Saturday Beach Escapade

Here we are....at Golden Sands Resort, Batu Ferringhi for my own version of team building for my team. Since, we do not have the budget from office, I decided to still have a team building on my own and took them for retreat at the beach.

We were in luck as the place was finishing its renovation and we were the first few to witness the brand new place.

Its quite impressive what they have done with the place. The lobby is now brighter and more welcoming. The room I was given has also been renovated and the room was filled with fresh crisp smell...

Check out the bedroom...

So while they were there playing in the pool, I sun baked myself for two hours until the overcast came signaling a heavy rain was approaching and it did. Its been years since I sun tan and I begining to turn all fair and lovely....which I hate it.

The place was not that packed so I get to choose a spot that I liked.

While I finished early, the girls were still not wanting to come up and still playing in the pool until rain was too heavy...as usual... a long wait for each and everyone to shower and change....there were 10 of us in one room !

This was Kim....

Ah Peng...like a big mother inspecting the room

By the time everyone showered, it was dinner at 8pm for us admist the heavy thunderstorm and flood at Batu Ferringhi ! We finally found the place which was behind Parkroyal Hotel and famous for its seafood and spring rolls

Candid shots...

Before the food was served...we had all the time to remember to take pictures....

It was not until the food was served.....

We whacked until forgetting all about our picture taking....until the end

Since it was raining so heavily, our plans to walk around the night market was hindered and we decided to head back to the hotel...

Since we were the first few to experience the newly renovated hotel, we decided to spend our time at the lobby....by the way..this is not my partner and they are not my kids ....

They were still busy arranging the furniture and we waited for them before being the first to sit...

We were like from kampung people...never been to a hotel and busy snapping away pictures....

The lobby lounge

More pictures...

Lobby

Coffee house

By the time we were done....I was dead tired and preparing to leave home while leaving the girls behind for slumber party in the room. I warned them do not wreck the place as its under my name and my reputation !

One last picture before I left...

KL revisited after 3 years

Finally, after 3 long years and all the horrific memories, I am back...back to the city of Kuala Lumpur. I cannot believe I have not set foot in this city for 3 years since I left my old company as there was just no reason to be back and after 3 years, I am walking again on the same platform as I did before....

Arriving at KLIA, the long walk from the gate, down the basement to take the ERL to Sentral Station....nothing changed but one thing that earned my compliment is that the place and the train has been well kept after all these years.


The interior are still brand new looked and clean

Ah...nothing changed except memories flooding my mind throughout the 28 minutes ride....to my hotel.

I decided to put up at Le Meridien as its more convenient to move around our office in KL and for me after work.....Arriving 8pm and by the time I checked in, it was 8.30pm and I was hungry and dehydrated from my flight journey since 4.30pm. No thanks to the weather that made me even more depress. I don't know but the thought of coming to KL is so dreadful....

After my check in, a huge room greeted me....

Nothing impressive as the whole interior is decorated with the English type whereby I am more accustomed to the zen outlook hotels offer these days...plus the room is too dark to read and do work....!

After a quick shower, I had an appointment with one of my best friends in KL. Gany who was my ex-boss and friend that helped me alot during my horrific KL job posting stint 3 years ago....

He wanted to bring me to some posh restaurant but I chose a simple Indian Restaurant at Bangsar...to bring back memories where we used to hang out when I was working in KL.

Not much changes except more shops and less crowd....dinner was at an Indian restaurant and a quick one as I was tired and I have an early meeting at 8.30am the next day. We talked and laughed at the memories of my stint in KL and how my ex-company and colleagues are now.

The following day was the most tiring day I ever had...I had scores of meeting from 8.30am right till 4.30pm at different location and over 10 appointments....what to do? work lo....

We left at 4.45pm sharp to escape the jam because it had started to pour...Faizah managed to drop me back at the hotel within 30 minutes after leaving Cyberjaya. Feeling physically tired, I had wanted to head to the gym but....gave up the idea.

Then I decided to go Mid Valley instead but looking at the jam....
I decided to take the Kommuter and be sardined with everyone that took me only 10 minutes to reach Mid Valley....I could hardly recognised the place because the last time I was here, there was not even The Gardens existed

I didn't shop because there was no sales but headed straight to my all time favorite, Mdm Kwan Restaurant....for my Nasi Bojari...yummm

I had remembered to take picture before my meal arrived but as it arrived, I whacked my Nasi Bojari so fast and only to remember to snap a picture after I was done with it....burrppp

A quick walk around...and I noticed...people were just eager to have Christmas decorations up and it was only early November...!

Even Metrojaya has been fully decorated with Christmas deco.

