Trip to Bukit Tinggi Part Trois (Three)

This is my last post about Bukit Tinggi... I think 3 posts is enough to talk about a single place, right?

Anyway, I've been gone for the past few days as I've just been swamped with work. I've been running around in between meetings and also picking up some work as a colleague has gone off for her break for about a week.

I just realized that my little camera has just about turned 1-year old. Hence, my journey into amateur photography has just reached its 1st year anniversary!

I've definitely learned quite a bit during my 1st year but I have a long way to go to perfect my craft. Being the perfectionist, this is going to be a tough journey. So, most of the time, you'll hear me curse and swear when a picture is just not taken correctly in-frame. I believe that the better that you know your camera, the less time you'll spend in front of the PC correcting the photos. ;-)

When evening came around, the courtyard was quiet and still. However, we found out that it's because everyone had swamped the restaurants for dinner. We went down for dinner quite late as we were exhausted after spending some time at the Japanese Village earlier.

We had to wait almost an hour for a table and by the time we wanted to order our food, the selection was quite limited.

The next morning, we had to queue up for a long time for the buffet breakfast. It was pretty good. I was happy to have my scrambled eggs and some beef bacon. (Of course, I would love pork bacon with my scrambled eggs)

After breakfast, we spent some time around the courtyard before we had to check-out and take the 12pm bus back to KL.

The courtyard was quite empty as it happened to be the last day of the Hari Raya public holidays. With the day trippers gone, it was pleasant to walk around the compound as we would not be bumping into anyone.

There were a few swans in the small ponds just near the car park. I was lucky to catch them during the morning feed and they approached us.

It's strange to see one of the black swans sleeping with one leg up...

Before we left, we had a quick stop at the French coffee cafe and I managed to take some pics of the lovely pastries there...

Although the pastries looked fantastic, I couldn't bring myself to spend RM5 for a danish...

The trip was pretty good and I was completely exhausted by the time I got home. I would have loved to have used a few filters as most of the pictures taken were during bright daylight which caused a lot of photos to be "white-washed" or a little over-exposed.

Be prepared to spend a little bit more when you're planning to spend the night at Bukit Tinggi. Also, do bring your supplies of water or snacks as there are no convenience stores open at the resort.

Trip to Bukit Tinggi Part Deux (Two)

A continuation of my trip...

After a hearty lunch, we could not get into our room as housekeeping didn't have it ready yet. So, we decided to visit some of the attractions around Bukit Tinggi.

There are a few ways to get around the attractions, you either drive or take the shuttle or.... if you're really really up to it.. walk. We both decided to wait for the shuttle.

Being the school/public holidays, the resort was just filled to capacity with day trippers. There were not enough shuttles to go around and we had to wait 20-30 minutes before we can get on board one. AND... as usual, with typical Malaysian KIASU gusto, you will see throngs of people rushing to the shuttles to get on board with total disregard for safety... (imagine, seeing people jump up into the shuttle when the shuttle has not stopped properly...)

We took the shuttle to the Japanese garden and really looked forward enjoying the scenery there.

When we reached the signboard, I noticed something very interesting...

Me: *sniff sniff*... Uggghhh.. What is that smell?
EV: Toilet-la...
Me: o_0

Yes, there were so many people that you can smell the toilet as you walk towards the Botanical Garden as you pass the souvenir shop. Ugghh..

Within the Botanical Garden, lies a small Japanese restaurant. I looked at the prices and it is pricey to eat Japanese food in the "mountains". However, due to the big crowds, the restaurant was pretty packed with some patrons enjoying a late lunch or some dessert.

It was a relief to walk around the garden as it had been quite hot and humid after the showers which came down during lunch.

I did not go down the hill due to my knee problems and so, stopped halfway to enjoy the cool breeze and scenery around.

Besides the Botanical garden, there was a small Japanese garden at the other side of this "village".

The Japanese garden is designed in the manner of the Japanese style, using a lot of natural elements of water, wood, stone and earth in order to beautify the surroundings. The feeling you get as you walk around the garden with the tea house is one of being "united with nature".

I wanted to take a photo where I could "freeze" the movement of water and was glad that I experimented with the shutter speed settings of my camera. It is still not quite perfect but I understand the concept of using the shutter speeds to capture movement.

