My Childhood

Was reading my friend’s blog, and he inspired me to jot down some childhood memories. Where do I even begin? Some fond memories, some bittersweet, yet all has helped shaped me to who I am today. In no particular order, I remember:

1. having a terrible stomach ache when I was about 8. Cried my eyes out sitting on the toilet bowl, but nothing came out from the nether regions. Had my parents really worried, and was subsequently diagnosed with appendicitis.

2. puking at the backseat of my dad’s car when my parent’s sent me from my hometown to be admitted to the Kuching General Hospital (about 60+ km away on the “not so advance” roads) for the appendicitis’ operation.

3. being wheeled to the operating theatre, I saw a doctor with a needle, injecting into the drip, while saying to me, “This will help you sleep”. He started counting and I totally zoned out when it came to “3”. Never fell asleep so fast in my life. Next thing I remember, I woke up post op in the hospital bed.

4. being in the ward itself, seeing a young boy with one leg, hobbling on crutches playing tag with other children, laughing and shouting. I was curious about why he had only one leg, but did not ask any questions.

5. being showered with gifts, and most memorable, was a lego set of a petrol station from my mum, and another big lego set of a castle from my dad. How easily I was to please!

6. playing cards with the nurses with a game called “Jitpun Ta-Chan” or translated from Hakka “Japanese Fight”.

7. the time the stitches needed to be taken out, and fearing pain, I screamed all through the process fearing the worst, even though it didn’t hurt. As I came out of the doctor’s room in the hospital, I saw a lot of other patients looking at my direction, and only now realised how embarrassed my mother would have been, and how traumatised I may have made the other young patients.

8. refusing to go to a Chinese school because I couldn’t understand what the teacher was saying, and had trouble learning Chinese. The Chinese teachers were a horror, punishing students left right and centre. I lasted a week before my parents subsequently moved me to a Catholic school, resulting in me being one of the few Chinese in the whole classroom of mixed ethnicity.

9. that from Primary 1 to 2, during recess, I would play, by running around and sweat like mad. Everyday, without fail, the teacher would make me stand outside the class (together with my fellow partners in crime) to “dry” before entering the classroom after recess.

10. having to stand up all through a class in Primary 3, because the teacher asked me a question, and I couldn’t answer. Was not known to be scholarly and studious back then.

11. being told I sleep walk, although I have no recollection of actual events.

12. having my first taste of beer when I was about 7 I think, just after dinner, staggered to bed on unsteady feet and slept the whole evening and night through.

13. having to write, “machine” a hundred times because I couldn’t spell it when my mother gave me a spelling test.

14. having difficulties in school, as I couldn’t speak Malay. Had tuition, and subsequently learnt to read “BA, BE, BI, BO, BU” etc.

15. having tuition to learn some Chinese. To date, I can recognise some characters, and most notably, that my surname is not the same as the “yang mek mek”.

16. hearing my elder sister and cousins playing the piano, and pestered my parents for me to have lessons as well.

17. having to travel weekly to Kuching and back, car-pooling with other students, just to have the piano lessons because there wasn’t anyone qualified to teach music in my hometown.

18. eating the “satay on a stick”, which costs 20sen for 3 sticks, with the 20sen for a packet of noodles sold by the nuns running the school canteen.

19. whizzing through the narrow walkways along the shops in my roller skates, and jumping from a ledge to a platform separated by a drain. Luckily, no accidents from those various childish daredevil stunts.

20. my mother with the feather duster chasing me and saying “You run some more, I will give you ten strokes of the “ten tiao” instead of five!” for being naughty. My, what a handful I must have been back then.

21. reading and looking at a picture about pulling out a shaky tooth by putting a string round the tooth, and attaching the string to a door knob of an open door, and slamming the door quickly to pull the tooth out. Obviously, I was too chicken shit to try it out, even back then.

22. having a shaky right front tooth, and my grandaunty asked to see it, and before I knew what happened, she pulled my left front tooth out by mistake with her bare hands! Ouch!

23. cycling with my cousin, and collided with him while trying to avoid the rain, landed on my face, and subsequently chipped one of my front tooth.

24. returning from the post office on my yellow BMX, cycling with one hand (other hand holding the letters). Did not see a rock in front on the road, had the misfortune to do a tumble, and broke my left collar bone.

25. being in an aeroplane, and overheard a young girl a few seats in front diagonally to the right, telling her mother that the lunch was “Hot”. At that specific time, it made me think as to the difference between heat hot and chilly hot.

