KK Town Weekend Hop-Over (Take 2!!)

Weekend of 25th October to 27th October, 2008.

God, it’s so hard to find time to update my blog nowadays. Work is sucking my time right out from my life like an industrial vacuum cleaner on full throttle. There’s so much I would like to blog about but…Sigh. Anyway, 2 weekends ago SL dropped by to Labuan and just like her previous visit, we headed off to Kota Kinabalu for the weekend. Why? ‘Cause basically, there isn’t much to do here in Labuan even if you damn hard try to find something to do. Well, you wouldn’t die from boredom here but...it just ain’t KL or KK, y’know?

This weekend the KK trip was abit unusual. I’ve been saying to SL for so many times but SL still couldn’t accept it. Every time SL comes to Labuan, or anywhere near East Malaysia in fact, SL tends to drag the rain clouds over!!! I mean, the exact moment SL steps onto East Malaysian shores, the sky opens up like a burst water balloon and causes a watery commotion that puts all plans into a shambolic quagmire. Remember the last trip to Labuan? It rained so hard until we couldn’t visit any islands & worst still, both of us were sniffing from a cold. Remember KK a few years ago when we climbed Mount KK? Up and down the mountain it was raining so much, the path was so wet and damp it made the climb so challenging until it was like climbing Mount Everest. And remember every time I came back to KL for those short visits and I really wanted to go that pasar malam? What happened? Yup, it rained. I think you are the Aquatic God of Rain in your previous life or something!!! But…I guess rain or shine, we still have fun together. We still managed to climb Mount KK, right? No beach? No problems, there’s always '1 Borneo' haha. Got the cold? Well at least it’s not the fever, right? ;)

Anyway, this time around the rain was REALLY bad. I heard from a friend that flights to Labuan from KL on Saturday the 25th October had to divert BACK to KL because the plane could not land!!! The pilot couldn’t see the runway or something like that and the passengers had to spend another 2 and a half hours on the same plane back to where they came from!!! If I was one of the passengers I’ll most probably end up hijacking the plane and force land it or something. I’ll go crazy. I have a slight case of ‘air rage’ you know. Take a note to NOT fly with me. Another case I heard was from my office friend’s brother that had to wait almost 6 hours in the airport in KK for his 'AirAsia' flight to Labuan (remember 'AirAsia' planes don’t load/offload passengers during rain). All this rain, storms and stuff, and how did I travel to KK during this wet weekend? We took the ferry. Yup, we took a middle-sized ferry that traveled for a full 3 hours over stormy weather to get to KK. Shit, who knew the weather was so terrible?! Was it smooth sailing? HELL NO. For the full 3 hours, the ferry was tilting from side to side, up and down and basically gyrating to obscene directions as though it was doing its best impression of Michael Jackson. Who was the ferry trying to impress?!! And did we throw up? Heck no. But I did feel REALLY glad my feet touched ground after that 3 hours though. SL was ok too. In fact SL said something of being hungry right after hitting KK. HHmmmm.

After gathering ourselves for a full half hour or so, we headed off to lunch (chicken rice that served pyramid-shaped rice. Weird but nice haha) and checked in to our 'Tune Hotel' room. By evening it was still raining like tears from a little girl that had just lost her darling pet and my worst fears slowly had sunk in. All plans for the beach and stuff will have to be cancelled. AGAIN. Sighhhh. In the end, this trip ended up as the '1Borneo trip' (and abit of the town area) because that is where we spent most of our time. Well, at least '1Borneo' had Starbucks, Big Apple Donuts, GSC Cinema, Secret Recipe, Sushi King and all that. It was not a TOTAL bore…the new plan? To stuff ourselves silly with food, food and food. And a bit of shopping haha. Well, I am going to shut up now and will just let you glance at some pictures I’ve downloaded to give you a glimpse of what had transpired over the trip. Enjoy!! :

Pyramid Chicken Rice!!! Well it looks interesting before eating it, but looks the same after you have destroyed it with the spoon hahha. It's from 'Restaurant Viya' in the town area. Sounds like an Indian place but its not. The taiko there is a chinese guy...WEIRD.

We took shelter from the rain and cold with a good ol' cuppa Mocha Latte with whipped cream of course. ALWAYS with whipped cream. Notice the blue band on my left arm? It's a 'Wall*E' limited edition watch!! Yayy!!

OooOooOOhhh, Big Apple...So big and juicy....So creamy....After months of 'Big Apple Donuts' D-tox, this is what happens. All of you be warned...

You have heard of Tune Hotels, Tune Money...and now Tune Store!!! I wonder what's next...Tune Toilets? Tune Toll Booths? Tune Coffee? The potential is endless!!!

This drink is called 'Macau Coffee'. Sounds tempting enough, and what does it taste like? Just like any other coffee hahahaha!!! It's all in the name I guess!!! From 'Hong Kong Cafe Xin Wang'.

Have you seen such a big French Toast Bun??!! Go to 'Kim Gary' or 'Wong Kok' and you will only get maybe just HALF of this baby!!! I have to admit it's kinda dry at the center of the bun but overall it's still yummy. 'Coz of the size, you can ask them to add more honey and butter for extra yummy-ness!!! Cost me only RM3.50 for this. A bargain!!!

French Toasts for breakfast!!! It's gonna fill-up the most hungry of eaters, trust me!!!

The queue for the free shuttle bus tickets to town. I remember last time we don't need to queue for this. Now there's even a waiting list, people giving each other 'the look' for jumping queue, etc etc etc. Feels just like home in KL haha. I heard they are gonna start charging from next year onwards tho...

Dinner time!!! The best dinner we had there was a restaurant called 'New York New York' a.k.a. 'We Do Not Serve Pork & Lard'. It's based on the same concept like 'TGI Friday's' & 'Chillies' (although unfortunately not as grand or 'happenning'). Their tagline: "Real food for Real People with Real Appetites!!" or something like that...See below for what they really mean.

The reason: the food here comes in super-big sizes, just like in America!!! I saw one Chicken Burger going to the table next to me, and it can feed a family of 4 people!!! WAHLAO WEHHHH!!!! Me & SL were so tempted to order that burger but we counldn't possibly finish that so we ordered this 'New York New York Massive Beef Ribs for 2' instead. For RM38.90, although abit pricey and doesn't look all that delicious, it is fact very tastey and worth your money. It's HUGE and have LOADS of meat. It comes with a delicious BBQ sauce too...perfect partner to this chunky goodness ;)

After more than 1 hour of carnivorious carnage, this is what's left...We cleaned it up so well, it's actually kinda freaky haha...

As for the drinks: Hot Choco with Mashmellows!!! It's so hard to get hot Choco with mashmellow drinks nowadays. Richly yummy especially from the rainy cold!!!