It is a joy to photograph in these gardens and I did wish that I had some macro lens or a superzoom to capture some of the more detailed elements. Oh well...

We left the Japanese village at around 5:30pm as we wanted to catch the last few shuttles back to the resort to rest in our room. Again, we had to face the mayhem of getting a seat on the shuttle when it came...

Now... what was there to do at night in Bukit Tinggi...

Trip to Bukit Tinggi Part Un (One)

During the recent Raya break, I took an overnight trip up to Bukit Tinggi for a short R&R. Well... It turned out to be less R(rest) and more A(activity).

We decided not to drive up as I wasn't familiar with the roads and also, thinking that there would be a traffic jam due to the public and school holidays. Boy, was I glad about that decision. Sure, it was costly to pay RM40 for the 2-way trip (up and down) but it really did save me from the stress and anxiety of finding parking and etc because the "hill" was packed to capacity!!

Colmar Tropicale was a lot smaller than I anticipated but that's because the entire place is just a hotel/resort for the guests to stay before they venture out to indulge in other activities.

This isn't a photographer's heaven but it certainly is a great place to practice my art. I've not done a lot of architecture photography and so, this was a chance for me to try it out.

Both sides of the court yard were lined with small stalls as well as hotel restaurants - Italian (pasta/pizza), a rotisserie, buffet restaurant, French fine dining and Thai/Vietnamese. Limited choice with limited seating. The crowds were so packed on the first day we arrived that we had to wait 30 minutes for a seat at a restaurant and another 30 minutes for lunch/dinner.

I took the view of the entire court yard from the observation tower, which lucky for me, had a lift!! Hehehe... After all, I was lugging my heavy equipment around and so, the lift was a relief!

Some shots taken here are great candidates for my fake miniatures and I can't wait to play around with that. Kekeke...

Food-wise, we were quite limited to the 5 restaurants around the resort, unless we were game enough to venture out to the Japanese garden, where they have a restaurant but the prices were just crazy... So, for lunch, we decided to have the Italian food as reviews said that the food was pretty good.

Portions were quite reasonable for the price we paid. Taste-wise, it was pretty good.

This "blob" is actually beef lasagna. Plenty of cheese and meat although there were not many layers but pretty tasty with just the right amount of tomato.

After lunch, we hung around the court yard for a little while as there was a looooong queue for the rest rooms. Our room was not ready yet and so, we just had to wait until housekeeping could get it ready.

Meanwhile, we planned to head to the Japanese garden and so, there was another loooong wait for the shuttle to arrive to take us there.

Well, good to stop here. I will continue with Part Deux (two) of this little trip... ;-)

You Need To Be More Sick To Get Well Faster...

Geez... This year has been pretty bad for me... Health-wise that is.

I've already fallen sick at least 3 times within the last 6 months!! And each time I got sick, I seem to be taking longer to recuperate. :-(

This time is no exception. I went to see the doctor twice to complain about the medication. Because of my throat infection, he prescribed some antibiotics which I dutifully complete the entire dosage long after my sore throat is gone.

However, this time round, I developed a "side-effect". I started to have diarrhea because of the antibiotics... So, I went back to see the doctor.

Doc: So, what's wrong?
Me: I feel much better, can breathe with less wheezing but I'm having diarrhea. Is it because of the medication?
Doc: Have you been eating out?
Me: No (*thinking* - I thought the doc told me to eat soft, non-oily foods the last time round... )
Doc: Then, it must be the antibiotics. 1 out of 3 people will develop this side-effect
Me: O_O

The doctor prescribed a round of medicine to stop my diarrhea. I still have to complete my antibiotics but will have to treat the side-effect in order to get well.

That's the funny bit about this time's bout with the bug. Am sure my immune system must have had a laugh.

However, on a more serious note, I did complain to the doctor about my breathing difficulties which caused me to feel like shit. He heard that I was wheezing and was afraid that I would start to develop asthma. Genetics may make me pre-disposed to asthma and allergies but I'd guess it had to be due to something else. The doctor also suspected stress which can bring this out. Regardless, I will need to see another doctor for a second opinion.

I have been feeling particularly stressed out and finding it hard to de-stress (i.e. gym) due to work/home issues. Just that when you see the doctor and he mentions a disease which can stick with you for life, or can be life-threatening at any moment; it is a wake-up call.