26. making my younger sister cry by telling her she was picked up from the rubbish bin.

27. having to venture to the deep dark “downstairs” (stayed in a shop house) to brave the dark shop lot to windup the “old clock” on the wall. Ran back up the stairs as fast as I could immediately after, with thoughts of apparitions looking at me and chasing me. Brrrrr….

28. being scared of a ferocious looking “green lion” during the Chinese New Year period. Was concerned that it would bite me if it comes too close to me. I would crouch in fear behind some shelves as it passed. Was told that if I pluck the coloured strings from the mane of the lion, it would bring me good luck! Come on! As if I would go near that “thing!”.

29. having two recurrent dreams when I was young. One was where I was trapped in a grey square horizontal/vertical like maze and couldn’t get out. I could only get out by unconsciously “shocking” myself awake by having a spasm. The other recurrent dream, was being chased by the supernatural. Strangely, I cannot remember any pleasant dreams.

30. watching an outdoor movie called “Sa-Cin” in Hakka from my cousin’s house’s balcony overlooking the bus stop area hosting the movie. It was about this Medusa-like lady with snakes for her hair.

31. some of my childhood friends and even what they look like back then; Edward, Luding, Rafi, amongst others, and wonder what or where are they now.

I have other memories, but the list could go on and on.
So, what do you remember from your childhood?

Seafood

Another seafood dinner! This time in PJ’s “Unique Restaurant”. Only been here once before, and last night was the second time. Was raining very heavily in KL and PJ in the afternoon, and I think KL was flooded (I was on leave), so didn’t start the family dinner until almost 9pm as we were waiting for my eldest uncle to arrive. One of the signature dish is the “duck egg crabs”, I guess, hence the logo of the restaurant itself.

Parking was difficult, and surprisingly for a weekday, the place was packed. Upon entering, there were numerous water tanks on display, with the live seafood inside. So, I guess, the freshness is guaranteed. Heard that they import the seafood from overseas, hence the “inflated” prices of the dishes of the restaurant.

One noticeable sea creature was the snow crab. Quite a large crab, but white in colour, going for RM148 per kg! I think the largest crab I have seen was when I was in Australia, passing by a seafood restaurant, and they had crabs on display. Those were huge (deep sea king crabs?), but these snow crabs as well as other crabs on display were quite large as well.

Food was good, quality no doubt there, especially with the “live twitching lobster”, and then the lobster noodles, duck egg crabs, sweet and sour fish, and other dishes. I think I am overdosed on seafood this week, which reminded me of something one of my colleagues said. I think it went something like this. “Go on a ‘See Food’ diet…. ‘You see Food, you eat’”.

Weekend

Guess where I went on Saturday!?! Despite the dark clouds initially, it didn’t rain. Winds blew those dark clouds far far away. Before reaching the top, stopped over at Gohtong Jaya to have Ratha’s Curry Fish Head and Fried Sotong! Yummy! Haven’t had these specifically from this makan shop for a very long time. Bought some durian tarts and Portuguese egg tarts for snacks. Didn’t try the “durian bomb” as I have never really liked the texture of the pastry. Not as good as I remember though, perhaps the novelty of eating durian tarts has worn off.

Despite it being a weekend, the place was not as crowded as I have seen it before. I guess it’s not a long weekend yet, and possibly, the labour day weekend would be superpeak, especially with more visitors expected. Quite a bit of changes since I last went up (at least one year ago I think) in terms of layout, and the addition of even more eateries. Really spoilt for choices of food there. They had a Thai Fair, but didn’t buy anything.

And yes, tried my luck with the “dog-fight” game, but alas, the dog wounded me the 1st time, but I managed to bite back a bit the second time. End day, was down to only a third of my max loss situation.

After descending from the peak, went to Amcorp Mall for the flea market. Saw some interesting things, but noticed that prices for certain goods in the flea market have gone up. As usual, hunted for some books as well as some first day covers, but didn’t get anything.

For dinner, ended up in Tanjung Harapan, Port Klang for some seafood at the Restaurant Port Village. Quite nice, with a calming scenery. Had an overdose of crabs, cooked in some blacksauce with dried shrimps (“HayBee?”) and chilly for the extra kick! Usually, I don’t like the taste of these dried shrimps, but the dried shrimp taste wasn’t overpowering. Long drive though from KL, and didn’t know my way around. The last time I came to Port Klang for seafood was a good 8 years ago I think, to Bagan with some friends. Naturally, the Klang friends would lead the way, as I have no clue as to the road directions in Klang and beyond.

