KLCC Shots!

Recently I've been in downtown Kay El a fair bit.. and been seeing our magnificent twin towers from many different angles. Thought I'd just share them here :)

This shot was taken from G Tower when I attended the Asus new model press launch. Btw, I like this because the sun was out, and the skies was blue. And the fact that it's my first time in this tower.. where the views are really cool!

More KLCC & Kay El skyline. On this day, I am proud to say, I learnt the DUKE highway. It sure makes journey from Pea Jay to Setiawangsa area quite a breeze. Smooth ride, nice wide views, and most importantly no traffic!

Btw I think an appropriate caption to this photo is: "the journey, is ours to make". That's what came to my mind when I took this photo anyway - which I believe has been something on my mind of late :)

This night view of KLCC from one of my favourite lounge hangout.. Kay El's best bar, the Sky Bar. Get the Guinness (1 for 1 if ur early) and get those super yummy cheesy nachos.. then just sit back, and watch the towers in full glitter.

The KLCC is disappearing! Haha! But well, this is not magic... This was taken during a cloudy afternoon when the clouds were heavy and made the tips of the tower just vanish for a bit. It's my first shot of such of the twin towers, though I've taken uncountable number of shots from this very same angle from the KLCC park.

Well, there it is.. our tallest towers in different angles. These will definitely not be the last shots of the twin towers from me.. as each time I'm there, I'll most likely to take some more. But let's see whats in store next! )

Alan Yun's Restaurant: Pin Xiang @ Aman Suria

What do u do when you get an invitation to do a food review? Go, I'd say... And what if that restaurant is owned by a celebrity? The more so one should go!

Well, that's what happened recently. I was invited to review Alan Yun's new business venture - into the F&B business... where he opens the Chinese food restaurant in Aman Suria.

This is the restaurant, all packed & crowded.. even though it's only 2 weeks old! Who would have thought?

We started off with the 'foo chok yim mai' drinks ie. boiled barley with beancurd sheet & lotus seed. This  drink looks simple but is really good!

Then came the good food! We were given samples of what the team felt were good recommendations.. and they sure came in good!

One of my favourite is the salted egg mantis prawn. If ur a fan of salted egg, you'll roughly know what I mean :)

One of the other hot favourites on the table.. the fresh sauce intestines! The sauce is sweet & sour.. a lil bit like some Thai dishes.

Another of my favourite.. the 8 types of vegetables. The 'lengau' ie lotus root is so good. Its crunchy, and at the same time mixes well with the other vegetables to give it that crunchy yet enough soft greens feel when chewing.

This is Alan Yun's favourite. The house signature village chicken.

Now fish is very tricky. Especially when it comes to talapia. But surprisingly this Pin Xiang Fried Talapia tastes pretty delicious. It is cooked just nice - crunchy on the outside, tender in the inside. And nice sauce to go with it too. Never imagined this happening with the talapia!

The champagne spare ribs. This is also Alan Yun's favourite. He sure is a meat eater Haha. Anyway, the ribs are juicy, and so are the oh-so-red watermelons!

The yam ring & sweet & sour pork was good too. I especially love the yam - which is cooked just nice. Again, if I can say it has the right amount of crunchiness. It wasn't soggy like some restaurant's.

Just when we thought we were full, we were presented with the tasty soya sauce prawns. And so the stomach gave in to the big succulent & fresh prawns! :)

Oh, Alan gave a surprise dish - the steamed frog with ginger & garlic! I'm not much a fan of such sauce (find the taste of ginger a lil empowering - that's my own preference :) ), but still, the frog meat were really tender!

My overall verdict: this is one restaurant with good Chinese food. Definitely worth a visit, and I won't be surprised if I come back for more! :)

Btw, apart from the good food, here are some random shots of the good time we had.

The humble Alan Yun helping out in serving us! Whooaaa, we are honoured!

The always cute family, blogger khaki Submerryn, hubby William + kid Ethan.

