boon's log 1809.02: Randoms - Foodie update, Bohboh in Ipoh, Gifts from Beijing

We were back in Ipoh 2 weekends back. As usual, the ever-spoiling grandparents treated Ab to dimsum, while IL and I just tagged along (haha!). Oh, IL once held the title "DimSum Queen" in the family - the name given by Ed, our relative from Singapore. But I guess the title has been passed down to Ab, our little DimSum Princess...

The grandparents decided against FohSan because of no air-conditioning and tighter spaces. So we ended up eating at Yoke Fook Moon, along the east side of Jalan Leong Sin Nam, Greentown, Ipoh.


Yoke Fook Moon Hong Kong Dim Sum, Greentown, Ipoh

The food quality used to be better compared to our recent visit 2 Saturdays ago. It is not entirely bad, just used to be comparitively better. Yoke Fook Moon - the restaurant itself has been around for quite a long time - as far as I can remember, at least ~20 years, known by different names - I remembered it used to be called Biscuit Seafood Restaurant (but serving dim sum in the morning).


DimSum at Yoke Fook Moon

YFM will be facing her biggest challenge yet - just a few doors west of YFM, down Leong Sin Nam Street. The sparkling new FohSan DimSum will be opening her doors soon to the DimSum aficionados and connoisseurs from Ipoh and all over Malaysia. Yeah, people actually drive all the way from Penang and KL just to get a taste of FohSan's dimsum.


New FohSan, Ipoh

Of course, with the relocation from the pre-war building along Jalan Mustapha Al-Bakri, to the new location, somethings will never be the same again - e.g. the atmosphere. But I am sure that nostalgic feeling will soon fade away and drowned by the hustling and bustling of the dimsum carts and the waitresses' shouting and not forgeting the mother-load of people standing by your table, waiting for you to finish your food quickly... Typically, FohSan... Let's hope that the move will not impact the quality of food.



Ab's Panda Variety Show - gifts from Beijing

Apart from the eating, Ab was also spoiled with gifts from grandpa and grandma's recent trip to Beijing. More panda toys! But as with most kids, there can only be ONE toy that she loves the most, and that is her BohBoh. CL bought it from Adventist Hospital long time ago and both Ab and BohBoh stuck to each other like glue the moment they met! It's funny, we tried buying "replacement BohBohs" -i.e. same looking ones - but she can tell the difference even when she was 1+ yrs old and expressed that she only wants the original (!!!) and not the "replacements". So we got to make sure that we guard BohBoh with our lives and not risk losing it... or else.


Boh-boh

Last weekend, we were invited to the Parkroyal's Seafood Buffet at the Tamarind Brasserie. It was actually our second visit to Parkroyal in less than 7 days, actually - we were there on Sunday to celebrate our cell member, Jo's birthday.


Parkroyal Seafood Buffet

The food at the Tamarind was just mediocre. Nothing to shout about, really. Apart from the fact that they serve you a whole fish cooked to your liking (Oh you get to choose your own fish from the counter, as well), and slightly bigger sized prawns and lobsters, the rest of the food was just so-so. The spread was rather disappointing while the frequency of replenishing the spread was almost unbearable. Not forgeting some of the waiters were also somewhat ill-mannered. Oh and it is open air with no air-conditioned room/lounge option, unline the competition down the road.

I was told that the price per/pax is ~110 ringgits. Honestly, I would not pay that amount for that quality. I would rather pay a little bit more and head on over to Rasa Sayang's Spice Garden International Buffet on Sundays, and if you are a Citibank credit card holder, you'll even get a 20% discount (They have the air-con option :)).


FengShui at ParkRoyal?

No doubt the refurbished Parkroyal looks good, but I guess they needed a good reno pretty badly also. A whole lot of wood-bamboo-zen-feel in the interior, which is very typical these days, expecially if you are a beach resort. Anyways, nicely done.


