If Nothing Ever Changed, There'd Be No Butterflies.

Another chapter on my life is about to end. I’ve resigned from working in Labuan, Sabah and will be permanently (as far as I know at the moment!!!) back to Kuala Lumpur for good. It’s not a transfer, but a change of company. Some might already know where I’ll be going, but it’ll still be in the same industry.

Resigning so fast? Well, why not? An opportunity presented itself, and after weighing out the pros and cons of all the options I had, coming back was the best option. Was it for family? The obvious answer to many, it was. Well, it was and it was not. The new job had a better job offer overall and I just had to take it.

But financial perks aside, deep down in my heart it was for the best. I’ll be close to my family, to my wife and to my friends, which is the most important of all. Afterall, money only come and go, but a good strong family and friends stay with you to the very end.

Any regrets working in Labuan after all these while? I can sincerely tell you I had no regrets whatsoever. Working in Labuan is so much different than working in KL. Colleagues here are truly colleagues, they help and support you to the very end. Unlike the usual finger pointing and blame culture in KL (generalizing here), working in Labuan was tough but it was sincere hard work. No political BS, no cronnies or groupies, no conspiracies. Work, sweat and glory.

So, looking forward to working back in KL? To be very honest with you, I am not. New environment, new changes, new everything. But I guess he who rejects change is the architect of decay. Life moves forward, weather you like it or not.

On another note. I realized there are so many tough decisions to make over these past 2 years. From deciding to get married, deciding to work in Labuan and decide to come back, and a few other family decisions that I can’t reveal here. Sometimes I linger in the dark in my bedroom alone at night and think, have I made the right decisions, the best decisions? God only knows. I can only think so much, risk so much, do so much. I guess God only help those who help themselves. At least I’ve tried.

Until next time.

Life's A Beach

Another long weekend holiday had passed and spent another day at the beach. Yup, that’s the life at the moment in Labuan. Haven’t been back to KL for almost 7 weeks already. It’s the year-end, and with a gargantuan amount of work to finish up before I go for a week off during X’mas and New Years, I can’t possibly go back KL as frequent as I used to. Been pretty much stressed out these past few weeks, and when stressed I tend to appreciate Labuan a little bit more. This place is a slow-paced island, filled with mostly incredibly nice people and is very, very laid back. Perfect ingredients to unwind those troubled minds, and the best spot in Labuan is definitely the long stretches of sandy beaches, accompanied by spots of stalls dotted all across the beaches offering various refreshments to help make your day much better. Admittedly the beaches here is hardly anywhere near beaches of Redang, Perhentian, Tioman etc, but Labuan does possess it own unique charm.

Luckily the workload is now on schedule and it looks like it’s going to be a work-free X’mas & New Year’s holiday (fingers crossed!!).

Anyway, here are some snapshots taken a few weeks back of the beach spots I usually frequent to forget those corporate hassles and release those unwelcomed anxieties….

Flights of Fancy?

Waiting for the plane again at some damned airport. Bored to death at all these checking-in, wait-for-boarding, safety-beat-fastened-for-take-off bla bla bla. With my current project in full swing, I had to meet up with suppliers from all over East Malaysia, from Kuching, Miri, Bintulu, KK, Brunei, etc. Giving presentations after presentation to our suppliers on what needs to be done etc, hopefully these people knows what needs to be done, or some serious ass-kickin’ is much needed.

I think I’ve done more flying in these past few months than any other time in my lifetime, including those few years while in UK. Now let's reflect on my "flights of fancy". So there's my usual bi-weekly/tri-weekly flight back to KL from Labuan, then there's from Labuan to Miri, and to go to Bintulu I’ll need to fly to Miri first then to Bintulu, and the same goes for Kuching and KK. And soon, Lawas will come into the picture some day, I wonder how that will turn up. Again and again, week after week. Haihz.

And coming soon, I’ll be going to Singapore for training for a week, and that trip's flight is via KL. More boarding and take-off merriment. Oh JOY!!!

Well, at least flying is the safest mode of transportation. Statistically anyway. It better stay that way dammit. Oh crap, time to board the plane...

