Colourful Life

Thai & Taiwan food

noreply@blogger.com (Josephine Kiun) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:44:00 +0000

This month I gotta say I opted for Thai food whenever I went outside to have lunch or dinner. On the 2nd of February, I went out with Shona once again. This time I went to her place which is in Petaling Jaya. She decided to bring me to Amcorp Mall, next to Taman Jaya LRT station. My 1st impression of that shopping mall was that it looked like Karamunsing, but actually it is totally different lah.

Since we were both so starving, we headed straight to the mamak restaurant in basement floor for lunch. (Below) Shona picked Kuey Teow Basah,

whereas I picked Thai fried rice with blended Milo.
After lunch, we roamed around the mall while chitchatting endlessly. Shona recommended me this one particular book store which offers various types of cheap books. There are encyclopaedia, novels, dictionaries, bibles, comic books, biographies and many others. That book store is called Book Xcess.

Two days later, my sister decided to go to the same mall since she wanted to get some books. So the three of us (my sister, Johan & I) went to Amcorp mall in the evening. Before heading to the book store, we decided to have dinner 1st. My sister suggested to dine in the Thai restaurant. (Below) The first dish to arrive was Tom Yam soup. It was spicy and creamy (but not too creamy, though) with prawns, shredded mushrooms, crab meats and cilantro leaves. It was nice.

(Below) for my dinner, I picked Thai Beef Fried Rice. Coincidentally Johan picked the same plate of fried rice. Haha.

(Below) For my sister's dinner, she picked Seafood Fried Rice. Both plates were yummy!!

Another two days later I decided to meet my ex-colleague, Flora, in Putrajaya. She's currently working and staying there. We wanted to surprise our ex-managers at first but it didn't happened. Hehe.. So yeah... For lunch, Flora recommended Johnny's Restaurant. It is a Thai steamboat restaurant, however it does serve lunch set meal priced RM8.90 each. The set meal consists of main course, Thai tea, your choice of ice cream and tom yam soup.

(Below) Flora decided to get herself the shrimp paste fried rice set

(Below) Thai tea; it was something different. The sauce beside it was BBQ sauce.

(Below) I chose this yucky-coloured mee with chicken.

The gravy was sweet & salty but more to sweet.

If you mix in the tom yam soup together, it is totally yummy. =)

(Below) Dessert was served after the meal, and I picked honeydew ice cream. It had these tiny bits of honeydew in it. I love it. =)

A day after that, I went out with Candy and another high school friend - Jason. It was still the holiday for Chap Goh Mei and since the bears in Pavilion will stay there until 15th of February only, I decided to bring them for some "photoshooting sessions". =P

(Below) Jason & Candy with the bear representing Malaysia. ;)

(Below) The three of us stood in front of Pavilion's water fountain.

After the "photo-shoots" session, I decided to bring them to Snowflake to try out the Taiwan desserts. Actually I myself wanted to taste it so badly. Haha.

(Below) Seen here is Soya Ice Series. The ice was so smooth and taste extremely delicious, together with kidney beans; pearls; glutinous rice and grass jelly.

(Below) The other dessert on my left hand was Taroballs Series. It was not my preference, but it was still good though.

There's nothing much to see in Pavilion, hence we decided to walk to KLCC using the new bridge or walkway. In less than 15 minutes, we reached Suria KLCC. We roamed around, ate a little and then walked out to the KLCC Park where the Symphony Lake is.

(Below) Traders Hotel can be seen from Suria KLCC. It definitely seemed far from KLCC.

(Below) Candy stood right below the twin tower.

And that was how we ended our day. Hehe..

Around KL and Selangor

noreply@blogger.com (Josephine Kiun) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:24:00 +0000

Now this is going to be an awfully long post, since I didn't managed to update my blog on certain days due to the internet problem. But anyway, I hope this post can at least benefit some of you. ;)

On the 14th of Jan I decided to go to the 2nd nearest (from Bandar Sungai Long) shopping mall, which happens to be The Mines. So off I went on my own, since there were none of my friends available that day.

As I walked down the stairs and going towards the entrance, a spectacular sight greeted me. (Picture below) I saw there was a small stream from inside the shopping mall, and a crowd of people were gathering round it.

