Kedah trip - Day 2

So, after a good night's rest, we went out for breakfast at nearly ten in the morning. Hwa Cheat's mother suggested that we go and have dim sum. Mm-hmmmm....delicious stuff! We also had kay chap (which looks like bak kut teh but with chee cheong fun kind of kuey teow in it).

The dim sum that we had in the morning.

After having the filling breakfast (THANK YOU Mrs. Saw!), we went to Hwa Cheat's other house to lepak. Mei Ju and boy went to get cendol, a jelly like dessert and OTAK-OTAK for us! Heavenly...just heavenly. Of course, the girls and BRIAN had to laugh at me because I didn't know that cendol is always mixed in santan (I had thought that the white stuff was soya bean - how can you blame me when I never had cendol before??). Ok, so anyway, I must have finished at least half of the cendol that they bought and a quarter of the Otak-otak. Too bad I couldn't tapau some of them home.

Enjoying the otak-otak, cendol and the jelly-like dessert in Hwa Cheat's house.

We brought rain with us everywhere we went. It started to rain in the afternoon and we decided to go to the temple that is frequented by Hwa Cheat and her mother. It is a first time I go to such a temple - it is in the middle of a plantation/orchard. Mrs. Saw made us delicious French toast and coffee. And the priest in the temple was kind enough to chop down a few coconuts and a tandan of bananas. Yee Loon did the honour of cutting the coconuts for us while the girls happily drank the sweet coconut water away..

In the orchard of the temple. Behind us is a building for mining birds' nests.

The girls posing with coconuts in the orchards. I didn't know that some coconut trees are so short!

The girls enjoying the thirst-quenching coconut water and the soft flesh of the coconut.

Having had a eating marathon the whole day, Yee Loon's mother was so kind as to invite us to go to their house for a steamboat. Although it was drizzling, it did not dampen our spirits. Nor was our already full stomach not tempted by the tentalizing aromas and the delicious foods. We pigged out for almost an hour and a half before we sat our plump selves in front of the tv. The gathering was also a birthday celebration for Yee Loon's father. Stuffing ourselves with cake, we decided to leave as we had to wake up very early the next morning to catch the first ferry to Langkawi.

Steamboat in Yee Loon's house.

Happy Birthday Mr. Ooi!

Keep visiting for more photos!

P/S: Melwin: We did not spend much for this trp. Start saving about RM 5 a week: we go to Kuala Selangor, ok? And Sunway Lagoon before that! ;P

Kedah trip - Day 1

Dear friends,

Sorry for not updating for a long time. Being at home means I rarely go online because I cannot resist the temptation to pig out on the bed. Haha...

Anyway, the Raya holidays had prompted 8 beautiful girls and handsome guys to head north to Kedah. =) Ok la...so the other 5 of us just wanted to "menyibuk" and visit our friends' hometown and also to go on a short holiday in the nearby Langkawi island la. So off to Kedah we went in 2 Proton Sagas driven by our macho guys. We started our journey from PJ at 715 in the morning. *Yawn*

Even though it was Hari Raya Pertama, most of the drivers we saw on the highway were Chinese! What is a long journey without rest stops. Our first stop was made at 745 a.m. at my house because I had forgotten to take my camera and goggles (which I did not use in the end). After the short stop, we stopped at Bidor for a super-duper-delicious duck noodle. Mm-hmmm...we had to wait at the crowded shop for about an hour to be seated and served. But it was worth the wait. We wolfed down the food in less than 20 minutes and continued our journey.

Yum yum! Duck noodle at RM 6.50 per bowl (dry or in soup)

After that filling breakfast, we drove for another hour or so to stop at Ipoh and be led by one of our macho guys' friend. We stopped by a cave temple for a short visit and looked at the time: just nice for us to have lunch (hehe). So off we went to buy a whole salted chicken and to the original Old Town Kopitiam. Apparently, the original kopitiam owner has been cheated of his copyright to the recipe. He doesn't have any holding to the many franchise of the Old Town Kopitiam eventhough the recipe and coffee come from him!

The coffee was good as always and we had the loh mai kay(glutinous chicken rice) which was heavenly! We also had the chicken we bought earlier too. I hardly had the chance to take much of the chicken when it was picked clean. Haha...don't think pretty girls will be shy to "fight" for good food! But it was all fun...just look at us enjoying ourselves!

Outside the original Old Town Kopitiam.

Enjoying the good food with good friends.

With a very full stomach, we continued our journey and made a detour to Taiping to send one of Yi Loon's friends home. We toured the beautiful Taiping Lake in our cars because it was raining. Sadly, these magnificent trees would be cut down soon.

Beautiful old trees to be seen probably the first and the last time.

