Changi, transfers, and living memories.

The time spent in Malaysia has passed me. It feels kind of liberating to leave, yet sentimental, as always. Everytime i go back home, i wonder what it would have been like if i had never left. Would i speak cantonese? Would I get H1N1? Would i be have mastered the art of cutting queues? I honestly dont know.

Anyway, im currently in Changi Airport crunching clorets and eyeing up the sushi stand about a hundred metres away from me. Behind-wards of me, comes the calming music of soft jazz..

.. so it gives me a bit of a time-out, from the hecticness and sweltering heat of the past ten days.

At around midnight, (asian time) ill be jetting off to Frankfurt, then finally off to Stockholm, where ill have to catch a train to the town of Uppsala, where ill be spending the next six months. Honestly? I should be really excited, jumping off the walls, but really its not like that.

Why? Its because i really need to pee but i dont wanna leave my laptop unguarded or someone might steal it. Hah. Well, some other stuff too.

This particular trip has been good to me, especially in terms of reunions and old memories resurfacing. Took some work getting there though. I managed to meet about 17 of my old mates back in Sekolah Sri Murni, which i will always remember as my play-ground, as i never seem to remember doing any study.

Regardless, this time (actually the 2nd time in about 5 days) we headed to Talipon Restaurant (which i didnt realise meant telephone till later) in Kuchai Lama. Shoutout to Yi Hang, Thanks for giving me a lift! It was pretty cool, having a steamboat-cum-barbeque feast.. with a lot of my old favourite snacks.

However, when we arrived things looked a little bad for a while… it was raining really heavily, and half the people hadn’t turned up. The rain made it too loud to talk over, so we ended up having a really quiet (bar some shouting), ooo, about fifteen minutes worth of awkwardness. But then things brightened up all of a sudden, as the other half arrived and the rain stopped abruptly, which really started this party off.

..the steamboat, pretty early stages, still clean.

Back in the day:

Old faces! People i havent really met for around 7+ years. Unbelievable.

..and more..

..and some more..

..and yi hang.

..and Gary, which i actually had on my msn for a long while but just never talk only.. heh

But man it was great fun hanging out with them all over again, it feels kind of like we never really left apart after all.

After i got back, it was time to say goodbye to my cuzzies.. who didn’t want to take a picture with me, can you believe it?

..so i forced it a little bit. Fun stuff.

I miss Malaysia already.

Melaka

Man its been a great ten days so far! Tiring though as i make my way through the various properties of my old ‘hood. Ive actually been putting off this post for a while just because it seemed like there was too much to write and post. Well, nevermind, here it is now.. im leaving tomorrow  to singapore, enroute to frankfurt, and from there, stockholm! I got an email from my buddy over there yesterday, and she seems pretty cool, as shes gonna pick me up from the train station. ( I think in a -walking- sense)
Anyway, the Melaka Chronicles:

Well we (me and my cuz) got first shuttled to Melaka by my older cousin, Ah Ghee koko, and on the way we stopped for breakfast (pan mee) and to take a look at his new house.

Its pretty flash, and looks pretty good! But it’ll be a couple more months before he moves in, as hes doing further renovations to the kitchen and the balcony.

The trip to melaka was great! As in: i slept the whole way! Only woke up once briefly enjoying the air-conditioning… was too relaxed i suppose.

Well yeah we arrived safe and sound, and heres how i got greeted!

Heh. This little cutie is also one of my cousins Ah Xin.. named after me! Um-hum everyone named ‘Xin’ is pretty cute huh? The fruit is holding is called ‘starfruit’, well.. because.. duh. But yeah it was pretty nostalgic as i havent tasted starfruit in yonks.

Then, following my dad’s sister, my Ah Ko, we made pineapple tarts that were real tasty! Finger licking good stuff, i tell you:

..we had lots of fun playing around too, me and my other cousin, Ah Zhi. See that stuff in his hand? No, its not play doh..

.. can you guess which ones we made?

So then, all these people started visiting our place, so i ended up camwhoring a little bit. I wont post them up here though as most of them arent v/ good pictures.. wait till i get a better cam.

