Lunch at Oriental Pavilion

I decided to give my hubby a birthday treat this weekend, since he won't be around for his birthday. So we decided to go to Jaya 33 for lunch at Oriental Pavilion. The resturant look elegant and spacious. At the same time, there was also a wedding lunch reception in a separate area, so I suppose the private room should also be quite big. Since its for my loh kung birthday, we order the set meal instead of tim sum. Unfortunately, at this time of the day, I guess the norm is serving tim sum because we waited for almost an hour before our first course arrive and the next table to us already have 2 round of customers came and gone. But when our first course finally came, it was too quick for me but not for my hubby who is a fast eater. Before, I could finish the first course, the second is already serve until the last. At the end of it we have to wait another 10 mins for our simple dessert to arrive. In conclusion, the service is very poor. I asked a few times to let me know how long to wait, but did not get any answer. At least they should have to courtesy to let me know how long the wait. Then we have to wait again for about 10 mins for the dessert to arrive and then waited for around 15 mins for the bill to arrive. Eventhough the food is good and cost me RM207.00 for 2 persons including a pot of chinese tea, the waiting have made my first visit the last to Oriental Pavilion. I am a usual patron of Maju Palace and I have no problem there.

Hubby waiting hungrily for food to arrive

1st Course: Pan-Fried White Tuna Fish with Pomelo Sauce

2nd course: Double-Boiled Shark's Fin Soup with Shark's Bone

There is no shark fin inside this soup, except for some pinkish colour shred of something which I presummed is shark's bone.

3rd Course: Pan-Fried Iberico Pork Chop in Chef's Special Sauce, served to me on a chipped plate. The pork is tender and taste good.

4th course: Sauteed Black Fungus with Kai Lan

5th Course: Steamed Fresh Water Prawn with Glutinous Rice . I also love this dish. The glutinous rice is delicious

Dessert: Chilled Sago with Ice Cream and mango which took 10 mins to arrive

Toyota Merit Event - 27 Sept 2009

The invitation to Toyota Merit Event:

Precious Moments with Toyota Merit

held at Delicious Restaurant at Dua Residency, Jalan Tun Razak.

The host of the event Sharizan from Light and Easy and Azura

Theme of the event was chocolate indulgence. Plenty of chocolate and also food.

Surpisingly we won not one but two competition, i.e. the cup cake decorations and the chocolate trivia questionaires. Both also 2nd prize, so we got the same prize x2, i.e. the chalk bag which I don't know what use I

have.

The cup cake decorated by Zingi. Notice the Toyota Logo suggested by me to include in the deco and probably let us win the 2nd prize. Me and the cup cake and my family with all the prizes we won.

Oops My Vios

On monday it was raining so heavily around 3.00 till 6.00 in the evening. As Hospital Serdang does not provide parking for staff, we have to park in the common parking areas, that is open air. So my car was in the heavy rain from 3.00. At 5.00pm, in poor visibility I drove home. While driving, I was wondering why is there water dripping onto my right hand. Looking up I saw the roof next to the driver's door there was a wet patch and water was dripping down from there. My first thought was, how could a 2 years old car have leaky roof and I presummed that when I opened the door the rain could have wet it. So with a piece of rag that is in the car, I soaked up whatever water was there, but then it start dripping again after a few minutes. So now it confirm my worst fear, the car really have leaky roof. The next day I rang up Toyota service centre and they ask me to bring in on Wednesday morning. Well, they checked and told me that the water came in from the windscreen and took about two hours to fix. I hope that the problem is fix and I can't check till the next thunderstorm. And during the two hours hanging around in their showroom, I started to chat with one lady there. It seems her brand new Toyota just taken out on Friday, has leaky bonet. Hmm....I am thinking, will Honda be better?

