KL Trip Day 3

Again had to wake up pretty early to meet SS for breakfast. She brought us to a place for Dim Sum (can't remember where again). Again PS did not join us as he was meeting his friend later in the day. We Went to a restaurant called Koo Hiong.

Not surprisingly, we ordered quite a lot of food again. Though this time, we managed to finish them all.

After breakfast, SS brought us back to Bukit Bintang area for shopping. She dropped us at Sungei Wang Plaza. Shopped for a while there before going back hotel to checkout at around 1pm. FL continued her shopping spree here, buying a couple more pairs of shoes and some blouses / shirts and a handbag. DT was supposed to meet us at the hotel for checkout but was late as he went for a massage, which cost him around RM$60 for 40 minutes.

After checking out and putting our luggage at the luggage room at the hotel, we went
for makan at the Starbucks Cafe just outside the hotel. Ordered the Banana Frappucino but it didn't taste as good as it was when I tried out in Singapore the last time. Also ordered a Banana Walnut Muffin which was very nice.

As there was still time, went walk walk a bit more at Lot 10. On my way there, saw people setting up some tables outside of a restaurant with Soler's Poster. Apparently, Soler are coming down to KL on the day. Pity I had to go and catch the bus to go back home.

We took 2 cabs down from our hotel to Puduraya Bus Station. As there was still about half an hour left, S & I went to buy some HK thick toast and drinks for consumption during the bus journey. To our dismay, the toast took quite some time to be done and we had to run all the way back to the bus station to catch our bus. Luckily we are not too late.

However, the same could not be said of PS. He was very late and the bus almost left without him. DT went down the bus to look for him and was almost left behind as well (although not really lah...). In the end, all managed to board the bus. And we were back in Singapore by about 9+.

KL Trip Day 2

Meet up with SS and went to Ampang area for breakfast. There was the famous Yong Tau Foo. Had quite a heavy breakfast there and was very satisfied... :D

After breakfast, SS brought us to One Utama shopping center at Petaling Jaya for a shopping spree. The ladies all bought some stuff, i.e. shoes, shirts etc, at this shopping center. And there was also an indoor soccer competition going on at the ground floor which attract my attention.

Spent around 3 ~ 4 hours here before leaving for a late lunch. Then S started having a very bad headache. Had to get her some panadol as she left her medicine at the hotel.

Ladies on a joy ride.

We wanted to try out the Bah Kut Teh at Jinjang. But SS's friend said that the stall only opens at 4pm. So we only went to the place at around that time. As it turned out, the stall only opens from 6pm ~ 4am.

So we went to a nearby KFC for a tea break as it wasn't time yet. We ordered some food and drinks while passing our time there. Nothing much to shop within the area. And soon it was 6pm already and we made our way to the Bah Kut Teh stall.

The Bah Kut Teh here wasn't what I like, as the soup was not pepper-based. And there was quite a strong herbal taste.

Took a group photo just before leaving.

It was back to hotel afterwards as S wasn't feeling well. We parted with SS from here on. Then FL and LP wanted to continue shopping nearby the hotel. So the rest of us proceed back to hotel for some rest. Everyone dozed off while waiting for the time to pass... :P

Meet up again at about 9pm to go Chinatown area while PS went off to meet his friend. Took a 25-minute walk from the hotel before reaching the place. Decided to take some food first as it started raining again and it was not conducive for street shopping. This time we ordered too much food for our liking, and simply couldn't finished them all. We ordered a Portuguese styled BBQ sambal fish, sambal sotong and lady fingers. Along with a big plate of hor fun and mee tai mak.

Weaved through the street stalls after that. Some of the stalls were already closing at this time. StupidGenius bought a T-shirt here. While there was no luck for FL in getting a pair of shoes. Finished walking within an hour. DT and his wife decided to go back hotel first while FL, S, SG and me wanted to go to another place quite near the hotel for pool (can't remember the name of the place liao...)

While we were walking, it started raining very heavily again. So we got no choice but to seek shelter at a coffeeshop. The name of the shop is "Meetpoint Cafe". Ordered some drinks and sat down there chatting while waiting for the rain to stop. However it seems that there was no sign of the rain stopping after quite a while. So we all took a cab back to the hotel and call it a day instead.

KL Trip Day 1

Went Singapore Textile Centre at Jalan Sultan to board the bus to go KL at around 6pm on Friday. StupidGenius and FL also drop by office to go with us, i.e. DT, S, SS and me. Took the MRT to Lavendar to meet up with PS and DT's wife, LP. The bus journey started at around 715pm. It goes to the second link at Tuas. As it was a friday evening, there were many people at Tuas Checkpoint. It took us a while to clear the custom.

