36 & 6 Birthday Party

Birthday Boy

Mommy & Si Qian. Grandma at background

Our Spidey birthday cake. More like his, though!

Last Saturday, 16th of May, we had a small party to celebrate Xu Hom's and my birthday party. Well, actually, I just tumpang celebrate only la..... the real star is of course Xu Hom. Again we had the party in our house.

This time, Debbie decided that we had enough of steam-boats. So, we opt for cooked food instead; the usual staple like fried rice, fried meehon, salad and curry chicken. Not forgetting the crowd favorite of deep fried wanton and my special mayo sauce! (sorry, can't let you know my recipe........)

However, we had a teeny weeny problem. This type of party is not appealing enough for our Claudia and co. No omph..... So, as an additional for all these food we decided to have a BBQ too! Whoa! It's been like ages since I've a barbecue party.

Xu Hom for the 1st time invited his friend over. Previously, he had his cake cutting at school but this time it's a bit different. He's absolutely delighted that his friend came over... you can just tell by his look. Some of our friends did came over for the 1st time since we moved to our new place and we had nice chats.

We had great fun, the kids and all had their fun in the house while the rest of the gang (Claudia, Maggie,CK and Eddie) had their share of fun at the back of the house where the BBQ is done. We had so much food on the table that I practically had nothing! I had a small bowl of fried rice, a few slices of watermelon and some very nice konyaku jelly. At the tail-end of the party, I had some Chivas mixed with green tea. I'm no drinker and gets drunk easily. But I must say, that combo taste quite pleasant.

Xu Hom had fun with our Spiderman Cake and presents. As for me, I got 2 presents too! CK and gang got me a Adidas T-shirt while Wei Zhen gave me another sweet birthday card....

So, I'm 36 and hoping next year I can have my own cake!

Oh ya... Happy Birthday Xu Hom and Happy Belated Birthday to our lovely monster Si Qian who celebrated his 3rd birthday last month!

08.08.08

08.08.08.... Let's celebrate!

Yes, this is the day considered by most Chinese to be an auspicious day; maybe one of the most auspicious day of the year. The number "8" sounds like 'prosperity' or 'richness' in Chinese; thus meaning good luck or great fortune. No wonder the Beijing Olympics will kick-off the opening ceremony on this day, exactly at 8.00pm sharp. I'm sure, billion of viewer across the globe will glue themselves to the idiot box in what being termed as the most expensive and extravagant show of the century!

Most Chinese have a strong believe system, inherited from their forefathers. We believe in anything that sounds good to the ears, will bring good luck. Thus it's no secret the number '8' is one of our favourite numbers while the number '4' is a big no no! Why? The word '4' sounded like death in Chinese..... Big Chinese tycoons are always willing to spend big money to get their coveted car plates, possibly '8888'.

So with such a heavy investment to organise the Olympics, the Chinese Government had to break tradition, that is to have the opening ceremony other than a weekend. Take no risk, since the biggest sporting event in the world has to be a big success. Anything that can help, will help...

However, it's interesting to note that this year, the year of the Rat in the Chinese calendar is far from smooth sailing for China. First to hit is the damaging snow storm, stranding million of home going Chinese at railway stations during the biggest annual exodus of human being; Chinese New Year. Then, the unrest in Tibet where Beijing got unwanted spotlight focusing on alleged violation of human rights. Then came the deadly Sichuan earthquake that shook the whole world. Ironically the Sichuan disaster happened 80 days before 08.08.08!

So, I hope whatever misfortune that hit China will be cleansed once the Games kicks off. China has suffered enough for the year. It's time to rejoice and celebrate humanity.

08.08.08..... Let the Games begin!

Truly Asia's family lunch.

This afternoon, Truly Asia hosted a welcome lunch for its' new staffs. This day was choosen coz today everybody is at the office. Welcome on board, Anthony, Jackson and also Nicole! We had lunch at the Zi Teng（紫藤）.

Truly Asia usually had its lunch there coz basically Zi Teng is very close to the office. Just across a street. The place serves good food, reasonably priced and quite healthy too. Most of the dishes there are "tea-themed" meaning it's cooked with some tea with it.

