Honest…

Rejang Park in Sibu is one of the earliest housing estates in town. There is a commercial centre in this residential area where one can find a market, a number of shops, a traffic garden and there used to be a cinema but it had since closed down. There are a lot of eating places among the shops like the Million Cafe or this one where Philip enjoyed the claypot prawn noodles so very much…

*recycled pic*

…and there is even a little post office with only four counters – one for stamps, mails and such and the other three for payment of bills and other businesses.

I would drop by this post office quite regularly to pay my bills…and I had a post on it sometime ago. It was not air-conditioned then but it is now…and there are rows of chairs so people can sit and wait quite comfortably. I like going there during lunch hour as there will not be a lot of people and that was exactly what I did last Monday.

Well, something happened…and when I came home, I sent this email to Pos Malaysia about it:

Re. staff at Rejang Park Post Office, Sibu

Sir,

I dropped by the aforesaid post office to pay my bills around noon today, 21st February, 2011.

The total amount was over RM500 and I passed the bills and the money to this Malay lady on duty over lunch hour at the counter. She promptly counted the money that I had placed in an envelope and when she discovered an excess of RM100, she immediately drew my attention to it and returned one RM100 note to me.

I must say that I am indeed extremely impressed by her honesty and integrity that certainly deserves praise and due recognition.

Thank you.

I received a very prompt reply from them in response to the above:

Dear Mr. W**,

We thank you for your e-mail which we received on February 21, 2011.

We welcome your constructive feedback and your concern is our priority.

Referring to your feedback, we have forwarded to the respective department for further action.

On behalf of Pos Malaysia Berhad, we appreciate your continuous support and patience. Please feel free to call us at our PosLine number at 1 300 300 300 or +603 2727 9100. Our Customer Service Consultant will be glad to assist you at anytime from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Monday to Saturday (except for 1st Saturday of the month and Public Holiday) or e-mail us at care@pos.com.my

Thank you and warm regards.

Yours sincerely,
for POS MALAYSIA BERHAD

M****** M. O***
Customer Care Department

I certainly hope that they would do something in acknowledgement. She most certainly deserves a pat on the back for what she did.

In the summertime…

My daughter and I flew on Malaysia Airlines MH2715, 17th February from Sibu to KLIA…and she left for Auckland the following night (18th), also on Malaysia Airlines and I came home on MH2718, 19th February from KLIA to Sibu .

It has been well over a week now that Melissa has gone back to Wellington, New Zealand…and other than the slight initial flu and a little problem with her body clock readjusting to the 5-hour time difference, she has managed to resettle herself there nicely.

It is hot this summer, unlike the time when she first arrived there this time last year (2010)…

…but that certainly doesn’t stop the people there from having a whole lot of fun and excitement…

Melissa too was up and about enjoying herself…

…admiring the pretty flowers all around and playing with the wild ducks…

…and as a senior, she had been busy orientating the juniors who had just arrived in the city – bringing them around, familiarising them with the place and helping them in any way she could…

No, Bananaz, no!!! You’re too old to go back to school now! Muahahahaha!!! Hmmmm…how come we never had teachers who looked like this during our time? Tsk! Tsk!

Well, judging from the photographs, she certainly had a good time – there was a movie and even theatre in the park…

She and her friends went to watch Shakespeare’s “A Winter’s Tale”…

Sigh! The only “Winter’s Tale” I know is the one by David Essex. Anybody old enough to know him? LOL!!!

And she’s been eating well too! This was from Cafe Neo, near her apartment…

…and she was at Nandos too, amongst others…

Well, it’s back to the grind for her this coming week – classes, lectures, tutorials, assignments, tests and what have you. Good luck, love, in the year ahead…and God bless. Have fun sometimes…and eat well!

Sweet thing…

Usually when I go somewhere, I would buy something to take home…and maybe give some to my parents and sister and also to my in-laws.

On this recent trip to KL, I went to the stall selling nyonya kuehs…

*recycled pic*

…located in the basement of Sungai Wang Plaza, opposite the KFC outlet there.

I’ve bought some from there before but only to eat in my hotel room. On that previous occasion, I found that they were really very nice so this time around, I decided to buy some and take home.

I bought the chai kueh…

…which were very well done. The skin is so soft like wantan skin and it simply melts in the mouth – nothing like the tough and rubbery ones that we have here.

The filling was just right…

…the taste of  hay bee (dried prawns) not overpowering like those from Kuching where they seem to put a whole lot of it. Sometimes, too much of a good thing may not necessarily be better.

