Well, I had been ranting about how I didn't get to go anywhere during the holidays, most of the holidays, I would say. But when things happened, it all happened in one shot! (for three consecutive days) Then, only I found it exhausting. Haha. This post consists of few parts:
- Part I: Dinner with high school tuition gang
- Part II: Visiting relative in Pahang
- Part III: Gathering with high school friends
- Part IV: Meeting up with my "jimui" (Note: It means sister.)
Part I: Dinner with high school tuition gang
It was a rainy day and I could only leave my house after the rain stopped. When I was on the way to the meet-up point, I saw a rainbow. Though it wasn't clear enough, I managed to snap a photo of it at the traffic light when it turned red. Then again, I noticed that it wasn't just any ordinary rainbow, it was a DOUBLE rainbow! Of course I've seen rainbow before, but not a DOUBLE rainbow. And you know what? I pulled my car to a stop at the road side just so I could take a photo of it. Haha.
 |
| Does it indicate good luck coming? Hehe. |
We met up at the tuition centre and walked to the "mamak" stall where we usually had our dinner back in those days (Note: mamak means some Malay/Indian stalls selling local food). It was quite depressing when we thought only three people came, the host LT, a law student CY and me. However, four more gang members came straight to the mamak and joined us. First was HC who currently studying Finance, a twin-bro who studying medic and XH who currently studying macro mechanic (if not mistaken). Everyone already had their dinner except me, so LT decided to "teman" me "makan" (Note: it basically means eat together with me). We ordered ice-lemon-tea and "maggi goreng" (Fried Maggi).
One thing I noticed from the meet-up is that, I was too quiet. Ya, for some of you who know me, it's quite impossible to shut my mouth at times. I'm kind of a talkative person and will always talk non-stop, even if it meant crapping out of nothing. lol. But that day was different. Their topics were mainly in regard with medic knowledge, their posting experience, CY's attachment to a law firm, their high school and college mutual friends and all. I felt like there was no room for me to participate in their conversation. First of all, I know nothing about medic and biology. Wait, I study biology before back in high school but it doesn't mean that I still remember all the jargon right? And law, ya, I studied law for two semester in my college but that it was only on contract law and trade law. According to CY, they have eight majors and four elective papers. And they mentioned quite a lot of their mutual friends, whom I have no idea who they are. So yeah, basically, I was there listening to all the updates rather than contributing to the "bulletins". Haha.
P/S I should really start brushing up on my general knowledge lar.. ishh..
 |
| 2 whites, 2reds, 2blues. lol |
Part II: Visiting relative in Pahang
At 10am, we went to fetch our uncle whom decided to car-pool with us, so around 10.30am we departed from Klang heading to our destination, Temerloh. A journey of approximately 160km took us 1.5 hours. Not that my dad drove extremely slow, just that, a few parts of the journey was congested with people, some of whom came all the way from Singapore heading to, for example, The National Zoo, Cameron Highland and Genting Highland. That's why my dad could only speed for a certain sections of the journey, not to mention, the road is not straight enough to speed, and my dad will never put our lives at stake just to enjoy the excitement of speeding on the highway.
We arrived there at noon. First, my aunt led us around the house and had an in-house tour. They moved to a new house five years ago, and now only we had the chance to go over and have a visit. It's a two-and-a-half story semi-D with a modern contemporary design. From my second cousin sister's balcony, we could see a lake about 300m away. Quite a nice scenery I would say, fresh air from the nature and all. A maid-room at the ground floor, four rooms at the first floor and two rooms on the second floor, both my cousin sisters'. Well, if my room were to be at the second floor, I would rather sleep in the dining hall, you know? I mean, yeah, I'm a very lazy person, I don't like to climb at all. Imagine after your work say from 9am-5pm, being frustrated because of the "crawling" traffic, the first thing you reached home, would be lying down and rest. Would you feel energize to climb all the way up to second floor just to take your pajamas and have a shower? Haha, I wouldn't. XD
The maid then served the dishes, which included some fried fish, curry prawn, curry beef, some Malay "kuih" and ketupat (Note: its some Malay traditional glutinous rice), and most importantly, my favourite Rendang Chicken! You are not gonna believe it but you know what, my rice was that of two persons! Haha. Not to mention, I had a few ketupat too, ate together with the rendang. Haha. It has been such a long time since I last eaten such an incredibly filling lunch know? :)
After the lunch, I was so filled-up and decided to kill my time by watching television programme. It was around 2pm and it was showing "The Ugly Truth" on the FOX channel. However, I was too late because the movie ended at 2.35pm. Hmm, I know I'm outdated but I'm so gonna download the movie and watch it again. I'm not too sure what is the movie about, but the guy looked quite handsome. LOL. After that, my aunt decided to bring us for a town-tour to Mentakab. There is a newly opened shopping mall, the only and nearest mall from Temerloh. Erm, I personally don't find it particularly interesting, and due to the fact that I was too filled-up, I unconsciously fell asleep. Haha.
