Everyone's got one... So here's mine!!!

Vol II: The Mis-Adventure Continues
Funny stories, witty encounters and serious reflections from Malaysia as experienced by a vegetarian struggling to understand the world.

Visit my new home at
www.adriantai.com
for more comprehensive updates.


Thursday, November 30, 2006

Honeymoon

We're going off for a short honeymoon. A really short one.

We'll be back tomorrow night. Till then...

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Sunday, November 26, 2006

We're finally married

And we're exhausted from all the running around. Make up for her, dinner arrangements, tea ceremony, etc...

Updates and photos will come in a day or two... IWe need our precious sleep.

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On 11/27/2006 08:26:00 AM Anonymous Anonymous said:
Hehe... congratulations bro! Tai kor chai la.. kuai kuai ah.. fai tit chou yan ah...hehehe..
On 11/27/2006 02:10:00 PM Anonymous Anonymous said:
hehe.. cute comment from phenom!
Congratulations once again to both of you! It has been good sharing your wonderful moments! I am glad we're frens :)
On 11/28/2006 10:02:00 PM Blogger juliamoh said:
yay yay yay
On 12/04/2006 08:23:00 PM Anonymous Anonymous said:
Welcome to the couples planet brother!
On 12/05/2006 08:44:00 AM Blogger adriantai said:
Thank you... Thank you. :)

Phenom... Look who's talking. :P You also quickly la...










Saturday, November 25, 2006

Less than 24 hours to go...

In less than 24 hours, I will be married.

It is now 0230hrs and I'm still up. Nope, it is not because I am overly excited or what. I think it has more to do with the tea I took about 1 hour ago with the 25kid. He had just arrived from Singapore.

There are still so many things to do. Sitting arrangements have not been finalised yet. I still have a lttle bit of tidying up to do for my room. What else...?

I am really glad that I have many relatives and friends who are helping with the wedding preparations. Especially Shin Yee (aka PsychoGirl). I really, really dunno how else to thank you and your hubby for helping me out again for the dinner. And there are of course many others like 25kid, Dean, Derrell, Jude, Wei Loong, Mun San... The list just goes on and on...

Anyway, the question that's bugging my mind is... Do I celebrate my anniversary 3 times a year? This is because we got legally married a few months ago. The dinner will be on the 25th and most of my friends and relatives will probably remember this date. But the traditional ceremony is on the 26th... Hmmmm...? How leh?

I better try and get some rest now. I really need it. I'm turning into a zombie... But before I forget, my apologies to a dear friend and her husband - Anushka and Milinda. So sorry that I'm not able to be a good host this time around. Hope you are having a good time discovering Malaysia. Time just flies by and I realised I only had one post on Visit Malaysia prepared for you guys. My sincerest apologies...

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Monday, November 20, 2006

Last bachelor weekend outing

I am not kidding when I say that my last weekend as a bachelor was spent with a few friends drinking juice...

Guess which one is mine...? 17, my favourite number!

What?!? Hmmm... No strip-o-gram (oh wait... this thing dun exist in Malaysia)? No wild parties? Zilch!

Anyway, the first place (yes, we went somewhere else after that) we went to was not really that fun. You can tell when they actually have a menu like this.

Ok, ok... They do have alcohol but it's nothing fancy except for the price

Wah, they limit the number of skyjuice (read: plain water) you can order per person. rm2 per glass? RO water or even battery water (distilled water) is cheaper la... The government should start looking into this and maybe put water as controlled item as well. Luckily there’s a happy hour rate for skyjuice (read the last sentence with an acidic tone)! Can someone buy me a ticket to Kuching so I can attend KennySia’s birthday bash instead? Heard they have freeflow of FREE drinks there...

But seriously, it is not the drinks that matters. It’s the people you hang out with. I had a good time with my friends, of course. Actually, nobody actually celebrates ‘last bachelor weekend’. It’s just an excuse to meet up with friends and have a good time, which we did. Thanks guys... You know who you are. :)

Anyway, I have a new ‘family member’. A colleague decided she’s had enough of her hamster and decided to give it away. She had bought three Winters for her kids but no one was really able to take care of them. Two of them died sometime ago. But I’m more than happy to have another mouth to feed.

Meet... Errr... I still have not given a name yet to the fella. Have forgotten to check if its a he or a she...

Eh, I’m camera shy la...! Dun take my photo la...


I’m so cute with my big, black eyes...



p/s: i had the Tequila Sunrise... or was it Sunset?!? (the one that is NOT served in the jam jar).