At first I thought the stream was just a huge drain since it was under the main road, but actually it is a stream linking to two great lakes. The place was once a tin mine site; abandoned by Europeans. Gradually rain waters began to fill the crevice and thus was the humble beginning of the two great lakes. In 1988, Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew built Mines Resort City (MRC) and the shopping mall is just one of the many interesting places in MRC.

(Picture below) People gathered and watched as a boat cruised into the shopping mall. There was a sign of "no feeding" of fish but despite that, visitors were throwing some food into the water.

As you can see here (below), the stream is flowing through the shopping mall and becomes the main attraction. Restaurants have their seats and tables extended near the stream, so their customers could dine while enjoying the view.

The picture below was taken at the other end of the shopping mall.

I stayed and loitered around the shopping mall until about 8pm. I managed to grab some brochures about boat cruising and there's one thing that caught my eyes. There's a water lift to connect the north lake with the south lake, since both lakes are of different water level - 7 meters to be precise. It will take 7 minutes to discharge or refill the water. Can't imagine? Then come experience the cruise & water lift yourself, here in Mines Resort City. =) It will cost below RM45 per adult and children aged 3-11 are charged between RM17 to RM40, depending on the package selected.

Next trip was to Mid Valley with my ex-classmate, Candyrine. It was a convenient trip since my sister works in the next shopping mall - The Gardens. There was not any significantly interesting place in Mid Valley & The Gardens, but I totally recommend the eating and drinking place. Examples are Kim Gary, Chatime, Ninja Joe, TGIF's, Snowflake, Yogitree and many others. If you're someone who loves to try out new eating/drinking place and willing to spend, this is a place where you won't regret each penny spent.

Picture below - Candy with her Korean "maggie mee". It's a lunch set meal.

Picture below - my set meal (Baked cheese rice with beef, pudding & ying yong)

Picture below - It was a week before Chinese New Year, hence the shopping mall was decorated with potted flowers & Lu Kam tree.

After the short hang out with Candy, I went out with another good friend of mine - Shona - on a different day. Coincidentally, I met Candy in KTM and we both disembarked at the same station. My two friends who had never met each other for 5 years despite both being in KL, finally met during this fateful day. There were so much emotions inside and I couldn't forget we all laughed almost hysterically in public! Hahaha!!

After the short meetup, Shona and I decided to tour 1 Utama. Seen in the picture below is Shona with her clay pot mee.We decided to have lunch in the food court here.

The shopping mall was quite empty, however it was still decorated beautifully.

After roaming around the shopping mall, we saw this cute & eye-catching shop selling all sorts of candies and sweets. We simply couldn't resist the desire to take pictures despite the sign "no photography" displayed around the shop.

After bored of roaming around 1 Utama and satisfied with all the pictures we took in Candylicious, we decided to head to SS2 Petaling Jaya for dinner & durian. The picture below was the Kuey Teow from SS2 PJ. I have forgotten from which stall exactly, but it was so nice!

(Below) Donald's durian buffet. Eat as much as you can.

(Below) Beautiful flesh. I only managed to eat 1 whole durian. Well, almost~~ There were 3 left.

It was Chinese New Year's Eve when I met with Shona again. This time we decided to meet up in Central Market or Pasar Seni. It was lunch time, hence we headed straight to Old Town White Coffee to fill up our stomach. I ordered spicy chicken rice while my friend picked Hainanese fish rice.

After indulging in our tasty food & exchanging stories, we headed to Pavilion. On our way, we decided to stop by Fahrenheit88. Seen below is the simple decoration at the entrance.

(Below)Since the décor in the shopping mall was so beautiful, we decided to take pictures before leaving.

Now, this is the fun part. There are bears painted by renown artists displayed outside Pavilion. Each bear represents one country in the world. The bears will be on displayed until 15th of February. The main intention is to raise awareness in respecting & loving all life (if I'm not mistaken).

(Above) Bear representing China

(Below) We went inside Pavilion and saw a lot of people took picture with this live Cai Shen Ye. Hehe

(Below) My cute friend doing kung fu. hehe

(Below) since it was CNY's eve, there were a lot of people in the shopping mall.

