Reflecting on 2009

It's the time of the year again to look back on how the year has gone for me.

January 2009
I had a great family trip to Macau and Hong Kong. Can't wait to do it again in May 2010.


February 2009
Celebrated my 25th birthday in Phuket. This was probably our best Thailand trip, no scams and all fun!


March 2009
Had a few trips to Singapore as Jiin was working in a project here. If 2008 was bangkok jazz, 2009 was definitely crystal jade kitchen for its amazing shrimp dumpling noodles and dim sum:)

April 2009
Made quite a huge career decision which I am glad I did.

May 2009
Visited Siem Reap with old buddies. It was a great discovery trip and the highlights were the ATV and Tonle Sap lake tour.

I then made my way back to London and Poland for work.

This time around, paid my uncle a visit in his home in Dartford. It felt good to finally get to hang out and know my uncle and family.

June 2009
Jiin visited me in London and we made our way to Bath, Stonehenge and Paris:)

The amazing gardens in Paris and not forgetting the best steak I've ever tasted!
Then I spent a weekend in Amsterdam with Kam Tat.


July 2009
Back and away to Bali with old buddies! Nice trip. Man Utd was in town too.


August 2009
Celebrated mum and dad's 60th birthday. Amazing how far they've come!

September 2009
Celebrated our 3rd anniversary in Nexus Karambunai, Sabah. Had a very relaxing weekend all to ourselves.


October 2009
Probably the most uneventful month of the year, but we did have some dinners and a hotel stay in Westin!

November 2009
The birth of Jon, my first nephew whom got everyone in the family very excited:) Was also in Cherating for the company treasure hunt.


December 2009
Had a nice trip back to JB with ex-coursemates and then to Singapore for a long weekend break and then off to Penang next week!

Looking back on the year, did not accomplish much 'firsts' except for the travels. However, all in all a good year and can't wait for the new year, new goals! No resolutions, no targets so I need to have some:)
1. Get the damn 6-pack - every year's failed resolution:(
2. Watch a football match, preferably in Old Trafford - failed 2008 resolution
3. Excelling at work
4. New Zealand and a few relaxing holiday get-aways
5. Good financial management

Food Heaven!

I've often been asked by my friends and colleagues of the nice places to eat in my hometown, Penang. Lately, I got a note from Geocities that they will be closing down my food website which I did back in uni break quite some time back (www.geocities.com/weevern84). Guess it's a good time to transfer part of that site contents here, so here is an itinerary...hope you guys enjoy it! Don't agree? Suggest! My gf has now complained that whenever we go back to Penang these days, we seem to follow a template, so we don;t mind trying new places:)

Day 1
8am Hokkien Mee - Swee Kong coffeeshop, Burma Road, Pulau Tikus (opp police station). Note until 8.30am only.

9am Sleeping Buddha, Siamese Temple (walk across the road and straight along)

11am Lor Bak - Kheng Pin coffeeshop, Sri Bahari Road/Penang Road junction. This shop also serves average Hokkien Mee, Char Koay Teow and hainan chicken rice.

12pm Chendol - Penang Road. Walk along Penang Road from Kheng Pin coffeeshop and you'll notice a crowd standing by the stall on the last road on your left before the Y-junction. This shop also serves average Laksa, char koay teow and poh piah.

12.30pm Time for a break from food? Go shopping for cheap clothes at Prangin Mall (please be cautioned if you can't stand ah bengs and ah lians)

4pm Laksa (sweeter type), coffeeshop opposite Ping Hwa High School, Gottlieb Road.

5pm Batu Feringghi beach for watersports etc

7pm Ferringhi Beach Corner for Yam Duck, Spring roll and garlic prawns! Make a right turn after passing Parkroyal hotel. Go until the T-junction and turn right, the shop will be on the farmost end on your left. Note yam duck and spring roll need to be ordered a day before, contact number:

9pm - Walk along ferringhi night market.

For the heavy eaters, go on to Goodall Kafe at Gottlieb Road for best Char Koay Kak and Poh Piah. Alternatively, go back to the beach-facing Sunset Bistro for drinks by the beach (same row as Ferringhi Beach Corner but turn left at the T-junction)

Day 2
10am Hokkien Char, Chee Cheong Fun - Kwai Lock coffeeshop (adjacent to Swee Kong coffeeshop), Burma Road, P.Tikus. This shop also serves famous duck mee. Also check out the Ban Chang kuih stall just outside the shop.