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On 11/21/2006 01:41:00 AM Blogger Jacquelyn Ho said:
The hamster is soooo cute! XD
Take good care of that cutie :p
On 11/22/2006 08:47:00 AM Blogger adriantai said:
hamster cute coz got super cute owner ma... :)
On 11/24/2006 01:44:00 PM Anonymous Anonymous said:
no worries...we will have a belated bachelor party... with the blessing of ah sou... and we will feed you more then juice ...hehehe.. (dun think dirty, we feed you magic cards la)










Saturday, November 18, 2006

This blog in Bahasa Melayu

I like to explore new places on the internet. The internet is such a big and dynamic place that you just simply claim to have seen it all. Even if you have seen it all, there will always be new contents and ideas coming up.

And I really enjoy clicking on the links people put on up their site. There is always something new and interesting to see when you click on the links. Sometimes I can go on for hours, clicking on the links till they reach a dead-end (when some blogger does not actually have any links on his or her page -- that is so sad).

Recently, my 'exploration' led me to a very useful and interesting site. It was to a website that could translate any English webpage to Bahasa Melayu (Malaysia's national language). I thought it would be fun to try it out on my blog...

My blog sounds weird in Bahase Melayu and how come 'everytime' is not translated

Since I had just recently posted some poems I wrote long, long time ago, it would be nice to see how they turned out in Bahasa Melayu (BM). Who knows? Maybe I end up being the next modern sasterawan and get my work printed in the school text books...

What?! 'Adakah anda mahu setiap hari'? Sounds like porn to me la...

Adakah anda mahu setiap hari translated back to English means "Do you want everyday". But when you read it, it just sounds so... sexual. There goes my chances of getting into school textbooks.

But seriously, I think Linguamatix is doing a great job! We can't really accurately translate contents from one language to another since you have things like grammer, slang, etc that just can't be translated properly. Heck, my wife have problems understanding me even when we speak the same language. Example:
Me: Have you taken your bath yet? (being concerned since its getting late)
Wife: Basket, so you implying that I'm smelly?!
(just kidding la... the above does not happen)

To translate any page to BM, just head over to www.linguamatix.com/linguaweb/ and click on Laman Web. Then enter the URL and click Terjemah (note: instructions might not be accurate since Linguamatix can change their page design at anytime). Enjoy and happy learning!

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On 11/19/2006 05:27:00 PM Blogger Jacquelyn Ho said:
*cough cough* hehehe... I know from which website you got this from :p
On 11/20/2006 11:06:00 AM Blogger adriantai said:
i also know where i got it from...

huh!?

kekeke...
On 11/20/2006 04:15:00 PM Anonymous Anonymous said:
hahaha... aper nie...
On 11/20/2006 04:52:00 PM Blogger adriantai said:
ini puisi 'harimau'...

hari-hari mau...










Thursday, November 16, 2006

Chinese herbal jelly (Guilingao)

Everytime I see a friend eating the chinese herbal jelly called Guilingao, I always tell them that it is actually made of tortoise shell (the authentic jelly anyway). And the debate never fails to start... They would claim it is not! And since most of the time these jelly sold in pasar malam did not come with any ingredient list, I was not able to convince them otherwise.

Then one day, I happened to chance upon one with the ingredient list.

Guiban. What is that? If you can read the chinese ingredient list, you would realise it literally means ‘tortoise board’. A search on the internet for this 'herb' called ‘guiban’ led me to these two sites: tcmtreatment.com & alternativehealing. Both sites says the guiban is actually the plastron.

And just to be sure what a plastron is, I looked it up in Wikipedia and got this:
*********************
Quoted from Wikipedia on 16th Nov 2006:
The plastron is the nearly flat part of the shell structure of a tortoise, what one would call the belly, similar in composition to the carapace; with an external layer of horny material divided into plates called scutes and an underlying layer of interlocking bones.

In certain families there is a hinge between the pectoral and abdominal scutes allowing the turtle to almost completely enclose itself. In certain species the sex of a testudine can be told by whether the plastron is concave, male or convex, female. This is because of the mating position.

Turtle plastrons were used by the ancient Chinese in a type of divination called plastromancy. See also oracle bones.

*********************

Yes, the authentic Guilingao uses parts from the tortoise. I don’t think anyone would wait for a tortoise to die of old age before using its platron to make this jelly. I believe tortoise can live for a very, very long time. Does this means they do to tortoise what fishermen do to sharks for shark’s fin?

A better question would be... Do we really need to eat this jelly?

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On 11/16/2006 05:57:00 PM Blogger Lonnie said:
If you believe that you can believe the ingredient's list on a Chinese anything I have this Transpacific bridge I want to interest you in...


Hey from Turtleville....