And before I knew it, my weekend was over…..

Another Tag - About Me

1. Were you named after anyone? Not that I know of.

2. Do you wish on stars? Nope, but have always wondered why is it considered lucky to wish on stars, even shooting stars?

3. Do you like your handwriting? Actually, I don’t. Difficult to read (even for myself) when I have to write something very fast (like taking minutes for meetings!). Can sometimes become a scribble which I can’t decipher myself.

4. What is your favorite meat? Oink! Oink!

5. What is the most embarrassing CD on your shelf? Nothing I would consider embarrassing.

6. If you were another person, would YOU be friends with you? Yes, friendly enough, but can be moody. Considerate at times, but can be totally tactless unintentionally

7. Are you a daredevil? No. Sometimes consider myself “too safe”….boring type.

8. When did you cry last? When I was deeply hurt.

9. Did you ever tell a secret you weren’t supposed to? Once I think, but make it a point not to. A secret is supposed to be a secret…

10. How do you release anger? Don’t think about what made me angry, and try to keep busy so that I don’t think about it. At that point in time, I would keep silent and be quite unresponsive.

11. Where is your second home? Used to be KL, I think now, my hometown back in Sarawak.

12. Do you trust others easily? To an extent only. Sadly, I find people tend to have ulterior motives sometimes.

13. What class in college do you think is totally useless? None really, all subjects enhances knowledge, although I did wonder once why on earth people would take “Classics or Latin” as a subject when I was in college.

14. Have you ever been in a mosh pit? No.

15. What do you look for in a girl? Independence, non-clingy, great to talk to.

16. Would you do a bungee jump? No, would be scared shitless.

17. What's your favorite ice cream flavor? Depends on my mood, but will usually go for Cookies and Cream.

18. What is your least favorite thing? Having to socialise with people I don’t know and make fake conversations. Then again, if I don’t, how do I get to know them, and for them to get to know me? That’s why I minimise such interactions as best I can.

19. How many people do you have a crush on right now? Won’t call it a crush… :)

20. What do you miss most right now? Travelling on holiday! I need a break! And another… and another…and another…..

21. What are you listening to right now? A mixed bag of songs a friend recorded for me on a CD.

22. What is the weather like right now? Hot.

23. Last person you talked to on the phone? A close buddy to ask about an English word I didn’t know and couldn’t find in my “Collins” dictionary.

24. The first thing you notice about the opposite sex? From near, the facial features.

25. Favorite drink non-alcoholic? Kopi-O-Peng! But sometimes inclined towards Kopi-Peng.

26. Favorite alcoholic drink? Don’t drink nowadays, but in college, enjoyed a pint or two of Draught Guinness.

27. Hair color? Blackish Brown.

28. Eye color? Dark Brown.

29. Wear contacts? No.

30. Last movie you watched? In the cinema? Oh no! I can’t remember!!!

31. Favorite day of the year? None specific, but any day when I am happy would be a favourite day.

32. How many people have a crush on you right now? Err….not sure.

33. Scary movies or happy endings? Happy endings. Don’t like scary movies. My friends have tried “conditioning” me to watch scary movies, but not preferred. I guess, I am quite a “scardy-cat”.

34. Summer or winter? Winter. The beauty of a land totally transformed by a blanket of snow is simply breathtaking. And have you ever tried making a snow cat? I did once, of a cat perched on a tree when I was in Uni.

35. What book/magazine are you reading at the moment? Finished off Philip Pullman’s “Dark Materials” trilogy two weeks ago. Bought some new books, but haven’t gotten around to starting on any yet. Next on my list to read are L.E. Modesitt’s futuristic sagas.

36. What's on your mouse pad? My mouse? :P

37. What did you watch on TV last night? A Knight’s Tale.

38. Favorite Smell? Freshly baked bread or cookies.

39. Do you regret ever breaking up with someone? Yes.

40. Favorite actor/actress? Angelina Jolie! Totally brilliant as Lara Croft!

41. Do you use sarcasm a lot? Used to be very sarcastic and critical. Toned down somewhat as I have mellowed. Noticed that some people are particularly sensitive, so I try to watch what I say nowadays. Can still be critical though.

42. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? No. I minimise buying shoes with laces. Only for sports shoes, yes.

43. What do you miss the most right now? Going away for a relaxing holiday.

44. What color underwear are you wearing? I just looked, a darker shade of green.

45. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Red.