(Below) Shona actually planned to bring me to Snowflake but the shop closed early that day. So we went to Little Taiwan instead and since I was craving for something icy, I picked ice blended mango.

Later we decided to have a light dinner in Pavilion. I told Shona I need a place with WiFi and socket, so that I could upload my video for my dad. The nearest was Capricciosa Pizza & Pasta (picture below) and we made a quick decision to dine there. The food was yummy and the person in charge was friendly, helpful and funny. I would definitely go back there to dine but not in the nearest time.
After that light dinner, I decided to visit my friend in Kajang. On our way out, we managed to take a quick shot of Sephora shopping mall. It is a place for those who love make-ups.
(Below) KL is a busy place. In addition to the CNY celebration, the traffic was definitely congested. Walking was far more quicker than those who were driving.

Since my sister said it was dangerous to travel alone to Kajang at night, I decided to accept her invitation of celebrating CNY together. Together with the family of her bf, we decided to launch tang lung at this look out point (picture below). Too bad it was under renovation and not open to public yet.

So instead we went to Taman Bukit Antarabangsa to launch the tang lung. What a terrific day & night! =D

Personal Stuff

noreply@blogger.com (Josephine Kiun) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:22:00 +0000

Today marked another big history in my life. Only today I feel like the relationship is really over. I can be sure it’s the last time I’m going to ever talk to him about the issues we had. And also the last time we would ever talk again. Before this we decided to remain friends, but things got really ugly. Curiosity, lies, anger and dissatisfaction grew like mushrooms after the rain. It’s true when people say friendship after relationship is almost impossible. I know I am not the best person in the world; I’ve done a lot of damages in the relationship but he has done the same too. But yeah, I don't want to talk bad about him.

Now it’s not that I didn’t and couldn’t move on; I did. Two months after our breakup, we were still in contact and remained good friends. And soon I decided to move to KL to pursue my dream – this time I have moved on. But then there he was telling me he misses me, loves me, can’t contain his feelings for me after I got on the plane. I got really confused and the feelings and hope to be in a relationship with him again, emerged. And that was the very moment things started to get ugly in addition to our distance.

I tried to divert my attention by caring for someone else, but it didn’t work. I still have the hurt inside of me and I tried to talk about it to people. It’s a challenge when everybody is busy when you want to talk about it, and when people aren’t busy anymore you are not ready to talk about it.

If I’m an author, I would write down everything in a novel and publish it. I guess I was given what I asked for from God (if he’s not for me, break us apart. No matter what we do, we won’t be able to be together again), but then at the same time I couldn’t accept it. You know sometimes it is best not to do things ever so willingly for 1 person. When you know that the person only pitied you instead of loving you for all those things that you have done and sacrificed, you do feel like jumping from a tall building. Deep down in my heart I do feel I was being treated unfairly, but it is all history now. I want to bury it under the ground and leave it there untouched. And I don’t mind how he would describe me or the relationship was like to other people; I simply give him the freedom to describe it.

I am not angry or despise him but the whole thing really leaves me traumatized and scarred. I just wish that he would be happy with his decisions and life.

Far From Home

noreply@blogger.com (Josephine Kiun) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 22:53:00 +0000

It has been ages since the last post I did and I was a bit surprised to see that there were people who read it after I stopped writing. Well since my blog is public and there on the net, so of course people will somehow stumble upon it. Haha, silly me. =”)

Today I had a really long period of thinking and pondering upon several things. I met an old friend of mine and she shared to me about her relationship. Listening to her side of story made me realized all that I have assumed were wrong, and somehow I can relate so much with my own. She has been so inspiring.

After meeting her, I was hesitant whether to go back home and face the jam, or go to Midvalley to roam around and clear my mind while waiting for my sister to complete her shift. I guess I had too many things on my mind because I went to the wrong station - monorail station instead of KTM.

Too afraid to turn back to KL Central Station (…because a guy chased after me before that), I decided to go to Times Square. I had no plan whatsoever; the only thing in mind was to sit quietly in a restaurant or café, watch those people walk by, have a drink and think through about what had happened so far.

