Thousand apologies for not updating my entries. Been kinda busy lately as we reach the end of the 1st quarter of 2008.
On 20th March, we decided to go for a family vacation as we have not done that for quite sometime. The destination finally chosed was Cameron Highland and Penang. Because there was a wedding that we had to attend to in Gurun, therefore we had to cut short for the Cameron Highland to just 1 night and the rest 2 nights to Penang. This would be Sofea's first long car journey and we hoped that she will be ok. The day before we went for the vacation, Sofea had a fever so we took her to the clinic. With hopes in our heart that she will be ok for the trip, we head out anyway to Cameron Highland from rumah Kent at around 12.30pm. 
We decided to use the Simpang Pulai road to head towards Cameron instead of the insnane Tapah road. The journey from the Simpang Pulai Toll booth to the top took us about 1 hour plus with normal speed. The view was an amazing one as we climb further and further up. I kept wondering how did they manage to cut out the hills and turned them to endless road. As we climb further up and did the cornering, i guess Sofea finally couldn't take it anymore. She was crying, shouting, "mengengek" almost all the way and finally the big bang came in. She threw up!!! For now luckily it was just confined to her car seat. But i guess there wasn't much that you could do to calm her down. I don't blame her as not even many adults managed to survive the Cameron Highland roads without feeling dizzy and throwing up. After about and hour climbing up the hill, we managed to reached Cameron at last. First things first, we checked in to the hotel. The Rainbow Hotel. The Hotel was rated with a 2 star. The cost of the room per night for the family room is RM 135. Unfortunate for us, that was a peak time and they slapped us with an additional RM65 surcharge which totals up to RM 185 with no breakfast and a small family room. I guess it was ok considering that we were just staying in for a night. The room had the facilities of a standard room. All you need is basically there. So, upon checking in and resting for a while, we head down to the food court nearby. By that time, Sofea was out of control. She refuse to sit still and we had to take turns to eat. Reminds me of the time when we headed down to KLCC. At first i wanted to take her to the park but as we reached there, Sofea fell asleep making the trip to the park pointless. So we just drove off in the car and stopping by to buy some strawberries. As we reached the parking lot and turning off the engine, Sofea woke up and she started smiling.
That night, we walk up towards the Pasar Malam to do a little pasar malam shopping. As usual, there were a lot of strawberries product and vegetables. After finishing up with the strawberries, we went back to the hotel. As soon as i were about to get my beauty sleep, that was the time that Sofea cried and woke up. It took us about and hour to put her back to sleep. Poor her. Her tempreature was still high that night as she refuse to take her medicine.
The next morning we woke up and checked out at around 11.30pm. First thing on the agenda was to eat strawberries. So we head up towards the strawbery place. Couldn't remember what it's called but i like the food there. It was my 3rd visit there for strawberry eating. We ordered Strawberry & chocolate ice cream with tea and scone. Though it wasn't easy for us to finish our meal due to Sofea's perangai, we managed to finish it up anyway. It's damn good i tell ya.
Next on the agenda was an unplanned visit to the BOH Sungei Palas Tea Centre. I didn't even know they had one but since we accidentally came across it, so let's just go for it. The entrance says that it is about 2.5km from the junction. 2.5km isn't that far so let's go for it. But we did not expect that the roads were damn narrow. Even the Tapah road isn't this narrow. At certain points there were only 1 car that could pass by making the opposite side had to reverse and find a wider road to let the other car pass by first. I think it took us around 30mins for us to reach to the parking lot. And i though the jam at Jalan Jelatek was bad enough. We had to climb up another 200m on foot because they will not let cars pass by there. So another 5 - 10mins more before reaching the centre. By then Sofea was already showing off her stripes ( tunjuk belang ). She wanted to go down instead of sitting in her stroller. Upon releasing her. She would walk off until the end of the road and she would come back again. As we were quite exhausted, it wasn't quite as fun to follow her around. All we wanted was to sit down, have some tea and enjoy the scenery. But none of that actually turned into reality.