Delicooker

Finally the stove is already fixed and can be used. The advantages of having an electric stove is that I now have extra space under the stove and the sink as I don't need dirty gas tank inside my cabinet as well as a spare tank under the sink. And my kitchen now look flat and neat

The disadvantages are since it uses high voltage, it need a 15amp plug i.e. the round plug point and round pin plug. And the food that boiled over onto the stove sort of got stuck onto it and cannot be removed using ordinary detergent. Last Sunday, my daughter cooked instant noodle and the soup boil over and until today I still cannot get rid of the stain. I tried putting on wet cloth over the stain to get it soaked, don't work. Tried to soak with vinegar...don't work. Tried to soak with soapy water...don't work. Now I know why the guy tried to sell me some detergent to clean the stove when he sent it on Monday. Of course, I don't want to buy when I can't even fix the stove, and I was trying to find out from Maybank whether I can return the product. Since Maybank says the return policy is by the merchant and the merchant has no return policy....I have no choice but to fix the stove, if not I will be paying more than RM3000 to be kept as a white elephant.

Delicooker by Vees Marketing

Soooooo.....dissapointed. Anyone interested in buying this Delicooker by Vees Marketing, my advice, DON'T!!! Why????

1. Bad service.
They promise to send the items on Saturday. But did not send until I have to call them and by then they says they cannot send as they don't know about it. So...they say they will check it out and send on Monday. On Monday, luckily or unfortunately I received the product.....that's when I found out how dishonest they are.

2. They are dishonest.....how?
Two major things that they do not tell you.
i. Plug point, that is you need a 15amp plug point. And I call up the company whether I can change to the 13amp which is the usual plug point at home, they says cannot. I must use the 15amp if not all warranty will be void. So....have to call an electrician to come and change the plug point to 15amp, incur extra cost that is not made known. And also make sure your plug point is under the counter top, if not you have to drill a hole on the counter top for the plug.

ii. Its a built in cooker....so if you already have a gas built in cooker....don't think you don't have problem. No problem, if the hole cut out for the gas cooker is too big, this one they have a frame which cost extra RM100 and since they have the frame with extra charges, they tell you about this. What happened when the hole cut-out is too small for the cooker. This is where the problem comes in.....find your own contractor or they find a contractor for you which costs RM120 to cut the hole bigger. And then you will have take more than a week to clean up the whole house if your counter top is concrete like mine.

3. No Return Policy
Since there is so much problem and I have to do major rectification, I wanted to return the product. But this company don't have return policy. In fact before they send the product, on the Saturday when I called, I was septical whether they can provide any good after sales service, so I wanted to cancel the order. But the company says, they have No Return Policy. Once bought is considered sold.

From Monday until today, I still cannot test or use the delicooker, I still waiting for my busy electrician to come fix my plug point. I am definately not recomending this Vees Marketing's Delicooker to any of my friends or relatives. And I hope that I am only one facing this problem and hope that the company is still around for another 3 years because I also bought an extra 2 years warranty.

Scalar-Ion

As I mentioned earlier, I don't know whether I got conned or not. I used up almost all of my maybank points to exchange for these scalar items. During the fair, when they try to prove it, it seem to have some effect. For example, when they ask us to stand on one foot, extend the hand out and holding the handphone with the scalar plaster inside, we seems to be able to balance better even when someone push down on the extended arms. I have yet to try the one I put in my handphone.

These whole items here cost my 15,000 points There are actually 6 small round ones and two plaster for the phone. I have used 2 small ones and one plaster for the phone

This pendent is 33,000 points

Maybank Treats Fair 2009

After months of waiting for the Maybank Treats Fair, its finally here. Usually I will be the there on the first day but now working in Selangor, I have to wait till the weekend. So today I went there early after picking up Hwei Xin in PJ and reach Mid Valley at around 10am so that I don't have to hunt for parking space. I have been waiting for this because its really a bargain going for this event. The waiting was to buy the Canon Ixus 870is camera which is to replace the one Hwei Xin lost in Liverpool. I bought it for RM1099 which is around RM200.00 cheaper that the shop outside. After that went walking around to see whether I could change anything with my credit card points. I wanted to change for a tefal saucepan, but they only have one high end model there. Then we chance upon a booth selling some gadgets called scalar enery....I don't know whether I got conned or not, but I exchanged almost all of my points for two pieces of it for the handphone and a pendent. With some points left, I exchanged for a Braun Rechargeable toothbrush.

