Ever since Claire suggested meeting up in Penang for some singing and dancing, I had been looking forward to it. Eugene was assigned the task of making all the necessary arrangements for the event but unfortunately, the response was not very encouraging. Nevertheless, as they always say, the show must go on…and it did!
Eugene and his sweet missus picked me up at my hotel that day (Saturday, 2nd April, 2011) and drove me to this beautiful colonial-style mansion (GPS coordinate: 5.4211563N,100.3236026E)…
…which actually is being used now as a karaoke club…for their happy hours from 4.00 till 8.00 p.m.
He asked me if I wanted one of those little rooms…and of course, I did not. If I had wanted that, I would just go and sing in the toilet. Muahahahaha!!!! I started the ball rolling by singing Joshua Kadison’s “Beautiful in my eyes“ and Van Morrison’s “Have I told you lately (that I love you)“…and in the meantime, Claire arrived and after that, Jessie came too…as well as Eugene’s sister and brother-in law.
Claire and I sang a duet – that Lionel Richie & Diana Ross’ favourite, “Endless Love” and I must say that we did very well…and considering that we never practised nor sang the parts together ever before, I would say that we were very good. LOL!!! I know! I know! Self-praise is no praise…but you can ask Eugene if you do not believe me. Right, Eugene? Wink! Wink!
We sang so many songs that evening including two that I had linked on Facebook not too long ago – Whitney’s “Where do broken hearts go“ and Barbara Streisand & Barry Gibb’s “What kind of fool“ and here, you can see the three of them doing Abba’s “Mamma Mia”…
Gosh! We had so much fun that we did not even notice time flying past so quickly. I think the last song I sang was “Tiada lagi” that somebody requested but nobody seemed to want to sing it. Actually I had never sung that song (in public) before and unfortunately, the video clip they had was the cover version by Amy Search…
…and I’m actually more familiar with the Mayang Sari original but what the heck! I just went ahead with it. After all, it’s karaoke! How did I do? Let’s hear the comments from the judges – Eugene, Claire and Jessie. LOL!!!
We had a photo taken together while we were there…
…and after that, we adjourned to the Red Garden Food Centre at Penang Road (GPS coordinate: 5.4211616N, 100.3341705E) where Bananaz and his friend from KL joined us for dinner/supper…
…and my good friend, Mandy, dropped by as well a little bit later.
We ordered all kinds of things to eat, most of which I had eaten before and had featured in my posts previously…for instance the or chian (oyster omelette)…
….but this time around, somebody ordered the lala chian as well which is something similar but instead of oysters, they have lala (some kind of clams or something like that) in it.
I think I saw Jessie having the yong tofu and Claire had the Cantonese-fried hor fun which she did not seem to like. Actually I had that before and I thought it was not bad. I ordered the belacan chicken for all to share…
…and also the ikan bakar – bawal hitam (black pomfret). The chicken was o.k. – I thought there should be more belacan added to give it a stronger taste but I guess that’s the thing about the belacan in the peninsula – not as strong and fragrant as ours in Sarawak. Anyhow, I liked it a lot better than the inchi cabin chicken we had at the nyonya restaurant the night before. The fish was good though and I particularly loved the sambal (dip) that came with it – so very pedas and so sedap.
I also ordered two sets of this Thai mango pulut (glutinous rice) dessert…
…and everyone enjoyed that but we did not finish all of it either because everyone was shy or we were already too full by then.
Then we called it a day…but before we dispersed, there was this exchanging of gifts. I had brought a box from home and I thought I could throw it away. In the end, I had to use it for all the things that I got and the box came all the way back to Sibu with me again. Stick around! I will blog about what goodies I received pretty soon…
I certainly had such a great time that evening and I hope that the rest did too…and Eugene, should I happen to hop over to Penang anytime in future, I would like to go croaking…I mean, karaoke-ing again. LOL!!!
