Awal Muharram 2009 (Holiday Day 2)

One of Tracy’s sub-tenants moved out so I was able to stay in a room of my own. I had to share the bathroom/toilet with another sub-tenant Lee though.

At 7.00a.m. I was awakened with the need to go to the loo. I actually had to go twice due to the spicy food I had last night. I always forget the doctor’s advice not to have too much spicy food.

Tracy’s friend Elaine was kind enough to lend her a 30 years old Honda to drive so she could still go out.

We went to Tian Tian Lai Restaurant, which is very near Tracy’s house and had brekky there.

When I wanted to take photos using my digital camera, the batteries died on me. I nearly had a heart attack cos I did not bring the charger with me. It was not an intentional act. I could not find it at the 11th hour.

I quickly changed into another set of spare batteries which I brought with me. When I switched on the camera again, the 'almost running out of batteries' warning sign came on. I nearly had a second heart attack.

I was in a desperate situation as I still have two days ahead of me. Once again, desperate situation called for desperate measure. I resorted to prayer and prayed that I could continue using the camera. When I switched on the camera this time, the 'almost running out of batteries' sign did not come on again. I thanked the Lord of heaven and earth for answering my prayer instantly.

Tracy had to go for tuition and she dropped me off at Asia Jaya Station to take the train to KL Sentral.

From KL Sentral I had to walk a big round to go to the monorail station since the plot of land in front of KL Sentral is under construction.

I took the monorail from KL Sentral to Bukit Bintang Station. As I came out from the station, the rain was drizzling. I brought my foldable umbrella with me and so I was safe.

I walked to Pavilion Shopping Centre.

There were not many people since the time was only after 11a.m. Christmas decorations are everywhere.

This restaurant is open by the former PM, Dr. M. I was contemplating of having lunch there just to try out.

But as I walked around, something else caught my attention. I always love Vietnamese food. (My friends and I used to have it for Sunday brunch after church during study days in Down Under)

Before I proceeded to the restaurant, I stopped by the loo. On the way to the restaurant, the shoes shop Bata caught my attention. I went in and found a pair of shoes I like, which was not on sale at the Bata shop in Karamunsing Complex during the previous Sunday I was there. I bought the pair of shoes.

La Lot by Du Viet won over The Loaf.

I checked out the menu to make sure they serve ‘Pho’ before going in. The waiter came out to attend to me and he definitely looks Vietnamese so I was really hoping that the chef would be Vietnamese as well.

I ordered ‘Pho’.

The ‘Pho’ smelled great. The beef tenderloin tasted they had been slightly grilled before being boiled. It tasted so soft and seemed like melted in my mouth. The only thing I did not like was that there were ginger inside the soup and therefore I had to take them out one by one cos I do not like to eat ginger. Overall a very satisfying and enjoying gastronomical affair.

The chef came out to talk to one of the waiters and he is a Vietnamese.

Before I left the restaurant, more people came to eat at the restaurant - a Malay family, then a Chinese family and lastly a Japanese elderly couple who sat near me. This Japanese couple also ordered 'Pho' as well.

Then it was time for some serious shopping. I went to Parkson Departmental Store.

The toilet has a lounge area where people can sit down and it does not smell at all.

The tissue holders to hold tissues use for wiping hands are located beside and above the sink.

This café is located inside the departmental store and therefore the clothes on sale may have food smell.

After Parkson, I went to Tangs Departmental Store. A lot of stuffs are selling up to 80% off. But I did not find any clothes or pair of shoes which I could buy. In the end I found a wallet selling at 80% off.

By the time I wanna leave Pavilion, I saw children were performing on stage.

There were so many people and I could not wait to get out from the place.

I went to Lot 10 to check out the food stalls at the basement. Lily told me some of the stalls had been relocated from Petaling Street. There are a lot of choices of food available but because most of the stalls are operating on an open air concept, I can smell cooking smells everywhere. But the worst was in the midst of all the cooking smells, I can also smell sewerage smell. Yicks!

I went to Isetan and then walked across to Sungai Wang. Went into Parkson Departmental Store. I tried on some clothes but I did not find any I wanna exchange for my cash. I also went into some other shops including Metrojaya Departmental Store but still I could not find anything that I fancy.

I left Sungai Wang and walked to Berjaya Times Square. As I walked up the escalator, there were so many people queuing up to go up as well.

This shopping centre was filled with lots of people as well. And there was a group of people performing on stage but the music and singing were deafening to my ears. They were singing Christmas songs with a twist of rock in them.

I did not stay for long cos the music was too loud. i decided to go home and while walking to the Imbi monorail station, I called Tracy to tell her that I would be having dinner with her tonight.

After I bought my monorail ticket and as I walked up the stairs to the train platform, I fell down on the stairs. The teenage boy who was behind me spoke in Mandarin and told me to be careful. Thank God I was still able to walk like normal.

I found a cab outside KL Sentral monorail station and went into it. When I arrived home, Tracy was not home yet and therefore I rested. There were two bruises on my left knee. My right hand near the wrist also had two bruises. I kept on rubbing them so that the bruises can heal quickly.

Tracy and I went to the same place where we had brekky this morning for dinner.

There was a crowd at the restaurant already.

The 'ABC' soup tasted a bit weird. It did not taste like the ones we usually have at home. I think it was a bit on the sweet side.

The veges would be too spicy for people who cannot take spicy food. I thought the captain should have had the courtesy to ask whether we can eat spicy food and not just assuming we can. The dried prawns accompanying this dish were fried and blended well with the veges.