FINALLY the rain stopped!!! But it stopped only on the final day of our trip :( So, no island hopping. Sad sad. But I bet its too cold for a swim anyway haha. With the sun finally peaking out from the forlorn clouds, it's picture time!!! Snap snap snapping along the KK Waterfront ;)

Dolphins at KK??!! I wish. But it's a good companion for pictures tho!!! Snap snap snap!!!

Oh, I just bought the shades at '1Borneo' for RM65. Nice ar? I'll be going to Langkawi in December so, it'll be put to good use don't worry!! ;)

See, I told you this is the '1Borneo trip' hahhahaha. No islands, no mountains, no nature whatsoever. In fact, half way through this trip I was actually confused whether I was in KL or in KK!!! Anyway, it was fun nonetheless. Oh, I also finally bought my 'Microsoft' wireless keyboard and mouse, total package RM135. Now my quest to be a TOTAL lazy bum is finally complete. And SL bought a bottle of 'Chivas' (12 years old) back to KL for RM65, and I'll be bringing a 'Johnnie Walker Swing' back to KL next weekend for RM80. Cheap eh? See you in KL next weekend!!!

Review: Max Payne

The weekend was a very slow one, and I just had to take something on to rejuvenate myself. It was a Sunday afternoon, it was a hot afternoon, and the only place to cool off was the Mall (without getting any sunburn). And what is there to do at a Mall? Watch a movie of course. A quick glance at the cinema and ‘Max Payne’ was screaming for attention all over, hence ‘Max Payne’ it is. There’s been a massive exhilarative lull in movie-dom over the last few months (hence the lack of reviews) and ‘Max Payne’ was a perfect opportunity to change things. My expectations were not lofty, I just wanted something enjoyable, something fun even if its dumb, wanted a pop-corn movie. ‘Max Payne’ fits the bill perfectly…until the movie ended. Yes, you know what’s coming now don’t you? The film did not turn out the way I expected, and the final judgment on this latest action-flick was a Maximum Payne in the butt. Ouch.

I should have known what was coming. This film was adapted from an enormously popular game of the same name, debuted way back in 2001. The game was something fresh as it infused graphic novel storytelling and stylization with slow-mo-guns-blazing-bullets-flying-with-John-Woo-mimicry and had hints of ‘The Matrix’s finesse. I’m no gamer but when I played it, even I was impressed. Hence, a movie adaptation was inevitable. And hence, with all video-game adaptations, can I safely say now that a massive disappointment was inevitable too? Remember ‘Hitman’? Remember ‘Doom’? Remember ‘Street Fighter’? Sadly all these movies run on the same road to nowhere. And sadly these movies are still being offered to the public, inviting unsuspecting passengers with super-slick marketing from the movie-makers in return for a quick buck.

Should I even mention about the script? Even after striped bare of all matter that needs even an ounce of brain matter, the story feels payne-fully lurching and disconnected. The first hour goes nowhere very slowly, a tedious attempt by the director John Moore to introduce us the world where Max Payne dwells, to develop his character and to build our sympathy for him after his family was slaughtered. But it never pays off. With poor acting and directing, it actually made the Payne character more of a lazy sulking fella that deserves nothing more than a slap in the face as a wake-up call. We are introduced to the side characters, but again it’s a feeble attempt to inject some soul into the film and fails miserably as they all feel like empty carcasses primed for target-practice.

When the action finally kicks into gear, all the hard-work of character building goes out the window (so what’s the point of it then?) as characters we are supposed to care for turns to plain two-dimensional drawings and they just die during gunfights that erupts for no reason. Yes, there are a few scenes where the action was quite impressive, but there’s nothing we have not seen before that distincts itself from other bullet-ballets like ‘Wanted’ or ‘The Matrix’. Even the finale, which I had high-hopes for redemption, falls flat with illusions of grandeur. It was everything that is to be expected of such a film like this, and let’s just say we all know how it ends, don’t we?

In the end, it’s another movie that is made to please the fan-boys of the video-game and has absolutely nothing to win new fans over whatsoever. Watch it if you have nothing to look forward to, or watch it if you are a fan of the videogame. Besides these two reasons, do not watch it in anyway because you just know how this road leads too…

Verdict: 6 / 10

Reviewed by: Raymond Choy

It Knows...

Over the weekend I just realized how much our technology, especially Malaysia, has developed tremendously over the years. I went to a very famous fast-food place, the name I’ll leave it as anonymous (sells fried chicken. Yeah, very anonymous). I went to the counter to place my order, but a note regarding a marvelous technology greeted me instead:


The cashier machine actually KNOWS it’s out of order. IT’S ALIVE!!!! And it has brakes too. For safety reasons perhaps? Probably for incidents when a burglar steals the entire thing, the machine puts on its brakes and stops the burglary attempt on the spot. But I wonder where are its brakes. What will we see next…?

Oh Dear, Joe Kinnear!!!!

Whether or not you are a football fan, you should still check this out. The new interim manager of Newcastle United, Joe Kinnear, gave a tirade of shocking continous swearing to a horde of journalists during a recent press conference, with a barrage of F-words bombarded at LIVE journalist for a record 52 times!!! Kinner was absolutely furious towards a certain journalist, a Mr. Simon Bird from the ‘Daily Mirror’ newspaper that ran a story about Kinnear. The paper claimed that during his first day at office, and at a scheduled meeting with all his new players that he will be in charge of, the entire squad went missing. It claimed that due to the player’s complete lack of confidence in Kinnear’s managerial abilities, the squad decided not to waste their time and duly walked off. The headline duly read “Joe Kinnear, There’s No One Here”. Don’t you just love the English gossip papers for dramatism? Joe Kinnear blew his top off and took each journalist by the scruff of their necks and let loose a bombardment of verbal swearing that will make even the Godfather beam with pride. Here’s the dramatic emotional explosion recorded in all its colorful glory. Mind you, it does contain a few F-words or two…

The Sound Bite.

F**kin' amazing, innit? Talk about his inadequacies as a manager, the people were dead on. Where's your media handlin' skills, ey Joe?

The Complete Transcript.

Ah, and some people say the English language is one of the most beautiful of all languages. How quaint, how charming. Did you miss a F-word in between the C-words and all? Yes, well, feat not, here’s the entire transcript for your complete enjoyment!!! Do kindly share it in English class, your teacher will definitely love you for contributions in exposing the vibrancy that is the English language. Oh, the Queen would have been utterly proud!!! Read on:

[START]

Joe Kinnear: Which one is Simon Bird [Daily Mirror's north-east football writer]?

Simon Bird: Me.

JK: You're a c**t.

SB: Thank you.

JK: Which one is Hickman [Niall, football writer for the Express]? You are out of order.
Absolutely f**king out of order. If you do it again, I am telling you you can f**k off and go to another ground. I will not come and stand for that f**king crap. No f**king way, lies. F**k, you're saying I turned up and they [Newcastle's players] f**ked off.

SB: No Joe, have you read it, it doesn't actually say that. Have you read it?

JK: I've f**king read it, I've read it.

SB: It doesn't say that. Have you read it?