Land of Paradise Lost...Lawas (Not)

I think 2 weekends ago, me and a colleague hopped over to Lawas, Sarawak. Why Lawas? Well, first of all I was dead bored with Labuan and second of all, Lawas was my colleague’s hometown which he had not visited since he was a kid. Lawas is not exactly the land of paradise lost in Borneo mind you. Just think of Ipoh without the traffic. And without the good food. DAMMIT. But the seafood was pretty good there anyway. And cheap beer as usual in these parts of the world (I really wonder how 1 can of beer can go as cheap as RM1 sometimes. And it’s a Heineken. Social contributions from good friends at the customs perhaps?).

Anyway, to get to Lawas, we had to take a 40 minute speedboat ride from Labuan to Menumbok. From there, hop onto a bus to Sepitang, passing by Beaufort. And viola, Lawas it is. Cost of transportation? Under RM50. Accommodation? Staying at this small town’s best hotel would be RM50 too. And it’s pretty decent mind you.

The best attraction in town? A Chinese temple. WHOOAAA!!! Oh well. Overall, it’s a good place and a good excuse to relax, unwind, and escape from the noisy Labuan bars and cheap discos scattered around Labuan. Oh, and it a good time to test out my shiny new Canon EOS 450D camera too, courtesy of SL as a B’day/X’mas present etc etc all roled into one (and by the way, I know you had a hand in choosing and shopping for the camera Maj. Thanks!) Still trying to get the hang of it tho, but…hopefully I’ll get there ;)

No, these are not the speedboats that we took to Menumbok...

Many towns, villages or even cities are divided by long winding rivers. To get across easily, locals use small boats, there's even a boat to carry motorbikes across!!!

The cost for crossing? 50 cents.

And off it goes!! These boats will ply back and forth from one riverside to another every 5 minutes...

From what I've heard, these back-up boats will operate all at once, at times 5 to 6 boats at a time, during peak periods. Even rivers have rush-hour traffic to transport folks from kampung areas to the towns and back.

But enough of the rivers, here's Lawas' main attraction, the Chinese Temple!!! Woohooooo!!!

While my colleague prayed, I just randomly took some photos as souvenirs...

The peace and tranquility of the interior is amazingly relaxing and serene…

I think it’s always good to pass on a prayer or two whenever we can…

So you prefer clear blue skies or cloudy days?

Impressive paintings covers all four walls. But I wonder what are the stories behind them?

Going around town, found a shop selling tropical fish. But not much fishes can be found, is there?

I find this kinda amusing. A police station in a kampung house? And a Kancil as a police car? Mat Selamat beware...

Pos Malaysia Beaufort. Know what Beaufort means? It's actually French. Beau = beautiful and Fort = Port.

The scene of Lawas town at the weekend. Soooo happening.

And that's it for Lawas, Sarawak. There's abit more on my facebook. See ya all!!!

Escape to KL (6th ~ 9th April '09)

I'll be back to good ol' KL from the 6th to 9th April. Looking forward to some jap food, a nice cuppa freshly brewed coffee, a decent cinema and of course some relaxation in some familiar surroudings to escape the hussle and bussle of work in Labuan. See you in KL!!!

Earth Hour in Labuan

So how was your Earth Hour? Probably better than mine I suppose. I did my small part in switching off the lights in my lil’ humble Labuan room of course. So much so that my housemate saw what I was doing and participated too. But he went abit overboard. He switched off the main switch of the house instead O.o Yup, talk about turning over to the dark side. Feeling abit lost and quite honestly kinda warm, we decided to take our car out for a spin to see what the others are doing during this earthly time (sidenote: does this beat the point of switching off the lights as we pollute the air with our car fumes instead?) Anyway, we headed to the main town area and I was honestly quite surprised to see the level of participation of Earth Hour in Labuan. Many housing areas were darker than usual, and many of the hotels here turned off the lights too. I took a few pics of course:

Right outside my house. Complete darkness except for the street lights (and someone's TV if you look real closely). But still. it's a job well done!!

The biggest hotel in Labuan, Grand Dorsett doing its bit for Earth Hour. The lobby was dark, and it's staff was seen working with torchlights!!!

Labuan's one and only shopping mall/office towers were darker than usual during Earth Hour. I think the parking were free 'cause the entry and exit were all open for cars to pass!!!

Labuan Square was in complete darkness, and the amazing thing was there were a concert being held there, in darkness!!!

Even streetlights are off. But was this intentional? Hmmmmm....

And at the stroke of 9:30pm, all lights came back on. Nicely done!!

Grand Dorsett's lights came back on, relinquishing back its glory and glamour.

