Exams Ahoy!

A big week this for the MMed students in Internal Medicine. Those who were successful in their written paper will be sitting for their clinical this week. The Final Years also were involved. They defended their thesis this morning and all five of them from my program made it through. Alhamdulillah. Some of them came up with pretty dicey statements however during the presentation, but were able to defend them when pressed. Well done.

I was as usual heavily involved in the exams either coordinating, invigilating or examining. I can only be specific after the exams were completed however - it was Monday today. The big issue we had today was the shift of venue. Over the years, we used the Department Conference Room for the thesis presentation. However, there were construction going on, around the department and the noise level can at times drown the conversation. We thought it would not be fair to the candidate. Therefore, we moved the venue to the Faculty, in one of their makeshift room. The room was still under construction with the furnitures and fittings were still being installed but it got the job done.

Our external examiner is a gentleman from London. A very nice chap and has been here a few times in the past either visiting or examining. He was in general happy with the presentation, but made a comment which struck a chord with me. He made it clear that there are abundance of research to be made here, especially in Tropical Medicine, putting dengue as an obvious example. Made me blush, as at the moment, even to set aside time for myself during working hours were never easy, such was the demand of my job.

I took a few photographs with my phone during the day, which I will eventually post. The candidates will have more exams in the next few days, the important ones being the long and short cases on Wednesday and Thursday. Wishing them the best of luck

PD Day Trip

Given a scolding from Idlan for not taking him straight to the apartmentAs mentioned before, we were planning a quite weekend in with Anita having cough and all. Everybody woke up extra early on the Saturday morning and by breakfast time we were wondering what to do. Unfortunately I have firstly the weekend ward round to do, then the Calibration Exercise for the upcoming Masters Exam. A day rip was therefore all that was possible. Tiring, but if we plan well, it will be worth it. 

The nasi daun pisang really hit the spotIdlan helping to carry stuffs up to the apartmentIdlan decided that we should have a quick trip to Port Dickson for an afternoon dip, and then travel back the evening. When we were packing - traveling light was never in Puan Anita’s vocabulary, I got a phonecall from my sister. She was moving to a new house in Kajang and will be leaving my Mum all alone for the weekend. My Dad was in Penang for a business trip and will only be back later on the Saturday afternoon. We thought, why not bring her along. Went to pick her up, and before we know it, we were already in PD by lunchtime. We headed straight for the Golf Club and had the traditional ‘Nasi Daun Pisang’. The PDGCC does a good lunch set every weekend. They have recently changed their menu, but the ‘nasi daun pisang’ lunch stays. Good stuff, and way cheaper than the one from Jalan Gasing, unless you count the cost of fuel and toll of course. They also do a nice breakfast selection - nasi lemak and roti canai with teh tarik, which we normally order all three.

At the pasar malam - ordering my laksaStraight to the apartment next. I had a nice afternoon snooze, with the fan on, listening the sound of the waves. Irfan woke me an hour after. Anita wanted to hit the Pasar Malam to get some tea. Every Saturday afternoon, about 5 minutes drive from our apartment at Bayu Beach, there was an night market at Si Rusa. Compared to KL, the food there were both cheap and much better quality-wise. I always had the laksa, kebab and apam balik from the same stalls. Should any of you happen to be in PD on Saturdays, drop me a line and I will guide you to which stall serve the best food.

By the beach - but the rain was comingAfter tea, it was time to hit the beach. Complete with spades and other assorted tools, the boys got to work on the sand, before hitting the water. Unfortunately, we only managed about half an hour this time as the rain was coming our way. We got back into the apartment just in time. A quick shower, then we ate some more while waiting for Maghrib before taking both Anita and my Mum for a nice Mother’s Day Dinner. I’ll blog about that one later! The photos from the trip can be seen here.

Sunset before Maghrib

Hung Parliament

I was quietly following the election in the UK in the last few weeks. I guest, my interest in politics have not diminished over the years. I hate to be political. I believe that the best philosophy in blogging is to write your best and connect the rest. It is best to write about things you are familiar or passionate with and browse the internet and link the rest that you don’t know much about. Therefore I am not going to talk much about election here - you can get plenty of them kind of talks from the mass media - after all, you know who owns them.