JK: You are trying to f**king undermine my position already.

SB: Have you read it, it doesn't say that. I knew you knew they were having a day off.

JK: F**k off. F**k off. It's your last f**king chance.

SB: You read the copy? It doesn't say that you didn't know.

JK: What about the headline, you think that's a good headline?

SB: I didn't write the headline, you read the copy.

JK: You are negative b**tards, the pair of you.

SB: So if I get a new job next week would I take the first day off? No I wouldn't. If I get a new job should I call my boss and tell him I am taking the first day off?

JK: It is none of your f**king business. What the f**k are you going to do? You ain't got the balls to be a f**king manager. F**king day off. Do I want your opinion. Do I have to listen to you?

SB: No, you can listen to who you want.

JK: I had a 24-hour meeting with the entire staff.

SB: Joe, you are only here six weeks, you could have done that on Sunday, or Saturday night.

JK: No, no, no. I didn't want to do it. I had some other things to do.

SB: What? More important things?

JK: What are you? My personal secretary? F**k off.

SB: You could have done the meeting Saturday night or Sunday. You could have had them watching videos, you could have organised them.

JK: I was meeting the f**king chairman the owner, everyone else. Talking about things.

SB: It is a valid point that was made in there. A valid point.

JK: I can't trust any of you.

Niall Hickman: Joe, no one could believe that on your first day at your new club, the first-team players were not in. No one could believe it in town. Your first day in the office.

JK: My first day was with the coaches. I made the decision that I wanted to get as much information out of them.

NH: But why Monday, no one could believe it?

JK: I'm not going to tell you anything. I don't understand where you are coming from. You are
delighted that Newcastle are getting beat and are in the state they are? Delighted, are you?

NH: Certainly not. No one wants to see them get beaten, why would we?

JK: I have done it before. It is going to my f**king lawyers. So are about three others. If they can find something in it that is a court case it is going to court. I am not f**king about. I don't talk to f**king anybody. It is raking up stories. You are f**king so f**king slimy you are raking up players that I got rid of. Players that I had fallen out with. You are not asking Robbie Earle, because he is sensible. You are not asking Warren Barton? No. Because he is f**king sensible. Anyone who had played for me for 10 years at any level ... [but] you will find some c**t that ...

Other journalist: How long is your contract for Joe?

JK: None of your business.

SB: Well it is actually, because we cover the club. The club say you are here to the end of October, then you say six to eight games which would take it to the end of November. We are trying to clarify these issues. We are getting no straight answers from anyone. How long are you here for. It is a dead simple question. And you don't know ...

JK: I was told the length of contract. Then I was told that possibly the club could be sold in that time. That is as far as I know. That's it finished. I don't know anything else. But I have been ridiculed. He's trying to f**king hide, he's trying to do this or that.

(There follows an exchange regarding the circumstances under which Kinnear had met the owner Mike Ashley and executive director (football) Dennis Wise.)

Steve Brenner (football writer for the Sun): We are all grown men and can come in here and sit around and talk about football, but coming in here and calling people c**ts?

JK: Why? Because I am annoyed. I am not accepting that. If it is libellous, it is going to where I want it to go.

Newcastle press officer: What has been said in here is off the record and doesn't go outside.
Journalist Well, is that what Joe thinks?

JK: Write what you like. Makes no difference to me. Don't affect me I assure you. It'll be the last time I see you anyway. Won't affect me. See how we go at Everton and Chrissy [Chris Hughton, assistant manager] can do it, someone else can do it. Don't trust any of yous. I will pick two local papers and speak to them and the rest can f**k off. I ain't coming up here to have the piss taken out of me. I have a million pages of crap that has been written about me. I'm ridiculed for no reason. I'm defenceless. I can't get a point in, I can't say nothing, I can't do nothing, but I ain't going to be negative. Then, half of you, most of you are trying to get into the players. I'm not going to tell you what the players think of you, so then you try and get into them in some way or another, so I've got a split camp or something like that, something like that. It's ongoing. It just doesn't stop.

Journalist: It's only been a week.

JK: Exactly. It feels more like a year.

Journalist: It's early days for you to be like this.

JK: No, I'm clearing the air. And this is the last time I'm going to speak to you. You want to know why, I'm telling you. This is the last time. You can do what you like.

Journalist: But this isn't going to do you or us any good.

JK: I'll speak to the supporters. I'm going to tell them what the story is. I'm going to tell them. I don't think they'll interpret it any different, I don't think they'll mix it up, I don't think they'll miss out things. I mean, one of them last week said to me ... I was talking about in that press conference where you were there, I said something like "Well, that's a load of bollocks ..."

Journalist: "Bollocks to that" is what you said.

JK: Bollocks to that. And what goes after that?

Journalist: That was it.

JK: No it wasn't, no it wasn't. What was after it? I don't know if it was your paper, but what went after it?

Journalist: I don't know.

JK: It even had the cheek to say "bollocks to Newcastle".

Journalist: I didn't write that.

JK: That was my first f**king day. What does that tell you? What does that tell you?

Journalist: Where was that? Which paper said that?

JK: I've got it. I can't remember. It was one of the Sundays, not a Saturday. It was a Sunday.

Journalist: But you didn't say that to the Sundays, you said that to us. That was during the Monday press conference.

JK: I'll bring it in and show it to you. Why would I want to say that?

Journalist: Are you saying that someone has reported you saying "bollocks to Newcastle?"

JK: Yes. Lovely.

Journalist: I don't know who's reported that.

JK: I'll tell you what, I'll bring it in.

Journalist: That's obviously going to damage you. That's not a good thing. But I don't think someone's done that. We have to have some sort of relationship with you.

JK: So have I. But I haven't come in here for you lot to take the piss out of me. And if I'm not flavour of the month for you, it don't f**king bother me. I've got a job to do. And I'm going to do it to the best of my ability. I'm not going to spend any more time listening to any crap or reading any crap. Stick to the truth and the facts. And don't twist anything.

Journalist: You know, you know the game ...

JK: Of course I know, but I don't have to like it.

Journalist: Today we'll print the absolute truth, that you think we're c**ts, we can all f**k off and we're slimy. Is that fair enough?

JK: Do it. Fine. F**king print it. Am I going to worry about it? Put in also that it'll be the last time I see you. Put that in as well. Good. Do it.Much, much later after long discussions over whether Kinnear had promised Alan Shearer and Kevin Keegan would be returning to the club

Press officer: Let's get on to football. Let's have an agreement that everything said so far, if anyone has got their tapes on, it's wiped off and we're not discussing it.

Journalist: But that's what Joe has said he thinks of us.

Press officer: I'm saying don't push it. Let's accept what's been said and try and move on.

Journalist: Move on to not doing any more press conferences?

PO: No, to doing something now.

Journalist: What, one press conference only?

(Silence)

Journalist: Any knocks?

PO: Come on, let's go football.

