Back from Sipadan

Just came back from Sipadan on the day before yesterday... the dive trip was simply fantabulous!! Will blog about it soon lol Okay better get back to work now >.<

Are you a healthy human?

Today is my company's health campaign day 2. Day 1 was all good and with a bunch of free health check and assessment. So since it's free, for I'm a economical person (a.k.a. poor sial fella), I went for all the free tests lol. Got BMI test, blood pressure test, and step test (a type of fitness test apparently, need to step up and down for 3 mins non stop). The eye test doctor went off earlier due to some assignments call, so we all missed it loh hahaha. All these tests results are captured in a same form, to reflect our overall health level and fitness status. So, me and colleagues, with batted breath (so drama like waiting for lottery result like tat hahaa), we watch the health consultant pen down our ratings and squint over the overall results before crossing on the 'Health status: Excellent, Above Average, Average, Below Average, Poor, Very Poor' columns.

When it's my turn to get FREE consultations from the health consultant, she crossed on the column 'Excellent'. Yay I'm actually still ok even though I have left college for a few years already. Since I left college, I have not been exercising well and no longer swim frequently. So the health consultant (apparently a Caucasian lady) asked me in a very Brit tone

"So do you exercise?"

"Ermm, yeah but not so really frequent, some simple exercises and sometimes swimming..."

"Oh..." (look at my 'assessment' form again) "So when you go for swimming, do you swim long?"

"Ermmm (wah how can she tell I swim long when I go to swimming pool) About an hour if I go for swim..."

"Ohh, alright, then maybe you should consider adjusting your exercise pattern, instead of swim for one hour per session, make it half an hour, but to replace with more frequent sessions, let's say 2 times per week."

"Ouhhhhhh, hmm, I see I see, I will try to practice that."

"That's good. Oh great, you are the number 1 for the day by the way, as the healthiest person, but you don't get a prize for that, hahahahaha"

*sweat* but ok lah good some positive compliments from a health consultant hahaha... Really not bad woh, really some assessments and consultations for FREE lol

who don't like free stuffs hahahaha =)

Porky Treats @ Riblees (non halal post)

(note: overdue post lol)

One fine weekday, the KJ house kakis and ex-kakis decided to meet up for a quick dinner catch up. We drove all the way to Riblees @ Desa Sri Hartamas. I totally have not heard of that place before, but was highly recommended by my bro, hence we decided to drive up downtown to check it out.

Riblees is located in one of the shop lots, upstairs of Al-Rajhi bank. The interior design and environment was ala western casual dining style, with jazzy background music, and also balcony dining settings available (smoking areas though). Sorry no pictures of the layout of the restaurant, as we were too hungry and was occupied with food ordering and feasting lol.

The food there was quite authentic, especially in pork dishes. That night we order all pork main courses. As noted by Zhenyi, their pork dishes are must tries ^^

The starter dish, Escargots. This is really good I tell you, and it looks so not like Escargot (note: it's a foreign cuisine, using snails as main protein). I have never tried Escargot before, but this one here is really nice. The dish does not taste foreign at all, as in what I expect in eating snails will be quite chewy and the texture of the dish will be something alien. This Escargot was cooked with garlics and cheese, to be served with toast breads. Such combination was really impressive, especially for those who enjoy cheese and garlicky dish.

First main course, US Baby Back Ribs. This one is quite similar to the Chinese style 'Pai Guat', but of course, it is totally different in terms of taste. The US Baby Back Ribs is marinated with several foreign spices and herbs, and as I flipped through the menu for the detailed description, the ingredients are really foreign language to me, but it was all well compensated to each other. To put it simple, it's totally different to the normal Chinese style taste, and it is kinda exotic and exciting to savour. The sauce for dipping is also really yummy, as it just goes well with the heavily flavour dish ^^

Crispy Pork Belly. This is a similar type of dish to the Chinese style 'Siu Yok' lol. Really loh, when we was served by the waiter for this dish, we all looked and spouted the same thing, 'ehh? Siu Yok ah?' =P This is another well marinated dish, tasty and totally different than the first main course. I'm not good at describing food tasting, but to put it simple, the pork belly is different dimension of fine pork cuisine ala Western style. The mint sauce and the potato mashes go hand in hand with the richly marinated pork belly, with the right amount of fats and crispy skin to make the whole meal sumptuous lol.

