Ring Zhi Vegetarian Restaurant

Ring Zhi Vegetarian Restaurant is located in Kepong, one of the shops opposite Jaya Jusco. There is a lot of variety for vegetarian food and it is quite nice. A bit pricy though.

Yummy mushrooms~

Dim Dim Yuen

Last Friday, I met my ex-colleagues at Dim Dim Yuen, Transfer Road, Penang for dinner. The place is right beside Caltex at Transfer Road. The shop is a normal kopithiam, selling western food. It seems that they have just renovated the place. The price is reasonable. I ordered a Garlic Fish for RM8 (it also comes with a piece of garlic bread).

1 piece of garlic bread

Garlic fish

Semester 2: 0%

Time flies. Today marks the beginning of my 2nd semester. The subjects for this semester seem to be more interesting and not so technical. I browsed through the study materials last night and thank god, they are not as thick as last semester’s!

Signs

Jimmy recommended the following short clip a while ago and I really love it! It is one of the 2009 Cannes Lions winners! Highly recommended.

Signs, Patrick Hughes
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYLMvYhl-5k
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_20XEFjRBqU&NR=1

Malacca 1 Day Trip

I have not visited MMU or Malacca ever since I graduated a few years ago. I still remember the good old days, indulging myself with my favorite “Cendol” in Jonker Street or when we squeeze ourselves in one car for “Satay Celup”.

The area around the campus is well developed now. But, the campus itself is poorly maintain, in which my friends and I are quite upset about. The campus back in our days was very new and nice (at least it looked much better back then). It was not repainted at all ever since we graduated (judgement based on the outlooks). In addition, the facilities are poorly maintain - chairs with ugly labels, tutorial rooms with ugly looking and non-standardized locks etc. In addition, we noticed large, visible rubbish everywhere. OMG, can’t students nowadays be a bit more concern about the cleanliness of their campus or the cleaner is not doing their job properly? What has happen?

Look at the roof

The bridge connecting CLC and the "new building"

My juniors also mentioned that students nowadays are not active in club activities. There are not many events around the campus. The campus is basically quite death. I still remember the good old days, whenever it comes to club registration week, CLC concourse will be packed with students and everyone will be discussing which clubs they’ll be joining and so on. I guess, we won’t see this anymore nowadays.

Okay, let’s focus on the brighter side now. The Malacca town looks nicer now. The ugly and polluted river beside Jonker Street had transformed into a tourist spot. Not to mention, a nice gathering with some of my coursemates - AC, Danny, Daniel, Teck Yong, Sylvia and Jin.

Daniel just found a new promosing job at T-systems! Congratulations!

I have never thought of taking photos of this river before this...

It looks really new...

Jonker Street

My beloved Cendol... still yummy...

Bon Odori '09

It had been 2-3 years since my last visit to Bon Odori. I remembered attending the last one with Kelly in Penang, where I wore my new purple yukata from Japan. Kelly helped me out with the make up and “whoola”, a totally different feel. (Kelly, I miss you...)

This year, I went to the one in Panasonic Sports Complex, Shah Alam (previously known Matsushita Sports Center). It was a surprise to see Andy there, distributing the paper fans. I also met a number of Unimates, such as Wilz, Huwi Yin, How Zan, Jing Hui and those names that I cannot remember. I had to agree with Andy that many of the Japanese food there had been Malaysianized.

Sahara Tent

Almost a month ago, my team had our team lunch at Sahara Tent, somewhere near Jalan Bukit Bintang. They serve Arabian food. I called for enquiry prior to the lunch and their response was very fast. Their service is excellent! I like the bread there, it is just nice. The fish is good too. As for lamb mandy, I prefer Al-Rawsha's.

Overall, I still prefer Al-Rawsha in terms of taste and price.

1/2 babylon chicken

RIP, Wai Chien

Wai Chien @ Chris is my ex-colleague. She is a very sweet and nice girl, same age as I. I still remember the day when we just met. She came over to my cubicle to introduce herself. 2 years ago, we joined the departmental Christmas party together. I fell down from the staircase and was feeling dizzy. She comforted me and I was really touched.

More than a year ago, she was in coma due a strange and incurable disease. At that point of time, I can say that almost everyone thought that she wouldn’t make it. But, she regained consciousness and had been on medication ever since. I last contacted her via sms after she was discharged from the hospital more than a year ago.

This week, I suddenly received a shocking news from Lai Yan. She told me that Wai Chien had passed away. She was so young…

Life is short. Just live everyday to the fullest. Do what you wanted to do.