11am Shopping at Gurney Plaza!

2pm Kek Lok Si and Kuan Yin Statue, Air Itam

4pm Laksa (sour type) - Air Itam market by the roadside

4.30pm Koay Teow Thing - Air Itam roundabout (toward Pg Hill railway station) under the trees. Note only opens after 2pm until about 5pm or so.

5pm Penang Hill. Might be worthwhile making a trip to the station earlier to obtain a ticket first as they now seem to implement scheduled trips, where there will be a defined number of tickets for each trip, first come first serve basis. Relax, buy some kacang kuning and snacks from the stall and enjoy a breathtaking view of Penang at dusk! It gets even better at night.

9pm Nasi Kandar Raffe, Burma Road (next to Kwai Lock coffeeshop), Burma Road. The key to having this best is 'kuah campur, banjir' or at least 'kuah campur' if you don't favour too wet rice. I personally prefer the red fried chicken.

10pm Muar Chee (Ma Zhi stall) and Rojak (GP Soon) - Gurney Drive Hawker Centre. You can also try out the famed chicken skin, laksa and tong shui.


Again for the heavy eaters, go on to Char Koay Teow (wet) stall in Kimberley St/Cintra St junction (in front of Sin Guat Keong coffeeshop). Also, try out the famed koay chiap (pig innards with koay teow) stall just right opposite.

Day 3
11am Curry Mee - Lorong Seratus Tahun

11.30am Mee Goreng - Esplanade Food Court. Make sure it's the Hameed-Mee Sotong stall! Also try the ice kacang and coconut shake.


12.30pm If you are interested in Heritage Sites, you are now right smack in the middle. Some places worth visiting are Kuan Yin Teng and Khoo Kongsi.

1.30 pm Char Koay Teow (personally my favourite) at Chiu Chang Ka which means 'under the tree' at Lengkok Burma, Pulau Tikus. There is also a good economy mee hoon/mee stall. If you happen to be there on Tuesdays and Thursdays, there is this pork satay stall which is highly recommended! Note that this place only opens on WEEKDAYS.


2.30pm Ais Kacang and Rojak - Swatow Lane coffeeshop. Do not go to the huge hawker centre.


This is a pretty much cramped-up 3-day schedule. So far, only 1 friend of mine managed to complete everything in such a short timespan so good luck!:)

Other stuffs which you maybe interested:
Tambun biscuits - Him Heang, Burma Road (opp Union Primary)
Tau Sar Pneah - Ghee Hiang, Burma Road (opp Union Primary)
Nutmeg - Chowrasta Market, Penang Road or next to Air Itam market Laksa stall
Nightlife - Upper Penang Road
Take a ferry ride back
www.tourismpenang.gov.my

My Travel Log

Have always loved travelling. I can vividly remember my first airplane experience when i was 8, nervous yet excited! Can't really believe sometimes, how often I fly these days after I started working, the privilege that comes with my job. Still the same old feeling though not as excited as when i was 8:) All the places I've been to....

Singapore - 8 years old, with family
Bangkok - 10 years old, with family
Local places I've visited besides my beloved hometown, Penang, some countless number of times:
Alor Setar, Kedah - used to spend long holidays there as a kid at my nanny's house, the husband and kids adore us to bits. I will never forget the flat, overlooking the big football field and waiting for the nanny's husband to come back to give hime a surprise
Sungai Petani, Kedah - Spent almost every fortnightly at my grandma's place. It used to be some really cool 'plantation'. Grew up having coconuts, jambu, rambutan and ciku! too bad there wasn't durian hehe
Ipoh, Perak - Gives me the serene and quiet impression and of course the best dim sum in the country, with good nga choi kai as well.
Bidor, Perak - Great duck mee!:)
Taiping, Perak - Scenic lakes
Bukit Merah, Perak - boring laketown park
Kuala Lumpur - City where I work now...amazing variety of good western food
Seremban - Got lost there once while trying to be adventurous:) Food wasnt as nice as claimed by my local friend
Port Dickson - 10 weeks of great adventure in the Shell Refinery and the fun part of cycling/working in a big plant. Thanks to the boring town, I am now with Jiin!
Melaka - Great town, very much similar to Penang, in the roads and also the good food. Chicken rice balls, satay celup, mee siam!
Johor Bahru - Spent 5 years in uni. Mixed feelings of the place, never liked much of the food there but they were pretty wonderful memories.
Kelantan, Terengganu - Remember my dad drove 10 over hours to get there one way and our car knocked into a dog or something, had to get the car plate fixed, what drama. nothing much that i can remember and was too young to appreciate udang galah and the spicy stuffs:(
Cherating, Kuantan - Quick weekend getaway
Frasers' Hill - a very relaxing countryside place, one of my favourite local highland
Cameron Highlands - strawberries and tea plantations!
Genting Highlands - In the young days, I hope for clear skies so that the rides in the theme park will be open, nowadays it's only up there for the casino lol