From the left: Wan Chuan (my nephew.. yeah, thats right, im an uncle) , me, Eng Chong, Ah Xin, Ah Zhi.

Aaaand then, oooh, we went to visit one of the new additions to our family, one of my cuzzes just had a baby! (about around the day i arrived) Super cute! Ah Hui Cece hasnt named her yet, but i couldnt really resist snapping photos.

..see?

But man its hard to take a break in Melaka! Every other minute its someone visiting, more food, ang pows.. but mostly..

..its these two! ..that kept me awake most of the time. They’re a handful, believe you me.

So just before i left.. went cam-ming some more. Running around in my black NZ music month tee (loud and proud) actually made me really sweaty but what you cant see cant be there, eh?

Well, i didnt end up going straight back home, as i had a dinner with more family members.. this time on my mother’s side of the fam. So i got dropped off at my grandparents house, and me and my cousins and uncles went straight for dinner. (btw i slept pretty well on the way back home too)

Mama: Did you turn in your sleep at about, ooo midnight monday? Cause certain brothers of yours were really talking quite ‘nicely’ *koff* about your weight. Hah.

But all in all, the dinner was fun.. and im still feeling full two days later from it, so its gotta be good. More in the Food post after this.

A quite rushed family picture, really.

FOOD POST:!:!:

(you know you love it)

A casual melaka lunch!! Yummy yum yum my favourites are all gathered: Curry Chicken, Fried Prawns (HUGE :O), and spinach, and anchovies, and tea eggs and soft, succulent beef. *droool*

..frogs legs! Aw dont look like that they were sibeh tasty!! Dunno where they got the frogs from though..

Curry Fish with Tofu! Best parts were the cheeks.. my fav. I should have taken an ‘after’ picture!

And then..

Crab!!!!!>!>!>!<!

The top one is crab cooked with salted egg yolk sauce.. which is one of the BEST.

And the other is softly steamed crab with egg whites.

Man, i remember i got one of the crab heads and it was full of crab egg…..

…im gonna find something to eat. Laters.

Note: Meeting up with some more SSM-ers later on! But the plans are kind of Mong-cha-cha dunno whats happening or who is coming. Will update after.

SSM Gathering!

Hey just letting you guys know that my good friend Gary blogged our orgasmic SSM gathering on thursday!

Since he did a phenomenal job on reporting, i thought it would be best if i didnt put up a better one…

..plus he really said all that needs to be said already.

http://gnostec.wordpress.com/2009/08/15/meeting-the-long-lost/

So, in melaka at the moment, look forward to the next post.. and thanks again Gary and the old gang!

Working hard!

Yeah, working hard on the blog, and facebook and organising the mass (and mess) of photos taken in the last 48 hours.

So, a bit late: Logs on visit to old neighbourhood and such.

Took some time out to visit my grandma (on my mothers side of the fam-bam) back in the old ‘hood, aka Cheras. Man the place has changed a lot.. and yet not changed at all. Everything is pretty much almost the same as usual, except my old house which i refuse to mention due to the fact that it has now been repainted ugly. (Who chooses a bright orange theme for the house and adds on bright-baby-blue coloured window grills and gate? Bleurgh.) I actually have a picture but it mysteriously doesnt load onto the blog. Why? Too fugly, thats why.

ONE MORE THING: THEY CHOPPED DOWN THE MANGO TREE!

The mango tree, which has loaded our house for a generation (mine) with free and luscious mangoes has been chopped down in place of more industrous concrete to house their new car. Words cannot express…. rrggh..

..anyway.. heres a little pic of my old playground, which i swear used to be a lot bigger.

And my (mothers side) cousins cat! But actually not theirs. Anyone who’s been to my house knows exactly the situation im talking about.

I may as well introduce some pictures of my other cousins, fathers side, so show they’re doing well and all that blah. Great fun has been had in the time ive been here! And things are great as usual.

Did i mention we went to Sushi King? The King of fast-food sushi?

My favourites, albeit one. From the left: Jellyfish, Egg Mayo, and Baby Octopus!

