the last trip when Katie had to wait for me while I was doing my bridal photoshoot in Miss Y Studio. I felt so bad that she had to wait for me and wasted her time instead of doing something she liked… I did considered asking other sisters like R but I guess it is not convenient as it was quite impromptu. 

Another reason is that I really need to train myself to be independent and daring when it comes to driving in Malaysia. The last solo trip I did was more than a decade back in Australia (as my male alter self of course) and I did not feel as stressed. However, when it comes to driving in Malaysia, I was having more cold feet as I occasionally saw news of accidents on the North-South Highway and also Singaporeans and Malaysians drivers are not known to be friendly drivers unfortunately. So this trip was more of a dare mission for me to toughen up my gut and also to improve my skills in negotiating with other drivers on the road over this 240km long journey…

This time round, I decided to book 2 packages with Joyce to maximise my time there. I took a Personal Makeup Course and a Personal Album shoot package, which were spread over 2 days. My plan was to : 

1. Drive up to Melaka early Friday morning and arrive at the studio by 10am to 11am, do the Personal Makeup Course.
2. Session should be done by 5pm to 6pm. Clean up my makeup, drive to hotel and check in (passport is needed to check in and the front counter service staff will need to verify your identity, that is why I cannot keep the makeup on). 
3. On Saturday morning, drive down to studio again, do my studio shoot then keep my makeup on and drive back to hotel in CD form.
4. Then Sunday morning, drive back to Singapore. 

This sounded like a perfect plan for me. 

Enough of the background and rationale, now on with Francesca’s solo drive adventure… Did not realised that I wrote so much, so this blog will be split into 2 parts as usual…

Friday (Day 1)

Woke up early and prepared all the things needed for my solo drive trip. Before leaving, I then realised that I forgot about my bottled water for my medication, so I went back up since I was still at the carpark. All went well so far and I just set off for my journey. I thought I managed to clear my bladder but by the time I was in the Malaysia check-point side, my bladder was full again… A bit of FML moment… Must be my anxiety as it was my first time travelling up alone. Luckily there was no jam and I thought of going to the nearest petrol station, which is quite near to the check-point for a quick relief. However, little did I know that I need to turn out at a certain exit in order to get to the petrol kiosk… Another FML moment… I don’t know to laugh or cry. So I just hold on to my bladder until the next rest stop, which is on the North-South Highway. 

When I saw the rest stop, I immediately pulled over and make a dash for the toilet. This is the part which I feared most about travelling alone… As I was in a rush to get to the toilet, I did not stop my car engine, neither did I pull up the handbrake. I only left the gear in park mode and I thought I locked the door before making the dash. It was after my relief and as I made my way back to my car, I realised that my engine was still running… Really a WTF moment. If I had someone beside me, they would have either stayed in the car or reminded me to off the engine. Luckily no one carjacked me or drove my car off… Looking back, no wonder my car was honking when I was rushing to the toilet. I guess the remote keyless system was trying to remind me to off the engine and my brain was too occupied to realise it. Thankfully nothing happened but this was the “highlight” of the trip.

After my relief, I was able to fully focused on reaching the destination without any other stop. I left my house around 6am and I reached Joyce’s studio around slightly before 10am. Since I was early, I went to the MacDonald nearby to have my breakfast. I realised that they had the Nasi Lemak breakfast set, which cannot be found in Singapore. I decided to give it a try. It was quite nice and really filling actually. As I was still early (Joyce told me to reach by 11am but I decided to leave early to avoid the check-point jam), I decided to walk around the neighbourhood. 

At 11am, Joyce arrived and we started the Personal Makeup Course. Before the start of the session, I was asked to dress up in CD form first before the conduct of the lesson. I dressed up with a black OL outfit together with a set of straight wig. This is where Joyce pointed out some of the common mistakes of CD is that we tend to wear the wig too low as we wanted to cover our original hairline. However, not all the wigs are worn that way. Next, Joyce began conducting her lesson. I brought my own set of makeup kit and Joyce taught me how to use what I have. Of course I was lacking in quite a few items and she used some of hers to supplement. Guess I got a lot more to buy after the lesson. Joyce really took the time and effort to show how the makeup was done on one side of the face while I tried my hands-on on the other side. So it is not simply a session where she did the makeup for you, you have to practice it too. She also explained the rationale for doing certain things, such as using concealer for the eye bags area, bronzer for my puffy cheek. I realised that Joyce has very sharp eyes for highlights and shadows on the face. While it is obvious to her, it took me quite a while to notice it. This course was quite informative and it can be a case of information overload but thankfully I have some background in picking makeup from YouTube so I have some fundamental to work on. I tried to store as much information as possible and intended to jot down once I am back in the hotel. The session went really well. Thank you Joyce for her patience as I feel I am quite clumsy and unable to control the strength of some of my strokes and I tend go heavy on the colour… Joyce’s advice was to always go from light to heavy, to slowly build up the tone instead of going heavy initially. If going heavy on the initial stroke, then I will got to sweep and blend off or even touch up/remove with foundation.

After completing the makeup, I was pleased with the outcome. I looked different from my normal style of makeup where it looks quite heavy and flat. I could not help but admire myself. I took a few selfies and Joyce helped me to take a few photos in the OL outfit before we ended the session. 

After the makeup session, I removed the makeup, wash my face and changed back to my male clothing before making my way to the hotel for check-in. The whole session took like almost 7 hours as I was quite a slow learner… Thankfully Joyce really took her time and guided me along. 

I really enjoyed the course as I got to practice makeup, learned a lot of tips and tricks, and cleared a lot of misconceptions as I picked up my makeup skills using mainly YouTube and there are a lot of things I was unsure of or there is no proper explanation, I just simply follow and go with the flow. One thing that I realised about Joyce’s makeup style as compared to other CDs makeup. Hers has more focus on the contours of the face. Even though her makeup is quite subtle and light but her makeup was able to make the face pop and more 3D as compared to what I observed of others where they tend to do blanket cover makeup, which I was also guilty of…

After checking in into the hotel, I went to Jonker Street for a walk and grab dinner there before calling it a night. It had been a long day but I really enjoyed myself. Initially I wanted to use the rest of the night to reflect and capture what I learned and penned it down. But I decided to run through with Joyce tomorrow when I go over for my Studio shoot session. Looking forward to tomorrow.