Because Time Waits for No One

August 11th, 2009

Friday 7 August 2009

I took out my keys to open the front gate, the corner of the wall was empty. It was an unbearable scene.

Rewind 9 years

Friday 2 March 2001

“I just bought a dog. You can have it. Yeah, from a client. No choice, a new way of entertaining client. Big business mar…heh heh”

That was from my cousin. I immediately ran to his house, which was a few blocks away from mine.

I was looking around, trying to spot a cute brown puppy. Could it a Golden Retriever? Or a Labrador? Hmmm…it could be a Terrier or a Beagle. I don’t mind. I was already grinning.

“Where? Where? Where? Where is the dog??

My cousin pointed at a steel cage. Behind the black bars was a fur ball in white…

Which looks nowhere near like a ‘dog’.

Because Time Waits for No One

I showed my cousin a sepuluh sen face. “Huh? I thought you told me it is a ‘dog’?”

“Yeah. A Pekingese what. It is a dog, you dummy. Oh but it does look like a cat hor? Garfield..hahahah!”

The next thing I know is that something furry landed on my lap. It is her. She came towards my direction and cuddled up herself on my lap comfortably. She was not wary of me at all.

Because Time Waits for No One

That was the sweetest thing I have ever seen in my life.

I looked at her in her eyes. “We’ll go home together, ok?”

She wagged her furry tail. I think she answered ‘yes’.

* * * *

I believe, Marley aside, she is by far the most difficult and fussy dog to keep.

She sworn by heart not to take any dog food. Pedigree premium biscuits, chewy sticks or chicken-in-can. She spat out whatever dog food that we bought.

Her peculiar eating habits will make you wonder if she reincarnated wrongly into a body of a white Pekingese. She really knows how to eat.

IMG 4177 1 Because Time Waits for No One

She likes durians. D24. No kampung. No thai.

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gg2 Because Time Waits for No One

Like owner, like dog? I don’t deny that.

My stay with her didn’t last too long. 2 years later when I finished my high school, I left her at home and moved to Subang Jaya to do my A-Levels. And then it was degree in Australia, followed by working in KL. Until now stationed down south.

Wherever I go, she remains the one closest to my heart.

Until the day when my mum returned home to find her laying on the floor in her usual position, but this time round stone cold.

It hurts me everytime to think about her departure. What really happened to her while no one was around at home, and the things that I would give up just to listen to her barking at the background whenever I call home or to see a running fur ball whenever I open the front gate.

Because Time Waits for No One

I hope you had a happy life whilst staying with us.

Rest in peace, my girl.

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Because Time Waits for No One |

# 2 The Black Echoes

July 3rd, 2009

Read the first part of the Tales of Saigon here.

P6 # 2 The Black Echoes
That irritating sound won’t stop.

It just won’t stop bothering me.

258 was the number of days that I have been counting.

# 2 The Black Echoes

There it goes … I heard the sound again, echoing in the tunnel.

I moved myself to the adjacent burrow. I can feel that it is coming towards my direction. Wait, something is not right here. From the back of my body.

……

Was I dead or did I just pass out in the dark? All I can feel is the numbness in my nerves.

I hate the sound of machine guns.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I grabbed the handle strongly, so strongly that I almost clutched myself to the seat right in front of me. The bus was rocking a hard way through the terribly uneven muddy path.

‘The absorber is worn out.’

Again, my head hit high into ceiling of the bus as it runs over a huge crater on the road.

We joined a day tour to Cu Chi and Cao Dai for less than USD 7. For that price, I certainly didn’t expect a long arse journey on the bus. I think my lungs, kidneys and stomachs sagged by 1.5cm after spending 5 hours travelling on the rocky road.

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Our Bobby Chinn look-alike tour guide was very entertaining.

‘Miss, whe du yeu kam frum?’

‘Malaysia’.

‘Ohhh…de land famous for robbers!’

Astounded by his reply, I found out later that he means ‘rubber’. Certainly one of the most interesting remarks in this journey.

The journey throughout Cu Chi was a remarkable one. I was particularly amazed by their perseverance and determination. Imagine a bunch of Viet Cong soldiers living in the dark, humid and claustrophobia-inducing underground. The American troop described the conditions within the tunnel as ‘black echoes’.