With the advancement of technology, we're expected to live longer than our parents/grandparents; but if stress is a major factor of daily life, I think many of us are just ticking time bombs where health issues explode out of stress. The sad part is, it's lifestyle-related.

Hmmmm... I need to sleep. Enough talk, I'm feeling breathless...

50mm Fun @ Garden Lifestyle Store and Cafe

Hope that everyone had a great break over the long weekend.

I still have loads of photos to process as I took a short trip up to Bukit Tinggi...

I had some 50mm fun some weeks back when I met up with EV to discuss about the Raya holiday break. I brought my camera and laptop to do our research.

My 50mm which is a prime lens has a very lovely "bokeh" despite having a f-stop of only f/1.8 but it was a steal at RM350 from Canon!

I've been to this cafe previously but never had the chance to try out the desserts. So, this time round, EV and I decided to have a late lunch together with some cakes...

I believe this is the cappuccino mousse cake which was a tad bit dry but quite good. I may be wrong as I can't recall if we ordered tiramisu or the mousse cake.. Hmmm...

The green tea cake was quite good. It came with the red bean paste or azuki bean paste which is slightly sweet to complement the slight bitterness of the green tea flavour.

Before our desserts, we had a small lunch, where I ordered the Black Pepper Chicken Chop which was pretty good. The portion is a bit small for guys but for gals, it is just nice. ;-)

I had some potato craving... (aii.. carbs.. my nemesis) and so, had to order the side-order of potato salad.

I didn't quite like it as it had too much mayonnaise and not enough chives. The various garden greens is a great complement as it took up most of the mayonnaise. EV liked it though.

All of these photos were taken with my 50mm lens. This means that in order to take these photos, I had to maneuver the items as well as my position in order to take the photo. This certainly is teaching me how best to compose my photos.

Anyway, practice makes perfect... My previous post was done with my 50mm lens as well... ;-)

I would recommend those who are starting out with photography to have in your "arsenal" a good prime lens, and the 50mm is a good buy.

I'm still targeting either the 60mm or 100mm macro lens but both lens require significant amount of investment...

Selamat Hari Raya AidilFitri

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri...

To everyone who is traveling these Hari Raya Holidays, have a safe "balik kampung" with your friends and family.

12 Days Old...

The twins have been home for the past 10 days.

They both seem to have settled into the regular routine of eat, sleep, poo, pee, and eat again.

Yep, both parents are having some sleepness nights. ;-)

Anyway, they are not too difficult to care for at this stage as they are not very mobile but just very delicate. So, we have to be a bit more careful when we pick them up as their necks are still a wee bit fragile.

My sister is breastfeeding them and I learned that they will poo more when they take breast milk. However, mother's milk is still the best!

Snoopy and Rusty have gotten used to them, however Rusty is more excited than usual because he thinks both of the small humans can play with him now. I think he will be their best friend in the next few years when they are old enough to run and play with him. Snoopy, on the other hand, is more docile and very protective. She sits near by to watch over them like a security guard.

Charlotte is still feeding on demand as she is the smaller of the two. She, being the big sister is often more calm and collected. She seems pensive but quite cheerful and has the sweetest smiles.

Olivia is just precious. She loves to sleep alot and is somewhat of a joker... We noticed that she makes a lot of "cat-mewing" type noises when she sleeps. Kind of reminds me of my Mom when she sleeps because my Mom tends to "talk" in her sleep. No doubt, Olivia might be the more talkative of the two...

Both are a joy to photograph with my 50mm lens. I'm glad I bought it, though I was targeting the 60mm Macro lens in the 1st place.

No flash photography yet as both are still delicate. Later on, I'll experiment with my flash as I might setup a mini studio to take photos of them when they are older.

Torturous Days Ahead

My blog has been very quiet lately as I've been busy with a couple of things...

• Work
• More Work

The best part is... There has been talk about moving the project up by a three months last week but as of today, what has been just "talk" will become reality, making the project delivery to be completed by January 2010.

What does that mean?

More work...

More stress...

More teamwork... (yeah, right..)

Less appreciation... (for the person who does the most work..)

Thank you...

The Last Day @ Meng Kee, Jalan Tengkat Tongshin

Talk about "The Last Supper"...

