Weekend getaway from Penang...in KL and Malacca

On my 3584, I speed down to KL on Friday evening with my parents. We departed from home at 6.45pm and arrived in KL at 10.15pm...3 and a half hour...that was a pretty fast journey :D

Arriving at KL, my first stop was at Serdang Raya, Yoke Heng Restaurant for the yummy claypot lou shu fan and pork ribs. This was on of the many eating places I missed of in Klang valley. Why can't they have their branches in Penang? :-(

Yoke Heng...famous for it's claypot lou shu fun

our claypot lou shu fun...order 2 person share...it is enought for 3

their famous pork rib...with marmite sauce

I started my Saturday with breakfast in the renowned Woo Pin Fish Head Noodle, 湖滨鱼头米粉 at Taman Danau Desa. It was located within the Ho-A-One Seafood Steamboat Restaurant. This was another place which worth driving long for. It took me about 15 minutes drive from Cheras but with a toll at Conought...If not the paying expressway, it will take me an hour on MRR2 then into the KL Seremban highway.

Ho A One Steamboat house the Woo Pin Fish Head Noodle in the morning

After dropping my aunt and cousin at home, we sped off to Malacca. It was a smooth journey down. It took me about an hour and a half to Ayer Keroh toll...followed by another few minutes drive to my brother's place situated at the back of MMU.

Then we headed to Taman Desa Duyong for the Sakura House. It was a terrace house converted cafe...very homey feel. As it was a home cooked Japanese meal, you could not expect too much...rich in choices but tasted so so. However this may be a value for money option.Next stop, we was at the Dataran Pahlawan...went round and round in search of parking lot...I hate this place for we always could not get a proper place to park or ended with a fine note by MBMB...damn MBMB!

Sakura House...1 simple bento only cost

The presentation was good but personally I didn't really like nor dislike the food...just not a recommended place to dine in if you are Japanese food fans

mum's Unagi Bento

We was in Dataran Pahlawan for a mid day food hunt mid stop...our stomachs needed some time to process all our intakes. So we went for Transformer...yeah finally I got to watch it...and it was a great choice for family time...but !@#$^ to the guy sitting next to me. He has been coughing throughout the 2nd half of the movie...causing me having to use my Dettol sanitizer all time...every time he cough, I would have to apply once...Didn't he know what hygiene means now especially with the H1N1 outbreak?

Not to be missed...we had a tea break before the show...though I was full, I could not resist my long crave for drink...my favourite Chocolate milk shake at Wong Kok Restaurant. The thick chocolate milk shake topped with chocolate ice cream was just irresistable.

After the movie we drove for half hour to Umbai for ikan bakar. We ordered a ikan pari bakar cili, butter prawns and squids platter. The main dish, ikan bakar was rather dissapointing...the chili was way too strong and covered the frest taste of the fish. The butter prawns and squid platter were delicious. Not to forget, the otak-otak was good as well. Normally people love to have these dishes with Nasi Lemak but not for me as I was sparing my stomach for next round.

Then, we headed back to town. We went to my favourite cafe in Malacca, the Nadeje Patisserie...We ordered an original mille crepe, strawberry mille crepe, tiramisu mille crepe and a cheese cake. I loved the original mille crepe most. It was best to go with black long coffee....dark and sugarless.


On Sunday morning, we went to the Museum Cafe(Jonker Dessert 88) for the world best cendol...this was always my choice of cendol...better than our Penang Teo Chew Cendol. Cendol. Besides cendol, the Baba Laksa was also my favourite. Unique in it's own way...unlike our Penang laksa nor our Penang curry mee.
After the heavy santan meal, we walked down the street in search for our gifts...the pineapple tarts. As we walked along the road, we found a busy stall selling traditional Nyonya kuih...We got a whole big bag of 'Ang Ku Kueh', Pulut Tai Tai, kuih bingkai and ondeh-ondeh....yummy! These were made fresh in the morning.