I’ve bought the ang koo kueh before…

…and again, the skin was nicely done and there was enough filling inside…

…for it to be considered good enough. I do prefer the ones from Kuching though as they are a whole lot bigger and are very well-stuffed inside. Anyway, they’re way better than those that we can get here in Sibu…and as they say, beggars can’t be choosers.

I did not buy the kueh salad or serimuka this time but I bought these kao-teng kueh (9-layer kueh)…

There are four different flavours in each pack – the green one should be the pandan (screwpine leaves) flavour and I reckon the the pink and white is the original traditional style, rich with santan (coconut milk) and made up of pink and white layers but some of us may be more familiar with the multi-coloured ones.

I guess the very colourful purple one below is yam while the golden/orange one is pumpkin…

Whatever the flavour is, it is so soft, so fine, and so lemak (rich)…so out of this world.

I did not want to buy a lot as I was worried that they might spoil by the time I got home. It seemed that my fears were unfounded as they were perfectly all right the next day (after being kept in the fridge overnight) and now that I am certain of this, you can be sure that on my next trip to KL, I will definitely be buying a lot more to take home… Yum! Yum!

Barbara Ann…

Well, it’s Barbera actually, Cafe Barbera to be exact…

If I’m not mistaken, there’s one at Bangsar Park and now, this Italian-themed eatery has an outlet at KLIA…

I love these cute plates that they have hanging on the wall…

…and that day when I was flying back to Sibu from KLIA, Mandy, Zee, Zul and Cash from my radio family were around to give me a grand send-off and all of  us went there for afternoon tea.

I just sat there while the rest went to get the drinks and the food so I am not too sure what each is called; I’m not very mobile, you see – that everyone must understand. LOL!! But looking at the menu in the cafe’s Facebook page, I think this is the chicken croissanwich…

…and this is the chicken and cheese focaccia sandwich…

…both of which were pretty nice.

I did not think the chicken curry puff was any good though…

In fact, it did not even look good.

The pineapple puff was slightly better but wasn’t anything to shout about either…

I had the usual iced black coffee, or in layman’s terms, kopi-o-peng, while somebody had hot chocolate…

…and the expresso shakerato…

…and the cafe latte…

It certainly is a nice place to hang around to relax and pamper yourself a bit while waiting for your flight. You can sit and chat as long as you like and nobody will come and bother you at all.

Thanks, Mandy, Zee, Zul and Cash. That was so very sweet of you all to come all the way to KLIA, and everyone knows that it is by no means near KL and the surrounding areas, to see me off and to whoever paid for everything, thanks for the treat. Next time, it will be my turn, o.k.? Till we meet again…

Count to 10…

When my nephew was home for Chinese New Year recently, he kept telling me about this food court at the basement of Lot 10 in KL where, according to him, the hawkers/stall owners were all finger-picked by Francis Yeoh from among the best in KL and the surrounding areas. So when Annie-Q suggested meeting up for lunch that day, I proposed dropping by that place…

…which was very near the hotel where I was staying and I could just stroll there and reach my destination before I could finish counting to 10.

It turned out that Annie had been there before and had a post on it in her blog. She gave specific instructions for me not to order anything until she arrived as she would know what was good there.

I got there earlier and strolled around the place…

…to look at what they were selling and I must say that one would be spoilt for choice there. There were all kinds of stuff – you name it, they have it.

When she arrived with her twins – Fearles & Cruz, she went about ordering for everybody. Upon her strong recommendation, I decided to have the Hokkien fried noodles…

…which, judging from the sign, was charcoal-cooked…

She had the Cantonese fried noodles herself…

…and she ordered roast duck and pork plus rice for her sons…

There was a stall serving German cuisine named Bavaria – the only Bavaria that I knew was the one selling BMWs, if I’m not mistaken. Annie ordered the bratwurst sausage from there for me to try…

…and though it was not the best German sausage I had ever had, it was good enough for me – coming from a town where the only sausages and frankfurters I could get would be those miserable frozen ones from Ayamas and the like at the local supermarkets.

I tried a little bit of Annie’s noodles and I thought it was o.k. The roast duck and pork were very nice – the boys hardly ate anything…and no prize for guessing who cleaned up the plate. LOL!!! As for my Hokkien noodles, they were really very good, much better than any that I had had elsewhere…but the portion was so very small and the price – RM8.90! It certainly isn’t cheap to eat there, I would think.