Lon
On 11/16/2006 11:00:00 PM Anonymous Anonymous said:
Hmmm... I never knew that Guilingao is made of tortoise shell until today. Wow, so I've been eating tortoise shell for don't know how many years?!
O_o!
On 11/17/2006 08:53:00 AM Blogger adriantai said:
jac, you can look at it this way... if you're eating the fake one, most likely it would not have any tortoise shell. in which case, then what's the point of eating the jelly since the 'detox', etc all comes from tortoise shell?

if you are eating the real one, hmmm... maybe you should look into other alternatives. Heard of Melilea or even Herbal Life? :) I'm sure many out there are more than happy to sell them to you.



Hey back Lonnie...!!! ;) Maybe you can source for some fake 'guiban' there and we can do business... But seriously, after my 2 holiday trips there (and lots of 'does-not-work' souvenirs), I'm quite skeptical of what is manufactured there... But I still have your contact details in case I really, really want to bring in some good stuffs... You're still good for it, right? :)
On 11/17/2006 10:09:00 PM Anonymous Anonymous said:
Melilia and herbalife all MLM la.
Best to take multi vits like pharmaton and lotsa excercise.

Besides, chinese also eat "water-fish"...which is another turtle/tortoise...so whats wrong with this guilingao?...Yummy!
On 11/17/2006 11:27:00 PM Anonymous Anonymous said:
Hi everyone,
Allow me to ask you this question. How do u feel if your love ones get hurts or killed? (Touch wood, sorry) Then when you see the animals get killed for human's eating desire, don't you think their family will feel as hurt as you feel. U think the cow parents like to see his son get slaughtered or the other way? Just like u think your parents like to see u get hurt? It is the compassion everyone should develop to help make this world more peaceful, more beautiful without killing. My family have been vegetarian for over 10 yrs and we dont have any health issues. In fact my grandma recovers from her illness and is still living healthy. so does meat really make any good changes in one's health? Think about it fren, no offense though...
On 11/18/2006 12:08:00 AM Blogger adriantai said:
happy4watever, dats why i said 'm sure many out there are more than happy to sell them to you.

now we know why turtle population is dwindling... next time your grandkids ask what's a turtle, just tell them it's something you help make extinct. :)


and hello to you, gigi... long time no see... yup, i can understand what you mean...
On 11/18/2006 12:17:00 PM Anonymous Anonymous said:
The list says so, but I don't believe it's what it says. It exists if you believe.

Anyway, not a real fan of them.

I have got a vegeterian friend, I asked him why vegeterian. His reply still makes me ponder - they felt pain when killed. Erm...
maybe i'll join the big gang one day!
On 11/18/2006 12:35:00 PM Blogger adriantai said:
this is usually a subject matter i rather NOT talk about... because you'd have some MEAT activist who would feel offended when vegetarians share their opinion and then start to give extreme examples.

when people share and you are not interested in listening, then just dun listen la... why refute and claim the others are wrong. we're humans. we're all unique and think differently.

the other thing is... why is it people think vegetarians = people who survive on lots of soya... in the first place, soya = beans NOT vegetables. if one would only based his or her means on soya, they should be called soyarian or beanarians.

hmmmm...
On 11/18/2006 01:48:00 PM Blogger adriantai said:
happy, when someone calls themselves a vegetarian, it means eat vegetables la... ok, and beans, etc too...

nobody ask you to go eat mock-meat. like i said, if eat mock-meat only, then should be called soyatarian or something like that (mushroom head also ok since some of the 'mock-meat' are made of mushroom stalks... heh heh)

btw, i love mushrooms. :)

anyway, i'll be writing about the new food pyramid soon enuff... :)
On 11/18/2006 01:50:00 PM Blogger adriantai said:
i would dread to think too if everyone in this world turns vegetarian... i dun think we'd have enuff food... :)

so yes, we should celebrate the diversity...
On 11/22/2006 12:05:00 AM Anonymous Anonymous said:
Hello...
Sorry didnt mean to provoke so much personal opinion or comment. And if I sounded personal I apologize. Ofcoz there is no proof that vege will live longer, one's mortality depends on a lot of factors. Not only the food we consume, but also merits we inherited from the past(Happy: like yur grandma, she must had accumulated lot of merit). Actually, like atai said, being vege is not just mock-meat or soy.. one has to eat balance to stay balance. Thats why we like to promote taking grain or wheat products. Vegetable and fruits ofcoz is the most healthy source. Thats why we should cut down on the procesed food. Do you know that animals nowadays have been injected lot of growth hormon and antibiotic, which are not good for our body.(this is not a debate, just sharing what i know) Talking about plants being 'killed'. I hope I will not provoke more objection. Just wanna share little thing I know. Although plants also have life. The different btw plants and animal/man is that plants dont have soul/spirit like man/animal do. Plants will not cry, plants will not talk, plants has no emotion. Have u ever seen plants say 'ouchhhh' when u pluck them. But have u seen how animals struggle when they are being slaughtered? To further explain it will go into some spiritual topic which I dont want to discuss as not many ppl will believe. But if would like to share some of your valuable opinion especially about the meaning of life,if u also think that life is not just "work,eat, play, enjoy"(all sensual pleasure) If you feel that there is somethign more important in life that you want to fulfill or achieve. u r welcome to drop me some lines at gigim53@gmail.com Again, I hope I did not offend anyone. Just sharing what I should say. Not a debate. Thanks for yur time.
On 11/25/2006 02:44:00 PM Anonymous Anonymous said:
hmm...clearing things up..

ok a little biology.