We then continued our tour with biscuit feasting at my frequent visit stall...I didn't the name but I just knew my way there. Their tarts never failed me. So we bought a box of pineapple tarts and a box of lotus paste cookies. Mum also got hold of 4 packs of mee sua.

As we were very full but has nothing much to do while waiting for stomach to give a little space, we headed to the Coffee at Cathedale Coffee Art

Next was another biscuit feasting time at Yong Sheng...I always love to shop here. 1.The biscuit taste good, 2. Affordable price as a gift, 3. Good service (the sales person kept offering ;D but my stomach was just too full :S and they deliver it right to your car), 4. We are already their VIP customer (get 15% discount).

I really have given up but as my parents were not very frequent visitor in Malacca, they wished to give Nyonya cuisine a try. So we headed to the Ole Sayang. Ordered a asam fish, ayam poh teng, sambal udang and sambal kangkung. My mum initially said she didn't want to eat rice, just a few bites of those dishes would do, ended up having need of additional plate of rice while for me, I got 2 spoon of rice...need the rice as the flavours were too strong to be taken like that. Anyway it was a great meal for everyone.

Finally we left Malacca at 4.20pm after stuffing my stomach meals after meal in shortly one and a half day. We reached Penang at 10.10pm...so it was a 5 hours and 50 minutes inclusive of a stop at the Seremban Siew Pau Empayar and few other intervals.

I enjoyed traveling with my parents...they were food enthusiacs like me :D

Photos here are from my old collections and from the internet...didn't have my camera with me.

My days in PGGA: 1998 - 2009...GangShow 2009

Time flies...this is already my 11th year in service at PGGA. I have seen PGGA celebrating its 80th, 85th and now in its 90th Anniversary...

So far in our 90th Anniversary celebration, we have had the Walkathon 2009, Girl Guides Big Line Up and World Thinking Day Celebration 2009. The recent Gang Show 2009 in Dewan Sri Pinang was another blast to our anniversary celebration.

This 3rd Gang Show of ours was remarkable. Never I have seen an local guiding event being package and branded such a way. So much effort being place on its' presentation. Perhaps this was different all thanks to the young blood of PGGA.

we are the featured in the Gang Show logo?

Thanks to our chair, CLK, all committee members and not to be missed my superb cool backstage team who manage the show excellently despite the few unwanted mid show intervals.

this was actually my favourite performance during rehearsal but sadly they did not emerged as the top 3 winners

these young brownies have a lot of courage to perform on such a huge grand stage

wonder how big our stage was? I think we can have 30 people side by side on one straight line

the young and energetic Backstage team

we who made Gang Show 2009 happened...proudly present the Gang Show 2009 committee members...

*all the photos were not my production as I was occupied all time at the back stage...THANK YOU to all our cameramen and camerawomen!

Bloody money sucking & inefficient UTM

Forgive me if you feel offended by this article. This was just my way to express my uneasiness and my dissatisfy towards our tertiary education system.

This is how my story went and ended up in a havoc...

I made up my mind to do my postgraduate in February....initially i have UTM's Master in Engineering (Microelectronics & Computer) and MMU's Master in Engineering (Telecommunication) and its Master in Engineering (Microelectronics) in consideration. However I chose UTM looking at my interest and the relevance to my current position in Intel.

So on February 23, I sent my application form to UTM on a registered express post for I have been mislead by the date mentioned in their website....which I was later told by the officers who came to Intel to do the introductory sharing that the date was meant for their current final year students who wish to continue on....this was the 1st wrong do of them.

In early April, my friends told me that they have received letter from the university saying that their applications have been received and in the mid of processing them. I did not receive any news about my application but I was sure that my application must have arrived after checking with Pos Malaysia....my friends application forms arrived in UTM in the end of Feb but only heard from them in early April...this was the 2nd wrong do of them...why would it take a month plus just to send out a simple computer generated letter to confirm that our applications have been received....worse when I heard nothing at all from them.