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Frankly speaking, i hope i did not let you guys down…otherwise next time you will kick me out as organiser already muahahahah, and i ain’t got no mee daddy no more
Gosh! To say that I had the most wonderful evening would be an understatement, thanks to you, Eugene. I certainly look forward to doing that again – now really regret that I did not accept your invitations on my previous trips to “go out for drinks”… Hehehehehe!!! 😉
P.S. No comments on the singing kah? Aiyor…we must have sung so very terribly then…. Sobssss!!!! 😦
wow eugene, u love mee daddy? hehehehe! i love it too. haha
Ya, I got the family pack for him and his family. Made in Sibu, Sibu people must promote mah… 😉
lala chian? wow never try it. i love those lala stir fry!
and poor me, never try belacan chicken 😦
should cook it someday , ask my boyfriend later la on how to
I think I prefer oysters in the omelette – stronger taste, Lala, could hardly feel anything.
oh love the place….
Very nice indeed! Impressive.
nice pick of songs…. but you sang too many ballads every week… you should sing something uptempo….ahaha… now i’m acting like an AI judge
Hah! I prefer slow songs…but I do sing some not so slow ones like Mamma Mia. 😉
err who is Bananaz on the pic??? the one in black or the one in stripe?
The one who was not at the karaoke (not in earlier photos)… LOL!!! 😀
Hi Bluedreamer STP truly kept you in suspense huh will leave it to him to peel bananaz..so when are you starting the next Blog Idol 2011?
Hehehehe!!! With the obvious clue, he should be able to tell which one quite easily. I hear Blog Idol is going to start soon…
gosh STP!! U were real good.. eugene too… yours is the bass.. you sing very steady and cool, man!! eugene is on the “sharp” side… he can sing very louod… me? i change according to the keys.. hahaa… too high also cannot…croak liow!
Anywayss..we did have a good and wonderful time singing the ballads, didnt we? I will miss that… hope Eugene will continue to issue out invitations on and off for us! hahaha…
About the food, they were so-so only.. this type of places normally are not “that good” but just to eat to satisfy hunger, okay la.. the cakes were good… I ordered the 3 plates of clams and or chien… so-so only, right? I wanted to try the belacan chicken and the fish, unfortunately, too far for me to reach la.. and no one offered 😦 LOL…..
Managed to eat the desserts though… hehheee..
I know what box u meant from Sibu… I didnt try them yet, sayang to try… must find the correct moment to try them… 🙂 but the pineapple tarts,my girl walloped them already.. she said very nice! Thanks!
Most welcome, sama-sama thank you for the things you gave.
Aiyor…I’m so sorry I did not notice that you did not help yourself to the belacan chicken. What about the ikan bakar? Aiyor, why so shy one? Hokkien people say, “Say jee, gor ka kee!” and true enough!
Ya…I’m bass and if you look at my size,not just double bass, triple bass!!! Wah…compliments from singer cum guitarist/musician – really hidung kembang liao. So flattered. LOL!!! 😀
hey, I better brush up my singing.. prepare myself for the next round… for a ex teacher, u really know a lot of songs! New and old songs, you know so many of them… i thought i know a lot .. hahaha.. u know, i forgot to sing one song, “She Works Hard for the Money”… and Flashdance! haaha..so many songs i forgot.. until i heard them on the radio and i said to myself, “aiyah, should have chose this song… ” lol…
Ok, till next time unless Eugene backs out on us.. hehhee..
Never tried “She works hard for the money” (Donna Summers) but I sing”Flashdance” and “Fame” too (Irene Cara). I’ve been a keen radio listener since young…so I know all the songs from then until now…but I can’t sing the current songs – never bother to get really familiar with them even though I do know most of them, just listen while in the car (and Sibu, one song not finished, you’ve reached your destination liao! LOL!!!).
Hey that sounds like a fun night out! Food, friends and fellowship! 🙂
The belacan chicken looks pretty good to me but I agree, our belacan is more flavorful than the ones over here for some reason.