After doing some shopping, we head down towards the car. Luckily the traffic was on our side as there were 3 other cars infront of us which makes me tumpang sekaki. Luckily getting out of the Sungei Palas tea centre was ok. As Sofea was still not well, me and wifey decided not to visit the other atrractions as we have visited them before. We just made a few stops at a few shops to buy some cactus and strawbberies before heading down towards Penang. The journey down was a bit better as Sofea slept 3/4 of the way before crying out loud again. I guess the fever, motion and the air pressure made her that way.
The journey to Penang was a bit better as it was just a straight line drive with minimal curve though it was pouring quite high at the time. Lucky we had the Lotus Ride and handling with the Michelin tyres. *LOL*. This is not a promotion ya. We reached penang at around 7 pm and checked in at the Gurney Hotel. The price per night was RM 185 but compare this with the hotel at Cameron, this one wins with more than 2/3 majority. Sofea & wifey was enjoying themselves as the room here were huge, had a nice view with a built in jacuzzi. We had dinner infront of the Dorsett hotel where i had nasi goreng ketam. Unfortunate for Sofea, she threw up quite a lot and the worse part was part of her output was on me as i was carying her at that time. After finished eating, i took her to the playground at KFC while wifey catched up with her old friend Mimi. She also took us around for a spin in Penang and sending us back to the hotel.
The following day was the day for us to attend the wedding at Gurun. We headed down to the coffee house for breakfast. As Sofea has still not recovered, she was rather feeling grumpy. She even refuse to eat and drink. So once again we had to take turn in order for us to eat. After all was set, we head towards Gurun. There, my mother & father in law was already waiting for us in one of the houses. We ate and sat down there in one of the houses. As i didn't really quite know this people, i managed to layan some Hindustan story as it was pouring down heavily.
Finally we head back towards Penang at around 4pm. On the bridge i asked wifey whether she wanted to go anywhere, she said she wanted to go to the Queensbay Mall. So we head down there where Sofea got a new cloth as the old one was errrr, bocor from her dung if you know what i mean. We just walked around there and stopped at a Starbucks coffee. We gave Sofea the chicken pie and during then she started eating. Damn, nak makan yang mahal aje. But what to do, anak punya pasal.
After that, i wanted to head down to Batu Feringhi just to purchase some DVDs. We did a little bit shopping of DVDs which eventually sums up to RM 120. Well, it's not often you get to go to Penang. As we head closer to the hotel, the traffic began to pile up. IMHO, the traffic is even worse compared to Bukit Bintang on a Saturday night. By that time, i was feeling tertekan with the jam and Sofea crying about and finally puked inside the car on the back seat. That was the peak of the vacation then. My shining lovely WajaBee has had the worse time of it's life. You could even smell the chicken pie back then. I think it even loss 2 - 3k of it's resale value :-(
Finally we reached the hotel and changed Sofea's clothes. I decided not to procede with the Kuey Teow longkang dinner but asked wifey to go along with mimi but she has to tapaw for me. As she went out, i tried to get some rest. Sofea did wake up once in a while but she went back to sleep. Wifey finally came back at around 1.30 am and i managed to eat the infamous Kuey Teow longkang. Luckily it was still good.
The last day of our vacation was free & easy. As there wasn't any place that we had in mind in going, we decided to enjoy the hotel facility instead. So we all went down to the pool area. The were 2 pools with humongous size. After taking a swim, we went up and started to pack our stuff before leaving Penang and heading back towards KL at around 1.30pm. We took the ferry instead of the bridge and after a stop over at Sungai Buloh, we reached home at about 8pm.
There were a few more incidents that i will post in a different entry. I would conclude this vacation as a mentally stressed vacation. There were a lot of things that we had to adapt to when there is a small child travelling with us. It wasn't as smooth as before. My advise to those with no excess baggage yet, enjoy your holidays as you can. But inspite all that, we manage to still smile whenever our little angel starts to laugh and make fun and jokes. No kidding.
Last friday during Friday dinner at my in laws, Sofea finally received her delayed birthday present from her Mak Ngah Shana. The effort was made due to my previous posting on Sofea's birthday. Thanks for the present yer!!!. What do you know, it has some sort of effect. Woohooo. It was a pink clothing and for the size, i guess it can last for quite some time. Sorry coz there was no picture taken. Jangan marah ye Shana, nanti lekas tua and not good for your kandungan.
