Happy New Year 2009

We need 2009 to be a happy year. A year that will see the economic crisis recovering. A year to see careers progress. A year to see family and friends feel good about.

So....
Happy New year to one and all.
May your blessings be big and small
Don't spend all your money at the mall
And you can be sure you can walk tall

I've never made New Year resolutions before, much less public resolutions. But maybe making them publicly would help me achieve them. Here goes
- to weigh 95kg or less by 31st Dec 2009
- to visit Gua Tempurung
- to complete a 10km walk/run by year end


I am not that ambitious - 3 should be enough goals for me to hit. And they are the toughest goals.

Observations of Penang

During the last holiday trip to Penang, I made 3 key observations that I would like to share

FOOD
At many of the food stalls - the hawker stalls - the serving is rather small. Not that you should complain as the price is also relatively low (low not cheap). I ordered Char Kway Teow and it was just enough for 3 large bites. Had to complement that with Prawn mee which turns out to be 2 mouths full (for RM2.50). On the bright side, this allows you to savour more types of Penang food without burning too big a hole in your pocket.

GURNEY DRIVE
Lesson to be learnt from the Christmas celebrations - do NOT go anywhere near there in your car. The Penangites will literally rock your car with you in it and spray you and the car with (if God was merciful), genuine fake snow. When we looked at Gurney drive in the evening of boxing day, the tide was out and you can see hundreds of cans of aerosols strewn all over the sea bed. Disgusting!!

And since this was the biggest tourist trap on the island, food here costs a lot more and is just so so. Go and look for food in the older parts of Penang. You won't regret it.

SHIPS
Since Penang has a port, you can expect many ships to be calling here. For the 3 days we were there, I caught the same ship on camera steaming towards the port (on 2 of those mornings). The zoom on my camera ( a Lumix DMZ TC15) is great. I can zoom in onto an object from a great distance, snap that photo. Then I review the photo and zoom in again (I am using 9M resolution) and I can make out the names of the ships although the shot may have been taken about 1km or more away.

I manage to catch the AMUSEMENT WORLD in the evening from Gurney drive - just sitting there. And then on 2 subsequent mornings, I caught it again heading towards port. I wonder if this is one of those casino ships which anchors just outside in International Waters so that gambling can take place.

So I googled it and voila - I am right!!

As Amusement World she is owned by Jackston MTME Ltd., Singapore and sails on non-landing gambling cruises from the port of Penang(Malaysia). Although she is nearly 40 years old she operates two 9 hour cruises from Penang each day is very reliable and popular with the local Chinese gambling community.

AS one gets to the end of this additional information you will see that she has had a very colourful recent history!

IMO number:	6620773	Name of ship:	AMUSEMENT WORLD
Call Sign:	T2JA2	Gross tonnage:	12764
Type of ship:	Passenger Ship	Year of build:	1967
Flag:	Tuvalu	Status of ship:	In Service
Registered owner:	JACKSTON MTME LTD	Address:	05-31, Ubi Avenue 1, Singapore SINGAPORE
Ship manager:	UNIVERSAL SHIPMANAGEMENT	Address:	05-31, Ubi Avenue 1, Singapore SINGAPORE

Holiday time - part 4 Ipoh and back

Taking the ferry added an extra 20 minutes to the journey to Ipoh as traffic was slow and heavier. But we were in no hurry. It rained heavily at the stretch between K Kangsar turnoff and the Jelapang tunnel.

We finally arrived at 5th Uncle's house in Ipoh Garden around 6pm. 5th Uncle treated us to dinner and then the next morning to breakfast too. Aunty Jenny recommended that we try another cave called Kek Lok Don (sounds a little like someone poisoned the cake - kek lok dook). We had already been to Perak caves and Sam Poh Tong many times, so this would be a refreshing change - a place that I've not been to before. V and M had not been there before either - but V had a flashback memory that he was there before when he was knee high to something.

We first had a quick stopover at the Lost World to recce it. Too many smokers polluting the air when we were there.

To go there, take Tiger lane (don't remember it's current name) and turn off to Ampang. Look out for the signs to Kek Look Don. The route snakes through residential houses. The end result is a beautiful karstic cave structure. More attractive than the Perak caves, Sam Poh Tong caves and many other caves around Ipoh. If you look closely at the cave walls, you can almost see animal shapes in some of them. Unlike Sam Poh Tong which opens up into a smelly tortoise pond, this cave opens into a very well kept garden. Surely worth a visit.

