District 9 vs 798

Saturday 29 August 2009

We were supposed to watch District 9 two night before but due to unfolding events, that didn’t happen. Finally made it at Tropicana City coz the GSC there is newer, wanted to check out the place. Smells nicer anyway.

Maybe it’s just me but I thought the movie wasn’t that great. Don’t get what all the hype is about. Aliens living amongst people? Story line.. errr.. My date fell asleep in the cinema. That says a lot huh? Oh well, see for yourself and let me know what you think bout the movie.

Went over to 798, the wine bar at Tropicana City and I can say I enjoyed that much better. Ambience is nice, place is spacious and doesn’t stink of cigarette smoke cause it’s outdoors and wines are reasonable. House pouring bottles from Chile & Australia go for RM75. Not too bad.

798 at Tropicana City Mall

Awesome Thai Food at Erawan

Friday 28 August 2009

Carolynn called to say she wanted Thai dinner. Been craving that durian glutinous rice ever since I brought her to Erawan to meet Farshie & Marisa, a cosy little Thai place at Dataran Sunway, Kota Damansara. It's on the same row as a chinese rest opp Starbucks. It's a quiet row next to some wedding cake house thing.

The place is run by Anan & Korn, 2 Thai brothers (well, one is half Thai) and the place is personally decorated by them. Food is absolutely awesome! Been there 3 times already. Brought my parents there for the first try and service is really good.

He said we need to make reservations before we come cause his bro is the only cook and he doesn't want to dissapoint his customers with shody cooking and a long wait. Call them at +603 6141 2393. Real nice guy. Very sincere and helpful. Won't hesitate to sit down with you and explain every dish on his menu. His place is highly recommended but go during weekendays coz weekends are always full. There's shopping to be done there too.

Had the Miang Kham for appetizers - Thai spicy snacks, wrapped in bitter leaves. Was really nice & presentation was lovely too. Carolynn showed us how to wrap them. Fancy process.

Trying out the fascinating process of eating Miang Kham

Rest of our mains were all good as well

Prices not too bad either. Was RM152 for the four of us and we ate an appetizer, 3 mains (curry chicken, asparagus & fish cakes) & a dessert (durian glutinous rice which I absolutely detest. It stinks!)

Went to Library at Cineleisure later coz they wanted to check it out. Prices are expensive after happy hours but they have a good band and they do serve a good variety of drinks. Tried a Blackthorn Cider (RM26++ per bottle!) which tasted like fermented apple juice. That's what I get for being adventurous. Stuck to my Hoegaarden in the end.

Studying at The Library

Buka Puasa @ Marche, Curve

Thursday 27 August 2009

One of the perks of being in the media during Ramadhan period is the buka puasa events we get invited to. It’s a form of building media relations for the PR side and for us, well, getting to know the client and of course – food.

Got invited to a Marché Buka Puasa tonight and I asked Yasmin to come along as I didn’t want to go alone. Marché, the Swiss market concept at The Curve, renovated its premises to offer diners a “true-to-life Swiss dining experience”. Oh well, it’s the closest to the Alps as we can get anyway.

The setting is in a unique fairy-tale pine hut typically found in the Swiss mountains. Adding to the romance are interesting pieces of Swiss ceramics of all shapes and sizes, lined up against the shelves. Crests of myriad colours hang from the ceiling, giving it a slight European medieval feel.

Each customer is given a passport where the chefs will chop to state what you’ve taken but since it’s the Ramadhan month, Marche serves buffet at RM45.00++ for adults and RM20.00++ for kids (4ft and below). Special price of RM40.00++ for Marché Card members. So you pay that price and take all you want. Drinks are charged separately though.

There’s quite a big spread – salads, rosti, fresh juices, soup, meats, seafood, pasta, desserts, pastries, ice-cream, etc. Just go up to the counter, pick what you want and the chefs were cook it for you on the spot. You just gotta wait awhile. Food some were good, some were overcooked and some so-so only la. I think there were too many people that’s why. Chefs were under pressure.

Scenes at Marche

Scenes at Marche

To my delight, found out that Sariah & hubby, Yasmin & Khaidi & also Ben were invited too so ada kaki la. Got up to mischief with the cows there hehe.

Clowning around with the cow

Mooooo

Marché is located at Lot G87, Ground Floor, The Curve. Tel: (03) 7727-8461.

