Mini typhoon in Penang?

The 17 hours I had at home (including the sleeping time as well) were good times. I miss the cuties already! I was attempting to blog about the trip back last night but I was tired (actually being lazy using tired as an excuse).

Boarded Transnasional this time and the ticket only cost me RM14. There are many people at the bus station who will try to rip passenger off, especially desperate ones so this time, I took my sweet time buying ticket as soon as I reached Medan Gopeng the night before (27 Mar).


Looked like a movie ticket.
Speaking of movie tickets, I have been collecting Gurney GSC movie stubs to keep track on how many movies I have watched here so far. Current record: 4 times, 3 times in this month alone.

No wonder my expenditure sky-rocketed this month. Hahaha!!!

Eunice accompanied me at the bus station while I waited for the bus to arrive. Finally it did. I was supposed to sit at 2A but then I looked around and saw that 5C and 5D were empty. So I quickly changed my seat and it was nice having two seats to myself when I only paid for one.

The ride was uneventful and I dozed on and off throughout the entire journey.

Reached Penang Sentral at 5.50pm and headed straight for the ferry. Waited for around 20 minutes and at 6.30pm or so, I reached the island.

Last transport (the Rapid) to take from the Jetty to Batu Ferringhi. By the time I reached Batu Ferringhi, it was already 7.50pm.

And here was when the adventure began.

I was walking happily to the Malay stall for dinner and I felt the rain was coming but did not think it would be heavy. You know, like really tiny drops from the sky that could not be considered rain at all.

So I caught sight of Kah Men sitting at the stall waiting for me and suddenly, the sky opened up and water started pouring like crazy. As if this was not enough, the wind followed suit almost instantaneously and I quickly ran and desperately trying to take cover under the shelter of the stall but the wind was too strong that it was blowing the rainwater in all directions (I actually wished the stall had four walls then). It really reminded me of the typhoon I saw on tv. I thought I was a smart-aleck and tried opening my umbrella to shield myself from the rain. I got so shocked when my umbrella got opened up in the opposite direction and quickly closed it. Upon closer inspection, one of the wires was a little bended due to the pressure from the wind. :(

HOW COULD I BE SO STUPID???

Anyway, the "mini typhoon" had their fun for a while while we were waiting for people to start cooking. Yes, the cooks were hiding from the rainwater so no orders were taken during the episode of the "mini typhoon". We waited for around half an hour before we could place our order. It was already 8.30pm by then.

My long-awaited nasi ayam pedas. RM4.50. Value for money as it was delicious. :)

The rain finally stopped at 9pm and I walked back to the condo feeling relieved.

Why has it been raining for the past week? I don't understand. I don't really like the rain anymore when it gets too much.

Had bihun and 2 half-boiled eggs this morning so I ate less for lunch.

Erm, not that little according to mom.

I get hungry really fast when working especially the period between breakfast and lunch. I think it has a lot to do with the non-stop walking in SMC.

A final treat to end this post with a bang!

The cuties/naughties having fun. No wonder they ignored me after that. They were too tired to play already!

A short trip back to Ipoh

I almost missed the van yesterday morning but good thing Nathan waited for me. :D

Breakfast time again and I had congee at 6.40am before work. Was planning to see the cuties after work by bus.

The anticipation of going back home all by myself was so overwhelming that I couldn't wait for 3pm to come sooner so I could go back.

Finally it's time. I boarded the 3.50pm Rapid Bus from the bus-stop in front of Parkroyal Hotel.


Jam-packed with people going to various places.


This was snapped after the stop at Komtar. Many got down from Komtar.

Around 5pm, I finally reached the jetty where I needed to take the ferry across to the mainland.


It's free!


The interior of the ferry. The back of the benches can slide back and forth so that passengers don't have to sit in the opposite direction when the ferry is moving.


The view from jetty


In the ferry

The bus from Butterworth to Ipoh. RM20 for the ticket but the good thing was I got to get up the bus instantly.

I chatted with a girl sitting next to me and we became friends. Went out to dinner together with my sister and we fetched her home since she was staying nearby.

