My little Penang food review ... that's how I end my year 2008

A Penang trip will not be a Penang trip without a Penang feast. That is pretty true I can assure you that.

As so, this post is a continuous from my previous post.

Previously, I mentioned about visiting my grandma's old abandoned wooden house. A trip down memory lane indeed ... the memories of me playing around the house as a little kid, when my grandma was still alive, when I had to walk a little further to the 'in the middle of the jungle' toilet to do my morning business and many more ;)

This time around, I am gonna document a short little review of what I ate back in Penang. I am pretty used to the food sold in Balik Pulau, Penang. Basically, I don't even remember travelling around Penang for the said 'best' bla bla bla food ... It had been Balik Pulau Penang street food all along.

The first thing I ate once I reached Penang is non other than the famous Balik Pulau Asam Laksa.

Balik Pulau Penang Asam Laksa

One word ... so damn delicious. I'm not sure if Balik Pulau Penang Asam Laksa is the best Asam Laska in Penang. What I know is that it can easily beat any Asam Laksa sold in KL hands down. It has a generous amount of fish and 'hae ko' (prawn paste). A must try!!!

For the next few days, I had 'Kuay Tiao Th'ng' (Kuay Tiao soup), 'Char Kuay Kak' (Fried raddish cake), 'Hokkien Mee' (Prawn noodle), 'Char Kuay Tiao' & 'Chee Cheong Fan' ... all Balik Pulau Penang street food.

Balik Pulau Kuay Tiao Th'ng

The Kuay Tiao Th'ng is still damn delicious. But, it is not what it used to be. I am sure it used to be so damn delicious. Now, it is only damn delicious. Kinda downgraded already as it is now done by a different generation. Anyway, it is still way better than a lot of the stalls found in KL.

Balik Pulau Hokkien Mee

As in the case of Kuay Tiao Th'ng, Hokkien Mee suffered the same fate. It is damn delicious but it is not what it used to be. Having said that, it can easily beat any stalls found in KL too.

The closest authentic Hokkien Mee (around 90% ... that close) found in KL is located just around my housing area ... lol ... (I live in Sec. 25, Shah Alam FYI).

Balik Pulau Penang Chee Cheong Fun

Penang Chee Cheong Fun is very different from the one in KL. There is no fish ball, 'fu chok', fish cake, etc to come together with it. All you get is the flat rice noodle and the special black sauce.

The sauce is made of 'hae ko' (prawn paste) and 'tau eu' (soy sauce) and some other things. Unlike the KL version which is too sweet for my taste, the version here will be sweet and a little sour.

One word ... a must try!!!. So damn delicious all the same.

The end ...

Oh...wait! What about the rest of the food ... you might asked ...

Well, at times, I can't help but to help myself with the food straight away. So, I forgot all about the camera thingy.

No photos of Char Kuay Kak and everyone's favourite Char Kuay Tiao.

Personally, the Char Kuay Kak is okay. It is not what it used to be anymore. Just very well delicious. As for the Char Kuay Tiao ... yummy ... a must try!!! Any Balik Pulau Char Kuay Tiao stalls in Balik Pulau will do.

I think for my next trip (during Chinese New Year), it is best that I take a photo of the stalls too!

As of now ... I might as well continue with the food I ate on my way back to KL after the Penang trip.

After 2 hours of driving towards KL using the North/South Highway, me, my mum and my lil brother stopped at Bidor.

There is this famous restaurant called Restaurant Pun Chun.

Restaurant Pun Chun, Bidor

We ordered their famous coffee, 'Kon Low Mee' (Dried Wan Tan Noodle) and a bowl of duck herbal soup.

Bidor Pun Chun Coffee

The coffee is rather nice. Thick and tasty. It is not the best ... but I'll have it any day if there is a choice between Nescafe and this. Nescafe 3-in-1 sucks big time these days.

Bidor Pun Chun Kon Low Mee

The Kon Low Mee is so damn delicious. A must try!!! My only complaint is that ... it is too oily.

Oil is not cheap nowadays. Why can't they do themselves and us a favour by using less oil eh? Less oil means more saving on their side and healthier food on our side! What do you think?

The soup and dumpling that comes together with the Kon Low Mee

The soup ... damn nice. Unlike a lot of the KL stalls whose soup tasted like pepper, this soup tasted like what it suppose to be. The dumplings are delicious too. Yet again however, the soup ... pretty oily.