When I reached, I went around hunting for food court/café but didn’t see any up to my expectation. Plus I wasn’t feeling hungry that time but I know I must fill up my stomach with something. Hence I kept on walking while looking everywhere – all those pretty clothes and stuff, the beautiful and handsome people there – without actually really looking at them. My mind was actually thinking how lonely it would be, being thousands of kilometers away from home. And that was just one of it.

Being so used to busyness for almost two years – juggling between work shifts, study, activities with family/friends and time for myself – I was completely lost when all those busyness came to a halt. Of course I still went out occasionally, but the urge to be around people was so strong; especially when my relationship has ended. Hence I started to find person/people to talk to, and got really upset when there was no response.

Staying here is lonelier than ever – it’s like staying in jail – especially with my condition now. Almost every time, you stand on your own feet. However, I gave it a thought just now and decided that being lonely is not so bad after all. It’s time for me to think and care for myself. The urge to be around people or the clinginess and being dependent on people, have all made me even lost. I cannot decide or make up my mind even about the simplest thing. I need at least someone’s opinion and only then I can decide. That was ridiculous.

I realized I ought to be thankful (even though I am quite lonely) because at least I can relax and do what I like for the day, compared to those unfortunate people who were left homeless or orphaned without friends and family. After all next month I am going to start my practical in Traders Hotel, KLCC, so it means I won't be forever alone. =]

Another thing on my mind was about identity or being my true self. Today I saw two different groups of Sabahan and overheard their conversations since they were talking in normal tone. Honestly before today, I was quite afraid and hesitant to speak in Malay. If I do, I will speak in low tone (but sometimes my tuning is not that good). I remember when I was having conversation with my friend in KTM (it was rather packed that time); few pairs of eyes were looking at us. At first it was rather uncomfortable but as we chit chatted further, they stopped looking and I started to feel relax.

There was this one funny incident where the staff in Yamaha spoke to me in Cantonese about acoustic guitar, and all I did was just smiled at him and ran out of the shop. Hahaha. I know it was silly because I can speak to him in Mandarin, but I guess I was just chickening out to speak any other language than the one he was using. Most of the shopkeepers/salespersons would speak to me in Cantonese, but usually if I don’t really understand, I would just turn around and walk away. Yes I know; me silly and rude.

When my sister finally picked me up from Times Square, she mentioned to me a lot about some of the people here. I noticed that most of the attitudes and characters that they have, I already have it with me even before I stepped foot here. It was kind of a slap in the face, but yeah…

Anywayssssss, different topic… someone said to my sister “asal dr kampong” and when I knew about it, it boiled my blood for a minute. Luckily I didn’t respond on impulse or else I could make a tease become a World War III. Eekk >.<

Bad Customer Service

noreply@blogger.com (Josephine Kiun) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 01:48:00 +0000

*image from Google Search*

Perhaps all customers expect to be treated like a baby?

Just now was a calm and relaxing night at work. There were only several tables with guests during dinner time and so my manager asked me to help her do something. Meanwhile my colleague backed me up and I didnt mind about my surrounding because my intention was to get the work done as soon as possible and go back to what I was supposed to be doing.

Once I finished doing the thing that my manager asked me to do, I continued my original work and took orders from two tourist guests (from their language I can tell that they are Japanese). Actually I saw them flipping through the menu for quite some time and none of my colleagues approached them yet since they were attending other guests too. In my head I was thinking maybe they dont really understand how to order, so I went up to them and explained a bit about the set menu and a la carte menu.

After I was done taking orders from the tourists and serving their meal, I went off helping my other colleagues. Soon the tourists finished eating, paid and left the restaurant. Then suddenly one of my colleagues was called by a guest whom asked about her muffins. Upon hearing this, I quickly turned to the cashier and asked her about the muffins (that's her job). And right at the time, the muffins were ready for the guest. So I took it and gave it to the guest. But even before I was able to say anything (like, here's your muffin or sorry about the delay), she bombarded me saying that our service is very bad, and adding just because she is local we treated them like that.