I grew more and more anxious as the days, weeks and months past.

By mid of May, my friends started to receive their confirmation letter and documents...yet there was no news about my application.

Finally on May 20, the uni authority rang me, telling me that they did not received my application payment. So I quickly fax over my receipt. One week later, I finally received the 1st letter my friends received...a little relieves after such a long tense up period.

Time flies...as the reporting date was drawing closer, I could no longer wait patiently. I called the SPS office...after being diverted few times, I was finally in touch with Cik H***m. I was told that I have been accepted and they are now in the process of sending out the acceptance letter.

Then on 25 June, I called Cik H***m again. This time I was told that the letter has already been delivered and I should be expecting it next week. The delay was due to the tuition fee review.

I waited impatiently till the following Monday, 29 June.I called Cik H***m to confirm the status of my application and again I was assured that I have been accepted and the letter was sent out on 26 June...this was their 3rd wrong do.

During this call, she claimed that the letter has been delivered but this time, she said it was only delivered out a day after our last call.So I asked for a hard copy to be delivered to me via fax. Surely I would not make the RM2k payment without any hard copy confirmation...

In the noon of 30 June, the mentioned letter has not arrived in my house yet. So I thought I may be more efficient if I made a request via an email.So here goes my email.

Dear Sir,

I am Lim Sze Wan (ARN: M091014069). I have called previously and have been informed that I have been accepted and official letter has been sent out. As of today, I have not received any related document from your university. Kindly verify and get back to me on my application status.

I have learned that the course registration has been scheduled in Vistana Hotel this weekend. If my application is successful, can you send the document again on pos express for I will need to submit those documents to my company’s HR and need to get the medical check up done?

Thanks.

Another 2 days of waiting. They got on my nerves. It was Thursday, 2 July and I was expected to register on Saturday morning. In my mid of headache, I wrote an email to their Deputy Dean, Dr O****n, and CCed it to a whole long list of people involved...Sadly still no news from them by the end of the day.

Dear Sir,

I wish to get your attention into the subject mentioned above.

I have called Cik H***m for numerous times and have been informed that I am accepted for the Sarjana Kejuruteraan (Elektrik – Komputer & Sistem Mikroelektrik). I was told that the official letter and documents have been sent out last week, 24 June 2009 and expected to register myself this weekend. However up till this moment, I have yet to receive such documents from your university. I have also requested for a copy to be sent to me via fax and I did not receive any as well. Without any proper document from your university, I can neither proceed to get the medical check up nor made arrangement for fees payment.

Kindly get back to me at my email XXX@intel.com on the steps for registration for the course above.

Thanks.

3 July, a day before the registration, I received a call from Cik H***M. Never expected a call from her as early as 8.30am. This time her intonation wasn't that pleasing.

H***m : Lim Sze Wan
Me : Ya.
H***m : Kamu datang sahaja hari Sabtu ini. Surat itu boleh kamu dapatkan di kaunter nanti.
Me : Tapi boleh faxkan surat tawaran kepada saya, baru saya boleh proceed dengan payment. H***m : Saya sekarang ini sudah nak pergi Penang. Tak sempat nak send. Untuk pendaftaran esok, kamu bayar dua ribu sahaja.
Me : Jumlah yuran berapa?
H***m : Semua yuran adalah tiga puluh ribu ringgit.
Me : Ok.
(bump...heard her hang off so quickly)

Minutes later, I received an email from Dr O****n. This is his email.

Dear Sze Wan,
The registration will begin at 12noon tomorrow, vistana hotel. You can collect the second copy of the offer letter there. We are on the way to Penang now. Call my number 019XXXXXXX after 2pm today for clarification.

Regards

No wonder Cik H***m called that early morning in that rude intonation.