Wai Chien,
We will always remember you… rest in peace.

Hong Kee Dim Sum

Last week, Saran brought me to Hong Kee Dim Sum near Atria, PJ for breakfast. When we reached there at around 10am, the shop was almost full.

The price is affordable. The “har kao” and “siu mai” are okay. The “chu cheong fun” is a bit sweet. I don’t like the “tao fu” there, but Saran finds it okay. One of the steam dim sum that we took has an extremely odd taste. The steam dim sum is not cold enough.

Overall rating is so-so only.

Tau fu

Terrible Internet Connection

Recently, Streamyx broadband connection is changing from bad to worse. The line is always disconnecting and the speed is low. Arghh… my friends in Penang and other parts of KL/Selangor are experiencing the same thing as well!

Could someone please fix this up?

Dainti Hill – Part II

More photos of Dainti Hill 50% off food.

This dish does not come with rice. Additional rice is RM1 each.

Toast & Coffee

This shop in Damansara Uptown is recommended by Aunty Goody. The food and price there is something like Old Town. The taste is okay. The spaghetti is a bit sweet. The fried chicken is nice. Overal rating is so-so.

Spaghetti

Fried Chicken

Office Pranks

Recently, my colleagues are getting more “creative”. We started playing pranks on those who didn’t lock their laptops while they are away. It’s becoming a “hit” nowadays.

So, guys and girls, remember to lock your laptop while you are away :)

Partner in crime

Partners in crime

Al-Rawsha

Al-Rawsha is a middle-east cuisine restaurant in Ampang. My colleague, Falah strongly recommended it.

Last week, I went there for Steven’s farewell. It was my first time taking middle-east cuisine and surprisingly, I love it! The food is not oily and it’s cheaper than I thought! Less than RM20 you can get a decent meal.

Some recommended food:
Mango juice
Lamb mandy

Lamb Mandy (even though it doesn't look nice, it's tasty!)

Chicken Mandy
Something like sparkling juice, heard the lemon favour one is nice
Falafel

The China Stall

Recently, we have been visiting this place known by my colleagues as “The China Stall” at Imbi. It’s a stall at one of the small lanes. The food there is quite tasty and unique. The price is reasonable given its portion, RM6 for almost all orders.

Why the China? This is because the stall is operated by a China couple. Unfortunately, they do not understand anything other than Mandarin and their menu is only in Mandarin. Some of my non-Mandarin speaking colleagues have difficulty communicating with them.

However, the environment is not very hygienic. Some saw rats crawling around once in a blue moon. But, so far, no one is food poisoned.

I can't remember what is it exactly called. The meaning of this dish is fish-liked pork rice, a China specialty dish. The taste is very special and nice. The meat is slices of pork.

Dainti Hill 50% off is back!

Dainti Hill Citibank credit card 50% off is back again! But, it is only limited to certain menu. Recently we re-visited the restaurant after many months (if not mistaken, since last year). This portion is still very huge.

Emperor Rolls - very huge portion (recommended for 3 pax)

Platter - salad, spaghetti, egg with rice and chicken/seafood (after discount, is slightly more than RM10)

Semester 1: >50%

In a blink, I had gone through more than 50% of my 1st semester. It is rather tough at first, but gradually I am getting use to it. I am rather busy nowadays. I spent my Saturdays on group discussions. On Sundays, it’s my usual routine, house keeping and time to catch up with friends occasionally.

Quite a number of things happen recently:
- Mum’s birthday – my bro and I bought her a bouquet of roses.
- My bro is back in Penang for industrial training. He had dumped some stuff at my place before going back.
- A few colleagues had leaved the company. *sob sob* I will miss you all…
- A few friends in overseas is back in Malaysia for visits.
- An ex-classmate just engaged – congratulations!
- A colleague just gave birth – it’s a baby girl!
- First barbeque after a few years.

Struggle

It’s been more than a month since I started my part-time studies. I was struggling very hard for the first few weeks. Time seems to be not enough for everything. My head felt like exploding. Wake up, read. Office hours, extensive use of my brain. I felt like I have no room for breathing and my body was not having enough rest. At that point of time, I really felt that my brain is not functioning properly, even when I was focusing - Jam! It had been quite some time since I have this feeling. Not to mention, the stress from work as well.

I realized that no matter how well I can divide my time accordingly, if I do not have the energy and stamina to remain in the best condition for all time, it does not work. After several weeks, it is not so bad and I managed to relax myself in between. I guess the strategy, “set the targets and do whatever I feel like doing at that point of time” is still the best for me.