The bus journey continues from there and made a pitstop at Yong Peng as usual. Grab some bite here before the bus headed north through the highways for the next 3 hours. Arrived at Puduraya at about 1am. SS's father was waiting for us nearby. He drove us to our accomodation, KL Plaza. We arranged to meet SS for breakfast in the morning before she left.

After settling our stuff at the hotel, we went out to Jalan Alor for supper. There were many food stalls along the street. We stopped by at one of them and ordered quite a lot of food.

On our way back, it started raining and DT managed to find an umbrella, which was in a pretty bad shape, on the roadside for use. PS also brought a brolly which was used by the ladies. By the time we went back to the hotel and had a bath it was almost 4am already. Had to sleep early in view of the breakfast appointment later in the morning.

Another Mahjong Session

Went Samwin's place for MJ session after the Big Walk and lunch, with S and StupidGenius. We played our usual rate of 3/6 half.

For the first round, think I was winning quite a lot. There was once when Samwin chiong when I had 九张落地... And the end result was that he had to 包 everyone's losing for that game. Then I think SG was so tired that he managed to miss his 杠, not once but twice within a game. What happened next was worse, he go and 诈胡 on one of the subsequent game. So no surprise he was the big loser for the round.

However things were going to change for the next round. After we had a toilet break before the start of the 西风 in the second round, SG put on his 战衣, which he had just bought. Then for the next 3 games, SG won and won big, 四番 thrice in a row. After that he managed to win another game for 五番. So this time he really 大翻身 liao, after going on a losing streak since the turn of the Chinese New Year.

Striking a winning pose (look how happy SG was).

End result was SG won $25, me $15, while S lost $10 and Samwin $30. And as usual, the winner gotta treat dinner.

Big Walk 2006

Went for the Big Walk on Sunday morning. The only other time that I had went for the event was 4 years ago, and coincidentally, it was the World Cup year as well. Had to get up very early @ 530am. Arranged to meet the rest at 715am at Kallang MRT. But I was a few minutes late.

By the time we walked towards the stadium, they had already flagged off for the start of the walk. There were a lot of people, from young to old, coming for the event. Some even brought their pet dog along. And I saw one young kid on a pair of skates as well.

As the group was quite big (total of 14 people), and we were walking at different, soon we found ourselves broken up into 2 groups of 7. However, we had converge again nearing the half way point. It was at this time that we saw MH, who was one of the photographer at the event. And so he took a group photo for all of us.

On our way back the sun is shining very brightly, making the walk tiring for some... Nontheless, we all managed to complete the walk before 10am. Then we made our way to the booth to collect the goodie bag. We left before the lucky draw was made, since none of us thought we could be lucky enough to win anything.

After that the group decided to go Yan Palace for lunch. Had wanted to come here for dinner on Vesak Day, but they never serve dim sum during dinner. So finally got a chance this time. We ordered 28 items on our first round of orders. Then I thought we had ordered a lot. Apparently that was not the case after the food was served. Then came 2nd round of orders and after that, the desserts. Had yet another sumptuous meal.

Da Vinci Code

Watched Da Vinci Code at Empress Cinema after Megan's first month celebration.

After watching the show, there's only one word I can use to describe how I felt... ... blur. Maybe because I did not read the book. And there were no chinese subtitles for the movie, so I had a hard time trying to make out what the actors are saying most of the time. The show probably makes more sense for those who had read the book before. But at least I've only spent $6 to watch the show, so its not too bad... :P

Empress Cinema

When was the last time I get to pick my seats for movie from a piece of paper such as the one below instead of through a computer screen? Seriously, I couldn't remember already...

Even the seat number on the movie tickets was handwriten. All this can only happen at an older cinema, and in this case, its the Empress theatre at Clementi. Not sure how many of such type of theatre still exist in Singapore. But at least the price of the ticket is cheaper compared to the others, its $7 on weekends.

However, one thing to comment is that the theatre is somewhat warm. The air-con seems like not strong enough. Also the cushion of the seat is pretty hard, and thus not so comfortable.

Megan's First Month Celebration

How time flies. It's already one month liao. Today there was a buffet lunch at GC's place for her daughter's first month celebration.

She looks so cute even in her sleep, although her sleeping posture was a bit unfeminine

Jenn and Linda were already here when I arrived, together with YS, whom I met downstair. The rest of the people from the company came at about 145pm from the MRT station. We had our lunch, stayed and chat for a while before leaving.

