Planning my food trip soon for next week!

Hello again! I was just browsing past some photos and these few ones caught my eyes and made me reminisce about my home town. I can feel myself starting the countdown again, only five days to go now! I do it quietly trying not to remind Laughton how bad he feels about not being able to join me to Malaysia again. We were so looking forward about this trip and celebrating Chinese New Year back at home but our hopes crushed after his silly employer just conveniently denied their promise to him. Totally upset, caused us plenty of inconveniences, time and of course money! This is another example of incidences that got me so angry and upset about how convenient some group of silly irresponsible people go about in doing their job, not bothered at all about other people's welfare. You wouldn't believe it, yes they just ignore his pleas and made it hell for him to re-schedule his holidays and he finally got it booked for August 2010 and woo-hoo I will be heading home again! No compensation or any apologetic gestures made at all to him, guess we've learnt our lesson this time. Something or some people just don't deserve a second chance do they?

A bowl of sui-kow, pork and shrimp dumplings to go with my wan tan noodles.  

Wan tan mee, with extra chilli.

A cup of milk tea to go with my breakfast. I cannot miss this!

Must have green chillies to go with my wan tan mee!

9 days left to England

Happier days.

Days are flying past me so quickly, I could hardly believe that I am leaving home after almost 6 months break just lazing around at home spending time with my family and friends; next thing I know I will be leaving soon. In approximately 9 days time. Mixed feelings really, I am extremely pleased to be able to meet Laughton again after being apart for 3 months; but am sad at the same time because I do not have anymore available days or slot times left to spend with my family and friends. My Ical just said October 12th - Flight to England and then blank all the way. My goodness, this is for real. I remember being ambitious and thinking, I want to do this, learn this and that and sadly, I don't think I had accomplished much.

I am thankful to God for everything that happened since January this year, I am sure He has a plan for me. Never imagined that I could take such a long break off work and just having some personal time for myself to relax and really think what I want in life. I feel rejuvenated and fresh, seeking for fresh challenges and moving onto my/our next phase in life. I am grateful for all the emotional and yes, financial support especially from Laughton and my parents and family. Never would have done it without your support. Thank you! :)

I still get that ever popular question even until today, "So, what have you been doing?" My answer: Ermm, nothing. Nothing since mid-January, with a BIG smile. People seem amazed and I know deep inside they must be thinking I would be bored as hell but no, I just love doing nothing.

My 100th post!! And its not on food entry.

Bukit Serindit Jogging Park, Melaka

Hello everyone! I have finally succeeded posting one hundred entries on my blog and yeah, I know I could have done more with the amount of time I had; but just seemed like a million of things to do before I go to England. Anyway I was thinking quite hard about my 100th post and I finally decided to do something different, something not related to FOOD? This reminds me of Laughton's comment when he tries to understand our conversation (me and my friends in Bermuda during our open house or makan-makan (pot luck) sessions); he would be asking, what are you people talking so happily about? We spoke so excitedly in Malay and yeah, I told him, about FOOD we missed so much back in Malaysia. And he would just laugh out loud and say, why are you talking about FOOD when you people have tons of food on the table and best part, still eating and yet we spoke about how much we enjoyed FOOD back at home!! I think he probably understood a little bit by now after his journey to Malaysia last summer. Let's hope I get him "Malaysian-ised" in February 2010 when we head home for Chinese New Year! I am excited thinking about it already.

Okay, this is where me and my sisters "hang out" or diligently drag ourselves at every 5 or half 5pm to, we try to do this routine maybe about four times a week. Bukit Serindit Jogging park. We do our brisk walk for about an hour and then head home for FOOD. Maybe that's why we aren't seeing our desired results much sooner. Anyway, Rome wasn't built in a day. :) And now, I keep making excuses for me to enjoy food because I am leaving in approximately three week's time haha. I try to make my session as interesting as I could, recently my cousin Edward taught me more functions on my iPod classic and I am really enjoying my iPod after owning it for almost one year. I transferred some of the TVB (Hong Kong) Chinese drama series into my iPod and hey, exercise was never more fun than this! Haha, brilliant!

OK, some photos since Belle suggested we needed some evidence to show that we did some form of exercise today. I think Mum is checking on her. :)

Belle, me and Caroline.

