Dinner @ Rakuzen, Subang Jaya

We have planned dinner with Uncle Boon Hwa for Mon - Wed and ended up only able to make it on Tuesday due to his visa.

Karim wanted to have Japanese. So, we went to Rakuzen @ SS15 Subang Jaya (opposite SJMC). We quite like this place as it's cosy and the food is quite nice as well at reasonable price. Both of them said that it's nicer than the one we had at PJ Hilton. :)

So, I had mini udon and chicken. Karim as usual had teppanyaki and Uncle Boon Hwa had some fish, I think. My portion was quite a lot. I was almost full after the noodle though.
It was nice. Half way eating, more ppl came and Karim spotted someone unexpected, Datuk Seri Shazzalli Ramly, CEO of Celcom. Wah.. quite shocking as he just sit at open area and not requesting for a room or whatsoever.. Quite humble/ simple, I reckon. (look at the background, it's blocked a bit)
Then, we ordered some dessert. Yeah.. we have decided to try something new. So, I have ordered Yukimi Daituku (Vanilla ice cream wrapped with rice skin), Itachoco Monaka (Vanilla wafer ice cream with thick chocolate) and Yuzu sorbet (refreshing citron sorbet). All were nice. Yummy..... :)

We will go back to Rakuzen for more food.. :)

Guitar

Have been saying wanted to learn one music instrument since last year or earlier. Have learned piano before, hence, the easiest would be to pick up piano again. Well, I was thinking to play guitar or saxophone though. Since I have had touched guitar in NZ while studying, I thought it was quite fun though torturing to the fingers.

Also, guitar is kinda easy to carry around.

Then, after the mission trip, I really find that I want to pick up something for the ministry (with much hesitation on my gifting in music).

I came to know about Earth Productions after attended Chinese Service. It was where we had guest speaker and I took the pamphlet and took the courage to call up and found out the class.

Yeah!!! I am in my 2nd lessons now. Yes.. fingers still very painful and I am still learning D and A chords. hmm...

Finally, I got myself a guitar with the limited budget I have. My teacher helped me to choose as I have no knowledge in it at all. So, I shall practise more now. :) Fingers, please work with me. It's fun, fun, fun though pain, pain, pain. I need to learn to strum and also to change chord also with tempo.

Interesting.... :)

Farewll Dinner: NE, NPM

NE, NPM took the org change to have a farewell dinner with everyone as the whole team is now being changed. Some remain, some gone, some gone totally different path. wow.. I do not know how the others feel. For sure, my heart doesn't feel good at all.

Was asked to join the team though I am not part of the team. What a privilege/ honor to be appreciated and take as important. :)

I was travelling after class at Kelana Jaya to SS 2 to meet a friend, then, back to Subang Parade for the dinner. :)

Thanks for the dinner and thanks guys for a good time together... :)

Neighbour's wedding

Neighbour's having dinner. The daughter was having marriage. This was the 2nd time a Malay custom wedding held near my place.

Was told that the whole family was invited for the kenduri. wow... it was interesting. We just walked over, like 3 doors away. Then, we get permission to go into the house.. wow.. I have not been to any, though mom is an expert in this. We went to the bride's room too. Wow... so many gifts from the bribe to the groom. And not cheap wor..

Then, the groom came after we got home. Of course, I still can take picture. hmm... it was interesting ceremony. I just wonder if there is different customs for different states as Negeri Sembilan is following Adat Berpateh (girl's power).. haha...

Farewell Dinner: Uncle Boon Hwa

I hate to say good-bye. Even harder to say to someone close. I find that each time, I am unsure how to manage my emotion. Maybe I take relationship too hard.

Uncle told me that he resigned. I felt so sad, well, I couldn't cry in the office as it wasn't good. Then, I went home, I couldn't sleep and I cried myself to sleep that night. It was hard, really hard for me. Though as a friend, I should be glad for uncle, it is hard especially with so many changes in the office and all the close ones are leaving one after another. So, I ended up crying so much in the month of March. And it's still have 1 week or so before March is over, I hope no more crying. Praying...

Then, it came the time to have farewell dinner arranged by Michelle with the TMT. I struggled to attend the dinner. Too many changes at the same time and I have ran out of masks.

