Weekend in Putrajaya - Day 2

Pullman Day 2 - Dinner at The Village 4, originally uploaded by Haris Abdul Rahman.

This is the only real full day that we spend in Putrajaya but unfortunately I had to return to UMMC for my ward round that morning. On the way back, I was stuck in traffic due to the anti-ISA rally in the middle of town. There were roadblock everywhere and the Federal Highway was turned into one giant car park.

I finally reached Putrajaya after lunch. My wife has ordered in, and we decided to head to Alamanda since it was rather hot outside. The boys had already had their dose of swimming in the pool when I was away so they are pretty content. We spend a good few hours there walking around.

It was nearly 5 when we reached our room. My wife decided to have a lie in. I went out with my camera to take some shots. Unfortunately the weather was overcast then. Initially we planned to go out for dinner, but everyone was pretty tired by then. I decided to check out another restaurant in the hotel. It is on the jetty by the lake overlooking the hotel. Nice ambiance. Wide open space. Sounds of crickets in the air with cool breeze.

'The Village' serves Western fusion food. I ordered some salad and halibut as my main. It was gorgeous. The kids ran around on the jetty. There is a small little air conditioned room smack in the middle of the jetty. They went in there to cool off before running around again.

One thing that impressed me about 'The VIllage' is the waiters. They went the extra mile to make our patronage an enjoyable one. They explained to us the content of the menu, attend to our request for food for our kids and delivered food to the room for our parents. It was certainly a nice change.

The lobby for Seri Tanjung WIng

H1N1 hitting UMMC

Prof Aw in his H1N1 Address, originally uploaded by Haris Abdul Rahman.

We have to face the fact that the pandemic is going on. No point hiding away or pretend that everything is hunky-dory. At the same time, there is no point going overboard on pandemic that has been on the horizon for some time. A couple of academic staffs and another couple of doctors are awaiting further tests, while another two patients are in ICU, presumed due to H1N1. It is a serious matter, but the panic surrounding the whole situation may prove to be just as if not more dangerous.

Yesterday, one of UM alumnus, Prof Aw Tar-ching gave a talk on the steps taken in UAE where he is working now. It was clear, in a country that depends on tourist traffic, a panic will hurt the economy hard. He outlined that the most important thing we have to do now is to have a consistent and accurate portal for information dissemination. What is happening now is more of sporadic, knee-jerk like statements from the powers that be on this policy and that. It will just create confusion. Or even worst, it in itself may give the public a sense that the government is also panicking behind the scene.

Remember, consistent and accurate information .... I think that is what we need .......

Weekend in Putrajaya - Day 1

Dessert in a spoon - put a new twist in the word dessert spoon, originally uploaded by Haris Abdul Rahman.

Unfortunately, due to the student exams and SIRIM audit in UMMC, my planned holidays were canceled. Instead, Anita booked a weekend getaway for us and her parents. After much deliberation, she decided on Pullman Putrajaya, a place we visited sometime in April.

Irfan redecorating the tableThe ceiling deco at b bistroIt is a brand new hotel, and as I can see during the stay, part of it were not yet opened. We stayed at one of the executive floors, but for the price we paid, I think the pricing was very steep. This was compensated however by the nice swimming pool and a sometime surprisingly resourceful staff. The room we stayed was advertised to have a lounge area, but it was essentially was a square room, with a settee and table as a study, plus a rather small toilet. There was no separation between the bed and the lounge. Worst still, the study table was smack in front of the TV.

Being a Friday, I can't escape from clinic especially with my Boss away in Beijing. Anita and the rest checked in first at around 2, and I only traveled after work. Traffic was rather tight and I only arrive there at around 8, starving of course. As soon as I reach there, we went for dinner at the 'b bistro'. There was a buffet, but the selection was forgettable. I ordered some salad and pasta - the healthy choice. The deco at the bistro was rather chic, with themed colour scheme - red and white - and tasteful cutlery. The ceiling decoration was also quite unique.

Daddy settling into some pasta.... and some starfruit juiceAs both Idlan and Irfan have already hit the pool earlier in the day, they were understandably tired. We settled in right after dinner.

Back in KL

We spend the weekend in Putrajaya as you probably would have realised from by tweets. We got back home today and I spent the evening sorting through the pix from the weekend. After finally getting everything organised much earlier, I thought I give it a rest since I wanted to chill rather than open my computer.

I managed to pick up the copy of Junk magazine, featuring the KLickr gang, although my face was not in there. I also recieved an email from Schmap confirming my pics has been included in the online guide. This is the link to the page here. Tomorrow, I will need to ask my Dean if that qualifies as a publication!

Since I got the pix sorted out, I will start blogging about it tomorrow. But at the meantime ... it's time to sleep!

Just a typical Wednesday

The S E is rather suspicious ... is it special edition or ... semalam?

A rather long day today, and it started quite badly. Enough to set me in a bad mood. I left my E71 at home. Luckily Irfan is going for his class today in Bangsar, so we got somebody to send over the phone to me. For the last 3 months, UMMC has given up the ghost on using beepers. We use personal handphone, but the major drawback to that is loss of privacy. Anybody can contact you if they get hold of your number and unless you are using a dedicated line for the hospital, you can't really switch the mobile off at night.

The other issue is the fact that if the hospital contacts you and you missed the call, you wont have a clue of who was it that tried to call you. The number on the phone screen is the switchboard's. A pain if you are on call because the nurses are not exactly on a habit of leaving messages.

During lunch, I left my stet

s at the cafe. I returned about 10 minutes later and it was gone. It was 5 years old however, and probably need upgrading. However to my surprise, the stets turned up at my ward. It happened that one of my Medical Officer eating at the next table picked it up and helped out her senile boss! Saved myself RM500 that! I'll buy her coffee tomorrow.