Penang Bridge Run & makan trip...

I had a great trip & run up north (Penang) over the weekend. The run was great & the food was fantatic..hehe...the effort of loosing some fats via the race went down into the drain after all the makan session from Penang all the way down to KL.

(Happy Family??? haha...took this pic when we were in Ghee Him)

The Run

Yen, Gary, Houn, Jih Yeh & I got up as early as 1am to catch the pacesetter's shutter bus to USM (starting point). For Gary & Houn, they started running at 3am, Jih Yeh started 5am, Yen & I were 530am. The reason why we went early was due to the road closure for the race. (a bit crazy...coz the time when we left the hotel, the disco on hotel's ground floor still not close for the day...haha)

At the starting point, we went separate way to our own check point for reporting. Myself & Yen had to walk extra 2km in order to reach ours. The weather was warm & stuffy, i was cursing myself of why joining the race then. (haha..lack of sleep, temper was totally uncontrollably bad)

An hour passed, it was 3am..my eyes were watery & tired..i took a piece of free newspaper copy & placed in on the tar road & slept for 40mins. (well, i was not the only one...so many others are doing the same while waiting for our turn to run)...It was refreshing when i woke up. ;p

530am sharp, My catogory started running....it was difficult at first to run through the sea of people (13,000 pax in 10km started together)...mainly school boys & girls...about 3km later the road was getting more spacious, it was much easier to maintain the running speed. Yen was infront of me as usual, but i just having fun & ran on my own pace.

Half way of my run, i met a group of veteran runners (they atleast 55-65)..they called themselves "Uncle Roti"..very cute bunch of uncles..They were holding an air horn & "honk honk" along the way to keep up everyone's spirit to continue running...indeed they did a great job, many of us ran together with them & shouted "uncle roti, uncle roti"...haha..funny.

Nway, i finished my run in 1hr 33mins, few minutes behind Yen...it maybe not be a good timing, but it was my personal best so far. ^_^ Other than my both 2nd toes turned dark, i wasnt feeling much tired after that.

Makaning Session

Day 1 (Saturday) - We (in two cars - Gary, Pooi Fern, Yen, Houn, Jih Yeh & i) met up with Kelvin, Lena, Pat & Wai Leng for Seafood dinner at Teluk Kumbar. The food was fantastic. We bumped into Han & his friends too.

Day 2 (Sunday) - After the run, we headed for Penang famous fried Koey Tiaw, Cendol, Prawn Mee & Laksa. At night, Mr Pak, Mr "Chin Yan" & another fella (sorry, dont know the name) joined the group for Famous Hainan Western food at Mt Eskerin Road & Gurney drive. I highly recommended Hainan Western Food to everyone, the food was really good & the price was very resonable..(ranging as low as RM 6 - Max of RM 14).

(one of the famous fried kuey teow stall - "Sisters Fried kuey Teow" crazily waited for the long Q yet nice cha kuey teow)

(Houn enjoying himself with latest Penang delicacy near Kek Lok Si Temple...hahahaha)

(Latest highlight in Kek Lok Si Temple - incline lift leading to the big Kuan Yin figure ontop of hill)

(Hainan Westernfood @ Mt Eskerin Road - I got to know this plc via a TV program Named "Ah Xian - Jason" the way the cook are special & reasonably cheap. Oneself can choose the best suitable sauce from one the 7 types of sauces)

Day 3 (Monday) - The craziest day...we ate until Mr "Chin Yan" & Mr Pak surrendered! From Penang Famous Teow Chew Cendol to Taiping Ice blended red bean & Kuih , then Ipoh "Yong tau fu" to Gopeng Durian & Bidor famous "duck noodle".

(chit chatting while waiting for more cendol to come)

(Ipoh "under the big tree" Yong Tau Fu - Best in Ipoh)

(Mr. "Chin Yan" bargaining on behalf us with the pakcik Durian...haha...funny, he went to an extent of playing "one, two, som" in order to get cheaper price)

Special thanks to the group of people that went together...Esp Gary & Jih Yeh who droved all the time, Wai Leng took us for Seafood dinner, Yen, Pooi Fern, Han, Lena, Pat & Houn for good accompany...Mr Pak & Mr "Chin Yan" for cracking so many jokes that made us laugh till stomach turn up side down..last but not least, thanks to Kelvin for helping us to collect our bib.

Girls lepak day....

I met up with Elis & Eve last saturday at KLCC for shopping and dinner. Initial plan was to watch a movie there but the weekend "Q" at the cinema was too long. We ended up in Restaurant Bukhara for buffet instead.

Hmm...it was my first time dining in this Restaurant (my attempt to try it many times failed before this...haha) , it serve nice middle eastern food to my surprise & not expensive as i thought it would be. The two hours buffet** only cost us RM28++ and we get to taste finger food like "mutabak", "kebab poh piah", "ceaser salad", "nachos" & some others that i dono their names..haha..

Main dishes pula - "cabonara pasta", "fried meehoon", "lamb shank", "BBQ beef meatball", "spicy chicken wings" & "nasi kunyit"....i like the BBQ beef meatball most...crispy outside & juicy inside..just perfect serving it with sour cream.

Desserts menu??? Mini cup cakes, cheese cakes, cream puff coated with chocolates, fruits, Ais Kacang...and the hightlights among the Desserts is "Baklawah" - A special pastry from middle east which made out of date-filled inside a cookie dough...Is delicious!

The nite continued with another round of window shopping before we decided to check out The Sky Bar on 33rd Floor of Traders Hotel which situated next to KL Convention Centre. It is a superb chill out space with an open air pavillion perched on the roof appears to almost float in the clouds with great almost 360deg KL views overlooking KLCC, Genting & Bintang walk. Personally...really good place to celebrate birthday,holiday eve or romantic outing for two...the night view just simply magnificent!!