When I came home, I was so happy to see the two cuties running out from the cage to greet me. Elly gave me a bark and I never hear her barking at me ever again after that. Just felt like playing with them all day long. :)

Watched Master Chef final and I am glad Whitney won. David was such a snob. Attitude truly wins!

As I only have 17 hours at home, I tried my best not to sleep early but in the end, I slept at 1.40am. Got to wake up this morning to wash my bedsheets and pillow cases before going out for breakfast with sis.

I missed the Western breakfast at Liang Tang!

It has been a long time since I had last driven and I still remember how to drive. Hahaha!!


The dogs and Eunice


It's the Elles again!


Elsa licking her mouth. She is a better model than Elly.


Both sun-bathing




Two of them doing random things.


They love to lick my hand.

Elsa's ears are infected with parasite. In the process of healing. Get well soon, Elsa! Don't answer to the name Elly anymore.


Elsa!

Elly at the background looking for people to bark. Hahaha...


Both of them sleeping after feeling bored of nothing to do.

It's breakfast time! See how they eat.


Elly. One of the rare pictures with her being still.

Now I know the trick to snap her picture. Make her tired and snap all the pictures at any angle that you want.


Going to doze off soon.

They are adorable. Can't bear to part with them. I will be back for another trip soon!!!

Will be boarding the 3.45pm bus back to Penang. Sayonara, Ipoh!

Are you ready for food?

My laptop bluetooth suddenly doesn't work anymore. So I can't upload any pictures to blog. The only alternative would be to send the pictures via MMS to my mom and she will do the uploading for me. Thank you, mama!!

I don't have any interesting things to update other than food because I am working in the food service department and I would like to make you salivate.

These days, I have been working in the morning shift and I usually have my breakfast at the hotel cafeteria.


Char Koay Teow

During lunch yesterday, I saw this for lunch too. I knew it was from breakfast. Hahaha!!!

Went to the shop below Pinang Emas flat and ordered economy rice.

Sambal egg, fried chicken and some fish gravy on rice.

The gravy tasted very good and I wished I had bought some bread.

The next morning, which was this morning, I had fried noodles. I usually am not a fan of noodles but I was hungry so I ate.

The taste was not too bad.

During lunch, I had some rice and fries and fish fingers.

Oh and cabbage too. With a mixture of chilli and tomato sauce at the side.


Dessert - Pineapple rojak

Going to church soon. Hope it has stopped raining. :)

Tomyam fried rice for dinner

I was on duty for the outdoor station this morning and indeed, it is much busier than inside. People tend to sit outside in the morning because it would be too cold inside! And the sun is back. That is another plus point why people choose to sit outside. But I will always opt to sit inside no matter what. I don't care if the air-conditioner freezes me to death. Hahaha!!!

The breakfast time closes at 10.30am every day but today there were several guests who arrived for BREAKFAST at 10.30am sharp. What good timing! I was halfway turning over some of the tables for lunch when six guests came over asking me where they could sit for breakfast. I asked them whether they would like indoor or outdoor (praying so hard that they will say indoor so that I don't have to reset breakfast setting for them) but they said, "If possible, we would like to sit outside." Dang. Truth to be told, I was a little frustrated but it's all right when I thought about these poor souls who had not eaten since morning. :)

Back home, I went straight to bed and slept for almost 1.5 hours with my make-up on. Eew, I know it's disgusting to sleep with the make-up on but I was fatigued. Probably done a lot of walking today, that's why. Then I did my laundry (of course, after removing my make-up) and then came online as usual. Soon it was dinner time and I messaged Kah Men to see if she had gone home for work. Poor girl. She was still working. So I went downstairs to the coffee shop near her flat and ordered a plate of tomyam fried rice and a glass of hot barley.


Hot barley is always good for the system. Everyone should drink more barley. :)

A few minutes later, my dinner came. I tell you the Malay/Indonesian lady is a terrific cook! She can cook very fast and the food always turns out to be DELICIOUS!


