The Journey of a Distort Soul....

Cyberjaya Corporate Olympics...

I participated in Cyberjaya Corporate Olympics @ Tennis tournament (single). It has been awhile since I last played in a tournament; furthermore in singles. I am more familiar with doubles as I have not been playing singles for years; even during my usual tennis session in Bangsar where I put more emphasis on doubles. I played my first round against EDS. I was nervous at first but after winning the first point via a break of serve and holding my serve efficiently with my kick serve, my confidence grew. But fatigue took its toll on me as I was tired from serving my kick serve and I lost the next 2 games. The match was quite close until 4-4; then I change my strategy by hitting high top spin to my opponent forehand as well as attacking his second serve with powerful ground strokes. I won the match by 8-4 :-)

My second round opponent (Lim Kok Wing) didn't turn up; so it was a walk-over for me. It was quite frustrating as I was really looking forward to the match. My quarterfinal opponent is from Tunas Cyber; he also received a walk-over during his 2nd round match. During warm-up I noticed that he likes to slice and he is not comfortable with high spinning balls. I also noticed during the match that he likes to stay in the middle and almost at the "no mans land" area. My game-plan is simple, just hit short angle shot and I won the match by 8-1. Now it's the semifinal next week Wednesday and my opponent is my sparring partner for this tournament; he's from Panasonic. He hits the balls hard and he is about 10 years younger than me. And I think I'm the oldest player in the semifinal :-)

Kota Kinabalu Holiday Part 7...

We went for our breakfast at Restoran Getaran Jiwa; we had the usual nasi goreng, toast and cakes. After breakfast, we went back to Tune Hotel for check-out (impressively very smooth; just remember to return the towels). The drive to the Airport took about half an hour. I had to wait for the rental car company representative to come to the airport to pick-up the rental car (excellent rental service). My father-in-law bought fresh prawns at the airport; RM96 for 2 kilos. We immediately went inside the boarding hall after checking-in. We went to Gate A2 but we were asked to change to Gate A5 instead. We boarded a connecting fight from Taiwan to Kota Kinabalu to KLIA. Arief spend most of the time watching DVD and he fell asleep upon boarding. The meal served is rice with chicken or fish; we do prefer the meals on our previous flight though. Arief only woke-up when we were about to land in KLIA. BTW Arief took home the small pillow from the flight :-)

Kota Kinabalu Holiday Part 6...

We went back to Pasar Filifina as my mother-in-law wanted to get clarification from the seller on her new bought pearls. We managed to find a nice parking spot in-front of the pasar. Arief and my father-in-law walk to the back of the Pasar Filifina to watch the sea and to our surprise it is full with street vendors @ pasar malam and we noticed a lot of stalls selling fried seafood. Without hesitation we took our seats and ordered our meals; fried squids, prawns and ikan merah. It was delicious. But Arief pooped and we had to clean him inside the car as the toilet there is not "hygenic friendly". After our scrumptious dinner, we went to Wawasan Complex nearby. It is an office building with numerous retail outlets and the ground floor. We had our cham at Olden Kopitiam there before heading back to our hotel. BTW we did make a brief stop at Dubai Textile at Alamesra; selling muslim scarfs. We went for our last tour of One Borneo before calling it a night :-)

Kota Kinabalu Holiday Part 5...

We were supposed to wake up early to drive to Mount Kinabalu Park but we ended up having our breakfast at 8.30am. We went to Restoran Senaria at Alamesra nearby and ordered roti canai, bihun goreng and nasi goreng lalap (chicken strips). The service is very dissapointed; they make a blunder on our orders and the didn't deliver roti bakar. After breakfast we began our journey to Mount Kinabalu Park; driving towards Tuaran. BTW there is a lot of roundabouts over here but less signage guiding to Mount Kinabalu Park. Upon reaching Tuaran, I stopped at the nearest Shell Station and my father-in-law ask the attendant on the direction and he suggested we proceed towards Danau. From here the driving is mostly uphills; tiring as I need to overtake a lot of big lorries. We are at awe at the view of Mount Kinabalu while driving there and we reach the Kinabalu Park at around 10.30am. It was very windy and we spend about 45 minutes there taking pictures and admiring the view. Arief enjoy the watching the scenery as well as playing all around the park. We drove back to Kota Kinabalu and reached there just nice for our lunch; we decided to have our lunch at Restoran Getaran Jiwa at Alamesra :-)

 

Kota Kinabalu Holiday Part 4...

We drove for our dinner at Anjung Selera located nearby the sea-front and opposite the floating mosque. We wanted to avoid the dinner and we went there early. There were a lot of shops there serving mostly seafood plus chicken wings and satay. We ended up choosing the nearest shop to our parking. We ordered chicken wings, squids, prawns, telur bistik and kailan ikan masin. Arief was busy playing all over the Anjung Selera; throwing and kicking pebbles everywhere. The meals was just mediocre; a bit dissapointed actually. It was beggining to rain as we were about to finish our dinner and we drove around Kota Kinabalu town before heading back to our hotel. Arief was already sleeping and we decided to walk around One Borneo exploring the many retail shops available. We also shared a hot white chocolate at Gloria Jeans located at the Tune Hotel reception :-)

Kota Kinabalu Holiday Part 3...