The Marmite chicken wings had been thoroughly marinated before cooking. It was so delicious until I was speechless. Yums ...

After we went home, I was online for some time before going to dreamland.

Holiday Day 1

This morning CTY came to fetch me at 7.45a.m. We went to Fook Yuen Coffee Shop at Damai Plaza Phase 4 for brekky. He had bread while I had ‘Nasi Lemak’. It’s fun observing people around us while eating at the same time.

With our tummy full, then it was time to go to the airport. While on the way to the airport, Choo called and I told her I had not arrived at the airport yet.

While queuing up at the check-in, I saw Choo. Her 8a.m. flight back to Tawau via SDK had been delayed until 9.30a.m.

Though the check-in queue was quite long, it took me only ten minutes to check-in. Choo and I proceeded to the departure lounge to chit-chat until it was time for her to board her plane at 9.35a.m.

After she left, I went to another side of the departure lounge. I did not even have time to sit down before the announcement came through the PA system for passengers to board the plane. I allowed half of the people to board first before I boarded the plane.

This time my seat was the last left row aisle seat. As soon as I sat down, I could smell food. Thank God my tummy was full. Otherwise I was sure my tummy would start growling.

I recognised the people sitting next to me were a couple from church (whom I never talk to before) but when I wanted to talk to them, they did not seem to want to talk and so I left them alone.

Food was served by this air-steward an hour after departure.

When he arrived at our row, he announced that there was only one ‘Nasi Lemak’ left and the rest were noodles. So I did not have a choice and had noodles. (Anyway, since I had ‘Nasi Lemak’ for brekky, noodles would be a better choice for me)

The black pepper sauce blended really well with the noodles and beef was not tough at all. I thoroughly enjoyed my meal.

This air-stewardess was trying her best to attract the baby so that she could cuddle the baby. But the baby would not budge for more than twenty minutes before giving in.

Cloudy weather greeted me as I stepped out from the plane at KLIA.

The baggages were ready to be collected from the carousel. I proceeded to the KLIA Express terminal and did not have time to buy the ticket cos the train was already waiting to depart. The worker told me I could buy my ticket at KL Sentral and therefore I boarded the train without any ticket.

While in the train, I called Tracy to ask whether she had lunch. She told me she had and therefore I had to find food in KL Sentral before proceeding to her house at Bandar Sunway.

At KL Sentral, I had a choice of Subway, Starbucks, Secret Recipe and Kenny Rogers Roasters, excluding other small cafes. I chose this.

I was hungry and before I gobbled up everything, I told the waitress I wanted more gravy for my chicken, of which she obliged and happy to get for me.

I managed to see some birds flying onto the floor and trying to find food but to no avail.

I went to the taxi counter and bought a coupon. The cashier gave me instruction of the direction to go. The first cab driver who is an Indian, was apologising before he even started the engine. He switched on the air-conditioner and left the cab. I was curious and wanted to find out what was going on. The driver came back and started the cab with five men helping him to push the car. I was happy they did not able to push until the engine could start and therefore I had to change to the second cab.

The second cab driver who is a Malay was friendly, though we did not talk all the way.

I was glad to arrive at Tracy’s house. I did not realise how serious her car accident which happened three nights ago until I saw all the bruises on her body and the photos she took of her car. It is certainly God’s grace that she is still alive. Witnesses at the accident thought she would not be alive.

We stayed for a few hours, she resting while I was online before going out for dinner.

She had this.

I had this.

The cook thought the soup would be too spicy for me but I told her it was not spicy enough and she put a tablespoon of chili into the soup. Wow, at first fire was burning when I consumed the soup but after a little while I was ok with it.

After dinner, we went back to Tracy’s house and chit-chat until early morning before going to bed.

No Electricity Supply

For these past three days, we had been experiencing power cut for a few hours per day. *sigh*

And therefore work had been disrupted and it was not fun playing catching up. Today I managed to clean up my work area for a few hours and it definitely looks better than before.

I think my work area has never looked so clean before so at least I'm doing something to improve it.

One of my ING insurance agents came to the office and passed me the following diary.

I worked until 7.30p.m. to get rid of the backlog before going on leave for the next few days.

Let the holidays begin ...

Asian Anti-Aging Aesthetic Services Sdn. Bhd.

Today before I left work CTY called and asked if I am free tonight.

A few weeks ago, I told him I wanna visit his friend's spa centre in KK Times Square to have a look.

So we went there tonight and arrived to be greeted by his friend Wong. Wong's staff had cooked dinner made from organic veges for us to savour. All the veges tasted so sweet.

After dinner, CTY washed up. After showing and explaining the many details of the spa centre, Wong allowed me to try one raw corn cob and it tasted so sweet and fresh. But I did not like the raw peanuts though.

Asia City Complex and Cititel Express KK

The room is so small.

But the toilet flush is so big.

Dinner at Wagamama Japanese Restaurant

Choo arrived in KK today and she is staying at Cititel Express KK.

Tonight Sophia and I had dinner with her. At first I suggested Yoshimi Japanese Restaurant at Warisan Square but the place was having blackout as we were passing through.

We ended at Wagamama Japanese Restaurant in Asia City. Right now they have some items on offer at 50% discount for members.


Choo had this.

Sophia and I had this.

But Choo could hardly eat anything so we, or more like I finished everything for her.

Thank you Sophia for dinner.