46. How are you today? Tired. Been travelling and driving.

47. Siblings? 1 elder sister and 1 younger sister.

48. Favorite Month? August.

49. Have you ever been shy to ask someone out? Yes.

50. Hugs or kisses? Definitely Hugs, but a kiss or two would also be good! :)

51. Do your friends write back? Sometimes.

52. Who is least likely to respond? Those who make lots of excuses.

53. Do you like the person who tagged you with this? Yep, a good buddy.

And, if you are reading this, consider yourself tagged!

KL Performing Arts Centre

Went to KLPac last night at Sentul Park (off Jalan Ipoh somewhere) for a concert. Had a map to guide me, and luckily enough, the map was pretty clear on the directions. Driving from the office to KLPac took me almost 2 hours (got caught in the city centre traffic crawl). Luckily I left the office early enough. Think I could have avoided the traffic crawl had I taken alternative routes. Oh well.

KLPac was quite a nice place. The auditorium was quite large, and can seat quite a few people! The layout was also ok. Attended a concert by a local acapella group called Six2Eight, with the theme “Then2Now”, showcasing twelve years of rockapella tunes from their repertoire.

1st half consisted of the “old” members, hence “Then”, and 2nd half, the “new” members, therefore called “Now”. Not bad. Quite entertaining. Must say that the group has improved in terms of sound quality since the last I heard them at other occasions. Their style is more to a solo singer with backups and “beat box” kind of rhythm. And of course, their forte is showmanship.

Some songs stood out as very good, and some singers clearly shone. I thought the “Only You” backup was very well done (difficult due to the progressive note change in the backup arrangements). “Complicated” was a difficult lead voice to sing, but well done on it. Didn’t really like the background arrangements for “Let’s Get It Started” and “Every Breath You Take”, although the soloists were good. Background to “Massachusetts” was messy and Mr. Bass Man lacked energy. Could be the opening night I guess, and nerves could have played a part. Have heard Mr. Bass Man before, and the group has nailed the song better. The self styled rewriting of lyrics to songs proved popular with the crowd, particularly “Singapore” and “Fake Viagra Blues”.

Another point of note was Edna Tan’s brilliant and graceful dancing moves. She certainly outshone everyone else with her moves, and man! can she boogey!!

Overall, the group has certainly improved I think, and very well done to them on the concert. Difficult to generate energy with a half filled hall, but they managed to pull it off mostly. At the end of the day, it was enjoyable.

Low Cost Carrier Terminal

Back in KL already. Flew in via AirAsia to the Low Cost Carrier (LCC) Terminal in KLIA. Flight was initially delayed by half an hour. Upon embarkation, had to wait another 10 to 15 minutes for ground staff to unload two bags belonging to two “missing” passengers who did not board the plane, but had checked in. Today’s AirAsia plane was one of the newer ones. The journey was quite smooth.

Took some pictures of the LCC terminal. View taken of the main terminal when walking from the plane to the arrival hall. The main hall from the tarmac area looks a bit on the dull side. Nothing spectacular to look at actually. Long walk though.

Walking nearer the building, can see people waiting at the departure gates eager to depart. The departure gates are situated next to each other, with no partition for segregation. Again, not enough seats, but I think the powers that be is aware of the situation. Read about the shortage of seating thingy in the papers.

Waiting for luggage. Managed to take this shot before the main bulk of people turned up to the luggage area. Took quite a while for the luggage to arrive. At least half an hour before getting the bags. Well, it’s still slightly faster than waiting for baggage at the main KLIA terminal. Usually have to wait at least 45 minutes.

As I was walking out, saw the Coffee Bean outlet where I had my coffee and muffin last Thursday before departure to Kuching. The outlet is actually situated nearer the arrival hall. The departure area has a McDonald and an Asian Kitchen. Hope they will bring in San Francisco Coffee (prefer this coffee outlet), but I doubt it very much.

Can see people waiting for their pickup outside the arrival hall. There’s a row of taxi waiting for passengers as well. Not sure of the prices though, as to whether the fare is “decent” or “slaughtering”. I guess it will also depend on the destination. Haven’t checked out where to buy the tickets for the cabs yet.

On the other hand, there is the RM9 per way bus to KL Sentral, scheduled to depart every 15 minutes. I saw the timetable, and the journey is expected to take 1 hour 15 minutes. Tickets can be purchased when entering the bus. But during the flight, the air stewardess was also selling the RM9 bus ticket. I think I also saw a booth at the arrival hall where we were waiting for luggage where they were also selling the bus ticket. First journey from KL Sentral starts about 3:30am I think.