Absent: Unagi (Eel!)

After the meal… we headed down to the basement of the shopping complex, where there lies a huge SKATING RING! I had to practically drag my cousin onto the ice.. but it was well worth it.

Us after 2/1half hours of grueling ice skating.. Its funny how you end up being covered in sweat even on the ice.

Fun Fact: Sunway gloves are in bright neon colours! I actually traded my right-hand glove with another chick’s parallel coloured one. Its a bit smaller than a guy glove, but the designs definitely cooler dont you reckon?

Food Update.

So, er looks like my blog’s not very popular leh, a total of one hit only the past few days.. and im pretty sure that was me! ..nevermind, ill write it for the benefit of myself eh?

So heres just a simple food update up to today.

Roti Telur! RM 1.80 (NZD 0.50)

Tom Yum Soup.. RM 4.50 (NZD $2)

Mee Suah (Free!) My grandma’s speciality and one of my favourites.

Ban Chan Ko for dessert… NZD $0.30!

..and steak from T.G.I.F’s (Thank God Its Friday) dinner with the SSM crew.

This was RM 50, with a RM 7.50 bottomless pepsi cup, a total of around 20-25 NZD for a steak dinner! Super cheap.

Actually this was a really weird steak for me, because its like a western dish cooked in a asian style, if you follow. Think it was marinated in a sweet soy (teriyaki-ish) sauce before cooking and ive really never really tried this taste before. Strange, but good. Small portions though… but that may just be because of my appetite.

And the Third day…

So.. life in sunway is fun! It takes a only grueling ten-minute walk to Sunway Pyramid.. the shopping complex (which is actually no joke since its so hot and hazy), and life is good. I actually went shopping the other day and bought a pair of jeans, a jersey, tshirt and some togs during the mid-afternoon in mid-week.. so, practically noone was there. Even the ice-skating rink had only about ten or twenty or so people. One thing i noticed though that the difference between shopping here and nz is that in msia, the shopkeepers stalk you like hounds to fresh meat.

I dunno whether its the fact that you might be a potential thief, or whether its the fact that they get paid in commission, but i found the stickiness of the nearest shopkeep quite distracting..

And on the way back.. i actually spotted some trees! Strange.

Ha kidding.. though a spot like this is rather rare (imo at least). One thing though.. coming out of this innocent pathway, right, i almost got hit by a motorcycle speeding the opposite direction of traffic along the pedestrian walkway! Jeez. Although its nothing to be sneezed at i guess its pretty common.

So, in retrospect, it pays highly to look both ways whereever you are walking along in the streets..

..and down as well, of course!

On the way back for dinner.. i passed by a donut shop that was too good to just pass by.. so i ended up buying a 2 dozen packet of munchkins from J.CO – ‘The Ultimate Donut & Coffee Shop’. YUM

Flavours include, from the top left, across, and forthwith:

Alcapone , Caviar choco, Oreo, Caviar Mint, Coco Loco, Mango, Tira Missu, Crunchy, Cheese Me Up, Why Nut, Mona Pizza, and Heaven Berry.

Then afterwords, the menu for dinner..

Asam Fish!

..Chili Crab!

..and Longan for dessert! *drool*

So all in all, pretty ‘mazing day on the equator, with food and shopping galore and a total of four ice-cold showers. Banzai!

Sunway at last!

Post #2: Great Leaps and Bounds

..in typing on this blog! My last one was a shambles so two posts in such a short time definitely merits a mention.

Well before i begin, heres a picture of me and my lovely mother:

Beautiful, right? I know, i know.

So yeah anyway.. turns out the airports were pretty cool in the end, problems or no problems. Especially the travellators.. those things are so much fun i swear!

This is in Changi i believe.. one of the few pictures i managed to take in the end because i had to head straight to the gate after delaying the check-in process that time.

..And this was the jetstar asia plane that i travelled on! Was quite tough to get this picture as i was being jostled around quite a bit by those crafty asians.