I finished the whole Mid Valley in one hour and hopped to The Gardens next door....impressive and with fountain...oh how I love to watch fountains !

The interior looks like one gigantic garden !

By then, I decided to call it the day and headed back to my hotel, only to be ripped off by my cab driver for RM20 with no aircond back to Sentral...a short distance with no meter and receipt...as it was raining and jam, I gave in to be cheated just to get back to my hotel...

The following day was better since it was a Friday !....With no meetings set in the morning, I went for surprise site inspection at Pullman Putrajaya and Putrajaya Shangri-la.

The only Pullman that I know is decorated with cultural motives. Unlike the Pullman I stayed in Bangkok last month, its identity of Zen Outlook cannot be seen reflected at this hotel....

Well, it was an unsuccessful attempt to view the rooms since it was full house....so Faizah and I decided to go for lunch at Shangri-la Putrajaya....though a bit shocked to find this hotel has been badly maintained at the exterior compared what I seen 6 years ago...the interior is still well kept and maintained.

Had to take a picture at the exterior here to proof to Nancy that I took the trouble to visit her hotel as promised.

The weather was just perfect with overcast all the way...lunch was relaxing until on our way back to our car at the roadside whereby I stumbled upon a cobra....I cannot tell you how much of a shock and jump I had !

Can't blame the hotel since its a forest all around...

Work was much better on Friday since everyone was looking forward to the weekend. As it was jammed, Faizah decided to drop me at Ikea instead of going back to town....I had promised myself to only look see....but in the end...these were what I bought...if I had my way...I would have bought more !

Not even worrying how I was going to carry home because I arrived with only hand carried ! So I had the idea of obtaining a box to pack and checked in...this is how I always get myself into "trouble". I just cannot resists a good buy !

The following day, Kenneth, if you remembered him from my earlier posting, we had met in Frankfurt in May, Bangkok last month and KL this month again.....knowing that I could not carry anymore goods in my luggage, we decided to head to KLCC for brunch....and of course...Madam Kwan Restaurant again.

I had my Nasi Bojari and Mushroom soup....

And a walk around KLCC...to just window shopping and admire the water fountain....

When I suddenly spotted a too good to resists winter jacket at Zara......it was just perfect and nice that I cannot seems to depart from it after trying it on....ah...what the heck, its only a jacket and I was sure I could carry it on board....its Zara you know and Penang does not even have it...I had the support of Melissa to get it when I called her for opinion

So, that's it...a mixture of fun, laughter and dreadful memories on my KL trip last week....

Happy "Birthday" Ah Mah

Today marks the birthday celebration of Ah Mah. Chinese 16th day of the 9th Moon. In Chinese custom, though the person has departed, it is continued to be celebrated as if the person was alive and at the request of Ah Mah, she wanted us to celebrate her birthday for 3 years after her death and we are free not to observe other festivals. Something which we could never understand because other festival like Death Anniversary, Cheng Beng, 7th Month, Tang Chek and Year End Prayers are far more important but Ah Mah instead place great importance on her birthday celebration.

So today, I took leave to offer prayers as it also clashed with All Souls Day which I was supposed to place flowers at mum's grave, I decided to come here instead as we have observed all the customs of Chinese Cheng Beng for mum and I would be making a trip there this 17th Nov for her own birthday observation.

Arriving early with loads of food, I gave the place a good wipe and clean before the gang arrived.

Up keeping of this place is extremely terrible and within minutes, set up was done...

I went over earlier to Ah Mah's place to pluck these papayas she planted and never had the chance to eat them.

As usual, offerings of Mi Koo, Lam Mee and Mi Snua are a must as all these are birthday symbolic items except we will not offer the traditional Peach Buns as it never to be used for offerings for departed for it symbolises wishing the person is dead forever.

Since it was only me and my aunty as usual, we had everything ordered in miniature form as no one would be able to finish eating all the prayed items.

I also brought some flowers left over from last night's Loy Krathong decoration.

After praying, we waited and puak-poey to see whether Ah Mah has arrived. Eventually, she has not as she wanted to wait for her younger brother and sister-in-law to arrive. I then informed her that they will come but later as we want to leave early as I have my dentist appointment, gym and need to log in for work to check mails.

It was only after some negotiations, she accepted....typical Ah Mah

As the clocked ticked away close to 11am, again we puak-poey whether she has eaten her meal and twice she said no. We all knew she wanted to wait and see her younger brother and sister-in-law and as usual, Malaysian time can drag to an hour's late and by the time Ah Mah's sister-in-law came, we had finished and started packing.

