Of coming, going and staying put.

Gosh, it's been more than half a year that I've neglected to pen down my thoughts in here. But then again it's not exactly out of character.

A lot has happened in the past 7 months. There was a 2-week London trip, more Bali trips, made new friends, attended some get-together, had a great family photo shoot for Aidilfitri and celebrated mom's bday with a trip to Universal Studio, Singapore among others. Hmm.....each of these events would have made a great blog post! Maybe I'll write about them later. But as much as I love travelling, I really do enjoy staying at home. I'd be on the couch, with the remote in hand, watching movies and cool TV shows like my current favorites - Fringe and Modern Family.

In a few hours, I'll be flying off to a place I've never been before, Bintulu, Sarawak for a week. From what I hear, people most often visit Bintulu for work and most of them are in the Oil and Gas Industry. Staying true to a cool routine, I'm going in conjunction of a hotel opening (read: work).

As always, I'll be scouting for the following: Great local food, best cinema the town has to offer and high quality dvds (yes, the gold disc, not the dvdr) :P

Too bad there's no Starbucks over in Bintulu.

Of nasi pedas, tipat and hating vegetables

I'm at my Third Place again. Leaving for Bali in about 2 hours. There is a Venti Espresso and Cream Frappuccino (nothing beats sipping a Frappuccino early in the morning!) on my table and beside it, is Grandma's Apple Pie. Well, not my actual grandma's of course :P

I like Bali. I like it a lot. I'm sure Jason would disapprove. Hehe....Jason is one of my colleagues and I guess he hadn't had a good experience in the Island of the Gods yet. Speaking of which, I should really get him that I Love Bali tee. :P

As always, I make it a point to try out local dishes wherever I go. It often adds a plus point to my destinations :)

My mom loves spicy food, so when we were told during our trip that there's a famous spicy rice dish in Bali called Nasi Pedas, we knew she must try it! And boy did she love it!! You see, there's been other told-to-be-spicy dishes in Bali that she has tried, but none is as spicy as she likes them to be. So, with this Nasi Pedas, my mom has finally met her match! Seduced by curiosity (as opposed to by my fondness of spicy food), I, on trips I made later, tried it myself. And yes it is AWESOME! Okay, granted that I had just a tiny bit of sambal, but side dishes offered are cooked spicy anyway, so there's really no escaping the spiciness. Behind all the hotness, there's a taste that is too delicious to describe. Especially if you get those crispy small fish. YUM!! So, let it be known that if you're ever in Bali, you should never leave without having at least one helping of the heavenly-spicy Nasi Pedas. And if you think "No thank you, I cannot take spicy stuff", guess what? So can't I. You gotta try it, still.

And if you find the urge to chicken out too hard to defy, then I have something else for you. It's called Tipat (am not entirely sure how to spell it but that's how it sound like when they say it). It's very similar to Nasi Himpit or Ketupat. This dish is a mixture of cube rice, bean sprouts and long beans - all wonderfully covered in a creamy n spicy (or lightly spicy - customized to your liking, you chickens! LOL!) peanut sauce, which is hand-made fresh, right before your eyes! It is fantastic!! It's munching-on-the-bean-sprouts-and-long beans good!!! And if you know me at all, you'd know that that's bad for me! Haha!!!

So yeah, I hate vegetables. I have been for as long as I can remember. I'm not sure why, but I just can't agree with the taste. Especially those with stems. Top hate items are carrots, tomatoes, celery. Urghh! But there are exceptions. I can generally take in those that are crushed or mushed beyond recognition such as Kangkung Belacan or any other strictly leafy vege variations. That or anything drenched with peanut sauce, vinaigrette or other tasty dressing (honey mustard sauce also comes to mind). Ooh there's another exception - Popiah. That, I like! :)

I'll be in Bali over the next 5 days and am looking forward to enjoy the 2 amazing must-haves there.

Care to join me?

Of Mee Sapi, being late and Top Spot

I'm off to Kuching today for a few days - work trip as usual. The first time I visited Kuching was February last year, when I had a seriously-screwed-up issue with my then new phone - it auto-switched itself during the night, so the alarm I set died with it! Thanks to that, I came late to the training session I was conducting for the Waterfront hotel team. My first day of work in Kuching and I was late to my own training!! Crap.