Was supposed to go for movies after but the event took a bit longer than expected so we missed the show. Decided to go study at the Library in my Nyonya Kebaya instead. A pint of Hoegaarden gets you half pint till 10pm. Good stuff that. Should really make it for HH where 1 pint gets you another free.

Pups are almost 2 months now

Monday 24 August 2009

Went to see my little grandkids today and boy were they big and active! They're 4 days shy to 2 month now since their coming into this world. They've grown up so fast! Brandy gets a bit annoyed sometimes coz their teeth are razor sharp and it hurts her tits poor girl, but she's still an attentive mummy. They are eating on their own but still like to nurse once in a while. And they love bananas! Go figure.

Duke the basset has taken a liking to them and Cassie, the other female basset, is quite curious with them too (although she's a tad bit rough). Daddy Roccoe couldn't really be bothered with them. Wonder if he even know they are his?

Couldn't even get a proper shot of them as I only had my compact cam. They can't keep still at all! Can't wait to take one back to my parent's place. Shouldn't be long now. Which one should I choose? One is supposedly like Roccoe, bit lansi & aloof. Likes to do his own thing & dominant and independant.

The other's like Brandy. Manja & loves constant attention. Will merajuk or cry if left alone. If it was me, I'll choose the one with Brandy's traits but don't think my parents will have the time to layan him. Don't think they are toilet trained either. Here are a few lousy shots of them. Sorry! Blame the camera person (yours truly).

My grandkids

Pond Overhaul & Happy Birthday Farsha

Sunday 23 August 2009

Today was dedicated to family and tortoises. Had lunch with the folks, went for a swim with birthday girl Farshie and went back to clean my pond. Stopped by the pet shop and found an interesting contraption – an automatic feeder that allows food out up to 6 times a day for up to 28 days. Great for when I’m not around. At least my little pets will not go hungry.

Took a while to figure it out but finally did. It has tiny pins where you can slot for feed time. It runs like a ticking clock. Hehe I know it’s nothing new but was fascinated by the device nonetheless.

My new toy

It’s amazing what life creates when you leave something alone long enough. There’s a whole thriving eco system in my pond! Planted 2 stalks of ginkgo biloba in my filter and it’s a thick green jungle now! It was thriving on all the shit in the filter. Damn healthy and green wei.. I threw all of it away and starting all over again with 2 stalks. See how fast it grows this time.

There was plenty of moss on my water feature as well (old railway slippers) and I found 4 earthworms in there! God only knows how they ended there. Shifted them to my potted plants. Hope they do the earth there good. Sucked out all the shit from the pond (damn there was a whole LOAD of stinky shit). Since I was in cleaning mode, decided to check the fridge and found an onion plant growing there. Potted the thing. Threw out unknown specimens from the fridge too. Phew what a day.

Check out the moss growing on the wood

Was dark by the time I finished. Shot of pond without flash.

Vertical shot with flash

Horizontal shot with flash. Can see tortoise poking her head out? That's my onion plant with the stringy leaves I potted towards the bottom right.

Went over to Rasta after that to celebrate Farsha’s birthday. Su & Byron went to get an ice cream cake from Baskins and Farshie belanjaed us Yellow Cab pizza all the way from Ampang. For those who have never tried Yellow Cab, please try it. It’s one of the best pizzas in town. They deliver in cute yellow Vespa scooters too. Only set back is that their outlets are all the way in Ampang near Ampang Point and there’s one near Heritage Row in KL.

Birthday girl Farsha with her ice cream cake & Yellow Cab pizzas

Dim Sum Galore

Saturday 22 August 2009

I'm always up for a good dim sum breakfast and there's this place near Atria in Damansara Jaya I went with Tanya the last time that served pretty decent shit at ok prices too. Place is called Jin Xuan Hong Kong Dim Sum i think. Non halal ya. It's a 2-shop corner lot located on the same row as GSC office, but it's way at the other end next to Maybank. For the girls, it's near that FJ Benjamin end season shop.

Woke the boys up and gathered them for a nice brunch. Birthday boy didn't make it home haha. You gotta go early else there's a queue to go in. We had to take a number coz there were 9 groups before us waiting for a table too.

Didn't take much photos coz everyone was famished. Here's a few.. Su and Chings joined us later. Bill came up to bout RM160+ so that's RM18 each for 9 of us. Not too bad for good stuff.