I cannot tell you how much negotiations were made with Ah Mah as she insisted on waiting when the candles were finishing and jossticks had to be replaced. We then took it as a conversation and joke how stubborn typical Ah Mah was when she was alive and yeap...this is my Ah Mah we are praying too and we it does bring us all together each time we congregate for prayers in remembrance of her....its over 6 months since she left and not a day I never thought of her and her home now is so empty and lifeless....life just have to move on.

Loy Krathong 2009

It rained....for the first time since I participated in Loy Krathong the past decade...usually it will only rain after we set sail at the beach but this year, it rained before procession started and everybody was running for shelter....

As I promised last year, I will be more environmental friendly this year and my krathong this year was 70% natural and a little bit 30% plastics...no choice...

Before you see my creation for this year, take a look at what I did for last year....

As you can see, it was 100% plastics all the way...


We had Anne joining the fun last year but because it was already raining before the event started, many friends did not turn up...

Anyway, unlike plastic Krathong, natural sourced Krathong cannot be made earlier but only a few hours before the start of event...! Like this below...

I used paper, banana leaves and fresh flowers...I had only started to paste the paper last night and the leaves and flowers this afternoon.

It took a lot of patience to design the border and fold and paste the banana leaves....

After two hours sitting down and pasting...tadaaa...completed...finally !

My original design was to build a temple shaped like but gave up the idea after realising how difficult it was to cut the arch and paste them. So, I kept to my usual Lotus Shape like with a bud coming out like flame.

As I am never good at art work, I tried best to paint it.....and complimented it with handiwork's.

The pattels are made of Post-It papers instead of ribbons which could disolve in water....I happened to find these bright color Post-It and they made beautiful pattels...

We left around 7pm to have dinner and headed straight to Sleeping Buddha Temple....

As usual, it will always be the crowd puller hahahhaha.....

Upon arriving, I poured water and oil into the container to light up as offerings.

Ah...what a beautiful sight...

We were joined by our friends from Shanghai who never witness before what is Loy Krathong...and he was curious why does Malaysian pray in the night. I explained to him this is the only exception as Chinese hardly go temple past evening except for special occasions like Loy Krathong. It is actually a Thanksgiving to the Sea Goddess Thai people observe but over time, the locals out numbered the Thai people to join in prayers and lau-juak.

They didn't stay long as it was warm and his girlfriend was starting to sweat. The place was packed and noisy with concert going on.

Some pictures around the temple...

This is Preem, my Thai Language teacher...

After a short wait, prayers started and just when it ended....kaboom, boom....thunderstorm had started and people were all running for shelter...not knowing what time the rain would stop, we decided to leave first and drove to Gurney Drive to set sail as it was getting close to 10pm already.

We kept one light all the way from the temple and blew off the other 5 until we reach Gurney Drive beach. As it continued to pour heavily, we had to light the lamps and jossticks in the car

What was more scarier, the sea water was getting choppier and strong current, this is something I am most afraid off especially in the night.

A quick prayer of Thanksgiving and personal prayers before offering to the Sea Goddess...

It was a good indication this year that the sea accepted my Krathong almost immediately and did not flow back. It is my personal believe that one's krathong if driven back to shore signify that the Sea Goddess does not accept your Krathong and it must be floated into the sea and that was what happened this year...Good sign.

Without much push, it drifted quickly into the sea and each wave that came, carried it further to the Indian Ocean....unlike last year, it went to deep sea and came back. I had in my mind then that it was not a good sign as I prayed that time for mum's recovery.

As we watched our Krathong went into deep sea, the rain stopped and the wind and wave carried my Krathong further to the sea. All the 6 lamps except one, brightly lighted into the sea.

It's a sign of good things to come.....

Happy All Souls' Day

Here we are again...another time of the year again to pay respect to our departed loved ones...today 2nd Nov 2009 is the actual day for "Ang Moh Cheng Beng" Christian Cheng Beng but most of us took the opportunity to visit our departed relatives over the weekend and the weather was perfect with overcast.

As usual, I went with Betty, my classmate's abused and thrown out mother whom he has not been in touch with her since chasing her out of her house 2 years ago. So, I took pity on her yearly and would bring her to visit. It too depressing to write about it here and I shall not comment further. I was already not in the good mood as I just lost RM200 earlier due to my carelessness in kissing someone's arse.

Anyway, its over now and let's enjoy the Cheng Beng here....

As you can see, its very convenient with stalls lined up along the streets and one does not have to bring much except flowers and candles. Unlike the real Chinese Cheng Beng, one has to bring loads of foods, paper offerings etc.

Our first visit is always to Ah Kong at the columbarium. Still in good condition and I came to offer prayers for his RIP and informed him that Ah Mah has also past on and may they both rejoice in the other world...

We didn't stay too long as it was going to rain and we had 6 more graves to visit.