To date, I've been to Kuching several times now and apart from making friends (which is always cool!), I also get to enjoy Kuching's gift to the culinary world - The Great Mee Sapi!! It's an awesome dish instant-like noodles with spicy soy sauce, thin and soft beef slices and served with a bowl of soup. It's divine! A must-have whenever I'm in the cat city.

But that's not all I eat here (Is it ever?) Khai have introduced me to this out-of-this-world seafood venue with a name only a few can decipher. It's called Taman Kereta. Why? Because it's a Car Park (It really is!). So I felt just a little tad stupid asking Khai the question. Hahah!!! The dishes here are all exquisitely-delicious and affordably-priced!! One of the best value you'd get in a seafood place, if not THE best!

So guess what I'll be doing for the next few days in Kuching? Well besides work I mean :)

Of Kuching, work and Bing!

Having been in Kuching a while now, I've patrolled the streets and malls a bit in my effort to uncover secrets the town has to offer. Then on one night, I came across Bing! coffee, two shop lot rows behind my hotel.

This was my second visit to Bing!. Khai had brought me here during my first trip to Kuching a few weeks ago. We came to this outlet at first, but was told that their La Marzocco was under repair. A kind staff then suggested for us to go the their only other outlet located somewhere on the way to the airport. Khai wasn't entirely sure so the guy tried his best to give us the simplest of directions. And so we tried and we found the outlet. I ordered a Mochachino and it tasted nice, unsurprisingly since they use illy coffee.

Halfway through our drinks, one of the staff came over and asked whether we came from their other outlet and we said yes. Khai asked why and the staff said the staff we met earlier had called in to find out whether we were able to find our way. We said to ourselves "Now isn't that nice?" It always feel great to encounter such courteous and genuinely nice people in the service line who takes pride in making people happy! That was a big plus point for Bing! for me.

And so I was really happy to have found out that the first outlet I went to was just around the corner! I walked in and had another cup of Mochachino. The environment was great and the staffs seemed friendly.

I am now at Bing again for their coffee, WiFi and their comfy sofas. hehehehe. Naturally I would be at Starbucks but there are none within this part of Kuching town. The nearest one is in The Spring and it would cost me RM12 by cab, one way. Therefore I'm here.

Started working on site today doing room checking and all. The anticipation is building as opening day is just 6 days away!


Hmmm......hope I'll lose some kilos!

Of home and away

I have been away from home for a few weeks now.

It started from 1st Feb. with my trip to Kuching. I went back to KL on 6th Feb. After spending the weekend in KL I went to Penang on 9th Feb for 5 days. On the eve of valentine's day, I was on my way to KK. After a week in KK, I am now back in Kuching since Friday. I will probably be here until mid March.



I miss my bed and my pillows.

I miss driving my car.

I miss sitting on my sofa, watching dvds.

I miss Rock Corner.

I miss my friends back home.



Guess I'm just not used to traveling and being away from home too long.

That saying of "practice makes perfect" had better be right!

Yes Man

I arrived in Kota Kinabalu (KK) today for a meeting at 1Borneo. The meeting went ok and right after it ended I went straight to GSC to check out what the cinema has to offer. I got two tickets to Yes Man, one for me and another for my colleague, the cookie monster.

I'm not exactly a big fan of Jim Carrey and his facial contortions, but the trailer looked nice and I was pretty sure that he has evolved from all those a-little-too-funny-that-it's not-funny-anymore characters of his.

Throughout the movie, I laughed out loud several times, which was so unlike me. Hehehe. There were also parts that were kinda predictable and a tad un-funny but it was all saved by Zooey Deschanel, whom I really like nowadays. I've been a fan of hers since the movie Elf, which happens to be one of my favorite xmas movies.

A few take aways from the movie:

1. It is important to say what you mean and mean what you say, no matter how hard.

2. Life is never just black and white, it is often grey.

3. Jogging photography is very in nowadays. Hehe.


This was my second movie for the year and yes, I'm saving the stub!