Then I went to buy the filament stove with an extra 2 years warranty comes to around RM3200. And this item I sign up the 12 months 0% easy installment. Hwei Xin got herself a Nokia E71 and I also signed up for her with 12 month 0% easy installment which she will reimbursed me every month, I hope. Finally with a total of more than RM7000 of shopping, I got 23X lucky spin. In the spin, I got back some points, 3 different type of bags, 6 mugs, 3 set of

thermos and a lunch box.

The Stove Booth

My new Canon Ixus 870is. Sorry use the camera to take photo, so only the box.

Items I won at the free spin

Peridontal Treatment

Saving my teeth or wearing dentures? I don't know about the advantages of dentures, but I surely would like to save my teeth. I was loosing one by one of my good teeth to gum disease. And I thought I am going to end up wearing dentures like my hubby and he got this irritating habit of moving his denture to get rid of food stuck underneath and am I going to inherit his habit too....Oh no!!!. So after the last extraction of my big molar on the upper left, I decided to do a tooth implant which is going to cost me RM3,500 per tooth. Since Hospital Kuala Lumpur have it, I decided to get it done in there which will be must cheaper than a private dentist. On the appointment date, after getting the X-ray done, she found that I have a big peridontal problem and most of my bones have eroded and definately not a good candidate for tooth implant. And if not treated, I will end up loosing all my teeth in 2 years and she recommended me to the Dental Department in HUKM, as HKL do not have a peridontist. The first visit was again another X-ray, which is more precise, zooming into a few teeth and also using a probe to measure how deep the pocket was. The next appointment was to clean up all the hidden plague that is inside blindly. This was performed only on half side of the mouth. Local was given and the injection is really painful, but then the cleaning is not. After that, half the mouth is numbed for half a day. And the next appointment is to clean the other side. And then finally, another probe measurement after 3 months to see whether there is any improvement. Meanwhile, the dentist advise in addition to brushing, that is to floss and gargle with antiseptic mouthwash. After 3 months, my upper left side has only a slight improvement which she says is expected as my bones has eroded badly. An appointment was made on the 19 Jun 2009, to open up the gums and packed in artificial bones in between the teeth where the bones have disappeared. It took 2 and half hours just to do 4 teeth, with cleaning up all the dead tissues, packed the bones inside and stitching back the gums. Surprising I have only slight tolerable pain until today, so I am not on any pain killer. I am on antibiotics and papase (anti swelling medication), so there is only slight swelling. Tomorrow, I will be going back to work and hope that it will continue to be better.

Pulau Tioman (9 - 12 Jun 2009)

I was invited by my sister to go Pulau Tioman this school holidays. There were 10 of us going on this trip and so we went with 2 cars. I was the leader as I have the GPS with me. Using the malfreemap that I downloaded, the GPS brought us to Mersing Jetty without any major hitches except for a few confusing routes. There was one place which is supposed to turn left, but the GPS shows us to go straight. Fortunately, there's a signboard to guide us. On the way to Mersing Jetty, I am puzzled why the GPS ask us to exit to Yong Peng instead of Air Hitam which is a shorter route as well as a faster route. Anyway, on the way back, its shows us to exit at Air Hitam and coming back was a breeze with the GPS. We stayed at Salang Pusaka and the packaged of 3 days 2 nights include 5 meals (2 breakfast, 1 lunch and 2 dinner) as well as a 4 hours trip out to the surrounding island for snorkelling. We were serve breakfast late and with a full stomach, after snorkelling for half an hour and bobbing in sea, my stomach was not feeling good and I think I developed motion sickness, but after vomitting out a the whole lot of food, I was OK and started to enjoy my snorkelling near Tulai Island. There is no beach here and the sea is deep but there are plenty of corals and fish. If you want to get a close up of fish, get some stale bread, hold it with your fingers and all the fish will come, even those deep at the bottom will surface for a bite of the bread. But a bit caution, be careful when the bread has become too small or they will bite your fingers. I got bitten twice, but don't worry, nothing happened, surprisingly.