It certainly was great! Had so much fun… I think ours has more fermented shrimps and hence the stronger smell…but that, we definitely love a lot more! Yum! Yum! 😉
Wah…. KTV and good food…. How nice!! And Claire didn’t bring me again. Always go out and play without me 😦
Maybe she thinks you’re underaged…or she doesn’t want you to steal the limelight. Hehehehehe!!! 😉
yeah lor …gotta spank her! hahaha
Ya. No reply from her though. She pretends she does not see your comments, poor you! LOL!!! 😀
Good to see such a happy bunch of party animals. And no one videotaped the show? The singing, I mean. Next time, put in on youtube and we’ll all add our comments. Loved the song, very mellow, made me feel all fuzzy inside.
Yes, I love the violin…sexy! LOL!!! Nope, I’m sure youtube would block the video. Hahahahaha!!!! Don’t wanna be the next Justin Bieber! ROTFL!!! 😀
I’m sure it’s a great meeting-up session for u guys 🙂
Yes, so much fun… Certainly looking forward to more such sessions soonest…
yay finally your post on the cool gathering in Penang is up! More pictures for me to get jealous over. Aww. Fun times yea!
Ya…but I’m sure the parties that you frequent are a lot more fun… 😦
Actually its the company that matters, no matter the environment! And I don’t frequent parties.. haha, only that 1 time last weekend.
It’s 1.43am, and i’m getting hungry. LOL
Well, this is just the beginning. Once you get to know more fellow-bloggers and become famous, you will get invited to this and that. 1 something…hungry? Hungry for what? Muahahahahaha!!!! 😀
Aijarr…i thought the video below is videoing you and Claire sang a duet….how i wish to see it…
Our performance very exclusive lah! You have to organise such a get-together and invite the two of us. Then only you will get to see us performing… Muahahahaha!!!! 😀
Mama mia all those songs mentioned never heard of before one??? Bananaz would love Justin Bieber, Wonder Girls, Black Eyed Peas etc…muahahaha ~;). Nanti kena hentam then get black eyes instead lolz hahaha..
Muahahaha!!! You! You can only sing Beeeeeee Geeeeeees lah!!! That night, somebody sang First of May…and another one – Words, I think. Was hoping you would show up to show them how to sing Beeeeeee Geeeeeeees, the Bananaz way! LOL!! 😀
it must be so much fun! great!
Goes without saying…
Love ‘Isabella’ by Amy Search bro..singing in public? Never Say Never. Can hardly sing in the karaoke room not even during shower, no way bro.
Nah!!! Pretending to be shy only lah! I’m sure once you sing, everybody else wouldn’t want to sing anymore…too shy, cannot compete.
i also prefer Mayang Sari’s version of Tiada Lagi. 😀 walao! sang quite many songs wor! 😀
Yes, sampai loudspeaker also mau pecah! LOL!!! 😀
Having great time with yr bunch of buddies!…Looking forward for more to come, hehehe!…….
Drooling…food looks good…very tempting.
Oh!…or chian, I still prefer our crispy oyster omelette.
Eh!…no pix of the ikan bakar. Guess you must have walloped them up before you have the time to snap.
You can see a pic of the Red Garden ikan bakar here – but this one’s the stingray:
https://suituapui.wordpress.com/2010/12/18/seeing-red/
What I like is they do not drown the fish with the sambal when they grill it like those that we have here – they marinate and grill the fish separately and serve it with the sambal dip. In this way, we can actually savour the taste and the freshness of the fish…and the sambal is simply out of this world. You dip the fish in it and yummmmmm!!!! I would go again for sure should I ever go to Penang again.
Laaa…i thought the link is the video of 3 of them singing.
See my reply to Yee Ling’s comment. Where got put up video for everybody to see like that? So easy one meh? Saham turun already lah like that! Muahahahaha!!! 😀
hehehe… STP, u really made me laugh over your reply!! saham turun pulak.. hahaha… yeah, if anyone wants to hear us sing, they must book us in advance! Guess who our manager is??? hahaha….