As for my room after Earth Hour (and that spin around town in the car), well, it is better that it remained completely dark. Sorry.. ;p

KK Town Weekend Hop-Over

Waahh, its been so long since I’ve updated what I’m up to lately. Sorry ya, no time no time…Work has been killing me softly with its song, and the song seems to never end. HAihz . Anyways, here’s an update for 2 weekends ago, when SL came down to Labuan for a quickie. Trip, that is. I knew there wasn’t much in Labuan to captivate SL, but I still have to show what was on offer here. So for the first day, we were in Labuan eating, walking around, shopping (SL bought LOADS of chocolates and 2 bottles of alcohol. But only brought back one haha. I’ll talk about it later) and also taking in the sights of this place nicknamed ‘The Pearl of Borneo’ (although whoever coined it should be shot for its inaccuracy. And be bombed to bits as well).

Well actually I was supposed to return back to KL, but somehow somewhen I got this crazy idea to suggest SL to visit me instead. I didn’t realize I had forfeited a trip back to KL in doing so. Ah well. Had to wait another month to see KL again then. Anyway, SL brought over tons of stuff for me, i.e. a mini iron (cheaper in KL), various flavors of install noodles (can’t get them in Labuan), Nutella (can’t get them in Labuan too) and numerous cotton T’s for my dressing comfy-ness. But unfortunately, my rented house here was abit dirty and SL coundn’t stand it. Ok ok, maybe abit is an understatement. So SL launched a massive clean-up operation that involved my kitchen floor, my room and bits and pieces of my stuff in the room. God bless SL hahaha.

The next day we packed our bags and headed off to Kota Kinabalu, which was a 3 hour ferry ride away to the center of KK. The ride was kinda slow but eventually we got there. When arrived, I heard about a nice place that had quite a reputation for Italian food called ‘Little Italy’, and furthermore it was walking distance from the KK jetty. So, off we went. Our appetite was not that good as I guess our stomachs was still swimming from the ferry ride. So we shared a beef and mushroom ‘Ravioli’ which was pretty good (although I tasted better in KL haha). However, the cafe Latte was kinda good. Brewed just enough for flavor and whipped with an adequate dash of fresh milk. Yummy.

So where we stayed? I bet you heard of the budget hotel named Tune Hotels right? Yup, that’s where we stayed. For RM50 a night (we stayed 2 nights), you would think that it was a blardy bargain of the century. But wait for it, you have to pay extra for air-conditioning. Yup, RM12 bucks for 12-hour coolness (and you can’t really control the timing. Once you slot that magnetic key of ours into the technical bit that controls the main power of the room, the clock starts ticking. Yup, ticking like a freakin’ time bomb. Damn exciting. That’s not all too, for TV, its RM7 bucks for 24 hours (you get a cute little LCD monitor, but you can watch only RTM1, RTM2, TV3 and NTV7. How exciting). And if you forgot any toiletries (i.e. shampoo, conditioner, etc) its RM5 a pop. Although you can easily buy them from the shopping mall called ‘1Borneo’ located just next door (literally next door, its even connected to the hotel), so shopping, food, cinema, leisurely strolls are no problems whatsoever.

Overall the rooms are satisfactory, I mean you can’t really expect The Ritz for that kinda price rite. I mean you paid for it, so you asked for it. Ringgit for ringgit it was worth it in my opinion. The good? The shower was excellent, power shower with continuous hot water 24 hours and clean wash basins. The bed was also surprisingly comfy (I heard it’s supplied by ‘King Coil’) so what more can you ask for? So, the Bad? The campiness (sometimes the walkway can’t even fit 2 persons at the same time), no locks at the toilet and its all glass (but I guess this point is good for some people eh?) and the view from the window is “to die for”. Also, the walls are kinda thin so you may get echoes of conversations from the other rooms. So, if anyone is planning on any night time curriculum activities in the room, I suggest you keep the volume a bit low or else you are subject to intense attention from outside 3rd parties. Also I want to point out that the hotel in KK is still under construction, so you may tend to see workers walking around the corridors of the hotel. Therefore, locking your rooms securely is extremely recommended (although to be fair nothing was stolen and I didn’t hear any bad rumors of burglary).

