Exchange Programmes

Jeff is back from KL this evening for about three weeks.

CTY went home to TI yesterday for a fortnight.

Free for Dinner?

AC called and invited me to join him and his colleagues for Western food tonight.

Once again I declined his offer but this time I did have a valid reason.

I told him to tell me how does the food taste like after he had tried it.

Holiday Day 3

I was awakened by one of Tracy’s neighbours who was chopping stuff at 6a.m.

At 8.00a.m. Tracy’s neighbour was still chopping away and I heard she spoke in Indian to someone in her household, so she must be Indian. She must be chopping all the ginger and garlic for her cooking.

At 8.00a.m. as well, Tracy's sub-tenant Lee’s alarm clock went off and he kept on putting in on snooze mood for the next half an hour. He spent 11 minutes in the bathroom/toilet before going to work.

After that I wanted to have my shower, a cold one since there is no hot water system in this bathroom. When I turned on the tap, the water was too cold. I went back to bed and slept until 9.00a.m. before waking Tracy up.

Once again we went to Tian Tian Lai Restaurant to eat, this time for brunch. As I was about to alight from the car, Lily called me. She and Sophia were at 1 Borneo shopping.

We had chicken rice cos the time was neither for brekky nor lunch so chicken rice would be able to fill us up hopefully until dinnertime.

Even on a Saturday there was traffic congestion on the roads.

There was also a slight drizzle. For this time of the year, I had expected more rain but the rain did not come down much.

Tracy dropped me outside Midvalley Megamall.

I went to Jaya Jusco and started browsing at the shoes and handbags department. I did not find any shoes I like. I found three handbags and put them aside so that I could go back to get them later. I did not wanna carry them around with me.

I saw some jeans at Goggles. I lost count how many times I went to the fitting room to try on umpteenth pair of Goggles jeans selling at more than 70% discount. Finally I found one pair that fitted me though I need to bring it to the tailor to shorten it when I am back in KK. I told the salesgirl at Goggles to keep the jeans for me so that I could shop more and pay at the cashier at one go.

After I found some clothes, I went back to Goggles and told the Malay salesgirl to keep them for me together with the pair of jeans.

I browsed around for another one and a half hour before going back to get the handbags. After that I went Goggles to get my things. The Malay salesgirl had gone out for lunch and so I asked the Chinese salesgirl about my clothes. The pair of jeans was there. She said she had no idea where my clothes were.

I was quite furious by then. I mean it was just a simple thing to do and yet the Malay salesgirl had chucked my clothes somewhere else. I tried to find them nearby the jeans but they were nowhere in sight. I took my jeans and walked off.

Went back to the clothes department and tried to find something similar that I had intended to buy. There were still some left. Proceeded to the cashier and all the five or seven cashiers had long queues. I went to the shortest and there were still at least ten people ahead of me. The cashier was taking her sweet time and I caught her chit-chatting with some customers, probably her friends. The thing that drove me mad was when I was able to see the counter, only then I could see the sign ‘Cash Only’. The people behind me were caught in the same predicament. I quicky proceeded to another cashier and this time the salesgirl was really fast. I was served within five minutes of queuing up though there were quite a number of people in front of me.

With my hands full, I went to the Centre Court to take some photos.

And I was met by some characters dressing up.

After that I went to Parkson Grand Departmental Store but did not find anything I fancy and proceeded to The Gardens.

Santa Claus and Santarina were waiting on stage to take photos with the public.

I went to the fruit market and found Korean persimmons selling at 9 for RM10. I thought that was a real bargain. Hopefully they would taste as sweet as the sample I tried.

I found some goodies at Mark & Spencer as well.

At Cold Storage I bought a Christmas fruit cake.

After all the shopping, my hands were full and therefore I hailed a cab outside The Gardens to go back to Bandar Sunway. Once again there were major traffic congestion especially when near Sunway.

I arrived back at 6p.m. and rested for half an hour before walking out to Sunway Pyramid, passing by the Sunway Hotel. There was a function going on and people were lining up to enter one of the function rooms with their ticket in hand.

I managed to catch the last act of these people performing their Christmas song.

At first I suggested to Jeff to try Canton-I since I had never tried the food in this restaurant before.

But then I wanted to eat ‘Xiao Loong Bao’ and a Hong Kong restaurant definitely does not serve that. Jeff told the waiter we were at the wrong place. It happened that their menu has the address of Dragon-I and therefore we left for that restaurant.

I was hoping that this time the lights in the restaurant would not have the same kind of effect on me as nearly a year ago during Christmas night at the same chain restaurant at 1 Utama.

As I sat down, I surveyed the lights and felt ok with them.

We ordered two servings of ‘Xiao Loong Bao’. Thumbs up for them and recommend to eat them while hot though the tongue would have to bear the consequence. I wasted some soup on my plate though.