Third main course, I-already-forgot-what's-the-name-of-this-pork-dish lol. This is similar to the Chinese style 'Char Siew'. Char Siew is simply every Chinese's favourites, when it comes to Chicken rice dining. Even though the first 2 dishes were heavily flavoured and comes in big portion, our marginal utilities still remain high when we helped ourselves with the 3rd main dish. It is another to-be-unveiled surprises of the day, as the juicy texture of this dish is totally different than the previous 2 main courses. It's just wonderful haahahaa. That's all I can described it lol.

All in all, the short catch up was good, as it goes well with good food as well as randomness that we all used to have before the gals moved out. Riblees is definitely highly recommended for pork enthusiast =)

journey to the land of fathers and mothers (chapter TIGA)

Being in a foreign country, one must observe and experience the local culture, as that's part of travelling and breathing the air out of your own country, don't ya agree?

Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia, the heart and focus of our neighbour country developments. Skyscrappers are everywhere, shopping malls with posh condominiums are mushrooming here and there, but still, not all the people is savouring the benefits of these fair bits of growth.

While going through the traffic jam in the city, I noticed that phenomena right on the streets.

A man, likely at his retirement age, selling newspaper along the streets to the car stopping along the traffic jams. I noticed that he just keep going forward and backward of the streets, holding the same pile of unsold papers under the tropical weather.

A woman carrying a feather duster, a real FEather duster! She hangs around the vehicles around the traffic jam areas, hoping people will tip her some money for 'cleaning' up their car. In most cases, people just wave her off...

And there's a lot of children darting around the cars to beg for money as well... and it is pretty dangerous for kids around 3years and above to be moving along the traffic jams... but the harsh living of the reality deny them the luxury of having a normal and blissful childhood...

It's a sad but honest truth to be told while staying in Jakarta... I hope things will go better for whatever the future of the nation holds...

_________________________________________________________________

Well, it's not all that 'bad' as it appeared to be (in this post I mean) to be in the streets of Jakarta, as there are also some elements of mixture of other nation's culture/legacy to be experienced there.

Durex advertisement, with the touch of the local language ^^ I don't think I see such advertisement in Malaysia by the way...tsk tsk tsk, open mind people, be open minded lol

Looks like a Tuk Tuk rite? It is called as Jabai in Jakarta... I thought it was the influence of the Thai heritage (all the way from Siamese perhaps?), but some said it is actually culture mixed from India itself haha... this Jabai is reallly small I tell you, from what I noted, it can only hold 2 passengers the most at the back of the vehicle, although it appeared to me that it's only for kids ride that kind of size, if you know what I mean hahahaha

And for those still thinks that KL traffic jamness is hellish, wait till you experience Jakarta's you-must-be-nuts-to-drive-there jamness lol

totally surrounded by motorcycles while waiting for the traffic lights

This was taken while our Unser is moving on the street. The motorcycles are moving along with the cars at such close distance I tell you, and I did not have to zoom my camera at all. It's like all motorcycles are tied together with some strings and move together... can be one of the 7 mini wonders of the world hahahaha

Even lady motorcyclist also joined in the hype lol. I was told by my local company reps that getting a driving license in Jakarta is just as simple as buying a pass to drive on the road. Pay a sum and there you go as a qualified driver on the street O.o Geng leh...!! No wonder driving in Jakarta feels like driving along with a pool of P license drivers, fast and furious plus unpredictableness hahahaha

Last but not least, one of Easter goodies found on Jakarta street lol

A Proton Persona zooming proudly on the street of Jakarta lol

All in all, the work trip to Jakarta was quite fruitful. It was a simple yet pleasant experience (food, nice people, etc) to be there, and I felt more appreciative of what I have and what to treasure in life ^^

journey to the land of fathers and mothers (chapter 2)

