not HARD yet: March 2010

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

WEEKEND ACTIVITIES 27-28 MARCH 2010

SATURDAY - 27 MARCH 2010

It was a busy weekend for me. My house was chosen by my close friends to hang out on Saturday night which means preparation need to be done earlier than that. It was my intention to go back to my hometown in Muar whereas Ednel also wanted to give his long awaited souvenirs (from his trip to Australia last year) to his ex colleagues in Tangkak, so we decided to go back on that same day.

It was 10.30am when we started the journey to Muar, Ed drove my car and we reached my house near 12.00pm. My mum had cooked my favourite dish for lunch i.e Sambal Tumis Udang, Ikan Cencaru masak sambal serai, masak lemak kacang and ikan selar goreng.....nothing taste better than mum's..seriously hehe

Next we went to Tangkak to meet Ed's colleagues, two lovely girls who are still teaching in Ed's ex-college. From Tangkak we went to Muar, stopping by at Giant Shopping Mall to buy an induction cooker and groceries. We then went to one of the best selling mee bandung in Muar. It was one of the food I promised my friends for tonite get together. While waiting for the food, Ed and I ate its famous sate. I agreed with Ed that all of its food here are delicious not only for its mee bandung but also for its soto and its nasi goreng berempah...also one of my favourite food there.

The experience chef of mee bandung muar. He has been in this business for years and his family for many generations..

Inside the shop..eating sate while waiting for the mee bandung..

Packets of mee bandung ready to be brought back to KL

Across the bridge, we went to another famous eating place i.e. Murtabak Singapore. I bought 4 big pieces with RM10.00 per piece to bring home but not without taking a queue first...

The famous Murtabak Singapore shop across the bridge..

The inside of the shop...

By 6.00pm. we headed back to KL, reaching home near 8.00pm. By 8.30pm, our friends i.e Is, Safuan, Panzer, Wan, Leo, Amri and later, Sharul and Memey came to my house.. Is brought chicken drummets with chili paste, Leo- curry puff, Amri - ice creams, Safuan - Krispy Kreme, Wan - fruits, Panzer- drinks and Sharul with ice cubes.. We played the game of TABOO for a few rounds and afterward watched CLASH OF THE TITANS, the original version... By 1.30am, Wan, Is and Safuan left my house and the rest near 4.00am.

Getting ready to play TABOO

Ednel, Memey, Sharul & Panzer...

Safuan, Leo (the funny face) and Is

Luckily the pic is blurred...my kitchen was in the mess...

SUNDAY - 28 MARCH 2010

Not so early in the morning, Ednel and I did the clean up from last nite activities. Later, we went to Pavillion to watch the movie we intended to watch last week i.e. How To Train Your Dragon. The only available time for 3D was at 4.30pm and after buying the tickets we went to Tony Roma for lunch. Later we went to a Nike shop where Ed bought a pouch to replace the one he is using now.. at Parkson, I intended to buy trouser for office wear but I was disappointed that most shops do not have size 42" which kinda weird because this does not happened to me if I shop at SOGO. In the end, its only Ed who bought a Charles Jourdan dark purple shirt.

Having snack at Glitters before entering the cinema...

What is my review on How To Train Your Dragon? a marvelous story, the best animation movie so far for me this year.. except for the weird Scottish accent, the rest of the movie is magical. The story line, the beautiful animation (more vividly in 3D), the message, (bash first and ask question later) all in all creates a feel good feeling long after the show was over. Bear in mind, though its an animation, the consequence of heroism and price to pay for proving the truth can be dire and real, making this movie a special one.. My all time favourite animation movies so far are, The Little Mermaid, Beauty And The Beast and the best of all is off course, Lion King. With HTTYD, I don't mind watching this movie again..

I love this movie.. some critic compare this movie to ET.. No can do, ET is my greatest movie of all time, period

Indeed it was a tiring weekend...but still an enjoyable one...

