stop and smell the roses

It has been a pretty busy week. So much to do, so little time! I haven't even done my Chinese New Year shopping! Craps. Am I going to be the only one not wearing red this year? Nvm. Shall wait for FT day on Friday. :D

Luckily, my hotel have decided to add on some interesting activities for the employees and that includes Massage! So everything was on co-pay and so the staff only pay 50% of the price. Pretty cheap for massage. When else can you get a massage during working hours? The room was also scented with aromatherapy Lampe Berger and we even played Enya to enhance the overall experience. Everyone pretty much sulked when their session ended and they had to go back to work.This gadget is for gently massaging older people but there is no use for it in my hotel. We all needed the deep tissue massage and the bones-cracking stretch.

Me toes were feeling the love they needed.

The masseurs are both blind and because of that, they have a more sensitive touch and they seem to be able to pinpoint the problematic areas in all of us. They used terms like "blockages", "opening the chakras" and so on. Well, anything goes. They were very nice people who thought I was a small kid when they heard my voice. I must have shocked them. I did the neck and shoulder session last week and this week I had reflexology. Each small area on my sole seem to represent something so when the masseur, who has been quiet, decided to announce, "This is your kidney!", I was pretty worried. "So how?! Anything wrong with my kidneys?! Do you sense something?!" She then said, "No, no problem. Just telling you this is connected." Oh. Phew. It seems that from the session on my foot, the masseur could tell that I don't have any problems at the moment and asked me to drink more water.

Moving on, last Sunday was finally my convocation! Well, it was a pretty last minute thing but luckily many of my friends made it and catching up with them was very nice. :) My mom and my sis, Lisa, decided to grace the event with their presence too. Too bad my dad couldn't make it but I have since forgiven him.. :)



Well, lots more photos but they are in everyone's cameras! Shall wait for the professionally taken one to be sent to me.


And then the rest of the week was work, work and more work. Thaipusam being declared a public holiday was a very welcomed news. I very much needed rest. Then, as part of another staff recognition program, we had a party in Petrosains, KLCC! Well, this place is better suited for kiddy-widdies but there is always a child in all of us!



The place is very big and we have to enter through the Perjalanan Sekilas Masa or Dark Ride. Sometimes I don't see how they translate these things. The Perjalanan Sekilas Masa is a ride that shows us how the Earth was formed and how Malaysia have progressed and also how pretoleum has been one of the gifts from Earth etc etc. It is dark, yes, because we need to be able to watch all these screens along the way but it is not dark, dark. I actually thought it was going to be a haunted ride.


Petrosains teaches the guests science through the touch-and-feel stimulated learning so everyone gets to touch and play with all the gadgets and stuff inside. It also aims to teach people about how things are in the oil plant and gives us a peek into the lives of those who work for Petronas. One of the things were about how people were supposed to evacuate when there is an emergency. There is this big round tyre hung by ropes that will be suspended from a helicopter. So people are supposed to hang onto the ropes in a pretty ungraceful but secure manner and then get lifted off by the guys in the helicopter. Don't dig? Let us demonstrate:

When is the chopper leaving?

T-rex.

And then there was T-rex. Nobody really paid attention to him (because we were all above 18) but it was him and his pals' deaths that helped produce petroleum! Due respect were given as we all posed for photos with him.

We all left a little more knowledgeable than when we first arrived. We now know how it feels like to be in a helicopter thanks to the simulation ride. We also now know how it feels like working on the oil plant because some parts of the plant vibrates like crazy 24/7 and there was a tiny platform which vibrates and we all get to try standing on it. It was one of my fave. Don't get me wrong! We just sound very funny when we talk while standing on it. Erm, anyways, we also learned how to balance 6 nails on one! A worthwhile trip!

I did this one. :D

this little pig went to market

It is nice to have friends who love to eat and are willing to wake up early and bring you around to sample some of life's simple pleasures right in the middle of KL. All these while, I thought breakfast in and around KLCC was all about cafeteria, Starbucks and McDonalds.

Just a while ago, I got to eat Roti Telur and Nes-Lo (Nescafe & Milo) in a mamak Nasi Kandar place just across the road from Nikko Hotel. It was yummers because I have not had Roti Telur for breakfast since... erm, forever? The restaurant has a very pleasant ambience. Eating breakfast al fresco with cool morning breeze and gentle morning sunlight just help you digest better. They even have a mini Koi pond in the middle (of no where) which is rather odd but I think it was for feng shui. Remember, it is always about the feng shui. This place is usually packed to the brim during lunch hours.

Anyways, today we headed for the market! Market in KL? Really? It seems there is. It is on Jalan Imbi and I felt that it looked very much like the Pokok Assam market in Taiping which I blogged about earlier. It has a wet area where they really sell meat and veges and lots of attractive fruits with confident taglines like "Sweet as Sugar" and frogs. Yes, frogs! The frogs were the first to greet me at the entrance to the market. I felt so sad for them because they were still jumping around, showing off their powerful legs which are the reason why people eat them. They were usually cut up with a pair of scissors. *gasp*

Anyways, Yvonne went to market because there is also a dry area for people to sit down and eat. Man, I was spoilt with choices!