(View from higher floor)

(view facing KLCC...v sat at one of these cube while chilling out with our drinks & peanuts)

(View from the entrance)

(another front view from entrance)

** Note : the buffet starts at 5pm - 7pm, normal hours they serve ala-carte

http://www.bukhara.com.my

World Environment Day - What I Pledge to....

(this photo taken from UNEP website....Fast Melting Glaciers....scary yeh!!)

In conjunction with World Environment Day 2007, Star paper has came out with quite a number of articles on how & what the M'sian Citizens can help to make our home a better place to live in. Among these write up, i found this page with the title "I pledge to..." quite interesting to blog it out.

I Pledge To...

1) Run My air conditioning at a temperature no lower than 24deg Celsius - Using Air-conditioning Units at lower temperatures significantly increases its power consumption and may even shorten its operating lifespan.

2) Ride a bicycle or walk to the neighbourhood grocery store instead of driving - Starting the car consumes fuel and constant on/off cycles will shorten its useful life. Do I really need to drive to the store 500m away to buy a tin of condensed milk, considering the amount of calories it contains?

3) Use rechargeable batteries wherever possible - Both rechargeable and regular batteries contain toxic chemicals that are damaging to the environment. Rechargeable will reduce the need to dispose of batteries.

4) Car pool or take public transport - Taxis not included, of course. For obvious reasons, one more car off the road reduces emissions, the use of fossil fuels, and is easier on your wallet as well.

5) Make my children aware of environmental issues and get them involved in green habits - Education is the basis of all conservation/ environmental issues. The earlier your children are aware of it, the earlier they can adopt green habits.

6) Donate to a local environmental or conservation group or volunteer services to them - Many such local organisations are charitable and are run by volunteers. Every little bit will help, even the spare change in your pocket.

7) Use reusable utensils and not disposable ones - All you have to do is bring along your own container next time you "ta pau" food. Or decline the bamboo chopsticks or plastic fork and spoon.

8) Sort out my garbage, and make sure recyclable materials are taken to a recycling centre - Just about any plastic, metal, glass or paper material can be recycled.

9) Buy environmentally-friendly products or from a manufacturer who has environmental concerns in mind - there is a plethora of manufacturers today to strive to make their products greener, aided in no small part by regional environmental regulations - the European Union is a good example. Reading the labels is the most obvious step, as they will usually trumpet the fact.

10) Go on to the Internet and find out more about environment issues - the Internet is the best ready resource that is readily available to most. A search of the terms 'environment', 'conservation', 'green earth' is a good, but far from exhaustive start.

11) Do full loads of laundry and not half loads - Wait until there is sufficient dirty laundry to fill up your washing machine. It that means washing your underwear with three-day-old socks, so be it.

12) Buy organically-grown vegetables next time i shop for groceries - Organic vegetables are grown naturally, without the use of any artificial and chemical-based fertilisers and pesticides.

13) Use energy-saving light bulbs wherever possible - incandescent light bulbs have been around, well, since Thomas Edison invented the first practical version in 1879 - and the basic design hasn't changed much, if at all, since then. Modern energy saving bulbs not only last longer but are far more efficient, saving money in the long run, initial costs included.

14) Collect rainwater and use it to water your plants - think about it - plants have been thriving on rainwater even before the human race first appeared on the earth, so is there any need to use treated water?

15) Decide what i want from the refrigerator before I open the door and not leave it open for extended periods - Every time the refrigerator door is opened, cold air escapes and energy is consumed to bring internal temperatures to original levels. So some thought is needed before you open it. Maybe you could even doublethink that midnight snack for your own health concerns.

16) Decline the use of plastic bags for things that I can carry by hand or use my own bag - Ask yourself : do you really need a plastic bag when buying a packet of chewing gum? bring along your own bag for more purchases.

17) Air-or sun-dry clothes and not use a dryer - Water evaporates - that is a basic fact of nature. Electric clothes dryers consume copious amounts of energy so make use of the abundant sun and hot weather that we have in Malaysia.

18) Plant a tree today, any tree, plant, shrub - or bush, even - Every plant life form transforms carbon dioxide into life-supporting oxygen by day. So plant one today!

19) reduce my water and electricity bill by 20% - There are many ways to do this - taking a shower instead of using the bathtub, reducing the use of electrical appliances, or simply making the most efficient use of utilities. But don't skimp by not flushing the toilet, please.

20) Print on or use both sides of a sheet of paper - Printing on or using both sides will reduce consumption by half. The rule does not apply to toilet paper.

21) Your very own pledge - if none of the above is to your liking, come up with your very own pledge and tell us about it.

These ideas always came out on the newspapers and medias whenever there's occasion like "World Environment Day" or "Consumer's Day" and such....but often we aware & does it with "penuh semangat" for awhile before we forgotten about it.Even myself often neglected the importance of keeping these rules..Perhaps, is time for us to put more effort onto it.

PS : Most European Countries, United States and Japan are doing their best on Saving the earth...can we M'sian do so???

Alden left for Cambridge again..

(kekeke....Alden being "Elvis" some time back)

In about 2hrs time Alden will be touching down to London Airport. Is lot more easier to sent him off this time round compared to the last two farewell...Though it was sad, but i guess knowing the fact that this fella will come back pretty soon to surprise all the frens & family like how he did it this time does make us feel better. ^_^

It was good time of having him back here in M'sia. Though he was busy with his research, we managed to catch up quite a bit on makan trips, movie, shopping & participated Asthma Run.

Hmm...I guess he will have start his final battle on his Mphil the minute he get back to Cambridge...All the best ya...