Bidor Pun Chun Duck Herbal Soup

As for the Duck Herbal Soup ... A must try!!! The soup is not that salty and the herbs is not too overpowering. Literally the combination of duck meat, chinese herbs and amount of water are perfect. Oily? Kinda ... but it is one damn delicious soup I must say.

Generally, I end my 2008 by putting a little more weight ... what with all my favourite dish eh ...

Happy New Year everyone! With the END of 2008 comes a new hope and most importantly, a new BEGINNING ...

May we all have ...

• 12 months of HAPPINESS
• 52 weeks of FUN
• 365 days of SUCCESS
• 8760 hours of GOOD HEALTH
• 525600 minutes of GOOD LUCK
• 31536000 seconds of JOY

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• My grandma's abandoned old wooden house

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My grandma's abandoned old wooden house ...

We are now ushering the year 2009 with great hopes and opportunities.

While 2008 is a pretty terrible year … at least for me … I ended my year 2008 rather plainly but on a higher spirit no doubt.

As a matter of fact, I just came back from Penang :)

My mum used to travel back to her hometown – Balik Pulau, Penang on special occasion … As Christmas was just around the corner, she came back to visit and celebrate Christmas with her sisters and her/my other relatives.

I followed her this time around and we stayed at my Ah E’s (my mum's sis) house no doubt … as usual.

As always, the first thing we did was to visit my grandma’s abandoned old wooden house.

It had been abandoned for almost 7 years already. The only living things there were none other than my Ah E’s dogs and cats.

She traveled there ever single day to feed her dogs and cats. The distance between both house is around 5 minutes (by cycling) and 10 minutes (by walking) ... just a short distance.

A road leading to the abandoned house. It was okay ... till later when the road gets tougher

An old wooden house by the roadside

While walking, I came across an ... erm ... old abandoned 'toilet bowl'. I am pretty sure I used one of this before.

An old abandoned 'toilet bowl' I guess ... lol

When my grandma was alive, that old now abandoned wooden house was the house we stayed almost everytime.

I still remember the time when I had to walk a little further to her toilet ... in the middle of the jungle. The toilet was encircled with zinc wall and roof top with a zinc door.

It was okay during the day. But, when night comes and you had a bad stomach ache ... what can you do then but to walk to that toilet ... with a candle, a toilet roll (no water available!) and of course mosquito coil. It was certainly worse if it rains.

Eerie eh. I did just that when I was little.

The short but yet winding and rough road to the abandoned house.

The old abandoned wooden house finally. That's my mum and my lil brother in the photo.

A side view of the corridor ...

Another side view of the corridor ... opposite

Living room

The kitchen

A multi-purpose section of the house - dine, work, chat, whatever


The 'used to be' road to the house. It was now fenced up.

A great nostalgia indeed ... it was just like walking down memory lane.

While my memory of that house was like 8 - 18 years ago ... can you then imagine ... my mum ... she was born and raised in that very house. That was like ... long long time ago ... during the 60's and 70's.

Now, it was abandoned. While it may be the END ... for the old abandoned wooden house at least ... the house will always be remembered deep down.

Note:
A Penang trip will not be a Penang trip without a Penang feast. So, do guess what you can expect in the next post? LOL ...


Ripple ripple ... its Money this week :)

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My 2008 Chronology ... a reveal it all post ...

2008 was … well … very eventful … there were so many unexpected things happen that I was like stunned … like … what! … hurh! … did that just happen!

This year may as well be my most significant year indeed – mostly bad memories .... can't deny it myself.

I’d pretty much grown out of it. I am a different person now … more so than before.

This post will be pretty lengthy ... here goes then my very own 2008 chronology.

January 2008
I started off my internship attachment programme at Starcom Mediavest Group.


The company was located at Menara Olympia, KL. Learn a lot thanks to my kind director Ms Shamistha, my lovely manager Ms Ker Harn and my cute supervisor/friend Ms Li Ling.

Menara Olympia (the tall one)

This was the month where my wallet was stolen by a pickpocket. I was on my way home and I didn’t even realize it till I got down from the bus.

Pickpocket

I guess it was stolen while I was struggling to get onboard the bus. Mostly foreign workers from Vietnam, Bangladesh and Indonesia, they had no sense at all to queue up. Who suffered then if not the locals???