KPCOGS. what? KFC? no la
it means

kingdom, phylum, class , order, genus and species. In biology, animals are first class into kingdoms- mamalia, reptilia, fish and so on.
then phylum-chordata(backboned)

and so on...till reach genus and species which is what the scientific names of an organism..

eg. staphylcoccus aureaus, u noe MRSA?

er...how bout homo sapiens- human?


ok turtles, tortoise and terrapins are three different kind of order.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortoise

ok...adrian tai give u all a nice link...

http://www.tcmtreatment.com/herbs/0-guiban.htm

well...it said there tortoise plastron...

it did not said turtle plastron..
furthermore...the wikipedia link on plastron is a general defenition of what a plastron is.,.

dont get confused by this-
Turtle plastrons were used by the ancient Chinese in a type of divination called plastromancy. See also oracle bones.

this means they take the bone and see whether can mali mali hom 4d numbers out...not eat them...-_-
( if this stills worry u whether 4d buyers are causing extinction to turtles...er...theres the word ancient there..)

conclusion.
if, the one kind chinese medicine website is true, that it only uses tortoise plastrons, then people out there go ahead sapu guilinggao only la, dont need to feel all ...aiya...im killing turtle...sei la... :(

well... i also thought turtles were the sea animals and tortoise was land...turn out rong...if u go see...some turtles lived on land..

even if it was turtle plastron...who noes it might be

dengdengdeng


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapping_turtle

a snapping turtle...enjoy

btw...adriantai...i too hate the feeling when my friends disagree with me on things that im positive about...hehe..u noe..this piece of tortoise info can be very usefull next time..


eg. ur auntie try to hao lian she got nice guilinggao to eat...halfway she eat, tell her inside got turtle shell.. ^^ haha..

enjoy her expression change.
On 12/06/2006 12:25:00 PM Blogger adriantai said:
hi juliantea...

wah, dats a lot of info for me... hmmm... snapping turtle looks like a tortoise. now i'm just like... so confused... heh heh...

still, killing turtle or tortoise... just not my cuppa... :)

hmmm... google for guilingao and this post is in top 3 position. not bad! :)
On 2/08/2009 01:36:00 AM Anonymous Anonymous said:
I found out the other day that the jelly is made with the critically endangered three-box turtle. Whether this still holds true or not, I do not know.
But I had no idea before...
On 2/08/2009 01:37:00 AM Anonymous Anonymous said:
Sorry, had to edit.
It's called the three line-box turtle and is especially endangered due to the dessert.
On 6/02/2013 10:24:00 AM Anonymous Anonymous said:
They do not produce it woth tortoise shell anymore for most of the franchise markets this product to vegetarians and for the production of tortoise shell, it will be at a higher cost then what you are buying at a regular pasar malam. And no, RM10 worth of tortoise in a pet shop don't make the cut if you are to compare with the ingredient guiban.










Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Wedding update 3

Husband and wife jokes: For him.
A husband visited a marriage counselor and said, "When we were first married, I would come home from the office and my wife would bring my slippers. Our cute little dog would run around barking. Now after ten years it's all different. I come home, the dog brings the slippers and my wife runs around barking."
"Why are you complaining?" said the counselor. "You're still getting the same service!"

Husband and wife jokes: For her.
One woman told another, "My neighbor is always speaking ill of her husband but look at me. My husband is foolish, lazy and a coward; but have I ever said anything bad about him!"



So far, everything seems to be falling into place. New bed is now in my room taking up space and I can't sleep on it yet! Dowry (and XiaoFen's family requests) have been met and delivered last week. As for the invitation cards, I still have quite a lot yet to be delivered. *sigh* And I hope I've not missed out anyone from my list!

