entering adulthood ep. 2 part 1

last friday, me & my wife together with my parents went to sg. rengit, johor to convoy my cousin, paan's solemnization & the bride's side wedding....it was one of the longest driving journey i've endured in my life....from kl to the Tanjung Kapal Resort at Sg. Rengit Johor was 8~9 hours total journey time including breaks at R&R....paan will have a hard time going back to johor for raya :P.....we first stopped at the Air Keroh, Malacca R&R to have our breakfast and then continued the journey and we exited at the Kulai exit...and continued to Kota Tinggi to settle a few thigs there by my mom and to take a look at the hotel that we're gonna put a nite on the next day...b4 we continued the journey to Sg. Rengit, we stopped by the famous Pak Din Putu Bambu....u must try it if you are at Kota Tinggi....believe me, u won't regret it....continued the journey again and we arrived at last at the Tanjung Kapal Resort at Sg. Rengit at about 3 o'clock...it felt like it was a never ending journey...phewww~....upon arriving we relaxed and enjoyed the not so very interesting sea view while waiting for the rest of the family members to arrive....then at approximately 7.15 pm, we head to the one of the mosque at Sg. Rengit to convoy paan for his engagement and the later solemnization after Isya' prayers....the hantaran that paan get from the girl's side was quite marvelous, a Blackberry phone and a nintendo wii console (i bet paan who's the one that asked for it :P)....the ceremony ended at about 11 pm and it's time to head back to the resort and have a good nite sleep....

then on the next day, saturday morning, had breakfast while gazing at the sea...and at about 12.30 pm, it's time to make a move to the wedding ceremony venue.....the convoy begins and about 30 minutes we were there....the food wasn't too bad (that's becoz we had dishes of the bride & grooms table :P)....after about 2 hours, it's time to hit the road to Kota Tinggi back to put a nite at the Rest Inn Hotel Kota Tinggi....stopped by at Desaru for a while to see the beaches but didn't really had the opportunity as it was gonna rain....we reached the Rest Inn Hotel Kota Tinggi at about 5.30 pm and checked in straight away....the hotel room was really not bad at all....the condition was tip top (probably due to it is a new hotel)....and with the cheap rate, it was really worth it....and on top of that, there's free wi-fi.....after maghrib prayers, we went out to had diner at Restoran Seafood Hassan Ong recommended by someone to my mum....similar to the Restoran Haji Shahrin Low....chinese muslim....the food was really delicious, splendid and most important, chinese style....86 ringgit for 4 person with 5 dishes, 4 drinks and 4 deserts, it was quite worth it....before 9 pm we were already at the hotel room and it's time to call off for the day...

sunday, it was time to head back to kl....what a long journey it was....phewww~....

Putu Bambu Pa' Din

Rest Inn Hotel Kota Tinggi

Training with the expert

hola2....it's been a while haven't updated here....was quite bz every weekend the raya month....the last post was on early syawal and now syawal is already over....missed the raya cuisines (lemang especially...) & the open houses....well, see u around again next year syawal.....

last thursday me & a few of my colleagues had a training with one of the experts in the Agilent account who is also the 4th & 5th level, Daniel Lankford.....this guy has been with Agilent & HP for about 8 years, so he knows inside & out of the architecture.....Dan was in KL for a 2 weeks on business trip and is here to assist the IMT(Incident Management Team) & WWPMT(World Wide Problem Management Team).....the 1st week was more of meetings with the bosses & having a better picture of how our operation is here.....and the 2nd week was reserved for training both IMT & WWPMT.....our group's training was on thursday.....it was the best training that we ever had compared with the other trainers....Dan's explanation was the best & the details were the most detailed....very lucky for the new guys (teck ve & terence) to be able to train with the best.....it was a 1 whole day training & basically everything about Agilent has been covered from WAN to LAN to Wireless to Firewall to Proxies to VPN (phewww...) and are mostly from the technical perspective....so, no more excuses not to troubleshoot anymore....probably we could even be the level 3 guys now :P ....thanks for the solid training Dan....hope u had a safe journey back to Colorado....

Dan & the gang

Raya 2010

it's already the 10th day of raya and only now i posted about the raya :P...raya is here again....this year's raya was a totally whole new raya for me....this year's raya was my first time as a husband and my first raya without my grandma....it's a mixed of feelings....happy celebrating 1st year raya with my wife but at the same time feeling sad that my grandma wasn't around any more to celebrate raya together....her absence was really felt as i've celebrated raya with my grandma for 24 years!!....we really missed her....may Allah bless her....so this year's raya was still celebrated at tapah, my father's hometown....me & my wife pushed off from kl to Tapah at 5.30 in the morning, the 1st raya day itself as the rest of the family members also pushed off the morning raya to Tapah...before we started to push off it was already raining heavily and it was going to be a slow ride due to the slippery road, and it was....many cars had to drove slow as the rain was quite heavy...and we reached tapah b4 8....we thought we were already late but guess what, we were the 1st to arrive....several minutes later my parents arrived and not too long after that several more of the family members arrived....went for the solat raya and after that had breakfast of nasi lemak & pulut after the majlis makan raya & bacaan doa....the majlis makan raya & bacaan doa is a tradition in our family....every year raya, after the solat raya prayers, jemaah of the surau will come for raya to my grandparents house which is situated right behind the surau....due to it's location, my grandparents house will be the first house to be visited....back in the old days, me & my cousins need to help in the kitchen and carrying out the dishes to the living room....after the majlis is over, we would then need to wash up all the dishes....really missed those days....so after the majlis raya, we would sit around and have chat among the big family members....after that we went to the grave to visit the grave of my grandparents...before heading to cameron, we went for raya to several houses....and even after we reached cameron before going back to my parent's home, we went for raya to another house, auntie angeline's house...whewww...what a 1st day raya....

