Ying and Niq’s Niche

Sun, 19-Apr-09. Went to Ocean Green Seafood (GPS Coordinates: N5 25.576 E100 19.568) for lunch. This place was quite difficult to find. It is situated by the sea side, at the end of an alley along Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, just before Despark Auto College. It is easy to miss the turn so go slow. We had oyster noodle, salted egg crabs and stir fried broccoli. The food was nice. Their salted egg crab is one of their signature dishes

Oyster Noodle

Salted Egg Crabs

Stir Fried Broccoli

There is a nice view of the sea.

Sea View at Ocean Green Restaurant

The beach is a popular spot among anglers and offer good landscape photography opportunities. Sad to say the beach is not suitable for picnic as there were lots of ants.

A pseudo-lagoon

Petronas Twin Towers viewed from base near the Dewan Filharmonic Petronas entrance

We went to KLCC on 2-Oct-08 by Komuter and LRT. It was really crowded in the trains. It was the Hari Raya holidays. KL folks have made their yearly exodus. Traffic on normally busy roads were light and flowing. It was the opposite on public transport - buses and trains were full of foreigners.  Foreign workers had only 2 days holiday for the whole year. They took the opportunity to unite with family members or meet up with friends. One of the rendezvous points was KLCC. I felt like I was in a foreign land. We brought Gabriel to see the musical fountain, and the “arching” fountains where Gabriel had fun running underneath the water arches. Disappointed that the skybridge was closed. Gabriel saw the Petronas Twin Towers (or better known as the twin corn cobs) up close for the first time.

Gabriel crouching under the arching fountains

Fountain the Victor; Gabriel the Vanquished

Gabriel had his very first journey by air on 1-Oct-08. It was also our first time on Firefly. It was Hari Raya and we planned a holiday in Kuala Lumpur. We stayed at FohChin’s condominium at Subang Jaya. Hence flying Firefly to Subang was only practical - the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport was just about 20min drive to FohChin’s place. Gabriel enjoyed the flight, what more with muffin and orange juice! Firefly introduced the refreshments on 1-Oct-08 and we were in the right place at the right time! We flew a Fokker-50 to Subang and for the return flight on 4-Oct we sat in the ATR 72-500 of which I bought a model for Gabriel. Just over 1-month-old, the ATR 72-500 had more leg room and bigger leather seats. Bringing in the French-made ATR is Firefly’s effort to improve efficiency and cost by using 40% less fuel and seating 22 more passengers than Fokker-50.

Model of Firefly ATR 72-500

Some statistics first. Our last family outing was 4 months ago - to Langkawi. It has been 9 months since our last trip to Kuala Lumpur for ChuiLi and Yeo’s wedding. Here comes the most shocking one - at least 10 years since our last trip to Sunway Pyramid in TAR college days.

Sat, 30-Aug-08. Reached FohChin’s spanking new condo at around 1:00pm. The condo was nicely renovated and fully furnished with a nice view of the city scape. After lunch we brought Gabriel to experience a train ride. We took a Komuter from Subang Jaya to KL Sentral. It was about 3:15pm when we arrived at KL Sentral. We thought Gabriel would need some rest. So we decided not to go anywhere else. We took a ride back to Subang Jaya. On the return journey, Gabriel fell asleep. In the evening we went to Port Klang for Seafood at Seafood King. Loong said the owner of the restaurant is Anwar. Had supper at KTZ, SS2 PJ.

Komuter arriving at Subang Jaya station

Gabriel having a coffee break at KL Sentral

Komuter approaching KL Sentral

KTZ Food - Full of people in and out

Sun, 31-Aug-08. Watched a bit of the Merdeka parade live on television. Had a decent breakfast at Daiki Kafé just opposite FohChin’s condo. Gabriel was a darling at breakfast. After breakfast we headed to Ikea. Went on a shopping spree but disappointed that the table and chair for Gabriel was out of stock. Had lunch at Hometown Kopitiam at The Curve – which had less variety than Old Town Kopitiam. We went to Sunway Pyramid at night. I liked the Touch ‘n Go parking payment and indicator lights for empty parking lots. Gabriel finally saw the much anticipated Giant Lion and the Pyramid. Also saw the tigers, antelopes and elephants at the resort hotel.

The Curve

Giant Lion at Sunway Pyramid

The Pyramid

Tiger hunting down antelope

Sunway Lagoon Resort

Mon, 1-Sep-08. Went to OUG market for curry mee. Wasted 45min waiting. Also wasted precious stomach space. Left about noon, got lost looking for the highway to Ipoh. Rained cats and dogs the whole way to Ipoh. After a nap, continued journey to Penang. Got stuck for about 1 hour in a bad jam just before Juru due to a road accident.

Kuala Lumpur has indeed changed a lot in 10 years. The most significant change to me is how complicated the roads have become. Stupid me forgot to bring along a roadmap and had to depend on an escort - Loong, Ah Sook and Foh Chin. I was also totally lost when people mention abbreviations like LDP, NKVE and MRR2. To sum up, the KL trip took a good start but had a rather disastrous ending.

I bought myself a Spyder2express monitor calibrator on 9-Aug-08 from BH Photo, Nagore Road, Penang. It cost me RM350. Hope this will take away my worries of not getting the right color and exposure from prints.

Spyder2express Monitor Calibrator Kit

Spyder2express - what's in the box