Happy B'day Glee!

Friday 22 August 2009

Ponteng kerja today! Well, not really ponteng.. told boss I was tired from my trip and she let me take the day off bless her. It's the last day of the week anyway so won't really get anything done eventhough I go into office. It would be 10 days from the office when I get in Monday...

Chilled out at home, managed to do some work and headed out to Sid's for Happy Hours as Gleeson called personally to invite. Sneaky bugger. It's his birthday the next day and he didn't say a word! He just said jum, Sid's HH?

Sid's was packed full with matsies watching some cricket game. No interest in cricket at all so didn't know what the heck was going on. Left around 7.30pm to have dinner with Carolynn and Su just down the road at Restaurant OK. Chings, Tyng & Farsh couldn't make it otherwise it would be a nice girly gathering. Continued back at Sid's after that.

Scene at Sid's. Quite a lot of people came down.

Birthday boy got sloshed after a while and dissapeared for a bit to puke some radioactive liquid which glowed blue on Deep's camera. Wonder what in the world he drank. He sobered up after that and came back just in time for us to sing him Happy Birthday at the stroke of midnight with cupcakes courtesy of RV & Hema.

Birthday boy getting happy with his Glenfiddich


Happy Birthday Wildcard

Continued the party at Deep's after Sid's chased us out. I was the first to go back and it was 4am! Damn I'm getting old.

Alfa’s New MiTo

Thursday 20 August 2009

Touched down at 3pm, went home and got ready for Alfa Romeo’s new MiTo 1.4T launch at Plaza TTDI at 6pm. What a rush.

Car’s not too bad. Seems like a chick car to me but it has quite a powerful engine I was told. Has the standard Alfa grill look but didn’t quite take to the lights. Too round and too much chrome. Bit frog like too but judge for yourself. Something’s wrong with my compact cam so forgive the dodgy picture quality.

Side view

Nice rounded butt

I’m flying home!

Thursday 20 August 2009

Wake up call was at 4.30am today! Urgh! Was quite stone when we went down as we had to be at the airport by 6.30am. Flight’s at 8.30am. Thank god we arrived early as it took us a n hour to get checked in cause they were doing it manually – checking the passport against the manifesto list. Their computer system was not up yet as the flights just commenced. Damn slow wei…

Customs and immigration pun lambat. By the time we cleared everything, it was way past our boarding time. Couldn’t even change my remaining rupees. Security was tight – had to take off shoes & watch too but somehow they missed my 500ml water bottle in my bag. Hmm…
Ahh the hazy air of KL back again. Despite the haze, there’s nothing better than home.

Ayurvedic & Dirty Colombo

Wednesday 19 August 2009

Ayurvedic is such a big thing in India and Sri Lanka that they have Ayurvedic Hospitals where people check in for a couple of days to get wholesome healing. Patients usually come for arthritis, after chemo, joint pains and all sorts of other stuff. In Malaysia, we only have the spas.

They couldn’t give us all complimentary treatments so we paid for it ourselves. RM50 is quite a steal for an hour massage so we didn’t mind. The massage is quite similar to the normal aromatherapy ones except that they use a heck a lot of ayurvedic oil all over you and oh, we had to consult a doctor before the therapy so that he can suggest what kind of oil or therapy is suitable. The therapist is quite unlike in Malaysia where they are very particular about covering your modesty. Here, its everything off and they just throw a bathrobe over you which doesn’t really cover much, if you know what I mean :P

Doc said that I’m a fire and flame person – my body’s very heaty and thus need a lot of water to cool me down. I now officially have the bragging rights to say I was born hot! Ha!

Ayurvedic Hospital & Spa

We went to the local markets after that which was not what I expected it to be. I thought it was like our Petaling Street or Thailand’s markets but it was mainly for the locals to buy their clothes, shoes and electronic parts. So noisy and dusty! Feet were black when I came back. Didn’t buy much but stopped by a local shop to try their tea. So far so good, no diarrhea or anything. Deep bought more local arrack and ta paued some street food too. Saw a Kelisa there too! Perodua sells Viva here as well.

Colombo markets
Street food

Local arrack shop

Sri Lankan Kelisa!!

Whacked the other bottle of sparking white, Blue Nun (this time without the 22 carat gold flakes), before dinner at Curry Leaf, another restaurant within Hilton’s grounds. Hilton has 10 F&B outlets! This place had a very nice ambience by the pond and they had seafood! Finally tasted the Sri Lankan crabs & damn huge lobsters. Oh, and there was plenty of white wine too.