This Seafood Corn Soup Jeff ordered cost more than the ‘Xiao Loong Bao’ but it tasted absolutely concentrated and delicious.

Jeff had Stir Fried ‘La Mien’. Tasty noodles.

I had Seafood ‘La Mien’ Soup. The prawns were fresh and crunchy.

Since Tracy could not join us for dinner due to having to attend her class, Jeff bought this for her for supper.

Giant Supermarket was about to close with the roller shutter coming down but I slipped in to buy these asparagus.

Thank God for protecting my walking journey home from Sunway Pyramid to Bandar Sunway.

I took a cold shower and packed my things.

After Tracy came back after midnight, we had the sushi and went to dreamland after 1 a.m.

Friend is Back

I am so happy when I login FB this morning to find out that Lily Tan is back in KK for good. Welcome home Lily.

This happy news deserves celebration.

Happy Birthday to CL

Happy birthday my friend.

Still waiting for you to go on the slides at McD. :)

Wesak Day 2009

(The last time I was in F.T. Labuan was more than thirty years ago. And eventhough there is nothing much in that place, I chose to go there and find out for myself what the island is like. It was good to travel with Choo)

CTY fetched Choo and I to the airport at 5.45a.m. for our 7.05a.m. flight.

The plane was a Fokker, a plane neither Choo nor I had been on for yonks. At least we had a smooth ride and a good experience. We were served a packet drink each, either Milo or Soya Bean Milk. We arrived Labuan Airport at 7.45a.m.

From Labuan airport, we took a taxi to our budget hotel.

We stayed at Pulau Labuan Inn which is situated opposite the library and near Mariner Hotel.

When I first booked our room through the phone, the person who attended to me told me that we could only check in at 2p.m. Thank God we did not have to wait until that time. We checked in at around 8.15a.m.

After dropping our baggage in our room, we were off to hunt for food for breakfast. We did not have to go far from our hotel.

This coffee shop is situated just a block away from where we were staying. It was filled with people and two tables were available when we entered.

The shop offers ‘Kon Lo Mee’, ‘Char Keow Teow’, ‘Har Mee’ and Dim Sum.

I had ‘Har Mee’ and Choo had ‘Char Keow Teow’.

There are a lot of Hokkien people in Labuan. Choo kept on telling me that they have a distinct feature ie. their faces are squarish.

After breakfast, we started walking at 9a.m. The weather was hot but bearable. Whenever we needed to cool down, we just walked into a shop with air-conditioner to cool down. We started to compare prices on the chocolates and liquor we wanted to buy.

I felt quite relax and did not have a care in the world.

There were a lot of shops selling chocolates, liquor and materials but I could hardly find any which sell perfume.

Eventhough we did not take the ferry, at least I know where the ferry terminal is.

Before we found this place for lunch, Choo went into one chocolate and liquor shop to ask the liquor smelling boss to recommend a place for us to eat and so we ended up eating here. The food court was quite hot and stuffy when we first went it. After sitting down for a while, the wind made us felt cooler and better.

This plate of ‘Char Keow Teow’ with prawns and fish cakes cost RM5. The fish cakes were very fresh but the prawns were not as fresh as I wanted them to be. I finished the whole plate.

Choo had cheese and egg sandwiches with fries.

After lunch we went back to our hotel so that Choo can unload some of the stuff she bought.

We rested for fifteen minutes before going to the International Offshore Financial Centre (IOFC).

Choo found some great bargains for the opposite gender at Parkson Ria. She was laughing all the way 'home'. I found a pair of below knee black pants which I had been looking for for years and a pair of dark blue pants.

(Since last December, I had bought more than ten pair of pants. Before I lost weight, I could hardly fit and buy pants to wear. I always have to have them tailor made especially the working pants).

When we were still at IOFC, I found the wine I had been searching for more than fifteen years in Singapore, KL and even in KK. Eventhough the price is a bit on the steep side, I had no reservation in buying a bottle. One of my Loatian friends in Down Under had recommended to me after I left that country without trying it. I will have to tell him how it tastes like after I try the Wolf Blass Gold Label - Adelaide Hills - Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Franc - Merlot 2004.

From IOFC, we dropped off all our shopping stuff at the hotel before Choo had her ‘Roti Canai’ while I only had a cup of hot Milo at Port View Restaurant (a ‘mamak’ shop) opposite Labuan Supermarket.

This piece of thingy is not tiles on the floor or bathroom. This is actually the table top where Choo had her 'Roti Canai'.

We went back to Sky Mart Duty Free Shop at the Ferry Terminal and bought some chocolates. The cashier gave us some discounts which was very nice of her.

We decided to go back to the place where we had lunch for dinner since different people operate the hawker stalls at different time.

On the way there, I saw this funny signboard - Double Ng Enterprise.

We ordered duck and a plate of veges.

Duck

Sauce for Duck

Veges

We were pleased with the food we had been eating the whole day.