Journalist: What are your plans for training in the next three days? How's the training going?

JK: It's going very well. No problems at all.

Journalist: Enjoyed getting back in the swing of things?

JK: Absolutely. I've loved every moment of it.

[END]

The Background.

So, how did this mess emerge from the gutters of England and be laid nakedly bare for all the entire world to perceive? Hence forth is the background, before the tirade began…

Newcastle United Football Club is in a shambolic state that disgraces even the least loyal of fans. Newcastle United is one of the best supported clubs in England, if not the world. Mind you, Newcastle is the only football club in England that carries the distinction of being the sole club in a big city. In Manchester, there is Manchester United & Manchester City. In Liverpool there is Liverpool FC and Everton. But in the region of Tyneside, there is the one and only Newcastle United. So, the fan-base is huge and so are the expectations for the club. But for decades, the club never did manage to achieve the heights that all Newcastle fans had hoped it would reach.

Looking at the current situation now, the doom and gloom will darken even the most optimistic of fans. Recently, the club was bought over by an American billionaire, Mike Ashley, but now he wishes to sell out completely to the highest bidder. The so-called messiah of Newcastle United, Kevin Keegan, resigns in protest to the managerial structure that was created when the takeover took place. Keegan has no say in the transfers of his players, and that is like saying a driver has no control of his brakes. A certain Mr. Dennis Wise has control over the transfer policies, and this is not so wise a policy according to Kevin Keegan and he duly resigns.

And this is where our motor-mouth of a manager enters the lion’s den of the journalist’s attention. Our colorful Joe Kinnear took over the reigns of the club, and that is only after a reportedly 15 managers rejected the post before him. Kinnear, a senior in English football but hardly the most popular, takes over on a game-by-game basis. But to the fans, a club that is of Newcastle’s stature should not employ such a pitiable individual. From day one, Kinnear was bombarded by the press for his inadequacies as a football manager and also for the dismal lack of respect that he commands from his players that he is in charge of. A certain journalist by the name of Simon Bird from the 'Daily Mirror' newspaper in the UK enters the fray and runs a report claiming that on Kinnear’s first day at office, due to lack of confidence by his players on Kinner, was no where to be seen during a scheduled meeting with the players. A tabloid story made up to sell more papers or is it just simply true? You decide.

But whatever it may be, this episode of explosive emotional outburst will definitely go down as one of the most dramatic, if not most colorful, dramas to ever engulf the world of English football. The 2nd most memorable incident? Coincidentally, it was a man we hear all so often recently; it was Mr. Kevin Keegan himself. But that’s another story. In the meantime, I would ‘lurve’ it to see Dennis Wise get kicked out of Newcastle United and Kevin Keegan be re-instated as the manager of the club, I would absolutely ‘lurve’ it. And Kinnear as his assistant. The world of English football would be as explosive as ever. And oh, bring back Jose Mourinho. I would definitely LURVE that…

KL Weekend Break (Again!!) from 19th Sept ~ 21st Sept, '08

As quick as i had returned to Labuan, I was back in KL again from the 19th Sept until the 21st Sept. At first I thought it would be fun to return to good ol' KL so soon after the long merdeka break and escape my daily monotony of work. But sadly, it was not to be as the workload was piling up faster than me with a toiletbowl and some bad chilies form yesterday's dinner. The few days before my flight back was superly stressed and was so rushing, I actually brought back that rushing feeling back to KL. Throughout the KL weekend I was so tense, I just couldn't relax. My mind could not get out of work even if I wanted to. I was replying my office emails at home at 12am, imagine that. And when I did manage to forget about work, some office idiot calls, spoiling my relaxing mood. Even my boss SMSed me if I could attend to some work. I replied back to him that I have "limited access to internet connectivity" (even though we are bathed in Wi-Fi nowadays). He didn't reply me after that. Sorry boss!!!

And with that stressy feeling, I still had to try and enjoy what I paid for to AirAsia (RM150 Labuan to KL, round-trip. It's a good deal trust me). Here's what unfolded in those tensed-up days in KL:

Friday, 19th September 2008.

Meet up with Bryan at KLCC and got to know him through MSN a while ago. He has this high-pitched laugh I can never forget. He says he sings fantastically well at the karaoke, and I was Sooooooo tempted to let him prove my doubts right. But sadly, he said he "has a slight cough now" and could not sing properly. Coincidence or an excuse??!! My ISA-senses are tingling, and I'm on to you Bryan!!! Anyway, we had a super late lunch at 'Kim Gary Beyond' at Avenue K (ate at 3:30pm 'cause I was late from a jam. My fault la, sorry la!!) But before we can order, some sales girl came over and introduced the 'Kim Gary' membership card to us. I was not interested at all but Bryan was so easily fooled. Idiot!!! But it provided good vouchers when signing up for the card. For example, 50% off on total bill on your birthday (max 4 person i think? Can't remember), RM5 voucher that can be used anytime, some free burger and drinks vouchers and also 10% off on everything and anytime when you eat at Kim Gary. The cost for the card? RM15 only. A good deal if you love 'Kim Gary'...

We just chitchatted and hang around KLCC (tried on shirts and stuff at 'Esprit' even though we have no money to buy haha) and did some stuff until 6pm. He had an appointment with another friend, and me too with SL. We went to the 'Isetan Member's Day' sale, and the crowd was super mad. It's limited to members only but the crowd was so huge, security people was all over Isetan (and it was still during working hours!!!). I was so tempted to buy a 'Seed' shirt (the design had a black strip at the middle and was all the way from top to bottom, looked like a tie) but I really wanted to buy jeans so I passed on it. In the end, I only bought 'Haagen Dazs' ice-cream (buy 2 tubs at RM30 and free 1 tub). All in all, clothing and grocery stuff was pretty cheap.

Later went for dinner and went back to SL's place to mess about with the computer. SL just got a brand spankin' new computer from HP, 'Intel Core 2 Duo' and all that heavy-duty PC stuff inside. But what I was super-duper-freakinliciously jealous was it's 24-inch HP LCD monitor!!! IT'S BLARDY HUGE AND SUPER CLEAR!!!! AAARRRGHHHHH!!! I WANT, I WANT!!!! Siiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. But we couldn't really test the monitor cause the movies we downloaded (shhhhh!! Illegal leh) can't play. Oh well, luckily I did copy a few movies when I was in Labuan so I can bring it over the next day lah...

Saturday, 20th September 2008.

The movies I copied for SL worked perfectly fine on the 24 inch LCD monitor and damn, the movies do look mighty perfect. Sighhhhhhhhhhh. It's like a cinema right at hooome. Its better than cinema I think coz the images on the LCD is super clear and bright. "Soooooooo lucky" i.e. 'Toyota Vios' advertisement haha. Later we went to Pavillion to continue my jeans hunting session and FINALLY found one that I like in 'Pull and Bear'. But at that time when I tried it on, the size didn't fit so I didn't buy =.= Saaaaaaad.....I'm doomed to failure with my jeans hunting mission.