Anyway, as I’ve mentioned the hotel is right next to ‘1Borneo’, which is East Malaysia’s largest shopping mall ever. I’ve walked around the place and it is very impressive, very much like ‘1Utama’ with rows after rows of middle-range branded stores (i.e. MNG, Padini Concept Store, Giordano etc) however no upper-class brands were seen yet (although FCUK is opening soon. But I don’t think I consider them upper-class. Phehh). There’s a ‘GSC’ there too, and that’s where I saw ‘The Dark Knight’ which I had reviewed and ‘Red Cliff’ (short review: it’s just so-so. Being directed by John Woo, I had expected abit more. The action is ordinary, although the highlight is to see how the military tactics of their time was utilized to achieve victory. Ohh, and many pigeons were spotted too, which is obviously the cinematic signature of John Woo. Verdict: 6 / 10).

For the first night there, I just had to eat something posh and expensive (cause being stuck in Labuan can cause one person to have such cravings. Why? There no posh restaurants in Labuan!!!. So we spotted a fancy Japanese Restaurant called ‘Michi’ and walloped a set of ‘Osaka Bento Set’ which consisted of Tempura, Soft Shell Crabs, Salmon Sushi, Miso Soup, Yummy Beef (I forgot what was it called haha) and Salad. RM45. Satisfaction. Hahah. SL had a ‘Gyu Kimuchi Soba’ noodle set which was surprising yummy. It basically your usual soba noodles with beef. But the beef was amazingly yummy. I think the beef dishes here are good. I shall try more if I get the chance again hehe.

The next day we went straight to town (‘1Borneo’ provides free shuttle bus services to and from town, which is a very good plus point for the mall. Well done!!!). We actually planned to do some light shopping and then do island hopping to Manukan Island and all that as it is sooooooooo close from town (yup, for RM30 you can hop onto a speed boat and land on a island in just 15 minutes). But when the time came for the island hopping, it RAINED. Sigh. And it didn’t stop raining until dark. Double Sigh. Oh well, we switched plans and I went shopping for my computer speaker (a good computer speaker. ‘Altec Lensing’ was my numero uno target but ‘Edifier’ jugak boleh tahan lah). Didn’t find a good set of ‘Altec Lensing’, so went for the ‘Edifier’ M3300 model which had a pretty good subwoofer and 2 channel speakers with twitter. RM 230, expensive anot ah? KL selling how much also I dunno lah haha. Bought it and went for dinner at the KK Waterfront. It was ok, with lots of bars and restaurants catering for to the foreigner crowd. We dined at ‘Oregano Café’ which had local fare and a reasonable price. We missed the sunset though, abit sad at that but nevermind lah, there will be other chances for that….

But there was bad news. SL’s afternoon flight back to KL was cancelled and had to be brought forward to the next day. We were damn pissed off of course. But, honestly I wasn’t surprised. A certain domestic red-colored airline always cancels flights whenever passenger numbers do not meet their required quotas. So many of my friends that travel this airline for business and pleasure already kena, and the most f**ked-up part is that as long as you receive their call notifying you of the cancelling within 24 hours, no compensation is entitled to you!!! I mean WTF, 24 hours is not enough to re-arrange everything to accommodate their screw-ups!!! AIRASIA ARE YOU HEARING THIS??!! IT IS NOT ENOUGH AND IT PISSES EVERYBODY OFF!!!!!!!!! *phewww* But luckily for us, our departure back to Labuan was tomorrow and the flight was at night, so SL still can make it, although it is going to be damn tired…So kelian…Sigh…

The next day it was time for our departure back to Labuan, and the ferry ride was at 1pm. We went to the jetty early and arrived around 11pm. Feeling sad that I didn’t touch water except for rain throughout my trip, I decided to take photos instead of the surrounding jetty haha. Click here to see more. Anyway, the ferry ride back to Labuan was not as smooth as we hoped. The water was choppy and the ferry was like a freakin’ mini roller coaster. People all around started to pengsan and SL eventually succumbed to the dizziness. I was feeling it too, but luckily no plastic bags were needed if you know what I mean…Oh, and I bought a rice cooker too. A computer speaker, rice cooker, luggage and more alcohol, hand carried all over KK and Labuan. We should have been in the Olympics hahaha….