We then visited my aunt's business, ChicKing, a franchise business she started a-year ago, I think. Its quite a popular and leading fried-chicken fast food industry in UAE, as what I heard from my aunt. According to the website, "Established in the United Arab Emirates in 2000, under Banquet Foods International (Part of the highly reputable and renowned Dubai based Al Bayan Group of Companies), ChicKing® is a rapidly growing fast-food chain in the region specializes in serving the tastiest crumb fried chicken using a secret recipe which includes a unique blend of the choicest herbs and spices. It is therefore of little wonder, that ChicKing® is synonymous with words such as, "Real Recipe, Real Taste , Real Fried Chicken." But after she started it for quite some time did she find out that, ChicKing is hardly competitive in Malaysia when there are corporate giants namely McD, KFC and maybe Marry Brown, which have established their image and position in Malaysia decades ago. It's not an easy task to bring a new brand in and intend to compete alongside them. I think, what it lacks of, is it's market positioning and marketing strategies. However, in my personal opinion, ChicKing's fried chicken is nothing less than that of KFC's, in fact, I would say, its slightly better! (Seeing that KFC has constantly disappointing me in the recent years)
 |
| The logo. |
 |
| https://www.facebook.com/ChicKingTemerloh |
We then departed at 6pm or so, "tapao" (Note: it means, take away) my favourite rendang chicken from my aunt's house and started heading back home. May be I was too tired (though I don't know why), that's why I fell asleep in the car, again. After, hmm, one hour? I was awaken and found out that it was raining, and my dad couldn't drive as fast as he did in the morning because, safety FIRST! The road was slipperry and my dad had to pay extra caution when driving, making him more exhausted for paying extra concentration on driving us back. When we arrived Klang, we went for dinner because my dad could no longer resist the hunger.
Though it was a short one-day-trip, wait, it wasn't much of a trip, it was a visit. Ha. Erm, but it was a great day, getting to know more about their new house give me a feeling of how they have been living in such a warmth and lovely environment, getting to know more about my aunt's restaurant makes me realize that, its not easy to run a business, what more making it a success. Even though it's a franchise, whereby, almost everything has been well taken care of by the management in HQ, we still can't be oblivious of the challenges ahead. Breaking through obstacles, changing marketing strategies and never ending passion is the spirit that everyone of us, should have. :)
Though it was a short one-day-trip, wait, it wasn't much of a trip, it was a visit. Ha. Erm, but it was a great day, getting to know more about their new house give me a feeling of how they have been living in such a warmth and lovely environment, getting to know more about my aunt's restaurant makes me realize that, its not easy to run a business, what more making it a success. Even though it's a franchise, whereby, almost everything has been well taken care of by the management in HQ, we still can't be oblivious of the challenges ahead. Breaking through obstacles, changing marketing strategies and never ending passion is the spirit that everyone of us, should have. :)
Part III: Gathering with high school friends
Well, to be honest, our initial plan was to go to Sunway Lagoon, however, one of my friends, LY said, it's too expensive because she has been broke since she had a trip to Penang few days back. Then, we changed to Melacca for a one-day-food-trip. Well, you know, Jonker street has been well known of its variety of mouth-watering food, so tempting that no one could ever resist! (ha, a bit exaggerate I guess) However, my dad was reluctant on letting me go, for I would have been the one driving all the way down to Melacca, not to mention, I don't have any GPS with me and I've never been to that place (wait, I think I have, which was more than 10years ago, LOL). Who knows, my friend, J's mother didn't let her join us, for its too far and dangerous. Seeing that LY won't be joining us, we changed back the plan to Sunway Lagoon, BUT some of my friends are, ahem, they were not convenient to be engaged in some water/wet activity, so... Finally, we had a mutual agreement to make it at Sunway Pyramid for ice-skating.
