25 June 2006

Family dinner

Well it has been a long time since the last family gathering (since Chinese New Year), my sister organised a family dinner at at Chinese restaurant called Chuen Kee at Pudu Ulu. Nothing spectacular about the food but it was a great day where my parents gets to see all their children and grandchildren together.


Here comes the food!!

My brother Kok Khan, sister-in-law Jessica and my niece Crystal and Chelsea

My parents, my brother Kok Choong and sister-in-law, Lee Yoong


My parents, old and grey


The dinner was completed less than an hour. We all then went back to our parent's house for dessert which was a Chocolate Walnut cake I bought from Secret Recipe. It seems that we are having cakes from Secret Receipe all this while.. why? because it's delicious and EXPENSIVE!!

The Chocolate Walnut Cake



My children chatting with their grandparents

A snapshot of me taken by my son

My sister, Iris
Esther fun with Cyrstal
A rare photo of my father (he's 75 years old already) taken by my son

The Fast And The Furious : Tokyo Drift


Went for a show with my daughter Carrie, The Fast and The Furious : Tokyo Drift. The show was rated 18 SG where only those 18 years old and above could get into the cinema hall. That means my son cannot even join me for the show.. too bad.

Well being a car enthusiast, the show is almost a must see show. I have seen the earlier two Fast and Furious movie series and this one would be a different since they are concentrating on a different art of car driving - DRIFTING.



The movie showed the beautiful cars that are available in Tokyo not to mention the beautiful and scantily dressed girls who were at the car park where the car are raced. The story is about a 18 year old troubled American boy Sean Boswell who sent off to Tokyo by his mother to be with his father (both parents are divorced) from avoiding him going to the slammer after a racing incident with another stuck-up American kid.



It was not long when he landed in trouble again in Tokyo by challenging a Japanese called Takashi nicknamed DK to a underground drift race where Sean himself did not know the meaning and art of car drifting. He smashed up the car he raced and was required to "pay" back for the damaged dome. By the way the nickname DK means DRIFT KING!!!.

The story continued with his involvement in the darker gangster side of the youth in Tokyo and was in the end challenged to a drift race again with DK at the twisty and winding mountains.

What I don't like about the movie was that the ending was raced in an American car body fitted with a Nissan engine.. American Ego.

Overall, the driving action scenes were good (much better than those feature in the move Initial D which is kids stuff compared to this show) and the story line provide a good lesson to the youth.

18 June 2006

Father's Day 2006



As usual Father's Day falls on the third Sunday of June. For this year, Father's Day is today/ Nothing much to celebrate, just a family dinner at Souled Out. This is the first time that my family is at Souled Out even though I have been there quite a few time. Luckily there was a table for us because we went there early at 6.30 p.m., all table have been reserved by early reservation made.

We made our order for food and drink. It came a surprise when the Captain walked over me and handed me a gift bag of Nivea products together with party confetti's and a Souled Out windshield sticker.
The freebie - compliments of Souled Out

At the same time, the Captain placed a tag which has "Daddy Dearest" card. Every father who dined there were awarded the same things. Great way of a restaurant to honour fathers on Father's Day.

Overall, everyone had a great and filling meal.. The of Father's Day 2006.

You can also read what my daughter has written about Father's Day.

12 June 2006

Condoleezza Rice


Condoleezza Rice was recently asked the size of George W Bush's cock.

Pet Shop Boys latest album - Fundamental


Fundametal is the fifteen album released by Pet Shop Boys on 19 May in Europe, 22 May in UK and 30 May in Canada and 27 June in the USA.

Being a fan of this band since 1981, I bought the album (imported) at Ampang Park for RM48.90.

The album was produced by the Pet Shop Boys and Trevor Horn and it features eleven new Pet Shop Boys compositions, and "Numb," written by Diane Warren (Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe originally planned to have "Numb" be one of two new tracks on PopArt, but opted instead for "Miracles" and "Flamboyant.")


The album is dedicated to two executed Iranian youth called Mahmood Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni.

Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni were Iranian Arab teenagers from the province of Khuzestan who were hanged in Edalat (Justice) Square in Mashhad, northeast Iran, on July 19, 2005. The teenagers' crime was being gay, although the Iranian regime added trumped up charges.

11 June 2006

Happy Birthday Darren!!

My son celebrated his 10th birthday today. Even though his actual birthday falls on 12 June, we decided to celebrate it earlier in view that tomorrow he will back to school again and also today's Sunday. As usual, birthdays are celebrated with a cake and present from his dad and mun. This year around, mun got him the cake and me... well I got him a Transformer. Not a electrical transformer, you dumb dumb.. Transformer the toy!!

Well actually today we went to Shah Alam where the Hasbro (distributor for Transformer and other toys) were having their warehouse sale (I would want to save some money is there's a bargain there). Too bad when we reached, there what's left are Star Wars toys, Playskool and nothing on Transformer. So we have have to settle for a trip to 1 Utama's ToyRUs for his present. I thought that my son will be merciful to me by choosing a reasonable size and priced Transformer, instead he choose the biggest of the lot which is Cybertron: Primus. It was a biggest Cybertron there.. what can I say? No?... It's his birthday so have to get it for him since also it is his 10th birthday, I would want to make it a memorable one for him.

