New and Improved Engrish labels

its been ages since i blogged... i think i forgot how to dammit... here we GO..

about a week ago i was at my normal grocery shop and i spotted this innocent looking pack of candy... it was mango in flavour but what struck me is was its labels... remeber the water being honest post... :P

Ok on with it it said this :
















let me say it out " May the breeze bring you the tenderness and warmth from me. Yet you are here at the bottom of my heat"

Whooaaa this candy kicks major ass according to the lable... It can give me warmth and tenderness from it... its kicks so much ass that is freaky... i dont even say that to my girlfrend not is it too cheesy but just down right weird to get warmth and tenderness from a candy...


when candy starts to say this i think of M & M's (check out the red one's posing... kids these days...) making illicit proposition to women like "i can give you tenderness and warmth from my glucose infused heart" or my personal favourite quoted from M n M's themselves of from 50 cent (the rapper not currency) "I melt in your mouth not in your hand" (if you get my drift he he he... :P)



then comes the second line "Yet you are here at the bottom of my heat".. ok what the *toot* does this mean... *nuff said*

I tought that was all untill i saw the bottom of it... it said :
















"Orange New Food" what the hey do they mean? there is a new food type called orange?
maybe this..

Penang Food Crazy

I love Penang... I love Penang... I love Penang... I love Penang...

last weekend my GF, 2 friends and i decided we would take a road trip to Penang Island for a ROAD TRIP... so we gathered our stuff and headed out to penang aiming for a gastronomical adventure...

we departed at around 7 am from Kajang heading out to our first stop at a town called Bidor... it is just a short frive from the highway making it a popular stop with people travelling north... this town is famous for guava (a type of fruit) which is like Malaysian verson of an apple (maybe not)... we didnt stop there for the guava thou we were there for out breakfast... they have a shop in town which is famous for their braised duck drumstick noodle... we reached there at around 9.45am and proceeded to order our food i also ordered another type of noodle and a few peices of yam stuffed with barbequed pork...

From top to bottom : Yam Filled with Barbeque Pork, Braised Drumstick with Noodles, Kolo Mee (noodles tossed in black soy sauce)

Breakfast was nothing to shout about but all were tasty and ok eating... we are our breakfast and bought some biscuits and headed off.

After another 3hrs of mind numbing driving we reached the Penang Bridge... a very welcoming sight indeed...

first thing we did we checked in to our hotel room at the Paradise Sandy Beach Resort after a toilet break and a short rest we headed out of our hotel... target Char Koay Teow... so after awhile of getting lost and looking at maps we found our targeted location "Lorong Selamat" this alley way is famous for the delectable Char Koay Teow... so we ordered up a storm... all had Poh Pia (chinese roll), Char Koay Teow (Flat Rice Noodle Fried with prawns, cockles, chili paste, soy, topped off with bean sprouts and chives.) , Oh Chien (fried oysters in corn starch batter with eggs) and ais kacang ( shaved ice with kidney beans, peanuts, sago pearls, grass jelly, and loads more goodies topped off with home made ice cream and sweet syrup) i.e the ais kacang here is already 3rd generation shop... all things were superb the Char Koay Teow was the best i have tasted and the big prawns serverd with it were succullent and tender... wonderful lunch to begin with...

after a really filling lunch... we headed out to explore abit... we took a spin and went to one of penang's landmark Bukit Bendera we bought our tickets and went up the hill via tram / cable car... it had a nice view of whole of penang and a few interesting stuff but nothing really capitivating... the nice cool environment was nice but nothing much other than that we spent a really long time to get back down as there was a large crowd of kiasu malaysians pushing and shoving their way through... NOT a highlight of the trip...

so when we got down it was already aroung 8pm we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up... after a much needed bath and quick nap we headed out to have our dinner at around 10pm... he headed to the all famous Gurney Drive... this is the Mecca for all hawkers in Penang... u can sample all the famous food, it may be less delicious but at least you have the all the variety under one roof... unfortunately for us it was raining that night so that put a slght dampen on things... but when we reached there we still braved the rain to make our orders we ordered Rojak Buah(mixed fruits in sweet prawn sauce), Juu Huu Eng Chai (Cuttle Fish with water Convolvulus), Sotong Bakar (Dried Cuttlefish Grilled), Oh Chien (as above), Char Koay Teow (as above) and Asam Laksa (long rice noodle in a tangy,spicy fish based broth) all the food was nice... but those who havent seen Gurney Drive in a long time its very nicely done up not with flowing water and proper electricity no more generators... its somewhat lost it touch but i guess its still of those must visit palces in Penang...