I was really surprised when she was willing to pose for a photo with me. Must be in the raya spirits.

I don't know why she is taller than me especially when she is younger than me. I should be taller. Why? Why? I could really use that extra couple of inches man.. Not fair! Oh did I mention that my brother is 6ft tall?

That's all for now as it started to drizzle a little and we found a great excuse to leave earlier for today, anyway its only Monday. Probably just the Monday blues haha. Have a good week y'all.

Taiwan Mee

Melaka town's famous Taiwan Mee.

The shop is located just outside my house, probably around 10 mins walk. Been eating this ever since I could remember and the lady boss is from Taiwan if I am not mistaken. They have another branch in Damansara Utama in PJ but the original branch in Melaka here is better.

Pork ribs flat noodles topped up with extra chilli (sambal) and preserved salted vegetable. They go so well when you mix all of them up. :) Awesome! They do beef noodles here too. Strongly recommend this!

Dinner with Mummy at Wok & Pan, Melaka

September 15, 2009

Hi all,

Apologies for not updating my blog, I have been really occupied the past couple of weeks and right now, am extremely busy with striking off my to-do list before my flight to London in approximately four weeks' time! Time is running short and probably its just me, I love the adrenalin rush, it kicks up real high during the last minute and I become super efficient at getting things done! Amazing when I look back and say, hey I've been at home almost half a year! It's like a honeymoon period, except even better because it still valid and not expired yet! Haha. Don't try asking me how long I will be on holiday or out of job, I wished I had the answer. I am just waiting for the right time. God once said, good things come to those who wait. Let's pray hard and see how good it gets. :)

I have been to KL a couple of times doing some errands and also gone for a short trip to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah and hopefully I will find some time to post some nice pictures taken from that trip. I am providing myself some work or catching up to do especially my blog once I get over to England, in case I feel really bored and go crazy!

My to-do list probably got 143,982 things to do before I leave on Oct 12th. I wished I had done them much sooner? Sounds familiar, I say that to myself at every busy season I encounter during my auditing era. Maybe it's just me, it gets me pumping when I start to realise the clock is ticking, ticking and ticking real fast. I doubt this will ever change.

I am still packing and still packing (it doesn't end until 3 hours before your flight or after you check-in your luggages at the counter) . Some friends commented that I am probably too relaxed and reminded me that I was migrating not going for a 2 week holiday; maybe I am a bit more relaxed knowing that I will be back home in February 2010 for Chinese New Year and I could always pick up or sort some stuff at that time. The fact that all my air tickets have been confirmed made it so much calmer for me to leave home next month. Just seemed like a temporary move. I think I'll probably realise the impact when I actually leave next year haha. Well, the fact that England's so many times more assessible than Bermuda was probably the thing that made me feel like this is not really a big deal. After my previous relocation to Bermuda, everything seemed smaller and easier! Nice.

Ok, back to the subject of the day. I took Mummy for dinner tonight at Wok & Pan, Melaka for some Western food. They do pretty decent Western food for Melaka standard. Nothing great to shout about but certainly nothing lousy to scream about too. That is quite important I feel, been to a couple of places in Melaka where the food served were super lousy and I really felt like throwing those plates (with the food, of course) at the boss or the owner of the restaurant; actually, the chef would be the best candidate for that! I had always found it amusing when I get really lousy, crap food in cafes or restaurants. Don't they do food tasting first or just stick to the basic, like just work in some supermart or do something else if you can't cook or get someone to cook properly??This place, they do some Western and Eastern cuisine too, I have not tried the Eastern ones yet so no comment at the moment. But I would come here for some Western food if I feel like having them. Pricing is reasonable for the quality that they serve. Tastes pretty decent too.

Fish & Chips for RM8.50. (We like the fact that it was not Dory fish, unlike some places that serves Dory fish and charges above RM10!) Fresh fish served and portion was quite big too.

Old style Hainanese chicken chop. It was alright, but I felt like the gravy lacked some oommph factor. This cost RM8.50 also.

OK I hope I will put up something real soon. In the meantime, stay cool and be merry!

Cheers,

Wendy

Popiah, flower and a car wax..