The bosses of the restaurant :)

Alan and us, cheering to Boss Coffee, which he is the ambassador.

A pic with the star & host for the nite.

And oh yeah, also had the chance to meet with Miss Malaysia, actress & singer Soo Wincci!


*Restaurant Pin Xiang
Seafood, Chicken Rice & Noodle House
H-18-G, Jalan PJU 1/45
Aman Suria
47301 Damansara
Selangor Darul Ehsan
Tel : +603-8945 8733
Fax : +603-8945 5733

My First Tweetup! (By Iheartmy)

I went to my first #tweetup! What a late bloomer I know! Haha!!

Anyway, it was last Saturday and the this #tweetup organised by the guys behind @iheartmy . The event was held at the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta at Putrajaya.

You would say I was extra excited for this event.. well, partly cos its a #tweetup. But also because there was a lucky draw.. which was 2 tickets of half hour rides on the hot air balloon ride around (read: around!) Putrajaya! Wow, was I excited!

But that wasn't all that I was excited about.. I was excited to get my tee too!

You see, about this lucky draw.. To enter it, you need to get the #iheartmy tee! I've ordered mine the day before, and was excited to get it.. cos it is a personalised one!

You can see, it has my tweet profile, and all my followers too! If you are my follower, well, you are on that tee!! (told u there are benefits following me, hahaha!).

After collecting my tee, we were still a lil early and decided to jalan jalan around the festival area a bit, thinking of catching some pics of.. the hot air balloons!

However, as it was afternoon/ early evening, I didn't see any hot air balloons in the sky - not a single one tho it's reported to have over 20 or 30 throughout this festival :(

But that was made up for the 'water balloons'. It was quite a sight, though not in the air. And it looks fun too!

Got my friend, Eunice, & her friend to get into it, and try.. you can see, they sure had quite a ride..! :)

We didn't had that much time to play at the festival much... and soon was back at the #tweetup area. Friend, Jack, was into the food.. Hehe.

You can say the food.. wasn't too bad! Oops!

Anyway, waited for a bit more.. and soon, the moment of truth came... but I wasn't the winner (boo! Haha!). This is one of the winners, Pojiepooh. Congrats to this lucky dude got that ride up in the skies! :)

Though a lil disappointed of not winning that sky ride, but still, it was one fun day out.. seeing balls on water, getting that personalised tee, and making new friends! Hope for more fun #tweetups! :)

My First St Patricks Day Celebrations

Twitter friend, Hoongchai first send an invitation for drinking last Sunday. Well, that's what I thought when he sent me a DM.

Being a lil free (told u that I've been a lil free the past weeks), and it being a Sunday, I agreed. After all, I've once turned down his offer to attend one of his gatherings before, so this is like time to make up for that. Plus, it would be nice to meet up with him, and know more friends.

The clowns... were everywhere.

Far did I know that the invitation was to be with him & his friends, for St Patricks Day! I really thought its just a gathering, drinking quietly at the pub.. but oh, how wrong I was! So guess the (pleasant) surprise I had when I went to the event! (this was at Sid's Pub Bukit Tunku).

Anyway, here are some fun I had that Sunday afternoon on my very 'virgin' St Patricks Day Celebrations.

Hoongchai's friend playing the plate on the stick game. You can sense the excitement around, where everyone is really enjoying themselves and having fun.

Me... well, I was into the food. Hehe. Oh while Guiness at RM5 were great, I must say, I enjoyed the food here too!

Me & buddy who invited me, Hoong Chai

I heard some familiar voice, and then saw a familiar face. Do u recognise this guy? Well, I remember him from the sitcom Kopitiam, though I was told he now is a newscaster with ESPN?

And finally, with the Guinness Girls!

Now, that is one Sunday afternoon well spent! And definitely an event I'd look forward to next year! :)

Lessons From SuperCEO: Azran Osman-Rani, Air Asia X

It was 8pm. Venue - Intercontinental Hotel (previously known as Nikko Hotel).