So after another filling meal we all went back to the hote at 12.30am and took our rest... Next morning all slept in untill about 11am... we proceeded to check out and hit the town to find another meal... before that we headed to the toy museum located just below the hotel it was an interesting place with many toys from all the movies and many more cartoons and of course starwars.. a good experience its like experienceing part of your childhood again... :p

so this time we headed out to find another Oh Chien Place which came highly recommended... after half hour of driving in circles we finally reached our destination.. it was a small cofee shop selling Oh Chien, Lobak(chinese fried sausages and other things), Wan Tan Mee (tossed noodles in dark soy with dumplings served on the side)... the food was great espicially the Oh Chien the oysters were big and juicy the starch was still crisp and the eggs finely fried... heavenly... the cakes from the next door bakery were very nice too...

after this filling lunch we decided to walk it off so we headed out to Kek Lok Si Temple... Its one of the biggest Temples i have seen before... Its crowning glory is a 120ft bronze Statue of Kuan Yin (bigget in the world so it claims) It is an impressive temple complex with many prayer halls and also shrines... we had to take a lift to the top pavillion where the statue was... at the top we were greeted with a nicely manucured garden complex with fish ponds and and bonsai's lining its perimeter it was a peaceful an tranquil place... after walking around and taking more pictures we headed back down to sample another penang delicacy Asam Laksa(as above) this has got to be the best Asam Laksa in town its fragrance can be smelt from ver far off... well it was amazing spicy and tangy very fragrant as well from all the fresh spices added very very satisfying...

after another meal we headed to the ferry terminal and took the ferry back to REALITY then it was another long drive back to my home... all in all a great trip very satisfying and happy but i think i put on loads of weight well back to my diet i guess... :P

Big Bowl Bugger...

Ok Ok its not exactly translated like that but its a funnier name.. wondering whut the "fish" i am talking about? Its is actually the name of one of the best "pan mien" stalls that i have tasted up to date...

Whut is pan mien..??? its basically a egg based noodle made fresh and cooked in a light broth and topped with fresh vegetables and a condiment of anchovies and fried shallots... a simple and yet very delicious dish... we went to try this palce recommended by a friend rumoured to server the best pan mien in town... so we made our way to Balakong a smallish town between Kajang and Cheras to savour this dish and we were not dissapointed the noodle was smooth and had the just the right consistency and texture... the broth was good nicely flavoured with ikan bilis and probally piggy bones... the topping of ikan bilis and fried shallots were genourously pilled on top to top of the wonderful dish... we also had a few pork dumplings in broth to complement the meal... a satisfying and simple meal... very very good indeed (here are some pics)



















The 2 dishes noodles and dumplings
















Close up... Yum Yum

Seafood Farewell

Sorry for the absence (not like i have many readers..hahaha) anyhoot last weekend was a flurry of activity i was preparing for my mum's birthday steamboat(will blog bout it later) and had a farewell dinner for a friend... First my friends farewell... a ex-colleague of mine was going to merry old England to continue his studies to obtain his masters. He will be going to the port city of liverpool (WOOT WOOT Liverpool FC fan here sorry). so some of us decided to throw a farewell party by having a nice seafood dinner in Bagan Lalang. Bagan Lalang is a small town in Selangor about an hour's drive from where i live in Kajang. its a quaint little fishing village near Sepang town. Its a nice place wit a respectable beach and nice scenery... it is not as big as PD and not as crowded as well (which is a good thing) the beach is about a kilometre only dotted with seafood restraunts and one or two hotels. Back to the farewell.. oh yah let me give u a pic of the guy we were sending off...

Ok so we decided to eat at this restraunt as the sign above... it was kinda cool as you could pick out the seafood u wantedand u could choose the style u wanted... we chose a large snapper to be the main dish accompanied by 2 small "cencaru" fish, some clams, bamboo clams and a few cuttle fish... they were prepared in varuious styles all quite good and tasty.. here are some pics

Hungry yet... ha ha ha... anyhow the food was nice with also nice
surroundings and a nice peaceful environment. A good farewell and a good day
trip..

The Malaysian Engrish

just something i foung interesting on the water machine in my office... it looks like any label we see everyday















WRONG... this is an "Engrish" Label let me show u...