Hungry and dissappointed, we went for lunch and ended up at 'Dain Ti Hill' on the top floor, next to 'TGI Friday's'. From the outside the place looks very impressive with its fusion of traditional chinese and western decor. But the food...oh God, the food is not good at all. This is another case of the 'The Apartment' at The Curve whereby its all about the looks and no substance on the food. Even the menu is limited in variety that serves plain chinese dishes (sweet and sour chicken, kailan, those stuff lah). We had to search for a full 10 minutes before we decided on what to order. SL had the 'Beef Rice' which was superly bad (too dry and tasteless) and I went adventurusly for the 'Emperor's Roll' that had baked rice with prawns, mango, cheese and mayo. Maybe I was overly adventurerous as the dish sucked big time. The rice is rolled into a style that is exactly like a sushi roll, but tastes totally not like sushi. It was just horrendous. It was served in 2 rolls, but even with my empty stomach that is commonly described as a 'trash can' because anything also can go in one, I only managed to eat 1 roll. It was that bad. And the drink didn't help either. I had the 'Honey Vinegar' (yes, vineger. SL forced me) for my drink and it really didn't help. For those 3 items, it was RM70, can you believe it??!! Luckily I think 'Citibank' was having a promo and I got 50% knocked off from my bill. But even at RM35, I still found it very expensive and not worth anything AT ALL. Definately NOT recommeneded. Here's the stuff to AVOID:

Emperor's Roll: Baked Rice Roll Topped with Mango: Looks like sushi, but not sushi. After eating this, I still don't know what t his is. A freaky creation. Terrible.

Beef Rice: Too dry and tasteless. Economy rice at any coffee shop tastes better than this.

Honey Vinegar Drink: Thank God for the Honey, honey.

Not satisfied with the food for the day, we ventured to other places around Pavillion (while shopping for jeans, I tried everything from 'Guess' to 'Levi''s' to 'Calvin Klein' and still no luck as I still like Pull and Bear). We ended up in a dimsim place at the top floor called 'Lijin Chinese Fusion Cuisine'. It had 30% off for all dimsum after 2pm, so what the heck, dimsum it was. And after ordering the 'Shanghai Siew Long Pao', the 'Har Gao', 'Siew Mai' and many more, I have to say it was YUMMY. I think this place is good, we can even see customers walking in and placing orders to 'tapau' and arranging those big chinese dinners for important occasions. So something must be right here. In the end, for the amount of food we ordered, we paid RM50 for dimsum that could have cost the same amount at those outside streetside places. A good deal and a good meal, that's super thumbs up in my book anyday!!!

Dinner time, we headed to Desa Sri Hartamas (I couldn't stop eating!!! Maybe because of the stress?? Haha) to celebrate Prasad's belated birthday. Big old Prasad is a married man now (and his wifey and friends treated him a 30-minute plane flying lesson at Subang Airport by an instructor. What a super cool present!!) We went to an Indian place called 'Saffron' (next to Aunty Nat) and the it serves very delicious Indian cuisine. Very yummy even though I don't like Indian food much. The interior of the place looks very very simple, but if you see properly at the patrons that eat there, there's a good blend of locals of all ethnic origin, foreigners and datuks/datins with bug cars parks outside the restaurant. In fact, 'Saffron' was voted the best restaurant a few times by some major newspaper before. So, soemthing must be right, correct? It's worth a try even though you might not fancy Indian cuisine and it's also good place to introduce yourself to the spicy side of food!!!

As Prasad was not a clubbing kaki or anything like that, we went into his car and ronda-ronda Sri Hartamas area to look for things to do. First thing came to mind was to play pool at 'Breakers', but we were so sure it was full to the max so we headed off to Bangsar to look for a place that serves "the best alchoholic coffee in town", as according to V. I forgot the name but it was unfortunately closed so we ended up at 'The Social" at Bangsar and had a few drinks there. Drank and talked-cock until TK came over. But by then, our hands were itchy with pool table sickness (Bangsar's pool places were full) so we headed back to 'Breakers' at Sri Hartamas haha. Got a table and my ass was properly whipped by Prasad and TK. I'm sooooooo out of touch with pool sigghhhh...Ever since I went over to Labuan...ever since then....my silky touch of the que is now gine. Sighhhhh....


Sunday, 21st September 2008.

Woke up late and had lunch with SL & TK at 'Kar Heong Chicken Rice'. This place is so delicious I just have to eat it eveytime I come back home to KL haha. It's like I've signed an invisible contract that stipulates that I must eat at this place or else my ass will be properly sued by Karpal Singh. A new branch opened in Kota Damansara and I heard the boss went over there already to manage the place. So to all those Kota Damansara folks, do try out this place, it's chicken rice that is closest to Ipoh's chicken rice that I've ever tasted. Honestly.

As the day was a slow and rainy one, we then headed off to 'Beans' at SS15 for some 'tong sui'. Not the best palce for 'tong sui' but at least there's a place that serves it whenever we feel like having it. We chit-chatted about stuff and mainly on the Langkawi trip (which I have a funny feeling is doomed to failure. Sighhh).

It was getting late and I wanted to go to 1 Utama's 'Pull and Bear' store to look at the jeans I saw yesterday and see if there's my size available...and there was none. But when I tried the same size I tried yesterday, it FITTED!!! It's abit loose at the waist but with a belt, it actually fitted very nicely. Wowwww. I can't believe it. I've gained so much weight in 1 day?? But it fitted and that's all I wanted to know haha so I finally bought my jeans after so many months of searching!!! Yaaaaayyyy!!! The cost? RM250. Okla for jeans, 'Levi's' also around that price but I'm soooo bored with Levi's. Furthermore we change jeans after many years right...? So RM250 is considered a long-term investment then ;P

Finally felt satisfied after so many days of tension and stress, we headed back to Sunway Pyramid's 'TGI Friday's' to celebate Majidah's birthday. I have to admit, there was no planning for this event whatsoever (sorry Maj hahahaha). I was just throwing around ideas on where to eat for the past few days with Ah Nei and all (it was down to either 'Delicious' at Bangsar, 'Wendy's Bristro' at Sunway or 'TGI Fridays'. In the end it was Fridays cause everyone will be familiar with Pyramid). I tried calling to make reservations because for sure it will be super-duper-packed due to the buka puasa session, but when I called some guy said "we don't do reservations at this peak time, however if you walk-in I'm sure there will be a place". Fine, I didn't want to argue with him so I planned on walking-in, and when I walked-in it was super-packed. Thank you Mr. Anonymous TGI Fridays man. There was a waiting list and we were 4th on the list. And that forced Maj to buka puasa somewhere else. Oooopppps, thousand apologies ya. But she came back to join me, SL, Ah Nei, and Paul. I noticed that this branch in Pyramid is abit too serious as the waiters were all too cool and non-communicating. Other 'TGI Fridays' branches have this fun and jovial mood to them (especially at The Curve) but this one is just...cold. Even though I still noticed the staff did sing the usual birthday songs to the guests (and also force the birthday boy/girl to STAND ON A CHAIR. Talking about asking for attention), it was not all right at Sunway's branch with the staff. But it's not all doom and gloom: it had this huge & super-cool Bruce Lee action figure right next to our table and the food was not bad either, check it out:

Haiyaaaaa!!!! Abs that will kick @SS!!!

