Latest Addiction

Tak de apa-apa lah...saja nak buat topic gempaq je.

I've been walking almost everyday last week. I'd walk for about 45mins, doing between 3-4 kms, Took a break on Thursday coz I had to travel to Seremban for a meeting. Nissa has been pushing me to do my exercise. She was with me during one of my visits to the doctor and she's like repeating what the doctor advised me like an old broken record. The reverse is happening huh? Selalunya Mak nag kat anak, ni anak pulak yang nag kat Mak.

Anyway, it's good that she has challenged me to get my exercise regime going. Actually boleh, cuma at times, giving all sorts of excuses to not get going - rain lah, headache lah, penat lah and my all time favourite is "i need my sleep".

The elder children have also chipped in to encourage this Mom to get herself going. They loaded songs (read: their songs) on my iPod, really upbeat and makes one feel like dancing!! I have now hot, hot companions streaming down my system while I struggle that long 4 km.


So, if you spot me going extra hyper during my walk, this "number" could just be the reason.

Pictures from Yan Trip

It felt good to be able to get out of the office and do some work related traveling, but it feels better to be home. This trip to Yan was slightly longer than my usual. By the third day, I was missing everyone at home, and can't wait to hit the road heading South. Maybe dah tua kot...dah malas nak gi outstation lama-lama. Maybe juga dah tak tahan dengan kerenah client yang at times, memerlukan banyak kesabaran. I don't know; there are just so many things jumbled in my head.

Anyway, here are some pictures taken during the trip. Banyak yang boleh dibuat reflections, and banyak yang bring about the question - "what if??"

Yan Kecil during evening "rush" home, hardly any queue.

This was probably the busiest that it ever got

Heading home after a hard days work?

We could have stayed here. But the resort was up on Gunung Jerai. According to our supervisor, the route up was "belok-belok macam kat Camerons". Ohh tak pe lah....

So instead, we stayed at this homestay (nothing wrong with the signage, it was me who kind of had vertigo and wasn't able to get my level straight..heh..heh)

Should you need new curtains, place your order here. Was so tempted to do so. But I wondered if they could have curtains ready in one or two days.

The best thing about Yan - food is so, so cheap!! This nasi lemak was only 50cents. No way can we get such a delight in the Klang Valley. I wasn't much of a rice in the morning person. I opted for my usual - the roti canai. Roti canai was 60cents yah and local kuehs were only 20cents and soooo sedap!! There were 7 of us, we all had roti canai, some had nasi lemak on top of the roti plus one round of local kueh. Our breakfast that morning was RM13.00. Haaaa......gulp that!! Drinks were included as well in that RM13.00. Explain this please!! Depa guna tepung yang sama, gula yg sama, susu pekat yg sama...tapi kenapa harga kita kat Klang Valley tak sama harga depa noo??

Haa...tu dia....nasi lemak tu comel saja!! Ada egg sepotong and ikan bilis plus sambal (sama je kan macam yang kat KL, tapi kenapa harga tak sama?? Jenuh dok pikiaq!!)

Jenahak Tiga Rasa...yummmyyy!!

Our dinner on the 1st night was at Tanjung Dawai, Yan. We asked the homestay owner of a good place to go for dinner. He said, "Pi makan di Tanjung Dawai." Then we asked for directions from the Tuan Haji (dia yang bagi tau suruh panggil dia - Tuan Haji). He said, "Jalan seterait (straight), ikut jalan tu sampai habih, lepas tu konar kanan, sampai la Tanjung Dawai". We mati-mati thought it was like 10 mins drive to the end of the road and turn right and we'd get to the dinner place. Rupa-rupa nyerr....huh, it was a good half hour drive. The jalan "seterait" wasn't really straight. There were sharp turns along the way. But it was dark, we couldn't see much what was the surrounding like.

Tom Yam sea food with lots of crabs. Cholesterol ?? What's that? Alien??

All in all we paid Rm150 for the six dishes we had. There were 7 of us. I told the team, "Makan je, no need to compare. Rezeki jangan di tolak."

Yan - Breathe Easy

It's day two today in Yan, Kedah. Everything is so calm here in this quaint town not far from the majestic Gunung Jerai in Kedah. Life is aid back; the refreshing sight of green paddy fields stretches as far as the eyes can see. An old farmer and wife suddenly came in view; carving a friendly smile that could melt one's heart.

Paddy fields and Gurung Jerai

Tukang jahit shop....they still do it the old fashion way

Fifty cents for a packet of nasi lemak!! No way you'd find these in KL

Yummmyyyy.....(just too bad that I don't take rice in the morning)

No rush, no queues at the traffic light. An old Pak Cik came to us and patted on one of my team members. He asked us what's our business in this small town; distance away from where we hail. Upon relating to him our mission, came a satisfied look on his face; indicating that he was ever so grateful with our efforts in helping the local children in their learning.

Yes, that's our mission here - to open the children's eyes to technology and the wonders that they can explore once they overcome their inhibitions.

Yan children....believe in yourself. Yes, you can do it!!

