Everything you wanted to know about Oxen, Cattle, Cows, Heifers etc.

In the year of the Ox, Cow, Bull whatever... I thought it would be a good idea to Google the said terms. If you are an insomniac, like me, read the following link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle for a good night's sleep.

Classic Vijay

Another classic from Vijay.
During the Nadal vs Simon match as Nadal fluffs a shot he says, "Nice to see that, once in a while, from the World Number One...(dramatic pause)... even if the last one was a couple of years ago."

Positively Decadent

Sunday, January the 18th 2009.

Yet another dinner party with the Jim Cottage (JC) Gang. But this time with a twist.
The night's theme was "ta-pow" (take away to you non-Malaysians)
So it was off to Pak Putra for Tandoori Chicken, Mutton Rogan Gosh, Palek Paneer, Naan etc.
The real challenge of the evening was left to "The Capitalist" Ong Beng Seng (or Uncle BS in some circles) to find wines in his cellar to match the food. He did us proud with his selection of:

Coonawarra Katnock Estate - Cabernet Sauvignon 1997
Capel Vale Howecroft - Cabernet Sauvignon/ Merlot 1996
Mount Langi Ghiran(Victoria) - Langi Shiraz 1998

All the wines were execellent and big, with the Mount Langi being the most robust of all. The Capel Vale was not far behind, and could be best described as a monster of a wine with a distinctive chocolate overtone on the nose.

If the above wasn't decadent enough, the old BS had to top it all by drinking "Kickapoo Joy Juice" from a Riedel glass!!!

Ah... but what's wrong with a bit of decadence eh? As long as it's positive right!?!

Happy Chinese New Year

Welcome to the year of the Ox.

Greetings to all and may you all have a great year ahead.

So what's in store for this year, will the athletic bull rear it's head or are we in for a load of bovine fecal matter??


Only time will tell.....

Gene Scolari

I was watching an old Gene Hackman film on telly just now and noticed that Gene Hackman bears an uncanny resembelance to Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Chelsea manager.

Any guesses as to which is which?

With his present problems at Chelsea, maybe Scolari should adopt Gene's escape routine from the "Birdcage".

Gene Hackman in drag

Resting on Ones Laurels

Datuk Sri Najib without his laurels

After losing the Kuala Terengganu by-elections, DPM Datuk Sri Najib was quoted as stating that BN should not "rest on their laurels"..... I wonder how many padentic old farts like me out there immediately jumped up and down saying; "That's an Oxymoron!!!". You only gain your laurels for succeeding; YOU LOST!!!!

For those of you who want to know what the phrase "Resting on your laurels" mean, a full explanation; including why it means what it means; can be looked up in Wikipedia.

For the rest of you, (I've excluded myself as I've looked it up) it basically means resting on your past successes.

White House

With Barack Obama due to move into the White House, maybe it's due for a paint-job. Apple Green is now in vogue.

Dark Humour

Below is the best joke I've heard during these dark times of the financial meltdown.

What's the difference between a Lehman Banker and a pigeon?
......
......
......
......
(give up?)
......
......
A pigeon can still leave a deposit on a Porche. ;-))

NB I must thank Conrad for that joke.

Singapore 19th to 21st of December

The final side-trip for "The Locusts" was to Singapore. As we were staying with family (Andrea and Conrad's; whose place I've dubbed "Hotel Singapura" for the number of times I've used it as a hotel) mum and dad decided to go down too. So the lot of us loaded up the MPV and drove down, not without incident I might add, as I discovered that my passport had slipped out of it's wallet which I had so carefully packed in my bag. So instead of leaving Malacca after lunch, we ended up leaving Malacca at 3pm instead. After descending in Hotel Singapura at about 7pm, we freshened up and went straight to dinner, after which we went back to Andrea's and called it a night.

The second day, we split up after brunch. "The Locusts" went off on a half day tour of Singapore including the "Tiger" Beer factory; mum & dad went off to their friends, Jin Siew and I went off to "Takasimaya" to exchange my malfunctioning "Aerochinno"; my milk frother for making capachinno and cafe lattes. It turns out that there is a delay safety mechanism built into the machine.

Later that night, the cousins; Andrea, Conrad & kids (Ian and Julian); the Locusts; Cheong, Jackie and myself had a lovely Italian dinner.

Dinner with the Cousins at Nanas

On the final day, we had brunch at Sentosa Cove before visiting the "Peranakan Museum". This proved to be fascinating finding out how similar and closely related the Singapore and Malacca Nyonya and Babas are.
Exhibits at the Peranakan Museum or furniture from Home?

After the Peranakan Museum, we went for high-tea at 'The Raffles" which of course turned out to be terrible and over-priced.

Mum, Dad & Ta Chi Nana on the Verandah of Raffles

So after Raffles, it was back to Malacca to celebrate Christmas.

In front of the Raffles Christmas Tree

Before ending this post, I would like to sincerely thank the friendly staff of "Hotel Singapura" for being efficient and accommodating.

KL

Having arrived back from Hong Kong on Friday, December the 12th, The Locusts and their chauffeur (i.e. me) decided to visit Kuala Lumpur on Monday, the 15th of December.

The highlight of this trip has to be dinner on the first night, where we chanced our arm and walked into to the KL Tower revolving restaurant for their buffet dinner. (Not a smart thing to do, as they were almost fully booked) The dinner wasn't great, however the views were wonderful.

KL Tower

View of the Twin Towers from the KL Tow

er Revolving Restaurant

After dinner it was a quick walk back to the Hotel in Bukit Bintang and a comfortable bed for the night.

The next morning, I discovered why I felt so bad for the last few days. I was actually down with the flu. So leaving "The Locusts" to explore Bukit Bintang and "The Pavillion", I spent the day in bed, in time to recover and drive to Damansara for dinner with Liong, Sonny's cousin. 

 

Liong and family

The next day, we travelled back to Malacca via Putra Jaya, the administrative centre of Malaysia.

Paying homage in front of the Prime Minister's Department

"The Locusts"

My eldest sister and her family; 2 adults and 2 teenage kids; stayed with me during most of December. Before they arrived, I stocked on on essentials such as toilet rolls, milk, cereals etc. I bought enough to last me a month. Silly me!! With an extra 4 mouths to feed, most of this additional supplies were consumed within a week!!! So I dubbed them "The Locusts".

"The Locusts" aka the Tays

From L-R: Hing Siang, Sharon, Sonny, Yee Ling

Safety Regulations

Our trip to Hong Kong coincided with yet another landslide in Bukit Antarabangsa, so it brought to stark relief that alot of the high-rises in Hong Kong were built in very steep slopes without too many of the slope stability problems we have faced in Malaysia.

Why is this the case? Is it because that our buildings are badly or under-designed; or as many Malaysian engineers have claimed, is it due to bad slope maintenance?

Judging by the less onerous fire regulations requirement adopted by our 26 storey hotel;
e.g. only 1 fire escape staircase when in Malaysia there is a minimum requirement for 2 escape staircases;
only fire detectors in the hotel room, when in Malaysia there would have been a requirement for a sprinkler system.

I conclude that it's down to sloppy maintenance of Malaysian hillslopes.

Hong Kong V

Our last day in Hong Kong started with a quick breakfast of Chee Cheong Fun down Hennessy Road.

With our flight scheduled at 2.20pm , at 11am all 5 of us jumped into a cab and headed for the airport.

After checking in, we then stopped over for a last Dim Sum meal at the airport restaurant before going through immigration and home.
Dim Sum at Hong Kong Airport

BTW the Dim Sum was excellent and we also packed a roast goose back for mum.