Identification card, ATM card, driving license, other cards and also some cash all gone. Had to forked out money to replace all the cards. Damn ...

This was also the month I got my very first birthday present from my mum. I was so excited as I got to finally change my lousy mobile phone to this new one.

Sony Ericsson K550i

It may not be the best phone. But, it was given by my mum and it was also a way better phone than my old one. Couldn’t ask for more … I hardly get any present after all these years anyway.

March 2008
March was a terrible month overall. TERRIBLE.

Was walking to work on that very day, the 14th of March. Guess I was a little too early than usual - 7 in them morning. While passing through a dark narrow lane between 2 old buildings, I was pushed so sudden by 3 guys into that lane I fell. Without realizing what was happening, I was beaten – hit, boxed, kicked, whatever …

Mugger

It was terrifying. What can a person expect then when it was 3 guys against 1 guy? I screamed to no vail. Pretty much no one cared though I swear someone saw the incident. I thought I was as good as done. Struggled for awhile. After much struggle, I managed to pull myself up, grabbed the back door grills and pull myself away from them. They got my bag pack. Mobile phone and wallet was still with me.

Rran out of that lane and cool myself down as they were running away as well. Saw a stall aunt was about to start her business. Asked her about it but then realized what she said was true. What can an old lady do? Those 3 muggers may even come back for revenge if she did.

Walked back into that lane and found my glasses and surprisingly my amulet. I had a strong feeling that the amulet I wore protected me. The muggers tried to grab my neck chain. The chain broke as they pulled mercilessly and that was when my amulet fell from the chain. I may be strangled to death if the chain did not !!!

Called my mum and then walked to my office to clean myself up. I was bleeding from my neck, face and hand. Was about to walk to the nearest police station alone when my manager found me. She calmed me down just when I needed it the most. Walk to the police station alone after that. The person in-charged – a policewoman was so damn rude I was steaming inside. Hello, I was mugged, still bleeding and so, what’s with the rudeness eh?

Walked to the nearest clinic. Thank God the doctor was rather understanding as he allowed me to pay the next day (not enough cash on my body). Walked to Klang bus station and took a bus home. I was physically and emotionally stabled after a few days thanks to my family and relatives.

Since the incident, I was a little more sensitive to … erm … strangers. On the 26th of March, I was on my way back from work. Was once again struggling to get up the bus. Saw a guy with his hand placed suspiciously around a lady’s back. Instinct kicked in and I pushed that guy. Instantly I was pushed back. Then, abruptly, I was boxed ....

Though it was just a light box, anger filled me up. Was able to control myself in time and not box him back. That guy acted as though he was innocent and showed everybody his ticket. He was not even in the bus later on !!!

On the 29th of March, I was on my way to KL with my sister. As we chat, suddenly a guy from behind said … "look there". He explained to me that he dropped his ticket. Then, he moved to the front to pick it up. There was no ticket to be seen though he kept rummaging my jeans … bottom part… He said he found it after awhile. Of course I was suspicious. But, what am I to know what was about to happen then?

The guy got down from the bus as I realized something was amiss. Where was my mobile phone? Gave him a chase and searched his body all over. Nothing was found. Asked my sister to call my mobile but it was too late. The mobile phone my mum gave me 2 months ago was gone … right in front eyes.

Literally, March = dark period!!!

April 2008
Internship attachment ended. Enjoyed working there a lot.

May 2008
Went to Taman Megah Handicapped and Disabled Children's Home. Had lots of fun. The children there were amazing.

Me with the kids and my friends

Back to University … which means back to student life >>>

July/August 2008
Was struggling with the amount of work on my shoulders – thesis, assignments and course representative’s responsibilities. I was worn out totally. After several days of sleepless night and much hard work, I got myself into an accident.

Was driving back from University after finalizing one of the assignments. I didn’t even realize I was about to fall asleep. So, I banged a side divider. I was few inches away from murdering a few people at the front. Thank God nobody was hurt. The car was badly damaged though. I had a feeling I was protected again as there was an amulet hanged in the car … almost similar to the one I wore … Thank God …

Few days later, drove the car to a mechanic workshop located at Kepong. Car died half way though … right in the middle of a T-junction. Damn … the road was rather busy!!!

September 2008
Forked out RM 335.78 to sponsor a child and co-sponsor the other. The 2 child will be covered for the whole year with school books, hot lunch and a mosquito net. Was glad and happy deep down knowing that the money means better life for them there.