After the visit to the caves, another quick stopover - this time at the pomelo stalls. And then we were off to Kellie's castle. The big difference I notice on this visit is that there is a lot more information posted on the building and history of Kellie and his family. Oh - and this is another first for V and M.

The previous day's rain raised the river level almost to the max. I kind of liked this hibiscus. First time I've seen a hibiscus with 5 petals on one side and then another bunch of petals extended down. Beautiful!

Lunch at Kampar and we were on our way home.

POOPED!!

Holiday time - part 3 Penang

After the Butterfly farm, the next stop was lunch and then the Teluk Bahang Dam. The Teluk Bahang Dam is one of the 3 dams of Penang. One of them, the Mengkuang Dam is located on the mainland. The view at the TB dam is rather threadbare. We had a bit of fun trying to get through the poles. Shit!! My stomach is still bigger than M's.

We had a quick stopover at the Fruit farm. But this is not the season for local fruits. NO durians, NO rambutans, NO mangosteens. So - short stopover.

Next pit stop - Snake temple. Alex bravely agreed to have the python and viper snake draped on him. Grandma saw the photos when we got back and had shivers going up her spine!

We then tried to get tickets for the Penang Hill tram (which just reopened a couple of weeks ago after being shutdown for more than a year). No luck. Arriving at about 5pm meant we could only get tickets for the 9.30 train. And parking was jammed packed full!. We decided to go to the Air Itam dam as Kek Lok Si temple would also be closing down by 6pm.

Finally!! A place that V and M has not visited!! We had to salute quite a number of people who made their way up there by BICYCLE, WALKING and RUNNING!! I would have given up walking after 100m. The view is a heck of a lot better than at TB dam. There were also a heck of a lot more people up there compared to my previous visits. Looks like more people knows how to get up there nowadays. After TB and AI dams, you can conclude that the water situation in Penang is well under control. Both dams were visually almost filled to the brim. A notice board showed all 3 Penang dams were similarly full.

We ended the day with dinner at the back lanes - Char Kway Teow, Yew Char Kway, etc. We also bought some jeruk at Chowrasta.

Third and last day started with local breakfast at Pulau Tikus, clean up and check out. First stop was at the shops selling local stuff between the Botanical Gardens road and Gurney drive. Bought lots of Bak Kut teh preparations, coffee and other snacks. Then we tried out luck again at Penang Hill. still no luck. Arriving at just before noon, we could only get tickets for around 6pm. Plan aborted!!

So we made Kek Lok Si temple our last stop. Don't really like Kek Lok Si - too commercial and it's all about money on a religious excuse. They currently have this scheme that if you pay a minimum of RM30, you get to write on a tile (name, greetings, whatever) that would be used in the construction of the housing for the Goddess of Mercy. I have seen writings dated just a month ago with faded writings. I smell a con here.

If you take the incline train from the mid section up to the Kuan Yin statue, the route goes through numerous shops selling blings and other stuff not related to religion. We took photos with the statue of our birth animals, walked around a bit and then called it a day.We took the ferry back to the mainland - another activity that V and M has not done before!

Holiday time - part 2 Penang

For the Penang leg, I booked 2 rooms at the Northam. When we checked in, they gave us the 2 rooms and the end of the corridor on the 25th floor which were bigger than the ones I normally get when I stay here on business. Both rooms had their individual room doors for privacy and also had a common door from the corridor which made it even more private! I am sure V found the reading desk useful as he had lugged his PC along to keep in contact with his business partners.

First activity for the night was to get stocked up on food. So we went to Gurney Mall, got groceries, got dinner and then did a night drive all the way to Mutiara Hotel and back before calling it a day. It has been some years since my previous visit and some things have changed. There are a lot more high rises near the beaches for one and this is really not ecologically friendly.

The second day was planned to be a round the island trip. We had a quick stopover at Miami Beach (who needs to go to Florida?). At least some of the beaches are still around. Miami Beach is a rocky beach.

Next, we stopped at the Batik factory opposite the (closed down? Mutiara Hotel). As I had re-arranged the furniture in my house, I bought a batik piece by a local deaf and mute artist for the wall in front of my PC table. Got one for V and M too.