November 2007
South Africa (Cape Town, Tulbagh and Stellenbosch) - 1-week business trip to the scenic countryside.

June 2008
Singapore - Shopping Day trip from JB with colleagues

September 2008
London - My first ever business class trip and absolutely love London till today.

Bangkok - 2nd anniversary with Jiin. The place was too hectic and kinda dodgy hence didn't quite enjoy it as I did in my last trip to Bangkok.

October 2008
Guildford, Surrey, UK - Another business trip to the countryside of Surrey for 3 weeks.

Lisbon, Portugal - Great city, love the monument and the belem tower. Had this amazing dinner at a huge warehouse-turned-restaurant. Spent a couple of days here.

November 2008
Hamburg, Germany - Continued on from UK and Lisbon for a further 3 weeks. Nice lake and not so nice everything else.

Berlin, Germany - A weekend day trip with colleagues.

January 2009
Hong Kong, Macau - Great family trip. Love Hong Kong alongside London. Will definitely make a trip again in 2010.

February 2009
Phuket - Birthday get-away trip, good island hopping and good food

May 2009
Siem Reap - Good discovery tour into the tonle sap lake, war musuem and the many temples. they were all same-same but different!:)

Augustow, Poland - Business trip, boring place

London - Another long business trip here, central London this time with a bunch of Malaysians and good doses of chinese food. Gotta be my best ever trip abroad.

June 2009
Paris - Weekend trip while Jiin was here. Stinky and dirty city, totally overrated! great food though, had my best ever grilled medium-well beef and crepe chocolat!

Amsterdam - Highlight of the trip was the cycling tour to the windmills, cheese and clogs' farm and to the countryside of canals.

Going to...
July 2009 - Bali
2010 - Hong Kong, Sabah/Sarawak, Brisbane/Gold Coast
2011 - Italy
China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Spain, Switzerland, USA

Beyond...

Today's game of badminton got me thinking. A senior once commented that I do not try enough to retrieve front shuttles. I look around my colleagues and realise they do try harder than me. I guess I have lost the competitive edge. Back in my Red Crescent days, we often go to competitions and people often ask how do we do so well, my answer was simple, we wanted to win very much. Also, we did not want to disappoint our teammates whom have all trained very hard with 1 objective in mind. Now, it's just another game of leisure so maybe it's not all that bad after all:)

Then I thought, perhaps it's just me. I just couldn't be bothered to find out about things that are beyond my reach. Sometimes I wonder why my friends like to research on cars beyond their capabilities. Dream, they say. I have dreams too but my dream cars for now would only be a honda, toyota, mazda or mitsubishi lancer. When I am finally in one of them, then I'll start thinking of probably BMW 5 series, then when I can afford one, I can start thinking of a ferrari maybe?:D Then again, I'd rather own a mansion than a Ferrari if I had to choose one.

Time alone

I've never really believed in time alone, outside home. In fact, I hate eating out alone, it always feels like I'm the loneliest person on earth. However, recently I've been doing that quite often. Either because I'm hungry and lazy to pack meals for home or I'm starting to enjoy time alone! hehe

anyway, having tasted kfc uk, lisbon and singapore, i think kfc malaysia rocks big time and kfc uk sucks big time lol crispier skin, softer chicken (to you health enthusiasts, yes i think our chickens are injected stuffs but i can't care much can i:)) and we also have hot n spicy flavour that is nice! I think malaysia is really a heaven of food. We get such good variety that we often tend to take for granted. Here's how a week of food variation we can get in Malaysia.