Another Boardgaming Session

Where else but Pitstop Cafe yet again. We reached at about 730pm and waited more than half an hour for StupidGenius to come.

Played two games today. The first was called Alhambra. The Alhambra is actually the name of a palace in Granada, Spain. So not surprisingly, the game is about building your own palace. You may refer here for the gameplay.

Basically there are 6 different types of building and in each scoring round, the player with the highest number of a particular type of building gets some score. At the end of the game, the player with the highest score wins. SG won this game (clap clap...).

The next game we played was Da Vinci's Challenge. The Pitstop crew wrote an article on this game. Click here to see the rules of the game.

SG and I teamed up against S and XY for this game. We got to keep our eyes wide open in order to spot a scoring pattern. As it was getting late, we didn't complete the game and at the point when the game was cut pre-maturely, SG and I was leading in the scores.

Farewell Lunch

Had a farewell lunch for CK, YS and Teo at Allson Hotel today. They had a Penang style lunch buffet. Quite a number of people went, think more than 25. We had to scatter across 3 tables. MK jokingly said that each of the main man for the day should sit at one table (in which they did at the point he was saying this) and the rest would treat the one at their table.

Coincidentally, it was CK's birthday as well. So KB and Roger (the ex-MIS guy) bought a birthday cake for him. The rest of us sang the birthday song for him at the hotel. But we took the cake back to the office as most of us had too sumptuous a lunch.

Third Time Unlucky

1995 Parc des Princes, Paris
2000 Parken Stadium, Copenhagen
2006 Stade de France, Paris

3 defeats in 3 different finals of european cup competitions. Tough luck again, although this year's Champion's League final is always going to be difficult against Barcelona. And in no more than 20 minutes, it got even worse with the sending off of Lehmann, the hero of the semi final tie against Villarreal.

But Campbell gave us hope with a goal before half time. Knowing that it was tough with ten men and the talent of the opposition, I was still hoping they could hold on, but it was not to be. 2 late goals in the space of 5 minutes turned the game for Barca.

It was not a fairytale ending I was hoping for. The season is now over and the immediate task is to keep our inspirational captain at the club. But before that, let's bring on the World Cup.

Which Personal Pronoun To Use?

Was having a long drawn out discussion with some of my colleague lunch (but had no idea who came up with this question initially). But still not quite sure if the outcome of our discussion is conclusive. Now we have the following two sentences:

(1) We don't play with him. (2) He has ...

So we wanted to join the above sentences using the relative pronoun "who" (as opposed to "whom"). This is concluded after some deliberations as well.

We don't play with (he / him) who has ...

Now the question is which personal pronoun to use? "he" or "him"? But in the first place, can we join the two sentences in this way?

After doing some research, I've found the following:

1. "He" is a subjective personal pronoun. This means that the pronoun is acting as a subject of the sentence.
2. "Him" is an objective personal pronoun. This means that the pronoun is acting as an object of a verb, compound verb or preposition.
3. In sentence (1), "him" is the object of the preposition "with" (is this correct?)
4. "He" is the subject of sentence (2).

So we got a problem when we join the two sentences. Is the person a subject or an object? Or maybe we can join the two sentences in this way:

He has ... , so we don't play with him.

Can someone enlighten me?

Hong Lim Curry Chicken Noodle

Had lunch today at Hong Lim with CK, Tsberden, HT, HL, V, YP, YS. This time not taking the corner ba kut teh stall, instead going to queue for the Curry Chicken Noodle. The guy taking order is good. He got photographic memory. He took orders down the queue without writing down and remember them all accurately. Amazing!

Noodle is very nice, at least I did not queue for almost half an hour for nothing.

The Five Star Chicken Rice

Went skating on Sunday as usual with FL, Irene and Colin, S, SS, StupidGenius. Nothing of note happened except that a kid crashed his bicycle into me on our way back to ECP Mac. Luckily no one was injured.

Then went to the Five Star Chicken Rice stall at River Valley Road for dinner after the session.

S and SS left after skating, so the 5 of us ordered half a chicken.

On our way here, SG was mentioning about the story of 番薯叶 and sambal kang kong while he have having dinner with E some time ago. Then SG wanted to order the 番薯叶 but the waiter initially said don't have. It was only after checking with the kitchen that they found that it was available. We also ordered some other dishes.

Sat there and chatted for a while after finishing our food. Then Colin dropped us off at Lido on his way back and we went on home from there.

