On the 18-20th January, me and Mr. Terence headed down to Melaka .. half work.. half leisure. We were to fix up the BB corner at the Melaka Youth Musuem located at the Dutch Square (near Christ Church). We left KL around 2pm.. stopped by the KFC after the Sg. Besi toll gate for lunch.. then proceeded down to Melaka having another stop at one of the rest stops about 30 or so minutes from Air Keroh. There, we went to a sports shop to get ourself a pair of footware. I got a pair of Nike sandals for Australia.. might be hot during summer.

Cause of our stop over we got to our destination a little late. Reached almost at about 5.30pm. We checked into a hotel nearby the Dutch square called Aldy Hotel. It was RM155 per superior room which fits 2 people. Highly recommended! If you're going down to Melaka anytime soon, you might wanna consider staying there. It's smack right int the center of the historical places, all within a radius of 200-300 meters.

Anyways, Mr Terence and I checked in and basically lazed around abit. The hotel has Astro with a good selection of channels. We only left the hotel close to 9pm, and headed down to the Merdeka Square where a new underground shopping complex was located. There we met up with Kim Chew, an officer from 1st Melaka. I heard he's the unofficial acting captain.. one of those super officers. We were at his restaurant for dinner... very nice place. He has two restaurants at the moment. One here at the square and the other one I'll show later. Anyways, at this mall we bumped into Ins. Kumar of 1st Johor Bahru. It was a big surprise to be bumping into him in such a place since he was from Johor and us from KL.. lol!

The name of Kim Chew's restaurant - Calanthe. It's more focused on local coffees, but they also have their own specials for food and beverages. I tried their laksa. It was awesssomee... highly recommended! I also had a dose of our local coffee. Well, once you've tasted coffee from elsewhere.. our local coffee's kinda 'cha'. It depends on the soil the coffee beans are grown on.. and Malaysian soil kinda sucks. My favourite ones are still from Bali.. very strong.

Mr Terence relaxing after a long drive

After chatting and eating we quickly headed to Mahkota Parade just opposite where we were. We wanted to get some junk food from the Giant supermarket inside. Made it just in time 10.55pm.. the mall was closing actually.. but we just managed. After getting our stuff we walked home, on the way Mr Terence snapped up some pictures of the A'formosa (we were passing by). Back at the hotel, we decided to get ourselves another snack.. dinner wasn't that filling. Although the price at the Bamboo cafe was a little high, I think what we got was worth our money. We ordered a plate of cabonara and shared. I got myself a cocktail as well.. not driving ma. Haha. After that I had a quick bath.. we watched whatever was on Astro.. Haunted Mansion was screening.. and went to bed.  

Malacca at night... sweet.

Calanthe's Menu

The Boss - Kim Chew

Back at Aldy's Bamboo Cafe - with a cocktail to savour!

Day 2

The next day we set off to carry out what we came here to do.. fix up that BB puppet in the youth musuem. But before that we have to get breakfast done and over with. Breakfast was a-w-e-s-o-m-e.. perhaps another reason I'd recommend anyone to stay over at Aldy's. They had a wide selection of what you could eat.. and the set is already covered with your stay at the hotel. But of course you need to order the right thing. Some sets are not really worth it, in my opinion.

A hillside view of the hotel

After breakfast we collected our things from the car and headed off to the Musuem.. which was less than 5 minutes walk away. The BB puppet.. or rather a headless BB puppet was in a real mess. But it didn't take me long to fix him up. It needed some polishing and adjustments. In less than an hour.. our puppet was not only promoted from Corporal to Sergeant, but given a name... Sgt. Khoo Wing Sing of the 3rd Kuala Lumpur Company.. haha! (Weng Sings nametag which was spelled wrongly), was awarded the Gold Award and many other badges. Unfortunately I had to revoke his Founder and Presidents Badge as he didn't have the necessary awards to apply. Those badges are left for display at another section featuring some BB trophies.

 
Before and after!