In the meantime, Bananaz contacted me and I told him to join us for lunch at this particular place. Unfortunately, by the time he got there we had finished eating – the reason being the fact that he had to drive all the way from Kajang. He said he had already had lunch and did not want anything to eat though I suspect he was shy and opted to go hungry instead. Poor fella! LOL!!!

Gosh! I am really flattered and deeply honoured that he actually went through all that trouble to meet me. Thanks, Bananaz…and it was indeed a pleasure to get to meet you in person and thanks also for the coffee. He was so nice as to walk me back to the hotel and since there was sometime left before I had to go to the airport, we had coffee at the hotel cafe and chatted for a while.

And thanks also to you, Annie, for lunch. It certainly was nice seeing you again even though it was only for a while. I guess the next time I will see you and your family again would be in Sibu and it will be my turn to treat then! I’m certainly looking forward to that…

Sherry…

This friend of mine lives with her family in Auckland, New Zealand. I don’t know how she stumbled upon my blog and started commenting on my posts…but I sure am glad that she did.

She took it upon herself to offer to meet Melissa upon arrival at the Auckland International Airport on Saturday and she even went through the trouble of taking her for lunch at this very nice place…

– Butterfly Creek…

Melissa had the Eggs Benedict…

…but my friend said that she did not finish it. I reckon it was because she was tired from the long 10-hour flight and she said that she did not manage to get to sleep at all…and besides, she was not eating well already that day before she left KL.

My friend herself had this  beautiful dish of corn fritters with bacon and salad…

Yum! Yum! I love bacon! LOL!!!

Her hubby had the beef steak on buns with mayo and french fries…

…while her son had this…

– a beef burger with french fries – the typical young people’s favourite…but the beef patty sure looks mouth-wateringly juicy and nice…and ooooo!!! The bacon!!! I bet it must taste really really good.

My cousin, Gerrie, who’s into everything organic, would probably like this drink that Melissa had…

So, thanks to you, my NZ friend, Melissa got safely onto her flight at the domestic terminal and flew back to Wellington safe and sound. I owe you heaps and I certainly look forward to meeting you and your lovely family someday.

*All photos taken from Melissa’s Facebook album*

Hakuna matata…

Hakuna Matata! What a wonderful phrase!
Hakuna Matata! Ain’t no passing craze!
It means no worries for the rest of your days.
It’s our problem-free…philosophy
Hakuna Matata!

But unfortunately, it seems that more often than not, Melissa would worry a lot like when she had to fly from KL to Auckland – her first long-haul international flight alone. When she first went over, she had some of her coursemates with her and even though she ended up flying to Wellington on her own while the rest were on a later flight, it was a domestic flight and only took just an hour.

When she came home for the holidays, once again, she flew from Wellington to Auckland by herself and from Auckland, it so happened that she had a friend on the same flight – somebody from Kuching doing the same course as her but in the university in Auckland. This time around, however, when she had to fly back to New Zealand, she would have to go all the way all by herself and I could see that she was worried.

I had planned to stay in KL so we could go around some places and eat some nice stuff but unfortunately, she did not seem to be in the mood for that. I took her out for breakfast that morning in KL and since she said she would prefer hawker food, we went to this place where I had been to once before…

The hawker stall there is owned by a Foochow man from Sitiawan…

…and the previous time I was there, I had the pork noodle soup which turned out to be something like kway teow th’ng (flat rice noodles in soup) and was very nice.  I also had the char kway teow (fried flat rice noodles) from another stall, probably the man’s wife’s, and that was very nice too.

Melissa had the century egg porridge…

…which she said was good. I asked for pork to be added…and the Indon maid threw in a few slices of the meat. I had expected her to use minced meat like what we would normally put in our porridge. Unfortunately, Melissa did not even manage to finish half of it. Sigh!

I had the pork noodles again, this time the dry version…for which I got this very nice clear soup…

…and the kway teow (flat rice noodles) tossed in whatever ingredients. The soup was great but I did not really enjoy the noodles…

That cost RM11.50 altogether which I reckon is the normal KL standard but I would say it is a bit expensive compared to what we would pay here in Sibu. Nevertheless, I think I would still go back to the soup version should I happen to drop by this place again…as it really is nice.