Why the title of land of fathers and mothers? why not land of maids and economical labours? lol okay bad joke bad joke... it's actually because in Indonesia, in their local Bahasa Indon, Mister is addressed as Bapak, and Madam is Ibu.. Yeap, all the elders there are your fathers and mothers, so hence, it's a land of fathers and mothers lol.... Luckily they short formed Bapak to Pak in most situations... and Ibu to Bu.... if not imagine everybody calling me Bapak Leyi, feel damn old all of a sudden weh hahaha but even Pak Leyi also I feel damn uncle ady la lol

So apart from the horrendous traffic and blood sucking airport crews, apparently there's alot of unexpected good stuffs in Jakarta. First off, the local cuisine. From what I know (disclaimer: forgive me if my travel facts are wrong, I just spent one week there only lah), there are few famous cooking style in Indonesia, ranging from Padang, Jawanese, Sundanese (hope I get the right spelling, but it sounds as what I typed >.<), local Chinese, and other fusion varieties. Padang food generally is towards the spicy variant, Jawanese more on the sweet tastings, while Sundanese..... erm... can't really remember already lol, but all the food there are really delicious and appealling, especially for a spicy lover like me =) On top of that, the raw materials of the food there is of good quality ~~ as most of the poultries there are the REAL kampung chickens, unlike not those so called kampung chicken reared in local breeding farms in Malaysia, and the seafood there, I tell you, is wonderfully fresh and comes in great size as well.

This is the salted chicken (same as the Ipoh Salted Chicken, minus the Chinese herbs ala Malaysian style). I tried this nice kampung breed salted chicken in a Hakka Chinese restaurant in central Jakarta, Angke Restaurant. Though my favourite is still the Ipoh Salted Chicken with herbs, the one that I had in Indonesia is HO HO Chiak, as even without the Chinese Herbs, the natural flavour of the chicken was fully awakened and great to savour with rice =)

This dish is called Ikan Gurame, a famous local cuisine, a highly recommended by locals. The fish is fried up and served with spicy sauces for dipping. The fish is sourced fresh and the local spicy sauce made was the perfect match to the plain fried fish.

Barbeque prawn. Forgot the name of this dish already >.<>

The fresh juices in Jakarta are must trys!! My favourite drink is the Pink Guava juice on the right. The whole cup of the drink, when I sipped it, it felt literally eating the whole fruit in liquid form ^^ I tell you, that's what I call a real fresh fruit juice man! My boss ordered Durian juice, and the drink looked damn creamy lol

All the juice drinks are made of fruit freshness, with well punched up fruit fibres, and without sweeteners~ just the natural way that everybody likes it!! The coconut drink is also highly recommended, fresh and instant thirst quenching ^^ Noticed my guava drink is seated on top of a dinner box? My company local reps bought us Padang food dinner for us while we are still working in the office hahaha (spot my calculator and Naruto key chain lol)

These desserts were snapped when I was having dinner at the hotel restaurant. Unexpectedly, the food there are also nice, compared to the typical hotel food, u know normally when we go makan in hotels, the food there is always felt like lack of something compared to the ones in outside restaurants. I did not take pictures of the buffet course dishes as I was too hungry to snap them down (always reach hotel late due to bad traffic >.<) My boss and myself enjoyed the desserts sections the most, as the varieties are all sinfully good lol. Normally we can get Black Forest cakes, chocolate desserts, nicely made jellys and flons (as per picture above), as well as chendol selections and other tarts, muffins, and brownies to spoil ourselves =)

so yeah, after the trip, I gain 2-3 kgs and my pants jadi ketat gilla lol

(to be continued)

journey to the land of fathers and mothers (chapter 1)

As soon as I started my new job in MOX-Linde, one week after my first day, I departed to Jakarta for a business trip with my manager. Yeap, before I managed into fully settled down, gotta go full force into field work ady lol.

