Haanism

Car Broke Down | Sg Lembing Trip People | Rainbow Waterfall | Millennium Coffee Shop | Muck Around 1 | Dinner | Panorama Hill | Muck Around 2 | Muck Around 3

Note: July is coming!! This is gonna be a very busy month for me. I've even informed my boss about my schedule, coz "last minute tasks" are too common and often. I wish to do a lot of things (fulfill my dreams) whilst not neglecting my job. I felt funny when he told me, "Will not call you tonight, no worry!"

Mentioned before that I spent the just-over weekend at Sg Lembing. We also gained another new experience this time, which was to have our car broken down on the highway when we were heading back to KL.

Prior to that, someone asked about the Emergency Phone available along the highway. None of us used it before, hence the question could not be answered appropriately.

Neng noticed that the temperature of the car was approaching maximum. She stopped the car. I experienced the same before, but I didn't notice the increased temperature, till my car could not go any further and I smelled something burning. I'm indeed a lousy driver.

Without having the chance to use the emergency phone, the patrol team had noticed us.


Facing such a problem, I knew Neng must be feeling bad, coz we were talking about getting home early then take long hours sleep. We had been too hectic and tired for the past 2 days.

Therefore, I told her, need not to worry. There were 9 of us in total and for sure would face everything together. By the way, I snapped some photos, talked some nonsense to make others feel relaxed a bit. (though I didn't know if I was successful in doing this)


Not long after the arrival of the highway patrol team, another Chinese uncle arrived. The patrol team could not help in any way, till the car is "certified" to be problematic (this is their policy). The Chinese uncle claimed that the "casket" (hope the spelling is right) was broken.

However, the patrol team said they had only 1 "towing truck" (again, hope the term is right). If we were to wait for their free service, it's not known how long we had gotta wait. The Chinese uncle then offered the service for RM30, and we agreed.


While waiting, I said, no matter how much we study, how great are us (one is lawyer, one is working in the satellite industry, many deals with financial-related stuff etc), when the car broke down, we could do nothing, except asking help from the expert in that area.

The mechanic/foreman was okay. He did not charge us unreasonably due to emergency or coz we are not locals. He didn't change anything but provided us with temporary solutions (that could allow us to reach home, but would need further service afterwards).

Apart from telling Neng not to feel guilty, this incident allowed me to discover and feel how caring and considerate are my hometown friends. Compared to them, I'm really nothing although people used to say I'm meticulous.

Things happen for a reason, and I believe, it's the same this time.


P/S: Read Neng's write-up here in Chinese.

Note: Went to Sg Lembing over the weekend. No new post was written but I've got new photographs and experiences. We've had almost 3 hectic days and now my body is like in bits and pieces. However it was a nice trip with great people. Will share the fun soon.

Going to Phayao | Phayao Food | Wat Analayo | Other Wats in Phayao | The Beautiful Phayao Lake

I didn't actually eat much at Phayao. I was there only for a day.

• First night's dinner - skipped (ate chocolate biscuites on the bus to Phayao)
• Next day's breakfast - skipped (due to strong urge to visit Wat Analayo first)
• Next day's lunch - Khow Soi (after long walk and search)
• Next day's dinner - potato chips
• Another day's breakfast - skipped (continued eating my chocolate biscuites when waiting for the bus going back to Chiang Mai)

The Phayao girl, Aof, told me that there is very nice Khow Soi in Phayao. Also, the Phayao map I got online states that there are a few "tasty curry stalls". Therefore, after few days of the same noddle soup, I wished to eat curry noodle again!

It took me quite some time to refer to map, get lost, get confused, ask people, and try again. I was very determined to find one. Finally, someone told me the shop's name with nice Khow Soi - it's call "Sang Pian". It's much easier to find by mentioning the name to the locals.

I eventually reached the place by having a girl sending me there by motorcycle. I feel very amazed with myself coz I always do a lot of silly things during my trips. However I enjoyed and appreciated these special experiences.


After the lunch, again I walked along the Phayao Lake. It was a peaceful site, so I strolled very slowly.

I saw people eating our so-called ABC (Ais Batu Campur). I was very tempted to try the Thai version. So I went over to order.

I've three friends having their birthdays on 18 June.

Among three, one person can be ignored. For Danny, I sent him early regards a day earlier via messenger. The night of the day should surely be reserved for Bob (call her so coz she likes Bob Dog).

Last year, Feng and I celebrated with Bob at Bumbu Bali Puchong. Banana was on her backpacking trip in China.

This year, Banana and I celebrated with Bob. Feng is working holiday in New Zealand.

Where to go for dinner? This has always been a challenging question...

I left the decision to both of them, and finally, Pasta Zanmai at One Utama was selected.

Western or Japanese food? No worries, Pasta Zanmai can get you away from the hard decision!

Nice menu.

Address: G210B, Ground Floor Promenade, 1 Utama Shopping Centre, 1 Lebuh Bandar Utama, Bandar Utama Damansara, 47800 PJ, Selangor.

Tel: +603 7728 1210
Mobile: +6012 507 1210

Business Hours
Sun - Thu: 10.00am - 10.00pm
Fri - Sat: 10.00am - 10.30pm

The cosy environment.

Okay, I'm not a food blogger, and I'm not born with this potential. Same as usual, they would consider what I should not eat, but the birthday girl's preference was still prioritized :)

Her taste bud is very different from me. She's a non-vege believer! Never ever change after so many years...

We ordered 3 meals and 2 desserts.

First of all, some hot green tea was necessary... coz we talked a lot..