See the slogan 'MELTS AT FIRST DRINK" clearly a cheap rip off off "Love at first sight" saying nut apart from the rip off check out the word "Melts" ..... melts? melts??? isnt water already in a liquid form? hermmm have to go cofirm this with my engineer cousin... how does water melt summore... :P :p :P.... on further inspection i found this...
















It reads "CLEAN & HONEST REVERSE OSMOSIS WATER"... nice and original... but wait my water is clean (hurray) and Honest (WTF) honest?? honest????... "dont buy Avian laaa the water not honest will cheat u wan....." i mean c'mon... when i read this i think of water that i drink trying to lie to me... it might say " dont drink me i wont quench your thrist" or "come drink me i taste like lychee..." or imagine water cheating old ladies out of their pension's... the newspapers would read "Old Lady Loses RM15k to Water"...or maybe this...





















The suspect is still on the loose... here is a composite sketch of him please beware....
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My GF's B-Day

My GF is going to kill me... i was supposed to write this earlier but here it is now even though its abit late... my GF's b-day was on the 8-Aug but i was planning this day long before... i was not sure if she had any idea hopefully not...

I was a nervours wreck hoping she would not find out...that i had pllaned anything. I started in the morning by buying a cake from secrect receipe. i was ducking all over the office because i was scared to find bump into her. i cleared that mission without a hinch but the cake was spotted by her anyways before the attempted suprise party.

At round 3 pm we all gathered around the pantry and called her out. We all sang happy birthday and she cut the cake as normal.. here are some pics...














After work i suprised her with a BBQ dinner at my house.. we had lam and chicken and nice sausages as well as potato salad as well. "Hope u had a good birthday my love. i hope we celebrate many more in the future.... many happy returns of the day... even though its 7 days ago... "

here is a short poem for u dear...

i once was single,
always free to mingle,
never tought i would find,
anyone soo kind,

a caring person u are,
enough love to fill a whole car,
love enough for u and me,
even for your family,

u never fail to make me laugh,
especially when times were rough,
caught me when i was falling down,
doing all this and never frown,

walked with me when i was happy,
when i was sad my burden u carry,
tolerated my shortcomings,
always being mindful of my feelings,

i never tought i could love someone so much,
untill i found your loving touch,
i promise to never leave yourside,
hopefuly for all time and tide.

~Alexander 2006~

p/s Mum's B-day is coming.. wondering how to suprise her.. :P

Barbeque and Karaoke

Weekends seem to get shorter since i started to work... well had a BBQ in my friends house over the weekend. i was in charge of getting the chicken and lam marinated and also making the potato salad... (both my specialities :P) well anyhoot we had it on a saturday at bout 7 pm... as usual i was a half hour late due to unforseen circumstances. when i got there i was greeted with a mob of hungry children and adults looking to skin and barbeque me instead of the chicken (he he he he joking). they are nice bunch of ppl.

so i started to get the fire going and started to sort my things out so i may get to barbeque 'ing ASAP. i took me less than 15 mins and we were in business... as usual i was my happy self in my element I lurve BBQ's. there were many people who "let go areoplane" (means didnt attend) so there was an overwhelming amount of food on the table. there were all sorts of delicacies... No photos too bad.. many people liked my BBQ chicke wings and lamb chops (enuff self praise balls getting too big)... alot of my colleuges children attended. the children were very adorable full of energy and spunk... sometimes i wished i had their energy and stamina... well all my bosses came as well... they were a sporting bunch joking laughing and making fun of everyone in such an informal way it seem that they were not my bossies for that few hours.. a big difference from my former department where the bosses were held in so high regard that no one joked and made fun of them at anytime whatsoever. this was a nice an refreshing new experience.

Ohh yah i brought my 2 snakes along as well... many the adults were afraid but most kids were more facinated than scared.. this make me wondered are kids more courageous than us adults... may be they have not learnt to be scared yet...

after all the good food and drink (alcoholic and non) started the session of karaoke... i must admit i am not a fan of this japanese invention... i do like music but not karaoke... maybe its just a bad past experience... when u say karaoke it conjures up images of old hokkien uncles belting out oldies from so singer in the 60's or auntie's belting out old Theresa Teng songs... "NI WEN WO AI NI YUO CHI FEN.... NI AI WO YUO CHI FEN...." yikes make me thing poor Theresa is probably turning in her coffin... i mean there are some good ones and some horrible ones... if you can sing please take the mike if not please let someone else do justice to the song... no wonder most karaoke joints have alcohol present when intoxicated everthing sounds and feels good... the general rule of thumb is if your singing is like a cat in heat dont sing in public...