Waiting at Mersing Jetty for the ferry to take us across to Pulau Tioman. The journey to our destination at Kampong Salang took about 2 and a half hours

Catching the sunset at Salang Beach. There are lots of corals and many types of fish here, but unfortunately there are also lots of dead corals wash up at the beach. The locals told us that its because of the construction of the new hotel. The water is really crystal clear and we could see the corals and fish even standing on the jetty

My sister, nephew and nieces. Regretted that I didn't join my nephew and nieces to go snorkelling at Salang beach. And also not going scuba diving which is very cheap which cost RM85 if less than 4 person and RM80 if more than 4 for 2 hours i.e. 1 hour learning the techniques and breathing and around 45 mins diving to a maximum of 12 meters. Since we don't have licence, the instructor will only bring us for beach dive. Hope to do it next time.

PC Fair

Yesterday I went to the PC fair organised by Pikom at KL Convention Centre with my husband. Well, the PC fair opened from 11.0am to 9.00pm but we went there early so that we can park at the fixed price parking area and also right in front of the Centre. So with time to kill, we walk around Suria KLCC and also sit in the KLCC park waiting for the door to open. Instead going upstairs first and then finally going downstairs, we went downstairs first which is mistake, because they make in such a way, that you its a one-way journey and you have to pass every area and exit and go back another round. And mind you, there are human jam every where. Anyway, I got what I wanted to buy, i.e. a LCD Monitor and 2 CDs of Kaspersky with 6 licences. I wanted to buy a cheap LCD monitor but there none that cost below RM300. The smallest which is 18.5" cost between RM350 to RM390. In the end I settled for LG brand which cost me RM369. My hubby wanted to get a netbook which costs between RM1500 to RM2000 but I try to convinced him to buy a notebook, because for RM1000 extra, he will get a better one. In the end he bought a 13" ACER notebook with Intel 2 processor technology and 4GB ram. After that we meet up with my eldest daughter and went for lunch at Pizza Hut because we got a RM30 voucher for buying a computer with Maybank credit card. Then to the optician at Campbell complex to make glasses for my daughter as well as for myself and to trim off the chip end of my hubby spectacles. It was so jam, from KLCC to Jln Tunku Abd Rahman and also from there to Campbell complex. At the end we left KL at around 6.00pm and send my daughter back to my mother-in-law's house and then back to Tmn Equine for dinner.
We came back and unpacked the notebook to install Kaspersky and also Microsoft Office. We thought it will be an easy task, but we took more than an hour trying to completely get rid of the pre-installed McAfee and we have to resort to googling how to uninstalled this anti-virus program. Finally did it and after installing the Kaspersky, we have to activate online and another problem crop-up, after connecting to the wireless, eventhough its connected, it didn't want to connect to the internet...why????. Then we click here and there, it finally get connected and until today, still puzzled how suddenly it can connect to the internet. Anyway, got the registration done and finally install Microsoft Office and all this easy task only get to finish at around 1.00am the next day. What a long day!