I thought that the timing was a lil late for a 'corporate' like event. And in some ways, I wasn't too sure whether I should attend. After all, I had 2 hours in between, and we are talking bout heading to downtown Kay El here at the peak hour.

But then again, how often do one get to listen to a SuperCEO? He is after all, Azran Osman-Rani, CEO of Air Asia X. We are talking bout a CEO of a company that is under one group of companies that I believe many Malaysians marvel at.

With this in mind, I made my way to the event..

"He is so plain & simple" I overheard another attendee talking to her cleric. Yes, true indeed, this CEO was  rather casual in his dressing - coming in with a tshirt. While some may be a lil surprised that the did not come in a business suit & all, but this is actually not uncommon for some new day CEOs/ companies.

But what's unique is that this CEO says he reads Calvin & Hobbes for his inspiration. He didn't recommend any big gurus or heavyweight books. The reason he likes it - it gives inspiration on everything being possible (just like the character in the comic).

Now, I know that this CEO is different.. and this is definitely something the younger professionals/ entrepreneurs can relate to..

Anyway, apart from that, here are a few things I learnt from this SuperCEO:
1. Marketing: go out to the market, create that awareness, and make them want.
2. Revenue is important but so is to keeping costs low (low costs is one of the KPIs for them).
3. Information flow in the organisation is important. Break down hierarchies and barriers. Instead make open communication possible to avoid conflicts, and in this case even accidents (he gave the example of how the Pilot & co Pilot can be 'buddies' rather than being 'smarter than thou').
4. Planning is good, but be ready for change - all the time.
5. Everyone makes mistakes. Learn from them, pull through, and move on (he cites the example like how the airplane bought the 'wrong' seats and then made a RM50m decision to take it all away).
6. Always think out of the box. Do things differently (for example, the target they are targeting is different from the other major carriers).

I love the advise he has given. Not all are new, but still, somethings to be learnt from or refreshed.

In addition, he also shared that while he helms a cool company, but life is just like any other professional/ entrepreneurs. There are fast-heartbeat moments too.

He gave example on how he lead an airline working with just 1 airplane at the start (meaning the plane cant go wrong as it has different destinations to fly to), or the time he had to go to Europe to get funding to buy more planes because of the economy crisis back home, getting rejection/ 'scolding' from the Ministry here, etc etc.

In all, I am pleased to have spent that Monday evening listening to this SuperCEO. 2 words if I may sum it up: Inspiring & Insightful! A Monday evening well spent!

*This event was organised by Young Corporate Malaysians under the YCM CEO Series.

*Btw he also 'teaches' that to start a presentation, its best to lighten the mood with some upbeat music! (AirAsia planes do that all the time too aye?) :)

How I've Been Enjoying Life... This Past 2 Weeks

I've been enjoying life very differently the past 2 weeks.

Here are some of the stuffs that I've been doing.

Going to Parliament!

It has been a long time since I wore a full jacket. But I had a destination to go to - the Parliament! Wearing the jacket reminded me of my prefect days in school or when I was the best man for my friend's wedding. And the tie - it reminded me of my salesman days! Haha!

Anyway, after over a decade, I was back in the Parliament. The last time I was there was schooldays (I'd say when I was a school kid.. but some FB friends say that Form 6 is not school kid - yeah rite -.-).

Going into the Parliament was a mix of being anxious, excited and proud. And, it was fun going into the  Parliament - yes, I felt like a tourist of sorts.. and no, I wasn't there for a visit. Haha!

House Searching!

The view from one of the condos I went to see. Can u guess where?

I've also been looking at some houses around Pea Jay to buy. Seen a few, and am learning about the property market. I'm in no super hurry to get one and am taking my time on this.
Cos like most of the things I do - the house has got to be just right, and near perfect, if not perfect.

Sunset Gazing!

