Genting Trip

I went to Genting with my wife from 14 Aug to 16 Aug 2008. The trip was ok as I wasn't feeling well some of the time. Giddy mostly. Must be my body not adjusting to the new environment. Worse is my wife wanted to go shopping. My intention was to relax there but it turns out it is more tiring.

Day 1:
We took a 16 seater FiveStar coach to Genting. The seats are spacious but other than that it was not that fantastic. The 'entertainment system' shows limited movies and children games which I was not really interested. The massage chair mostly vibrate and not much massage so no big deal there.

At Genting, we scout out the place after we hit our hotel room. We had a game of bowling (free game for each hotel room) and paid RM$12 or another game ($6) and 2 pairs of shoes ($3 each).

Eat lunch at Flavours (cannot recall the chinese name). Ok but I think the weekend special meals are tastier.

Eat Dinner at Pizza Hut. Cannot make it. Poor and slow... service. Will not go again.

Day 2:
Eat breakfast at Lao Ti Fang for dim sum. Quite nice and can use our cash card we bought (got RM$100 inside).

Eat lunch at Mushroom Farm. Not bad but had quite a full meal.

Eat supper at KFC. Not hungry and wanted something lite.

Day 3:
After we ate the breakfast, we pack up our belongings and express checked out our room. We left our luggages at the Bell counter and get our coach tickets first. The we hit the arcade center at Genting Hotel. The arcade has more newer games compared to First World arcade center. We played the throw ball game there three times! Then we need to clear off the $1 in our card before we can get a refund of the card for RM$5. Then we had lunch at Lao Di Fang again. I had Bak Kut Tae with rice and my wife ate the soup wanton noodle. The bak kut tae is nice. Can try when there. The noodle quite plain actually.

It has been a long time ...

It has been a long time since I blogged. I was too busy and actually lazy...

I have found a new job and has been working there for more than a month now. I have been to 2 training sessions, 1 for presentation skills and 1 for the cash reward but rewarding as well. I have learned that looking at ones eyes can find out whether they are telling the truth or not. Very interesting idea from the presentation skills course. I have made quite a number of friends from the latter course that I have attended.

I'm still going for my meditation class and I still keeping my fishes and plants, even though I have sent less time on them now. I have also bought some new furniture for my house to brighten up my living room and keep the shoes as well. Will take some photos when I complete the decorations.

Shopping at IT Show ...

Yes, I'm slow to update this but better than never.

Actually I went to IT show on Thur afternoon to "know the ground" before I take the plunge to get some stuff on Sunday. Actually no intention to get anything when I went on Sunday with my friend Zul but why not?!? : P

Items that I have bought:
- 100 Memorex DVD+R discs
- 1 Philip earphone
- 1 optical mouse (free silicon hand rest)
- rechargable batteries (GP brand)

Well, not that many as you might thought but hey, I have no intention to buy anything at first. My wife almost wanted to get a mini-SD and a 1-2 GB thumbdrive but changed her mind at the last minute. Zul bought a portable harddisk, philip, earphone and Sony DVD writer (actually I persuaded him to get one since he still into burning CDs ). There isn't much stuff that caught my attention at the IT show and actually the cheap sale after the show is ok since there isn't much bargain after 9:30pm.

A new begining.... Not bad for a new year ahead

I have tendered my resignation and my last day is 28 Feb 07. Finally put my words into action but did not think that it would be so long, I think more than 5 years already since I have this thought. Now idling at home and found a new hobby related to IT, downloading and watching Anime!!! Oh, yes... also job hunting or else my wife will kill me since I promise her I would start looking for one after Chinese New Year... >_<

I have been reading manga (Japanese Comics) and watching Japanese Anime recently. It is that after I have read the manga then I watch the anime but sometimes, just download what I can. It is interesting that I chanced upon a anime (Full Metal Alchemist) during working overtime with my colleagues and it started from there. After watching the full series I stopped for a while since I do not know which anime is worth watching. Then came Death Note and Bleach anime . I must say Death Note got a lot of suspense and Bleach, even though mostly fighting, had its soft side too at the beginning. I got fully hooked when I started watching Naruto Anime. This one has currently 222 episodes and heard it stops at four hundred plus. The latest one shows that the main character, Naruto has grown up to a teenager and more action awaits. One of the best japanese animation that I have watched. Those that I did download but watched on TV (every Wed-Fri, 11-12am), are Sharman King and Getbackers. Currently what I think is good are Sharman King, Getbackers and Naruto. Currently also have D Grayman anime (read the manga before download anime)

Other than anime, I have started to watch Heroes serial drama (now at Episode 16). Story similar to X-men but much less fighting but on humans with special powers and trying to save the world crap! It was ok but it is a draggy one.

