IPOH

Another dreary day at the office. I am lucky that I am driven to and fro from my office. Traffic in KL is sheer madness. There are cars everywhere!!! Usually, we will drive up this hill on the way to Jalan Semantan and when we reach the top of the hill, we will get the first glimpse of the heavy traffic ahead of us. I notice that my driver will press the brakes a bit and heave a deep sigh. Down the hill we go to join the bumper-to-bumper ride?

Such a cosmic difference from how it was last weekend when I weNT TO IPOH!!! w00t!!! Had the loveliest time eating all the famous Ipoh grub, visiting a cave temple, went bowling (!!), checking out the pomelo girls, and exploring an old castle.

Naturally, since we were in Ipoh, eating the chicken and taugeh (beansprouts) Hor Fun was a must and I know of one chick 😉 who had 5 bowls of it in the 24 hours that we were there. We probably had the best Hor Fun in town at Cowan Street ? 1 and a half chickens, 2 big plates of taugeh and 15 bowls of Hor Fun. We went to Old Town for its famous white coffee with toast, fried lo bak kou (radish? carrot cake?), eggtarts, tai kou meen (crepes with peanuts, brown sugar and corn) and arguably the best char kuay teow I have ever taken in my life. And I have taken helluva lot of char kuay teow in my lifetime. Just thinking of it? ooo!! Here?s a group photo of us with me eating the delectable char kuay teow:

For supper, we went to some roadside stalls to try Ho Hee (some noodle meal with all sorts of fishballs and meatballs) which supposedly, can only be found in Ipoh. I had the Wan Tan Mee, which was only so-so ? I have been told that KL has the best Wan Tan Mee, surprised to know that KL was famous for anything since I thought what we ate here was an amalgamation of all the good food beyond KL.

The next morning, Meng and I didn?t bother waking up at 7am for the dim sum but we made up for it by going to the ‘H0use of Mirr0rs’ after a few more hours of shut-eye. And yeah, at first I thought that the ?H0use of Mirr0rs? was some tourist slaughterhouse with some funky exorbitantly priced desserts that they pull off as ?Asian?. But it was really these two old coffee shops that have the best selection of Ipoh food that has been around since tens of years ago. I dunno how it got that somewhat glamorous name along the way but the only indication of mirrors there were the coffee shop-style of mirrors hanging above us along one side of the wall. We had Sar Hor Fun (this one has prawn broth in it together with the chicken broth), Satay and Caramel Custard. Here?s another group photo taken before we left the hotel to the mirror place, all tired faces coz some woke up at an ungodly hour for dim sum while some are just habitually sleepy in general:

We went to Kek Lok Thong; a temple nestled in a cave, which was simply breathtaking. I have been there so many times, and still found the rock formations, stalactites and stalagmites so amazing. It was very windy too the day we were there. It sounded like an earthquake when we watched the footage captured there in YY’s video cam. Here?s a picture taken at the entrance, inside is pretty dark so you guys probably can?t make out the rock formations much:

Then before we left, the guys decided to check out the pomelo girls. Our three cars drove by the pomelo stalls, which automatically attracted all the girls to stand in front, almost military-like. Then somehow JP felt guilty and bought a pomelo for RM10. Slaughtered!!

We decided to make a trip to Kellie?s Castle ? it ain?t free anymore!! Cost us RM5 to see some castle ruins and some caged peacocks. But it wasn?t so bad coz they refurbished it by painting some of the walls, fixed railings and ceilings. We managed to climb the narrow stairs all the way up to the 6th storey where there was a platform. Really high, windy and no railings! Pretty dangerous, I must say. And here?s a picture taken with JP and Meng on the platform, where we could see the almost the whole of Batu Gajah around us – its so high up, we felt kinda woozy:

Oh before I forget, let me tell you guys about the highlight of the trip ? no names mentioned for obvious reasons and to those who already know ? LAUGH along with me! 😉 OK, so it was 5am in sleepy Ipoh when A was dreaming that he was in a fight. Oh man, was he working out the moves – the legs akimbo and clenched fists ready to strike. It was the fight of the century, for the good of all mankind. The crowds were cheering, the adrenalin was pumping, it all felt so real. So he threw THE killer punch. The solid one. The one that would bring down his challenger in the dream.

His girl sleeping next to him then woke up yelling.

He actually threw a punch at his girl?s face, you see.

And man, was that one helluva punch! And haha, he only woke up coz his hand was in pain!! 😀

Ok-lah, enough for today, probably not enough to make up for the last few months but I am sure after the 5th paragraph or so, your eyes are gonna start to glaze over. 😉 *waves 😀

m8 pictures!