Last night, we went to the restaurant to confirm the menu and the arrangements for the wedding day. We also picked the song for our entrance (I think it is a Scottish song - yes, last night was the first time we heard it but it sounds very nice). There will be NO alchohol (beer, wine, etc) served during the dinner but the plan would be to proceed back to my house after dinner for my Bachelor's Party!!! :)

The restaurant, Sky Garden, is a place I discovered about 3 years ago. I had just started being a vegatarian not too long before that. Two of my colleagues brought another colleague and yours truly to the outlet in Cheras (till today, I still do not know how to get to the one in cheras). I was quite impressed by the decor and the food there. When I saw their had an outlet in Petaling Jaya (there are now two outlets in PJ, the other one in ss2), I decided to check it out on my own.
The PJ outlet near Old Klang Road is just as impressive. I knew immediately back then that if I would get married and have a wedding dinner, it would be in Sky Garden. Yes, the place is that impressive. Till today (and last night), the place is still just as impressive. I managed to get a few shots. These shots don't really do justice to Sky Garden since they did not open that section and decorate it - they only do it when there is a big function.

Taken shortly after our very late dinner last night


Can you just feeeeeel the atmosphere and place...? Don't feel like a vegetarian restaurant, huh?

Anyway, with just slightly more than one week to go... I wonder if I missed out anything else. Everyone seems to tell me that weddings are always a headache. So far, all seems fine on my side, except for the invitation cards of course.

Oh ya... Many friends and visitors have commented that I'm being too vain and only posting photos of myself. Hey, it's MY blog la... But anyway, I told Xiao Fen about the comments and she said I could put this picture of her...

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On 11/16/2006 02:40:00 PM Anonymous Anonymous said:
looking forward to your special day dear friend :)
On 11/17/2006 09:00:00 AM Blogger adriantai said:
everyday is a special day for me... as long as i still have all that i know around me (or at least nearby la... some never take bath so can be quite 'choking')... hehehehe...










Sunday, November 12, 2006

The Okami vision

I recently dropped by my future home, Setia Alam, just to see how the place is progressing. Setia Alam is a new housing project by the award winning SP Setia.

During the visit, I managed to take a few photos to share with friends and family. Also, I think it would be nice to look back 20 years later and tell others how Setia Alam looked like when it first started out.

My wife was going through the photos when she saw this one:

This is one of the lakes in Setia Alam... I think it is called the Western Lake.

She asked me to draw a circle around the tree.

At first I was puzzled... Huh? Circle around the tree? What for?

Then I realised... She has been watching me play the Playstation 2 (PS2) game called Okami. In this game, you can manipulate the environment by drawing certain shapes. And when you draw a circle around a dead tree, the tree gets 'rejuvenated' and comes back to life!

Screen shots from the PS2 game Okami, showing how to rejuvenate a dead tree...

And I thought she could not be bothered about what I play on the PS2... Okami is a very beautiful and colourful game. There are some (Chinese and Japanese) myths incorporated into the game as well. And so far, in the 5+ hours I have played the game, there are still no stage in the game in which I cannot overcome (meaning the game is still quite easy to play).

Anyway, I think it's a good idea to 'rejuvenate' the tree in Setia Alam. So, I present to you the tree-rejuvenation process...

First, find a tree. Next, draw a circle around the tree... And finally, enjoy nature's beauty!

OK, I know... The rejuvenated tree looks a bit 'cacat-ed'.

Incidentally, if you are interested to know more about Setia Alam, do drop my an email or just leave your questions in the comments section. I'm more than happy to share with you my thoughts about my new home. The residents here have even got a website already!

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On 11/13/2006 04:45:00 PM Blogger Phenom said:
cacat la you...hahaha.. lidat also can... hehe..
On 11/13/2006 04:56:00 PM Blogger Phenom said:
Dun feel like buying okami leh...non rpg, no interest.. sad la rurouni kenshin dun haf stock... sigh..
On 11/13/2006 06:06:00 PM Blogger adriantai said:
it is RPG (Role Playing Game) la...

You play the role of the doggy... Actually a 'god', I believe...
On 11/14/2006 10:45:00 AM Blogger Phenom said:
Not my type leh... I dun like to be dog.. or god...or whatever...hehe I like to be hero - the one that fight dragons and save poor damsels wan..
On 11/14/2006 05:53:00 PM Anonymous Anonymous said:
ROFL. Creative artwork :)
Nice blog btw.
On 11/17/2006 05:51:00 PM Blogger adriantai said:
just realised... 'dog' spelt backword is 'god'. i mean no offence though... just something i noticed... heh heh...

wei, okami is nice la... :P










Thursday, November 09, 2006

Visiting Malaysia

I have two special guests coming to my wedding. I met her back in Birmingham during my Uni days. She and her husband will be attending my wedding. However, being from Sri Lanka (and recently based in Singapore), I doubt if they know much about Malaysia. I am not sure about her husband, but I believe she's only been to Malaysia once before, and it was like 4-5 years ago.
Anyway, this post is dedicated to them and hopefully it will prove useful for them.