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We did try to explore one of the sections of the tunnel that has been expanded to accommodate taller/ larger sized tourists.

It ain’t fun.

I was a fool to believe that the tunnel has been enlarged to accommodate the big size us. *imagining walking around the tunnel freely like visiting museum liddat*

Half way crawling through the tunnel (I almost laid flat on the floor and creep towards the end), I was sweating and screaming in my heart…the tunnel seems to be never ending. How did the Viet Cong soldiers manage to survive in the tunnel for 20 over years when I find the dark claustrophobic atmosphere unbearable for mere 2 seconds?

I am a true brat spoiled by modernity.

After the exploration, I found something amusing. I really wanted to try that real thing. At least once. The guy recommended M16, so I bought 10 bullets (USD 17) for that.

p13 # 2 The Black Echoes
It still ain’t fun lorrrrr.

I was a fool to believe that ear muff works. The NRR (Noise Reduction Rating) is close to ‘0’. The impact of the shot was so powerful that every shot leaves my ear drum with a numb (wee wung wung…wee wung wung…) feeling.

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Special thanks to Hairy for capturing all my retarded looking moments.

Food was more or less the same throughout the 3 days. Pho, Pho & more Pho(s) which I enjoyed thoroughly.

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I’m glad that I insisted on trying out Nguyen Trung’s coffee on our last day despite the fact that we were supposed to rush to the airport.

p10 # 2 The Black Echoes

We ordered “The Legend” which was nothing like the ordinary Starbucks cappuccino. The coffee was really strong and bold, definitely one of the highlights of my trip. *Love*

Later on when we return to SG, we found out that there is actually a branch located at Liang Court, Clark Quay. *Double Love*

p2 # 2 The Black Echoes

My fave picture of all

*
For now, I’m more than happy to return to my comfort zone, happily munching on my routine subway ham and egg, surfing dumb websites, and crossing the road without the fear of being smashed by 58 motorbikes into a slab of tomato paste in the middle of the road.

Bar none, I still love you, Saigon.

p1 # 2 The Black Echoes

Yellow stars missing in sight …

-The end-

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# 2 The Black Echoes |

Tales of the Unexpected from Saigon

May 21st, 2009

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#1: Untold Secrets of the Message Room

When darkness falls, everything turns into a picture of dead silence.

passage Tales of the Unexpected from Saigon

I stepped on the narrow staircase leading to the underground.

‘Shhh…be quiet…you don’t want to wake them up…let me show you the way.’

boy Tales of the Unexpected from Saigon

I saw this young boy when I stumbled upon this place. In fact, I saw him everywhere. From the main door, the message room to the combat officer room… He was there, everywhere.

I lost him soon after.

‘Tub…tub…tub…’

The floor is so thin that I can feel the tremble. I heard that coming from the back.

passage+2 Tales of the Unexpected from Saigon

‘Dooom…’

untitled Tales of the Unexpected from Saigon

When darkness falls, everything turns into a picture of silence … a dead silence.

.
.
.
.

.
.

I didn’t dwell myself too long in that B-grade horror flick as I walk through the underground tunnel of the Reunification Palace.

Oh by the way, I was at Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) for 3 days. Thanks to the free air tickets from the lucky dip.

viet+1 Tales of the Unexpected from Saigon
The first, second, third and fourth floor didn’t excite me. There were numbers of meeting rooms, conference rooms and dining rooms of different themes, a place previously resided by the presidents.

rp+3 Tales of the Unexpected from Saigon
We were just wandering around the Palace and stumbled upon one eery staircase that leads to the dark underground. That really intrigued my interest.

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There were secret rooms (or message rooms) with bulky and dusty switchboards, the very 60s phones and the good old typing machines.

Hairy attempted this shot ala Wong Kar Wai mode that inspired the series of dark tales.

passage+3 Tales of the Unexpected from Saigon
The young boy is definitely not from our hallucination but he was really everywhere. Everywhere that we went. He loves blocking our way, interrupting at the background when we were shooting photos and looking at Hairy with a creepy smile.

‘Sekali you see him in one of the black & white pictures hung on the wall’ said Hairy with a blank look.

How interesting.