Umeng’s and iv’N’s photos of the Salem Genting Rave appeared on a magazine by the name m8. It’s a ladies lifestyle magazine. Our faces are on it!!

According to ivN


    Thats right, our photos were featured in this month issue for the Salem Revelation 2004 review write up. I appeared only twice in the same page (I consider that alot already), but Yue Meng the champion made an appeareance at least six times! Superstar I tell ya! hehe.

    I don’t know if it’s true but I heard the editor was suppose to include credits to us – Leong, Yue Meng and myself for providing the photos, but he forgot! 😛 No promo liao. 🙁

    Yea~ Umeng the superstar!!

But I’m displeased with the editor’s failure to credit us for the photos. Further, they used Sui Lin’s picture of last year’s Genting rave without permission!

Anyway, Sanyo J4 rocks okay? Can other normal digital cameras do this??


Lynnzter‘s eyes

NEW DIGITAL CAMERA!!

After months of searching, I finally found the right one.

She’s sleek, slim and easy to handle. It took me loads of research and time to choose the right one. Umeng said she’s almost perfect. Here is a picture of ‘her

OoooOoOh Sanyo..you hot thing..fapfapfapfapfappp

Melvin and Sam accompanied me to get my new digital camera from Sg. Wang today. We tried 1U initially. The salesman was a little bit kookoo. His sentences were in blocks. We couldn’t understand what he was saying. But I could gather that he was a little bit rude when I asked for extra free stuff. He said something like, (yes in blocks)

I don’t care
If im rude
Last time this malay customer
walked away
and call me lansi (arrogant)
I don’t care
I don’t earn commission
If I don’t like your face I don’t sell.

He was like reciting poetry. Serious!!

There are only 3 colours I could choose from for my camera. I asked for silver initially. The sales man went away and came back about 10 minutes later. Sg. Wang is a well-known dodgy shopping centre, with triads lurking around the shopping centre. I wanted the sales man to bring me the black coloured camera as well, but we didn’t dare to do so. I was afraid that he’ll go like..

TIU LIA MA HAI, WHY DON’T YOU SAY SO?? *pi piaks~

Oh well, Silver is fine!

Day 3 – Tokyo Night.. END

Ok one last post before I wrap up the Japan trip post.

Day 3 – Night time
Odaiba was our next destination. Since its located on the other end of the train line, we had to change trains. Odaiba is built on reclaimed land at The Bay of Tokyo. There it houses couple of huge supermarkets, offices and one of the the largest Ferris wheels in the world! It is also a popular dating spot, not to be missed if you are on your honeymoon trip!


Ferris wheel


Rainbow Bridge

We bought sushi and chocolates to eat by the beach. The view of Tokyo city was magnificent, never once I saw such a lively city. There were floating restaurants by the beach. We could hear drunken Japanese singing songs on the boat.


mmm sushi , sake and woman..


lalalala the drunken men sang..

The weather was fine except for the chilling wind. We had our sushi and took photos.


Outside Palette Town

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. I took a flight back to Kuala Lumpur the next day. Jane didnt send me off cause she had to work. I left her a message saying goodbye to her.

Tokyo, we shall meet again!

new climbing shoes!

Well well, I bought myself a kick ass rock climbing shoe. The rubber is really good, really useful when I want to smear. No more god damn gym climbing shoes!

If you guys want to buy cheap climbing equipment (in Klang Valley), just drop me a note. I’ll give you the guy’s number.

Ping and I went to watch the bouldering competition at The Summ1t Cl1mb1ng GYM. The routes were amazingly tough, especially the routes for the men’s open!!

The best part of the competition wasn?t watching people bouldering. The best part was the sight of Chinese and Malay climbers sitting together watching people climb. Everyone was cheering for everybody, regardless of race. Malaysia boleh!!

Tokyo Day 3 – day time

Tokyo Day 3 – Day time
Initially Jane thought that I have been to Japan. However, once she found out that it was my first time, she immediately brought me to Asakusa, a tourist area.

Asakusa main attraction is the Asakusa shrine. The only thing that interests me was the huge red lanterns. Further, there was a row of souvenirs shops leading to the shrine. Katana cost about 6000YEN to 13000YEN. I didn?t have enough money to buy one.

You can get your fortune told at the shrine as well. All you need to do is donate 100YEN, shake a container containing wooden sticks with numbers. Once a wooden stick falls off, get the number and look for the drawer which contains the predictions. The paper that contains your fortune is called omikuji.

Jane was extremely happy with her predictions. Hers was something between the line of, ?be patient and you?ll be rich and famous?.