After dinner, he was pestering his mun to cut the cake because HE LOVES CAKES! The cake was a Secret Recipe, Blueberry Cheese cake.

The Blueberry Cheese Birthday Cake with his name written on it!!

Candles where lighted on the cake.. ten candles in all, he made his wish and blew off the candles with a puff.

I huff and puff... all the candles lights are blow off!!




Beware!! The birthday present from dad... Cybertron Primus

So ends the celebration of my son's birthday party.. well he's 10 years old already but he will always remain a boy in my heart!!

08 June 2006

Food and Wine of China Trip

Flowers of Eastern China

Day 8 - Shanghai - Kuala Lumpur

It was raining our last day in Shanghai. having packed all our stuff in our suitcase the previous night, we make sure that all the suitcases get loaded on the bus.

The bus took us around for a last glimpse of Shanghai city before proceeding our restaurant to have lunch. It was about 11.00 a.m. when we reached the restaurant and all of us were not hungry to have lunch since we had a late heavy breakfast.

After lunch, we were taken to the Maglev station for our journey to the airport. Wow, the Maglev train can travel up to a maximum speed of 430 Km/Hr and it takes about 7 minutes travelling time to reach the airport from the station. We took some photos when the train arrived and I was busy snapping the speedometer as the train moves towards it's maximum speed.


The arrival of the Maglev train

A last shoot before we board the train

The train has very comfortable interior







Slide show on showing the Maglev train accelerating from 144 km/hr to top speed of 430 km/hr and finally to a dead stop at 0 km/hr

The Putong Airport is a modern airport with a sophisticated roof shaped like a lotus leaf. We checked in our luggages and bid farewell to our tour guide Siu Liu and wished him all the best.



Some views of the beautiful Shanghai Putong Airport

A last photo with the tour guide Siu Liu before we leave Shanghai


Our flight was a 3.30 p.m. and it was still raining when we took off from Shanghai. We reached KLIA at about 9.40 p.m.. We managed to hire a family van at the airport to take us back home. We reached home an hour later.

Wow it has been a wonderful trip for all of us. Now what's left are strong and fond memories of the journey all documented in this blog.

Day 7 - Shanghai

After checking out of our hotel in Hangzhou, we were off again on a 3 hour journey back to Shanghai. We reached Shanghai just in time for lunch.

A nice plate for the steamed chicken, meat at one side while the sauce is on the other.

After lunch we went to the Shanghai Baoshutang Pharmacy Co Ltd which is located in a botanical gardens. Bought some medication for backaches and burn at the place. When we finished, the bus was not in sight. It seems that the driver found a leak and had gone to a local workshop to get it fixed. While waiting for the bus to come back, we spend some time taking photos at the botanical garden.


Having fun while waiting for the bus to arrive at the botanical garden




In the evening, we were at the Shanghai Grand Theatre to watch the Chinese Acrobatic show. It was a wonderful show of acrobatic skills of young Chinese performers. It was a one and half hour show where there were body balancing, juggling and the finale was the motorcycles in death sphere show. Four motorcycles were criss crossing each other in a metal sphere.

After the show, we were taken to the "Bangsar" of Shanghai where the yuppies hang out. We were shown the restaurant that Jackie Chan and other associates has opened up.

A very well laid wall at the"Bangsar" of Shanghai
Jackie Chan's Restaurant

The last night at Shanghai was spend at a hotel close to the bus and train station of Shanghai. The bus horns woke us up early in the morning.

Day 6 - Hangzhou

We woke up very early in Hangzhou to get ready for the boat ride at the West Lake of Hangzhou. Hangzhou was founded about 2,200 years ago during the Qin Dynasty. The West Lake is the main attraction of the city with large garden and lake area.

The boats waiting at the side of West Lake

A lovely view of West Lake

We managed to spot a few albino peacocks. This is the first time that we have ever seen an albino peacock, look very unique and lovely when compare with the normal peacocks. We also managed to take a tour group photos at the gardens.








From West Lake, we were taken to the tea plantation at Longjin or Dragon Well. It's the only place in China where tea leaves are bake using hand and is said to the finest tea leaves in China is available at a price. They posted many dignitaries who were at the tea plantation tasting their wonder tea. We managed to bargain with the tea operator there and got a real good deal. The tea leaves called "Tea King" was bought at RM450-00 a kati!!





From the tea plantation we were off to famous Buddha cravings at Feilai Feng caves. There were many carvings made on the wall of the caves which were craved more than 1,000 year ago. There were also three temples.







Next stop was Yue Fei Memorial and Tomb which is situated next to West Lake. Yue Fei is the famous Chinese patriot and warrior during the Song Dynasty.


Memorial statue of Yue Fei at the main hall



The tomb of Yue Fei
At night we went to the local theatre for a local Hanzhou culutral show was performed. An interesting showing highlighting all the events that has happended in Hangzhou from the olden days to the current modern days.