Anyway, night time came and it was time for SL to board the plane. She wanted to bring over 2 bottles of alcohol. So we hide one inside the check-in luggage and another as hand carry. But upon check-in, the ‘AirAsia’ counter attendant asked SL if there was any alcohol inside the bag. She said YES. OMG. Why?? The attendant immediately asked the alcohol to be removed. So we tried to hide in SL’s hand-carry bags, 1 bottle in each bag. Once SL reached the security check point, SL got stopped. OMG. The security guard said only 1 bottle can be brought over. Sigh. So, luckily I was still around and brought the bottle of ‘Johnnie Walker’ Black Label back to my Labuan home instead. Too baddd…

I took a taxi back home, and I got a text saying SL is going to board the plane. I reached home and I was hit by an immediate pang of loneliness. The room seemed quieter and it overwhelmed me with its colder and wider empty spaces. The room seemed smaller, warmer back then, filled with a zest of life. Now it’s just a room. Sigh. I guess now I realized something, it’s easier to leave then to be left behind… Sad….

Chaos At The Pumps...AGAIN!!!

It was chaos at the pumps again!!! WTFFFFFFFF!!! Causing so much traffic jam!!! Can’t get home fast enough to watch my latest episodes of ‘Smallville’ on my com!!! Petrol prices increased again?? Actually no, there was this wild rumor flying all over by SMS yesterday that petrol stations will be closed for 3 to 5 days to protest their non-increment in commissions. So we typical Malaysians panicked (as usual) and OOooopps, did it all over again. I’m not sure if KL were affected by this madness but here in Labuan and other major parts of East Malaysia, there was petrol-panic all over. My friend even went to the pumps on a motorbike and filled up 2 plastic bottles with petrol (is this even legal??!!) I wish sometimes everyone would just calm down and think first before panicking and not to cause other Malaysians like me to miss their favorite TV shows. GEEEEEEEEZZZZ PEOPLE!!!!!!

But in actually, the rumors were indeed quite true. I saw a quote from Charles Soong, the president of Sabah Petroleum Dealers Association on NST’s website that read:

“The national association is asking the government to meet a few more requirements, including raising our commissions to an acceptable level and if that demand is not met, we plan not to sell fuel for eight hours tomorrow.”

8 hours can easily turn into a few days can’t it? So that’s why people panicked. Sighhhhhhh. I thought life was about love, money and all that. Petrol is part of it too. How romantic.

I guess I’ll just stay at home and blog about what happened to me in KL last weekend hehehe…..

Riding the Wave of Petrol Price Increases

Labuan actually experienced a jam!!! And it’s on a non-holiday too!!! Shock!!! Horror!!! Terror!!! Why? Simply because the dwellers of Labuan Island were scrambling their cars to the petrol kiosks for re-fills. A rise of 0.78 cents or 40 % from RM 1.92 a liter for petrol is a MASSIVE increase (especially when the previous price hikes were only at the maximum of 30 cents). Well, I can’t say it was a surprise as around the world petrol prices were shooting up faster than New Year’s fireworks, and Malaysian petrol prices were kept at the region of RM 1.92 a liter for most of the time due to the infamous petrol subsidies. But as the government kept crying like a baby that they can’t take it no more with the subsidies (the Treasury claims that it had cost the government RM 45 billion alone this year), the price hike was bound to happen. It was only a matter of when, and by how much.

But things could get a lot worse. The word from our Government is that they intend to bring fuel prices in-line with global market cost. Now you consider that the market price of crude oil is sky-rocketing daily to new levels of the stratosphere, a RM 0.78 cent increase is merely a tiny ripple on a global perspective. Crudely-speaking (pardon the pun), things could get A LOT worse. Remember that not too long ago that the Government were saying an increase would be in August this year? Well, it's not August yet and already an increase had occurred. My point being, in August, there could well be another increase if their alignment in global market cost of petrol is true. In the long-run, we could well be seeing another increase to RM 3 per liter of petrol...

The Government’s defense to the increase is obviously the global skyrocketing of oil prices, which is at most out of their control. But they also keep saying that prices of petrol are the cheapest in the Asian region. Indeed this is true. But, have the people realized that in most Asian countries, they do not need to pay toll for their use of highways? We Malaysian pay through our noses just to commute to our workstations on time, but realistically speaking, do we have any choice? Let’s not even start on our public transportation woes, or even our rapidly diminishing options of toll-free roads that is silently eradicated on the pretense of development. My point is, I’m not honestly against the petrol price hike, but at least provide us with some notion of an option not to utilize petrol. Car-pool? You and I know how badly that fared, and how inconvenient it was. Hybrid cars? A good and environmentally-friendly option, but the petrol price increase would effectively place it on the high-demand list, hence causing its price to increase wouldn’t it? Again, back to square one. The only feasible alternative I see is public transportation, but a massive overhaul is needed if it is truly to become a viable option to the mass public. We are light-years away from the efficiency and convenience of our Asian counter-parts like Singapore and Hong Kong. So in the meantime, what options do we have but to bite the bullet hard and ride the tidal wave of consequences from the petrol price hike. We got no choice, our balls are in their hands.

