22 mins ....

Our Lady of Lourdes Church

a shop along Little India

It was an unexpected trip down memory lane for me….

For the final installment of my car’s hire purchase, the Bank advised me to go personally so they could issue me a release letter immediately. I figured it was more logical to take a bus as driving all the way to Klang would definitely stress me out.
The bus-stand is situated across the road from my shop. It is literally a bus-stand because you really have to STAND while you wait, since no benches are provided. There is no sign to indicate it is a bus-stand, we just know it is.

Some things never change. Because of its proximity, I can wait at the sidewalk of my shop and run across when the bus approaches. The best part is you can board ANY of the public buses with no chance of ever catching a wrong bus as they all stop at the terminal in Klang. Should too many oncoming cars causes you to delay reaching the other side, don’t worry. You can stand at the divider and wave like a mad woman and the bus will stop for you in the middle of the road! Staying in a town area like Port Klang has its benefit!

9.45am, Wednesday morning saw me asking the bus driver how much was the fare to Klang. He replied RM1.20. You drop the coins at a slot and the driver hands you a ticket. They did away with the bus-conductors ages ago, did you know? Less one career choice-loh, although I don’t know if anyone would admit that his/her ambition is to become a ‘bus conductor la!’ Anyway, the fare used to be 25cts only! Tsk!! Tsk !! Of course those days the buses weren’t air-conditioned.

The 1st few minutes were uneventful. We reached the Simpang Lima roundabout and the bus took the road past Our Lady of Lourdes Church and Convent Klang. Oh my, when did the Church build its annex? Is the Klang Library still around? How long ago was it since I passed through this part of town?

Next to Convent, there used to be a food court. It was where the Rojak Sepanyol had its humble beginnings, and the assam laksa was 1st class along with the Sotong Kangkong, Satay, ABC, Nasi Lemak etc…etc…remember, S & M? We went often didn’t we? Or at least I know I did.

As the bus inched its way slowly along Jln Tengku Kelana, (Little India) once called Rembau Street, I recalled there used to be lots of dental clinics in this vicinity. As a fifth former I visited each one of those clinics explaining I was a dental student, and how grateful I would be if they could spare me ‘teeth’ that had been extracted from patients. (Kept in bottles of disinfectants.) Aiyoh.. you all think I weird -ah? Actually I was doing my friend, Ramlah, a favour. She was doing Dentistry in U.M. then. I have lost touch with her since but not before hearing she was lecturing in U.M. after completing her course. Now you know why I didn’t do well in my studies. I was busy helping others to succeed.

The bus stopped at a red light just outside Chin Trading. It looks the same after all these years. This was where we bought materials for our school’s art projects i.e. screen-printing, decoupages, tie-and-dye, copper tooling …and don’t know what else. The medals, trophies and plaques displayed on the right side of the shop reminded me how I had longed to be awarded with even the tiniest one of those medals during my school days. Fat chance ‘cos I didn’t excel in games, or studies so none of those dreams of me receiving a trophy ever came true! It struck me that morning that I could probably afford to buy anything in the showcase, maybe even the whole lot, but it’s not something I crave for anymore. Dreams change…

The light turned green and the bus went past Masjid India, now undergoing renovations, and up the bridge. We’ve almost reached our destination.

Year ago, Great Wall Supermarket along with all the shops below it, including the bus terminal had been demolished. The terminal is an open-air concept now. I see touts for bus companies’ announcing the destination of each bus about to take off with megaphones. Yes we have arrived. I looked at my watch….... 22 mins. was all it took.

As I stood there, trying to decide the fastest route to get to the bank, I see the changes around me. Ahhh … that’s another story ….

F

Ipoh Casuarina's yukky buka puasa buffet!

Buffet dinner at Casuarina Ipoh!!
( the right place always.... if u are looking for the WRONG food!)
F had to entertain her clients/customers in Ipoh so we tumpang makan juga!!! The hotel is supposedly a 4 star one ( bleugh!) but the garden terrace dining place was full even tho her customer had booked 2 weeks in advance ( why so popular i have no idea! ) Maybe its cuz its Puasa time. So we had to go for the cheaper buffet upstairs at the banquet hall. The spread is slightly smaller but it was very Malay in style. I do enjoy Malay food but this time around it was not my cup of tea. The fish curry tasted weird , and the rest of the food was all sub-standard! I think i can get better food at the buka puasa bazaar! Ptui!
The most disappointing is that this particular buffet does not seem to replenish its food nor drinks!!! We went home terribly dehydrated , no one came over to fill our glasses of plain water, and even the drinks counter ran out of syrup drinks and teh tarik!!!
And get this ~ we had to literally brew our own coffee and not with the simple 3 in 1 but from a huge packet of Nescafe powder with a spoon in it !!!! Faint Faint!!! ( Ini macam hotel standard!??)
The dessert spread was pathetic too ~ Malay cakes are suppose to be the best desserts around but it was all yukky!! The only edible one was the cucur which we only managed to get 2 plates of 5 pieces, and i think we only ate 2 each! And that was it ~ they didn't bother to fry more even tho the kuali was still there filled with hot oil! There were the keropok lekor left but we had to eat that plain cuz they ran out of chillie sauce!!!
So we left the buffet dinner water-less, teh tarik-less, cucur-less and chillie sauce-less! My sis had told me that they have cakes on offer from 6pm to 10pm there so i bought 2 slices of cheese cakes ~ an Oreo one and a marble choc one. And when i ate the Oreo one , it was stale and i had to spit out it out ! Geez, i wonder if all the 4 stars lost its twinkle at the hotel!!
Ipoh with its city status , Pul-lease lah , maintain your standards or else Ipoh will no longer be food haven !!!