Sofea also received a belated birthday gift from her Mak Ngah's colleague, Kim. To be honest, both of us has never met this Kim before so i guess we can refer to her as Kim Possible. *laugh* She posted sofea's gift to wifey's office and asked us to take a photograph of Sofea and pass it to her. So here it is then.
Thank you auntie Kim
On Saturday & Sunday, i took Sofea to a mamak restaurant for breakfast. On Saturday i took her down to ABC Curry house at Sri Rampai and on Sunday at another mamak restaurant at wangsa maju sec5. At both these places, she received gifts. She got a lollipop from the ABC shop and an apple at the other place. I guess it's a good thing in a way as she likes to socialise with the mamak's and keep them entertain. To the mamaks, "Toche aaaaa".
After Friday prayers today, i decided to take a walk down Jalan Masjid India since there were still some time left before 2.30pm. As i was walking towards Masjid India itself, i managed to browse through some of the stalls that were back in business after the prayer. There was a stall selling vcd's of series of ceramah though not all of them were series of real ceramahs. Some of them were merely materials from PAS or PKR video recordings. I guess the sellers are the one making profit out of these ceramahas since they were not copyrighted. Imagine you telling a story infron of a crowd for free and then suddenly someone else is cashing in on you. And the funds go straight to their pocket and not a single penny to you. Wouldn't you get mad as well???
As i continued walking, there was quite a number of crowds just right next to Masjid India. It was the pakcik again whom i saw last friday. He was demonstrating to us that he can make money appear inside a box. The dialogues he used were almost the same. He would burn down a few pieces of newspaper cutting, and then putting it inside a black box. He would then "puh sini, puh sana" (blowing) and mentioning " Hey Rijal Ghaib....
He would then cover the box with a red cloth and saying that each currency notes will appear inside the box from Rm 1 up to Rm100. He then would call for a volunteer, a kid. Today's kid was 13 years old while i did not catch the boy's age from last week show. The boy would then take a peek under the cloth and just as last week, he would say " Ada duit "...
The pakcik then will tell the crowds that to get halal money and all of a sudden he would open up another display case box promoting a special ring. The ring according to him has many usages. If you were bitten by a snake or any poisonous animal, just put the ring at the place where you were bitten and the poison would come out. I did not catch the name of the ring though.
Like last week, i did not have the patience long enough to wait for what will happen next. Did the money really appear, a gimmick or just a way of advertising to get people to buy THE RING. Did the pakcik really give each and every crowd the money that he promised? Today because i waited to see the magic show, i ended up being soaked by the rain. I just wanted to see the end of the magic show but fate has not favoured me for 2 weeks to see the conclusion of the magic show and ended up late to the office while being all wet.
Definition
Here is a definiton which i took from a website
Rijalul Ghaib diambil dari kata rijal yang artinya laki-laki dan ghaib yang berarti tidak kasat mata, artinya orang mulia dari bangsa jin. Sebab orang timur tengah menyebut seorang bangsawan atau seorang yang mulia dengan sebutan rijal (orang laki-laki)
Wallahualam
We stayed up very late last weekend just to catch the outcome of the 12th General Election which was held earlier. We both voted at a different poling station due to our differences of address. It has always been a tradition for me to stay up late just to see the voting result. The most memorable general election that i stayed up was during the 1990 General Election result where i marked every winning's that i could on the newspaper attachement and continued to do so up to 2.30am and that was when i was in Standard 6.Shocking result
The result for this year's election was a shocking one for me & wifey. The first was when the tv announced that my parlimantery seat P119 Titiwangsa was taken over by the PAS candidate Dr. Lo' Lo. I couldnt believe that the BN candidate Datuk Aziz Jamaluddin had lost and for the first time the parlimantery seat when to PAS. It has always been a stronghold for the BN there. Even during the 1999 election, the PAS candidate did not manage to take control of it though the majority was greatly decrease to a mere 1000+ majority.