 |
| Top left: Future optometrist; Top right: Future pharmacist Bottom left: Future civil engineer; Bottom right: Future accountant |
I woke up late that day, thus, we (CT and me) were late to the meet-up point, which was Starbucks. Due to the fact that they (H, S, J) didn't know the existence of TWO Starbucks in Sunway pyramid, they went to the wrong one, lol. Anyway, we went for some breakfast before heading for ice-skating. It was a public holiday thus the price was RM25 per person. The cashier at the counter was so rude when she talked to us, what's wrong with her, huh? Was frustrated by her period? Ishh!!
 |
| Fuyoh, we were ready! |
We went in at around 11.30am, half an hour later, we were asked to "leave" the site because they need to "clean" the area. Ya, because the ice melts and it will become wet, that's why they need to "sweep" it. We went back in at 12.30pm (the "cleaning" process took about 15-20 minutes, then the coaches/students/members were given the priority to use the ring for their own) and left at 1.45pm. Erm, S and H were quite good, though they hardly moved at first, they managed to walk independently without leaning against the wall. CT was slightly better, she already knows how to skate for short distance. She holds back when she already has the momentum to push forward thus she can't really go too far. J was, hmm, I would say a slow learner. Though she still needed the wall as her support, at least she managed to feel how it was like to "walk" independently without any support for some short distance. Its quite a success for her already, I would say, for a person who scares to fall down. As for me, hmm, I already know how to skate, just that, its not the right techniques and the body movements/gestures/postures (sorry, I don't know the appropriate word) are not correct. Thus, I spent quite some time observing how those who are pro to skate. At the end of the day, I managed to get the "feeling" of transferring body weight when sync with my legs which constantly pushes my body forward. (Pardon me for my poor English in describing my experience. Sigh!)
Everyone was famished by the end of the session, not to mention, we all could hardly walk! Thus, we decided to go to one of the nearest restaurant available, Tony Romas's. But erm, ya, the price was kind of out of our affordability, thus, J suggested that we go for TGIF. Hmm... Here's where I have a lot of things to write about. Haha. Wait, before that, here's a photo of our food.
 |
| Top left: Chicken & Shrimp Diablo; Top right: Cajun Shrimp & Chicken Pasta Bottom left: Osso Bucco; Bottom right: Key West White Fish |
While waiting for the food, we took our time to cam-whore (ya, nothing better to do right?), tried every single angle, distance, lighting, effects and so on (nah, too exaggerating eh?). It took them quite a while to serve to food though. Was it because of festive season that's why they were lack of manpower? Hmm.. Anyway, after SOME 25min did our food serve (there were only 3-4 tables waiting to be served). Seeing that the food were quite up to satisfactory, we enjoy ourselves with some random chatting topics. After we paid the bill, there's where the "moment" came! The following conversation took place (its just roughly what we said, NOT exactly what we said though):
Store manager (SM): Our restaurant has been one of the top in Malaysia and we would like to maintain our reputation. From poor to excellent, what would you rate for our restaurant?
H: Erm, not bad. (she didn't sound convincing though)
*SM looked at each of us waiting for responses.
Me: (when he looked at me) I would say, in the middle, not poor but not excellent either.
SM: May I know why you said so?
Me: One thing I want to know, the food took quite a long time to be served. And seeing that you are not having quite a huge crowd, the most about 4-5 tables, why did it take such a long time to serve our food?
SM: Oh, because some of our staffs left.
Me: They left? To where? To work for other restaurants?
SM: No, they left for Raya. (is that a "left"? They didn't, they just applied for leaves, okay?)
Me: That's why you all are lacked of manpower.
SM: Ya. We received complaints from two tables earlier and we really hope to get an excellent comment from this table.