I've also been enjoying the views of the sunsets a lil more these past weeks.. the reason most likely cos I could spend a lil more time in the evenings.. I always love the evenings, and am glad I could spend that short magical moment of the day.

Enjoying Some (ok, more than some) Good Food!

While a fair bit of Pea Jay-ers hate going down to Kay El, but I'm okay with that.. and quite enjoy it too, actually. To me, there's somethings in Kay El that is still better than what Pea Jay has to offer, despite me loving Pea Jay much.

For example, take this hokkien mee sold at Petaling Street. Definitely the best I've tried so far! And so, I was back here the other day.

Besides the hokkien mee, I quite enjoy walking along the make shift stalls with their rather unique tees and other fake goods. To me, this is the real Kay El deal. Yeah, call me a tourist.

Tattoo Curious!

Btw on this recent trip, I took notice of the tattoo parlours around the area. It's funny how I don't really remember noticing these before, but this time round, I took extra attention.

Yeah, the temptation of getting a tattoo has been on my mind for a bit now. While it's cheap/ affordable to get one (heck, it's only like RM200?), but the thought that it remains permanently still lingers on my mind. And the right pattern, the size, the colour, and the after effects made me just 'admire' the pictures displayed outside for now. (seriously, if you are to get one, what design will u get, and where will u put it?)


Well, that's roughly some stuffs that I've been doing of late. In fact, there's more - cos I am quite a lepak-er of late! Haha! But well, I'll keep those for another post! (yes, there is really that many!) :)

A Burnt Biscuit Story

This story is forwarded to me, and I thought it's inspiring enough to be shared around. 

When I was a kid, my mom would prepare special meals every now and then. And I remember one night in particular, after a long, hard day at work. On that evening so long ago, my mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad.


I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was reach for his biscuit, smile at my mom and ask me how my day was at school. I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that biscuit and eat every bite!



When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits. And I'll never forget what he said: 
"Honey, I love burned biscuits."



Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, "Your Momma put in a hard day at work today and she's real tired. And besides - a little burnt biscuit never hurt anyone!" 


You know, life is full of imperfect things.....and imperfect people. I'm not the best at hardly anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like everyone else.



What I've learned over the years is that learning to accept each other’s faults - and choosing to celebrate each other’s differences - is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.



And that's my prayer for you today. That you will learn to take the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of your life and lay them at the feet of God. Because in the end, He's the only One who will be able to give you a relationship where a burnt biscuit isn't a deal-breaker!



We could extend this to any relationship. In fact, understanding is the base of any relationship, be it a husband-wife or parent-child or friendship!



*So the next time you get a burnt biscuit, think twice before scowling! And I must admit this story do makes me think twice more so of late :)

Oh Malaysia, We Are Quite Open Minded Too!

Going overseas has been eye popping..

Remember the cock shaped hot dogs from Taiwan?

Or the car sticker from Indonesia?

Yeah, I'm sure we go like - "Wow, overseas are so open minded heh". And maybe "Yeah, we will never see such of these here..".

Well, that's what I thought too.. until.. bumping into some stuff I found in (conservative) Malaysia! Haha! (close your eyes, for you Holy people!)

First, a car sticker..

Ok, sure - it's only a Quickie... like 8TV Quickie rite? So whats so open bout it rite? Haha!

Well, now, here another car sticker... I saw (and no this is not at an adult shop but a normal gift shop).

So, Jakarta, Kay El is just as Open Minded, you know!

But now, can we ever top the oh-so-open Taiwan and their hot dogs?

Well... check these make to order cakes, and you be the judge!
(Holy people, really, it's time to close your eyes..!).

There you go.. 2 visually good cakes which you can just order and have a good time! (pun intended!)

Now, who says Kay El is conservative again? :)


*The cakes are from Passionate Cakes &amp Big Boys Oven. And yes, you can order these cakes or any other 'naughtier' types you like for your special event! 


*Btw talk about being open minded or conservative (whichever way you'd put it).. have you seen Celcom's advertisements in the press lately?