Catching Up with the Blog

I have been enjoying too much of my down time and basically just relaxing. TV took much of my time and I had been behind with the blog.

A lot of the stories going back to before Raya remained to be told, so I was slowly catching up with things. Should be up to date by the weekend ...

Festivities Closing

I had a long break, and as soon as I get back to work later in the week, I would be hit with 4 calls in 10 days as well as returning patients for chemotherapy and transplant list.

That should be fun.

But for the time being, I might as well enjoy my down time. Been catching up with the football as well as episodes of "House of Cards", "Silicon Valley" and "Mr Robot", sacrificing my sleep ....

And not to mention watching a movie or two, although I categorically declined to take Anita to watch "Me Before You". As a compromise, I took her to watch "Tarzan!".

In terms of trips out of town, I only managed a day drive to Melaka. That was nice enough ...

Back to the ward tomorrow, although my official clinic days would only start on Friday ...

Freeport A'Famosa Outlet

First it was the JPO - Johor Premium Outlet. Then came the IT retail park near KLIA called the Mitsui. And now the retail outlet fever had properly hit Malaysia with the recent opening of another one near A'Famosa near the Negri Sembilan-Melaka border right along the PLUS highway heading south. Only about 90 minutes form KL, it certainly worth a look. And that was we did yesterday on our way home from our day trip to Melaka.

It was still brand spanking new - I was sure less than 3 months old. Some of the parts were still closed and the road leading to the outlet was still being built. Getting there was straight forward especially those who had visited the A'Famosa Resort before. It was right by the entrance to the resort. And parking was not a problem. The main issue here was exposure to the elements. The pace was hot!

Camel. Apt. Since the place was scorchingly hot!

Impressed with the architecture though ...Free hugs ....Is it better than the JPO? Unfortunately it was a resounding no. In fact, the JPO is in a different league all together. The absence of many brand names should alert you that retail experience won't be nearly as good. But the facilities was better. In fact, I must say that it was more family-orientated.

Can you get Sacoor? Yes. Can you get Samsonite? Yes. Nike? Yes. But that was about it.

No Tumi. No Burberry. No Armani. No Kate Spade. No Boss. The list goes on! A different place compared to JPO.

Cool watery surroundingNot sure how the windmill fits inYes, you can climb into the windmillMore water sproutsBut I managed to get some good Under Armour garments from one of the sports outlet. Limited choice but the price was OK. Oh! And better look closely at the items as some of them were not as it seemed. I was looking for a Citizen watch but it turned out it was a different brand in the cabinet. Even the drinks outlet could be copycat. They have "Juicee" here instead of "Boost" although the menu looked almost identical. Sneaky!

Keeping it under the shadesOne of Anita's favourite designer, Melinda Ooi also has an outlet hereTime to cool down ...Would I go there again? Maybe after another year or so when the place was more established. I would definitely rather go to JPO than here at the moment ....

Lights are Up

We were entering the last 10 days of Ramadhan and it was about time that we get the lights we bought last month out of the box. It took a while to untangle the wires and after a few tries, Anita was finally happy with the setup.

We hung them along the railings of the verandah in our apartment and I was sure people driving down Bukit Pantai would be able to see them. Not too sure if they were still in fashion but when I was young, there must be lights towards the end of Ramadhan. My kampung in Kepala Batas would be filled with kerosene lamps and rumbles of fireworks could be heard for miles. The children would be roaming free during and after the Tarawikh prayers. Those were the days!

My only concern with the lights would be the rain. The wires looked shielded and the bulbs were all LED. Best to unplug them from the mains every night as not to cause any short circuit, but they looked nice when they were on.

Certainly made you excited about the coming Raya. Below is a short YouTube video of the lights.

Another Berbuka at Bukit Antarabangsa

Last weekend came my turn to sponsor the berbuka at the Surau near my parent's place. I was on call that day and was lucky that there was not that many admission around late afternoon. I managed to get things sorted out and spent a couple of hours at Bukit Antarabangsa.

Anita and the boys had been with my Mum instead since mid afternoon. The boys helped with some chores but spent most of the afternoon just dozing around. Their cousins unfortunately could not make it as my brother-in-law was also on duty.

Patiently waitingSome kueh for startersMy Dad being the "amil' at the surauApart from the food we catered, my Mum cooked her famous "gulai ikan kering", which was popular that night. Luckily we got some set aside to take home. I could not wait until Isya' since I had to go back for my evening rounds. The turn out was good and my Mum was really happy.