Yes, there will be consequences from this petrol price hike. As you might have guessed, once petrol increases, so does everything else. According to the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Shahrir Abdul Samad, national inflation rate will likely to hit 5 % from the after-shocks of this price increase. A brief search on the net showed that national inflation was only at 3 % (April 2008), which was a 15-month high. Forecasts for the year before the price hike announcement was only at 2.5 %, hence we could see a doubling effect on all initial price increases (i.e. a RM 0.10 cents increase before price hike could now be RM 0.20 cents).

We were riding on a wave of new rejuvenation for this country, such as the rally of the stock market early this year. But now, the engines of reinvigoration would probably stall and the momentum of growth will slow further. The Central Bank has cut our economic growth forecast from around 5 to 5.5 % this year from an initial 6.5 to 7 % forecast. Couple this with our recent political turn-around that will take its time to settle-in, we could yet be experiencing minimal growth for this year. So dear Malaysians, it’s high time to put on your saving caps because it’s going to rain HARD.

Interesting times indeed for us Malaysians, but more interestingly will be how well our Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will face these challenges considering he is already at chest-deep in political turmoil and fighting for his survival. Even with their recent announcement of offering yearly cash rebates of up to RM 625 for owners of cars that is up to 2,000 cc in capacity that could just be seen as mere sweeteners, but the overall cause and effect for all Malaysians involved in this recent petrol price hike may just be too bitter to bare.

A Nice Mid-Air Greeting....

On board the flight back to Labuan, the routine hum-drum of passengers finding remaining available seats, air stewards giving their routine customary preaching on how to use the life safety jacket and crying children fill the air of what is now a common monthly practice for me, which is sitting in an 'AiriAsia' plane jetsetting across the oh-so-glamorous route of KL to Labuan.

Before taking-off, I’m already counting the mili-seconds to my (hopefully) safe landing in Labuan until a nice surprise paid me a welcoming visit to what was fast becoming a very routine and mundane air journey. As I was flipping through the on-board magazine called ‘Travel 3-Sixty’, I was greeted by a very familiar face with a mesmerizing smile and attached to it was her unmistakably distinctive black-rimmed glasses: it was Majidah Hashim, my secondary school mate and regular friend that lives near my area of residence!!! That a look!!! :


The article was about Burma, and I knew about her travels to that part of the world a few months ago (even before I went off to Labuan) and I know she is always contributing to travel magazines but it is just a very nice surprise to actually bump into one of her articles!! With nice photos (as usual) and with very informative compositions about her Burmese voyage, it was a very good read and it definitely had placed Burma into my psyche as a destination that I would visit at least some time during my living days. That said, may your contributions to world travel be more widely noticed as it was absolutely effective in fueling one’s urge to spread their wings and fly to worlds beyond one’s own.

I had a sudden thought to actually take the magazine home with me but a nice little note at the bottom right hand side of the magazine made me do otherwise:


Crap. I placed the magazine disappointedly back into my front seat pocket. Oh well, at least my disappointment was for a good cause, at least Majidah’s words and pictures can be read more widely now since this one copy is still in circulation among the flying and reading public of 'AirAsia'…Way to go Maj!!!

Second Homecoming: Part One

KL Return, 30th April to 5th May.

Just got back from my 2nd trip back to KL, and what a trip it was. I managed to do most of the stuff that I wanted to do, which was to watch ‘Iron Man’ on the big THX screen (you can never get this in Labuan!!!), finally tasted the deliciousness of ‘DELIcious @ Marc Residence’ restaurant that everyone seems to be raving about, tried-out the newly opened ‘Wendy’s’ at Sunway Pyramid and even managed to pay Melaka a visit on a 1-day trip. Oh, and yes, I managed to get my J.Co donuts too, and not forgetting a steaming hot cup of ‘Hazelnut White Cofee’ at ‘Oldtown Kopitiam’. For more details, kindly read on my dear friends!!!