On the Road Again

On the road again
Just can't wait to get on the road again.
The life I love is making music with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again.
On the road again

Goin' places that I've never been.
Seein' things that I may never see again...

Gonna be singing that tune by Willie Nelson like a broken record.

I'm doing a trip up north tomorrow. Destination this time - Yan, Kedah :) Will be there till Saturday. Gunung Jerai & laksa Kedah here I comeee :)

Bake & Celebrate

I hardly bake, actually. But work related stress had me trying my luck - sweat dripping by the oven sometime last week. Tried making cookies from a recipe I googled on the Internet. I still have a long way to go, that's for sure.

Anyway, these nutty chocs turned out not too bad and kids finished the plateful at one go.

Last weekend, the "crazy feeling" to bake came again. The many pictures (which most of the time made me drool) posted by superb bakers on FB, got me taking out my baking stuffs. And result of the hard work were these cuties (puji sendiri lah kan....).

We named them "Lil Pink Buttons" - plain butter cup cakes with sugar icing on top.

These was also another reason to celebrate. Our anniversary; as usual, it slipped my mind again this year. Only remembered it when I was driving the girls to their activities on Saturday. I could have sworn I entered important dates to my BB. Err....perhaps I did, but I did not save after doing so (which is very typical of me....)

It wasn't possible to do much of a celebration on Saturday itself as girls' program got us occupied till late afternoon. So how did we celebrate? Were there fireworks? Blimp across Shah Alam sky? Oh tidakkk....no need for that lah. Instead we opted to go do our favourite pass time -makan-makan :)

Dinner was here on Sunday evening.

The girls...

The shy guy....

The couple... (of 23 years & many, many kilos heavier and centimeters wider)

The couple back then (ohhh how to get back to that size again???)

Say What???

If it hadn’t been the workspace being such an open office, I would have slammed down the phone with all my might. Trying to look cool and demure as blood gushed to my face was something I could no longer do. I wanted to scream at some one. And I wanted so badly to shake the person on the other line too. I wanted to be expressive and demonstrative, but the “good me” stopped myself from doing so.

No scream, no hair pulling, nothing. Disappointed? Yes, that too. But there was no point making a fool out of myself. In this case, it was just not worth it.

So now what exactly happened? And why did earth shake? And why was I so bl*r*y annoyed?

Bureaucratic, none other then the bureaucratic crap with a capital B (yes, allow yourself to be creative and descriptive when figuring out the most appropriate “B” word).

I assume that’s just how the culture is at some work place. YOU work for us, WE are the boss (and make things difficult). Just my bad karma that my team is stucked with such stiff characters – the typical by the book, “no way Jose I’m gonna accommodate you” mentality.

Yesterday was such a frustrating day for my team and I. We spent the entire day tracking PIC - persons-in-charge (well we thought they were coz their names were clearly printed in the memo). And after being given the wild goose chase, we were told that, “Oh…A is not the person you should be talking to. It’s actually D, but D is away and F is the one helping out but F is also away attending training!! And there’s nothing that can be done till mid next week.”

Tell me now how not to blow your top. From 8 in the morning till office hours ended, our effort went futile - such a waste of time.

I was so tempted to write one long lengthy email to voice my concerns, but ruffling feathers may have other consequences later. Anyway write email I did, but when comparing my first draft to the actual one (less fiery, less exclamation marks) I sent out, I wonder if the persons concerned got my message. What puzzles me is that how come these PICs have failed to remember that their main responsibility is to serve the people.

So much for “rakyat didahulukan, pencapaian diutamakan” huh?

Angie's Tag

Yes, Cat-in-Sydney, I’m doing your tag now. Bet you must be thinking that I had forgotten about it.

Angelina dear, no, I have not forgotten about it. Tag is fresh on my mind, just that time didn’t permit me (yahh…good excuse kan!!) to google my external hard disk for that number 8 photo folder and select the 8th photo.

Anyway, I finally got hold that 8th photo.

This picture of a floating home was taken during my visit to Siem Reap couple of years back.

The floating village is found on Tonle Sap Lake - a popular tourist spot, 20 - 30 mins drive from Siem Reap. Only accessible by boat, Chong Khneas is a community literally living off, and living in houses floating on, the edge of the great lake. As soon as one enters the village, houses such as these will come into view.

You need to have really strong tolerance to the smell and sight as the boat takes you further into the lake. The smell surrounding the area is definitely not for the weak heart. If fish is not your pleasantry (Angie, you are an exception lah) , you may need to plug your nose through out the boat ride as strong fish stench lingers (heavenly??) in the atmosphere.

I imagine these home owners go about leading life like any normal household on land. As we toured the village, we saw them using water from the lake for washing and bathing. Looking at the murkiness, you realize that it’s not even remotely clean. But such is life with these village people where many of these stateless ethnic Vietnamese, are grindingly poor.

Okay, tag done. And am I gonna pass the baton after this??
Tak kot.... Reason nya, I like the eights to be just "88".

Angie, tak pe kan??? You tak marah kan....
Ooohhh.....jangan marah, nanti kena jual :D