Just last week, I went with a group of friends to have brunch at one of KL's old eateries.. Meng Kee @ Jalan Tengkat Tongshin.

This place has been an institution of food in the Bukit Bintang area for a great many years.

It just so happens that the day we all decided to meet up at Meng Kee was to be the last day the shop would be opened at its current location at Jalan Tengkat Tongshin. When the shop finishes its business at around 3pm, it would be closed for good.

However, it won't be closed for long as the stall would relocate to Jalan Alor, which is just behind its current location. The shop would reopen in about 1-2 weeks time.

We chatted with one of the aunties and she mentioned that the stall did not want to pay the exorbitant rentals which has kept increasing year upon year. It seems that the rental of the shop was RM20,000 per month!

Being in a nice location with some pretty interesting decorative architecture, this shoplot would soon be converted into something trendy like some of the restaurants down the road, i.e. Changkat Bukit Bintang.

Now, time for the food... :-)

Yes, we had to have some vegetables... Although it was supposed to be a day of celebration for some of us carnivores but the balanced omnivores wanted some greens/fibre...

The steamed chicken was yummy. I think it was kampung chicken or free-range, as the fat was quite yellow and the meat especially sweet. The farm-reared chicken tends to taste a bit bland, which means that when steamed, the meat is not as sweet.

Meng Kee has some really delicious char siew or honey BBQ pork which just melts in your mouth. The pork is BBQ to perfection where the dark bits are sticky and sweet, without leaving the meat hard and dry. In short, each mouthful tastes succulent and moist!

As usual, there are no photos of my friends pigging out as they are shy to be in front of the camera.

I think I will pay Meng Kee a visit at their new location (near Nova Hotel at Jalan Alor) when they reopen in about a week's time.

Introducing Charlotte & Olivia

Finally... Both of them are here!

My sis safely delivered both Charlotte and Olivia just past 10:30am with both twins a minute apart. She underwent a C-section as her pelvis was too small to deliver both babies.

In my last post, I mentioned that they were identical but turns out that I had the wrong info from my Dad.

They both have their own amniotic sacs, hence making them both fraternal twins. However, time will tell if both of them would look similar or not.

Well.. Here they are...

Charlotte Wong - COW I


Olivia Wong - COW II

They are barely one day old and their father has already given them nicknames...

Anyway, Charlotte looks more like her father, while Olivia looks more like her mom. Seems only fair... Kekeke... I just hope that the kids won't be as bratty as her Mom... Kekeke

Congrats Melina and Dallas!!!!

Update: Countdown to The Arrival of the COWs

Latest Update...

Thank God that both the twins were delivered safely this morning.

Seems that Olivia is bigger than her sister, Charlotte by 0.4kg... I'm not sure about the weight of both girls.

Yes, the twins are identical. I wonder which one will be right-handed, and the other left-handed... As the mirroring of the dexterity happens in identical twins...

Both twins and mother are doing fine.

Countdown to The Arrival of the COWs...

In about 10-12 hours time, we will be expecting the new arrivals of the twins Charlotte and Olivia Wong.

My sister has checked into the hospital at around 10pm last night and my bro-in-law has opted to spend the night there with her. The cesarean operation will take place late in the morning...

STAY TUNED!!

Musical Nights...

I know... I know... I've neglected my blog some what.

Well, between work and recovering from my bouts with the cough, cold, flu (errr... no H1N1...), I've had enough material to blog about for the next 5 posts!! Hehehe...

Last month, I had the pleasure of attending a couple of musical performances with friends and family.

The first one was with my family, to attend the famous Lisbon Chamber Choir concert held in my church in Subang Jaya. The performance was to raise funds for the church building fund. We've already attended the special screening of the movie "Man for All Seasons" previously and this time, with a famous international choir in town, we could not pass up the chance to miss it!

We were entertained by the KL Children's Choir and they sang beautifully for their young age. I especially loved their rendition of "Chan Mali Chan", a traditional song.

There was also some cultural performances by youth from a nearby church too. They danced to the song "We Are One Body", which was pretty good.

Finally, we had the Lisbon Chamber Choir perform some music for us. It is just amazing how the human voice can convey such angelic tunes without any accompaniment of a musical instrument. I was blown away by the range of sounds from the deep baritones to the high pitch sopranos.