Other hobbies (plants and fishy stuff) had been neglected and I don't think it would be any much difference for the time being. It seems that the hobby fever comes and goes once in a while.

Jobless ...

I have tendered my resignation from my current company and now taking a well deserved break resting at home before I look for a new job after Chinese New Year. I have been wanting to do this but is not determined enough until end last year that I have decided.

So I now waiting for people to jio me out during this month... Anyone?!?

An quiet night with my wife : )

Yesterday, had spent a quiet night with my wife...

She is unavailable for on Friday for Mooncake festival celebration, Thursday she got facial so can only choose Wednesday. We went to get KFC and ate at home. Then we proceed to downstairs with a DIY lantern (actually made for her company event but too ugly so never used. Made from a used mooncake paper bag) and bamboo stick (from a garden pot). We slowly take a slow walk around our neighbourhood with her carrying the lantern. It was a windy night and 1 of the 2 tealight candles keeps getting blow off by the wind. We also saw some people bringing their dogs for a walk (my neighbourhood got quite a number of families keeping dogs of all sizes) and kids with their grand mothers playing with candles. The kids had a hard time preventing the candles from been blown off by the strong wind. Then we sat a a bench to enjoy the night. Too bad there wasn't any stars. Then we proceed to go back to our home (threw the DIY lantern away and put back the bamboo stick) and had snow-skin durian mooncake with Wen Jin tea. Both of us actually enjoy this quiet moment and she said it was romantic. Well, it is one of those times that I have the idea and mood to do these things. : P

My Hong Kong Adventure

After coming back from my Hong Kong Trip, I would like to update what I have done and also show some pictures that I have taken (limited since it is a shopping trip and not interested in taking too much photos : P) .

DAY 1: Touchdown Hong Kong
Took the Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong. The journey is about 4 hours. We took more time than we expected at the airport to the Dragon Hostel, where we will be staying in Hong Kong for the next 6 days, reaching about 4:30pm there to check-in. We were lost when we are there and took some time to locate the place. Should have taken the map and followed it but I was silly to put the map in my luggage. Wasted time there. It is a bit run-down but the room is ok, just a little small (land cost is high in Hong Kong).

Dragon Hostel
Owner: Stanley Fan (young chap)
Mobile: (852) 9347-4767
83, Argyle Street, Sincere House, 7/F, Rm 707, Kowloon, HK
Tel: (852) 2395-0577, 2789-0261
Email: 707@dragonhostel.com, dragonhostel@yahoo.com


The room (Rm 68) that we had comes with a small bathroom and for 3 people to sleep in. It is really small (smaller than the room in my house) so I think it is better to have 2 person in a room, else it would be rather cramp.




We then went out to have our dinner and found Joyful Peach restaurant. We ordered the braised spare rips rice with milk tea with pearls. A bit salty but nice.

Joyful Peach Restaurant
102A-C, Garden Street or 68, Soy street, Mongkok.
Website: www,joyfulpeach.com
Email: info@joyfulpeach.com

Ladies Market is opposite where we stay, so we went there to take a look. Nothing much for us since this is the first day and actually came out empty handed. We know that the prices here is a little more expensive then Temple Street Market so decided to check out other places first before we make any purchases. Also found the Esprit Outlet at Mongkok (2 floors) but since it is closing time, we will come back on another day. We also bought the Airport Express Tourist Octopus "3-Day Hong Kong Transport Pass" but found that it does not seem to be worth it. Next time will not buy it anymore, unless you intent to use MTR often and far distance and also back to the airport.

DAY 2: APM & Yip Fat Factory Building


DAY 3: Lantau, here I come
We had our breakfast at Cafe De Coral again and this time round we had lotus leaf rice and porridge.

After taking the bus to Po Lin Monastery, we can see the world largest sitting Buddha on top of the hill. It seems to be waving at us. : )



This is the gate to the place we have our lunch.


Our first dish is vegatarian shark's fin. I must say it taste nice. :)

Here are the rest of the dishes. Not too bad and also we ate so full that we cannot eat anymore. Overall the comments are good for the food here. Just remember to buy the HK$100 meal ticket, instead of the HK$60.


This is the toilet at the temple. Looks interesting and when you stand up, can see your neighbours! This is the typical cubicles you see in China.

DAY 4: Kowloon shopping (TST)

Today we planned to shop around TST. This is suppose to be a big shopping area and we visited the Granville Rd which is a more suitable for us since we do not really like shopping malls.