-The makan area-

I immediately knew what I wanted to eat when I walked past this shop:

-Chee Cheong Fun!!!-

Eventhough the main reason I was brought here was because of this one famous "kopitiam".

-The Ah Weng Koh Hainan Tea Kopitiam-

I wondered which one of those many uncles was Ah Weng. Their specialties were the Hainan Tea (of course), toasted square bun with butter and kaya and their half-boiled eggs which were special because they only use Kampung Chicken Eggs. They even have "reserved" and "VIP" table tents!! For a kopitiam!? This shop is Ho-Chak approved, mind you. Ho Chak is a program on 8TV, fyi, and it means 'delicious' in Hokkien dialect (I think). One of my fave show as they bring your around KL and other parts of Malaysia in search of good food and show you how they are prepared and sometimes even throw in the secret recipes. The best part is, they feature both restaurants and also little stalls and even those little blink-and-you'll-miss stalls in the Pasar Malam so you have a wide variety of places to choose from. Once they are done, they will stick this Ho Chak sticker on the shop's signboard. Gone are the days of watching these makan programs on Singapore TV or even any Asian food channels and don't get to try the food.

-Coffee and toast, just like at home-

Anyways, I ordered the ordinary coffee because I haven't had coffee since Taiping but only to be told that the famous Hainan Tea was actually coffee! So I tried my friend's Hainan Tea which looked exactly like coffee but tasted like strong milk tea. I was confused.

Anyways, the toasted bun was nice too but of course, Kluang Station's toasted round buns are the best. Kluang rules!! By the way, couldn't focus on half boiled eggs because I went a bit too far with the Chee Cheong Fun.

-Supposedly Chee Cheong Fun-

I took too much of those fried Yong Tau Foo that I couldn't locate the noodle part. Huge plate for breakfast standards. Luckily I didn't listen to the Aunty when she tried to make me take more Chee Cheong Fun. The thing about this dish is, when you are selecting your accompanying Yong Tau Foo, they always seem so few until the aunty chops them up. And then you go "Oh-OH".


Anyways, there were Wan Ton Noodles, Pan Mee, Char Koay Teow and so much more. I think I'll have to come here very often to sample everything.

-lighter options (not today, dude, especially when you park next to the Chee Cheong Fun)-

And look what I found on the way out!

-Apung!!!-

Remember my previous entry about the Apung in the Pokok Assam market which I loved so much? They are here! Woohoo! They sell it at twice the price (RM0.40) and smaller in size than those in Taiping but whatever lah. At least I get to eat them on a regular basis now. :D


And then there were rats everywhere. No, not the real rats. The market is not that dirty and it was too early for a mouse to come out anyways. It is the year of the Rat! As I was reminded by the numerous stalls selling Chinese New Year cookies and what nots. This is the time for Mickey and Minnie to shine! There were too many aunties blocking me from taking a photo of the golden (no less) Mickey and Minnie coin boxes. The rest were pretty cute too. A dash of cute to divert our attention from those usually nasty ones, I suppose.

-The cute rats-

New Year's Resolution

I thought of a resolution today and I think it is a good one. :)


1) To save money, for goodness sake.


As of today, I have been working for 105 days. I guess there should be no more excuses about having to adjust to a new independent lifestyle, new expenses, yada yada. I used to think that it is OK if I don't really get to save anything out of my peanuts pay packet in the first few months but er, we're in the fourth month now. Therefore, I must try. To try I must. But where do we start? Hm. I wonder if my parents experienced this sort of dilemma before. According to mom, in those days when she first started teaching, she gave 100% of her pay to her mom, my grammy, and she gets a small allowance to go shopping with. All my aunts did the same too. I was speechless. "Back then, life was simpler", she said. I couldn't help but agree. What did grammy do with the money? Grammy bought a house. I was again speechless. A house! And they were earning like RM300. "Back then, RM300 was huge!" said mom. I really couldn't help but agree.

Then dad started with his tales:

"One bowl of noodles were only RM0.03!" Whoa....
"If we found a RM0.50 coin in the field, we would be so happy we would do cartwheels!" Whoa....
"Hey, we walked 3 km to school, OK. When it was raining, we will use banana leaves as umbrellas!"

My uncle, Tai Pak, once told us a story of how he, being the eldest, will always need to trick his younger siblings into walking all the way to school on the first day of school without throwing a tantrum and cry by the roadside. "There, it's just in front. A little bit more," he would say every so often or when the younger ones started to get suspicious I suppose.