Monday, March 22, 2010

MATTA FAIR, 2 MOVIES & A THEATER

MATTA FAIR - 13 MARCH 2010

It was well known that Matta Fair ended more than a week ago. Like many thousands other people, I was there too. Unlike others whom might be dutifully come every year, this was my first time and I was full with anticipation to consider buying reasonable vacation package here. Little that I know that not much were being offered other than local tourism and other asian countries. Ednel and I went to PWTC via LRT from my house and I must say this was a good plan considering madness congestion near PWTC and its nearby areas. Before going there, we had our lunch first in The Mall. We then queued to buy or entrance tickets before entering into the hall.

RM3.00 to enter into the hall. (courtesy of Ed's hand)

Inside the chaotic hall, there were so many booths offering discounted tours prices but most of them were for either Asian countries or locals tours.. You can guess where was the most places being promoted. Bali, off course....whereas local tours were mostly for either Langkawi, Perhentian & Redang. Before coming here, I did my survey on my desired destination which is Angkor Wat in Cambodia. I had found a few packages from a few tour agencies but either the date was not suitable (during fasting month) or can be more expensive if we requested for halal food. Walking from booth to booth we saw this big booth with pictures of Singapore in it. I have not been to Singapore in years so I was surprised with the package this company was offering. After much discussion with Ednel, we decided to buy this package.

From Berjaya Times Square to Port Klang by bus to board Starship Virgo. One night on the cruise ship (we upgraded the room to ocean view). Depart from Port Klang to Sentosa Island, Singapore for a one night stay. Two complimentary rides. Depart to Kuala Lumpur via bus.

The fare together with insurance cost us RM916.00 nett per person. We paid RM500 first and full payment within a week. We booked our journey on the 29 May 2010.

Afterward, we went to the Sabah Tourism Board's booth. We decided to take the offer of an open ground package below.

4D3N - 3 nights at City Hotel (Best Western), Kinabalu Park + Poring Hot Spring, and Sapi Island. Meals (3 Breakfast 2 Lunch) (1 BBQ Lunch), Land & Boat Transfer, life jacket, snorkeling mask & local guide.

The package price is RM599 per person. We only pay a deposit of RM50 per person and we are to contact the agency once we secured the flight ticket and for them to do the arrangement. For this vacation not date has been fixed yet.

In terms of vacation, I think its a good deal for us. I have been wanting to go for a cruise especially on Superstar Virgo for quite some time and I missed the chance to go to Singapore last year, so this package in all have killed two birds in one stone....I am so very much looking forward for the day to come...

2 MOVIES & 1 THEATER- 20 MARCH 2010

Ednel and I went to Berjaya Times Square last Saturday. Our intention was to watch a movie i.e How to Train Your Dragon but the timing was not right for us due to our other engagement that day.

Will see this movie next..

The only available movie at that time was Under The Mountain. Not enough time to eat, we bought 1901 burgers into the cinema. How was the movie?..well you can read the review by Ednel in his blog here. To me, overall, it can be a better movie..the CGI was actually not bad, the story line is ok but the execution was rather sloppy. It was after all a teenage movie and however scary scenes they might to try on you, it will never work... the 'firestarter' effect at the end of the movie was rather lame...even Drew Barrymore as a child in the other movie can scare the shit out of you.....

After the movie, we stopped to eat at Sweet Chat and behind us, the men singles were playing squash for the CIMB KL Open 2010.

I love it's chicken curry and pulut kuning..

Our next movie was Confucious...coincidentally it was screened at the same cinema that we watched the earlier movie.. Confucious is a 2 hours plus movie starred Chow Yun Fat as the chinese phenomenal philosopher. Though I like this movie a lot, I agreed with Ednel when he said, its strained the eyes reading the subtitles for two hours. On the story itself I found that there was one similarities between Hang Tuah and Confucious's character i.e that same principle of loyalty they had to their rulers. History was my favourite subject and ancient culture howsoever cruel or ridiculous it might be can be interesting to watch. Here, it showed that when the King dies, all his beloved one were to die with him (this is similar to the Egypt .kings and hindu rulers as well). Also stated was that the meaning of such thing can be a symbol or the other. In here, a broken jade given by a King was a significant sign for banishment. In his life time, Confucious had traveled from country to country for years suffering not only from hunger but also violence from other people only to inculcate his theories which emphasize harmony and respect to his disciple.