Monday - mamak
Tuesday - Western (american/italian/spanish/lebanese etc)
Wednesday - Hawker food
Thursday - Japanese
Friday - Fast Food
Saturday - Thai
Sunday - Seafood

In fact, I think we can go with a month eating different stuffs everyday! lucky us:)

Driving in Penang

It's been years since I left Penang to study and work. Every now and then when I go back to my beloved hometown, the only thing I hate is the driving bit. Why?

1. Motorcyles are kings of the roads. You bang/kill them, you're at fault no matter what. Don't ask me why.
2. On normal roads (2-lane roads inclusive), you'd be pleased to drive faster than 50 kph at normal times.
3. There are 11 traffic lights from Gurney Drive to Tanjung Bungah (the place I stay) on a so-called widened road!
4. Worst of all, the traffic lights are not synchronised, so no point hitting the accelerator and jumping the red light because you're almost certain to see red the next one.
5. People in Penang do not understand what is "Beri Laluan" so they just wait patiently for the green light. When you honk at them, they look at you like wth is wrong.
6. Driving in Penang is like brake-accelerate-brake-accelerate (not more than 50kph btw).
7. There is no fast lane in Penang. In fact, in Burma Road, the fast and slow lanes are for cars to park illegally to buy stuffs. So in effect, the only lane that is usable is the middle lane, but then again see point 6 because of the in and outcoming of the cars in the fast and slow lanes.
8. They say island people are very kiasu, i second that although I'm not:) Cars/motorcyles swerve left and right as they like but when you genuinely need them to give you way, they will stick it in there like the fight of their day.

I'm pretty sure there are more points to the above, but we shall revisit when I encounter more lol

Of superstitions and obsessions

I am not exactly a superstitious person to say the least. I've always raised eyebrows at my friends or relatives who believe in superstitions. My best friend is one who is obsessed with crystals, landed homes (apparently it gives the land chi or something), face features, palm reading etc. I in the other hand feel that this is a pretty damaging obsession. Simple reason: I do not want to be told how to live my life. Of all the people who believe in all these, they would always say the same thing "Listen only ma...no harm". Think again, are you sure there's no harm? When one tells you that you're gonna have a bad year this year (accidents, health complications), you'd surely tend to be more careful when you live your daily lives. I once read a book that says the more you think of avoiding something, the more likely it will happen.

Case 1: You just bought a new car and you drive with extra caution. The more you think of avoiding accidents, the more likely it will happen.
Case 2: Have you ever found yourself waiting for an important call next to the phone but it never did come? But once you have lost patience waiting by the phone, the call comes in!

I truly believe in the above. Therefore I've never believed in obsessions of superstitions. However there's only one thing that I've not dared to go against. Growing up, I remember often reading newspaper articles of accident victims' relatives coming out to say "the boy/girl has given us a special something (hug/letter) before the accident). Perhaps that is how it has affected me and till today, sadly, I've never given my parents a hug since younger days I think. I guess it was just this fear that I'll lose them if I do something like that.

Speaking of obsessions, I can't stand people who are too immersed in something. I don't think I have for once, been crazy about any one celebrity or team. I do admire a list of celebrities but there's not ONE that stands out that deserves my craze. The recent loss of Man Utd to Liverpool showed me how childish people can get by getting angry and stuff. Come on...Man Utd nor Liverpool knows how you feel about the win/loss! I have had people come to me and made fun of Man Utd knowing I support them and probably thinking that I would be agitated but I wasn't. It was just plainly a game of sports! and I know very well in any game, no matter how superior you are, you have to lose sometimes and lose graciously, you ought to. There's no denying Liverpool played a good game that night so they deserved it, period. The league is not won by a game but 38 games.

How people just amuse me every day.....hahaha

Ahh!!!!