After sending his friend home, we continued "touring" Taiping town until we found the highway exit. Hehe...and it was all the way to Sungai Petani, Kedah after that. And would you believe it, we arrived at Hwa Cheat's house at 6 o'clock in the evening. After a short rest and shower, we headed out for dinner. The delicious dinner was paid for by Mei Ju's father. THANK YOU!! After dinner, we went for a short visit in Mei Ju's house. We headed for Hwa Cheat's house after an hour or so. As tiring as it was, the girls had fun talking and laughing until Hwa Cheat was left talking on her own! =P

Stay tuned for more photographs of our trip to Kedah. :)

Resolutions revisited

A reminder to myself: 2007 is not over yet, so I can still try to fulfill what I had resolved to do in the Chinese New Year post.

Yup, I had 5 resolution listed during Chinese New Year and I vowed to fulfill at least 1. Well, let's see my progress so far:

1. Try to eat right, sleep right and exercise more

Ok, for a while there, I got my cholesterol level under control. That was about 3 or 4 months ago. I don't know what's the level now. As for my sleeping habits...well, I suppose it is good news now that my bed time is at 1030 or 11 at the most, no matter what time I wake up. =P Exercise...am still working on that. I have been walking Woon's Siberian Husky twice daily for the past a week and a half! And Demon can really RUN when you are trying to JOG alongside him. Let me see if I can get a photo of him later. ;P

2. Lose weight

Ok, so much for my resolution. I've put on approximately 3kgs since July. So, my newer resolution, try to lose the 3 kgs by the end of the year. The other 5? Can wait til next year la...

3. Donate blood again

I am planning to donate blood again but I've been rather sickly since the teaching practice. Hope I can do so before the year is out. Fingers crossed.

4. Save money

Considering I've used up most of my savings for the Australia trip, I think I have saved quite a lot (although it meant part-timing and being a "gu hon duk" for the past few months =P). Hehehe...well, at least I can say that I have saved a bit more money this year compared to the past years! Let's see if I can keep it up and not blow my savings on some stupid stuff like diet programme. =P

5. Stop procrastinating

Nope, no progress on that, although I did try to kickstart my assignments earlier. Still procrastinated til the very end. Guess this would have to be resolved again next year. =D

Sigh...so much for making my resolutions public!

____________________________________________________________________

On a different note, these are some very, very backdated photos that I had wanted to post:

Among the many nice-looking desserts served in the hotel from my China-Fujian trip last year (yup, I know!! =P)

Shark's fin soup at a famous chinese restaurant to celebrate my father's birthday. My family must have killed a few sharks that night!

Abalone (pronounced ab-uh-loh-nee) at the same restaurant. 2 for RM140! Sheesh!!

Tiramisu at Itallianies. MM-hmm....other must try's: cheese stuffed mushroom as a starter. Ooh la la!

The perks of being a practical teacher in CBN (1). We escorted some pupils to Menara KL and we got free lunch at the Barra restaurant at the bottom of Menara KL. Food was lousy but am in no doubt expensive. Look at the cute bottle that they gave us, shaped like the Tower. I only had it with me for less than an hour because I forgot to take it when we were done with lunch. =(

Obese - I hate the word!

Dear people,

Sorry for not updating for so long. Life in school was a quite tiring although it was fun and satisfying. The My School Rocks dance competition has been won by the Penang champion (St. George's Girl School). I suppose CBN's loss was partly because not many of the young pupils know how to use the internet (besides, the site takes forever to load!!). But all is well as I think it is actuallyvery remarkable that our school students are able to dance well and (mostly) coordinate the dance themselves! Bravo!

..

..

The last day of teaching signified the beginning of a very long holiday. Instead of rushing home as I normally would have, I decided to stay in my rented house for another week or two. Why? Because I have no place to sleep at home, and also as an effort to lose weight! I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw my weight on the scale! I gained another 2 to 3 kilogrammes during my stint as a teacher trainee. I think it must be because I'd been going to bed really early since my teaching practice - maybe an hour or so after having dinner. The extra 2 or 3 kilogrammes officially put me in the obese category according to the BMI of WHO. Heck, I ain't gonna be an obese pig! So I've decided to really put my foot down and go ona diet! And I can tell you that going back to my family home during weekends is an absolute bane to my diet efforts! My mother tries to stuff me with all my favourite dishes all in one meal!

..

..

Hmmm...One and a half weeks have gone by and I am still struggling with controlling my eating urges. SIGH---there are just too many temptations around! KFC, McDonalds, Pizza, Burger King...mm-hmm...I've had all of them in the week that I was supposed to be on a diet! Hahaha...guess I now know why I could never keep a conscious effort to go on a diet - my cravings for these foods becomes greater whenever I try to eat less. Not to mention the cruel fate that would bring me close to places where these fast food restaurants are the best choice for a good meal!!

..

..

Well, I guess I just have to have more willpower and try to defeat the monsters in my stomach! Wish me luck!!