The second shock was when i heard the tv announcers that Datuk Shahrizat was defeated by Nurul Izzah. What the f??? in my humble opinion she was one of the best MP in Federal Territory besides Zulhasnan Rafique. That was a real shock to me. What has a 27 year old girl done to a 40000 + voters there for the past year or so. To the voters of Lembah Pantai, you had something good there but you threw it away. What a waste and i might add in, "Buat abis beras aje".
Samy Vellu lost??? That's another thing. Never thought he could lost. I felt pitty for him but i guessed he has been in power for a very long time then. I will miss his remarks and comments such as " Jikalau tukar menteri, hujan boleh berhent ka?"
Ironic result
Just the other day i was surfing the net and ended up in Jeff Ooi's blog. He too had won the election. Let's see if his action now speaks louder than his blog. Blogger turned politician???
The dude that shot the VK Lingam video who contested in Kelana Jaya under PKR also won. He has been livin abroad all this while and suddenly he is a member of parliament??? What a joke.
The Kota Alam Shah DUN was also won by a DAP candidate who is currently detained in prison under ISA and still won. That means that he did not have to campaign, just seat in prison and could still win a seat? How the hell is he going to serve his constituency? By writing a love letter to his voters??? Come on lah
The most shocking result
The most shocking result must have been that Kedah, Perak, Pulau Pinang and Selangor had fallen to a non BN government. Oh my god, i just bought a house in Shah Alam and now you are telling me it's under a non BN government management. Abissss....
So with all this wave of change or wind of change that is happening, i am now claiming the ruling state goverment to execute the promises that they have earlier promised. That is including changing the status of all leasehold to a freehold status. The reduction of 30 cents in petrol in the Titiwangsa parlimantery. I want to claim elaun suri rumah ( housewife allowance) to mama as she is a full time housewife. Abolishness of the elevated highway toll because it is situated under the Titiwangsa parlimantery and so many more.
Of course none of these will be executed because they could always say that we need to control the Federal Government in order for us to implement things. One simple logic that many Anwar Ibrahim (PKR) or PAS worshippers was fooled ( kena kencing ) is at the very beginning, they could never have gained control of the Federal Government because they only contested in a small number of seats.
PAS only contested in 60 parlimantery seats. The total seats in the parliament available was 220. How can a 60 seat take hold of a country when the number of seats they contested is not even 1/3 of the total seats. Simple mathematics also failed laaa. Haiiiyaaaa.
So starting from now, i am going to claim all their promises that was made earlier in their manifesto. I they fail to do so, then they are a true politician whose words speaks louder then action and not a true wakil rakyat.
For the malays, i truley hope one day that they will unite back again under one voice just like what happened in 1996 when Semangat 46 was disolve and united back into UMNO. That was a very happy moment for me to see my malay saudara uniting back for the sake of the Malay voice.
To those who are eligible and registered, happy voting!
To those who are eligible, registered but not voting - Waste of current (Buang karan je)
To those who are eligible but did not register - Why the hell did you not register? What were you thinking
To those who aren't eligible to vote - Go and register yourself when you are eligible and make sure you vote next time
Exercise you rights as a Malaysian citizen on 8 MAC 2008. One vote can make a difference!!!
D'Tebing - Sedap.Murah.Jimat
Waaaahhhh!!! That damn expensive for a tembikai laici. It can compete with Pavilion's price. If i am not mistaken, the price for a tin of laici is around Rm 1.00 ++ and a kg of a tembikai at Carefour cost you only RM 1.00++ as well. Now mix them up together with let's say the most is RM 2.00 each which totals up to RM4.00. With RM4.00 of a tembikai and a tin of laici could easily make you more then 4 glasses of juice and now for a glass of Tembikai laici juice at Timur something ( near Wong Solo) cost you RM6.00.
How lucky i am to be working near to my favourite eating place D'Tebing. Located next to Bulatan Dato' Onn at Jalan Parlimen, there you only need to bring the most RM5 in your wallet to fill your empty tummy. With RM5, you can have rice + vegetables + chicken / fish + little qty in prawn / meat / potatoes / what ever + Fruit Juice (including tembikai laici) + a complimentary papedom. All that for a value of RM 5 or RM4.50 if it's a normal drink.