My friend how ever did a respectable job of the karaoke session belting out new songs from SHE to Andy Lau and many more Hong Kong and Taiwan stars... me being the only BANANA(chinese who can only speak english) there didnt understand a single word the whole karaoke session...anyhoot after bout anhour i made my excuses and my depature... a long tiring evening but a happy and enjoyable one.

Freedom Lost?....

My FELLOW BLOGGERS... it is a sad day in Malaysia as our PM has announced that any blog spreading untruth or slander on the net can be charged or arrested... i wonder who will be judging these things or what will be considered an untruth or slander? are we to mute our collective voices and not comment on anything country related? if we make a comment about a political situations or politician will we be put into Jail.... is this the end of our "blogging" freedom as we know it... are bloggers going to be start going to jail over what they have said... I want to know your Opinions...

Have lost our freedom or not....?

link to the story on th STAR

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/8/2/nation/15022918&sec=nation

From Pigs to Ghosts....

*WARNING* *WARNING* NON HALAL POST *WARNING* *WARNING*

Over the week end, my GF, some friends and I decided to go have a Chinese specialty called Bak Kut Teh... we decided to go all the way to Klang to sample this delicacy. Basically it is a broth of herb and spices along with various of cuts of meat (normally pork or chicken) , pork bones and some pig innards. Its broth has a heady, aromatic and distinctive taste. because of the herb and spices added it is also a dark murky colour. (pics will come later) It is served with strong tea at the side which goes down well because the meat tends to be a tad bit oily.

We woke up at 7.00 to travel to klang that morning. After meeting with another friend, we proceeded to Klang. We reached the shop at around 8.30am. We ordered the a few diffrent cuts of meat and also some pig innards and chicken feet. The taste was wonderful and very very delicious and the meat was tender and very flavourful. I think we were all very hungry 'cos we devoured the meal in record time. it was around 10 am by then then we decided (we must have been real hungry) to go to another Bak Kut Teh place this time in Shah Alam.

We reached the other place at around 11am and procceeded to order. This shop was famous for its dry Bak Kut Teh. It was very diffrent as it was more aromatic and spiced with some dry chillis (Hot... real Hot). Although different, it was still good.

After a morning of carnivor'ing we then proceeded to the Shah Alam Museum to see a Ghost and Genie Exibition. It was roumoured to have a few ghost trapped or present. we waited a goo long hour before getting in to the small exhibit. there were many dubious looking cre4atures around. many of them looked like taxidermy experiments rather than proof of ghost. The Genie Exhibit was worse they had roots that look like snakes thus claiming them to be Genies that turned intop snakes and then to wood. Kinda far fetched if you ask me...

After feeling being cheated out of RM 5 we decided to go to 1 Utama to just have al look see... we hung out there till dinner time. We had dinner at a restraunt called Good Evening Bangkok... the food was wonderful but quite spicy. After that we went home tired but satisfied and full.. tiring weekend dont you think.... "someone call a tow truck i am too heavy cant move anymore"

toughts in the night

last night i couldn't sleep too well... so i tot of our mortality :-

in night's cold chill,
when everything sits still,
i think bout life and all its glory,
i thnk about death and all its worry,

"whut will i miss most?" i asked myself,
perhaps the acomplisment upon life's shelf,
most likely the simple things,
like hearing the phone ring,

swithing on a switch or driving my car,
to tavelling both near and far,
maybe the embrace of a love one,
or to revel in life's fun,

or will it be fishing in the streams,
or to forever sleep never to dream,
or maybe to eat and drink,
or even washing the kitchen sink... :p,

i think we will miss the small things in life,
for we take them for granted in our stride,
never to take time to sit and stare,
and marvel in wonders everywhere,

i know there is a heaven somewhere,
will we be individuals who are still aware,
of our past and our present,
or just an entity that populates heaven,

I wish someone can tell me,
wether my dad is there waiting for me,
i want to feel myself in his arms,
to keep me safe from all harm,

i guess no one know for certain,
only faith will cary my burden,
to help me carry on,
when all logic has never gone,

for now we celebrate life in all its glory,
try to live life witout a worry,
look at the mircles that surround,
like the flowers that come from the ground,

the miracle of life in all its spleandour,
the miracle of love in all its wonder,
give your love one a great big hug,
and a big fat kiss like from a pug,

say i love you every chance possible,
to every love one if you are able,
never go to sleep angry,
'cos you just wake up sleepy and cranky,

never let your last words be in anger,
for tomorrow he/she may be no longer,
then you will have the guilt like no other,
as i have bourne for now and ever,

go to sleep happy and do not hate,
for happiness can determine our fate,
i want to die happy with a smile on my face,
for everyone may know to love not hate.

