JB-Spore trip

DAY 1

The holiday was a bittersweet experience because it was an impromptu decision. Not much preparation was done.. I mean not as much as I wanted to.. On our first day, we spent the day by driving to JB and made a quick stop at Batu Pahat to taste the famous mee racun. Yes, you read it right.. the name is mee racun.. :0 It tasted more like mee bandung only the soup is thicker with potato and an egg in it. The stall received a good review from a forum on the net and I agreed with the writer. We continue on our journey to JB and found a cheap hotel which is within our budget. Haha! :D Well it was the first day and we're going to be on foot for most of the time, so why waste money? ;) We got a nice hotel (Tian Jin Hotel) for a merely RM59 per night. I think it was a good bargain as it was on school holiday and few days before xmas.. It has a hot shower, a tv, hot and cold water, maggi mee and coffee. It was better than what I expect for RM59. Later that night, we indulge ourselves with nasi ayam penyet at Benafe Cafe which also had a good review in forums on the net. :)

DAY 2

The next day was the big day as we were heading to Singapore for the next 2 days. We park our car near the pasar borong Larkin which is situated beside the bus terminal. It was RM2.50 per day which is affordable. ;) We took the Singapore-Johore Express (SJE) bus for a merely RM2.50 per person. We bought 2 tickets and continue our journey to Singapore. We had to stop 2 times before we reach Spore. The first was at JB Sentral - huge and very modern architecture. We check-in at the immigration Malaysia and straight towards Spore and had to stop again for the Spore immigration in order to continue our journey. It was exhausting to queue up every time you're at the terminal. I am surprised how the people that lives in Johor commute daily to Spore. Unfortunately, I had seen ugly scenes of people who cut queue and being kiasu at the terminal. We were not in rush so we gave in but it was shocking to see it personally. There was a lady standing beside me pretending to check if the bus has arrived and then, just stand there pretending not to the lines beside her and somehow the newcomers not knowingly just queuing up behind her and forming double lines. My mistake was I didn't confronted her earlier and it was too late when I did. She was being ignorance and kiasu. I hated the situation but I hated even more to be step on for such matter! That was my first impression of Singapore and I only can hope for the better. Fortunately, I met a Singaporean girl named Suriyanti while on the bus and she was very helpful on describing places, things to do on the island. Thanks to her, I'm able to plan my trip well. When we reached at the bus terminal at Bugis street, we walked to nearby MRT station. We were surprised with the MRT sytem that they have. The definitely have a good public transportation on their hands. We bought 2 Ez-Link cards for SGD30 and they're refundable. However, SGD5 was charged per card and that's not refundable but since they offer discounted price if you use EZ-link that's a good bargain for me. :)

Upon recommendation by Suriyanti, we made our way to Geylang by stopping at Paya Lebar station. The people are helpful in giving direction and we found our hotel in no time. We decided to stay at Hotel 81 Opera which situated at Joo Chiat Road. It's Singapore largest top value budget hotel chain at various locations. It cost us SGD59/night and it's a walking distance to a bus stop. :D After refresh ourselves at the hotel, we decided to make a move to Mustafa Centre. We took bus 33 from Joo Chiat Place and heading to MRT station. When we reached Mustafa Centre which is situated in Little India, little did we know that it's a 24 hours mall and anything that you need, you can get it there. The concept is more or less like Mydin but they stacked up branded expensive stuff such as Clarks like it only cost SGD5 while actually it was SGD100. :0 Finally, our last stop for the day was Orchard Road. We stopped at Wisma Atria - Orchard MRT station and we just stroll along the street with the beautiful lights and decorations along the street. :D

DAY 3

We had our lunch at a resraurant not too far from the hotel. We met a nice lady who's the owner of the restaurant. She was telling us on the high utility bills and rental that she has to pay. The rental alone cost her SGD11k. >.<>.< style="font-style: italic;">factory busses just took on pasengers over the limit and people keep on pushing to get in.. - in the middle of the road.. >.< style="font-weight: bold;">

DAY 4

Before we leave, we had our lunch at Singgah Selalu. They have a wide range of Malay food. Then, on our way to KL, we made a quick stop at Coconut Shake near Tg Keling, Melaka. There were a lot of people queuing up for it. It was good and refreshing! ;) Heavy downpour of rain welcoming us back home - just like when we left it.. :D

EMTC dinner party @ Westin

After hours of flipping coin - going or not going. Finally, I decided, why not? :) It was held in Westin Grand Ballroom. Very nice ambience and great lighting indeed. I hesitated when I walked into the hall. I was a little late since it started at 6:30 p.m. and I reached there around 7:30 p.m. so I missed out the cocktail and photography session. The door gift on the other hand is just - "useful" ?. Screw driver + torch light - well, you expect that from Exxon. I love it! No kidding! Haha!