LOL!!! Famous now bah…must be like diva a bit, where got simply go and sing for people to hear? Muahahahahaha!!! 😀
wow.. looks very happening there. the pictures shows how happy you guys were. NICE! u duet with claire eh? she’s a great singer! n i believe u are too! 😀
That’s for us to know and for you to find out. 😉 Come! Next time I go KL, we go to some nice karaoke place…and I’ll sing for you. LOL!!! 😀
Wow!!! Can see everyone having so much fun and everyone feeling so young that night too? hahahhaha
Karaoke, i will just sit there, i don’t know how to sing! hahahahha
I would love to see Bananaz sing Justin Bieber – Close your eye or Baby baby , Wonder girl – nobody nobody but you. hahahahhahaha
Belacan chicken look very good.
It was ok but only a slight hint of belacan. You probably would like it since you’re not a fan of belacan. Ya…too bad this Bananaz refused to join us and sing – I smsed him so many times but was rejected. Sobsss!!!! And yes, it certainly was a whole lot of fun – hopefully, can do that again one day. You should try – who knows, hidden talent… LOL!!
Annie Q : Ohhhh in Hokkien we say *ban ban tan* you gotta slow slow wait until the cows come home muahahaha.
So it looks like I have to join her also lah…and wait till the cows come home. 😦
Looks like you had a blast in penang. Too bad I’m 2 weeks too late or else i sure will join in the fun. Love all the songs selection and I’m sure you sang very well, Arthur…big people usually do. I really enjoyed your post today.
I’m glad you enjoyed the post – I also enjoyed writing it. Ya…too bad you were not around then. Maybe for your next trip, I can try and be in KL and arrange something like this too. Should be a whole lot of fun…or we can do it in Sibu? Hehehehehe!! Oh? Big people can sing well? Like Papa Roti, you mean? LOL!!!
Aiyaks… shud have recorded and put on youtube for us to listen. LOL!
Blerk! See my replies to Yee Ling & Kathy… So you know what to do the next time I go to KL, ya? 😉
I know what to do. I’ll sit and watch u sing! Hahahaha!!!
…and clap loud loud when I finish! Muahahahaha!!! 😀
Interesting. Karaoke next to the church and Tenaga Nasional HQ. Must have sounded angelic and powerful.
LOL!!! I certainly would like to think that our singing was electrifying…but I would not want to think that we’re quite ready yet to join the heavenly choir. Touch wood!
it’s so nice to see people have fun even if you all have family of your own 🙂
i like to try that mango dessert…i’ve seen pic of fried chicken again…my love for it comes back 🙂
how is the karaoke in malaysia? private room or in public where others can hear you sing? 🙂
We have both but I would not want to go to those private rooms…or worse still, those “boxes” – might as well sit in the storeroom at home and sing. 😦 Ya…the food’s pretty o.k. but the company was really great and we had so much fun together – that’s the best part of get-togethers, I’m sure you’ll agree.
Ummmm…why should the fun stop once you have a family of your own? Strange that you should think this way. Surely you do not think of it as a death sentence? If my missus and daughter had come along with me on this trip, they would certainly been there too – they’ve also met Eugene and Claire before.
RM13,000 — a price too hard to digest for 50 diners
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/4/12/nation/8463259&sec=nation
Next time better ask the price….
Yup, I saw that this morning….and it was all for patin – one fish that I would not want to touch. Eyewwww….
River Patin is good and yes, I wouldn’t want to touch the farmed Patin either.
A bit too fat to my liking. I would prefer tapah. The farmed patin is worse – with the mud smell…
We seem to be on the opposite end. I would prefer river Patin over Tapah. Coincidentally they both belong to the same family of Catfish. Goes to show taste is a very personal thing.
Yes, farmed Patin is terrible. Too fat and too mud-tasting. BTW, I once tried a trick to remove those mud taste but I don’t think anyone else would want to try. I concluded that the mud taste must be with the skin and either you remove the skin altogether or you use washing powder. Well, out of curiosity I used washing powder and sure enough, no mud taste. Everybody think I must be mad but in the interest of science, I went for it to prove it’s the skin. That was the 1st and last time I did it.