Residents Association Meeting

Today, after 3 years of shifting into this township, I decided to attend the Residents Association meeting. It is supposed to start at 8.30am till 12.30pm. I arrived there at about 9.30am after going for breakfast with my hubby and sending him to the nearest bus stop to catch a bus to the bus station at Puduraya and from there to catch another express bus to Penang.
After reaching there at 9.30am, I am not surprised that the meeting has not started and I am the number 52 residents to arrive. Well, this township is seems has around a thousand household in this section yet at the end of the meeting there were a total of around 70 residents who attended the meeting.
A new committee was formed and a few issues were raised by some of the residents. The most important was the issuance of CF by the local council. It looks like most of the houses already got their permanent CF and yet I am left in the dark. Anyway, they gave us the telephone to contact the developer to enquire about the CF for those houses who have yet to get their CF.
The other issues that concerned the residents were the pot-holes that are on the roads, suggestion to put up humps on some roads and to extend the main road as planned when we bought the township.
Unfortunately I was also elected to be one of the committee member, which is something I am not interested in and also I will be the only female in the committee hold by all men and so I ask that I be exempted from becoming one of the members but in the end, I lose out and they decided to appoint another woman into the committee so that I will not be the sole female.

Malfreemaps

Last night, while searching to upgrade my garmin gps, I came across another malaysia map which is called Malfreemaps. Look like its created by the same group of people from Malsingmaps. Anyway, I dowloaded the latest version i.e. 1.41 (I guess its the latest) and copied the img file into my garmin. I find that the maps are more colourful and with POIs on the map makes things really easy, especially the petrol station, letting us know the different station.

The following are snapshots taken from my garmin nuvi

Farewell Presents

My last day in IMR, was with mix feeling. I was sad to leave because I am leaving a place I am familiar with and worked there for 26 years and I have friends in almost all other department in IMR. At the same time, I was glad, I am leaving to a place which nearer to my house and with my failing eyesight, I don't have to leave early morning while its still dark and apprehensive because I have not worked in a hospital environment before and don't know how it is run.
The following are the farewell presents from my colleagues and boss.

A Balmer watch from Sue.

A Polo watch from my boss

A comforter set from my office colleagues

My new workplace

I actually reported to Hospital Serdang on the 10th of March, but was deferred until yesterday. I didn't know there are so many forms to fill in Hospital Serdang. Anyway, I was told that I have to go to the Admin office first to get some application papers for the ID card as well as to access the computer system in the Hospital. Getting the ID card was a breeze and it took less than 5 minutes and the ID card is also the punch card for me to clock in and clock out as well as the access card into the lab. The clock-in and clock-out take immediate effect and the door access is supposed to work after 24 hours, but unfortunately until today, I still cannot access into the lab and have to have someone to zang me in.
They put in-charge of the Histopatology and Cytology lab. In the first place, I have never worked in a hospital before, and worst still in Histopatology and Cytology which I have no knowledge at all. And the smell of formalin eventhough is slight is giving me a headache. I hope it will passed. I ask most of staff, they also have the same problem and then disappeared maybe in 1 or 2 months, I think when one is immune to it.
Today, I got my User ID and password to access the computer. And the funny thing is, they never ask what user ID we would like to use but instead they gave at their discretion, which is just part of my name. So, I called and ask whether they can change it or not, but it seems the system cannot delete any data and so they cannot make a new one. I tried to change my password just now, but it does not allow me. I will try again tomorrow. Will put in some pics after I rearrange my room, maybe next week when everything is settled.

Back to Malaysia (10 Oct 2008)

The last of my travel blog to Europe. I book the Thai airways for my Europe trip as it was the cheapest I could find. Malaysian Airlines was about RM1500 more. So my flight was at 8.30pm from London Heathrow and than reach Suvarnabhumi airport at around 2.30pm and then a long walk to the transit area which is in another wing to KL at 3.20pm. Finally reach KL at around 6.00pm local time. Shop for a bottle of duty free liquor and ended up buying Barcardi Lemon which is still sitting around in the house. Nobody likes it, including me.

And also a pack of Dior miniature perfume which is only available at the airport duty free shop. There are actually 5 bottles and I have given away 2 bottles.