Mother's Day Dinner

Went for dinner at a Korean restaurant called Kangnaroo along Circular Road to celebrate Mother's Day. Had been to this restaurant once before on last year. The food wasn't too bad. But there weren't many customer around, only one other table was occupied when we came.

We ordered quite a few dishes.

These are the small dishes and the pancake.

The BBQ pork and the fried mackerel fish weren't too bad as well

The korean steamboat is definitely different from those conventional one. It was served on a wok.

And last but not least, how can we go without the bibimbap (korean mix rice).

Accident

Was involved in an accident on the way to SG's place after dinner. Our car brake a bit late in front of a traffic light and was hit from behind by another car. There was a fair bit of impact, but luckily no one was injured.

The 2 vehicles involved. Can go buy 4D liao... :p

Vesak Day Dinner

Today is a public holiday, so I ask some of the guys out for a dinner. StupidGenius wanted to go skating in the morning but I felt it was too early, and thus did not join them. So we just meet for dinner. Attendees for the day include Irene and her hubby, FL, PS, S, SG, SW, XY and me.

Had wanted to go Yan Palace for dim sum at first. But they do not serve dim sum during dinner. The same goes for Red Star Restaurant and Ocean Palace, which were recommended by SG. In the end, went to a 德宝 restaurant at Chinatown. The food there was not too bad, I especially like the 鼓汁排骨.

We were discussing what to do after dinner, then forgot who suggested playing MJ. So we went SG's place for the game. Only Irene's hubby, FL, SG and SW played, while me and XY were playing Winning Eleven on XBox. Finally SG managed to win at the MJ table, though they played only half a round (i.e. 2 winds).

New Flavour of Ice Blended

Tried out the new Banana Mocha Frappuccino from Starbucks during after lunch today. They were giving out free testers at the Raffles City outlet. I like it very much.

Click here for more details.

My Birthday Wish List

Yes, finally its here. Have been wanting to jot this list down for quite some time liao. Quick! Take your pick before its taken... :p

1. A new badminton racquet
   
2. A pair of cross trainer
3. A more stylo pair of wrist guard for skating
4. A couple of ties (more are welcome)
   
5. A mahjong table and set
6. A sumptuous buffet at some hotel
7. ...
   

Will add on to the list if anything comes into my mind... :D

T-Shirt with a Message

Saw this T-shirt over the weekend. What a pun!

Arsenal 4 Wigan 2

Pictures courtesy of Arsenal.com

A fitting farewell for Highbury in the very last league match here, our home for the last 93 years. And it was no surprise that who was the Man of the Match. A hat-trick to mark a memorable day. (Although I was sweating for them at the point when they were 2-1 down...)

And results elsewhere (i.e. Upton Park) make it even sweeter. At least it ensure UCL football for next season regardless of the result in Paris. The next question is whether the skipper would still be gracing Ashburton Grove next season? Of course I hope he will...

First Time

It was my first time this morning. Was rather excited about it. Last time can only watch other people do it. So when I finally got a chance, I was quite thrilled. The process is pretty short. But it feels good to be able to complete the process without any hitches. Wonder if there would be a next time...

You Are My Sunshine

Watched a movie, (You are my sunshine) over the weekend. This korean movie is really touching, a bit like a romantic comedy... This story is about a farmer who tries to win the heart of a pretty waitress working in a cafe. Jeon Do-Yeon plays the waitress, Eun-Ha, while Hwang Jung-Min plays the farmer, Seok-Joong.

But the pace of the story is rather slow. So I don't recommend watching this movie late at night, in case you fell asleep within the cinema.

Korean Affair

Went dinner at 土-ogi restaurant @ Mosque Street with FL, PS, S, Tiff, V, XY. Had wanted to come here for quite some time liao but only now then finally got the chance. The place was really crowded. Luckily I had called up earlier to reserve a table.

The restaurant was run by a family, or so I heard. We ordered korean mixed rice (bibimbap), kimchi fried rice, stir-fried pork, octopus, pancake. As per other korean restaurants, they serve a free flow of those small dishes and tea.

Guess whose hands were these?

The potato salad (is it?) is very nice. It was a very satisfying meal and the price was reasonable.

Walked a little after dinner before going to 晶晶 dessert house for dessert. Everyone ordered a different type of dessert. In addition, I ordered a fried banana with red bean paste. Overall, the food and dessert were not too bad.