Unfortunately, I got a fucking bad prediction. It went something like,

‘Loyalty is of no use. Hard work has no value as it could only avoid damage. Sickness will take long time to cure. Stop or cancel all trips’

I was devastated! It?s just as bad as the prediction from Frank?s tarot cards. Fortunately, according to Jane, we could avoid the predictions by leaving the omikuji at the shrine.

We had dinner there. tekken don was awesome!

Tokyo Day 2

Day 2
I met up with Jane for lunch @ Freshness Burger, very nice. Their cheeseburger contains beef patty and a fat slice of tomato.

After lunch, we ended up at Tokyo Post Office. This post office is special. They have a counter for stamp collectors! I bought 2 Hello Kitty stamps, a Astro boy stamp and another manga related stamp. It cost me a bomb (about 2000 YEN!)! I was dying for Doreamon stamps. Unfortunately, they ran out of Doreamon stamps.

We then walked to the Emperor’s palace. The palace was so huge that, right after our trip, our legs were literally falling off. However, we could only enter the palace gardens. Entrance to other buildings was strictly prohibited.

Water and tall walls surround the palace compound. Imagine during the old days when soldiers have to swim across the river, dodge arrows, track through the garden, fight and climb walls!

We headed straight to Shinjuku after that. We took a lift up to observation deck of the Tokyo Metro. There we could catch a bird eye’s view of Tokyo City!

Jane and I separated for a while. She had to attend a 2 hours class. I wandered around the streets of Shinjuku on my own.

Things were going fine time until my camera broke down! What could be disastrous on your Japan trip other than having your only camera breaking down at the scenic view of Shinjuku??

I meddled with it for half an hour. I thought this would be the end of my photography spree in Japan. Fortunately, after ripping out the film from the camera, It worked again! I was almost tripping when I found out that my camera was working fine! Phew!


Pachinko King??

Jane and I were supposed to meet up at 8:15PM. However, due to miscommunication, we waited at the wrong place and hence met up an hour later.


Engrish – A man waiting on a girl? Does that mean that he is on top of a girl? mm..in that case, A man waiting in a girl would be better 😀

One thing you’ll notice in Shinjuku is the homeless people. Some of them sleep in cardboxes but some would sleep on concrete floor.

I saw one living under a bridge. I approached him and pointed my camera to him. I then said,
“ii desu ka?”

He looked at me and smiled.

We dragged our aching body around Shinjuku, looking for a place to eat. Jane was very indecisive. We went places to places to compare prices.

Me: This one?
Jane: Nooooo..
Me: How about thiss One????
Jane: NOOO!!
Me: thiis onee???
Jane: chotto chotoo..NO!!

We ended up in a shabby looking restaurant! But oh well, the food was excellent!

Tokyo Day 1!

The first few hours in Japan was fucked. I got lost in Narita Airport. I got into the wrong gate and accidentally gave my train ticket to the wrong person. I spent half an hour describing in broken Japanese and searching for my ticket. Fortunately, one of the staff there found my ticket within a stack of used tickets. Oh boy, what a great start.

The weight of my backpack almost killed me, especially when I had to wander around searching for train stations and my hotel. My shoulders ached. Its shitty when you travel alone in a foreign place with little knowledge of their system. Their public phones were in Japanese. Train stations were scattered around and not many people speaks English.

After leaving my luggage at my hotel (ANA Hotel Tokyo @ Minato-ku), I headed straight to the Malaysian Embassy. I ended up in Shibuya station and asked for directions. The first bus driver asked me to go to the other side of the station. I went. Found nothing. I asked another bus driver again. This time, he gave me directions and claimed that its within walking distance. So I thought, I was saved. Guess how long did I take to walk to the embassy? FUCKING 20 minutes!!!
I met up with Jane, my former Uni Hall mate. We had lunch @ Shibuya. According to her, the restaurant serves huge portions at a cheap price. It�s true, I had a bowl of noodles and a huge plate of rice at the price of 800 yen. We chatted and did a lot of catching up.


Shibuya 109


Hachinko statute and an Ah Lian looking Jap chick.

We dropped by our hotel to rest. She was hooked to the television. I fell asleep though. I haven�t been resting since 730AM!


Jane & I @ my hotel..this was after we…ummm…watch TV..heehe


View from my hotel room.

Dinner was at a restaurant at Roppongi. It was really pricey but the workers seemed to be very happy all the time.


Chef with a moustache made from seaweed. “Not all Japanese are like me”, he said.

We headed to Ronppongi Hills to get a great view of Tokyo Tower.