Unbelievable…

This was where Eng took my daughter, my missus and me out for dinner the first time we set foot in Sungai Petani last year when we brought our daughter here for registration at the institute…

The name of the place is actually the title of an old Chinese song, if you are old enough to know it, that is!…

I cannot recall what we had the last time and all I can remember is that the food was very delicious so we didn’t mind when he suggested going there again last night. Now, what did we have this time around? Well, there was a dish of Thai-style fried chicken which was nice and crunchily crusty on the outside….

and a plate of sweet and sour spareribs…

We also had this plate of belacan kangkong which I must say, is the best I have ever tasted anywhere in the whole of Malaysia. It was spicy and had the fragrance of very nice belacan…

For one thing, the kangkong still looked so nice and green even after cooking unlike those that I’ve seen at many other places around. We also had this fatt choy soup with fish and meat balls, something that I had never tasted elsewhere…

It was delicious…and anyway, I’ve always been a fan of clear soup. Ah yes! We also had fish…steamed fish!

So what’s so unbelievable about all that, you may ask? That the three of us managed to finish all that? Well, maybe that too, but no, not really! Just take a look at the bill…

…inclusive of rice (4 bowls! Eng had the extra, not me! LOL!!!) and drinks. You can’t get anything cheaper than this anywhere, not even in Sibu…not with steamed fish that huge, you don’t! Truly unbelievable!!!

Please forgive me…

The other night, my daughter’s friend, Gin and his father took us to one of the Old Town outlets in Sungai Petani. I’ve seen them all over , even in Kuching, but I’ve never eaten there before. It appeared from the items available on the menu that the place would be more appropriate for morning or afternoon tea breaks or for someone who would want a light lunch and maybe, supper. I had this chicken curry and rice…

It certainly was nicer than the curry I had at Master Choo that first night I arrived at Sungai Petani. My daughter had this big bowl of chicken hor fun…

She said it was very nice and finished the whole bowl, so either that was testament to the fact that it was indeed very nice or she was very hungry! LOL!!! Other than that, fellow-blogger Dr Bernard Chan and his wife took us to eat the Sungai Petani char kway teow that is reputed to be better than that in Penang…

It certainly was nice but I could not really say whether it was better than Penang’s as in my opinion, they’re more or less the same – both nice, so that settles it! LOL!!! After that, they dropped us off at Lagenda (where Tesco is) Heights as I wanted to check out the hotel I had spotted the other day…

It certainly looks very nice inside and a standard twin is only RM78.00, cheaper than SP Inn (and I hear the same room where I am staying is going to be repriced at RM120 once they have opened the new wing). For one thing, the location is many times better and the rooms look much nicer. In fact, you can check out their website…if you are planning to come to Sungai Petani.

After that, we walked to Tesco to do a bit of shopping and pretty soon, it was time for tea, so the two of us proceeded to…..

another Malaysian franchise. They have that Setapak coffee place there too, but no thanks! While my daughter had a slice of their chocolate indulgence…

I chose their very rich durian cake instead…

I have had this craving since I saw a whole half-hour programme on the Asian Food Channel showing the best places baking durian cakes in Singapore. Ooooo…..it was very nice with its rich natural durian taste. Somehow or other, I burped a couple of times after that…and omigawd! The stench! Hahahahahahaha!!!! That was really gross, wasn’t it? Well, my daughter could not finish her slice, so guess who could not resist the temptation! After all, as they say, it’s a sin to waste…but if you think I was being over-indulgent, please…forgive me! ROTFLMAO!!!

People…

One thing that I like most about travelling is that I get to meet people. While flying from Sibu to Penang, I made friends with this young guy, Kennedy. He was an ex-SMK Sedaya student and completed Form 6 in SMK Jalan Oya in Sibu. Now a new police recruit, he was on his way to Penang for training and incidentally, he’s in the narcotics division! Hmmm…somebody had better watch out eh? LOL!!! Too bad he was shy and did not want me to take his photograph. Other than this new friend, while I was at LCCT, KL, I also met my former students, Allen and Doris…

Allen was going for his convocation at USM, architecture and is now working in Penang while Doris is in interior design. Now, aren’t they just compatible? Hahahahaha!!! And while on transit, it so happened that there were a group of Indonesian artistes who had just arrived…and as the entourage walked past me, I managed to snap a couple of photographs…

I did not know who they were but I gathered that among them were Samsons and Peter Pan. I thought this guy looked like Ariel…

…but he did not look as thin and appeared very much older than in his “Mungkin Nanti” video clip. Well, I was in Sungai Petani to see my daughter,

…always the same little girl in her papa’s eyes.

Then, when I went to mass on the Feast of Assumption, I bumped into Arthur – one of the very very nice students I had in Form 5 last year in my former school, prior to my retirement.

He is presently going for a degree in medicine in AIMST here – the Asian Institute for Medicine, Science and Technology. There are two others from Sarawak doing the same course as him, and he was telling me about how one of them (from another school in Sibu) could only smile when somebody spoke to him in English. I will not bother to comment on that but I think that speaks volumes to some parents out there (who probably will not be reading this anyway, even if they can!).

I also had the opportunity to meet once again a fellow-blogger, the very nice and pleasant Dr. Bernard Chan of bernardchan.net and his equally nice and pleasant wife when they came to take us out for lunch yesterday…

I have met him before when I was in Penang around the Chinese New Year period this year and he dropped by the hotel to see me (I was down with shingles at the time!). He and his missus are so amiable that even though it may be your first time meeting them, it will seem like you’ve known them for years. They took us out for Sungai Petani char kway teow (Will be posting on this separately) and they are coming AGAIN to take us out to lunch today.

And have you ever met someone and somehow or other, the two of you just clicked? Eng’s from Penang and right now, he’s lecturing at a teacher-training institute in Bukit Mertajam. We first met many years ago in Port Dickson when we were roped in to work on the modules for the implementation of the Literature Component in English Language for secondary schools..and we met again once or twice in KL to finish off what we had started in PD. We got along really well even though we are as different as night and day…and over the years, we have always kept in touch. We got to meet again when we were marking examination papers and we would get to meet once a year in KL then…and there was also a Literature conference at Sheraton Subang where our paths crossed as well.

Despite the sporadic occasions when we managed to get together, it’s like we’ve always been together all these years. Eng has been so helpful since my daughter got accepted into the institute in Sungai Petani. He met us at the airport on Penang island, drove us all here and even took us around, otherwise we would have been quite lost…and since then, we have met a couple more times already. This trip, he was away in Perlis on a lifesaver upgrading course and on the way home last night, he went through all the trouble to stop by Sungai Petani just to take my daughter and me out to dinner (This post coming up pretty soon!) even though he must be pretty tired from the gruelling course and the long drive. When I consider the fact that I have friends like that, I really feel that I am truly blessed…..