After struggling for few days, I went with much hesitation.

The dinner was at the Japanese restaurant at PJ Hilton. I didn't have appetite to eat, still, I ordered a curry chicken udon. Well, I like the curry, not so much of the chicken. So, I finished the udon with lots of chicken leftover. Alex had some chicken with rice and I think he enjoyed it. While Karim was saying that he prefers the Japanese at Rakuzen which is anytime better. wow... Others? I am not sure what did they have. :s

Well, I have make uncle to give a speech and we have contributed to get uncle a small gift.


Then, we ordered dessert. hmm... aside ice cream, I had some special dessert from Japan with fruits. hmm... indeed it was special.

Overall, it was a 'polite' dinner. It was alright. And I jammed and used 1.5 hour or more to get back to Seremban on that evening. gosh....

Surely I will miss uncle...

Gunung Gap & Gunung Ulu Semangkuk (Semangkok)

Earlier a friend, Henry asked if I could like to join them for the climb which I couldn't due to some pre-arranged activities. Then, another friend (LKK) has actually mentioned and planned this for quite some time. I wasn't sure if I could make it as there were at least 2 big meetings for preparation (Roller Coaster & BoD preparation) right after the climb. Also, I wasn't sure if I would be fit enough for the climb. I wasn't been sleeping well, too much work, was working almost 24x7 for 2 weeks before that.

Still, I have decided to go or else I will be sitting in front of my machine bf (computer lar for the weekend). Then, I was told that the route that we wanted to use (via Kuala Kubu Baru) will be closed for Langkawi cycling. Hence, we have to change the meeting point at Bentong point (as if I know where). Since I car pool with Karim and to pick-up Kang Bee + Siew Leh (sisters) on the way. I departed from house at 5am and reached BK4 at 6am.

We were on-time reaching the tol, but, at the end, we spent time waiting for others. After more waiting, breakfast and winding road, we finally arrived at Fraser Hill at ~10am. There were already so many climbers. And it's my 1st time to Fraser Hill. :D

So, we started climbing at 10.30am. There were about 86 of us if not mistaken. A huge group.

The trail started with a very narrow entrance. And steep too. Then, a bamboo place which reminds me of Nuang. The trail was steep. I wasn't feeling well and finally thrown-out (a bit lar).. And I took it slowly. So many times, I have told Karim to go ahead as I know there are ppl behind and some ahead of me. But, he has accompanied me till the peak of G. Gap. Kang Bee and Siew Leh was no way to be seen after the initial 30 minutes. I knew I wasn't fit as I didn't have enough sleep. It was such a torture that I felt like turning back. hmm....

We arrived at the peak of Gunung Gap after 1 hour climb and saw Kang Bee there waiting for me. G. Gap is 1,183m high. We didn't see many people there thinking they would have gone ahead. For sure Siew Leh was not where to be seen and even Kang Bee said she cannot see her sister. So, we rested awhile (5 minutes) and continue for another gunung (moutain).

Now, we have to go down and hike up again. hmm..... Well, it wasn't as steep as the 1st part. So, it was alright. We saw a lot of fallen tree trunk on the way, and the plants were all moist, due to the height(?). Overall, it wasn't hot, the weather was just nice for climbing. It wasn't winding or cold as well. Just nice. oh.. we met Siew Leh as we go up, she was on her way down... wow...



Karim has decided to go ahead while both Kang Bee and me took our time for the next climb. On the way, we met an uncle who offered us yong-tau-fu. So sweet. And another couple were trying to clear up the bush. The trail wasn't as clean or as wide as other mountains that I have climb/ hike. It's more virgin here.


Towards the peak, it was a sharp V shape that we need to descend and assend (rocks and slippery). It was tough and scary. We took 2 hours from G. Gap to G. Ulu Semangkok (1,394m). It was tiring. There were no view to be seen on top of the moutain. It was a bit disappointing, no wind, nothing at all. :( Well, some friends of LKK, sifu zai and gang actually carried watermelon (8.2kg!!!), honeydew, eggs, instant noodles, water and picnic on the peak. Wow.... I struggled to carry myself and they carry so much food. *so memalukan*

As the peak area is rather small (maybe can fit 20 ppl comfortably), we started to descend after 30 minutes. Oh.. it was tougher to descend. I fall once, from the beginning and Kang Bee actually fall 4 times. hahaha.... Thank God no injury, only pain on the backside. :D

We took 2.5 hours to descend. Both Kang Bee & I spent time with each other. Knowing each other better through the trip. :) After cleaning up (there have toilet with no proper shower facility, but, clean). We waited for awhile before decided to start the journey home. (we found out Maxis has no coverage there... hehe...)