We touched down at Soekarno Hatta International Airport on Sunday evening. We were expecting a hotel taxi pick up after checking out, but as we waited at the arrival gates for about 10 minutes, there was no sign of the representative from the hotel. As our flight was already delayed (Air Asia, yeah >.<) and touched down late (almost 1 hour late), we afraid that the taxi driver is no longer there. Hence we started to search for contacts to call up the hotel. While my manager zipping up and down for the information in her luggage, a local Indon man approached us and offer to help us. Such good timing, where we need someone that can help us make local calls to check out the hotel arrangements. We gratefully get his assitance to call to the hotel.

Right after he finished the call, he turned around, flash his handphone screen to us, and spouted 'oh dear, my hp credit is a goner, would you mind tipping me RM 50?' RM 50??!! What the heck? RM50 for a local call? Within seconds, the good samaritan morphed into a day light robber!! I tak layan him at all, but he keeps on hogging us around then... my boss ended up giving him RM10, and that fella still complaints RM10 is too little, only worth 10,000 rupiah! Dude, we can do maths okay... RM1 equivalent to around 2730 rupiah weh... even a 3 years old will know RM10 is worth much more than 10,000 rupiah lah... Thank God the hotel representative popped out while we are having the 'argument'... and then within seconds, the dude took off and no where to be found.. *&*#$&*#&$*#&$ he took away RM10 juz for a measly local phone call...

Anyhow, we were chauffered to Sari Pan Pacific Hotel and settled down for dinner. The traffic condition in Jakarta is 'fantastically challenging'. If we were to compare it with KL's traffic jam, in the metaphore of level of difficulties of games, KL is juz novice/beginner level, whereas Jakarta is You-must-be-crazy-to-drive-there level. Not only the road there are swarming with motorbikes, just like the watching the beginning of the bicycle race of Tour de Langkawi, also the cars there are mostly at the size of Unser, Innova or Alphard. A Honda Civic there is considered as a small size car that does not stand chance of zooming around the high ways. To top it up, compared to Malaysia mata-mata, the local traffice polices there also dunno why they exist or what, they just literally stand there and watch over the traffic... while I was there, I somehow feel lucky to be part of Malaysia's traffic jammers lol.. I must be siao ady lol

(to be continued)

the end of an chapter, and towards a beginning of another milestone

The day has come, to the time for me to bid goodbye to PwC, my first job, my training ground as an external auditor.

The journey of 1 year and 9 months was beyond words, as of now, my mind is still having vivid play backs of my time as an associate, being a newbie, the peak periods, the crazy hours, the adrenaline rush, the non work gatherings/sessions, the randomness of various team members, the late working hours tricks, the over stress symptoms and phenomenas, the never ending ranting, venting, and bitching/biatching channels, and many many more.

I treasured the friendships made during my time in PwC, for I have met many great people, from bosses to colleagues, support stuffs to batchmates, as well as some really nice clients during field work.

And yet, it has come to the end of the chapter, as one of the Chinese proverbs quoted, "There is no gathering that will not adjourn." (literally translated =P).

My good, faithful Lenovo T61, spent almost 24/7 with this sidekick since day one until last day in PwC. It is my love/hate relationship, something that I cannot be 'missed', or something that I hope it can be 'missed' at the same time lol

From left: Keat Heong, me, Hun Chil, Jessie and Pao Phing

My colleagues cum study mates since college days. It has been a great time with you all since TAR College, to SHU (UK), and now in PwC. I'm sorry that I could not continue to walk the PwC journey with you all now, but even as we divert to different traverse paths, I believe one day, we will cross our paths again ^^

#For more photos of my last day in PwC, they are all posted in my facebook.

Conclusion: I could go on to continue with listing more people and groups but in the end the message would still be: I have truly enjoyed my journey with you all in PwC.

I thank you all of you that have walked the PwC journey with me, and all the best in your future undertakings.

~Farewell, my fellow friends in PwC~

~Till we meet again in future...~