Mac & Chez as appetizer: If you like cheese and fried stuff, you're gonna LOVE this!!!

JD Burger: A thick chuck of beef with generous slices of bacon and a dash of TGI's signature JD sauce on the side. With chips of course. Absolutely perfect for burger lovers.

JD Chicken: El Classico. Chicken with the distinctively tasty JD sauce with a plop of whipped potatoes. Lovely. If you don't know what to order at TGI's, you can start off with this.

Sizzling Chicken & Shrimp: Garlic-marinated chicken breast and plump shrimp tossed with zesty roma tomato-basil salsa. Served with onions and peppers and our cheddar cheese mashed potatoes on a sizzling platter of melted Colby and Jack cheeses. Quoted from TGI Friday's website. Ha!!! Unfortunately, this dish was not served sizzling, which was a down-side.

Diablo Pasta: Tender, seasoned chicken and shrimp sautéed in olive oil, then blended in a fiery tomato Diablo sauce with wine. Served on linguine pasta with freshly-grated Parmesan cheese. Not sure how it tasted like as Ah Nei Nei ordered this. Any comments Nei Nei?

After the dinner it was already getting late and Pyramid was closing. So we all headed over to SS15's 'Canai & Such' to finally have a proper discussing on our Langkawi trip in December. Paul even brought with him a lappy for research and make bookings if need to. But the lappy ran out of power mid way through =.= Nice one Pauuuuuuul. At the same time I also handed over to Ah Nei her 2 cartons of 'Marlboro Reds' ciggies that she asked me to buy in Labuan (RM65 for 1 carton. Cheap? Not really, last month it was just RM55. Too bad Nei Nei. Oh and btw, don't come find me if you die from the ciggies ya, you asked me to buy one!!!). Oh, that night it was also super cold and with the wind blowing, it was like drinking 'Coffee Bean' at Genting. So cool haha. Anyway, around 12am plus plus we adjourned home. But already we got to know the rough price of Langkawi, a booking is imminent (and at the time of posting this blog, 4 peeps made bookings already which are me, TK, Paul and Maj. Nei Nei and Theva is also on the way I heard). So, I think this Langkawi trip might just be a blast after all...until then, finger's crossed.

So my trips are piling up already. Oct will be in 'Kota Kinabalu', Dec will be 'Langkawi', and Feb will be the 'Hong Kong/HK Disneyland (hopefully)/Shenzen/Macau' trip. And that's not all. 'Penang' is also target (althought still early stages of planning) and with my family will be 'Guilin' in China. And is 'Kuching' for the World Music Festival really on...? God help my pockets, God bless my wallet....

Merdeka Break in KL, 29th August ~ 2nd Sept '08, Part 2

Monday, 1st September 2008

This is one day I wouldn’t forget in a quite a while. In fact, some friends and I had been planning to do this for quite sometime now and we finally dug up the courage to actually do it. This is the day I went for my first ‘Fish Spa Session’ hahahaah. In fact this is no big deal la, I wanted to do it for a looong time liao but didn’t get the right people to go with. I actually tried calling a few people to join in but some chickened out (especially SL. Hmmmpphh!!) and some had other things to do. In the end, only TK and I offered our precious legs to be devoured by hundreds of hunger-induced fishes of various sizes, ranging from tiny to goddamn big. The thing is, the task looks simple. Dig in your feet, relax, and enjoy the ambiance of a spa environment right? WRONG. My first experience was SUPER geli, so tingling and ticklish until me and TK just can’t stop laughing, I actually had stomach cramps from the laughing. I think it was only after 15 minutes or half way through the spa session that we finally got used to the ticklish sensation. Here are some photos (WARNING: contains graphic images of HAIRY LEGS. Be warned!!):

ARRGGHHHH!!!! Actually there's no pain, only ticklish, like big gigantic ants crawling all over your legsss!!!

Just imagine these fishes had teeth. Now THAT would be scaryyyy!!!

Just look at the size of that bugger!!!!

Just me and the fishes. Okla, i'm a camwhore. Bite me.

It’s an experience that I’ll really never forget. But here’s the down part. I was told by a friend that the fish we experienced was NOT the proper fish that is supposed to give us those healing and cleaning properties. In other words, those fishes you saw in my photos above are PIRATED fishes. Yes, pirated. Even fishes get copied. Okla, not cloned but the spa we went to provided us the wrong type of fish. The proper fish is supposed to be the ‘Garra Rufa’ fish that are tiny, blackish in color and non-aggressive. Other names they have are “nibble fish” or the “reddish log sucker” (important word here: sucker, not biter). They originated from Turkey where they primarily consume on the dead areas of the skin, thus allowing the opportunity for new, healthier skin to replace the dead ones.

The ones we experienced were probably cheap replacements. A quick check online and I found out that there are indeed a different version called the ‘Chin Chin fish’ originated from China. Now I’m not saying this China version is dangerous or does not do the job of cleaning your feet. The ones we experienced were probably of the China variety and I’ve noticed that they did NOT bite or were NOT aggressive. But here’s the problem with these China variety: these fishes are however were pretty big in size and therefore had pretty big mouths. Fish being fish, they could have bitten more than they could chew and once they bite through skin, our skin could bleed and bacteria from the dirty aquarium water could have entered our body and God knows what diseases we could have suffered. And if you think I’m exaggerating here, this situation was actually brought to my attention from a family friend working as a Doctor in an established hospital. So there you go, if you really want to do a fish spa, be careful of the type of fish they are offering, don’t mess with your life are a measly 30 minutes of fun and laughter (watch Jim Carrey movies instead!!).

So the fish spa that we went to is called ‘Foot Master’ located at 1st Floor Subang Parade (also in Sunway Pyramid). With the many fish spa mushrooming all over Malaysia, it's best that everyone be careful and choose the right type of fish just in case!!!

Anyway, the results after our spa session? No bleeding or anything of that sort. In fact, my legs felt a bit smoother. And I noticed my leg was less hairy…I guess the fishes will have some indigestion issues to attend to….

After the spa, it was dinner time and I had to treat my family with a nice dinner for all the ‘Mother’s Day’, ‘Father’s Day’, birthdays, etc etc etc that I’ve missed because I was in Labuan. SL joined in, and we suggested a nice restaurant in KL but it was getting late and I bet they didn’t like jams so we headed off to ‘Wendy’s Bistro’ in Sunway Mentari (highly recommended place for its ribs and stuff. Yummy!!) but unfortunately it was closed. So we ended up in ‘Eden Restaurant’ in Subang Parade instead (back to Parade haha). They had this ‘Executive Set’ promo and it looks pretty good so all of us whacked it. For RM34.90 per person it had loads of dishes to choose from, but here’s what I ordered for the set:

Soup/Appetizer: French Onion Soup. You can never go wrong with Onion Soup!!! Yum yumm!!