We also had a church member to perform that night as well. She came back from the US to sing for us. I can't recall her name, unfortunately, but felt that her voice was suited to classical music. She sang two songs, 1 classical and the other a more contemporary song.

The choir was so fantastic that the crowd held out for encores and the choir performed a few more songs which included a song in Chinese. I definitely enjoyed myself that night.



Then, a couple of weeks later, I joined a group of friends to attend a Jazz performance at the Dewan Philharmonik Petronas KLCC. My friends had always suggested that we attend a concert together and after looking at the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra season, we found out that Jazz band from New Orleans would be in town.

Being a lover of Jazz, especially being a great fan of Louis Armstrong, we could not miss this performance from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band or PHJB.



Although we sat right at the back of the hall, the acoustics was so fantastic that we could hear every single note clearly. The music was so lively, you could not help but to dance in your seat. We tapped our feet, clapped our hands, whistled and howled when the music got going.



The best part of it all, my friends and I joined in the Second Line for the last song of the night, the evergreen classic, "When The Saints Come Marching In". We ended up being on the stage of the hall, dancing away until the band left the hall to end the performance for the night.

It was AWESOME!!!

It certainly has fueled my determination to visit New Orleans in the future. To visit the historic French Quarter, Bourbon Street and yes... Even to go down to see PHJB again.

P/S: The videos posted of PHJB showcased some of the songs I heard that night.

Keep On Smilling Regardless

This just happens to be one of my favourite Pixar shorts... "For The Birds".

I think I recalled watching this prior to Finding Nemo. My friends and I had such a great laugh...

It's a very simple story. Birds of a Feather... Flock together...

However, because the bird who joined the flock was different than the others, large, long and clumsy; the other birds in the flock decided to make fun of that bird... So much so, that when the clumsy bird lost its balance, two birds got together to peck its feet to get it to fall off.

Well... Watch the entire short and you'll love the ending.... (^ ^)

In short.... Keep on smiling, regardless of what others do to you. You may get the last laugh after all.

Have a Happy Merdeka everyone!!!

Belated Birthday Dinner @ Oh! Sushi

EV decided to give me a birthday dinner a couple of weeks back.... This is perhaps one of the two times she is ever nice to me...

Me: Oi... When are you going to take me go 逛街, shopping, 吃大餐阿?
EV: When I'm free-la...
Me: Cheh... Every time also you like that...
EV: Ok-la!! On the 15th can or not, it's my "Merdeka"..

So, we had time to go for a movie, some shopping and a good dinner. It has been some time since we both went out shopping...

For dinner, I decided to go for Japanese as we couldn't decide on what else to eat. The funny thing is, I had Japanese food with the rest of the gang too.. Kekeke...

Oh! Sushi has been one of my favourite Japanese restaurants for a long time. I've not been back to the place since they had a face lift.

The one thing different about Oh! Sushi is that this restaurant is non-halal, which means that we can get pork.. :P

EV had her usual unagi. She can't seem to get enough of them eels.. Which explains why she is quite "slimy" at times.. LOL!

I wanted to have some salmon sashimi but wanted to have some rice too. So, in the end, I had a mini salmon don instead.

EV had craving for some seafood and we found the grilled scallops to be delicious! This reminded us of the time when we had giant scallops in Melbourne after a road trip with friends.

Both of us can't live without salad... We decided to try the Papaya Salad which was spicy with little chilli padi. Certainly a Thai-inspired dish although I'm not a big fan of spicy Thai food..

We enjoyed the stir-fried asparagus with bacon. Yes, it is unhealthy but I didn't take the fat but savoured the smoky taste of the bacon with the asparagus.

We certainly enjoyed this pork mayo dish which had a bit of chilli in it for slight kick. Plenty of onions, and some bean sprouts accompanied this dish, making it a bit more "balanced". The pork slices were not too fat too but sliced thin enough to be grilled.

EV: You must be very happy now...
Me: Why?
EV: Because you had your pork...

LOL!! Yes... I'm your typical chinese.. I must have some pork in my diet from time to time.

Slowly Recovering...

Little Rusty is recovering from his little operation... He got neutered last Friday... Stitches will be out this Saturday...

So am I....