A day at home.. (Melaka)

August 12, 2009

Melaka can be quite boring after some time, I thought. Especially when you are not working there and just back for almost 6 months, I finally thought I kinda had enough and it's finally time for some changes. Probably I am well rested now after almost 5 gruelling years in audit. I felt like this is was a very much deserved break for me. I am excited at the next phase of life which I am about to embark on, quite a big step for me and I hope things get settled soon. Would be nice to have a decent job and a home.

Couple of friends asked me the other day, how does your typical day looks like at home? My answer was pretty straightforward:" I have nothing much to do so there's not much point waking up too early and I usually have a lie in and then get my lunch and time it perfectly to the highlight of the day, which is simply a Chinese drama showing on the local TV at 1.30pm and after that, I kinda struggle to think what I'd like for tea and then off for my exercise. Then wait for dinner and just get on the Net to surf and chat. After that, I go to bed and the same routine again the following day." They usually laughed at me but hey, that's awesome and being able to do nothing is something every single auditor desires for.

Below: a friend suggested the popiah (Malaysian version of spring roll) nearby in town and I decided to try it. It's somewhere close to Yok Bin School in Semabok, a push-cart stall. Please avoid going there for popiah. My grandma also said it was pretty decent last time but now, easily one of the worst popiah places ever. I'll stick to the ones in Bunga Raya and Bukit Beruang. I think I will really miss this in England.

Started to get bored and thought of taking a couple of photos and this was probably the most decent shot. I don't know what plant is this but the flower's rather unique.

Proud of my work. Look at the shiny car! Could not help gazing at it after I finished waxing the whole car. Hehe.

I was beginning to wonder if my mum pretended that she didn't know how to wash and keep my old car clean and shiny or she just wanted to make me her car-wash slave. She always gave me the same excuse, oh I don't know how to wash a black car. :) I had a cunning plan this time, got it washed in Toyota first and then took it back to the house and waxed it. One thing I miss about KL is how easy it was to find a place and pay RM8 to get your car washed all clean and tyres gleaming with the polish. Probably car wash is not a common concept in Melaka. People just wait for the rain to pour or simply, D-I-Y. Check out the difference between a well polished car (black) and the other one (light gold). This could be easily one of the most useful thing I did in the entire week!

Next up, I was starting to get really sick of the chemically treated hair colour and Mum tried colouring my hair to black but it came off quite quickly. Lousy products for home use. I was getting annoyed when I get comments like they could see the new patch of hair growing and all that. I wanted to keep it long but for some reasons, my hair stopped growing. So I am stuck at this length and finally went to my stylist and I told her, I miss my long black hair!!! Haha, I think the grass on the other side is always greener. After almost 2 years with permed and highlighted hair, I miss the long, black straight hair dearly. Below, closest I got to what I wanted. It was pretty good job I think, especially when my sisters commented that I looked fairer! yay!!

Short visit to the Gadek hot spring and A' Famosa

Short visit to the Gadek hot spring and A' Famosa Resort, Alor Gajah Melaka.

I am sitting here, staring at the Macbook screen just waiting for dinner time. Had not been updating my blog as often as I would have liked to as I had been pretty busy running around preparing for the visa paperwork for me to move over to England as planned. Finally handed in my application and we are eagerly awaiting for the good news. I had been ill too, was in bed the whole of last week. Suspected I probably had the infamous swine flu as I pretty much had all the symptoms and after taking medicines and also some anti viral meds, I am up and about now. :) Had a busy weekend since my ex-colleagues were visiting Melaka and they arrived on Friday and just left Melaka today. It was really nice to see some of them again.. Below are some photos of our outings.

We took a visit to the Gadek Hot Spring which is located in Kampung Ganun, a sub-district of Gadek in the district of Alor Gajah, Melaka. This hot spring has been in existence since time immemorial in the form of springs from underground sources that gave rise to mini pools. The spring has a surface temperature of 56 degree Celsius (we seriously think it was higher than that!) and with an average water flow of 5.4 litres per minute containing hydrogen sulphide gas. Apparently, the hot water of this spring which contains sulphur is believed to be capable of curing various types of skin diseases. We had to pay an entrance fee for Rm4 per person, a little pricy just for a short dip!