It was way past noon, possibly around 1.00 p.m. already when I insisted that Melissa should have some lunch. After some discussion, she agreed to go for some naan bread…

…at  a shop near the hotel serving North Indian and Pakistani cuisine. She wanted mutton curry and I asked for chicken…

…to eat with the bread. The mutton curry was not that great. It was a rather dry version of curry, something like the Bangladeshi curry that we had here…while the chicken curry tasted different too – something like ayam masak kunyit (chicken cooked with tumeric). Melissa ate a bit but again, she did not finish…and I ate most of the meat in both curries. Sigh! Sigh! In case anybody’s wondering, that was RM14.50, inclusive of a bottle of drinking water and a can of 100 Plus.

Later at KLIA, we sat at the KFC outlet there and waited till it was time for her to proceed to the departure lounge. I ordered a whole lot of things in the hope that she might eat a little – which she did – some of the cheesey wedges and two of the fish donuts plus half of the iced Milo that she wanted.

In the hope that it might help ease things a little for her, I told her to put her trust in God. When something is meant to happen, it will happen and there is nothing we can do to change that – “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” If it is something good, give thanks and praise the Lord and if it is to the contrary, accept it in God’s name as penance for our sins.

Then it was time for her to go…and I sure am glad that she managed to go through it all the way till Wellington on her own without a hitch. Hopefully the next time around, it would be a lot easier for her – as they say, the first time is the hardest. I guess that’s all part of life and living, isn’t it? We learn new things every day…and whatever it is like, we get by…somehow.

4 in the morning…

Thankfully, it was not 4 in the morning but a bit later, at 7 o’ clock…

It would still be dark in KL – like 6.00 a.m. in Sibu and here, by 6.30, it would be as bright as day already.

At the hotel where I was staying in KL, complimentary breakfast is served from 7 till 10.30 a.m. daily. Some hotels may start a bit earlier at 6 or 6.30 a.m.

My daughter would prefer to sleep on till late and go without breakfast while I would be up and about by around 6, so I would usually go alone and have breakfast for two. That first morning in KL, I had the nasi lemak (RM13.50)…

…which wasn’t too bad except that they did not give enough sambal and the rest of the stuff for that huge amount of rice – unlike the previous occasion when I had the “double”.  Still, it did not change the fact that it was quite good and the rice was fragrantly lemak (rich in santan/coconut milk) unlike the very first time I had it there – I thought it really was not worth the calories then; perhaps they have changed the chef and they now have somebody else doing the job.

I also had the three-egg omelette (RM8.50 on the menu)…

…with mushroom, cheese and onions but unfortunately, I found it somewhat bland. I am pretty sure that I would do a much better job at cooking an omelette.

The second morning in KL, I was alone as Melissa had left for New Zealand the previous night. My blogger friend, Isaac Tan, had suggested getting together that very night after I had come back from KLIA but it was running late and I counter-proposed that we could meet for breakfast since I had vouchers for two. He agreed and said that he would come at around 8…or was it 9?

Then he remembered that he had an appointment to go somewhere with his wife at 11 so we had to meet earlier…at 7. No problem for me as I would be awake by then…but he got up late and sent a message saying that he would only be at the hotel by 7.30.  Well, I was not surprised – young people…and newly-weds some more. “I know what you did last…night!” Hehehehehe!!!!

So there we were in the cafe at 7.30 having breakfast. Isaac had the nasi lemak and I had the set American breakfast (RM13.50) for a change…

We spent quite sometime getting acquainted…and taking about this and that and by around 10, I reminded him that he had another appointment at 11…and so he left.

It certainly was nice getting to meet you in person, Isaac and hopefully, we will meet again someday. At your wedding reception in Penang perhaps? Wink! Wink! LOL!!!

Honey, I’m home…

Well, I’m home – back in Sibu, safe and sound and in one piece!

My daughter got to Wellington, New Zealand safely too and is currently readjusting her body clock  and resettling herself down there. Thanks so much once again to my NZ friend for meeting her at Auckland International Airport and taking her out for lunch before sending her to the domestic terminal for her flight to Wellington. I’m really thankful that I am truly blessed with such wonderful blogger-friends here, there and everywhere.

And talking about blogger friends, I met two for the first time on this most recent trip to KL – Isaac Tan and Bananaz…and I also met Annie-Q and her twins for lunch. Watch out for my posts on these encounters – coming soon! In the meantime, my sincere apologies to one and all as I was running here and there, doing this and that in KL and did not have time to bloghop and drop a comment or two on your posts – well, I’m back…and should be back into the old routine as well by now.