As for the food, overall it was ok. Fancy dishes, served after one another and served by the servers was just nice. Nothing too great about the food. It was ok. You'd expect that from hotels. **Too much hotel food till it makes no difference** :( On the perfomance wise, I think it was great! EMIT are well known for being creative and sporting when it comes to performing on stage. Actually it was the event that we are looking forward to. However, this year, big disappointment from the leadership team. They didn't perform anything. As usual, every year, we are anticipating it. They came up looking like Monroe or Haitian warriors with pride. Love it! But this year, nothing. It's a bummer not to have our lovely AA performance as well. They're cool, hip and very young at heart! Bummer! I hope next year, it'll be different.

I am on-call for the week so my boss received a call earlier and was so worried if it was a problem call. So I hurriedly log on to my laptop in the parking lot and get connected. No P1, no calls and lastly I called up the HCC to confirm that if there's any calls made to our team. Luckily, no calls from them and my boss gave green light to get into the party again! Haha! I missed out 1-2 performance and sadly it was the winner. I hope they recorded it somewhere. *Keeps finger crossed*

Overall, the committee did a great job all year round with wonderful events and the dinner party was just classy indeed. Not all were happy with the concept -Prom Night but it turned out to be a hit! Kudos to all the committee! ;D

Eat All You Can - DURIAN

I promised my sister that I'd bring her over to durian buffet. We love durian! A proud Ipoh-rian indeed! Haha! I came across a webby on durian buffet located at SS2. It's fairly easy to find as it's just behind Bhp SS2. It has decent washing basin and free plain water for you. You can order up coconut drink as well. Yummy! Yummy!

Menu:
Durian buffet - RM15 (Served durian susu/kampung)
Coconut drink - RM4

Info: RM9 Buffet only available from Monday - Friday.
RM15 - Weekend / Public Holiday

Durian SS2
Ah Wai
012-234-5619
Operating Hours: 12 p.m. - 12 a.m.
Website: http://www.durianss2.com
Email: durianss2@gmail.com
Click here for Map

Lunch @ Selera Rimba, Sajian Ala Banjar & Jawa

Last week, I heard about exotic food being served at a restaurant not too far from KL. I was so eager to try it out and was trying to sell the idea hard to our makan2 team. I think there's no better way than to try it out myself first. Me, Fauzy, Jiejah (my sister) and Zhafran started our journey at 12 and reach there at 1:30 p.m. It was just beside the main road and it's located far deep inside felda. About 35km~ from the Felda Kg Soeharto sign board so be sure to have your tank checked and you can expect beautiful scenery along the way.

The restaurant isn't as pack as I imagine it would be. My first impression was it's small but the interior is just nice and clean. They have variety of kampung (village) style food served for you to choose but I'm eyeing for the exotic ones so we have to order them separately. You just need to say it out loud what you want and the servers are helpful in suggesting the signature dish and favourite items. They don't have it on menu but they can custom made it for you. Our main menu is Landak (porcupine) Masak Lemak Cili Padi - a real spicy entry indeed. Then, we were intrigue to taste Rusa (deer) masak kicap and Baung (fish) masak cili so we picked them out as well. These are hard to get items even in Malaysia. We want to add something close to us such as Ayam (chicken) and Udang (prawn) goreng berempah into our menu. Last but not least my favourite ulam and definitely sambal tempoyak for me.

I enjoy a lot the authentic taste of the dishes and the spicy taste is just right for the dish. Landak (porcupine) taste is a bit unfamiliar to me. The meat is a little hard than what I expected and rusa (deer) meat has a strong smell to it. However it does blend well with the sauce. We finish our plate with a smile on our face. Love it.

On our way home, we stopped by at a Kelapa Pandan (Coconut juice) stall for RM2.50 per packet. It was refereshing and really nice.

Overall, it was a good experience for me and I enjoyed my luncheon wih my family. ;) Thinking of planning a trip with my mom and my friends later.. :)

Thanks Zhafran for being a good sport along the way.. :P Good boy!