Main Course: ‘BLT Steak on Olio Pasta’. A slice of juicy steak topped onto ribbons of Olio Pasta that had hints of spiciness and cheese. A rather delicious combo actually!!

Dessert: ‘Bread & Butter Pudding with Vanilla Sauce’. Not my usual choice of dessert but I felt abit brave that day and chose this over the usual ‘Tiramisu’ and all that. Abit too sweet but interesting dessert nonetheless!!!

Coffee or Tea: Coffee, Tea…or me? Hahaha

Tuesday, 2nd September 2008.

It’s the day for my return to Labuan. But my flight was 6:00pm so there is still a small window of opportunity to enjoy further. So we headed off to Mid Valley early in the morning, at around 10am haha (I’m constantly ending up in either MV or Parade in this trip. I wonder why…?) SL really wanted to see ‘Wall*E’ so we did just that, and again I have to say that ‘Wall*E’ is the CUTEST thing in 3-D form ever (doggies are still the cutest thing EVER). We got the ‘early-bird’ promo at RM7 a ticket (nice) but the cinema was quite empty and it was SUPER cold (*ahem*)….

After the movie it was lunch time and SL always loved Vietnamese noodles so we headed off to ‘Little Vietnam’ and stuffed ourselves silly. We had noodles but for me, the highlight of any Vietnamese restaurant visits is not the food, but the COFFEE. I don’t know about you guys, but if you like coffee you just have to try out their style of coffee. Vietnamese coffee or ‘Ca phe sua da’ is brewed with a small metal drip filter (with Vietnamese coffee powder in it) and is placed on top of a cup containing condensed milk. Hot water is poured into the filter and just let it drip down to the cup and viola!!! Stir it and drink the best coffee that you will ever taste in your life. Okla, I’m exaggerating but it’s a very excellent substitute to the usual bore of ‘Starbucks’ and ‘Coffee Bean’.

And with that sip of coffee heaven, we headed back to my place and duly headed off for the airport for my plane ride back to Labuan. That’s it for the Merdeka break holiday which consisted of sushi, Baskin Robbins, Fireman BBQ, Merdeka fireworks, a very bad Vin Diesel movie, shopping, a TK beef burger overindulgence, yamcha, a fish spa session, Eden steaks and Vietnamese coffee. Satisfied? Definitely.

See you all again in KL on this 19th September people!!!!!!!

Merdeka Break in KL, 29th August ~ 2nd Sept '08, Part 1

Went back to KL for the long Merdeka weekend from 29th August until the 2nd September, and as always it was an enjoyable trip with friends and family. It wasn't spectacular but fun nonetheless. Here’s what unfolded within those 5 days:


Friday, 29th August 2008.

As most of my friends were rushing to complete their work before the long Merdeka holidays, I spent the day with my family. Having not seen them for more than 4 months (in the last trip back to KL, they were having fun in Bali. Again. They tend to go to the best holidays when I’m not around. Sigh. I wonder why??!!! What have I done to deserve this, mummy??!! WHAT??!! Sigh) I spent the time having lunch with them (my treat lah of course) at ‘Kar Heong’ chicken rice (still the best chicken rice shop in the Klang Valley. Honestly) and chitchat with them at home while having tea and durians. Not the ideal combination for conversations but it was good to have played catch-up with their lives and shared neighborly gossips once again (gossip highlight of the trip: our neighbor had an affair with their indo maid, had a huge argument, homely items started to fly and became UFOs and the police were even called in. Damn, wish I could have seen it!!!).

Lazing around the house until 4pm, I finally adjourned out to the outside world and drove to Mid Valley for a hair cut. I didn’t drive all the way there for a hair cut lah of course; I made plans to meet up K after his working hours. I went to look for my regular hair stylist but he wasn’t there. Has he left the saloon? No idea, so I have to try out a new stylist. I hate trying out new stylists because more often than not, they will screw up the cut and I’ll end up looking like a cina-beng. Not saying I’m not one now, but with a screwed-up haircut I look so cina-beng, I can march right through Chinese airport customs and the officials will not even check my passport. Long live China, Beijing here I come.

In the end, the haircut was bloody awful. I hate it. It was too short. It made my head look so huge. I look like a walking lollipop. Dammit. And the stylist cut off my fringe even though I said NOT to. She said it will “complete the look”. Yeah, complete my cina-beng look, right? If I wanted that “complete” look I would have gone to an Indian barbershop instead (or a Chinese barbershop. Got anot ah?). It would have saved me a heck a lot of money as well. And she even had the nerve to ask me for more business by suggesting I highlight my hair bright blonde. More of her “complete look” perhaps. Perhaps NOT dear stylist, good BYE.

After waking around Mid Valley (really fast to avoid any weird stares), K arrived moments later and we headed off to ‘Sushi Zenmai’ at The Gardens for our dinner. It turns out K had his hair cut too. Damn short as well. But it looked good on him. While mine…SIGH. Anyway, I had the usual ‘Unagi Roll’ and ‘Hourai’ set (I think that is what it’s called) and yes, it was damn delicious. Maybe because I didn’t have sushi for such a long time!! We chitchatted until it was going to close at around 11pm, but it was so early we decided to chat some more at ‘Starbucks’. I treated K coz he treated me the Sushi. Good deal in my book bbwwahahahhahahhah!!! Chitchatted until 1am plus (but ‘Starbucks’ was still crowded. Amazing) and headed back home after that.


Saturday, 30th August 2008.

Woke up early to have breakfast with mum and dad again, but before going home we stopped by Subang Parade. Why? To buy ‘Baskin Robbins’ of course!! But it’s not 31st yet…But no matter, they brought forward the promotion early!!! And the best part is, there was no queue ‘cause maybe not many people knew of the early promo and also because it was only 11am when I started queuing. Yayyy!!! I bought a quart with a mix of 2 flavors namely ‘Chocolate Orange Chunk’ (chocolate with tangy orange sherbet loaded with choco chips and ribbons of liquid chocolate) & ‘World Class Chocolate’ (chocolate that is…world class lah). Actually ‘Baskin Robbins’ is not my favorite, ever tried ‘Ben & Jerry’s’? It’s HEAVENLY.

