Arriving at Port Dickson

I managed to reach PD right after work yesterday, just before the sun set. The plan was for a quick photo moment just as the sun was settin

On reaching there, Idlan was so excited that I made it just in time so he rushed to the door slinging my EOS 400D. The thing just went kabush on the concrete floor. He quickly realized what happened and ran back inside. He was afraid I might tell I might tell him off. After all in his eyes, I am the source of all his toys, with me in a bad mood, the stay over the weekend will be a miserable one. I was cool about it actually until I realised the kind of damage incurred! When the camera hit the floor, it has my main prime lens on it, the 50mm f1.4. My favourite lens. After trying it, the focus ring just stayed at Infiniti refusing to budge. I know I was in trouble.

The 50mm f1.4 stuck at infiniti. You can see it focusing on the background. You can tell the excellent optics from the sweet bokeh!Rest in peaceAfter I detached the lens, it soon made a clicking sound. One of the connectors or electronics may have become loose. The optics still looked perfect. When I tried another lens on, the focus motor was running but it was not giving a sharp focus. Oooops! I can cope with just he damage to the lens but with the focusing mechanism also going AWOL, I may need to send the body in to the shop for them to have a look at. Hopefully it was just somehing trivial. Otherwise, I will be SLR-less until I save enough money for the 7D sometime in June. I willthen have to invest another RM2000 for a replacement prime! All together it was a rather expensive drop!

Definitely One to Avoid

As I mentioned in my previous entry, the lunch at Theobroma Chocolate Lounge is something to be avoided. The decor and ambiance was nice. The cafe was strategically placed on the first floor of the New Wing in 1Utama. Anyone passing by would have noticed it. Certainly a nice place to crash into should you become peckish after a day shopping. So, you better be desperate before you get here.

The place thrive on specialties such as novelty chocolate coffees and chocolate-dipped fruit cutlets and the likes. There we also promotion for roasted chicken with rice and the menu seemed simple but elegant. I went for pasta, as I know you really need to make an effort to mess up an order of pasta. The one that I ordered was something along the lines of 'seafood pasta olio olio' or whatever it meant. So what did I get?

Pot of tea anyone?It was basically spaghetti dipped in chili oil as the sauce, topped with some poached mushrooms and prawns. On the side was a cut of baguette that was hardly fresh smeared with garlic butter, to be passed as garlic bread. As for the roasted chicken, it was a piece of chicken thigh, precooked, then microwaved to warm with a small bowl of rice. For drinks, I ordered iced white chocolate, topped with shaving of cocoa. The chocolate had a hint of vanilla to it, but the after taste was too bitter for my liking. They need to cut down on the cocoa shavings, or use a less concentrated chocolate bar!

The saving grace was the a la carte chocolate pieces that my children had. It was not as nice nor as expensive as our usual Godiva offerings but at least it was an improvement to the food. I think the place should concentrate on simple meals, sandwiches and the likes rather than attempt anything more filling. I am sure the drinks can't be that bad, maybe it was the overzealous barrista being generous on the cocoa shavings. The ambiance was really nice, and if it was not for the food, I would probably go there again. As it stands, it was not worth it! So stay away guys and gals!

Mixed Bag

Day started with a game of congkakAll together it has been a mixed bag of a day today. It started off badly, with Irfan sniffling all morning and I hardly got any sleep. Thank god today is the last day of the long weekend, so I still get to chill all morning. By lunchtime, we decided to get out for some fresh air. We decided to head over to 1Utama which sounded initially as not that bad an idea.

When we reached there, it took me 30 mints to find a parking spot, which at the end we decided to park illegally. As far as I am concerned, as long as I pay to get into the carpark, it was legal! The place was crowded and Irfan got restless. We decided to have lunch and oh boy, did we pick the wrong place. Idlan wanted to sit on a sofa, so we ended up at Theobroma Chocolate Lounge on the first floor of the new wing. 

Idlan munching away at his chocolateThe show from our vantage pointI will describe the experience there in my later entry. I was still traumatised by the whole experience! While we were having the drinks, we heard sound of drums from the foyer. The boys quickly rushed over. It was a show by a group of Shaolin monks from China. They were quite good and from the upper floor, we got a decent vantage point. They went through their repertoire of jumps, skips and tricks. They also got member of the audience to join them for some fun and games. Not bad. Before long, my two boys started jumping and kicking, imitating the monks!

Passing by Pavilion on the way to Low Yat later onSince Irfan was still under the weather, we decided to head home. On the way, the boys wanted to stop at their Gramma's over at Bukit Antarabangsa. We hang around there all afternoon. Enough time for me to head over again into town to get something from Low Yat. My LiveScribe pen ran out of papers and ink. Unfortunately there were not many shops that do them. Some of them were closed for the New Year. Fortunately today, I got my stock and was happy. So the day ended up very well indeed.

To cap it off, one of my Uncle - Mamu - turned up at my Mum's with his family. Their son will be married o the 23rd May, which happens to be Idlan's birthday. That will be busy weekend, since we can't cancel our birthday party scheduled on the 22nd since everything was booked up. It sounded that we have to drive on the morning. If the boys were not coming, it will likely be a day trip for me.

A day to Recuperate

Got to kill some insects tonight .....Irfan has been unwell all day although he was much better by the afternoon. When he woke this morning, he vomited a couple of times, and again after given his medicine. He did develop temperature after lunch. I took him for a nap and he was much better when he woke up. We ended up spending the day in the house.

However, we had to some groceries in the evening and as he was keen to go out, we took him to Jaya Jusco. Had some fish and chips for dinner and he was running around by then. He was just yelling around when we told him it was time for his medicine again. After some prodding, he agreed.

We did notice when we were at JJ that the air conditioning was switched off. It was hot and balmy. When we asked the cashier, she said, "biasalah, Boss Cina. Sekarang Raya Cina. Cina tak ada datang. Bangsa lain saja. Tak payah la bukak air cond." Maybe it was tongue-in-cheek but I wonder if there is some truth in that exchange. Time to get the boys to bed again now …..

Low Yat on Chinese New Year Day

Can this count as Valentine's Day gift?Yes, I was kinda free this afternoon and since I have some stuff I needed to get for my LiveScribe pen, I thought why not take a walk around Bukit Bintang and Pavilion and see what's cooking there. I got there late afternoon and started off with some sushi at Yo! Sushi. Then I was off!

Just about 50% of the shops were open at Sg Wang Bukit Bintang. The camera shops were open when I started making inquiries  about the EOS 7D. After about 20 minutes, I moved along to Low Yat. It was even worst there. Less than 30% of the shops were opened. The foyer was almost deserted. Even the Apple shop was closed. Unfortunately, the shop where I got my LiveScribe stuffs were also closed and I had to leave empty-handed.

On the way back, I noticed a lot of young Malay couple mingling along. I realized then it was Valentines Day. There was even a ma cir in tudung selling roses. This definitely went against the preaching on TV about Valentines being too Christian for 1Malaysia. Najib will have to turun padding to set this one straight I reckon, instead of all the eye sang he was tossing on TV. Well, my Valentine days were over. I got some perfume for Puan Anita yesterday with the kids with a card handwritten by Idlan. That put a smile on her face all day …..