Menu:
Landak Masak Lemak Cili Padi
Rusa Masak Kicap
Baung Masak Cili
Ayam Kampung Berempah
Udang Goreng Berempah
Ulam + Tempoyak Sambal Belacan
RM140 (after discount RM4)

Food: A-
Service: B+
Price: B- **Considering the authenticity and exotic food. Still ok.
Food Portion: A
Ambience: B+
Overall: B+

Selera Rimba Ala Banjar/Jawa
Hamka B Jaafar
Kg Belia 2, Jln Sg Panjang,
45300, Sg Besar, Selangor.
Tel: 016 316 0344
Operating hours:
11.00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. (Friday off)
Coordinates: 3°42'32"N 101°10'33"E

Zhafran admitted to the hospital for mild gastroenteritis

Zhafran was vomitting few days before we took him to Pantai Hospital. Started on Sunday and we brought him over to An-Nur for consultation and received medicine to cure the illness but on Wednesday, he's gone from bad to worst. At the time he lost a total of 900gm of his weight and Dr Azam immediately suggested Zhafran to be admitted on the same day. That was the best decision that I've made. He wasn't eating and slept all the time. If he does awake, he just laying onto his belly and look at me. No movement at all. Even when he sleeps, he wanted to sleep with me and not in his bed. I was so tired as I didn't sleep for 3 days because he even vomits when he sleeps and was so terrified of the idea of his choking his own vomit. It was very hard for me care for him - to see him that way.

Dr Azam took Zhafran's urine, stool and blood sample and there wasn't any trace of anbormailties. Since he weight keeps on declining plus he's not eating well, doctor suggested to give him intravenous drip. The sight of seeing him crying his lungs out just hurts us so bad. The doctor struggle to find a vein as for baby it's not easy to find it. Doctor tried on his hand but no avail finally he 'caught' one on the feet which I think it's great because it's away from his visual. I'm afraid that he might "play" with it if inserted on his hand.

The intravenous drip works wonders. He's energetic in the next morning and start taking his milk normally. We were ready to get out of the hospital but the doctor was very busy that day so we went back later the evening. :)

Now, after few days, he is healthy and has been eating ever since. He eats a lot and gained back the lost grams in no time. He's playful and happier now. :D

Thanks to Dr Azam for the good consultation and being able to tackle the situation very well. :)

Osvaldo & Diego - Trip to KL

Our colleagues from Argentina spent the whole 2 weeks in Malaysia and a week in Singapore for training. Aren't they lucky? :P Sadly I was on training on the first week and only met them on the second. It feels like you've known them for ages. They're great, easy going, fun people to be around with.





**The best team in EM**

My camera is still with Fahmy so I'm stuck at copying people's photos.. Haha!

The Spaghetti Farm @ Mid Valley

I love spaghetti. I just couldn't resist having spaghetti at any time on any day. I just love the home made spaghetti beef bolognese. I could finish the whole pot of it. Well, that's describe a little bit about my craziness towards spaghetti. Ha-ha!

Me and Fauzy went to Mid Valley to get Zhafran's 'free' pampers from Toy's 'R' Us and decided to have lunch there and once we saw the restaurant - The Spaghetti Farm, we know that's what we wanted to have. I was so excited as it's my favourite food. The tag line - Wholesome Italian Meal is just engaging and I was gladly to give it a try. The restaurant is nice, comfy and the service is not bad either. However, I can't say the same to the food - except for the mushroom soup which was nice.

We didn't wait for too long to have our pasta (which is a plus) but I was disapointed just by looking at it. It was served in a bowl, well that's the first in a restaurant. :) I've no complain on that though as I do eat my spaghetti a bowl at home. The visual presentation of the Spaghetti Beef Bolognese is just ee-yew. It's "sticky" which was overcooked and it has an unpleasant smell too. The sauce wasn't good either. It tasted like it was only cooked with maggi tomato sauce and added beef into it. That's all! I didn't even finish my food and I hated that. Then, I looked over to Fauzy's Carbonara dish and have it a try. It looks nice though (like the normal ones) but the taste is bland. It should have a creamy feeling to it but it was nothing. I tried to add cheese to it but still, nothing. It's a great idea to have such restaurant as many people loves Spaghetti. It's a simple dish and usually it is hard to not make it right. It is mostly disapointing because of it is their signature dish. You can not go wrong with that. That shows the whole concept of your restaurant.

I've had an authentic Italian food as I travel around a lot but this is not any near to the authentic Italian at all.

Spaghetti Beef Bolognese *Value meal + Coke + Mushroom soup
Carbonara *A la carte
=RM20.80 *Not sure why the waiter took our receipt when he found out the cashier wrongly key in the the table no. I should've took it back :P Oh well..

Food: D
Service: B *There was a mixed up on the table no but that's alright.
Price: B *OK price and the value meal is just great
Food Portion: B
Ambience: B
Overall: D *All about the food

The Spaghetti Farm,
Mid Valley
Check out their webby for more details.