Me: But it's true that we waited so long for the food! And... (he cut me off)
SM: You talked a lot eh?
Me: Ya, business student what. Is that a good thing?
SM: Of course it is. (he sounded annoyed though)
Me: Oh, thank you. I was told that I'm talkative.
SM: (he forced a smile) Can I give you a dessert? (a tone of insistence)
Me: A dessert? (looked at him with dubious eyes)
*He then passed us a menu and let us choose any dessert of our choice.
*I looked and them, and they said, "Of course the most expensive one!" (LOL)
* I pointed at the menu on the dessert we wanted and showed him, he nodded.
Me: A dessert. How long do we need to wait some more? Does it take a long time?
SM: Five minutes. You time.
Me: (with a grin and a nod) Sure!
*He walked off and came back after 3-4 minutes, with a plate of dessert.
SM: Is that five minutes yet?
Me: Less than five, thank you. (with a satisfactory smile)
SM: So now, can we get an excellent from this table?
*We exchanged looks among each other.
Me: Erm, okay then.
SM: So, because of a dessert you all give a rating of excellent? (with a serious tone)
Me: A dessert? Well, give us two dessert then! We will give you excellent after that. (LOL)
SM: (he shook his head) You! You are very good at this, aren't you? Do you want to work here?
Me: (I was shock) Oh, really? You want to hire me?
SM: Ya ya, are you interested?
Me: Of course lar! But I'm still studying and will be finishing at the end of this year. Is this offer valid 'till then?
SM: No problem. I'll let my staff to pass you the form.
Me: Oh, thank you very much! (with an appreciative grin)
*When we were half way enjoying the food, one of his staff REALLY did hand me an application form! I was stunned, I took the form with a thanks.
*The manager then hid himself at the back of the restaurant until the moment we left. S said, "See, the manager is scared of you already, you were so fierce and serious just now.
Hmm, was it because of the alcohol that's why I behaved in such a rude way? OMG! I hope I didn't offend the manager or anyone. If I did, it was unintentionally done, I really am sorry...
SM: Is that five minutes yet?
Me: Less than five, thank you. (with a satisfactory smile)
SM: So now, can we get an excellent from this table?
*We exchanged looks among each other.
Me: Erm, okay then.
SM: So, because of a dessert you all give a rating of excellent? (with a serious tone)
Me: A dessert? Well, give us two dessert then! We will give you excellent after that. (LOL)
SM: (he shook his head) You! You are very good at this, aren't you? Do you want to work here?
Me: (I was shock) Oh, really? You want to hire me?
SM: Ya ya, are you interested?
Me: Of course lar! But I'm still studying and will be finishing at the end of this year. Is this offer valid 'till then?
SM: No problem. I'll let my staff to pass you the form.
Me: Oh, thank you very much! (with an appreciative grin)
*When we were half way enjoying the food, one of his staff REALLY did hand me an application form! I was stunned, I took the form with a thanks.
*The manager then hid himself at the back of the restaurant until the moment we left. S said, "See, the manager is scared of you already, you were so fierce and serious just now.
Hmm, was it because of the alcohol that's why I behaved in such a rude way? OMG! I hope I didn't offend the manager or anyone. If I did, it was unintentionally done, I really am sorry...
 |
| Top left: TGIF!; Top right: Peach Daiquiri (Frozen Rum Cocktails) Bottom left: Brownie Obsession; Bottom right: Employment Application Form XD |
 |
| Hohoho... |
Part IV: Meeting up with my "jimui"
I departed from my house at 8.30am to the coffee shop we once hang-out last time. My friend, CY led me to his house so that I could park my car at his house (safer than to part it elsewhere), and then we went to fetch my jimui for breakfast. He had a bowl of laksa (I think so) while my jimui and me shared a set of dimsum because we both ain't heavy eater in the morning, hehe. Around 10 or so, we departed to KL and arrived at around 11 something, the traffic wasn't heavy at all, totally opposite as what I thought, whereby KL would be flooded with foreign workers.