At least now the road was not so winding as we choose to go back via KKB. And the view on the way was magnificient. There were lakes on the way which we didn't stop by. (Could have).

Arrived KL at about 6.30pm and I got back to home about 9pm.

It was tiring and yet enjoyable trip. Thanks for organising. :)

Dinner at Delicious, Bangsar

A dinner was planned and suggested by both uncles (Uncle Boon Hwa and Uncle Karim). And it was decided to go to Delicious at Bangsar Village. Bangsar - (to me) a place filled with high income ppl, high class place, and most important: an expensive place. Well, since they wanted to go and once awhile. I just follow.

And since I am not familiar with that part of the world, we have decided to car follow car. hmm...

So, we left office. Only that I found out my car has ran out of battery. Called Uncle BH that they to go ahead as I need to contact AAM to fix my battery. As I was talking on the phone, those 2 uncles came and pushed my car and it started. And they insisted that I still go for dinner. And saying they will push my car again if unable to start. aiks.... It's so not me that I will go despite the car condition. (by force lar...). And it's so surprised and touched that I have such good + caring uncles to help me and take care of me.. Hugs... Imagine this: front and back is BMW 325i while middle is Proton Wira 1.5L. hahaa.... Shouldn't I feel proud that I have 2 BMWs as my bodyguard?! hahaah... =D

So, the dinner. It was ok. The food was alright. Uncle Karim ordered green curry, uncle Boon Hwa had duck and I had soya chicken. Uncle BH helped me to eat most of it. hahaha... As I wasn't hungry. He said his duck was a bit tough. hmm... Don't know why that I didn't eat so much like weeks before where I have been eating non-stop (hungry all the time mar)... The company was great.

I went back to Sban after dinner praying that I could get back safely. :) Thank God, He provided and protected. Got home safely and thereafter the car really decided not to start any more.

Overall, I thank God for sending such nice ppl into my life. (I was crying when I got to know that uncle BH is leaving the company as I will surely miss him a lot.....)

CNY dinner

It was way before CNY that dad asked us if we want to join the dinner organised by his Church (Methodist) for a CNY dinner. I looked at calendar, Fridah!? That means I have to rush back from work?! Then, I checked again, it's public holiday!!!! Yea!!!! So, happily we agreed.

Total of 55 tables with 10 person on each table. Hence, a total of 550 people. wow.... The food was nice and the company too. Surely we had lau-sang. heheh.. and it was yummy.. a big fish too. :)

The dinner started on-time, in fact, slightly early and lasted for about 2 hours or so. Typical 9/10 course Chinese dinner.

It was closed to 10.30pm when we got home. Then, we saw these big insects which if bitten will swell on the floor. As we avoided them, we saw something strange. And took a second look, they were trying to mate or mating. oh.. this was interesting. Have not seen anything like that. So, I picked-up my camera and started sitting on the floor for an hour plus for the whole thing... haha.... Dad too. And we totally ignored the American Idol showing on TV. At one point, I felt that I was watching R rated movie, but, it's about bug... hahaahaha... so pengsan...

Simple Thai Food

Aunty Sherine was back from India for CNY celebration. It's been such a long time since I last saw her. Since she missed Thai food so much that we decided to go with her choice. :)

It was a simple nice dinner. Some dishes were a bit too spicy though. It's the company that count but not so of the food.

I was too tired to take pictures... so, only the below.. :s

Mini Lau-Sang

We get this packet of lau-sang from one of the hamper. Instead of having the box lying around, we have decided to have it in the office. Since, it's in the office, it will not have fish which suppose to have. Why do we want to have fish? In chinese, it simply means one will have balance every year, 年年有余（鱼）(direct translation: year year got fish (balance)).