After we got our things done we headed back to the hotel and asked for a extention of our stay for a couple of hours. I enjoyed lazing on the bed watching TV while Mr. Terence was happy soaking in the bath tub. After checking out we headed to a nearby chicken rice ball shop to eat. A few weeks earlier I was eating at another one down the road.. which tasted normal. I will be featuring that later on. Anyways, after lunch we needed to look for another place to stay. We were officially on holiday after the musuem thing. We checked out a few places in town.. Puri.. Baba's House.. all looked quite interesting.. but for some reason we didn't try them out. As we were circling Melaka looking for a place we stumbled unto the famous cendol shop. Of course we couldn't resist not going in. The cendol was nice.. better than most I had before. After awhile.. guess what.. we bumped into Kumar again! This time we got to meet his chinese girlfriend. She was sssteaamminngg hot! Nice one Kumar my man! =P

The river which brought so much trade to Malacca..

The infamous bowl of sinful cendol

After our cendol treat we started looking for another hotel. In the end we checked into one like 10-15km away.. some place called Shah's Hotel. The price was okay and from the outside it looked pretty. But inside the room... CRAP! I totally don't recommend this place unless you're looking for a dose of denggi. It was loaded with mosquitos.. a very small TV with no Astro.. no fridge.. no side lamps.. no water boiler.. and the list goes on. It did have a beach (sorta) front and a swimming pool.. but sigh. I didn't enjoy our stay in this hotel at all. Even breakfast sucked... really sucked.

The consolation staying at Shah's Hotel - the beachview

Anyways, we're are still at day two after checking in.. we went back into town for dinner. Ate at this restaurant which specializes in nyonya food.. not bad. After that it was back into Jonker for the action. They have this pasar malams at night. It was quite nice.. I personally think the Melaka City council did a good job with the place.. clean and pretty to look at.. even at night with the lights.

The first Calanthe Restaurant

See.. my drink is worth a million shots.. 

The duo's on holiday

After our stroll along jonker we went to Kim Chew's first restaurant.. it was at a good location beside Jonker and was much prettier than the other one in the mall.. maybe cause it's established. There we met two other 1st Melaka officer.. Jason and.. er.. I forgotten the other dudes name.. but I have a picture!

Sir "Something".. sorry, forgotten the name =P

We sat down for quite abit.. ordering their drinks and snapping photos. Calanethe doesn't only do F&B.. next door they had a shop selling all sorts of stuff.. noticably girls accessories. After a nice drink and chatter we headed back to our hotel for a nights session of mosquito bites. The next morning we headed back to KL. Mr Terence said it's back to reality.. but to me.. THIS is reality.. and the office/study infested place we spend our lives in is our false reality. Aye?

Oh, there's a prize to be won from me... pineapple tarts! Be the first to leave a comment for this entry and you'll win! Term and conditions apply (term: you must be someone who knowns me and not a weirdo stranger. Condition - Collectable within a week, of which after that the offer will lapse).

Who will win this?!

Oh, it'd be no justice if I didn't mention me and my CPU buddies were here several weeks ago. Just 4 of us.. me, Chow, Ming and Li-Na. Hehe.. the purpose of the trip was for food.. which didn't go very well. Perhaps next time gang? Since I know the places they sell all the good stuff.

 
Rice Balls Before & After

Wow. Even Li-Na maintained her pose. Haha!

Chow, Ming and Li-Na at Malacca some time back. I was behind the camera.

My recommendation? Malacca is definitely worth a trip to visit. 

Sometime ago I had this wacky idea to go around KL once before I leave for Melbourne. I'll be there for at least a year and a half.. max 2 years. Although that time will come and go real fast, I will be really missing home. So that's what my tour is about.. sort of like a last glance of KL kinda thing.

I'm glad I had Grace to come along. It's nice to have company and someone who's also gila photography like me.

Grace with her sweeeet Canon Powershot

Anyways, here were the routes by LRT Putra and monorail were:

Kelana Jaya - Putra Terminal (Gombak) - KL Sentral - Titiwangsa - Bukit Bintang

At Bukit Bintang, more commonly known as Bintang walk we dropped by Bentley Music for awhile.. just for me to drolled at musical instruments. Then we headed into Low Yatt to get some of stuff. Got myself a new bluetooth headset! Wahoo! But no bluetooth phone yet till I get to Melbourne.. haha. Well, at least I'm prepared and excited to get there =P

We left Low Yatt towards the LRT station at Pasar Seni. Initially we planned to drop by a famour beef noodle shop near Petaling Street, but that darn place was closed! Anyways, we walked through Petaling Street.. unfortunately we didn't have enough time for me to browse through their watches.. wouldn't mind getting another one actually if it's nice.