We first purchased our entry ticket with RM2.50 per head. The cashier asked me why do I need to buy (because those under 18 are entitled for free entry), and I was like, "Ya, I looked quite young right?" When she asked me how old I am, I said, "Secret." LOL. I extended my member card for another three years for RM25 and got a free umbrella. Haha. Then, CY was off to level three to buy his stationery while we entered the first and second hall with English books. Erm, it was huge! Some of the books were sold at half price, while some at a discount of certain percentage. We went crazy hunting for books, and met up after some two hours time, stationed at a corner and started "filtering" some "unnecessary" books because, you know, kind of over budget already, haha. Well, I think my "filtration" wasn't thorough enough and that's why, I spent around RM300 on books. LOL
We then entered the third and forth hall for Chinese books. Erm, in my personal opinion, the Chinese section wasn't as enjoyable to "hunt" as that of the English section. In the English hall, books are arranged according to their categories, fictions or non-fictions, horror, thriller, cooking, self-development, romance, business, finances, while some of the novels are arranged in accordance to their authors, some of whom are Jodi Picoult, Stephen King, Sophie Kinsella and more. It saves visitors like us a lot of troubles looking for the books we want. In the Chinese hall, books are arranged according to publishers. In other words, it seems more like, Popular divides the area into number of slots/booths and rent them to the publishers. So, if you want to look for a certain book, you must first know of it's publisher in order to find it. Otherwise, you would have to wander all around the hall just to look for ONE book. Besides, the Chinese hall is noisier than the English's. I think they are targeting the younger generation, young kids and all, because they were selling comics, study instruments, some reading-pen, colour pencils, and you know what, moon cake, chinese tea and even TOYS! Argh.. The whole area around the TOYS stalls were a mess! We couldn't stand it any longer, the noise and not to mention, we were famished!
We went to the food court for lunch and hardly found an empty table, it was too crowded. However, we couldn't stand the hunger and thus, simply grabbed some "cheaper" lunch for the time being. Eh, it wasn't THAT cheap though, CY and my jimui had a set of Chicken Beriyani cost RM8 while I had a RM10.80 set lunch with Beriyani rice, Chicken Tandori (was it?) and some dall and potatoes. Expensive right? Sigh, its KL, what do you expect? After that, we headed back to our car to "keep" our books and went up again for SECOND round. Ya, that's because erm, quite a "handsome" guy at the voucher redeem counter told us that, its wiser to spend another RM70+ to get one more RM5 voucher. So, we went all the way up to level three and started "hunting" for some gadgets again. (you know, with an intention to hit a higher target of RM900) I bought a power bank for RM150 (with a free 16GB pendrive), a wireless mouse, a laptop bag, and erm, I think that's all. My jimui bought a headphone, CY bought his dad a presentation laser pointer for RM180+ (I think). And at the end of the day, guess how much three of us spent.
We took a few photos with a background of the Twin-Tower before we left to the car park. And, ahem, I know I'm a forgetful person but never knew I was THAT forgetful! When we were ready to make a move out of the basement, only did I realize that I left my umbrella at the counter (ya, I asked them to keep for me first because I didn't want to carry it along with me throughout the "hunting" experience, so inconvenient). I was so "paiseh" you know? (Note: it means embarrassed or ashamed) Luckily my jimui was nice enough to accompany me for a run all the way back to the counter to collect it. CY gave us 15min for this "mission" because of the time limit of the parking ticket, I guess. AND, luckily, we both were wearing sport shoes so yeah, much easier for us to run such a long distance! And you know what, we made it in 10min! Argh, we are so proud of ourselves for such a great achievement. lol
We went to Taman Melati LRT station to fetch a friend of CY, Ryo, whom promised to "inherit" most of his plant. After that, we went to Wangsa Maju for dinner. We passed by some "mamak" and saw a huge crowd standing in front of the television watching the badminton match between our hero, Datuk Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan. Though he lost, his spirit of never giving up make all of us proud! :) Anyway, I had a claypot chicken rice, my jimui had some chicken noodles and erm, I forget what CY ordered already (you see, how sucks my memory is T.T). At around 8.30pm or so, we headed back to Shah Alam and hangout at Starbucks. My jimui asked CY a lot of stuff regarding her newly bought Samsung Galaxy Note 8 on the apps and all, while CY was chatting with his friends via FB pm. Me? I had nothing better to do but to listen to their conversation. Or, was I? Nah, I can't really remember already. We left at 11pm.