Actually, the custome of lau-sang is only applicable to the Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia. Not any where else. I read about why having it some where in the paper, but, I can't remember. Normally, we do this on the 7th day of Chinese New Year. 7th day is the birthday for everyone, 人日。

Basically, we are to say good things/ wishes when we are tossing the dish. It is actually make up of dried carrots, ginger, some crackers, etc. (vegetarian, if without the fish).

It was quite fun having it in office. Some of them are actually having it for the 1st time. :)

Short break to Penang

Have been saying wanted to go for a short break since 2009. Finally, we are making it regardless.

Departed KL at about 9am on Friday. It's a company off day due to Thaipusam on Saturday. Boon Hwa's car was loaded with gadgets and wires. Like so hi-tech. But, he was scolding on the different systems. While Karim was using multiple phones to make phone calls on some work related things.

Then, we were saying shall we stop at Ipoh, Taiping or straight to Penang? Then, we decided to go to Taiping. Next was what to eat. hmm..... so many and yet still don't know what to eat. Then, we settled with something simple as we are going to eat again in Penang. Of course, i wanted to have cendul since I have read about it in the web.

Indeed the cendul was nice. I love it. So, did Karim. It's really yummy. It wasn't so sweet and the cendul was so nice, ie, soft. I really like it. :) Bismillah Cendul located at the corner of shop and diagonally of George's school.

Then, we headed to Penang. Arrived at Penang wondering what to eat again. So, we went for Nasi Kandar. I said, Nasi Kandar Line Clear (blog said it wasn't so bad). As we walked inside, we can see them cooking, so, no worries of the food. It's kinda like open kitchen. :)

The food: so spicy (at least for me). I couldn't eat so much any more as was filled.

oh... of course, we went for the Penang cendul. Another cendul within an hour or so. I didn't quite like it as I think the one in Taiping was better. The coconut milk (santan) and gula melaka in Penang just different. However, Boon Hwa loves it though. hmm.... :s

So, what's next? Head back to hotel and rest.... Too full. Too much food in the stomach.

Then, evening/ dinner. Food again?! Seafood. We went to Teluk Tempoyak for some Malay style of seafood. It was nice. Nice place, nice food. :) We ate so much.... gosh...

Thereafter, headed to Gurney Drive. The traffic going to town was terrible. I kinda fallen asleep in the car. And we settled at 75 C for a drink. Surprisingly, TBH ordered a bowl of prawn mee. He was really enjoying it. There, we just lazed ourselves, enjoying the music, the ampience.

Arrived back to hotel closed to midnight. Then, was told b/fast at 7.30am. Uh!!!??? It's weekend, it's suppose to be holiday and sleep in. hmm...... :(

Next morning. We went to Penang Hill after our breakfast. We have to passby the very happening market of Air Hitam. It was so interesting to see so many ppl and yet all the cars trying to go through the busy street.

Bought the ticket to Penang Hill via cable car. While we were waiting for the cable car, an 80 year-old uncle was talking to me. He had a garden up there and he was selling flowers. He was wondering why so many knew that the cable car was in-service (1st day) after closing for 9 days. Well, I must say we were just being so blessed. We talked so much on the way up till I have to 'abundant' Karim + TBH.

Halfway, we have to change cable car. This was so interesting. The entire ride from bottom to top took about 30 minutes. The cable car will be closed on 22 Feb onwards till further notice for upgrade and maintenance. They are changing it to 2 lanes and faster train. This ride reminds me of my time of varsity. We have to take cable car to school, or, drive up to the hill or walk up the 100 steps of stair case. hmm... normally, I will choose to take the cable car. :)

Had coconut drink after some walk around at Penang Hill. It wasn't as many people as I thought would be. Weather at Penang Hill was lower than the island though it was still quite hot.

My coconut drink was frozen inside and I couldn't get the fresh out. :( All was frozen. On the way down, both men were saying better to have a free fall ride. hmm.... crazy..

Karim and us were kinda separated after we have changed the cable car on our way down. He was kinda 'ambused' by the Indians.

The cable car was packed with ppl on our way down. It read that the capacity of cable car of 80 ppl, but, I think it was more than that.

After that, we went back to hotel for check-out at 1pm. And off we left Penang Island.