A quick snap of the exterior of the LCC Terminal from the car park area. Can’t really take the “whole” terminal, but just about see the entrance, with a McDonald’s outlet just beside the main entrance. The departure lounge is actually bigger, but didn’t manage to snap any pictures. Overall, not bad.. not bad…

Been a while

Hmm, been a while since I last updated my blog. Where do I start? What have I been doing? Well, events have been centered around FOOD as usual. Had Japanese Buffet Lunch a few weekends back in PJ Hilton. Saw this huge raw squid which have not been cut up yet for consumption. Massive!

Sunsets continue to catch my attention. Had this picture taken sometime back. The other day, I had just finished cooking dinner (my chicken wing dish!) and was about to sit down to eat, and I looked out the balcony, and the building next door was orangy red. Kind of took me by surprise, and I went out to look see look see, and noticed that the sky was orange with dark clouds slowly moving towards my area. The whole place was bathed in bright orangy red colour and when I looked towards PJ, the scenery was breathtaking. Tried taking a pic or two, but the pictures didn’t do enough justice.

Am now back in Sarawak for a short break. Took a cab to the new Low Cost Carrier (LCC) Terminal, but had checked out roughly where it was about from an online map. The journey from the main KLIA terminal to the LCC terminal took about 15 to 20 minutes, although the terminals were situated next to each other, as there was no direct linkage. Instead, had to make one big round to get there. Was kind of surprised with the terminal, quite ok, there were so many people, and they even had a Coffee Bean outlet there. However, the outlet was still new, and didn’t take credit card, and also didn’t have the stamp thingy for every drink purchased. Bummer. One thing I noticed was that in the departure lounge, there was a lack of chairs. Many had to stand around waiting for the flight. The flight was about 20 minutes delayed before we began boarding, and finally took off after a 45 minutes period from original departure time. Not too bad timing, but I think the pilot tried to make back time, and flew supper fast with a flight time of one and a half hours. The ascent was quite turbulent, especially with so many dark clouds, but at least it got better after that. Arrived in Kuching airport, and my my, it does look quite different! Very nice! Didn’t have any checked in luggage, so zipped out pretty fast after touchdown and immigration clearance.

Went to Kuching for dinner on the 31March at this Li Garden restaurant. But before that, popped by my uncle’s place for some longan. We stood around plucking straight from the trees and had certainly had quite a bit to munch on. It was like those tour thingies we read about, where you pay a certain amount of money to go pluck and eat as much of the fruit as you can. However, in this case, it was all free! He even “ta-paued” a large basket full of longan for us to bring home. On to dinner, we had peking duck, roast piglet, spare ribs, steamed fish, two different types of veggie, and a few other dishes. Very filling! The peking duck was “skinned” right in front of our eyes by the chef (hardly see this done anymore in other places), and tasted quite good. Well, I like it because of the sweet sauce. Reminded me of my chicken wrap dish!

My short break continued. Tried to catch up on my movie watching, and saw two DVDs today, “Walk The Line” and “Jarhead”. Quite okay for both shows, very different though. Have at least two more movies to watch, but haven’t had the motivation to watch them yet. Went around the garden this afternoon, and noticed that there were quite a variety of flowers that my mum planted. And this is where I must admit, like fishes, I don’t know my flowers. I can tell the difference between roses, orchids and other more common ones, but these ones which we have in the garden, I have no clue to the names, except, the yellow one, the orange one, the red one, etc…. My ignorance continues with trees! I can tell the difference between a coconut tree, a palm tree, a banana tree, a papaya tree, but that’s about it. Show me a longan, rambutan, mango or whatever other tree, and I won’t know (unless I see the fruits on the tree of course). Have you ever seen a lime tree? I sometimes drink lime juice when I go makan, and just realized that we have a lime tree in the garden!

Had dinner tonight 1Apr at this coffee shop in Tebakang. I think it’s about 10 km or so from my hometown. The main street is just a row of shop, and it has been like this since I can remember. The last time I came here, was when I was still in secondary school in Serian, and I went for a jungle camp in SMK Tebakang under the Red Crescent programme. The food was quite ok, but the prawns! Ma ma mia! HUGE!, and cooked just how I liked it (tomato style). Not quite sweet and sour though, but tasty all the same. My dad said the prawns are called “big head prawns” (translated directly from chinese). Definitely one of the biggest prawns I have eaten, and I had two! Burpppppp!