Maybe its just me, but it seems that all (excluding me) Malaysians are masters at cutting in line / queues. I swear i was standing there to board with my bags and trolley and everything when before i knew it there were like 5 other people cutting in front of me. Like i wasnt even there at all. Seriously.

But they were quite funny actually, i mean, has anyone ever seen 5 middle aged asian ladies all trying to cut inconspicuously in front of each other?? It was never ending i tell you. It turned out to be worth the extra waiting time.

So, finally making my way across KLIA (KL Int. Airport), i spot my uncle, whos there to pick me up. Only thing is: I havent been back for a while, and combined with my recently shaven visage, he completely ignored me. I must have looked like a fool, frantically waving to someone who was blatantly bypassing  me! Ended up having to go all the way around the glass wall to greet him in person.

But yeah, so all’s G in this part of the woods a.k.a., Sunway! I really got to see about getting a pair of togs and maybe hitting the water park next week. Anyway, went to a mamak stall to eat (of course), and the food, atmosphere was very nostalgic and great. The best part being, that this meal took place straight after dinner!

So heres a mountain of Roti Tisu (Tissue Bread), which is a very very thin crust of bread with a sugary coating on the inside.

..not to mention, YUM one of my all-time favs Nasi Lemak! (translates to…Fatty Rice…. i guess….). Its a pretty simple wrapping of rice, egg, roast peanuts, anchovies, and sambal in a banana leaf. Best part? It cost approximately $NZD 0.40.

Nuff’ Said.

EDIT: FUN FACT! While being randomly selected for drug screening, the machine actually gave me a failed result two times before the green light. hur hur hurr

Why so like that one..

SO first post since leaving (2nd one actually the stupid computer deleted my draft) and it is kind of bittersweet. Some hiccups but here i am (finally) in the interior of Changi waiting to board my flight to KL ar round 1pmish.

The flight here was actually pretty good, no complaints. Same old same old.. watched a couple of movies, some entourage and family guy, and got a little bit of sleep inbetween the baby nearby crying (you should have heard the mom though) and the guy next to me playing some really loud music. Everything was fine at this point, and i arrived safely at Changi at around 5.30 am.

But guess its not so simple eh. So here i was leaving the plane thinking “hey i should get everything all checked in as soon as possible so i dont have to worry about bags and stuff” and “then i can travel round the big interior luxury bit and take pictures and relax”.

So off i went to get my bags and boarding pass. Or so i thought.

TURNS OUT that Jetstar asia doesnt allow passengers to check in before 2/1half hours before your flight actually departs for domestic flights.

So i ended up camping beside the big glass window in the tiny space allowed to camp staring longingly inside at the plug points (for my laptop) and the stores that i should be browsing… sigh. Fun times fun times.

But nothing i cant deal with. Ended up at starbucks anyway with my feet up so alls good. Then, another hiccup comes along while i was trying to check in after what was quite a boring but strangely upbeat 5 hours at starbucks. (hah wonder why).

Ok, so here i was checking im my bag when i got told politely that it was over-weight. Upon asking how much it was, the guy responded with “eh dont worry sir it’ll only be eight dollars.” So i was like: Ok sweet its only eight dollars i dont have to repack everything.

Watching my bag being carried down the belt i ahd this stange feeling. It was justified a moment later at the payment counter when i found out that the charge was actually eight dollars only…. per kilo. Aiiiiyaah why are asians so cheeky when it comes to money matters huh. So ofc i ran back to the guy and asked if i could get my bag back… in the end, inbetween comments of:

“Eh sorry sir your bag oledi packed and sent off. Sure cannot get back in time for your flight.”

and

“Eh sorry sir i told you it was going to be eight dollars”

and

“Eh sorry sir youre overweight”

Sly fox.

I decided to take the higher moral ground. (Read: I gave up and paid.)

So anyway here i am finally inside changi airport, looking forward to going back home! I should go as my time is running out and the indian guy behind my is politely *cough cough*ing. (quite rudely, imho)

Will try and upload some pictures when i can.

Note: Watched ‘The boat that rocked’ on the flight and it was actually pretty good. Weird but funny.