not much of pics this time due to i forgot to snap :P...

pug's minor surgery

i had to dig further to find out what was the petrol smell from my pug b4 raya and fortunately came across to bug206.blogspot.com & my206xr.blogspot.com and found the root cause of my pug's problem...there was a problem with my pug's fuel pump and it seems to be a common problem for 206s...my206xr.blogspot.com was like a wikipedia for 206...any 206 owners out there can refer to this blog if u come accross any problem with ur pug 206....back to my problem, after work at about 8.30 am, i head directly to Geotauto to check out my fuel pump problem...arriving there, the SA went to check my pug and verified that it was the fuel pump problem and the fuel is already like a puddle underneath the back seat!!....unfortunately & as expected, Geotauto did not have the fuel pump stock and without having any other choice, had to head to the Naza service center at Batu 3 as Bluebox Glenmarie no longer service or do warranty claims for 206...headed first to the Bluebox Glenmarie to get the map on how to get to the Naza Service Center coz i know i wouldn't be able to solely search the service center based only on address :P ....reached Naza Service Center around 10 o'clock and waited for my turn...explained to the SA that i need to make a warranty claim for the fuel pump....the service center wasn't that bad at all....there were couches, tv with astro (managed to watch CSI), PCs with internet connection and there's also wifi....oh, not to forget drinks dispenser machine but no point as it was ramadhan....there were a few other pug owners over there who sent their pugs for servicing....so, waiting for a while is expected....and at 2.30 pm, my pug was as good as new and redy to be driven off....4 hours of waiting, pheeeww....

Naza Corporation Sdn Bhd

Jalan U1/30, No. 43,

Hicom Industrial Park,

Shah Alam, Selangor

Tel: 03-55690886

GPS coordinate : N 03 4.796' E 101 33.441'

Fuel pump good as new

Matta Fair Sept 10

aloha...matta fair sept 10 was recently held and me & my wife did not miss the fair...it was the 1st time for the both of us to go to the Matta Fair....we went to the pwtc via lrt from bkt jalil station instead of driving as parking & traffic jam would be a problem....arrived at pwtc 10 o'clock sharp and the event has already begun...outside of pwtc there are already mayflower, reliance & pyo travel booth...i must say that reliance's was the most catchy with the hot babes distributing fliers & 3D tour of their packages...and the crowd has started to build up already...the matta fair took place at 3 halls, hall 1 mainly was for domestic and nearby around malaysia destinations such as indonesia, singapore & thailand....but 90% was for local attractions....hall 2 focuses on asiapacific region and we spend most of our time at hall 2 surveying hong kong tour packages as me & my wife planned to go to hong kong for our next holiday destination...the primary mission was to search for a package of 5 days 4 nites consisting of visiting hong kong disneyland & macau....the reason macau is a must is due to it's amazingly beautiful buildings there....u may google pics of macau to have a look....ocean park & city tour will come under secondary mission....and not to forget, shopping is a must at hong kong for apparels, sporting wear, it products & gadgets (gotta start saving up for hong kong shoppping :P)....hong kong is a heaven for shoppers and it would be a waste not to shop there....just compare an ipod nano at hong kong & at malaysia....convert the price of an ipod nano hong kond dolar tu malaysia ringgit and u'll be surprised by the difference....back to our survey, it ain't easy looking for a package that suits most our plan....there were only 2 travel agency that fits perfectly with our proposed plan which are LT travels & malaysia beijing tour agency....both tour agency packages will come to around 4.3k~4.5k all in for the 2 of us...quite ok as the flight will be with cathay pacific but malaysia beijing would be the preffered due to the hotel it offers which is metropark kowloon which is situated in the town area and is very strategic near to the shopping locations and the comments of the hotel read in tripadvisor was also postive comparing to the hotel offered by LT travel which is far east hotel, all i could see in tripadvisor was negative comments...and also malaysia beijing offers cable car tour...so a NO for LT travel altho the option to switch to metropark kowloon hotel is available but would need to add another 700 ringgit!!!....i rather use that 700 ringgit to get an ipod touch at hong kong later :P ....me & my wife need to think first and we went to hall 3 to walk around where hall 3 focuses more on the europe & US destinations....but still there were also a few booths for the asiapacific destinations...and we came across a travelling agency called smart travels...their hong kong package itenerary & rate wasn't that bad...almost the same as LT & malaysia beijing packages...before wrapping up for the day, we went to the triways booth to check out their packages and their ground package was quite competitve compared to the others that we have surveyed...at the end of the day, we did not booked with any tour agency and could not even decide to take up which tour package....conclusion, mission failed....