Depending on how many days you will be in Malaysia, there are quite a number of destinations you should not miss out. But in summary:

If you are on a 1-2 days visit:
Explore Kuala Lumpur (KL).

If you are on a 3-4 days visit:
Explore Kuala Lumpur and take a short trip out of KL... Like overnight in Genting (Nushkie... You've been to this place during your last trip).

If you are on a 5+ days visit:
Spend 2 days in KL and a few other days in places like Genting, Penang, Cherating or even Sabah.

For this post, I will focus on 1-2 days visit and what you can do in KL.

Where to stay? If budget is not an issue, I strongly recommend Hilton KL in KL Sentral (you can get your husband to check if his company has a corporate rate with Hilton - it might be even cheaper). KL Sentral is the transportation hub and from here, you can basically go to anywhere. Plus, if you are flying in, the KLIA Express takes you directly from the airport to KL Sentral.

I've been told each room comes with a 42" plasma TV. There's also a smaller LCD TV on the bathroom mirror.


What you see when you look out from Hilton KL

Otherwise, there are many other hotels around such as PJ Hilton, Eastin, Crystal Crown, etc... Which have rates of less than rm250 per night -- USD1 is approx RM3.6.

Food. There is so much of it ranging from the spicy to the sweet and sour. Being multi-cultural, you can find almost any kind of food in Malaysia. No kidding! Do not miss out on trying the Nasi Lemak, Hokkien Fried Noodles, Hainanese Chicken Rise, Roti Canai and their variations (Roti Bom, Roti Tissue, etc), Banana Leave Rice, Hokkien Prawn Noodle, etc...

Some might ask why a vegetarian is suggesting non-vegetarian food -- Well, #1 - I don't impose my views on others. #2 - These are the dishes that we're famous for... Plus she'll already get to try out vegetarian food during my wedding dinner. toniXe has got a blogsite with some yummy photos you can check out.

Places. To be honest, there are not really that many scenic places to visit in KL. But we do have some nice shopping places such as the KLCC, Sunway Pyramid, 1Utama and ChinaTown.

Petronas Twin Towers

For KLCC, you can actually end up spending one full day there since within the KLCC, you can find Aquaria and Petrosains (science centre). There is also a cinema in KLCC. Outside, you can find the KLCC park. You can reach KLCC by taking the Light Rail Transit (LRT) and get off at... KLCC station! :)

For Sunway Pyramid, there is also a hotel there (Sunway Hotel) together with a water theme park - Sunway Lagoon. Within Sunway Pyramid, you have a cinema, bowling alley and an ice-skating rink. However what is unique about this place is the Egyptian theme used for the place. Yes, we can proudly say we have a pyramid (and a sphinx) here in Malaysia. There are buses to Sunway Pyramid and you can take some of these from the Kelana Jaya LRT station.

Transportation. This is one major problem in Malaysia. Buses are hot, poorly maintained and never arrive on time. Although there was a major revamp of the bus system just about 2-4 months ago, I've not heard anything that great. Many use the LRT to travel around these days. But don't expect to find day passes or visitor passes. There are none yet (I know countries like Hong Kong, etc have this in place already). As for the taxis, I can recommend you a nice guy if you need to travel around. Otherwise, you may end up having to bargain with the driver. Although they are supposed to use the taxi meter, many don't. Yes, they do this to even the locals. You can try to complain, but it won't really help much. Still, unless you're taking the taxi from airport to KL, otherwise you should not pay more than rm50 for any trip!

That's all for now... If anyone wishes to add, please feel free to leave your comments and suggestions in the comments section.

I'll write more stuffs and post more photos over the next few days... But in the meantime, you can also check out http://www.cuti.com.my/. Cuti means 'holiday' in Bahasa Malaysia.



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Monday, November 06, 2006

Detour into Memory Alley

Unlike Memory Avenue and Memory Highway, the Memory Alley is a dark and scary place. I found some really scary stuff which I wrote many, many years ago. I have to say that I remember writing stuffs that are really better than these, but somehow, I only found these over the weekend when I continued with my room clean-up.

Oh yeah, the new bed and cupboard is here. I am so happy. Extra place to store my junks.

*sigh*

But I can't sleep on the bed yet. Must wait for the proper time to 'fix' the bed first... What?!? Click here and also here to find out about this tradition. I wonder who started this tradition anyway?!? :P

Well, here are some of the stuffs I found over the weekend...

Masterpiece #1
Do you wish...
Do you wish upon a star,
Do you wish that we won't have to be so far,
Do you wish every night,
Do you wish that someday, we will reunite,
Wishes are not only for the fools,
But also for the hopeful,
For life is dull without wishes,
Like an ocean without fishes.
(NOTE: This one still sounds quite decent)



Masterpiece #2
Weep does my eyes,
As love slowly dies
Shatter does my heart,
As we drift apart.