We actually shop until after 3pm that we are able to grab a bite since we are intending to not come back again. We have planned to have lunch at a restaurant but the lady mentioned that there is a wedding dinner in the evening so they need to close early to prepare for it. What bad luck! So in the end we went to eat at the food court in a shopping mall. Below is the shop that we ate. Food so so only.




We forfeit the Airport Express bus ride so we can get our refund for the cards. So next time must keep the cards and make use of the ride back to the airport.

I have bought my EDEN 501 external canister filters at HK$180 per pc! This is the cheapest price that I can find. Below is the address to this shop.

Tong Kee Aquarium
132, Tung Choi Street, Mongkok, Kowloon, HK
Tel: 3188-4955

My wife convinced me to get them before the last day of the trip. Well, since there is no reason why I should wait since this is the cheapest price I can find, I went for it.

DAY 5: Macau
We actually bought the tickets to Ocean Park but we found that there are too many people queueing up to take the bus there that we are pretty put off by it. Also the weather looks cloudy and since most of the rides are outdoors, I think it is unsuitable to go Ocean Park on this day, so we decided to go to Macau instead.

We had some problem looking for the MTR station but after a long search and almost wanted to take a bus to the ferry terminal to Macau but could not confirm that the bus actually goes there, we managed to find the MTR station (right at the end of the building that we came out from after buying the tickets). We then proceed to have a light breakfast there before we take a ferry to Macau. Below is the picture of the food that we bought at the cafeteria.


The food is not very nice and the portions are small so we did not eat too full. I think it is because the ferry ride is a bit rocky and if one eats too full, may not feel good after the ferry ride. : )

When we reached Macau, we have no idea where to go but since my mother-in-law seems to like to visit temples, we decided to go to _ temple. We found the bus routes easy to identify and took the bus there. It was a hot weather so walking around at the temple wasn't that fun and actually tiring. After this, we decided to go to a casino to take a look. We found one which can be reached by bus and proceed to take a bus there. However, I missed the bus stop and had to walk quite a long way back. At last we found the casino (inside a hotel) and my mother-in-law and my wife played a hand at the slot machines and actually managed to win some money. Then we found that there is a shuttle bus to the ferry terminal and took the shuttle bus there. Then we took the ferry back to Hong Kong. I must say it wasn't that interesting and actually felt like wasting time. Really should do more homework before going again since waste quite a lot of money on tickets for ferry as well.

DAY 6: Ocean Park (At last!)
It was a hot day and was cooked at the park. However, there are some places where there is shelter or inside a building so it was not so bad. We took most of the rides except the roller coaster (my wife took it) and went to visit the marine aquarium where there are many marine fishes to see.

We went to look for KAMBOAT but found Chuan Ju Restaurant instead when looking for what to eat for dinner.

Chuan Ju Restaurant (Yun Nan Mei Shi)
110/113, Fa Yuen STreet, Mongkok, HK
Tel: 2381-5613 / 2789-2223

They serves nice noodles and their spicy noodle (Ma La) is good. It got 3 grades of hotness and I chose medium and it was still alright, even when I was sweating when I was eating it. When we are paying out bills, we found that there is a map which shows where KAMBOAT is. So we decided to find where the restaurant is so we can go there for dim sum after 11am. We finally found the place and took a slow walk back to the Goldfish Market as I wanted to see what are the planted magazines available so I can decide which ones to get.


DAy 7: Last minute shopping (rush, rush) ....
We left our luggages at the 707 room and went out for our breakfast. We finally went to eat our dim sum at a restaurant at KAMBOAT. The address is below:

KAMBOAT Chinese Cuisine (Dim Sum)
113, Argyle Street
Opens: 11am - 3pm (Dim sum timing)
Tel: 2711-8162

However the dim sum isn't that nice but the guan tang jiao (dumpling soup) taste good. At least we are not so disappointed after all, but since we are already full, cannot eat much anyway. The bill is also not cheap, to me. We went to look for polos for father and also got some for myself at Crocodile boutique. Then we went back to the hostel to offload our stuff in our luggages before we go to Goldfish market.

We went back to the Goldfish Market to look for the books or magazines that I wanted to buy. Bought 2 magazines and since want to keep some cash on me, missed the chance to buy the other magazines or books. Actually I may not read them and they would be in my bookshelf collecting dust. : P There, I got 5 green shrimps (thinking it is neon green shrimps but similar), 2 C grade CRS and 40 blue shrimps (some looks like malayan shrimps with a stripe across the back). My mother-in-law also bought another driftwood and 9 apple red guppies since she liked them (colourful). Then we went back to the hostel to keep the stuff before we go find the bus stop to the airport.