E-eeeewwwww!

Back in Blog-land again!

I had been busy and as i looked at our blog, i knew that i had laid off for too many days without blogging. U can't blame me ~ this is always the time of year that i totally allocate ALL my time to my kids who are back for their summer vacation. Everything is put on hold and all my waking hours are spent with them! If i could i would even cancel my classes and just spend 24/7 with them but that's not me! I can't let my students down ~ they may all decide to abandon me as well and then i will be left with no classes when summer ends!

So come mid July till the start of September my Femstuff blog is E-less!! The other Fems know that i am ultra busy at this time of the year so they do their part to keep this blog alive. Thanks F and S! I am back in action now , giving a gist of whats been happening.

1. My 2nd one arrived home in mid July and a few weeks later big no1 came back too.

2. we made a trip back to Ipoh to visit the grandparents.

3. We had weekend sessions of chiap-koot :)

4. No1's birthday arrived and we went for karaoke at Greenbox

5. A trip to a durian plantation in Jugra followed by a wonderful lunch of "beggar's chicken" etc

6. BBQ seafood at my house

7. Up to the highlands ~ my sis wanted to spend time with the kids

8. Trip to Phuket Island in Thailand.

9. Another journey up north to Ipoh again ~ to test out my NGV too :)

10. We had another karaoke session ... to sing our hearts out! We had free vouchers to use up anyway!

11. Popiah party to celebrate a pre-21st B-day for No2.

12. Steamboat dinner at home , also to test out the new multi cooker for No2.

PS: we also had a karaoke session in the capsule with another avril!!!! It was fun too :)

When it came time for Bye-bye's , little weepy sessions at the airport made us feel that 2 months flew by too fast. We had lots of quality times together but all good things have to come to an end. We go back to our humdrum lives and pray that the next 10 months fly by as fast as they can. We pray that God keeps us in his safe hands as we part and may He bring us back together next year to enjoy each other's company again.

To the Aunties who have made the reunion so much more meaningful...... we thank u with all our hearts! Life is so meaningful with great friends and lots of family love!

E-ndings lead to new beginnings

bandung trip

wah....... truly enjoyed my bandung trip. Relaxing, shopping, eating, shopping.....

Our bandung trip was from Aug 27 - 30, 2008 - 4D3N. We begin our journey from LCCT in the morning. Our flight was 0950 hrs and we were suppose to start from our place at 0700 hrs. Everyone was punctual except Fi ! She overslept ! We waited for her till almost 0730 hrs arriving with her normal sleepy face "I just got up face". So off we went in Toyota Camry to LCCT. We checked in and had breakfast in McD - tuna sandwich while waiting for our flight.

We reached Bandung and did not expect the airport to be like that ! Suppose to an international airport but we were caught by the condition of the airport. The best part was all hand carry must be scanned before we can take our hand carry luggage out ! Anyway, our driver, Pak Ujang was already in the airport waiting for us. He is probably about 30+. Our 1st stop was to go for lunch. We told him we wanted to eat sudanese food so when we arrived at the restaurant, it was already pack and decided to have nasi padang instead. The rest of the gang, Sam and Fi was new to the way food is serve. When we arrived at the restaurant, we ordered our fruit juice and when the food was serve, both Sam and Fi was shocked ! We had almost 15 types of different food serve in plates. Hehehe.... eh... how to finish so many food. I said, aiya dont worry lah, we only pay for what we eat lah... I ordered "ayam pop" for each of us. We finish almost 8 dishes or more and the bill came to about RM50 including drinks. Not bad lah for our 1st meal in Bandung. After lunch, we check into Hotel Selera. Had to wait for about 20 mins as our rooms were not ready. When we finally checked into our rooms, hhmm... not bad lah. Two single beds (but the mattress was so so - lembik and squeaky) and importantly "clean" and clean..

We told the driver we want to look for jeans and he took us to "Tokoh Tiga". I only bought a shirt there. Everyone was like so stressed out cos din get to spend money...hahhahaa. The 2nd stop .... everyone went gagaa.... the whole street, left and right outlets after outlets.... suddenly all stresssss has disappear and the super strength just appear. Wah.. shop, shop, shop and buy and buy until dinner time. Luckily it was only foursome. We had extra space in the MPV to put away our shopping bags !! We had dinner at Calista up in the hill. On the way, it was raining and traffic was choatic with jams everywhere. Everyone was tired but was happy as 1st day we manage to buy what we wanted. The food served was good. We tried the western and their local fare ...hhmmm goes well with our whisky... yum yum.......

2nd day... we started at Happenings..... and shop our way to DSE..., mode... dona tello....

3rd day.. sight seeing - crater

4th day... home sweet home... after 8 hours waiting in the airport. BTW, no one warn me about the condition of the airport which incidentally suppose to be an international airport. Our flight was delay due to poor weather and yes, air asia did serve us free dinner, japanese bento set. OK lah..... we finally arrived home in the wee hours the next day liao....

From.. S.