And then mom told me that they all bring their own little chalk board to school to learn how to write. It was used over and over and probably passed down to younger siblings. I was like, "That's too unreal". "Real!" she insisted. And just recently I saw a little pink notebook selling for RM30 in Kinokuniya. -_-

Don't know if my dad was being too exaggerated but he also once told us, "We were lucky if we even had soy sauce to eat with rice!"

My mom will go, "OK, not so bad on my side but one chicken had to be shared amongst all 8 of us plus grammy and gramps!"


Whoa. "Back then, it was always waste not, want not".


OK, noted. Hopefully this serves as a motivation...

season's greetings!

I had a good December and a good farewell to 2007. I went to Taiping, Perak which is my dad's hometown, with my family. Oh, Taiping. Food is pretty cheap there and so eating was what and all I did.

Firstly, dad's favourite Lai Fun at the Pokok Assam Market.

-the Lai Fun accompanied with super crispy roasted pork-

Mom will go buy the roasted pork from the market which is just next door. Erm, wait, we were IN the market but the market has an area where people sell food and everyone just cramp around small tables to eat. Well, at least the floor is dry on the makan side. The food is worth the wait and the crowd. I'll always have iced coffee here, kopitiam style - no less, and then become extremely active for the next 2 hours. The coffee is just so thick... like they don't care about costs.

And then like age old tradition, we'll go buy 'Apung' or 'Apam'. It's like crepe but cooked in tiny chinese 'wok'. It's plain, super thin and super crispy and light enough to over-indulge and still don't feel it around the tummy.

And they are RM0.20 per piece!

I usually eat like 5 pieces at one go. Erm, maybe more...

Then I went to Penang for a few days. I visited Kek Lok Si and all sorts of temples and all sorts of old buildings such as the Peranakan Museum, Cheong Fatt Sze Mansion and the Khoo Kong Si. All so rich in history and culture and most importantly Feng Shui. Haha. It is always about the Feng Shui. Anyways, I made a collage of some of the floors I stepped on!

-Really old tiles with some dating back few hundred years-

Then it was back to Taiping again to helpout and celebrate my cousin Andrew's wedding.

Congratulations Andrew and Jess!

-Just some of us from the Lee clan-

I don't have many photos at the moment. Maybe I'll put up more later when I get the really good ones taken by people with huge and "garang" cameras (as I quote one of my uncles). Two of them were my cousin's cousins who loved photography. Another is my cousin's classmate named Timo. Introducing Timo:

-Timothy loves to eat pork-

-Just one of Timo's cameras. This one was called "blender"-

Anyways, apparently Timo loves his cameras so much they were like his girlfriends. Apparently also, they had names. Don't know how true this is but we were guessing Cameron and Carmen.
Timo, who was supposed to just take really good photos, was also very helpful.

On the eve of the wedding, it's in the chinese tradition to hold a feast at home for relatives and close friends to come together and eat, drink, be merry and act like they were still young and drink somemore. Well, also to talk about the good old days. This night was called Lao Tia which I later got it translated to Old Hall. OK. So Timo was very helpful at the Lao Tia. He was carrying all the huge soup pots, he carried crates upon crates of canned drinks and beers....

-Approved!-

and he even helped out with the dishes! *clap! clap! clap!* My mom branded him "Well Trained". All the aunties were impressed. The Uncles looked on curiously. The cousins wondered whose son he was. Suddenly, everyone knew Timothy.

My cousin's house was so full of people. People in the rooms, people in the hall, people in the porch. Kids were everywhere! My camera was kidnapped and the little culprit was kind enough to take a photo of me. Most of the photos were from a little kid's eyeview level. Thankfully none up anybody's skirt.

-OK, so I upset some kids by hoarding the hanging rattan chair-

And then there was Jonathan, the latest addition to the Lee Family and my youngest nephew out of about 20. I can't keep track anymore.

-Jonathan, or more famously known as Jon-Jon-

Jon-Jon loves to eat.

-Jon Jon trying to get his mom to get him more bananas-

(After he had two)

-Jon-Jon being "rolled" on the bridal bed-

It is also one of the tradition to have a little(and virgin) boy jump and roll on the bridal bed (which must not be touched by anyone at all before the wedding). Jon-Jon seemed to be the best candidate but he was clueless and so he was just pretty much involuntarily rolled around. It was hilarious.

Home is where the heart is. Family always comes first.

-30 plus years ago, Grandpa and my uncles and aunts and their spouses and a few older cousins. Guess which are my mom and dad-

(Look at how retro their clothes were! The glasses, the dresses, the hair! Priceless!)

Now, just times 3 the number of people.

-Just the cousins (minus 6 who could not attend)-

It was great getting to know everyone. Some of us were even paying attention during the Tea Ceremony so we know people's names and what to call them. Will post the huge photo of everyone soon. It was difficult to get everyone into the frame even. Hectic, hectic week but I enjoyed each and every moment of it. It was difficult going back to reality (which was KL and work). Haha. Now I'll just have to think of some new year's resolution to get back into gear.