National Day 2009

Went back to the office after 9a.m. Fed the fishes and saw one rat got caught inside the trap. Informed office boy to come to dispose of it.

Did some work and before 1p.m. CTY came to fetch me and I suggested we went to Wisma Merdeka to eat ‘Asam Laksa’.

After parking the car, we took the elevator in Phase 1 to go down. From there, we went to Phase 2 elevator. I forgot which floor the food court is on. So I pressed 5 – carpark, 4 – carpark, 3 – carpark and 2 back to outside Familia.

CTY suggested we went to the 2^nd Floor Food Court facing the ocean. But no ‘Asam Laksa’ was available and it was definitely not the food court I was looking for. I called a friend and she was unsure as well.

When we saw the security guard, we asked him about the foodcourt and he said at the 6th Floor. We proceeded there and when we came out from the elevator, I discovered the food court did not exist anymore but there are different individual coffee shops but most were closed because of the public holiday.

When we went back down to the 2nd Floor, I saw Dr. Benjamin Leong's mum and said hello to her. She was my former Primary 5 class teacher.

We went to the usual 2nd Floor Food Court and found that it has been renovated. Previously I thought the food court was a bit too bright for me and now after renovation, it is too dark. But the air-conditioners were at full blast though.

We had chicken rice and I saw most people around us were eating the same thing as well.

Went back office and worked for another two hours before going home.

Happy Birthday Choo

Happy birthday my friend. May the Lord continues to grant you the desire of your heart as you seek Him earnestly.

Today after Canaanland Celebration, I went to Karamunsing Complex. As I started my journey from Kyrugma House, I prayed for a parking bay.

As I turned into the open space carpark, I saw two drivers approaching their car to leave. But both were taking their sweet time to start the car. After one car left, I quickly parked the car and alighted. As I walked away from the car, I saw four cars waiting for parking bay but the carpark was full after the driver behind me parked the other available parking bay. Thank God I arrived earlier. Otherwise I would have to wait for a long time.

Half way through my walk at the carpark, a carload of gentlemen called out to me. I did not even realise they were talking to me. These Muslim men asked me for the direction to QEH. I forgot to ask them where they were from after telling them the direction.

After my haircut, I bought a pair of shoes from Bata and some stuff from Guardian before going to Parkson Grand at Wawasan Plaza to get my skincare. Went to Consfood to buy some food before going home.

'Asam Laksa'

CTY has been bragging to me how he found the best ‘Asam Laksa’ ever. He said it is even better than the ones in Penang.

So today after 2p.m. I went to this shop in Iramanis Centre called Amazing Grace Food Court to take away.

My stomach was growling on the way back to the office due the aroma of the mint, lemon grass and the ‘Asam Laksa’ soup.

When I took the first bite, I thought the taste was different from the rest of those I had ever tried. This one was a bit too sourish.

Though it is still not as good as the ones that I had at for instance Taman Megah Food Court in PJ, I think so far for KK standard it can rank as the best. I need to try the so called 'best one' in Wisma Merdeka in order to crown the winner.

Had the following for dinner after half an hour of briskwalking. Wanted to do a longer time but it was getting too dark.

I usually cooked beetroot soup with chicken bones when I was in Down Under and it was one of my favourite soups. The colour of the beetroot soup there was redder and the taste was sweeter.

'Ngau Chap' at Nountun, Inanam

Today finally went to Maybank during lunchtime to collect my Visa Credit Card. Supposed to have gone since beginning of last month but procrastinated until today.

Had the following for lunch with a friend who works in that area. This ‘ngau chap’ has salty vege inside and one bowl is RM5.00 or RM5.50.

Across the street from this shop, Menggatal Nyuk Pau has also set up a ‘ngau chap’ shop and selling one bowl at RM7.00. The official opening will be on 2 September 2009 though it has started operation already.

Discount on Purchases

At 9p.m. tonight mum told me I forgot to buy bread.

I just wore my house clothes and drove to Khidmat Supermarket to get the bread.

Thank God the supermarket is only 2 km away.

Eventhough I know some cashiers working here are very slow, I know by now which ones are faster than the rest and would try to go to those ones to pay if they are on duty.

One thing good about shopping here is that I can at least get a bit of discounts for cash purchases. For instance, a large loaf of Gardenia bread is RM3.80 but I am entitled to 0.27sen off. That is better than nothing.

Absentmindedness

This morning before Sophia dropped by my office, she sms to inform me she’s coming.

So out came the packet of ‘Mi Goreng’ and I placed it on top of my mobile desktop.

I was busy preparing some documents to be submitted to some officers who would be arriving from KPM at midday. Coincidentally Sophia’s courier was to the same department in Putrajaya.

When Sophia arrived, I did not have time to chat with her.

And lo and behold I forgot to pass her the thing and only remembered after she left! :(

Sorry friend.

Duh!

Translating from Chinese to English

Sometimes when people write Chinese characters, especially in FB and I want to know what they mean, I use the following link to translate the words from Chinese to English.

http://translate.google.com/#

I had tried other links as well but I find that this one is more accurate than the rest.

At least it gives me some inklings on what people are trying to convey and I can understand the gist of their stories.