Then, the first meal was served.

Hehe, this is an image taken from the menu.

This is the real eatable meal, Grilled Chicken and Hot Spring Egg Pizza, which costs RM20.

To clarify, we had done something to the egg... it actually came in a very nice shape. Next, my specially-ordered Salmon Pizza arrived...

Looks attractive, right? Again, this is just the menu ^^

Both the pizzas taste nice. This Salmon Pizza is RM25.

There was one thing that once we saw, we immediately felt want to order... it's the Squid and Squid-Ink Pasta.

Was curious how would the black noodles taste?

The real meal is very different from the menu, in terms of the plate used, the vege, the color of the squid etc. The fried garlic smelled nice!

The pasta itself costs RM18. If you order the set (comes with miso soup and salad), it costs RM22. We ordered the latter.

We added the brought-along Mills Mayonnaise to make the salad taste better! Actually that was not planned but Bob brought it for me when we met at her place (coz she doesn't eat and I'm a bread person).

It's then time for desserts!!!!!!

Tiramisu was the candidate Number One...

All of us agreed with each other that this Tiramisu is not up to standard. Tiramisu is not like this!!!! Still, it costs RM10.

Candidate Number Two was the "Green Tea Ice Cream with Green Tea Jelly and Red Bean". This name is bloooooooooody looooooooooong...

Better than Tiramisu, but I still found it a bit too sweet. This is RM15.

This was another good eating experience. Suddenly I felt tempted to go to the Coconut House near Pudu again, for the Tiramisu and Italian pizza there.

Next time... next time... not sure when, and not sure would be with who.

P/S: By the way, Banana will be leaving for NZ for Working Holiday too, on 25 June 2008. She'll be meeting Feng then. I don't know when the group of the Truly Treasured will be altogether again.


Related Reading: Fusing pasta with Japanese cuisine from NST

When sharing the publication news last time, people asked me what's the reward?


I've got a few friends who flew Air Asia in April accidentally saw my face from the magazine. Then they either sent me email, called me, told me via messenger or left me comment on my blog.

These people include Esther, Tow Kee, Kei Seng, Siew Peng... as well as some hometown folks whom I don't know (they checked the name, found it similar to my brother's, then told my dad about it).


The person-in-charge, Ms Ng used to tell me, they were considering to reward me with a small gift. Months have passed. I've even forgotten about it, or when I recalled, I asked myself not to have high hope.

Today, my colleague passed me a registered mail from Air Asia. Immediately I could reckon what's in the envelope. However, I just didn't expect they would give me another copy of the magazine. I've got one!


So... here you go... two RM50 vouchers of Air Asia!!

What can I use it for? Maybe to buy a ticket to somewhere? It cannot be used to buy nasi lemak on the flight!!


Feel like I'm having a lot of chances to get vouchers this year (haiz, all are not spendable cash). And so far, I gave away all to others. This time, these two vouchers are valid till the end of year. One bad thing about it is the transaction needs to take place at their counter, which means KL Central or LCCT.

I also don't know whether I'll use them. If I were to giveaway, would spread the news here.

Any other idea how to utilize it well?

Going to Phayao | Phayao Food | Wat Analayo | Other Wats in Phayao | The Beautiful Phayao Lake

After Wat Analayo, I decided to visit 2 more Wat (temples). Although there were more, but 3 temple visits in a day were more than enough for me.

Though not included in the previously bargained price, the driver was okay to send me to these places, wait for me, till the last destination (back to the bus station). More importantly, he did not charge me any cent more than the agreed 350B.

(1) Wat Sri Khom Kham


(2) Wat Phra That Chom Thong

This morning, when I checked mails, I was kinda surprised to see a mail from a friend.

I used to sit with this friend for at least 1 year in the past, and when we sat together, we didn't chat much. However, nowadays we do chat via messenger quite often. He's the kind whom I don't even have his mobile phone number in my directory.

Yesterday, he prompted me via messenger but I said I was not free to talk.

In his email today, he wrote:

Hey, do u know how to prepare the 'syrup' for 'dou fu fa'? Is it just boil the sugar with water..

Hahaha.. I was laughing in heart when seeing this. If not mistaken, this is the first ever email he wrote to me personally, and this is the question he asked!

He's overseas now for work. Has been there for months. I was aware when he was in the airport, as well as when he just arrived at his temporary accommodation. Thanks to the technology.

Few weeks ago, he told me about him and his female colleague, who is also overseas and aroused his interests. According to him, he has not got such feeling for long after he broke off with his ex. Again, I was told a lot of stories (don't know why, I have many of such opportunities and experiences), this and that... and I kept teasing him for being "so drunk"...

One of their means of communications is via cooking (the girl taught the guy). So, when I read that mail, I know it must be related to the girl again :)

While writing this post, 2 more mails came from him:

Nolar...Cook tong sui for myself lar...
Is the ‘bing tang’ good? How much hav to put?

Haha, she don’t like to eat too sweet o salty food...
Sometimes she cooked food n tong sui for me then I cook for her tong sui... ok lar...

Haiz, guys... I remember in the past, one who couldn't type Chinese tried so hard, spent so much time, just to reply my SMS in Chinese (yes, I'm very bad and do give a lot of challenges)... till he finally could master the skill fairly well and amazed his friends with his ability to reply fast in Chinese...

When they go after you, they could do a lot of unbelievable things... but once you have become theirs... deng deng deng deng... everything is very different then!

P/S: Therefore, I appreciate those who treat me very well without having any "special motive".