P.S. I’ll be splitting the post into a few parts as I think it’s going to be waaaaaaay too long for a normal decent person to digest it all at one go. So, for the first part it will be ‘Day 1 and 2’….

Day 1: Wednesday Night

I still remember the day when I touched-down in Labuan, fresh from my 1st trip back to KL that another journey to the capital was going to the a long and hard one. But would you know it, before I got time to feel home-sick and all that, a month had passed and my second journey to KL is now upon me once again. While packing my things for my 5-day home trip, I could not contemplate that I am actually packing for a trip home, and not for work. I could not feel excitement; I could not feel the thrill of heading home. Why was that? I could not answer you, probably because I am now so used to the life in Labuan, or my last trip back to KL was just a short distance back. Or probably I was just dead tired that day from the rush to complete my work. And that was how I felt when I boarded the plane.

Tugging all those “excess baggage” of chocolates, alcohol and souvenirs had become a big burden too, as on my left hand there was a big bag containing 10 bars of ‘Cadbury’ chocolates, 3 bars of ‘Meiji Rich Strawberry’ chocolates and bars and bars of other chocolates that I had no memory of buying, and yet its in my bag. How come??!! Then on my right hand was a bag for alcohol; 1 bottle of ‘Dom’ and another bottle of ‘Chivas’ (‘Dom’ is considered medicine so I think I am entitled to cross customs with another bottle of alcohol). Then there was my backpack which contained my laptop, a few stuffed bears as souvenirs and a few loose cans of imported drinks and beer (which I think is illegal as I am already bringing over 1 bottle of ‘Chivas’, but what the hell). And the sad point is, all this stuff is not for me but for silly friends that are so demanding. See how good a friend I am??!! When I die I want my ashes to be kept in a jar inside all of your rooms!!! Just joking ;)

Upon touch down in LCCT airport, I coolly walked straight out of the gates to avoid any custom checks (but nowadays I hardly notice any customs officers anymore) and the first thing I see is….no one I know. Crap. There was no one to fetch me from the airport back to my Subang home. Sigh. My friend can only fetch me from ‘KL Central’ (which is probably a good idea as my friend was a girl and I didn’t want her to drive all the way from Ampang to LCCT at night all by herself). I bought a bus ticket to ‘KL Central’ and the bus was conveniently parked a few feet away. Just as I was sitting down, the bus departed nicely on time. Perfect. Around 40 minutes time I arrived at ‘KL Central’ and my friend was already waiting, my first contact of KL life for over a month.

We didn’t head straight back to Subang as I was feeling hungry. So, since we are so near to KL and it is KL that I had not seen for over a month, we drove straight into the heart of KL itself: Petaling Street. At this infamous street known for its right and wrong reasons, pockets of eating stalls lie along it with offerings of bountiful delicacy. No, there are no fried crickets or cockroaches to be had, here lies gifts of ‘Lo She Fan’ (very famous not only among the locals that reside around Petaling Street, but famous throughout KL in general), ‘Tai Chow’ (ever popular with the late-night eaters) and humble offerings of porridge. We sat ourselves at the ‘Tai Chow’ corner and tucked-in a big plate of ‘yee mee’ cooked in Hokkien style. This stall was not a stall in particular, but its actually a restaurant that had extended its cooking area onto the streets, I guess to appeal to the ‘Tai Chow’ eating masses that ‘Tai Chow’ should always be cooked out-doors and not in-doors!!!

After that satisfactory late dinner we headed back home to Subang and I had my rest for the next day…

Day 2: Thursday

The next morning I woke-up feeling very puckish for hot mouthfuls of ‘Dim Sum’. SL was around to accompany me to satisfy my body-burning desire for buns of the pork variety, so I suggested we go to a restaurant that had recently expanded its reputation for not only providing good and fresh baskets of ‘Dim Sum’, but also dishes of Chinese delicacy that is not only tasty but plush with variety. The place was ‘Reunion’ at ‘Bangsar Shopping Village 2’, and when we arrived, it was packed and we were placed on a waiting list. No matter, a man that looked like the Captain of the restaurant wrote my name and hand-phone number down and politely asked us to walk around the mall while waiting for their call when seats become available. It was a good idea at that time, so we walked. And walked. And walked until my stomach was rumbling. We went back to the restaurant and asked if there are any seats available but they gave a shrug of disapproval. However, I did notice that big crowds were going into the restaurant quite regularly but a table for 2 persons for me was not yet available. And why was that? Is business for 2 persons not profitable enough for this restaurant? I do not know, so we walked off and gave up on this place. So remember guys and gals out there, they do not serve groups of 2 and below as I guess it is not profitable enough for them, so don’t waste your time there as they are hungry, money-minded parasites gunning for nothing but your $$$$!!!!