This is not the actual tembikai laici
Now that's what i call value for money. The food there is quite good, though i still think it was better a few years back. For nearly 4 years of eating there, the price increase was a mere 50sen. Back in 2004, Food + fruit juice will cost you RM 4.50 and normal drink would only cost you RM4.00. There are only two stalls that operate during lunch time. One is by Pakcik Abu Bakar ( our normal place ) and the other operated by a Kelantanese makcik. At first the makcik's place was a bit cheaper but later the price has increased and it's now on par with Pakcik Abu Bakar's stall. The only setback that i get is waiting for my drinks to arrive which sometimes doesn't arrive at all due to the cilok factor by other customers.
So with all the commotion of harga barang naik, i'm still glad that the D'Tebing can still sustain it's operation and food cost and at the same time maintain it's quality. If a political party says their slogan say Selamat, Aman, Makmur, then i would put D' Tebing as Sedap. Murah. Jimat
Me and wifey headed down to the infamous Pavilion last Sunday to find out what was all the heap going around there. So we went down around 4.30pm to join in the crowd. Parking was quite easy to find down there. I'm not sure whether there were any other entrance but i took the first entrance that had the P symbol and that took care of things. We rode the escalator and the checkpoint that i first marked was Coffee Bean. Hmm, so ok, this is the check point that we were gonna use to get back.
Without having any specific reason there, we just walked along the outside walkway and found the Bukit Bintang Entrance...hmmm, ok we're making progress here. So we reached to the center of the mall .Damn it was huge but it had no exhibit or showcase down there so which made it even more spacious. Sofea would have loved running around in the foyer. We searced the directory to locate the ever famous J.Co donuts only to find ourself lost in the directory. Wifey said to me "Where is the You are here sign" and i replied " You are lost " ..hahaha.... So finally we managed to locate the J.CO Donut outlet which was somewhere on the 1st floor but the 1st floor seemed to be the Lower Ground floor in my book.So we just walked along in the amazing mall until the fifth floor. Most of the shops there were branded boutiques with items prized from RM150 and above. Almost all of the items are damn expensive stuff. People cried down in tears when the flour, sugar and oil were increased by 10cents but funny enough, nobody every complained of the pricey goods such as shoes, shirts, pants, handbags and all.
After finished wondering off, wifey wanted to buy me lunch + dinner yang sedap. Not knowing where to eat actually, we finally settled at a place called Pastamania. We had pasta, garlic bread, pizza and drinks. All for RM40. The taste was quite delicious or is it because my stomach was crying out loud "Lapar, lapar". We finished everything on the table and which reminded us of the KFC TV commercial " Waah, u can really eat aarr"....hehehe
Must have donuts....mmmm
So after the donuts, it's time for us to head down to Low Yat and pay the parking ticket. After paying the parking, then only i realized i had lost track of where the car was. We head down to B1, B2 and B3 but did not find the car. We even went up again to the coffee bean to re-track back ourselves but did not manage to find it. I did manage to find my colleague's car though. One thing for certain is that we were'nt the only one who did not find our car. There were others like us wandering around in search of their vehicles. Then finally we found our car. It wasn't in the basement but in the 1M floor. Kinda funny coz who puts their parking lot on the first floor. The escalator was very confusing as well. It's not just me but agreed by others as well. Maybe you'l get the hang of if but for the first timers, it sucks... Very hard to remember.
This is exactly how i looked like when i couldn't find my car
So all and all, the Pavilion was a nice place to visit but not that great for an average person like me to go shopping. There's not that much stuff you can buy with a limited amount of budget. All in all, i think the place that is actually generating income is the food court and the J.Co Donut outlet.
ps: I would like to open up a J.Co donut outlet if the selling rate is like what i witnessed yesterday. One a one to one sale, Dunkin Donuts should
start worrying by now.
DUN ape yang paling sedap.....DUN Nut
Pictures are taken from their respective websites