My sponsored child | My co-sponsored child

New and final semester started.

October/November 2008
My blog was created on the 24th of October.

Was juggling to handle my thesis, my responsibilities as the course representatives and my group assignment ... struggling once again.

The only assignment, the final group assignment (9 in a group) made me wonder what my friends and group members really were actually. To what extend do I know them after all eh?

It was so bad till the point I was doing it all by myself. I fed them with most of the information initially. I guided them. I handled almost everything as no one wanted to take the lead. Deadline was around the corner and I thought I had to do it all by myself. The group leader heard my frustration and helped me up on what’s left of it …

I understand that they were struggling to finish up their thesis. Well hello, I had one all to myself for your information. Rather selfish and inconsiderate eh ...

I look at them differently once again since then … even some who were rather close to me. When frustration kicks in … frustration kicks in!!! I finalized the final assignment in anger. We will always be friends of course. But, who can forget it after being treated as such.

My dear friends ... tell me ... did I ever treated you that way?

Attended the Lovely Disabled Home outdoor activity. Brought the disabled for a stroll in the park - from home to Brickfields to KLCC to home again ... by LRT. Had lots of fun. A meaningful activitiy indeed.

In Taman Bahagia LRT station. I was way behind in the picture ... lol

December 2008
Got the marks for my group assignment. Got the lowest among all the groups. Guess I couldn’t ask for more since I did it in anger, frustration and with little help.

Attended ‘Kakiis Nite Out’ event. A fun-filled night indeed. Enjoyed it very much.

Done my final exam … yay!

Received a Christmas card from Canada. It’s from a Facebook friend of mine who help me out when I was wondering what I should do to sponsor a child.

Christmas card all the way from Canada

Done my passport.

My passport

Handed in my thesis … yay again!

My thesis

Its certainly the END of 2008 and the BEGINNING of year 2009. Hopefully 2009 will be a better year for me ...

Thanks for reading and Ho ... Ho ... Ho ... Merry Christmas and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!


Ripple to leave my blog ^.^ It's education this week ...

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Trick: Opening links with your mouse roller ...

To non-Nuffnangers, please do read on. This simple trick may be very helpful. It is applicable to most browsers.

It is certainly okay if you don’t understand what’s going on.

To Nuffnangers, this simple trick may help avoiding accidental nang and self nang.

Normally, when you left click on links posted on innit, you will not only open that particular blog. You will also nang it automatically. Am I right?

Are you tired of accidentally nang-ing a post? ... unintentioanlly ...

Are you tired that you have to dang it when you found out that the post is pointless?

Are you tired to right click to open a link?

Well, here is a simple solution for you. It is applicable to all links and tabs you see on a browser.

Some of you may know this trick. I hope this trick will help those who do not.

First and foremost, look at the mouse below.

Literally, the left is the left click, the middle is the roller and on the right is the right click.

The question now is how can it be done? Here it goes …

To open a blog without nang-ing it first, all you have to do is to drag and point the curser on the link

Then, click on the roller.


When you do that, the link will be opened automatically in a new tab. Thus, you will not nang or dang it for the moment.

Later if you do enjoy the post, do nang it. If you think the post is pointless, dang it. Simple as that ^.^

This way, we can make nang-ing and dang-ing more meaningful and sense making. Its a new Beginning eh ...

Okay, a little more. This simple trick can also be used to close a tab. Just drag your curser to the tab and click on the roller.

It helps me a lot. I can open a link in a new tab instead of the former used tab. I can close tabs very speedily… especially when there are too many tabs opened.

I hope it helps you in some ways too.

Merry Christmas

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Kakiis Nite Out !!! ... 13/12/2008

Yay! I am back here after few days absent from blogging ... apparently studying like there's no tomorrow for my final ...

FYI, its really the final LOL !!!

In another word, student life is as good as gone. On the other hand, working life is knocking on my doors ... I am going to take it a step at a time ... building a successful career is not any itsy bitsy stuff that's for sure.

Last Saturday, I went for the 'Kakiis Nite Out' event held by Kakiis themselves with support from Nuffnang of course. It was held at Euphoria Sunway.

I know I am rather late at posting this. Got to study okay : )

Okay! Maybe you are right in some ways. I neglected my studies for a day to go for that event ... LOL ... *paiseh*

Went with fellow blogger - Jen Na and Hui Teing (LOL) ...