Anyway, we headed downstairs and decided on another place to eat and ended up in ‘Marmalade Café’. I’ve heard a few good things about this place so we decided to have a try. Ambiance-wise there wasn’t much to shout about but I have to say that the place was bright with adequate sunlight coming into the café so it gave the patrons a sunny spark to eat and chat enthusiastically.

So this was what I ordered:

Spaghetti Cabonara: Not so good, I’ve tasted much better. Not creamy enough!!!

Spaghetti Funghi: This is much better as the taste of garlic and mushrooms was nicely blended, not too heavy and not too light. The best dish of the afternoon!!!

Salmon Frittata & Chocolate Oreo Mint Shake: The drink was very nice (how can you go wrong with Oreo’s?) but the Salmon Frittata however was disappointing. It was not salty enough and the salmon was just too hard to find!!!

The bill came out to be around RM70 for those few dishes so this place can be quite expensive!!! I mean, I don’t really mind the price as long as it is worth my money. So, as a warning, do not simply order and check prices first before messing with the waiters as not only are the dishes kinda expensive but not all dishes tastes good. As a better and safer bet, go to ‘DELIcious’ just downstairs of ‘Bangsar Shopping Village 2’. Prices are about the same but MUCH tastier, and most of the time you cannot go wrong with the dishes you order (which means most the dishes tastes good lah).

P.S. I didn’t go to ‘DELIcious’ this time because I was saving it for Saturday at Marc Residence, KL. It will be in next post soon!!!

With my stomach filled up, we walked around the mall and bumped into a ‘FJ Benjamin’ clearance sale inside the mall. If you don’t know what ‘FJ Benjamin’ is, they are a fashion apparel supplier of top brands such as Guess, GAP, Raoul, La Senza, Banana Republic, watches from brands such as Nike, Victorinox, Nautica, Bell & Ross and many more.

This sale was by invitation only or if you have a HSBC credit card, you are allowed to enter. Luckily, me being a guy filled with debt and have to rely on credit cards to survive (haha), I whipped out my HSBC credit card and was politely whisked into the sale. The place was packed to the brim with people, but fortunately the air-con was powerful enough so shopping was a breeze. I saw a GAP khakis that I really liked, the color was greenish-greyish and the cutting was semi-baggy and was not too straight. Perfect. But the price: RM 250. CRAP. Isn’t this supposed to be clearance SALE??!! I was really tempted but decided not to buy it as I am saving to buy a new handphone soon ;) I saw so many nice stuff there, simple good quality ‘Guess’ T-shirts was selling at RM 40 and ‘Guess’ jeans was going for RM 100. The design and style may not be the most current but for casual branded wear, I think all this stuff are a steal!!! But I didn’t buy anything haha.

However SL went berserk on the buying and bought 3 ‘Raoul’ shirts, 2 ‘Guess’ T-shirts and nearly bought a ‘GAP’ bag. Total bill for the spurge: RM500. Omigod, I can eat so much with RM500!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Luckily I didn’t pay for the bill so I’m safe kekeke….

We spent almost 3 hours inside there, looking and testing out garment after garment of apparels. After our shopping was done, we were dead tired and wanted to go somewhere to drink and chill. ‘Coffee Bean’ was packed so we left the mall and crossed the road to ‘Mango Mania’. We were chit-chatting about the things I’ve missed since I was away from KL and suddenly another group of people that had done their shopping at the same clearance sale sat beside us. They noticed we had bought something there as well and politely asked us what we bought. Wow, I didn’t know people can start a conversation with strangers just by asking on what we bought at the same place!!! They looked like friendly people so we compared stuff and chatted on when and where will be the next clearance sale. At the moment, with all the shopping and chitchatting about clothes and sales, I truly felt like a 40-year-old auntie. God, what’s happening to me??!!

On the next post (Day 3 & 4), shopping and eating at a pasar malam & dining at DELIcious @ Marc Residence, KL. See you then!!!