Anyway I just rang Dr O****n, wanting to see what he has got to say. By the end of our conversation, I felt so upset. He gave me no explanation for all the delay nor any explanation for the fee increment. I could only recalled a remark from him on the increment "What an unfortunate." Huh? Deputy Dean saying it's an unfortunate...guess not for the case of the university.

So with all this havoc, could one still continue in this university? Not sure about others, for me surely not in this bloody money sucking university and such an inefficient one.

Btw...the letter finally arrived in my house on that very last day, 3 July. The stamp on the envelope dated July 1, 2009.

My 4th team building with VTS-M

I love team building. This was my 4th team building in VTS-M...2nd that I organized.

In the morning, we played bowling at Penang Bowl. I was in Group 3 with WE, KW and WK. I enjoyed playing bowling with my colleagues. Never expected there were so many master of the game in my department.

WK, WE, KW and me, SW....seem like this group is only for the Ws.

me in action...1st round score - 122...can't remember how many spares and strikes

me...got the Best Female Player...yeah!

After the game, we headed to the E&O hotel's Sarkies Corner. We had a great buffet lunch there. The food was excellent and the price was good as well...Inteller got 15% off...so it was only RM41.05 per person.

my starter...most of the starter dishes were good

I love the curry chicken and the squid...many more main course choices but my stomach just didn't have enough space for all

even though I was full, still could not resist them...these desserts were 10x better than in G-Hotel

syok sendiri after meal... :D

VTSM gals...girl power!

CCC after a year - White water rafting & Caving in Kampar

Hmm...after a year...a lot of things have changed.

The most significant one...everyone is richer by 2 to 3k a month...many with new cars and 2 with a new house....envy of them...I am stuck with my 3584 but am satisfy to at least have him now rather than my 15 years old SLK.

2ndly, we all have only 1 common topic or rather standard questions which were 'What are you doing now, where are you working in, which department, hows life, hows work and etc...all revolves around working life.

3rdly, we were not as crazy as we did...no more rushing for photo shots...I was not sure if it was due to lack of cameras during our outing or it was just because we were too tired with our normal hectic schedule and 2 days of tiring activities together.

Anyway this was really good for us to get together. I enjoyed it very much but was super tired as I could not recover from my Bangkok trip which was only 3 days apart. Take away my tiredness, my post trip MC and the stuck time during white water rafting, this was a great outing.

Thanks to HJ and HF for organizing it! Hope to see everyone again in our 2nd yr gathering!

Day 1 - Drive down from Pg, white water rafting (*sad for no photographs taken during the raft), Gunung Lang & 豆芽鸡

penang* and ipoh lang at destination first...good to be on time

at gua tempurung area...while waiting for others

heading to our hostel...after the white water rafting

CCC at Gunung Lang

Gunung Lang lake from the tower

replica of traditional houses on the island
boat to the island

another lake view from the top

it was about to rain

1st and only complete group photo...CCC08 is here in Gunung Lang!

our chicken...good but too much...CCCers are small eaters now

this was yummy...better than chicken

YY after few hours under the sun during water rafting...YY, u need more outdoor sports to be a MAN!

at pasar malam during kampung adidas hunting

Day 2 - Dim sum at Ming Court, pomelo feasting at Gerai Limau Bali Tambun 100, caving at Gua Tempurung and finally 游记面包鸡

dim sum breakfast at Ming Court

got a shock...the moment we got the table, the waitresses started to load the table with all these dim sum...may be 100+ of them at first

pomelo feasting

bought 2 home

Gua Tempurung...khazanah negara

these were thousands years old

wah...best shot in the cave

very humid in the cave....

now we are up, the next moment we were meters down

oups...1 missing...it was too dark...the cameraman just pakai hentam

best shot in the cave...due to the humid and less of light, this was the best shot

not sure if it is that extreme good or not but it finished within minutes

makan...makan
last group photo before adios..missing in the photo is HF...thanks her again for this!