Obviously we didn’t spot him in any of the pictures, in fact the pictures shown were depressing and disheartening. Nuclear bombs, massacre and concentration camps. I just want to get out of that place.

Back to reality, we were caught in the middle of the junction with motorbikes coming from all 4 directions and with 58 bikes honking at us at the same time, as if we were blocking their ways *sweat*

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Funny mode of transport in Vietnam

I was literally distressed, I think a bowl of piping hot noodles would be a good cure.

We dropped by Ben Thanh Market (we call it the ‘Beh Tahan Market’) and zoomed straight into the food section.

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Tell me about pracitising food hygiene, there were a few dead cockroaches lying under my seat.

bth+1 Tales of the Unexpected from Saigon

To eat or not to eat? Gulp…There goes my first bowl of pork knuckle noodles in Vietnam and L-S (diarrhea) on the very next day.

At night, we strolled along the night market street and the dai chow stalls came into sight. Born to be gluttons, we settled for another round of food.

nm+2 Tales of the Unexpected from Saigon

nm+3 Tales of the Unexpected from Saigon

The return of the alcoholic.

nm+1 Tales of the Unexpected from Saigon

Can you believe that a bottle of Saigon beer costs only 90 cents (10,000 dong)?

But that 90 cents can only give you a taste of gassy plain water. I stopped at one bottle.

Oh well, the journey didn’t end here. In fact it only started the next day – a five hours helluva extreme journey that can only be found in Vietnam.

To be continued.

rp+4 Tales of the Unexpected from Saigon

Photo credit to the legendary Hairy from Black Tie White Lie.

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That 3 Days in an Island

April 21st, 2009

Different from what the title would imply, I’m not writing a hopelessly romantic getaway post. In fact, the trip was initiated by a not so amorous reason – to clear Fishy’s annual leave for the first quarter of 2009.

Hokkaido was in the list.

1578311 Rainbow field Hokkaido That 3 Days in an Island
Koh Samui looks not too bad either.

image009 That 3 Days in an Island

Infomercial break: Visit http://www.pranaresorts.com/ , a newly established boutique resort by my company in Koh Samui

Whatever it is, the plan was to fully utilise our passports and travel out of Singapore. Ding dong here and there, after all the cost and time factor consideration, we ended up here…

That 3 Days in an Island
Bintan Island.

An Indonesian Island that is blardy near to Singapore and is the well-known beach holiday travelling spot for Singaporeans, something akin to Malaysian travelling to Port Dickson.

The island has become so popular among Singaporeans that all prices are denoted in Singapore dollars. And nothing is cheap here.

IMG 0428 That 3 Days in an Island
Lunch was in the resort beside a muddy pool.

Trying to be adventurous, I picked some funny looking fruits from the buffet spread counter, thought it would have tasted something like lychee. But yiaks…the flesh was so hard and it tasted like one semi-sweetened garlic. To date, I still have no idea what is the name of this fruit. Shit, or was it only a plastic display.

After all the funny food and fruits, our next plan was to show off our assets.

I mean the colourful bikinis that we brought.

B8 That 3 Days in an Island
For that 3 days we took the risk to ride on the ATV (All-Terrain Vehicle) or known as the quad-bike.

That 3 Days in an Island
The ride was a rough and tough one, across the muddy pool, sandy pathway, up the hill, down the stream, and the whole vehicle was so hard to navigate that I almost crashed myself right into a tree. .
.

15 minutes on the road and we regretted. Blardy hell, we even paid for one full hour of ride that cost us SGD 80. We suffered through the whole ride with aching fingers, dirty black face, dusty eyes and cuts – I think I hurt myself when I lost control and drove passed one thorny branch.

The evening was spent on the beach attempting beachy jumps.

Piggy did the “pray-while-you-splash-water” jump.

I attempted the “as-if-I-did-yoga-by-the-beach” pose.

Why am I always so determined to make myself look stupid.

That 3 Days in an Island
Oh, and we saw an island swam us by…

The holiday was not too bad after all, albeit abit commercialised as the whole island is dedicated to earn monies out of Singaporeans.

I had fun.

We had fun.