So today, every one had a hefty lunch. We ordered the set lunch menu which consist of soup, duck with fresh lettuce, prawns cooked with cheese and orange, chicken with sweet sour sauce (served with rolls), pitaya with fish slices, pineapple with fresh scallop, fried rice, stir-fried vege and to top off, fresh fruit platter. For desert, we we served ginkgo soup-paste. We were supposed to get a green tea cake instead of the fresh fruit but due to the short notice, the restaurant can't serve that; so an exchange was made.

It took about 2 hours for us to complete the whole course. Everyone was just full to the brim! A warm and fuzzy feeling indeed and I felt that the new guys/gal would feel the same way too. That's the Truly Asia way!

After lunch back to the office for work. Immediately, they went for a serious meeting about future projects to be undertaken. Back to the real world bro!

Anyway, Welcome On Board to all!

Final Countdown MOVs!

The MOVs are coming!

The hours are ticking away and I bet til my last ringgit that the 10 Malaysian Olympic Volunteers are now feeling more and more excited. Why? They'll fly out in a few days time. While I only know 1 out of 10 of them personally, my thought and wishes will be with them all. KK! Remember to position yourself, ok? Set a high standard for all... STANDARD MUST BE MEASURABLE! Sounds familiar? Hahahaha.....

So, you guys will be taking the late flight out tomorrow? All 10 of you? I know it's tiring coz you won't be able to sleep well in the plane but once you touched down, all will be forgotten. Let's show the world what MOVs looked like; and I don't mean looking like pandas! Show them what Malaysian Hospitality is like; KK not hospital la! I'm sure you guys gonna make loads of friends and have great stories to tell when you get back. So, enjoy yourselves while soaking up the Olympic atmosphere, suck the energy (but not the air too much). Only damper is no roti canai, teh tarik, wantan mee, curry laksa or nasi lemak for you all! Hahaha!

KK, I'll send you 1st hand result of Liverpool when the EPL starts. You enjoy the stay there while I enjoy Keane, Torres and Gerrard kill off Sunderland and others!

Safe trip, good stay, take care.... lots of love to all!

You'll Never Walk Alone!

A Visit To The Sky Bridge

View from the top

KLCC park

Yesterday, out of the blue, I had the urge to queue up at KLCC to get tickets for the Sky Bridge visit. I reached the ticket counter around 9:00a.m and there were already some people; mostly tourists standing in front of me. The queue was not long and its very orderly. When my turn comes for the tickets, I was allocated the 3:45p.m slot. I asked for 5 tickets and they promptly issued it to me.

So, after lunch, told Debbie that I had some tickets to the Sky Bridge. Together with Claudia, Maggie and Janet, 5 of us "sneaked out" from the office around 3:15p.m. Claudia drove us there and parked at KLCC.

Once we made our way there, we were ushered to a mini 3-D theater. We wore our "cool" glasses and wait for a 7 minutes long documentary about Petronas' contributions and field of work. Quite informative if you understand English. The 3-D effect is not spectacular though.

Right after the show, come the highlight of our visit. We returned the 3-D glasses and queue up at the security check point to have our bags and stuffs scanned. No drama there and we were directed into a high speed lift. Claudia commented the lift resembles the one 富贵山庄 uses! Scary! Well, it took us around 41 seconds to reach the lower deck; perched high up at 41st floor. Only this floor is open to the public while the upper deck is reserved for staffs and emergency. We were given 10minutes by the in house guide to snap photos. 10 minutes might seem short but it's just nice since we got no where to go. Took some photos while the girls clowned around.

The Girls at the Sky Bridge

10minutes of photo time is up and all of us made our way down using the same elevator. Once we reached 1st floor, we passed by a small gallery where some exhibit were on show. Got some brain teasers which is quite interesting. Then, I got my height measured at one of the exhibits and it showed how many times the KLCC, Sear Towers or Jin Mao (Shanghai) is taller than me. Cool!