Jen Na (left), Hui Teing (middle), me (right)

Generally, we had lots of fun. We all do.

Do forgive my clothing ... I look like a school boy : (

The environment was amazing. It was a breathe of fresh air literally ...

Smoking were prohibited at Euphoria. How amazing was that !!! No wonder I can breathe easily here ...

The games were pretty cool. But, we didn't win any prize that day : (

We played hard ... we ignore the light buffet offered ... we were good at some games but bad at some as well ...

Close but yet not close enough !!!

The buffet was over even before we could finish our games. One word: empty stomach all through the night

I did capture lots of photos. Too bad a lot of photos turn out bad : (

I seriously need a DSLR ... like right now !!! *wink* (my Christmas present ... anyone? Birthday is coming too)

Us with Fly Fm DJ - Steve

I got 2 'One complimentary draft beer' coupon from Kakiis ...


I got one glass myself. Now I realize why i hardly enjoy beer. I didn't finish it !!!


Thank you Nuffnang for the invite. Kakiis, a good job well done. I enjoyed it very much.

Do remember to ripple to leave my blog ^.^

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A grieving dog and a crushed dog ...

Literally, the photo below speaks for itself.

The dog is grieving for its friend who died after being poisoned by the authority of Eskisehir, Turkey.

A lot of street dog in Turkey go around in pairs. One day however, a death squad came and poisoned one of them.

Hearth breaking indeed. It goes to show how loyal and loving is a dog compared to a lot of human beings.

The coming photo is a latest case in a series of dogs being treated cruelly.

Look at its right leg ... poor thing !!!

The dog you saw above is named Badem.

(Gosh, Badem looks a lot like my dog - Max!!! ... only a little younger and darker)

Badem is crushed and is only found 4 - 5 days after the accident.

Her right front foot and back left leg is totally broken.

If you want to help Badem, please do give me a buzz. I'll direct you to the right person !!!

The Beginning of animal cruelty is a tough probability to be solved. So, when can we End all of this? I know ... its like asking the sky to rain gold eh ... practically possibly impossible !!!

---

Last but not least, if last week some of you ripple for water, this week you will be rippling for food.

Just click on ...

(this)

You can see it at the side bar on your right.

Click on it to leave my blog instead of closing your tab/browser ^.^

Note:
I won't be posting anything for a couple of days as I am having my last exam paper on Tuesday. Its the finals and I'm gonna graduate soon after that ...

Comments are appreciable though ... :)

Okay, back to revision !!!


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• A tribute to Jonah the street dog (4)
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Do remember to ripple to leave my blog ^.^ Its food this week ... wee ...

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A Little Update on my Sponsored Child ... and some others ...

Remember my post about Okala Foundation many weeks back?

Well, below is the latest photo of my sponsored child - Chanceline Moni Beng (I'm so excited xoxoxo)

From the picture itself, she is genuinely happy to be finally receiving all the stuff. Yay! ... new books, toothpaste, toothbrush and other general daily necessities ....

(If only I have the chance to travel there ... we can chat and take a photo together then)

Anyway, I am sure she will make good use of the stuffs. She seems to be a smart girl, isn't she.

Right now, I would like to share some of the latest photos I managed to grab from Tamara Davy (founder) and Darlene Macgowan (founder). Do enjoy the photos ...

Orphanage children playing with their new finger puppets

Tamara Davy with her sponsored child.

A little boy severely malnourished. He is one year old. Poor thing. Okala is here!!!

A new meaning to the term 'traffic jam' lol ...

Meyenne boys with their new jerseys.

Meyene children with their new toys.

Darlene and Tamara with some donated items from Health Partners.

Meyene Children with their new books.

Darlene with the kids.

A pregnant mother watching over a recovering malnutrition child.

The pictures above are just some of the pictures I grabbed from Darlene's and Tamara's Facebook profile.

They both went on a trip visiting Okala's Cameroon kids and delivering all the donated items collected from a lot of kind Facebook friends and etc. Amazing friends I have there!!!

I am sure this is just the beginning, not the end. More help on the way next year!!!

If you want to be part of the Okala group, give me a buzz. There is always next year ;-)


You might like these entries too:

• A pledge ... just for Okala Foundation (2)
• Sponsoring A Child (2)
  

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