Parkroyal Penang Lobby / Coffee Lounge

All in all, it was okay. Will most probably not go back there again, or recommend it to anyone. Seriously for that price, I have many other (better) options to chose from.

boon out...

boon's log 1809.01: In the mail...

Got this interesting fwded email when I opened up my mailbox this morning while sipping through my Starbucks black coffee. According to the email, this picture was taken in Miri, Sarawak.


Starbucks, Miri, Sarawak. (credit and acknowledgement to the person who took this photo)

Not sure how true it is yet, but at least it's got a Malaysian flag hanging outside of the store, for one. So we can be sure it is somewhere in rural areas of Malaysia. 10 pts to the folks that started this establishment and I sure hope that their coffee is as good as (if not better than) the original Starbucks.

I wonder if other opportunists in the area will be competitive enough to take up the challenge and open up a "Biji Kopi dan Daun Teh" down the road from Setarbak Kopi... ;P

Oh, and notice the tombstone shop next to it? :) Talk about location, location, location...

boon out...

boon's log 1709.05: Honda Row

Things people do (to either get noticed or to get accepted). Some of the people at work may know or notice this. I find it somewhat hilarious, and to a certain extend ask the question, is it worth it?

There is this particular area in the parking lot at the place where I work, where you will normally find a number of Honda-vehicles parked in a straight line - CRVs, Citys, Civics, Accords. Almost the same cars / drivers try to park there every day, making it look like a Honda-designated parking lots - the Honda Row.

That's not all of it.

In order to ensure that the "Honda Row legacy" lives on from day to day, the Honda drivers actually arrive slightly earlier to work and intentionally park at the "Honda Row", even though there are tons of empty lots that are nearer to the office building. (you can refer to the roughly drawn diagram below)...


Honda Row

A= Honda Row
B= closest empty slot to the office building
Between A & B = empty spaces

Now, I can understand if you are doing this in the US - where the weather is friendlier for the drivers to intentionally park a little further, and then take a short stroll from where they park their car to the office building - it may be because they need that short exercise or perhaps they are just lazy to remember where they park their car.

But in Penang? Where it rains almost every other day? I mean, we are not talking some sissy drizzle type of rain, right?... but bucket-pouring, gates-of-heaven-opening, God-must-be-angry, cats-and-dogs-and-flying-cows type of rain - where using an umbrella merely keeps the top of your head dry.

Now, imagine you are teleported to another place - say for example Tesco, Penang - do you think these same dudes would park 200meters away from the Tesco automated glass doors? Ha! Most probably not (!!!) You will probably find them idling their cars nearest (<90meters) to the glass doors WAITING or HOPING for a car to leave and then take that spot. And Tesco Penang has an indoor car park (!!!).

Somedays, some folks would try to break the "tradition" by intentionally parking their Kancils and their Kenaris there - yeah, the Kancils and Kenaris did the same thing too. Came sligthly earlier to work and skipped all the empty spaces in between and parked at the Honda Row... haha...

Things people do... the Honda row.


boon out...

boon's log 1709.02: mpg

I found an old graph stored somewhere in one small archived corner. I used to track the mpg / kmpl for my Nissan, which I purchased back in 1999. Gosh, how time flies, by Q3 this year, the car's gonna turn 10. We've been through a lot and been to a lot of places - even all the way down to Singapore once, with my old college mates for a reunion.

I still remember EC and I took off from Penang and then headed down to KL to pick YW up and then proceeded down to Spore to meet up with IN and DW. Spent the weekend there catching up and shopping. Those were great times.

Anyway, the point of this post was the mpg graph. 2003 - that was the year when gas price was at a low of MYR1.35 / liter. I used to be able to get a full tank of gas with just a little over MYR50. Not anymore.

So in the interest of finding out how the mpg degraded across time, I restarted tracking the mpg again and surprised at what I observed - not surprised that it has indeed degraded, but surprised at the amount - a 4.27mpg degradation (or a 1.82kmpl degradation).