We were to meet up with Ally at Universiti Station, and we were kinda late.. about 15 minutes? To my surprise Veron called and wanted to join us for dinner. We met up with Ally, Ruth and Veron at Asiajaya instead. After like a dozen trains passed by, we finally hopped onto one which headed back to Kelana Jaya. Dinner was at Ming Tien.. where we talked alot about various stuff. But wow.. Grace, Ruth and Veron are really starting to mature (I won't say grown.. cause they still look short to me). Really wonder how they'd be like when I get back.. become hot chicks maybe? Hehe. Oh well..

 
Left: Veron & Ruth .Right: Grace & Ally

Anyways, this trip was an outing where I recompiled my memories of home before I head to Melbourne. So this are some scenes of KL of which some I'll probably miss...

The YMCA

The KL Skyline

The Titiwangsa Range

The PJ Skyline

Perhaps when I get back ther are some things I'd expect to see.. such as..

Midvalley 2

Others landmarks will be updated later.

Sigh. I'm gonna miss home.

My first post as the Recruitment Officer last year was the most successful drive for as long as I can remember. I wanna talk all those involved, particularly then LCpl. Steve. LCpl Hoe Kit and Cpl Jie Cong for their commitment and dedication as well as Mr. Yong and Mr. Tan for helping out with the drill. the Year 2006 reruits are truly a special batch and would probably and most likely hold pleasant surprises for the company in the years to come.

Recruits of 2006

..and some jokers who gate crashed

So here's a tribute to the odd 26 dudes that made it from January till July as Privates:

Recruits of 2006

Deon Nicholas Lee Soon Wen, Ang Ing Wei, Wong Sai Kit, Benjamin Lim Yong Sheng, Ang Buan Liang, Poh Chee Loong, Adrian Lee Wei Hao, Bryan Fernandez, Arvind Aaron Gemez, Koh Yih Lik, Julian Lee Zu Yao, Lum Fuh Lin

Joshua Yap Meng Wee, Toh Yu Shaun, Kee Jit Shen, Master Alexander, Veeyan Veenaik, Teng Hauh Jer, Naresh, Dinesh, Peh Win Shen, Lim Peng Yong, Ng Chun Fong, Wong Jian Ming, Ernest Chiew, Chen Yuen Seng

I also met up with my secondary school friends last night at F1 restaurant.. we used to be on a gila bunch back in school. Heh.

 
Former classmates: Pin Kean, The Most Handsome, Yun Hau & How Ran

 
The Headprefect and the Assistant
Kok Siew Cheng & Me

This logo is for keeps sake, before I delete it from my harddrive, which will serve as a memorial for the sleepless nights I've endured finishing two assignments back to back (Assignments 2 for MGW3681 and MGW2351) somewhere around October 2006. Working on a case study on the Virgin Group of Companies, I decided to lighten things up. Check out the Virgin website for a clearer perspective.

On the day Chow left, at Nam Leong Restaurant, Taipan, my CPU friends made me make a pact with them as part of our friendship agreement for the Year 2007 for my studies in Monash. The pact contains the following directives:

- I (Voon Z. Yi), is not to date nor be tempted by any hot females, particularly in the premises of the OCF where seduction is at its peak, nor at any other premises in Australia.

- I am not to fail any subjects/units throughout the duration of my stay in Melbourne and must resort to any means necessarily to avoid the N grade.

- Failure to comply with the terms would lead the the expulsion of myself from Ong, Deej's home should she allow me to stay there during the course of my (Voon) studies in Monash.

That pretty much cover it. This would form a contract, agreed upon by both parties. However, I didn't agree to the term - Voon is to pay for everyones air ticket to Bali should any of these terms be broken. Hehe.