Happy were we at first.
Till the bubble began to burst,
Now all I can is only ask why,
And perhaps maybe even cry.

For no signs were shown,
When we were alone,
Then all of a sudden,
I was disheartened.

Strike while the iron's hot,
Is something I did not,
Now all I have is misery,
When I could have been extremely happy.

A chance I ask,
To accomplish an impossible task,
But try I must,
To make this love last.

Leave me not, is all I wish,
Listen I want, to the lovely 'Sheesh'
From you to me, a little dote,
And end this poem will, on a happy note.
NOTE: I believe this one was written to try and win back a girl after I said the wrong thing... She likes to use the word 'Sheesh'. Sounds like Yoda (click here and here if you just came back from a holiday cruise to Mars and want to know who's Yoda) doing poetry, eh?



Masterpiece #3
A ship, a kingdom, I have captured,
Towns and castles, I have invaded,
Kings and queents, I have met,
Little joy, little wonder, I had fret.

Lions and dragons, I fear not,
Orcs and ghouls, I have fought,
Vicious and cruel, I have been,
Elegant and gentle me? No one has seen,
Scary and dirty, I am mean.

Cast a spell, you seem to me,
On my hands and knees, trembling is what I next see,
Fill my heart and soul, you did,
Your love, your words is all I now heed.

Victim of your love, I am now,
Everything you ask, you command, I bow,
Run for shelter now, when I hear a thunder,
Yet, once I was a fearless plunderer.

Many now laugh and spit on me,
Utter I not; All for you, you see,
Coward! I am called by a few,
Humiliated, I care not; I just want you.

A companion, a love, I found in you,
Lose it is something I won't do,
Over my life, before I surrender,
This eternal love, I cherish and treasure forever.
Note: Imagine living in the world of Dungeons and Dragons. This is probably written by a barbarian turned bard. Hah!

Dean, now you believe me when I say I'm into poetry and can also do poetry? OK... OK... I'll stop doing poetry.

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On 11/06/2006 10:06:00 PM Anonymous Anonymous said:
Adrian,

Man... You can really write powderful stuff, and summore at that age! I bow to you la...

I wrote quite a lot myself but unfortunately I never kept any copies. All are lost along with my ex-es.

Only few songs remained, wrote with my old guitar, documented in scraps of paper, scattered all over the place...

You inspired me once again. I shall re-tune that guitar which I have not touched for the past 3 years...
On 11/07/2006 09:04:00 AM Blogger adriantai said:
oi...!!!

i din know u wrote songs...!!! hmmm... boleh dendang utk i dengar ka?!? heh heh...










Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Wedding update 2


I wonder...

Touch 'N Go claims to have 3 million cardholders and 500 000 SmartTAGs. If 5% of the cardholders are also Zing users (150 000 Zing users), Rangkaian Segar (Touch 'N Go operator) stands to earn rm300k yearly in interest from the rm50 deposit (assuming interest at 4% pa). When you terminate or surrender the card, there is also a rm5 processing fee. This means the operator can 'safely' put this amount in a fixed deposit account. With 3 million users, that's rm600k pa at 4% in interest earned. Easily a million ringgit business a year for just having users.

Wah, how can I get into this business as well?


Headache!

Traffic jam is back. It took me more than 30 minutes to get to my office today when it took me just 15 minutes last week. *sigh*

The wedding guest list is also another problem. I have to really emphasize that it can be a MAJOR problem. If any couples plan to get married and ask me for advice, I would tell them to first start with the list. Why?
1. To book the venue, you first need to know how many people are coming or at least you plan to have. After all, the venue have got a seating capacity and may not be able to meet your requirements.
2. Once you have a list, you then know how many cards to print.
3. From the list, you can then calculate how much money you will need to spend. Yes, there is a cost to each guest from invitation card (printing & stamp cost) to wedding favours (yes, I have something planned out for my guests). Then there's the obvious dinner costing.

I will share more on how my nightmare started another day.

But I have to say that I'm really lucky to have:
1. a very understanding wife. She is suffering a lot from this guest list problem. She practically could not invite any of her friends.
2. very good friends who continuously remind me and keep me on track when it comes to the wedding plans. Every now and then, they would even offer to help out with whatever arrangements. To them, I really have to thank you very, very much! I'm so very touched! I will let you know if I need additional help. At the moment, we're still OK.

Some have asked how come there are no photos of Xiao Fen, my wife. Well, I am saving the best for last. Yes, I will not be posting a photo of her here... Yet.

Like happy4ever said, I'm going to camwh0re and post another photo of myself. My wife's favourite. She saw the photo I posted yesterday and said this one looks better:

My wife likes this photo

Me? I like ALL my photos... Hahahaha...