What's for lunch? Karim's friend suggested prawn noodle at Sg. Dua. Wow.... indeed it was so nice. The prawn was so big. We also ordered some sotong kangkong. Nice. :)
Then, time to go home. It was raining quite heavily on the way back. We stopped by Tapah for a drink and thereafter all the way home.
It was a nice short trip that I enjoyed. Didn't plan much, just let the things took place which I think was cool. :)

Pan-mian in SS15, Subang Jaya

Supposed to meet KEI at Kopitiam at SS15, Subang Jaya. Then, I was told they are closing at 7pm. So, we have to changed place for food. Where to go? Station 1, pan-mian or where...? As we have decided to walk instead of drive, though I am still limping. We have decided to go for pan-mian.

Before reaching 面对面, we saw this Little Kitchen. It looks quite interesting and quite a lot of ppl in there. So, we went in for a try. Wow... so many types of pan-mian. I was curiously asking what's the difference of their pan-mian with the one in 面对面. They said, just different style. Then, I asked, so, what's the best seller? The guy showed us a few. OK. Then, we ordered.

KEI ordered the set meal comes with centurian egg dumpling pan-mian with drinks @ RM7.50. It's the Wed special meal. I ordered the chinese herbal chicken soup based pan-mian. Both of us wanted the home made soya milk with a bit of sugar.

I asked permission to take pictures of the food telling them that I am going to share in the web so more ppl get to know them.

Then, the food came. Wow... soya milk taste good. The noodle came. Looks interesting. Taste good too. yumm.... and we just indulged in our food. The chillis were not very special. It's ok. :)

We were so full after finished our pan-mian and soya milk.

wow.... I will come back again and test/ taste on different type of pan-mian. Then, we saw a lot of ppl ordered side dish as well as tao-fu-hua. hmm... i think should be nice.

Gunung Datuk

Thought no more hiking/ climbing for the rest of the year after G. Nuang 2 weeks ago. Then, I went again today to Gunung Datuk. It's much shorter than Nuang, for sure. Up and down of 4 hours.

There were so many ppl. So many groups of ppl.

I was worried as my hiking boots gave way in Nuang hike and I was on normal sports shoes which will not have good grip. Still, I think should be ok.

Francis came to fetch me at about 7.20am. We started the climb at about 8.50am. It was kinda tough as it was vertical climb from the beginning. I was with Min Chee, Fong and Douglas. We were taking it slowly as Min Chee wasn't feeling very well. There were about 40++ of our team. Quite a big group. We have ppl from Seremban, KL and even Singapore. :O

Peter Lai and Dr. KK being the leader while Steve Yap and Jason Wong being the sweeper.

We saw the Fatman paper trail which was use in G. Nuang hike as well as a guide of direction.

Then, we saw Pat, she was struggling as well which was weird. Then, I called KG and Karim for S.O.S. While they tried to come down, we walked slowly and shared the load up as well. After they met us and helped, they sped off again.

We reached the peak at 10.44am, which we took almost 2 hours. hmm...

It was so windy up there. And since we were wet, we felt a bit chilly. Min Chee was trying to hide from the wind by staying behind the rocks. Funny... We didn't go up further as there were too many ppl and congested. Also, we have been there. So, we give the chance to those who has not been there before.

We just enjoyed ourselves and it was nice. :)

Then, time to descend. My shoes really didn't have a good grip and i find it really challenging... :( And I slipped and fall just before the hut stop. Ouch.... It was painful. I applied some antiseptic and it was still bleeding. Then, not much choice, Douglas sprayed something which is supposed to seal the wound by forming a layer of 'plastic' over it. I was really screaming when he did that on me. It was so painful... Well, I think the cut (3 of them) were too deep and the blood still continue to flow.... Gosh....

Finally I reached the base. Eunice said, we look slightly more than an hour to descend. hmm.... Time to shower and change. Too bad, no water. So, just changed.

Then, we went for lunch.

And I went for anti-tetanus jab after I got home. And fluid still coming out and my antiseptic medication just continue to flow down.... Now, my hand also pain due to the jab. It's more painful then the Hep B jab I had 2 weeks ago. :(

Overall, it was quite a good climb. :)