SL was finally free. As I already had lunch with mum and dad at 'Little Penang', I accompanied SL to ‘Old Taste Kopitiam’ in Taipan for lunch while I had my cup of warm Hazelnut White Coffee. It’s so0000oo good, it is simply luscious with elegant aromas of coffee with hints of fine Hazelnuts. Okla, it wasn’t that fabulous but still delicious nonetheless haha. I wanted to go to The Curve for a movie at 3pm but SL had to collect a mail package at ‘Poslaju’ nearby KL Central. I had a very bad feeling about it as these 2 words sent cold shivers down my spine: Poslaju = “Bos, lambat” and KL Central = KL jam. Well, I can’t complain coz I’m down in KL for a KL trip aren’t I? And with that thought, we headed down to KL Central…

…and was caught in jam for more than 2 hours. And by the time we reached The Curve, the car journey clocked at a very impressive 3 hours plus. I could have reached Ipoh already for some really delicious chicken rice. Oh well, oh KL. Once reach there, movie tickets were all sold out for most of the movies. Not surprising. So we decided to just ronda-ronda Curvy area until dinner time with TK and Ah Nei. I tried calling a few more people but they were either busy with their own plans or are afraid to go out coz the jams might bite big time.

Dinner time, we wandered around for a place to eat and ended up in a new place called ‘Fireman BBQ’. It may sound familiar to some; this is because it is not the 1st branch in Malaysia. There’s another one in Jaya 1 (which I heard has an actual semi-naked-fire-breathing-fireman-cum-waiter serving you food. So while you are BBQ-ing your meat, this guy will come over and blow fire over your meat to give you that extra crispiness. Okla, I made up that cripiness part but the fireman is true I was told. Anyone can rectify this?) As for the food, we went for the ‘Fireman Parade’ set (I’m still pondering why it’s a parade. Seafood can’t parade. Hmmm) that consisted of pork meat and seafood while for drinks we went for that extra healthy option and chose this herbal-tea-with-‘lin gao’. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, don’t worry, I dunno what I’m talking either. Just go the pictures why don’t you:

Generous slices of pork to wet any meat lover's appetite!!! Notice that piece of paper that reads '20'? That's a coupon to rebate RM20 for every RM50 spent. It's not bad a deal!!!!

Too meaty for you? Don't worry, there's seafood and noodles to provide you with that 'balanced healthy diet'...

Before: clean and clear. Notice those chunks of stuffs on top? It's actually piggy fatty to glaze the top of the BBQ set so that your food don't stick. Also provides you that what added 'ummpphh' in taste. Definately non-halal....

In-progress: soup is boiling hot and all sorts of stuff gets BBQ-ed. Marinate your meat with the chillie/BBQ sauces and garlic provided and the food will taste surprisingly goooood....

After: Cripsy burnt and greasy. All in a day's work for the hungry meat-eating "firemen".

And this is the 'healthy-herbal-tea-with-lin-gao' I was talking about. THAT's lin gao lah...


Feeling fired up from dinner (pardon the pun), Ah Nei left for another party while me, TK and SL loitered around The Curve at the ‘The Tarik Place’ (damn packed) until countdown and we ventured out onto the street (in between The Curve and IKEA one) and watched the countdown. As usual, the foam sprayers were all over the place and we suffered minor collateral damage. The big shots in the Government said this year the celebrations will be low-key, and my God it really felt low-key. That gay (but I’m sure a nice person) Farhad was on stage doing his best to pump up the atmosphere, but honestly, everyone was just waiting for some fireworks and then go home. And when the fireworks came, it was so ‘spectacular’, Beijing would have been proud. No really, it was ok la, it lasted only a few minutes with one big bang at the end. We can’t blame them for effort, I guess the right excuse here is that Beijing used up all the fireworks supplies in the world for the Olympics. And this is what’s left. Happy Merdeka everyone.


Sunday, 31st August 2008.

Woke up early for breakfast. But not just any breakfast, it’s a ‘Bak Kut Teh’ breakfast all the way in Klang. I call this the breakfast of champions. I mean, wake up early in the morning to devour chunks of fatty meat for breakfast? Not everyone's cup (or bowl) of tea. Except if you are living in the Klang area. They devour chunks of meat for breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper. They drink the soup as medicine too. Amazing. We went for the shop called ‘Yeoh’s Bak Kut Teh’ located right behind the Hokkien Association. Yup, some of you already know where I’m talking about. This place is good. It is so good, it even has its own website (http://www.bakkutteh.com/... I think). One sip of the soup and your mouth will burst into a celebration of taste, and when you add that with some juicy succulent pork meat, it is a marriage of flavor made in heaven.

In the afternoon, me and SL met up with TK, Ah Nei, Paul and Maj (my old school buddies) for shopping and movie at Sunway Pyramid. The jams were horrendous so we parked outside. We bought some shirt stuff and headed for the ‘Babylon A.D’ movie starring Vin Diesel. On the outside, this movie looks promising (set in the post apocalyptic future, with fancy futuristic guns and stuff, perfect as a pop-corn movie). But…I guess even Hollywood actors can get caught in the rising oil prices as Vin Diesel ran out of diesel from moment this movie started. This movie was so bad, the coolest thing in this movie was a map. Yup, a super cool square map that allows the user to scroll the map with your fingers to areas that can’t be seen in the map. Basically like the iPod phone where you can scroll left or right to view your photos with your touch screen pad. See, when you pay 10 bucks and feel that the most impressive thing about the movie was a CGI map, you know you are in big trouble. And the sad thing is, this movie was my recommendation to my buddies. Crap. Maj was all over me with dirt after the movie. My Vin-dication is that the poster rocked. I shall not put my trust in Diesel-run Hollywood actors anymore. Go Hybrid cars, go go go!!!

After the movie, we continued shopping (last days of sales!!!) and all I got was a normal looking t-shirt from ‘Padini’. My jeans acquiring mission failed. Oh well. Went to ‘Wendy’s’ for dinner and while everyone was conservative with the food, TK went super ballistic and ordered the ‘¾ Pound Beef Burger’. It’s a triple decker with cheese. And it’s a set. With fries. And a super large drink. And he had one ‘Bread Papa’ right before dinner. He’s Gandhi right after the hunger strike ended. But unlike Gandhi, I think TK kinda regretted his decision to go gung-ho on his beef. His reaction? :

Severe indigestion of Wendy's beef burger can cause massive heatiness in the body. In extreme cases, heads tend to explode in a great ball of fire known as 'spontaneous human head combustion'.

We lingered around, discussed about our plans for the new year (Camerons or Langkawi? Or more bolder like Bali or Phuket? Decisions decisions). Ah Nei, Maj and Paul left Pyramid while me, SL and TK went to a nearby mamak place in Dataran Sunway (I think that is what it’s called). This mamak place is special. Why? Because this is the place where TK and I usually watch our EPL football matches, and since I left for Labuan, we hardly come down here anymore. Sad sad. Those were the old times but good times. Simple yet memorable. Anyway, it was Chelsea Vs. Spurs and both teams drew. A good result for the Lilywhites, while the Blues wished they could have had Robinho mesmerizing the opponent’s defenses. Too bad. Money do speak louder than words nowadays in football.

To be continued in Part 2 !!!