Manchester, UK (09 Oct - 10 Oct 2008)

Immediately we reach the hotel, we ask how to go to the city centre. Well, the main aim was to go shopping at Primark and also for lunch. Clothes at Primark is really, really cheap. I bought a nice hoody for my daughter for only 1pds. And for 10pds, I got her a long sweater. I could not buy much things, as our luggage is already full and the next day, I have to travelled by myself down to London and from there to Heathrow.


Piccadilly park with Primark at the background

Back to Belgium (05 Oct - 9 Oct 2008)

Book the Euroline bus to Belgium. Have to take a bus to the Euroline bus station at Gallieni which just a 5 mins bus ride from where we are staying. The trip from Gallieni to Belgium took about 4 hours. We have to return to Belgium as most of my daughter's things are still in my sister-in-law house. When we reach Belgium, she was kind enough to come pick us up at the station and told us why we stopped there which is a red light area. We stayed there for 4 days unti the 9th of October. This time we went shopping in Belgium. We also find that clothes are cheap here, i.e. if you know where to go. Well, I can't remember where she took us because most of the name are in French. I bought a nice sweater for only 5 euro for my daughter who is studying in Australia. And some baby clothes for another sister-in-law in Malaysia who just delivered a baby boy before I went to Europe. We left on the 9th October morning by Flybe airline to Manchester. It's about 2 hours flight from Paris to Manchester. We have problem with the Immigration.....thinking that we need visa to go to UK, even after we told them we are commonwealth citizens and allow to go to UK for 6 months without visa, but they still have to check, so in the end, we were allowed go in last. The plane was a small one, which is a 24 seater plane. Of course, its the cheap airline, like Air Asia, so no food serve unless you pay for it. Since UK did not have daylight saving, we reach quite early meaning in UK, like a two hours is just one hour behind. Took a black cab to our travel lodge hotel which cost us 20pds. We could have save the 20pds if the hotel told us that they provide free scheduled transport from the airport to the hotel and vice-versa.

Paris (01 Oct - 05 Oct 2008)

Day 4 (4th Oct)

Outside Notre Dame

The giant chandelier inside

When we came out of the church, we saw so many sparrows perch on top of the shrubs.

After that we took the train to the flea market. Unfortunately we forgot to take any pictures there. I bought a handbag for 15 euro and the scarfs which was quite cheap. There were streets upon streets of vendors.

Paris (01 Oct - 05 Oct 2008)

Day 3 (3rd Oct 2008)

This is the final day we have the car with us. And since Peugeot do not open on weekends we have to return the car today, i.e. on Friday. Left early morning to Courbevoie to return the car and from there took the train to Versailles. We were lucky that we met someone who is so kind as to take us to the train station and onto the platform to go to Versailles and in actual fact he is going the opposite way.

Train station near Courbevoie and around here are full of modern buildings

Versailles on the outside

The garden - Too big to explore and moreover after more than a month of walking, both of us have problem walking too long

Famous Hall of Mirrors

Paris (01 Oct - 05 Oct)

Day 2

From Eiffel Tower we get the bird eye view of Paris. Since our next stop was the Lourve, we search to see where is it and is it possible to walk there. After counting the number of bridges on the river Seine, we feel that we should be able to. The moment we get down from the Eiffel Tower, the sky turns so dark and both of us did not bring any umbrella. Fortunately along the walkway, there were full of chestnut trees which is blessing as it shade us from the rain and then turn in a hail and then finally drizzling.

Bird Eye view of Paris from Eiffel Tower

Walkway along River Seine to the Lourve

Alexandra bridge which is along the way

Finally at the Lourve and the sun is out again.

It such a huge museum. So we have to plan where to go as we only got 3 hours before the museum close for the day. So, the first stop is definitely the Denon wing to see the painting of Mona Lisa. Then walk along the way and admire the other paintings before reaching the Sully wing to see the sculpture of Venus de Milo. By the time we reach Sully wing, its almost closing time, so we rush through the others and have to forgo some places. Well, I guess to really admire all of the items, one have to be there for the whole day or maybe 2 days or more.