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By Invitation: Karaikudi Restaurant at Market Street, Little India

March 25th, 2009

My family and I eat regularly at Karaikudi (Hillside) Restaurant, but we’ve never gone to the original outlet at Market Street. I’ve always enjoyed the food there which serves Chettinad cuisine and immediately said yes when the invitation came in from PenangTuaPui. I was excited to see what the original outlet had to offer! The menu for the night mainly focused on South Indian cuisine and we were told that the food is cooked fresh everyday!

k2 1024x768 By Invitation: Karaikudi Restaurant at Market Street, Little India

First up to whet our appetite was a Chettinad style Vegetable Soup (RM3). It was a light clear soup with cauliflower, carrots and french bean. The soup was a great start to the meal! We were told that the soup had a yellow tinge due to the use of dhall.

k3 1024x768 By Invitation: Karaikudi Restaurant at Market Street, Little India Next up was Bitter Gourd Chips (RM6). This was a surprise as it was sliced really thin and crispy to the taste! I’m not a big fan of bitter gourd though cos I don’t like the bitterness and this was plenty bitter!

k4 1024x767 By Invitation: Karaikudi Restaurant at Market Street, Little India The Squid Fry (RM8) was dish I really enjoyed. Squids are very easy to overcook. But there was no sign of hard rubbery squids here. Even after it cooled down substantially from all the photography, the squids were still nice and tender.

k5 1024x767 By Invitation: Karaikudi Restaurant at Market Street, Little India Meanwhile, the chicken cutlet (RM6 for 2 pieces larger than the photo above) is easily my favourite appetizer of the lot. The cutlets were very flavorful thanks to the generous use of spices with a slight tinge of heat to it. And there were also very soft with a slight crisp edge. I would definitely order this again!

k6 767x1024 By Invitation: Karaikudi Restaurant at Market Street, Little India

The luciously thick Mango Lassi (RM4 – comes in a bigger glass than the photo)

k8 1024x767 By Invitation: Karaikudi Restaurant at Market Street, Little India The Ladies Finger Pepper Fry (RM7) was an instant hit! The ladies fingers were finely chopped and had a surprising chewy texture. The generous but not overboard use of black pepper gives the dish its zing. I’ve never had ladies fingers cooked in such a delicious manner!

k15 1024x767 By Invitation: Karaikudi Restaurant at Market Street, Little India The Kadai Vegetable (RM9) was an assorted vegetable dish cooked in a rich slightly spicy gravy. I tasted beancurds, tomatoes and lots of button mushrooms in the dish. We were told that Kadai is the big vessel that is being used to cook the dish, hence the name.

k10 1024x767 By Invitation: Karaikudi Restaurant at Market Street, Little India The Mutton Chukka Varuval (RM18) is another one of Karaikudi’s specialities. This turned out to be the spiciest dish of the night. But I loved it! The mutton pieces were scrumptiously tender and very well marinated with spices. I wouldn’t hesitate to order this again as I found it paired very well with naan bread.

k12 767x1024 By Invitation: Karaikudi Restaurant at Market Street, Little India Next was the Chettinad Potato Masala (RM6) which was a mild dish. It would go well with the spicy mutton dish too! I liked the fact that the potatoes here were not too mushy so there was still a bite to it.

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Cake Decorating & Tiramisu Baking Class in Penang!

March 24th, 2009

As a baking enthusiast, it thrills me to bring you this piece of news that Big Boys Oven will be back in Penang for another round of classes!!

This time, there will be an exciting full day cake decorating class (using fondant) and also a tiramisu class!! ~swoon~

cake decorating class Cake Decorating & Tiramisu Baking Class in Penang!

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–> Cake Decorating Class (Hands On Class)
Pastry Chef Sunny Yaw will share with you:
- How to make your own fondant (sugar paste) and gum paste
- How to cover a 2 tier cake with fondant
- How to decorate the 2 tier cake with flower theme (similar to photo above)
Time : 9.30am – 5.00pm
Date : 18th April 2009 (Saturday)
Fee : RM550 per student (All materials included, plus tea break)
(Limited to only 6 students)

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–> Glorious Tiramisu (Hands on class)
Tiramisu, a rich decadent and desired dessert! Come learn the art of making this glorious dessert with Sunny Yaw!
Time : 9.30am – 12.30pm
Date : 19th April 2009 (Sunday)
Fee : RM150
(Limited to only 6 students)