Monthly Archives: November 2012

Open Water Diver – It’s official !

29 Thursday Nov 2012

Posted by in Diving

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Yay !!! Hub and I got this in our mail box this week…

We are certified Open Water Diver! I am so excited about it… It was just like yesterday we had our first pool session. And, now… it’s official !

I thought Hub was equally excited as he has been going around finding out who amongst our friends who are also open water diver… until I caught one of his conversations.

    Hub : Hey… are you certified diver?
    Friend 1 : Yeah… why?
    Hub : Cool… the next time (wife) wants to go diving, you can be her buddy.
    Me : What?! you are not going to be my buddy?! (le sigh…)

Bleh… here I was thinking he was trying to find friends to go diving with us… he’s busy finding replacement buddy for me…

But, he ensure me that if no one wants to be my buddy during a dive trip, he’ll be mine (reluctantly). This means that all I have to do is to convince all our friends not to be my buddy…. MUAHAHAHA.

Road Warrior – I am NOT

26 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by in Everything else...

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It’s been a tiring 2 months plus of almost back to back traveling. Flying in and flying out. Packing and unpacking (Lucky I have enough clothes to go around without doing any laundry for 4 weeks!!!). From Cold winter to Hot tropical. From posh 5 stars to budget hotels…

I am all burnt out by last weekend when I finally touch down in KL. My traveling schedule has come to an end. Perhaps that is why, my body has finally allow itself to feel the full blown fatigue and exhaustion.

Most people always thinks that road warriors / jet setter leads such glamorous and lucky life. Perhaps they do. But, this is not without a price. Many will lose their health because of the hectic lifestyle, combine with crazy time zone and diet differences. For those who are discipline enough, they will manage it and continue to thrive being a road warrior. I really respect them a lot…

Let me tell you, traveling for work is NOT the same as leisure travel. Most road warrior have time constraint, and not to mention budget constraint (with some company). I remember once, I had to fly and cab for more than 36 hours to reach my clients office, only to dive straight in for a 5 hours meeting. At the end of that meeting, I had literally stayed awake for more than 48 hours (with some minor dozing off here and there). And, when I reach the hotel, I just crashed. That was my worst experience ever. After that, I learn my lesson. I’ll travel one day in advance to rest before heading off to any meetings. I still shudder when I think back on that.

I really respect those road warriors who can just travel non-stop all year round. How do they do it?! Whenever I need to travel, I always felt so uprooted. It’s worst when I have to stay for 3-4 days in one place and then running off back home for another 3-4 days before traveling again. It’s like home has turn into hotel as well (minus the room service).

This would means our home is always in a big mess when we travel. So, by the time we return, it will take us at least 2-3 days to sort everything out. Thankfully this round mum come to our rescue. She kindly offered to help us to ‘restore’ our messy house back to a cozy home. LOL… Thanks mum !!! love you.

I love it when I get to stay grounded and enjoy home. I think I’m too much of a home-person to ever enjoy the life of a road warrior…

Cendol Bakar – Jalan Kuala Selangor, Malaysia

12 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by in Gastronomy, Local Restaurants

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When I was younger, I absolutely refuse to partake on Cendol.

** Cendol is a local dessert here in Malaysia. Sometimes, we have it as a drink. So, it’s a little weird for my oversea friends to see us having our desserts before our meal. hohoho…In it’s most basic form, it consists of ice shavings drenched with coconut milk and gula melaka / palm sugar with heaps of green noodles.

The reason I refuse to take cendol is because of those green noodles, which is basically the ‘main’ ingredient of cendol. Why? They remind me of worms ! hehehe… So, I’ll always have cendol without the green noodle. I know – I’m weird. Thankfully, I’ve outgrown my childish fear. LOL… I do eat them now… but, I usually leave most of them for hubby (never did told him my fear for these green noodles).

On our drive to Kuala Selangor for seafood, we chance upon this Cendol Bakar signage. We’ve never heard of Cendol Bakar (fired / roast). In fact, it did sound bizzare. How to you roast ice?

Hence, we were really curious about it. So, we agreed to make a stop for it on our way back after lunch.

Aside from the ‘bakar’, I was also impressed with the implementation of drive-thru concept for this dessert / drink. It’s truly an smart move. Most people would refuse to get down from their car on a hot day and would rather drive pass this stall (along a main road). By allowing the guest to order from their car and zoom off with this nice cooling drink would be really tempting. So, it’s no surprise this place is packed !

We ordered 3 bowls between the 4 of us. The durian pulut was really good. I don’t really like the one with Tapai (traditional fermented food – sweet and sour alcoholic paste). I guess that is an acquired taste.

So, where does the bakar comes in? Supposely, they roast the gula melaka first before melting it into syrup. Once roasted, the gula melaka taste is more intense and pack with flavors.

I’m not too sure I taste the difference. But, I do give the boss the credit for this interesting method. It sure pulls in a lot of customers to his place and the drive-thru is seriously simple and effective move. Very smart guy indeed. 🙂

BTW, you can get refill FREE of Charge. And on top of that, the owner gives out free bowls of Cendol to handicapped and poor folks. Just bring along your JKM card as proof. We applaud the boss for his kindness and decided not to take the free refill offer.