6 months since my last Penang visit and I'm heere again, this time with 3 other BB officers and former officers. We'll be doing a motorcruise from KL to Penang around March. So we were basically there to check out the potential hotel they'll be staying in. I won't be around then, that's why I used "they".

It was a 4-5 hour drive from KL to Penang, with a stop near Tapah (Baskin Robins. Heh). Other than that I was sleeping most of the time. When we got to Penang we immediately headed to Komtar to buy our bus tickets. Then we headed straight to out first hotel Crown something.. which totally sucked. Then we headed for lunch as there was some mix up at the second hotel, Naza.

We spent most of the time eating around. Food is probably the one thing that makes Penang unique. Most of the good stuff lack the decorative aspect, but it was a different story when the food goes into the mouth.

 
Penang Loh Mee

After lunch, we headed for Naza hotel, ahead of time. We were supposed to meet their marketing representative, but wasn't picking up our calls. Mr. Lawrence decided to head there anyway. That place was way better than the first hotel we visited, and our decision was obvious. So it'll be Naza hotel.. the end point of the the Motor Cruise. We decided the check in.. taking two rooms. Kok Kee decided to join us instead of going home.

Preview of Naza Hotel

At night we headed to Batu Ferenggi. Mr. Lawrence wanted to buy some DVDs. We were at Perangin Mall after lunch for some already. But instead, it was Mr. Yeng Voon and Kok Kee who ended up buying DVDs. I was tempted to buy one of those fake Rolex watches.. but decided against it as they were charging me to much.. even for a fake. RM190.. when I knew I could get it for RM20. I guess I'll buy one in KL instead.

After that we headed back to the hotel. Carol and Sorvine were so nice to pay me a visit.. making me feel a little bad to making them come a long way to the Island (they were from Butterworth). But it was nice talking and meeting up with them. Carol was just around in KL a week ago.

The next day we did nothing much but stay in the hotel watching DVDs.. and missing church =(. We came back to KL around 9.45pm.. where we had our dinner in Petaling Street. On the way to the LRT, I bought my fake watch.. wasnt't a rolex though. =P

My new fake watch on  my messy table..

Already? (in response to the title)

Man. What a year.. and how fast time flies! (and all the other common new year shocks). I was browsing through the past entries and reflected upon what a wonderful year it has been.. probably the best year since my days in Taylors (2002/03). Also, the blog has revealed how much I missed out... as in unblogged events.. undone "homework". Darn. So many big events I've not blogged about and I might just forget about it forever. If only I reserved some time in the day.. or week.. just to write them all down. What am I yapping about....?..

Anyways, yes - praise God for a wonderful 2006! Why? Because of..

- The successful recruitment drive (in charge by me, or course) in SMK Taman Desa for BB.
- Drill Team winning 1st-Runner up for Pesta 2006 for the first time in 49 years (out of 33 teams).
- Passing all my subjects for semester 2.
- Gaining entry into Monash Berwick, Melbourne.
- Successfully created 3rdklbb.org with a consistant 40 hits per day.
- Returning to FGA

But it was also a sad year, and to remember..

- Grandfather passed away (Jan? Or Feb) and so did grandma.
- Made a hard decision to break-up with Theresa.
- Flunked Macroecons ECW1102.
- Deciding to leave EFCGC

There's of course so much more to this.. but like I said, I can't remember! Oh well.. no biggie. Perhaps a resolution for Year 2007 and beyond ought to be blog all important events. But if I would summarize this year in a sentence, it would have been the year of 'rebound'.. as in revival for me personally. People stumble from time to time. I had my fall.. and this was the year I got up again.

The beginning of the year has a good start.. the middle of the year was horrible because of the exam results and break-up. The second half of the year was pretty much depressing because of the discouragement due to the above reasons. The end of it was a bang after knowing all my results are okay and when my CPU buddies are back.

This year (2007) is a truely new year.. with a totally new place with a new life. New house, new uni, new environment, new friends, new mode of transportation (sigh), new currency, no BB, no 3rd KL, no more happy times with fellow BB comrades and so on. I guess you give and take. All in all.. I can't wait. It shall also be another God centered life, as it should be till I 'go'.

Come 2007.