break fast at cameron

a couple of weeks back, me & my wife went up to Cameron to break fast with my parents...and to let my wife feel the feeling of fasting at cameron :P ....friday 4 o'clock we pushed of from kl and drove via the PLUS highway en route the simpang pulai way as usual as my wife can't tahan the tapah road....hehe...we reached at my parents home at about 7:40 pm, just in time to have diner with them...i break fast in the car though coz when we arrived at Brinchang it was already the maghrib azan...after diner, we had our bath and rested for a while....due to exhaustion, we went to bed early...

the next day morning i brought my wife to visit the Sungai Palas tea plantation....nothing much to do there except to enjoy the lush green scenery since we can't have scones or a cup of tea there....after getting some of the tea products there, we took a ride for a while before heading home...due to the cool weather of cameron and puasa, me & my wife took a nap once we're at home :P ...at about 4 o'clock we woke up and started to get ready for buka puasa....tonite auntie angeline & eddie together with his 2 lil brothers will be joining us for buka puasa...at about 7 o'clock they arrived and 7.30 we all break fast together...every year puasa, my family will at least have buka puasa once with auntie angeline's family...after buka, our family had a chit chat and about 10 o'clock they went back home...we too not long after that prepared ourselves to go to bed...

sunday...time for us to head back to kl...about 10.30 we pushed off and dropped by at Kea Farm to get a few things...we reached our home at about 4 o'clock...enjoy the Sungai Palas tea plantation pics below....

honeymoon getaway: episode 1 part 2 (Phuket-Phang Nga Bay)

hola2....got a little bz lately & went back to my hometown last week to break fast with my parents...so, part 2 is here...

day 3...today we got up a bit early as we are going on a tour to Phang Nga Bay...after breakfast, we waited at the lobby at 8 am and our pickup van came, we then continued to the assembly point to Phang Nga bay....can't remember the name of the place....we cruised the bay of Phang Nga on a speed boat....damn it was fast....we visited a few islands, the Dog Island (an island where u can see a stone with a dog look on top of the hill), James Bond Island (i guess one of the 007 movie was filmed there), we then went for a canoe ride which was quite fun....my wife really enjoyed it...after that we went to KohPanYee or PanYee Island...it's actually a Muslim village built on top of water....kind of like a water village....our lunch was at Koh Phan Yee...no worries to eat here as it is a muslim village...after lunch, all aboard...we then head to an island where those who wants to take a dip into the sea can go on, for those not interested including me, we juz relaxed on the beach....nothing special or interesting here....the water isn't that intriguing plus i wasn't well prepared to take a dip into the sea....after about an hour, it's time to head back to phuket....the tour was fun, exciting & worth the penny...it was quite cheap though... :P off back to the hotel....

The dog island

James Bond island

James Bond island

Canoe ride

Lunch at Kohpanyee

Kohpanyee Restaurant

Cave explore

arrived at the hotel, took our bath and off we went down to the spa to get ourselves pampered...the package included spa as well, so we used it...unfortunately a booking is needed and the next session will be at 8.30....so went out for a walk at Patong, withdraw some money and looked for the rest of souveniers that we need find....about 8.15 we head back to the hotel and in no time our spa session started....the session was for an hour and it was very soothing...after a whole day on a boat, the spa really rejuvenates my body...nothing beats a relaxing spa after an outing for the whole day...after the spa, it's time to fill up our empty stomach...man we're really starved....we had our late diner at Savoey Sea Food Restaurant...menu for the nite was lobster, tiger prawn, squids & a couple of vege dishes....it was the best seafood we've tasted so far....2,622.00 thai baht for the dishes, about RM260....not bad yet satisfying....there was also a live band performing (not really a band, a duo performing)....it was a really good diner....after diner, we took a nite walk around Patong, seems like most of the shops & restaurant are closed, except for the bars, discos & night clubs....and they were really happening...nice view too... :P before going back to our hotel, we went to Hard Rock Cafe to have a drink while enjoying the live band...after about half an hour, we head back to the hotel to wrap up for the day....

At Burasari Spa

Our diner menu at Savoey

After diner drink at Hard Rock Cafe

Hard Rock Cafe

day 4...time to head back to kl...how i wish we could stay there longer....so much more to do....so much more to see...so many other places to visit....the place & people are nice too...after breakfast, we head to the lobby to checkout and our ride was already there waiting to send us to the airport....we arrived at phuket air port however our flight was delayed...we reached LCCT at about 4.30 pm....overall, we were very satisfied with our honeymoon trip...phuket was fun & interesting....we'll definitely make a 2nd trip to phuket....

We'll be back Phuket