How much I hate extremists really! I just couldn't help being so disappointed with these people in the country. Seriously, what the hell is wrong with teaching Math and Science in English?! And no, I don't think this is a racial issue, we have all kinds of extremists i.e. Dong Ziao or whatever shit name they call it, the rural people bla bla

Fine, you may argue that the underlying issue is that our teachers themselves are not prepared to teach in English because most of them can't speak proper English. Fair enough the blame is on the government for rushing things into implementation without considering the consequences, but how can one argue that it's a wrong cause?! It's not about forgetting your roots (as they say) nor is it about being patriotic! How does learning the global language hurt you, tell me?!

I for one, wish I learned Mandarin and I would really, if my job requires me to. It is simply about adapting to global evolutions! If you're stuck in a foreign land, say France for a year, could you survive a year without learning French, not even the slightest bit? Does that make you less patriotic because you learned an additional language? damn, really can't comprehend what these people are thinking!

Tough language they say? To me, it's all about the attitude. We learned Malay and English and some, Mandarin from standard 1. I don't recall any of us having any problems back then, how is it different this time? It's really all about instilling the attitude from day 1.

I could totally understand if they were protesting the implementation approach, but no, they were protesting the cause! It hurts thinking about when the country will ever progress if a simple decision like this gets protested on the streets... sigh bolehland

Just like that

Today I made ONE wrong turn and the result was double the normal travelling time! Amazing. I'm glad I made the right turn in my career almost 2 years ago though:) I always wonder about where and what I'll be in a few years from now, do you?

Status: Married with kids/Single playboy
Career: High Flyer/Flop
Financials: Richer/Poorer

And then, I'll start thinking about a decade from now, and then when I turn 70 (if i am fortunate). No wonder they say growing up is scary:p

I Remember.....

There were various people who have great influence in my life but there were just the few people whom have left a mark that I could vividly remember them...
Pn. Rohani - My std 3 teacher who was a fierce one. We will never forget how she emphasises the way we write letters and digits like 'e' and '5'. She would make us memorise the 'sifir' and those who fail will have to stand on the chair till the end of the period. Her classes were therefore always very tense and not looked forward to. However as I moved on, I realised what a solid foundation she has bestowed on me and forever I'm thankful.

Chee Keong - the super senior (6 years) who has been there for me and everyone through all those years. I've always said the reason I was active in Red Crescent society was not because I wanted so much to be a volunteer or a first aider. Pretty blunt but that's the truth. Being a volunteer was a secondary thing but of course it does help knowing i contributed to the society at one point of my life:) anyway, it was seniors like him who taught me so much about life and discipline, nowhere else I would have gotten them. It amazes me really how my seniors were so mature, even at a tender age back then. I wish i have that same influencing impact on my juniors and that they look up to me just as much as I do my seniors.

Mr. Loh Chin Kuang - My Math sir who was also a life philosopher. I remember his interesting lessons touching about how we should look forward to success in life with a strong-willed attitude. I think above all, he taught me the reason to be happy and positive. His never forgotten favourite phrases were "Every day should be my birthday" and "When we wake up each day, we all have a choice to be happy or moody, either way you still have to live, so why be moody?"

My priorities

Here's how it looks on the outside: I have a good job, pay, perks and incentives. I get to travel to places on business trips and get enrolled in expensive trainings like Prince2 and Six Sigma. And here's what people don't see: It's just another frustrating job. On my travel trips, I had to do hand-washed laundry, work late at nights, and only have the weekend to look forward to.

I guess my point is one is never contented isn't it? We always look at other people and think "wow they're having a wonderful life and mine sucks". Well the grass is always greener at the other side. I know the new role come April will be a steep learning curve and I'm pretty confident I'll have lesser things to complain as I'll have better control of things than now.

I am indeed thankful that my job has enabled me and my loved ones to fly to places with my own hard-earned money. Growing up, the only places I've ever travelled outside the country were Thailand and Singapore. I was never that fortunate as my other friends but I never did complain as my parents made sure we cover a lot of places within the country. Furthermore the last thing I want is for them to spend their hard earned money on me. I truly believe my peers who come from mediocre-earning families would understand how great the feeling is to be able to finally sponsor our own travels.

My priorities in life at the moment and at my age, are my parents and living life to the fullest hence the travels and good food. This translates to very little savings, lol. However, people who know me well know I live life the moderate way and you would never see me in debt or spending extravagantly over something (except food I guess :D).

There you go, for those who are curious, my priorities and I'm sure you have yours too. Whatever you choose, be contented and be happy in life:)