The right choice of actor for the role....

SRI MERSING - ISTANA BUDAYA

For dinner we went to Johnny's Steamboat and later we went to Istana Budaya. I have booked the ticket earlier and the only available seat was on the second tier costing RM80.00 per seat.

Posing before the show

The detail review of the theater can be read again in Ednel's blog here. I love the story line especially if you can still remember the old movie with the late Nordin Ahmad as Damak, the hero. Here, in the show, the movie is somewhat being extended to Damak's son, Merah years after Damak left Mersing and Seri Mersing, played by Mak Nani (the real Seri Mersing in the movie)...kudos to all the actors in this play especially my favourite actress, Azizah Mahzan, even appeared in small scene but her performance was mesmerizing... Dato' Mustapha Maarof bring out the nostalgic feeling also to the play...all in all, it was a good show. However, if would be better if rather than using minus one, they should have live music throughout the show to give it more effective vibes. All in all, I have seen a better theater in IB before, nonetheless Sri Mersing is no doubt one good show to watch.

What a day today, 2 movies, from a teenage movie to a serious chinese history then to a malay sad story...

Friday, March 19, 2010

MY OFFICE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

It has always been a practice in my office to celebrate staff birthdays for every three month once. This time, we also celebrated CNY thus most of us were encouraged to wear red. Well, not most of us did anyway. Since, I was in the list for the month of March's birthdays, here in the pictures of the celebration.

Receiving present from my boss.. they bought it in IKEA..

Representative from each month from January to March

From another angle...nope we are not Thaksin's supporters.. hehe

Looking delicious..

Time to eat...

The next celebration will be in the month of June...

Saturday, March 13, 2010

CAMERON HIGHLANDS - 6 & 7 MAC 2010

The last time I was in Cameron Highlands, it was 7 years ago. The trip here although had been in the list of places to go this year but was never confirm. Coming here was a last minute decision and it was done due to a cancellation of other event scheduled on the 6th itself. Everything was done in a rush, booking a suitable hotel was a hassle but I was determined to go and I successfully secured a booking of a two room apartment at Strawberry Park Resort. Without telling Is about my plan, I went to his house next afternoon and picked him up and Shah, then picked Ednel at his house in Keramat, ....the four of us were off to our destination. We stopped over for lunch at Yik Mun Restaurant again in Tanjung Malim. We reached Strawberry Park Resort by 4.00pm.

The entrance to our apartment..

My room....funny no air-cond or at least a fan like in Genting's hotel..but its get pretty cold early morning..

Is's room, the coldest at night..

The living room, Is and Shah eating the complimentary fruits..

We spent most of the night watching back all the Glee's songs...

The balcony...nice view

After done checking, we started to roam.

First stop, eating the yummy strawberry ice cream nearby...See the different expressions....

The new Amazing Race challenges..eating fresh strawberry with no hands, Is's style ...

We then went to Cactus Valley in Brincang...

The place has grown bigger since the last time I was here..ermm except that gigantic flower cactus..

Ouch... I am stuck...

A new hairdo? funky huh?...

The act of taking pictures...p.s. I just love tomatoes...

Many beautiful places to take pictures

My favourite pic

1,2,3...action...

Another pic..

We then had dinner at Brincang..

Hungry, clean plates...

Entering the craft shop nearby..

Shopping for titbits ..

From Brincang we went to Tanah Rata and was awed with this beautiful sight...

Even tired, a pic is a must....

Next morning, we all had buffet breakfast at the resort priced at RM34.00 nett per person. I used the RM100 voucher given by the resort for this.

The cheerful and ever helpful Kak Yati, I think her name is...

Ermm...no need to explain, huhu...

We found out there is an indoor swimming pool on the lower ground of the cafe and we decided to give it a try...

The water was warm and inviting...

Better still, only us swimming...

Last pic before checking out...love this quite and serene place...

Next stop, we went to Kia Farm at Brincang where we bought lots of cheap vegetables ... assorted vege of 20 packets was only RM10.00. We also bought some strawberries to bring home too, off course. We then went to 2 tea plantations, first the Bharat and then the Boh Tea Plantation.