I went searching for breakfast with my father-in-law around One Borneo; finally we found Mom's Shop and bought nasi lemak, sandwiches and doughnuts. Our rental car came at 9am; one hour earlier. It was an auto Proton Persona with built-in DVD player. Our first venue is to go to Pasar Filifina; I called Fazlan and asked for direction (nearby Promenade). It took us about half an hour to locate it; we were actually here earlier but the place did not have any signboard to indicate that it is Pasar Filifina. We managed to find a nice parking spot and the shopping spree begin. We bought varieties of crystal bracelet, pearls, souvenirs and t-shirts; Arief was also in the mood and he continue playing with the crystals. I was waiting outside the Pasar Filifina with Arief & Abah and we were greeted by a lot of street peddlers selling various products (imitation watches, belt, wallet and sunglasses). I bought an Oakley Flak Jacket for Arief @ RM10. We went for our lunch at Restoran Mars nearby before heading back to our Hotel for our needed rest :-)

Kota Kinabalu Holiday Part 2...

We took the airport taxi to Tune Hotel. The journey is about 20 minutes and the driver drive along a scenic route by the sea; he even showed us the place for seafood. Tune Hotel is located nearby to UMS and it is part of a huge shopping mall @ One Borneo. The entrance resemble a cyber cafe; with a check-in counter sandwich between a petite 7-11 and Gloria Jeans. Check-in was very fast and we were given our towel as per our booking. The lift to the rooms is located at the public toilet and we need to carry our bags to our room. The room is small but just nice. We put our big bag into the empty room to maximise our space. As the room does not have windows; we decided to add aircond for RM21 @ 24 hours of usage. We also paid RM7 for TV @ 24 hours (limited channels). We went down and explore One Borneo; I bought a Fred Perry Pink polo shirt and Arief bought an immitation bumblebee. We had our dinner at Syiok Cafe; it is like a food court concept but they take your orders at the table. Eliza's parents ordered nasi padang, Eliza had nasi ayam lemon while I ate laksa sarawak. We went back to our room by 8pm. I tried going online with my Celcom BB but the reception was poor. I ended up buying wifi for RM12 @ 24 hours :-)

Kota Kinabalu Holiday Part 1...

We are going to Kota Kinabalu for our Holiday; with Eliza's parents (Ijam & Ita was supposed to join us but Ijam was transfered to Teluk Intan after years of applying and he will start there on 1st August; therefore he needs to arrange for his re-location). We drove to Banting in our Satria as Elina will send us to KLIA with the new Exora. We reached KLIA by 10.15am and I immediately went to check-in; I did try at the kiosk for our boarding pass but system error. The process took less than 5 minutes. We were hungry as we skip breakfast this morning; luckilly Eliza's mom brought nasi lemak and mee goreng. BTW Arief was keeping himself busy by taking pictures all over KLIA. We requested for a wheelchair assistance for Eliza's mom and it was a very smooth boarding process. We were actually waiting anxiously for our meals; they served Arief first @ nasi goreng with satay daging. The satay was very tender; a bit spicy for the nasi goreng. We both had nasi briani ayam and it was delicious. I lost count on how many drinks that I ordered; guava juice and soft drinks. Arief fall asleep as we were about to land at Kota Kinabalu :-)

Birthday Party & Bukit Raja...

We went to Fazlan's new house at Seksyen 30 for his son birthday party (1 year old). We arrived there at around 2.30pm as I have my tennis friendly in the morning. I only look at the map once before we drove there; it looks so simple but as we arrived at Seksyen 30, we got confused on which route should we turn. Finally I call Fazlan for the direction. It was quite hidden actually. We went straight to the buffet table after meeting-up with Fazlan and Kay. Arief was asleep during the journey and woke up once we arrived. We really like the "ikan masih masak lemak with nenas". I wanted to meet-up with few of my Taiping friends but they were either too late or decided not to come. We then went to Bukit Raja from Fazlan's house to pick-up Eliza's Harry Potter tickets for tomorrow; she will be going with Elina & Haziq :-)

IKEA, Transformers & Mild Shopping...

We went to IKEA as we wanted to have lunch and buy birthday gifts for Fazlan's son & GG. We arrived there by 10.30am and we decided to wait for their lunch to be served at 11.30am. We went for some mild shopping at Brands Outlet (bought Transformers T-Shirt and Key-Chains for Arief) and Padini (Eliza bought pants and jackets at tremendous discount). On our way to IKEA I decided to redeem the IKEA points at their counter; got RM70 worth of IKEA Voucher. We had our "massive" lunch at IKEA while Arief continue playing at their kids area. We had chicken franks with mash potato and coleslaw, chicken wings, meatballs, soft drink, cappucino & daim cake. Arief pooped after lunch and after the usual "cleaning" process, he decided to wear his new Transformers T-Shirt. BTW I met with my old school buddies; Adly. He is now a lawyer in Kota Bahru; frequently travel back to Bangi as his wife and three sons is here. After lunch we bought the birthday present for Fazlan's son as well as for Pai's newborn daughter (total RM70; just nice). And Arief finally get to push his own trolley; it was the only one left at the trolley counter. He had a blast pushing it all over IKEA. Arief fall asleep after the ordeal and we went to Metrojaya at The Curve to buy handbag for GG's birthday :-)

Mee Udang Mak Jah & Ice-Age 3 at Taiping Central...

We finally had the famous mee udang at Kuala Sepetang after numerous failed attempt. We went there at around 9.45am; some of the stalls open at 10am. My sister suggested that we try Mak Jah stall; the famous one is Mak Teh. Along the way we noticed a lot of signboards showing to Mak Jah stall and we went there as suggested. We were their first customer and ordered mee udang special and kuehteow goreng udang biasa. The special consist of about 8 big prawns while the "biasa" is filled with small prawns. The prawns is very sweet due to their freshness. We really like the kuehteow goreng udang and would visit this outlet everytime we are in Taiping. My cousin, Fazlin wanted to take his nephews and nieces to the Ice-Age 3 movie at Taiping Central and we ask her to buy our tickets as well. It was the first time that we went to the cinema in Taiping and it was actually quite impressive with comfortable seating similar to the GSC's and TGV's :-)