Then we spent quite a bit of time at the Penang Butterfly farm. They do have some funny signage all over. I like this one that seems to say - don't pinch our mosquitoes! Love those insects that can camouflage themselves. And they had upgraded some of the displays. There is a room with a 15 minutes video showing the insects and there are sections of the video that are pretty interesting. The owner had also added a couple of rooms to show and sell antiques (real or otherwise) and other artifacts. I particularly liked this one.

We still have Teluk Bahang Dam, Balik Pulau Fruit Farm, Snake Temple, Air Itam Dam on the list!!

Holiday time part 1 - Lenggong and beyond

I've stopped working since 23rd Dec and have loads of time on my hands. So why not a vacation for the family? I've actually planned this with Mad about a month ago. Both our families planned a road trip from KL to Penang with stopovers at Lenggong on the way up and Ipoh on the way down.

We started on boxing day, waking up at 5.30am so that we can get started by 6am. We took a short detour to McD to fill up on Alex's Sausage McMuffin and we were on our way. Next stop was in Bidor's Pun Chun for breakfast - nothing much to shout about - just the regular wanton mee and herbal duck thigh.

As the journey progressed, Alex's PSP runs down on power and was put on life support using the car power adaptor to recharge. He was bored almost 2 hours as we headed for Lenggong. What's in Lenggong? Nothing much. Just that Mad's uncle (her Mum's brother) stays there and it's been ages since she met up with them.

The house reminds me of the times that I had in my grandpa's house when I was knee high to a grasshopper!! Vegetables growing in any and every available piece of earth. Flowers everywhere along with anything green that'll grow. There was this piece of yam that was just dumped there and it had sprouted leaves! Seeing Uncle's spring onions reminded me that I should put some bulbs in so that I'll have some for CNY.

Before departing, we had lunch together. Lenggong and the surrounding areas are famous for their fishballs, freshwater fish and Chilli padi sauce (Chilli padi is a smallish chilli about 2cm long with a tongue burn factor or 9 out of 10). It's like every other person in this small town makes the chilli sauce.

Uncle forced us to take a couple of bottles of the sauce with us (he actually tried to order half a dozen and we had to stop him).

Next stop after this - Penang!

Xmas eve - Fellowship and too much food

Since my last working day, I have been busy. There had been times when I had to think of something to update on my blog. This time around, I have too much that I want to update on. For Xmas eve, it was one party after another and that was just the evening. For this year, Jessie's maid - Amy, tagged along.

Dinner at Leong and Angie Lai
With my contractor striving hard to complete their work before shutting down for Xmas, I was getting a bit nervous as we had a dinner invite from Leong's family at 7pm. Eventually, we got cleaned up and left for our dinner date at 7pm (yes, we were LATE!). And to make things worse, it's a Wednesday, which meant that the Taman Connaught roads were jammed due to the night market. We managed to arrive 40 minutes late. Well, better late than never.

Angie spent a lot of time preparing the dinner. We had Pie Tee (a crispy cup which you fill with food like grated turnip or potatoes or anything else you fancy), Mushroom with Pacific clams, Fresh Lettuce to wrap any food you want, fried prawns, another green veg, Leek fried with roast port and so on. To wash all that down, we had Jasmine tea. Wunderbar!!

BBQ at the Hiews
Vincent invited us to his parent's house as well. They had planned BBQ for the night. Some of the usual suspects were there - Stefan and Janet, Andy and girlfriend, Yee Ling. Oh oh - system blinking - FOOD OVERLOAD. V and M ordered 150 sticks of satay! Guard dog Rocky snapped at a couple of the guests and was initially chained up and then turned loose OUTSIDE the house. More Chinese tea helped to wash down the gluttony.

Vincent H's apartment to wrap up and welcome Xmas
And with 30 minutes to go, the gang changed venue and went to VH's apartment for a drink. There were plans to eat burgers too but everyone else was filled to the max. So we had a very light Japanese cheesecake sponsored by Janet. Just right!! 10 minutes before midnight, fireworks were going off around KL. And some were making their own fireworks at V's. And drinks. Yee Ling even had time for a Middle Eastern karaoke - the shisha.

We had to call it a night by 1.30am as Alex could hardly keep awake.

Merry Xmas and Happy New year!