We made our way back right after this. Don't have time to shop at Suria. We sneaked out, remember? On the way back we stop by at a makan stall at Pudu. Bought some nasi lemak, bubur cha-cha and some Taiwanese pudding for our tea break. The food is as nice as our visit to the Tallest and Longest sky bridge in the world. Malaysia Boleh!

Breakfast in Tiffany?

The gang seems to enjoy a hearty breakfast

Our chicken ham sandwich

Yummy!

Healthy green salad with apple

Hmmm..... not quite. Hahaha... breakfast in Truly Asia more likely. This morning sees a departure from our normal morning breakfast ritual. No more Imbi Pasar Hainan Coffee and toast and certainly no more unhealthy but crowd favourite Nasi Lemak. How does the idea of having homemade breakfast in the office came about? Well, it was during lunch yesterday when I blurt out that most of us are practically bored of what we eat and ran out of ideas on what to eat. Thus, why not we have breakfast in the office; ala potluck, everyday, different things by a different person. It is how this wonderful idea was borned and Debbie and I were the first to contribute.

So, shopping for chicken ham sandwich and green salad begins last night. Last minute shopping with the help of Xu Hom (eldest son). Grabbed some cheese, bread, chicken ham, salad and last but not least my mustard! It was like a bank heist, grab and go.....of course we paid la!

Went back home and the first thing I did is to search for our long forgotten sandwich maker. Covered in dust after all those years lying in the cupboard, but still working. All set for the First Homemade Breakfast in Truly Asia!

This morning, the girls; Claudia, Janet, Maggie and Elaine all helped out to prepare the meal. Some of them made coffee; the easiet thing to do.... how hard can it be if it's 3in1?, while some help to get the bread from the sandwich maker. Claudia had the hardest work; squeezing coleslaw dressing onto the salad! Again.... how hard can it be!!! Hahaha..... our breakfast is a simple meal.... Anyway, we had a great time enjoying the fruit of our hard labour. It was more of the togetherness than the food. We were joking, poking fun at each other (Claudia and Janet are sworn enermies from past life); basically enjoying the moment. Just too bad CK is not there to join us.

So, we finished our sandwich and coffee. Left some salad coz everyone is just too full to continue. Already I'm looking forward to next week coz it's my turn to see others prepare breakfast for all of us! Just can't wait....... Yummy!

A tribute to my friend

The Olympics is coming; less than a month after about 5,000 years of waiting for the Old Kingdom we now call China. Well, Qin Shi Huang would have no idea that his unification of China will see it hosting the biggest sporting event in the world. In less than a month, China will be invaded by foreign legion of sport warriors, fans, reporters and not to mention volunteers. Great Wall of China will be breached and China will welcome them with an open arm!

There will be thousands of people going to China to watch this great event, while millions more may glue themselves to their seats back home to watch their heroes doing battles in their respective battlefield. Some might not care but some are willing to sacrifice their time and money just to be there. I have a great friend who will be at the Olympics as a volunteer, to see for himself and absorb the energy that happens only every 4 years.

To be a volunteer is not easy. It's never easy to be a volunteer of any kind, but to be away a thousand miles from home makes it tougher. It needs whole-hearted dedication. All cost to be borne by oneself. How many of us can do that? Work has to be put aside, you need to find willing sponsors for food, lodging and also the travel arrangement. It's a lot of money involved; not to mention time and effort put in. My friend, if I'm not mistaken will be stationed at the Aquatic Centre. He'll get to watch all those great bodies in skimpy outfit for free! Maybe that's the reward for being a volunteer! He'll be a lucky 金鱼老! Jokes aside, I know he'll be a dedicated volunteer for our country, raising our Jalur Gemilang, and be proud whenever our swimmers took to the pool. I hope he'll enjoy his stay there and comes back with fond memories. Just can't wait to listen to his experience.

Anyway, best of luck to you, my friend. I'm proud to have a friend like you, always ready to help and serve. just like when I'm working with you. Everything also can kau tim! Thanks to a great person whom we known, Billy Leong for sponsoring his air ticket. Billy, you really made his day! Big heart you have, sir! For that, I salute you.

Name of my dear friend? Thought you'll never ask.... Representing 319........ Mr KK Tang! 邓国球先生！