Hmm.. Well, I guess, that's 'bout it. Though I didn't really had enough sleep for the past few days, its worth it because I got to spend quality time with family and friends for some bonding session. J and I, as well as my jimui, will be graduating end of this year, while some others will graduate soon, one after another. S, however, still have three more years to go, haha, all the best wey! After finished studying, we will have to start working and by then, it will be 10 times, or even 100 times harder to hang out because, we would basically get more tied down with work, not to mention, what if some of us moved to other states/countries? In a nutshell, I was very happy during this Raya break, relatives, jimui whom I've known for more than one decade, high school friends and high school tuition gang, argh, "sekaligus gao-dim" (Note: it kinda means, settled in one shot). Oh ya, still have seniors from university, hmm.. The coming weekend, perhaps? LOL
'Till next post, cheers :D
We first purchased our entry ticket with RM2.50 per head. The cashier asked me why do I need to buy (because those under 18 are entitled for free entry), and I was like, "Ya, I looked quite young right?" When she asked me how old I am, I said, "Secret." LOL. I extended my member card for another three years for RM25 and got a free umbrella. Haha. Then, CY was off to level three to buy his stationery while we entered the first and second hall with English books. Erm, it was huge! Some of the books were sold at half price, while some at a discount of certain percentage. We went crazy hunting for books, and met up after some two hours time, stationed at a corner and started "filtering" some "unnecessary" books because, you know, kind of over budget already, haha. Well, I think my "filtration" wasn't thorough enough and that's why, I spent around RM300 on books. LOL
 |
| The book in the middle is the most expensive among all. WTF... |
We went to the food court for lunch and hardly found an empty table, it was too crowded. However, we couldn't stand the hunger and thus, simply grabbed some "cheaper" lunch for the time being. Eh, it wasn't THAT cheap though, CY and my jimui had a set of Chicken Beriyani cost RM8 while I had a RM10.80 set lunch with Beriyani rice, Chicken Tandori (was it?) and some dall and potatoes. Expensive right? Sigh, its KL, what do you expect? After that, we headed back to our car to "keep" our books and went up again for SECOND round. Ya, that's because erm, quite a "handsome" guy at the voucher redeem counter told us that, its wiser to spend another RM70+ to get one more RM5 voucher. So, we went all the way up to level three and started "hunting" for some gadgets again. (you know, with an intention to hit a higher target of RM900) I bought a power bank for RM150 (with a free 16GB pendrive), a wireless mouse, a laptop bag, and erm, I think that's all. My jimui bought a headphone, CY bought his dad a presentation laser pointer for RM180+ (I think). And at the end of the day, guess how much three of us spent.
 |
| And guess what? I was the biggest spender of the day. OMG~ |
We went to Taman Melati LRT station to fetch a friend of CY, Ryo, whom promised to "inherit" most of his plant. After that, we went to Wangsa Maju for dinner. We passed by some "mamak" and saw a huge crowd standing in front of the television watching the badminton match between our hero, Datuk Lee Chong Wei and Lin Dan. Though he lost, his spirit of never giving up make all of us proud! :) Anyway, I had a claypot chicken rice, my jimui had some chicken noodles and erm, I forget what CY ordered already (you see, how sucks my memory is T.T). At around 8.30pm or so, we headed back to Shah Alam and hangout at Starbucks. My jimui asked CY a lot of stuff regarding her newly bought Samsung Galaxy Note 8 on the apps and all, while CY was chatting with his friends via FB pm. Me? I had nothing better to do but to listen to their conversation. Or, was I? Nah, I can't really remember already. We left at 11pm.
 |
| Only in Malaysia.. XD |
 |
| A few pots of plants which Ryo "inherited" to CY. Ha. |
'Till next post, cheers :D
=3= too lazy to climb stairs? Then I suppose ur too lazy to bathe also after a long day of work? lol. Many ppl have their bedrooms on the 2nd floor eh including me......lol i dun thk it requires much effort to climb just a few steps =.=
ReplyDelete2nd floor means 第三楼 leh.. your hse only double-storey rite? i wouldnt climb al d way up there lor.. its more than 20steps k? haha
Delete