That means for every liter, I get almost 2km's less distance that what I used to get 6 years ago. That's 80km less on every full tank. That's a lot. I used to be able to get like 400km on a full tank, but the latest data point only fetched 313.8km.


mpg

I was discussing with IL that we really need to send the car back to the service center for a "full body checkup" and perhaps even an overhaul. Noises are coming out of places that are not supposed to. We've been sending it to a general mechanic for a while because of convenience - he (the mechanic) comes and collects the car from us for service and then brings it back when he's done. Really convenient. But I guess, it is about time that we send it back to Nissan for a proper and thorough service and check-up.

Hopefully it can hold up until Q3 of 2009 for the service and not die on us before then.... ;)

boon out...

boon's log 1709.01: Insecurities

So many examples of insecurities that are plaguing our society (actually, our leaders) these days. Here are a few analogy that I managed to dig out (well, it does not take much effort, really. Just read the papers...)

1. You host a special function, but you only invite certain friends who only always talk GOOD about you (though they may very well be lying). You do not invite your honest friends who tell the TRUTH about you and your character (it may be not-so-good comments about you or your function, but it is the truth). It's possible because you cannot handle the truth, you fear that others may know about the truth...

2. If you are my friend and you want to say anything about me, there are only certain number of words that you can use - there are certain "BANned" words that you are not allowed to use. If you do, I will hunt you down. You also cannot link my name with certain people's names - especially people that I said that I do not know them (though I may have known them before, but I now, no longer know them). So stop putting my name and their names in the same sentence. If you do, I will again hunt you down. You are afraid that the more people know, the more they will find out about your secrets and the skeletons that are in your closet.

3. Imagine back in high school, if your Class friends are poorly represented in a competition (Let's say, "A Spelling Bee contest"), you dare not help your friend out by representing them because you are not confident at all in winning the contest, you decided not representing them at all - to save you from embarassment.

4. Imagine you are playing marbles with your brothers. And suddenly, your brother seemed to be having the upper hand of winning the game. But you are scared of losing and you quickly went to your Daddy and tried to use unpopular tactics to get your Daddy-o to announce that you won the game, don't have to play anymore and just declare you as the Winner, by order of the King of the House, the Daddy.

If you exhibit any of the above characteristics, then you may be suffering from SIN (Severe INsecurity) Syndrom and may need professional help. You should also abstain from leading any particular group or political party. We cannot run into the risk of having self-centered and insecure politicians leading a country.

boon out...

boon's log 1609.02: Beautiful Imperfections

Beautiful Imperfections by Yasmin Ahmad

Saw this in Facebook and thought of sharing it here. The ad is targeted primarily at Singaporeans who keep looking for perfections, especially when looking for their life partners, always waiting for "The One" - which has in turn, kept them from getting married. As Yasmin puts it, this is possibly not only happening in Singapore but all around the world - a global disease. Folks are looking for that picture perfect other-half - be it that tall, dark and handsome Abercrombie and Fitch poster guy or that Cosmopolitan supermodel cover girl.

I think this is a great ad and powerfully delivered by "Mrs. Lee". It's like one of those Petronas Chinese New Year ads where it will stick with you for time to come, some may even jerk a tear or two. And yes, those Petronas ads were her ads as well! Yasmin's our very own Anak Malaysia...

Enjoy...

boon out...

boon's log 1609.01: Home Sweet Home

Final Destination

Home, finally. There's truly no place like home. There at the airport was IL and Ab - the 2 faces that I would never trade anything for. Pure gold. The last leg of the trip was, to be honest, MUCH better than the earlier one, with reclinable seats! Happyluyah! But it was only just a 3+hr flight. Just enough to catch an episode of No Reservations and then a short nap.