JX's Birthday

JX's birthday is on thursday but I decided to ask her out a day earlier to celebrate for her. AJ, HJB, ET, SM, XY also attended. We went to a Japanese restaurant called Nishiki at Cuppage Plaza. There are many Jap restaurant here. I knew of this as I came to the same building for dinner on DT's birthday.

Have, sort of, randomly chosen this restaurant for dinner. Cos some of the other were sabu sabu restaurant, which I not quite like it.

Anyway the place was not too bad. We were in a small room and the ambience was pretty good. So was the food. Ordered quite a few dishes, including sashimi, tempura, gindara etc... The food was so good, I forgot to take the pics for the first two dishes.

After we had consumed our food, it was time to cut the cake... (oops, the cake was too small to be cut). We only bought a piece of cake just enough for JX.

Can only put birthday cake cos birthday gal ban me from putting her photo

They also served a free pumpkin ice cream for dessert. I think its delicious.

Went upstairs for KTV after leaving the restaurant. Quite some time since I last go K with most of the people here. Sang until almost 1am before we left.

Pitstop Yet Again

Once again, I went to Pitstop Cafe on Tuesday, this time with only S and StupidGenius. Upon reaching, Timo told me that my brother had visited Pitstop over the weekend some 2 weeks ago. I was pretty surprised as I didn't know about it. Perhaps he had gone there after reading from my blog... :P

This time we only managed to play 2 games though. The first game we played was Modern Art. On each turn, players buy and sell paintings in an auction. There are 5 different types of bidding in an auction, i.e. Open, Fixed, Once Around, Sealed, Double. In a Double bidding, 2 paintings are sold during the turn. After each season, paintings are valued by the number of paintings of that type that were sold. A game consists of 4 seasons. The winner of the game is the player with the most cash after the end of 4 seasons. I won this game... :P

Next we played A Dog's Life. Had wanted to play this on our last visit. But they haven't figure out how to play the game yet (at least this time they had). This game is rather fun. As the name suggests, the player becomes a dog in the game and can do things such as, deliver newspaper, search the trashcan, mark a lamp post using poodle etc. The objective is to gather 4 bones at the dog's starting location. The starting location is determined by randomly choosing a card. There is also a dog-catcher roaming around at the end of every turn.

Every dog in this game has its strength and weakness, which we can only find out by playing through the game. I was constantly caught by the dog-catcher, and in the process, dropped all the stuff I'm carrying at that point of time. This is a pretty long but interesting game, maybe even more fun with more people playing. In the end, SG won the game (though we only got enough time to gather 2 bones).

Dinner @ Marina Square

Had a dinner appointment with Uni friends today. Was suppose to meet on Saturday, then switch to Sunday and finally decided to come out on Monday. But this time only DL and JG had made it for the dinner, D had to complete some stuff and missed the dinner while the rest were unavailable.

Had met up with the rest at about 745pm. It seems that there were quite a lot of people at the shopping center today, maybe because of the Mayday performance. So we decided to go to Secret Recipe for dinner, which we need not wait for a seat. But then I still had to wait 20 minutes for the food that I ordered (luckily I was not that hungry then).

We chatted while having our dinner. The topic were the usual stuff of work and so on. Also discussed the possibility of going for a trip in the region, since our Europe Trip could not materialize.

Went for pool after dinner, but gotta wait 10 minutes for a table. In the meantime, we went to GV and take a short break at the couch over there. Then saw the usher vigilantly checking the IC of all the people who went into the cinema, presumably watching the movie Hostel. One couple was not allowed into the theatre, not sure if they could get a refund though.

Headed back to the pool parlour after this and played a few games. Seems that I am not used to playing in a bigger pool table liao. JG gave me a ride home after the pool session, which ended at around 1030pm.

PS: This is post number 200, :D.

Daisy

Daisy is a Korean movie directed by a Hong Kong director, possibly some collaboration between Hong Kong and Korea. Think the whole movie was shot in Amsterdam, Holland.

The movie is about a killer and a cop who fell in love with the same woman Hye Young, played by Jeon Ji-Hyun (from My Sassy Girl). The killer silently stays in the background watching Hye Young, doing all those little thingy for her, e.g. he built her a bridge after watching her fell into the pond and Hye Young returns the favour by giving him a painting. The killer then sends Hye Young a pot of Daisy everyday at 415pm. Then the cop appear and later claimed to be the one doing all these stuff.

Overall, I think this love story is pretty interesting. A good watch for couples IMO... :P

You may refer to StupidGenius' entry for more details of the movie (warning: contain spoilers).