3 P's

3 P’s – Payrise, Promotion & Power.

I only want the first P but was given the second and third Ps.

Thank God for the blessings.

Road Tax Renewal

The road tax for the car expires tomorrow.

Last week I already informed the insurance agent to renew the insurance so that I could ask the office boy to renew the road tax for me at the post office.

Today the office boy was going to the same building where the insurance agent works and therefore I gave him cash to pay for the premium. He also helped me to renew the road tax at the P.O.

This afternoon I received a call from the insurance agent. He told me I had given him RM50 extra than the required amount and therefore he would give it back to the office boy to pass to me including the cover note.

Thank God honest people still exist in this world.

Shock Horror

Yesterday Sophia Tsen told me she would drop by my office today so that I can help her to courier something.

Today I decided to bring the ‘Mi Goreng’ Jumbo size in a small plastic bag to work in order to pass to her from Andrew Chan.

When I was at work, I took out the plastic bag from my bag and put it on the mobile desktop below my work desk.

Tonight while I was taking my sweet time during dinnertime, mum was telling me to wash up after I had eaten because the maid had gone next door to look after the kids. Just as she finished telling me what to do, I suddenly remembered the plastic bag at work.

My imaginations ran wild with images of the packets of noodles strewn everywhere courtesy of the rat/s we have not managed to catch yet.

I did not finish my dinner and told mum I would wash up after going out for a while. I quickly dashed out and thanked God the office is only 4 km away. I needed to get to the plastic bag before the pest/s does/do.

So barely 90mins after I left the office, I was back there again. I was so relieved when I saw that the plastic bag was left untouched.

I was also glad I went back because in the midst of rushing to go home, I forgot to switch off the water pump; and also to put out the traps to catch the rat/s out at the staircase.

Over Credit Card Limit

Went to Servay Hypermarket Likas for grocery shopping. There were quite a lot of people and trolleys were still available.

Saw some Malays buying groceries. They started their fasting month yesterday.

While waiting for mum to select some veges, I was standing near the freezer section with all the packets of hotdogs in front of me. I heard a man telling his maid to sample the FOC deep fried potato wedges. The maid told him she’s fasting. Then the man’s whole family laughed at him. I had to control myself from bursting into laughters. The maid just stared at her boss.

When it was time to pay for our trolley full of groceries, I felt like the cashier was taking such a long time to scan all the items. I gave her my SCB credit card to pay and after she swiped, she waited for quite a while before telling me the credit card service went suddenly offline.

In fact I wanted to test whether SCB would allow the transaction to go through since it would total up to be over my credit limit. I have not paid for last month's ING insurance payment yet. When the credit card service came back online, she tried again and waited. Nothing was happening and the queue behind me was getting longer.

I felt like time stood still for that moment. Another 30 seconds went by before she told me the transaction went through. That goes to prove that if the amount is over the limit by a tiny bit, the bank would allow the transaction to go through.

Clouds

Lunch at Hi Seoul Korean Restaurant

Today at Canaanland Celebration we had a volunteer staff based in YWAM Philippines, Don Budd sharing a couple of songs with us. He was originally from Canada. At the end of the celebration, he was selling his four albums and a lot of people were buying his CDs. 25% of the proceeds went to the typhoon victims in Taiwan.

Monica Leong, Elizabeth Chung and I at first wanted to go to Gaya Street for ‘laksa’. But when we passed by Likas Square, Monica asked whether we wanted to try the Korean restaurant.

As Eliz drove into the premises, we realised we had to pay parking fee. Hardly anyone goes to this place and even less people would go there now. Also Merdeka Supermarket did not renew their tenancy agreement due to the proposed increase in rental.

The Korean restaurant is situated where the former A&W Restaurant was situated, opposite D’Square Cafe. I had heard of this restaurant but have not been until today. In fact it was the first time for the three of us.

The prices of the food are quite reasonable. While we were there, I saw some Koreans eating as well. Eliz mentioned there are a lot of Koreans staying in the building.

All of us ordered Hot Tea and Beef but in different way of cooking.

Hot Tea

Beef Steamboat (Bulgogi jeongol)

Beef Steamboat (Bulgogi jeongol)

Braised Beef Rib and Meat (Sogalbi jjim)

Braised Beef Rib and Meat (Sogalbi jjim)

Rice Topped with Bulgogi (beef) (Bulgogi deopbap)

Rice Topped with Bulgogi (beef) (Bulgogi deopbap)

We liked our own choice but both of them complained that the food was a bit salty. My Beef Steamboat was not salty.

I was pleased with mine. The soup tasted really concentrated and the beef were not tough. I tried a piece each of the side dishes. As usual, I do not like them.

After lunch we chatted for quite a while before Eliz signaled the waitress to refill the tea for us. The waitress told her there was no refill. We were stunned. One cup of the Hot Tea is RM3 and NO REFILL! I told them the boys at the table in front of us were drinking water and I saw the waitress refilled for them. So order water instead of tea.

The waitress should have said ‘I can refill for you but I have to charge additional RM3 per cup’. That would sound much better than outright ‘No refill’.

On the way out from the premises, we decided if we come back to eat at the restaurant again, we would park across the street at the Sabah Trade Centre to save RM1.50 of parking fee.