Hong Kong International Airport

The most typical question that people ask me whenever i come back to Penang is, "What is the first thing you would want to attack first - foodwise?" I normally would list the following - boonspot's Top Ten Penang Hawker hangouts:
1. Sar Teow Lor's Wan Ton Mee
2. Innira's Banana Leaf (Now known as Passion of Kerala)
3. New Lane's Char Koay Teow
4. Hai Ann's Hokkien Mee (Burmah Road)
5. Carnarvon St's Loh Mee and Loh Bak
6. Jelutong Market's Mee Goreng/Rebus
7. Kimberly Street's Kueh Chiap
8. Pulau Tikus Market's Lok Lok
9. Pulau Tikus Roast Pork/Chicken/CharSiu Rice Shop (Burma+Cantonment junc.)
10. Penang Girls School's Laksa

I have yet to complete the list since i touched down. Perhaps just 50% of that list. what a shame, ain't it?! :)

Ab started her day school 3 weeks ago. but the school had to shut down for 1.5weeks (10 days) because one of kids contracted Kowsacki and a lot of the parents requested for the school to close and be sanitized - which is a good thing, but that means ~7 over days without school. Some of our rellies asked us to ask for a refund for that 7 days. haha! Anyway, it is a good precautionary measure. Better be safe, than sorry.


Ab's School

She seems to like her new school, pretty okay. I guess it's because the system they adopt is quite similar to that in Goddard, when were in Hillsboro before. A lot of teachings of being independent and sharing among friends and also developing motor skills. Making friends and remembering their names and her teacher's names since the second day at school.


Ab washing her hands with her Korean friend

I had the chance to bring her to school during her 2 week orientation. She cried a little when i left her alone with her friends and teachers, but she calmed and settled down quickly and started eating and playing with the rest of her friends.

We'll see how things go for a few more weeks before we decide whether to keep her there. As what they say at work - we'll have a checkpoint in a few week's time. :)


I leave you with Anthony Bourdain's Quote in No Reservation:Hawaii...

"I happen to believe, if you look deeply into the heart of every great cook, there's a Chinese guy."

boon out...

boon's log 1409.06: Transiting in HK

Homeward bound. And looking forward to it. The past one month was truly stressful both work-wise and non-work-wise. On one hand things were backed up at work due to tight (and unbelieveble) schedules and screw-ups in timelines, while on the other hand, being away from home is not really helping. Skype-ing did not really help either.

Anyways, that month's passed and now i am just hours away from the warm comforts of home - 4 more hours of transit in HK and ~3 more hours in the air. And what else is there to do in HK during a 4-hr-transit other than to eat, right? ;) And what else to eat, if not the famous HK WanTon Noodle and wash it all down with their Iced Milk Tea. Ahh... simply, heavenly...


King's Palace Noodle at the HK Int'l Airport

Especially after enduring an awful 13+ hour flight with Cathay Pacific Airlines. Cathay Pac seemed to have refurbished the interior of their older 747s. All I can say is that it is (very) possible whoever they hired as the interior designer - does not have a backbone (!). The new seats are non-reclinable. Yeah, non-reclinable seats. Instead of reclining, the bottom part of the seat actually slides forward creating a pseudo-reclining posture. Imagine being stuck in that for 13+ straight hours. It is really absurd for anyone to come up with this sort of design. Really, really awful. Apparently it creates more leg-room, but I do not see how anyone would trade leg room for non-reclinable seats.

Anyways, I would strongly discourage anyone from taking Cathay Pac. I would not want anyone to endure this, first hand. I was actually given a choice between SIA or Cathay Pac - but I decided to take Cathay Pac as it was (supposedly) slightly cheaper than the former, thinking that it could not be that bad, plus it can save some bucks.

Well, despite the unergonomic experience, perhaps there is one plus to the new interior - their entertainment system. It comes with an 8in LCD screen and a pretty cool controller system - this may be the only win against SIA's entertainment system.

Even so, nothing can possibly make up for the seats. The seats, man... them lousy seats!

Alright, done with my wonton noodle from "heaven" (and complaining). More blog and pics later.

boon out...