As they say, to each his own! Ummm…washing powder? No, thank you. Not really crazy about tapah either, just that many restaurants here serve that. You would not see me buying that to cook myself. Btw, did you enjoy your breakfast at the Sibu Central Market this morning? What did you have? Kampua? LOL!!! 😀
OMG. I have been spotted. This is such a small town.
Talking about Kampua. You should try the one at Stall No. 122 King Hua Mee Stall at the same Central Market. It used to be my favorite but nowadays, standard tends to fluctuate so I seldom go there anymore. But who knows, you may be lucky.
Alternative, you have a try the one at 2.28732, 111.82671. Called something like “Mui Siong”.
Or the one at 2.28535, 111.83186 called Ing Lok Coffee Shop
Only one that I would want to eat – used to eat it during my young days when it was in that small lane behind Chartered Bank…but they say, must go later at night and must wait a long time and the old man very grumpy…so, never mind lor! I would rather not eat than go through all that.
No, Kim Hua Stall No. 122 isn’t the one you mentioned. In the old days, they are really very good. Nowadays, hard to find one Kampua. Got any recommendation?
Oh, there is another one here that’s isn’t too bad at 2.284816, 111.832383. Next to the sundry shop with the “white bird”.
No? Some blogger friends went to eat. They told me it is there – the name is some Teochew noodles or whatever. They also like to go to Ah Hua’s stall for sentimental reasons – not my favourite. I hardly ever go there – too hot, that place…not for fat people like me. LOL!!!
Ah….I now know the confusion. We were both talking about two very different stall at Central Market.
One is the Teochew stall that you and your friend talked about. Run by a short, thin and dark skinned grumpy fellow of about ~60 years old. Near the central staircase. He used to be behind Standard Chartered Bank.
And there is a different stall with No. 122 called Kim Hua.
Yup…I was talking about that one.
u obviously had a great outing with your friends, and that whatever orh-or-lala chien is making me drrrroooolllll!!!!!!!!
really miss that good orh chien in penang now 😦
Yup…somehow, I have not had really nice ones in KL. Kuching’s different- crispy…like a hard pancake but very nice. Different, but nice.
You like karaoke, Cash likes it, Zul likes it too…so how come we’ve never had a karaoke session when you’re down in KL? Next time you come down you should get Zul the Putrajaya King of Karaoke arrange for a session where the rest of us can bask in and enjoy the entertainment provided by you guys. Sounds like a plan?
You’re asking me… How would I know why we never ended up croaking away whenever I was in KL, not even going some place to listen to nice bands – TraxxFm kakis…should always have something to do with music and songs. Must have something along these lines the next time we get to meet…or I will not show up. Tarek harga dah… LOL!!! 😀
Cannot deny this was a great gathering among all the bloggers.
This is the third post i saw… from claire and eugene.
Good 🙂
p/s: I back to kch for 4 days only. Hence, i will not manage go to sibu as well. 🙂
dont worry… i think eugene will organise more gathering in future 🙂
It was great and yes, the two of them blogged on the event a day or two later. Hmmm…too bad you will not be coming to Sibu – we’ll have to wait till another time before we can get to meet then. 😦
hehehe… when the time is right, it will come automatically 🙂
Ya…hopefully! 😉
I blame it on the croaking kakis for they should know better. Never mind, I shall voice this out in the next meeting. LOL!!!
Aha!!! Looking forward to more karaoke singing when I go to KL next…and remember, I want an open lounge – not one of those private rooms or tiny boxes. Holiday Villa Subang used to have one (nobody though), next to the fun pub with live music. Dunno if they still have it.
Wah, everyone had a wonderful time croaking their golden pipe, huh. Glad to know it was a blast although just the four of you turned up to brave the open-room karaoke. 🙂
LOL!!! I always sang in public – public functions e.g. school dinners…and I used to frequent one place here in the 90s – had to go on stage and sing, no cordless mike then. This one, at least, we could sing from where we were sitting. 😉
No video of you and Claire singing duet?
Nope, all too busy.