Huge lobster

A bunch of us decided to take a walk down to the beach where Mazlan said there were some stalls there. The esplanade is major security zone as the parliament was within the vicinity and there were soldiers with AK47s all over the place. We were not allowed to stop or take photographs at all but Deep managed to convince one soldier for a photo. Was so scared that we were gonna get arrested or shot or something. Some soldiers were friendly, some were just grumpy.

Didn’t make it to the stalls as malas walk already. Patah balik to the Hotel for a so called early night as wake up call was at 4.30am. What a bummer but good night in all.

AirAsia Launches KL – Colombo

Tuesday 18 August 2009

Today’s the day we finally get down to business and officially celebrate AirAsia’s daily direct flights from Kuala Lumpur to Colombo. Tony arrived earlier for interviews with the Media which we kindly obliged. Tony’s his charming, articulate self as usual. Always a pleasure to talk to the man. Asked him why he was bold in having daily flights instead of the normal 3x a week flights they usually do for new markets and he replied, “Well, if you can’t make a direct flight work, my as well not have a flight to that destination at all.” Way to go Tony. That’s the Malaysian spirit. Ok ok I’m a fan of the man. Moving along..

They opened with some Malaysian cultural dance and had a dynamic Sri Lankan drum performance later. Our Malaysian cultural troupe paled in comparison. Sigh.. Oh, wrote my first news piece and sent it in. Hope they use it!

Sri Lankan drummers

It was time for shopping so Dana brought us to Odel, a departmental store in Colombo. They don’t have many shopping malls, only 2 small ones so departmental stores are the next best thing. Building was interesting. An old converted colonial mansion. Shopping wise? Nothing that great. Malaysia’s much better for shopping. Prices aren’t that cheap either. Bought loads of tea & elephant dung paper and Sri Lanka souvenirs like t-shirts & fridge magnets of course.

Sri Lanka's leading departmental store

Air Asia brought us for dinner at another place tonight. Thank god, no more Indonesian food. It’s a lovely place at this old British mansion which they converted into Mount Lavinia Hotel. Really really lovely place. The guards were dressed in those olden days uniform as well, complete with the white hard hat & white shorts.

Diner area was called The Cove, a beautiful thatch hut built on the beach. It’s a market system, where you choose your seafood per gram and they cook it for you. Panduka, AirAsia Colombo staff, arrived and sorted our drinks out straight away. Really efficient. Food was a bit of a disappointment as the food was cold and Sri Lankan crabs were not in season but the great ambience and company made up for it.

Mount Lavinia Hotel
Dinner at The Cove

As we quite tipsy from dinner, Dana suggested we head to the night club in Hotel Galahari, just down the road from our Hilton Hotel. It was Dana, me, Sheila, Ivan & Gareth. Night scene in Colombo is quite the pathetic. There was no one there at all except for us! We were the only ones conquering the dance floor. Had enough of Colombo night life so headed back to our hotel. So much for experiencing night life on a Tuesday night!

Boggying at a Colombo night club

Rafting Rapids

Monday 17 August 2009

Today should be exciting as we headed to Kithulgala for some Grade 3 white water rafting. The place is situated on the west side of Sri Lanka’s hill country, 3 hours away from Colombo. There’s a cosy place called The Rafter’s Retreat where rafters can stay the night as well. Nothing much, very basic, but they have this cool treehouse with an old skool underground toilet. Saw some ladies plucking tea on the way too.

Sri Lankan ladies at a tea plantation

Funky treehouse and toilet facilities

Rafting will be on the Kelani River, traversing 7 rapids over 7km. They had funky names for their rapids such as Killer Falls and Head Chopper. Maybe someone lost their head passing through the branches :P

Rapids are not too bad. It’s the rainy season so water level was high, up to 12m. River drops to 2m during dry season. Heck a lot difference eh? They are quite dodgy with safety. Didn’t even see a throw rope in the raft but Deep said that it’s because the rapids are self contained and even if you do fall in, you will just float into calm waters again. We took a dip and floated for a while down the river. Picked up 2 leeches in the process.