I just got back from Terenganu just yesterday, it has been an eye opening and fun filled trip all round. Nice people, Nice food... and of course Turtles.... I better start from the begining... we all started out trip from kajang at round 10am after having b'fast of "hong kong chee cheong fun"best in Kajang... i think whole Kl then we started our drive to Terenganu.

At bout 2 pm we reached Cherating we had our lunch there here are some mouth watering pic...

After lunch then it was too the turtle sanctuary... after another hour or so driving we reached the Ma' Daerah turtle sanctuary...

It was then another 5 mins drive inland over some fairly rough terrain to reach the centre. we were greeted by a friendy group of people awaititng our arrival.

we had a short briefing and then we had a few hours or so to mull around the sanctuary. its main complex was a long house nestled beteween fir trees. we all check in to our hostel rooms and took a short break.

its a beautiful place cos it is a protected area all the forest is still primary forest and many wild life could bee seen from hornbills to marmosets ( a type of monkey )

we then at night had a video presentation after dinner and began the wait for the turtles. we were lucky as not long after the video presentation. we also learnt that all the turtles that were laying eggs here was the green turtle or penyu agar as the locals called it. we had our first turtle sighting. we also got to collect its eggs and place them in the hatchery...here are some pics...

we also saw a batch of baby turtles that just hatched...

we retired at around 2 am after letting the babies go and watching 2 turtles. it was very gratifying at the same time sad when we let these little buddies go as the survival ratio for these little fellas are about 1 in 1000-5000 released. "so when the buying stops the killing stops too".

we woke up the nex day around 10.30 and decided to go to the neighbouring Kemaman to do some exploration and have some b'fast. so after a short 15 mins drive we reached the town of Kemaman and decided to have breakfast at the legendary Hai Peng Kopitiam... these guys are the best in the business maybe its more comercialised now but the crowds still flock to this place. it arguably has the best kopi ais anywhere in malaysia. they serve an assorment of kuih and all sorts of local delicacies (try their tuna sanwich its marvelous) here are some pics of the food...

after that wonderful b'fast we walked round Kemaman town.. a nice quaint town but quite busy... full of old and new shops side by side... after sighseeing and camwhoring, it was time for lunch. we then proceed to have lunch at a sea food restraunt which was famous for its stuffed crab. we had a light lunc as we were stil full from b'fast.... more mouthwatering pics....


after the good food we all then went back to the sanctuary buying some durian back for the people there. after afternoon tea, we proceeded to the beach to dig and analyze the turtle incubation chamber by digging them out. we dug aroung another 20 hatchlings and also analyzed the ones that did not hatch... some of the eggs were not fertilized and some were eaten by preadetors. but they said a healythy 80% of the nest will hatch... have a look...



we then let them go... wonderful feeling....

after diggin in the sand bout one and a half hours we then went back to clean up take our rest and then have dinner... we had a game of cards with our new friends and waited for any night landings... we were very lucky and within a few hours we had another landing...

we were told that its was already digging the chanber so we all rushed grabbed our torchlighs and headed out and we were so luck to see this mama turtle in the act of laying eggs... priceless..
Here are the pics...


well after that no more turtles surface that night... it was very priceless my encounter with this ancient mariner. we all knocked off earlier in order to get some rest. we all woek up about 9 am the next day. we the washed up and proceeded to pack out things.... i will miss these turtles they have given me so many new and wonderful experiences. i just wish that my children may have the channce i had. i will surely go there in a heart beat... "yo lan nex time ure the first person to i call bro" we all left this pristine paradise with a heavy heart but all vowed to comeback in the near future... COWABUNGA... he he he had to do that... Ohh yah we had some lemang on the way back... :P thanks for reading such a long post ohh yah for those interested u can get in touch with the turtle sanctuary at their website www.madaerah-turtle-sanctuary.org