Melissa and I flew on Malaysia Airlines MH2715, 17th February from Sibu to KLIA. It was a pleasant flight and even though we did get the same Kit-Kat wafers, they were serving something different for lunch that day – a choice between chicken and fried rice or sweet and sour fish and steamed plain rice. My daughter chose the former, so I settled for the latter…but it was most disappointing. The fish had a heavy fishy smell and the boiled french beans and carrot slices by the side were extremely hard, almost uncooked. Melissa could not finish hers so I tried what she was having…and found that it was very nice – heaps better than the fish.

On my flight home, MH2718, 19th February from KLIA to Sibu, I had the chicken kusi and tomato rice…

Yup, that’s right! They were still serving that same menu that they have been serving over the past few months, the other option being beef rendang and rice. The only difference was that we were given Cadbury Gold, instead of the usual Ferrero Rocher.

Never mind! At least, I enjoyed the flight – the cabin crew was great, always attentive, ready to serve, all smiles and very friendly…even though there was a patch of turbulence that we went through and it got me worried a bit when the captain’s voice was heard on the intercom saying, “Cabin crew, please be seated!” and the tone of urgency in his voice pressed the  panic button in me…and I quickly mumbled a few prayers. Thank goodness, it was all right after a while…and I did not end up as a news item in the next morning’s papers, praise the Lord!

Oh yeah! I must thank Mandy, Zee, Zul and Cash from my radio family who took time off to give me a warm send-off at KLIA. I will post on that as well soon…and believe it or not, those guys stayed on at the airport to eat and chat and have fun and by the time, I reached home in Sibu, they were still there!!! Crazy lot, aren’t we all?

Incidentally, they have these chairs at KLIA now…

…and it got me wondering whether I could qualify to sit there or not. Perhaps if I put on a dress, I might just be able to pass off as the one second from right…

What do you all think? LOL!!!

Family…

In 2010, my missus and I were stranded in KL on Chinese New Year’s Eve, after sending off Melissa when she left for New Zealand. This year, Melissa and I ended up in KL on Chap Goh Meh, the 15th night of the Chinese Lunar New Year. ..when families would get together for another reunion dinner to mark the end of the festive celebrations.

Being her last night in Malaysia before returning to New Zealand for another year, I thought I would make it extra special for her and arrange a family gathering in KL and what better “family” do I have around than my radio family from the days of  “Pat and Mag in the afternoon” on TraxxFm…

We certainly miss all those terrific afternoons we spent over the airwaves with the two DJs when all of us would commune via smses and phone calls and have a whole lot of fun together.  The bonding over the years today has remained ever since and through good or bad times, we would always be there for one another.

I contacted Zul to arrange for a place for dinner and eventually, we settled for the Chinese restaurant at Novotel, KL…

This was the Chinese New Year special menu which did not come cheap – RM888 (Fatt…Fatt…Fatt…triple prosperity) but I told Zul to go ahead and make the booking as it would be sponsored by Vincent Tan, anyway (LOL!!!) and which father wouldn’t want the best for his daughter?

Dinner started off with the yee sang…

…followed by the sharks’ fins soup…

There was also the very nice steamed fish…

…but the fried prawns, though very  tastily done, were not that great as I could not detect the sweetness and the freshness of the crustaceans…

Then, we had the roast chicken…

…followed by the broccoli plus mushrooms that I liked a lot…

…but sadly, the fried rice wrapped in lotus leaf was a disappointment.

Ah well! It’s a known fact that I haven’t had any fried rice outside that is better than my own. Wink! Wink!

Finally we had the desserts – some lotus seed in soy bean plus deep fried kuih bakul (the traditional Chinese New Year sticky cake) slices which of course, came nowhere near the festive cupcakes that Mag brought for everybody…

I had the one with the lantern…

…and later another one – the one with the mandarin orange.

It certainly was a wonderful evening of a whole lot of fun and laughter…and when I went to pay,  Zul and Mandy came running and insisted on chipping in to foot the bill as they said it was way too much for me to treat everybody on my own…and sweet Mag even gave Melissa an ang pao, though not a Chinese herself.

There has been a lot of hoo-haa about the 1Malaysia thingy but talk is cheap. Here in my radio family, one can see the whole concept personified in all of us – Chinese, Malay, Indian, Portuguese/Eurasian as one… Together, we are beautiful.

My sincere thanks to one and all for everything. As Pat would always say everytime he ended the show, “Keep the peace and spread the love!”