I finally had to take an MC when I woke up feeling extremely exhausted with runny nose and sore throat yesterday. While on my way to work, I felt really really tired and just made a U-turn to see the doctor.

The doc said that I had a throat infection after I told him that I've been having a dry cough and bad chest congestion for the last couple of weeks. I also had low grade fever which I got at night too, making me feel very warm and tired the next day.

The doc said that the reason why I'm so tired is that my body is completely exhausted from all that "infection wars" which raged within my body for the last few weeks. He said, "Now, your body needs external help.". So, he gave me an MC.

I went home, took my medicine, went to sleep and ignored all calls/SMS on my mobile.

I knew that I should have gone to see the doc earlier but work was in the way. Frankly, I don't know why I work so damn hard when I'm not appreciated for the effort I put in... Stupid eh?

Nevertheless, after a full day of rest, I feel much more energetic now although I had some slight fever and body ache earlier in the day... I also started working today too.

Will try to de-stress and keep calm despite the powers-that-be above me giving all the stress...

Been Sick...

My blog has been a bit quiet lately.... I know.

I've been sick for the past few days. Also, been busy with work, hence; being sick and working my @ss off for work.

Even if I do tell the PMs that I'm not feeling well, they will still bombard me with work. *sigh*... Not only that, they will still call me. I don't turn off my phone as I still receive important calls from other folks.

Today, there was a directive from HR to all staff that should you have flu-like symptoms, please do not come into the office or client's site and seek medical treatment ASAP.

I think even if I do both, I'll be expected to continue working. Yes, my PMs are THAT sadistic.

One of my colleagues who just went to have a medical check-up because he felt some chest discomfort was told off by the PM that it was NORMAL and that he didn't have anything to fear. In fact, the doctor did tell him something and he's taking some action to take care of his cholesterol levels to prevent heart problems later in life.

Aiii....

Anyway, do be patient. I've got loads of photos to upload and stuff to blog about for the past 2-3 weeks.

Stay tuned...

Some "Me" Time

I've been longing for some "Me" time lately... Yes, spending some time alone to do my own stuff, contemplate life, bla bla...

Well, I wouldn't go THAT DEEP... LOL!!

Sometimes, I just want to have some "Me" time to do stuff which I like, i.e. go look at books or just sit around and look at people... i.e. LEPAK?

It's good to take a breather now and again - especially when you have a lot of daily stresses from a very very demanding project.

In one banking project a looong time ago, my PM used to say to us, "come, let's go minum" after we've had a very long (& absolutely stressful) day at the client's site. During that time, we would just sit, have a bit of tea; and just keep quiet. He would just sit quietly and study folks as they walk by the stall or sit nearby. Of course, he will "cuci mata" (oggle) but it was subtle, so much so that you can't notice it at all!! He was one cool dude, the epitome of grace under pressure.

That's probably one quality I find hard to master... Probably because I have a short fuse and am a perfectionist, I am my own nightmare at times.

So, I should take a lesson from Snoopy - just sit, relax and just stare out into space. Yeah, you might fall asleep in the process but then, taking naps is good for us!

My Weekends Have Meaning Again!!

Ok Ok... It's another 5/6 days before the new football season begins...

Yes, my Sat/Sun nights have meaning again.

Meanwhile, bookmark this for BPL fixtures --> here.

Longing... Waiting...

We all long for something... We wish that something would just happen... We just wait for it...

I think for me, I just long for the weekends to come around and hope that it won't end so soon! LOL!

Anyway, I'm anxiously waiting for the arrivals of my twin nieces, Charlotte and Olivia who are due some time at the end of this month or early September.

A new generation at the threshold... So much to teach and learn from them too.

Multi-tasking

This is the danger I may run into. Even though I may be on holiday, I'm afraid that I may be multi-tasking then. Grrrr...

Anyway, to continue from my previous post, do you think it is annoying that you're "multi-tasking" when you're in a meeting/conference call?

When everyone brings in a laptop and connect to the network via WiFi, we tend to be checking/reading/replying e-mails, writing up documents, taking down meeting minutes/notes, surfing for the best restaurant to eat this weekend/shop for stuff/read the latest news feed about Malaysian drama politics all in one breath.. while we are listening "intently" to someone...

What was it you were saying?

Kekeke... (This post was written AFTER a meeting... not during one..)