Rafting along the Kelani River

Nothing much on the itinerary tonight so we decided to try the local brew tonight. Deep and Dana, our guide, got some Arrack which was distilled coconut liquor. Lepak at Deep’s room with an international crowd – Gareth (Shoulin Tiger from Bandar Sri Damnasara/England), Ben from Perth, Dana from Sri Lanka, Deep & me from Malaysia. Ivan from Indonesia was supposed to join us but he ffk.

Finished 2 local brew and one Sparkling White (Blue Nun) that had 22 carat gold leaves in it. I fucking drank gold flakes man. There’s precious metal in my stomach now. Talk about expensive taste.

Gonna have a happy night now.

Bubbly with 22 carat gold leaf flakes & local brew arrack

Poo Paper & Buddha’s Tooth

Sunday 16 August 2009

Got a wake up call at 5.30am. Urgh.. Pushed off to Pinnawela at 6.30am after breakfast. It’s a place 2 hours from Colombo which hosts the only elephant orphanage in the world (so the guide says). Wild elephants whose parents were hunted by villagers are placed here. It’s basically a sanctuary of sorts, funded by the Sri Lankan govn. They feed the young elephants in the morning but it’s nothing that special la.

Elephants at the orphanage

One thing that really interested me was the process of making paper out of elephant dung. Sashi, the owner of the factory, kindly gave us a tour of the place and explained the process. First they collect the dung, boil it, dry it, make pulp, dry it again and flat roll it. No smell cause elephants only eat clean stuff.

Making paper our of elephant shit

We stopped by a Spice Garden on the way to Kandy where they explained to us what each herb is used for. He experimented a hair removal cream on deep which takes out the hair roots too. Deep’s hand was as smooth as a baby’s bottom after 10 minutes and this was using all natural ingredients! He bought the cream and I bought some lipid liquid with organic honey thing that is supposed to reduce the lipid, phlegm and cholesterol. Also helps with cellulite and slimming! Haha.

Herbs galore - for all sorts of ailments

At Kandy, we went to this famous temple which houses the sacred tooth relic of Buddha himself. Stopped by a gem stone showroom and a tea factory on the way home.

Temple where Buddha's tooth is kept

Precious stones at the gem factory and showroom

Sri Lanka here we are!

Saturday 15 August 2009

Mr Liew came 15 minutes earlier so panicked cause still not ready yet. Called Deep to tell him I was on the way but he wasn’t picking up. Probably passed out cause he drank 2 bottles of rum at Sid’s before this. Thank God he finally picked up. Arrived at his place at 3.40am.

Met up with Mazlan and the rest of the media group – there were 11 of us. Luckily no weirdos this time. Inaugural flight to Columbo on Aug 15 2009 went off without a hitch. Was surprised they didn’t have a traditional welcome dance like they usually do. We had one on Vientaine’s inaugural flight and Krabi’s as well.

First thing I have to say about Columbo is damn this place is humid! Temperature wise is similar to ours but the humidity is urgh. At least we got our own room at Hilton. Yea! No need to share! And room’s not too bad too. Only thing is they don’t have free wifi. Gotta pay for that. Sucks.

Hilton Hotel Columbo, Sri Lanka

View from my room

Went on a city tour of Colombo after lunch. I can’t say I’m too impressed with the city as it didn’t have anything much that we are not used to. But it’s still alright la.. they have some really nice colonial buildings (although a bit run down), visited a museum where we saw some cool funky olden day urinals, took some pics at a temple (there was a couple taking wedding shots there too), saw a huge ivory-tusked elephant and got ripped off on a tuk tuk ride.

Columbo City Tour

A bride at the temple

Elephant with damn long tusk it's crossing already

Wind at the beach is nice though. Don’t hope to swim coz the waves will drag you right in. Wicked sea they have here in front of our hotel. And we found out that we can’t simply take pictures, especially at tight security zones. The local said we could end up in jail for that. :P

The sea near our hotel

I know they are gonna kill me for saying this but Sri Lankans look just like our Indian people, the southern ones. Can’t really tell the diff. Most speak English quite fluently as their education is covered by the Govn. It’s compulsory to learn it as a second language. They get free medical too. Why can’t our Govn do that for us?! And we are supposed to be more developed than them. Bah.

We had an Indonesian themed dinner complete with Indonesian food and Indonesian cultural performances. I asked Mazlan if he flew us to Sri Lanka or Indonesia :P It was all good though.. Food spread was awesome. Especially the desserts.

Dessert Galore