Yeah weather was already quite hot and by the time we got there it was 4pm and we just merely soaked our tired feets and we headed off to A' Famosa at around 5pm. The hot spring would be good if I was in England, not really a good idea for a country with such high heat!

A kampung style environment setting at the hot spring.

Little pools of waters at the hot spring.

Soaking me tired legs in the hot water. :)

The natural source of the hot water spring.

My wonderful ex-colleagues Lo & Jenny! Note: this is only a part of their happy family. Another set of twins being absent from the outing.

A picture of Lo, this amazing doting dad of this little boy and the wonderful twin girls.

Jenny and me.

Lo, Jenny, Me and Chua (one of my best-est buddy and also an ex-colleague)

Truly a good weekend spent with these lots and also had a chance to speak with some of my ex-bosses. :)

My new found interest- photography

I had some friends who came to visit to Melaka over the last few weekends and managed to get some help from another friend who is also very interested in photography and gave me a couple of tips that night to shoot a couple of night scenery photos. Good thing they had a spare tripod as I left mine with Laughton in Bermuda, so a bit sad actually after this experience because I would really like to take more night scene photos especially the view of the Petronas Twin Towers!! I don't think I should be buying a tripod because I don't want to be having to carry more stuff with me when I move over to England. When you take a night photo, a tripod IS a MUST! I had just learnt that lesson the hard way. Anyway, here they are, some photos just to share with all of my friends. Photos were taken by the Melaka river and also at the Eye of Malaysia. Enjoy! :)

A day or two in Melaka and how it looks like..

June 5th & 6th, 2009

I finally had a chance to visit my dear friend Mingx2, after almost 2 years since I left for Bermuda. Well, she actually flew back all the way from Vietnam to catch me during my summer vacation back to Malaysia last year, but due to some miscommunication I was holidaying in Bali so I missed her! Sob sob but it's okay now because I get to hang out with her a lot since we are both back in Melaka for quite a while. I was really excited to see her because I missed her a lot!

This is her new addition to her family. A chihuahua. Sorry, no name at the moment because she just got this pup the day before. I did hear some name calling though err like Wu-hong? (named after the ancient monkey god) Well, let's hope they got him a name by the time I get back next month. Anyway, he is so CUTE!! He is super tiny and he is just so small!! I tried to take a photo of him without the flash cause I thought my dog, Nugget is usually freaked out by the flashes as they reminded him of lightning and thunderstorm. But after a while, I tested the flash on him and he was COOL. Haha maybe he is too young to realise what he was afraid of!

Beside his cage, stretching out. He wanted to play. So adorable. If only kids could stay like this. I don't know if that's a good idea but definitely worth a thought!

A self-potrait. Look at how still he was. Amazing.
I just could not resist from taking more photos of him.
Look at how small he truly is compared to my left hand.

Next subject. Yongx2. Her son soon became the target of my Nikon Slr. He was not pleased initially, but after what he realised I was doing and upon showing him the photos that I was taking, he happily obliged and ended up wanting more shots. Hang on, little boy for I am not as active as you. I promise to take more next time, alright?

See how he likes to be cheeky for the camera?

This is so cool! Look at how he posed for the camera. Truly classic. I love this pic.

Ok he obviously prefers to pose SOLO.

For your information, this was taken after our dear Yongx2 decided to pour all the fish food into the fish tank while I was happily "gossipping" or catching up with his mum. Apparently Mum wanted me to take a photo so that she can show to Daddy what he did to his tank and fishes. Our dear little friend actually poured another new bottle of fish food the very next day, because I was there the following day and it was ALL GONE.

Had a drink with Elina, at Starbucks Dataran Pahlawan and that was the same night that I left my wristlet there containing all my cash, IC, driving license and bank cards and bla bla. After some drama, thank God I found them back all intact. Gotta be more careful next time!

My temporary tattoo done by Mingx2. Thank you my dear friend! Had a great time just hanging out with you. We will catch up soon!
My sister, Belle.
I said, how about trying to pose with your bolster? And this is what I got. Haha. She is so cute.

This is just a random photo that I thought I'd share here. Another good friend of mine, Mark did the framework for me and it's really beautiful.