*image from Google Search*

I didnt know anything and I didnt know what caused her to be so angry. So I asked her what's wrong, trying to be friendly at the same time. She replied saying the muffin should be served together with the drinks. So I explained to her that our muffins just now were finished and they were baking it, that was why it came late. I wanted to apologize at this time but she continued saying no one approached her and told her about it and repeated that just because they are locals we treated them like that.

At this point I was angry because I know for sure I didnt serve her in the first place and I know nothing about what happened. But I kept quiet and listened to the next thing she said. Afterwards I explained to her that should she has any complaints, she can always let us know. But she cut me before I finished, saying "so what are you gonna do?! you gonna change ka?! you cannot change already what had happened!!" So I cut her back saying that of course we gonna change to improve our service. But before I finish my sentence she said "nah, take this. Go away." Anyhow, I thanked her despite my anger and left.

*image from Google Search*

I didnt want to argue with her, I just wanna make her understand that our service is just the same. I wonder what makes her think that we treated the tourist guests differently. The thing was, she was not friendly to any of my colleagues including me in the first place. Whereas the two tourists were the ones who smiled and waved to us before they left.

*image from Google Search*

I dont mind to listen to customer complaints and apologize to them, but only IF that is or those are my mistake(s). I admit that we may be careless/carefree as we didnt inform them but truth is, I didnt know what happened and she should not have bombarded me saying we treated them differently and so on. I did not serve her before that and my workmates did not let me know anything, I simply wanted to help my friend. Of course even if customers are always right, I dont practise that and let them say what they want. I have my right and I am a customer too just like them. I know how it feels like when your right is violated. Man, seriously... Think before you speak lah.

*image from Google Search*

I remember that day on the 6th during Chinese New Year, I and a friend went to Damai for lunch. It was quite packed but we managed to find a seat to sit down. So we ordered a simple meal (just some fried dumplings) because we kind of rushing to go to another destination. After about 30 minutes, I asked my friend to go and ask about the fried dumplings. However my friend refused to stand up and walk over there saying that the owner has quite a lot of orders, and that we should wait patiently. I didnt care and insisted to ask them since we have paid for it, so finally my friend went there.

However after a while, the dumplings still had not arrived. So finally I myself walked over and asked about the fried dumplings. The owner just gave me a cold stare and said that it's almost our turn. I was very angry and couldnt wait any longer so I said we gonna tapau the fried dumplings. Both I and my friend stood there and I couldnt help but to blabber there (but of course not at the owner) out all my dissatisfaction. Finally after another 30 minutes of waiting, the fried dumplings were given to us.

Another same incident happened in Tanjung Aru during Valentine's Day. We ordered a simple meal too (Nasi Goreng Tom Yam/Thailand, cant remember) but it arrived almost 30 minutes later. That time it wasnt very busy anymore since most of the people went back home already but the time they took to serve one meal was just too long. Even our change was given back to us after about 15 minutes, which luckily we asked for it.

So yeah, both places I experienced bad customer service, but I didnt act like a B****. The first one (in Damai), they should have given priority to those customers who have paid for their food though they are using FIFO system. Second one (in Tanjung Aru), they should have return the money a.s.a.p. lah. Dont lah buat-buat lupa, hoping that we will forget bout our money just like that. Duhhh~~

.Beautiful KK.

noreply@blogger.com (Josephine Kiun) — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 02:09:00 +0000

Last year in either November or December, Kota Kinabalu City Hall (I guess la...Or maybe some other company...) was doing renovation work and was setting up walkway with roof between Api-Api Center and Promenade Hotel.. Now the work has done and people can walk on the walkway away from the sun and rain.

I took the pictures since December 2010 and at that time the walkway was only done until before the clock tower (or in front of Zanzibar and Chillax)... Drainage near the walkway was also done. Besides that there are lamps below the roof of the walkway, which allows people to see their way at night if they walk there. Thanks to the government for all these facilities. I'm kinda sure why it's done quickly before this coming general election. BUT I'm wondering whether it will be maintained in the future. That, we'll just have to wait and see. For now, let's use the walkway and enjoy the surrounding view. =)

At the time the walkway was still half done.

This view shows that the walkway has not been done up to this place.