When I was in the UK, I had the opportunity to cast vote a couple of times, including the time when Labour and Tony Blair came into power. In the UK, once you are a PR, you get to vote, so I did. The voting there was more civilised. The debate on the television were more mature in civilised. Not of this mud slinging, and certainly, the government got not much say on what the BBC publish. In fact, BBC tended to be vehemently honest, exposing the flaw of the government. None of this cover-up. Another very obvious difference was the print media. There were at least three main broadsheet newspaper in the UK, and they were open in their support of certain political parties. They were openly biased, but at the same time, the articles were very succinct and well-research. I know a few newspaper people locally, some of them being my patients, they were not allowed to be opened unfortunately. They can’t really write what they wanted, or at least their editor will not allow certain things being printed for fear of phone calls later pushing them for resignation. Don’t pretend you don’t know what I mean … and this was coming from a Government supporter ….. Sad isn’t it.

The campaign in the UK were also more subdued but more personal. The actual candidate will go to the doorsteps of their constituents. Something that only happen here during by-elections. Look at the focus the MIC candidate got during his campaign in Hulu Selangor. I was sure he will cringe thinking about it looking back 20 years!

It turned out that the Conservatives did not quite get the ⅔ majority they wanter. They got the simple majority and will have to broker a government somehow in the next few days. The obvious loser was the Lib Dem. I was expecting Nick Clegg to gain more seat compared to the last. That would have eaten the Labour votes and allow for a clearer result. Shall wait, see and hear the debate. Fascinating. Wishing that one day, this will happen in Malaysia.

Arm twisting

Unfortunately, my feeble attempt at quarantine a couple of weekends ago did not work. I managed to pass on my virus to Puan Anita and the boys. The boys has since recovered. The same can initially be said about Puan Anita, but behind my back she sneaked to the local GP and got herself some antibiotics. She felt great in the first few days, then the cough returned, minus any fever. She also started have joint pains.

She took all the precaution about taking enough fluids. She took paracetamol when the pain got to her, and takes lozenges regularly. She lost her voice by last weekend and yet to regain it and the sore throat got worst yesterday. I told her to keep at it, but she started to get worried. Alright then, time for some intervention. She came over to the ward this afternoon, got her blood tested and cheat Xray taken. Alhamdulillah she was OK, but when it was time to return back home, she got a shock when she called our driver. The gentleman only started working a month ago and unfortunately son of one of my mum-in-law friend. She was the one brokering the deal to take him on.

He parked the car near an entrance and left, maybe to have a smoke. Obviously the car was clamped! Puan Anita called me, and I told her that she has to see the nearest security officer. Unfortunately I was doing my Day Care and can’t leave. We managed to get to the security office. The rule was very clear, we had to pay a fine to remove the clamp and since it was pretty clear it was out fault, were quite happy to fork out the fee. Puan Anita was anxious to get home for the boys. But no! Our driver argued with the security chief. How embarrassing. Anita couldn’t believe it. 10 minutes it went on, and finally she stepped, paid the fee and asked the chief to remove the clamp. She had to apologise on behalf of the driver for the drama.

I only learned about this after I reached home. I was quite upset, not because of the clamping, but his attitude of arguing with the security officer. It wasn’t very pleasant since I work at the place. At the rate the driver was going, he was clearly heading for the sack. Apparently, even my mum-in-law was not happy with him the other day - well that would not take much, as nothing really pleases her. Since she was the one employing the man, she has to sort this mess out!

Chinoz for Tea

After my trip the KL Design Week, I took the boys out to Tasik Perdana for a spot of fresh air. Unfortunately, it started to rain soon after, and we had to scramble off. Since it was still early, we decided to get ourselves some tea. The easiest to get to was KLCC with its convenient parking and easy exit via the elevated highway. So off to KLCC we went. We decided to have the bite at Chinoz.

Candle-litPizza .... hmmmmm!Trying out the nachosSince it was raining heavily outside, the waitress was kind enough to seat us at the dinner table, away from the smoking area. Both Idlan and Irfan love the food there, especially the tea and pizza. However, over the years, the place has been suffering from its own hype. It used and still is a place of celebrity hang-out, but with the opening of ‘Apartments’ and other new joints around the area and to a certain extend the Mandarin Oriental, the place seemed to have lost some of its exclusivity. The quality of the food has certainly came down a notch compared to a couple of years back. The menu has evolved, and it was still the place to get sushi in KLCC - Sakae Sushi is nothing compared to here - but if the management was not careful, they will start to lose customer. Where do I prefer to have dinner in KLCC? Top of the list was Spice of India, then the Chinese nearby - can’t quite remember the name. Soon, Harrod’s will beat the both of them, if not for the cost to dine there. If not for the pizza and sushi, I might go there less frequently.

Top if off with some iced chocolate .... with a lump of ice-cream on topSo we had our tea there yesterday. We had our pizza, and I tried the nachos. Not bad, although I wished that the nacho crackers were a bit fresher.