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On 11/02/2006 12:46:00 AM Anonymous Anonymous said:
(Nice photo :) )

Yes, would have to agree that the guest list is important. You would also do well to give the people on the list a call to find out if they are able to turn up for your wedding so you won't waste money by sending cards to guests who won't turn up. There may be some ill-mannered guests who tell you they will turn up and then fail to turn up for your wedding banquet, thus incurring the cost of the card and the place at the dinner. Some of these guests might not give you a gift or red packet as compensation. Being in the wedding industry, I have seen my fair share of such people. :(

Wish you all the best and I do hope that you have a very blessed wedding.
On 11/03/2006 07:20:00 PM Blogger adriantai said:
hi...

thanks for dropping by.

yup, dat is what i am doing. i call and confirm that my guests can make it first. Only then i pass them an invitation.

the chinese custom is that once u receive a card, you *should* give something (usually red packets with $$$) even if you are not going to attend. so this way, not only do i save the trees, the friends who can't make it will be feel like they need to give me any gift.

having said this, i still find some who want the card before deciding if they can make it or not. relatives, actually. friends actually said they don't need a card. as long as i've informed them, they will come! :)

for me, i just want to share the special day with all my friends. however, as mentioned in my post, i am currently limited by the seating capacity of the restaurant and i can only blame myself for not coming up with the correct number of guests much earlier. :(
On 11/03/2006 11:10:00 PM Blogger michsue said:
i tot i was the only camwhore around... didnt know it was contagious... sorry for causing u to haf "camwhoritis"... hehehe... ;P
On 11/05/2006 05:09:00 AM Blogger juliamoh said:
ooh, leng chai again ;)

wanna see your wife :(
On 11/06/2006 09:01:00 AM Blogger adriantai said:
julz...

coming soon. :)
save the best for last ma...

as for the camwh0re condition, michsue, i'll be sending you my doctor's bills. :D
On 11/06/2006 10:40:00 PM Anonymous Anonymous said:
WAAAAAAAAHH! So ensem la!

You're at the stage where both of you syiok sendiri at your own photos. I know, I've been there last Feb! Nobody else would appreciate the shots more than the two of you. Since I've been through that stage, I could appreciate the intricacies of wedding photography. I think those shots are dem good! Weldone, you got yourself a good photographer...

My advice, if you're gonna burn money during wedding, burn it on a good photographer. You won't regret it as that's the only piece of memory you can tapau!

I trust that my name and my lou po is among the top in your guest list. I can't wait to be your hengtai-commander-in-chief!

See you in 3 weeks!
On 11/07/2006 09:06:00 AM Blogger adriantai said:
ya-ya...!!! :)

i have to agree. now looking around for a 'affordable' photographer. *sigh*

never realised how much these ppl charge! wah, and all this time when i comes to computers, i do for free!!! :(
On 11/09/2006 01:30:00 AM Anonymous Anonymous said:
Hi Adrian!
OMG!!!! I'm your dad's colleague and I just discovered we both have a common friend, Sherman Yap.

Btw, congrats on your wedding! Another new chapter of life has been unfolded.

Cheers
On 11/09/2006 09:31:00 AM Blogger adriantai said:
ok... one less topic to blog. mental note: dun write anything bad about my dad unless Vicky pays me... heh heh...

how you know sherman...?
On 11/09/2006 12:43:00 PM Anonymous Anonymous said:
no worries mate. we are all adults. :)

Sherman...hmmm frankly speaking, almost lost touch with him if not with the happy4ever nick.
On 11/09/2006 04:25:00 PM Blogger Phenom said:
haahha....dam oi la you..
On 11/13/2006 11:38:00 AM Anonymous Anonymous said:
happy4ever, i don't know what benefits you to accuse me. you think it is a funny joke?
On 11/13/2006 12:02:00 PM Blogger adriantai said:
vicky, dun worry too much la.

happy's know to shoot off his mouth/ fingers before thinking about it...

to put it bluntly, he can be quite crude with his remarks. for me, i just learnt to not bother with them.

yes, happy... in case u dun realise... sometimes your jokes are not that funny at all. having said that, i still sayang you for what you are... heh heh...
On 11/13/2006 03:53:00 PM Anonymous Anonymous said:
adrian. i'm not worrying. but the remarks was annoying though.

And Sherman, that's not funny. I'll pardon you this time. :)
On 11/15/2006 03:41:00 PM Anonymous Anonymous said:
Hi Adrian!!

Thanks for the 'special' update :o) that was very thoughtful of you. Milinda and I are really looking forward to your wedding!!

Great photos too... you poser!!! :o)

see you both soon,
Nushkie










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