Simple offerings of flowers and candles....

Betty's husband grave is located at the far end of the cemetery and I always enjoyed walking through the serene and peaceful cemetery. Unlike the Chinese graves that gives you the creeps, Christian cemetery always looks beautiful and peaceful.

It is always well kept and clean....

One thing you will notice is, due to lack of space, single tombs now are shared within a family and can easily house 6-8 persons. I was told that one can actually bury another person on top of the first one after a period of 7 years....some opt for burying their niche....

Some of the Chinese tomb stone design caught my eyes...

Within an hour, we finished our tasked and off we went home and the rain has started to pour...just perfect...

HAPPY ALL SOULS DAY and tomorrow, we will be celebrating Ah Mah's "Birthday" which I will explain more in depth tomorrow.

A must visit in Bangkok

Another must visit place in Bangkok is the Jatujak Weekend market. You cannot say you visited Bangkok if you miss this place and the renowned Erawan Shrine.

So, as a regular patron to Bangkok, I was tasked to bring the group 4 to Jatujak Market. Having to bring myself out of bed at 7am without a choice. Jatujak Market is a place you cannot visit past noon as the sun and heat will kill you.

As you can see, the sun rises early in Bangkok and its only 7am here and its super bright.

This time, I came prepared. With a singlet and lots of cash....

While my friends refused to heed my advice to wear shorts and slippers....

Our day started with a short walk to Asok Station near our hotel....

A quick shot of the surroundings for my readers to see.

Within minutes, announcement was made "Sathani Tho Pai Mo Chit" yippee...here we are...and we are READY...bring it on...

We started off as a group only to be spilt going our own ways....I was at the market until 1pm since the weather was not that hot and dusty...by the time I was done...this was how my over load luggage looked like.

Filled with clothes for CNY....

Herbs and spices for cooking...hidden and stored at my laptop bag...

Packets of Instant noodles, powder and biscuits that dad likes and plates for Pauline....because she is my neighbour and a good friend, I took the trouble to search for her the plates she wanted...only to realise I bought the wrong size again this trip ! The weight of the plates were easily 5 kilos !

Oh boy...I am going to be in trouble...look at the load....

By then, I collapsed into bed after a hot shower until dinner time.....it was worth the visit...!

Floating Market Revisited

Since we all decided to stay over the weekend in Bangkok, I agreed to bring Tim and his wife around by revisiting the floating market. Enduring the 2 hours horrific car ride and having to wake up at 5am for our van, we finally reached our destination.

Not much changes after 5 years...except the place became even more commercialised and it was super hot ! My last visit was in December 2004 during the great tsunami that hit Thailand. I remembered my friends and I were enjoying our ride without knowing what major disaster has hit Asia until we went back to our hotel.

Not going to post much pictures here as it would be repetition with my last trip.

My last visit, you could actually see locals doing their marketing in the morning but now, its more for tourist.

A quick pic on the boat.

After being in the sun for two hours and following the group itinerary to watch elephant show, handicrafts and snake show....we all set back to our hotel to change and head straight to MBK where its fully aircond and shopping time !

I cannot describe the amount of things we bought and by the time we were done, I was damn tired and decided to treat myself to some pampering. Having my first manicure....ah what a life...massage and nail treatment as you rest at the chair which I immediately dozed off until I was awaken when it was done.

It was worth it. For only RM20, you get your nails polished, cleaned and cut.

By then, it was dinner time and we had a local friend who picked us up at the hotel for dinner beside the Chao Praya River.....what a life..everything is being planned for you and you just eat, shop and sleep

Bangkok Chronicles - Part 3

I am not going to write further entries about the conference I attended and this shall be the last one before I write something else more interesting than work, work, work here.

As I mentioned before, the convention was held at Bangkok Convention Centre and the place was huge with impressive interior and conference facilities ! Look at the corridor itself ! Nice eh?

Guess where the opening was held? In a 1000 seater cinema ! I have never seen a cinema that is so huge and this is it !

After the opening gambit, it was the end of Day 1 and Kenneth treated me to coffee at Starbucks since he made me accompany him to search for cufflinks which he left behind in KL and none of his shirts he brought was without cufflinks wear....he had silly ideas of trying to modify his shirts and wear them the next day and I talked him out by not making us Malaysian contingents an embarrassment at such event !

We walked back to the hall to look see when I chanced upon Daniel who is the President of TTG. What was supposed to be an exclusive shot with him, ended up having the bunch of ladies (that came from Malaysia) making their way into the pics...typical Asians!

Well...that's all the update on my first IT&CMA event....look forward to next year where I may be one of the speaker itself. I was nominated to be one since I was the most vocal one giving my thoughts to the organiser !