Simple things

This morning as I walked out of my apartment, I saw this cute lil' thing crawling about slowly..
Endearing isn't it?

Funny I didn't think it looked gross at all although it has a rather slimy outlook...
In fact, this lil' friend actually melts my heart... :)
What a good start....Have a good day everyone!

I did it!

What a relief!!
This has been bugging me for sometime already and I'm proud to say that I've done it!
For some people, things like this are as easy as A,B,C, or maybe with just a simple flick of a coin. But for me, things are not always that simple...perhaps it's because I tend to think too much? :)
Don't try to speculate ok....I'll blog more on this when the time comes. *wink*

In the mean time, let me enjoy my cuppa first.. :D

Gathering with X-unimates

Thinking back, I can't believe it that I've known most of my university mates for 10 years now! Time really flies!

Last week, a dear friend of mine, KH came over from UTAR Kampar (he's a lecturer there) for a visit, so Ivan, have asked a few of us out for a small gathering at TGIF.

Looking back 10 years ago, all of us were just so young and innocent. Our main concern at that time were mostly related to exams, projects or perhaps about relationships.

10 years later, if you were to look at the group photos below there's only two person left who's still single. Sadly, one of them is myself ! *gasp*

I can't imagine what it will be if we were to look at another 10 years down the road?

If we were to have another gathering, we'll need a bigger place perhaps for our grown up kids! haha..

Check out our blurry group photo, thanks to my camera phone:

A sweet reunion

Remember my post last year about my trip to SQF?
That was the time when I was lucky to have befriended CT's friend, Bulat.
She was at UK for a year on student travel visa, in which she could work then travel around Europe and UK. How nice!
Oh, not to mention, she's a great cook too! I'm still craving for her super yummy nasi ayam and nasi tomato dish that she whipped out till today!
Anyway, she's back in Malaysia now, and we had a nice lunch in town.
It's good to be able to meet up with her again!
You can check out her great adventures in her ultra-cool blog here.
We went to try out the famous Mee Goreng Sotong (Fried Noodle with Squid) at Esplanade. This was the mee goreng place that I mentioned in my previous post that actually tasted better than the one at Bangkok lane.
Here's some pictures we took for remembrance .. :)

Famous Mee Goreng Sotong at Bangkok Lane

Last weekend, BS and I decided to do some "Jalan-jalan cari makan". Having read about this famous Mee Goreng Sotong from a fellow blogger, BS and I decided to try it out.

Have you heard of Bangkok Lane? I have not, but I remembered seeing that lane while I was driving along Jalan Kelawei (The road parallel to Gurney Drive) few years back. If you frequent Gurney Plaza, you will know where Jalan Kelawei is. Simply put, it is the road on the "backside" of Gurney Plaza or G Hotel. On this road, you will see that there are many lanes leading towards the cross section of Jalan Kelawei. Armed with a 10 year old Street of Penang map, surprise surprise, we did not get lost but managed to find Bangkok Lane easily. Maybe it's because I just got back from Bangkok? hehe...

Surprisingly, Bangkok Lane is a charming little lane adorned with restored pre-war houses!

Bangkok Lane

Anyway, the shop is located at the rear end of the lane, a corner lot chinese Kopitiam. Besides the Mee mamak, there's a Wantan Mee stall and a stall selling chinese pancake.
As we were there on a weekend, the shop was pretty packed. Besides mee goreng, they have mee rebus as well, but I have yet to try that. With so many patrons to serve but only 1 cook, surprisingly we don't have to wait too long for our food.


Here's a picture of how the Mee goreng sotong looks like.

Mee goreng sotong mamak

The verdict:

I like it, but I find the Mee Goreng Sotong at the Esplanade slightly tastier. But bear in mind that tastier food means it is less healthy.

Nothing beats eating mee goreng with a cup of teh ais! Aaahhh...

BKK Trip

Each time I stepped foot at Bangkok it sure did bring back many fond memories to me.

This is already my 3rd trip to Bangkok. The first time I went to Bangkok was back in 2004, right after my graduation. A party of 5 of us, we took a 24-hour train journey from Butterworth Penang to Bangkok, Thailand. Yes, the journey was that long! Mind you, at that time we still don't have the luxury of flying cheap with AirAsia. Air Asia was probably an ailing company then, in dire straits before Mr. Fernandez the Hero, rescued them with a mere "RM1" acquisation.

To be frank, my first trip to Bangkok was also my first backpacking trip, and boy that was my best travelling experience so far! Being so naive and carefree(haven't tasted the hardship of working life yet), every place we ventured was a great adventure. We explored Bangkok and Kanchanaburi by foot most of the time. On other times, we took public transports like tut-tut, the train, taxi and buses. To save cost, we even spent two nights at a brothel-like motel for our accomodation. What do you expect? It cost us only 120 bt (RM12) per night, and we're just students ok, so this what we could only afford.

The experiences we gained? Many. We mingled with fellow backpackers, stayed at a raft house on an elephant farm, tried on elephant rides,took our bath at a serene waterfall-Erawan Falls (as we're too disgusted to bathe in the river where the elephants bathe and relieved themselves too!) and took a journey down history at the River Kwai where the British armies, some of our forefathers, the Indian Gurkhas and local ppl fought for their lives here with the Japanese army in the early 1940s while building the Bridge over River Kwai.

These experiences are something that money can't buy. But to gain such and experiences, we need TIME. Yes, time is the luxury that I don't have.

Eversince I started working, the only available time I have is on weekends. Sigh.

Last year, with the limited TIME I have, I managed to make a trip to Bangkok with BS to visit my sis and bro-in-law who was posted there for 2 years. That was a short trip. We didn't do anything much, in fact I stayed home most of the time. The only thing I enjoyed most is to go shopping and more shopping!

Fast forward to this year. With the worsening economy, my company had asked us to take two days' off per month, which is equivalent to 10% paycut. *sniff* Looking at the bright side, it means, I will have more TIME too!! And with that, I could make another trip down to Bangkok!! Woo hoo! The best part is that my wonderful bro-in-law has offered to sponsor my trip to Bangkok! So this will be a FREE trip for me!!!

This time, it is different however. No backpacking or whatsoever. I will be visiting my sister,brother-in-law and most importantly my little nephew!! Weeeeeee! My parents will be there as well, so this will be a family trip!! Woo hoo!

The highlight of my trip this time is that my parents and I took a half day trip to Damneun Sadok market a.k.a the floating market which is about 2 hours drive from Bangkok. It was really interesting to see vendors selling everything from little trinkets, to clothings to food on the boat. Have you ever experienced traffic jam on a river? Well, this is something unforgettable! haha...

Here's some pictures from my trip.

Vendors on the boat

Traffic jam!

Me on the boat

Family

And not forgetting ................

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The Cheeky lil' fella!! ........SAWADEEKAP :)