With lots of ingredients such as chicken meat, prawns, fish cake and such.

I just realised I had fried rice for breakfast and dinner today.

I could almost eat the whole plate if I were to have a bigger mouth to swallow.

Total I spent for dinner: RM5.00

NOT BAD RIGHT?

Next, I might try their nasi goreng kampung or nasi goreng ayam. Both look good too.

Oh and another thing, I realised there is no lizard here at Seaview. Or I have yet to see one in my room. They hate the hilly places, I guess. That's good news for me.

Working environment in SMC

My working place for two months or so. Lovely.


The indoor dining area, also known as Section 1.


Section 2 with the dessert and noodle station and the bar.

Today was a slow day so I could snap some pictures after coming back from lunch.

Table setting for lunch and dinner

Had a good 1 hour nap just now and was planning to go out to eat but the rain forbade me to do so!! Had to use Plan B. Instant noodles with egg! I will turn botak soon. Hahahahaha!!!

Nasi Paprik + The Hills Have Eyes for dinner

Had my dinner at Pinang Emas area with Kah Men and it was a long meal. No, the food did not come late or we ate slow but it was raining so we ended up watching an entire movie of The Hills Have Eyes. And the rain kept pouring and pouring. Good thing I had my trusty umbrella.

Had nasi paprik.


So much ingredients. There were prawns, long beans, chicken meat, and some cauliflowers inside. Delicious.

Back to morning shift tomorrow. I love morning shift. :)

Nyonya Kuih, anyone?

Feeling hungry and longing for something to chew on?

Here's a picture of an array of Nyonya Kuih from SMC buffet line.


I am craving for desserts now. Hmm..

My shift for this week:

21 Mar (Mon): 3-11pm
22 Mar (Tue): OFF DAY!!!
23 Mar (Wed): 7-3pm
24 Mar (Thu): 7-3pm
25 Mar (Fri): 7-3pm
26 Mar (Sat): 7-3pm
27 Mar (Sun): 7-3pm

I am going to watch some movies and do some reading soon!

First Saturday service for me

Today was my first morning shift at SMC and again, I was lucky as there was few guests who came for breakfast hence, plenty of time for mis-en-place for lunch and dinner.

Went to church after work and the sermon was about the second lie we often tell ourselves: Good people will go to heaven.

It's an interesting topic as we often think that good people will definitely go to heaven. I was so tired from walking back from work that I fell asleep in the bus on the way there and was dozing on and off during sermon. *guilty*

After that, I walked over to the New Pakma Food Court and ordered a plate of fried spaghetti and french fries. Was thinking to quickly eat and then wait for the bus sooner but I suffered after that. Stomach was churning so badly I thought I was about to throw up. Throughout the entire ride in the Rapid, I was feeling slightly giddy but I felt nothing after came back home. I guessed all the food had been digested. :)


Dinner

I will eat there whenever I attend Saturday services. Will try the fried rice next. Looks delicious.

Another 7-3 shift again tomorrow. :)

P.S. My hair smells so good after using the L'Occitane conditioner. Hmm...

The Indestructible Wall-E

Wow, this dog is so strong! What kind of DNA does he have? The injections didn't kill him. I want him too!!! The indestructible dog

The following passage is lifted in its entirety from The Straits Times.


Wall-E, a puppy who managed to survive despite two attempts to euthanize him at an Oklahoma animal shelter. -- PHOTO: AP

OKLAHOMA CITY - A STRAY dog who survived an attempt to put him to sleep at an animal shelter has become a canine celebrity, with thousands seeking to adopt him, an appearance on a national television show and growing concerns about his safety as his fan base increases.

Wall-E was among several dogs abandoned by the Sulphur Animal Shelter less than a month ago. A local veterinarian tried to euthanise the puppy due to overcrowding, but he somehow survived.

Now, about 3,000 people have expressed interest in adopting him and US$1,200 (S$1,535) has been donated for his care. He was flown to New York City to appear on Good Morning America. Concerns about his safety have arisen as some people have said they want to breed him to make money.

Veterinarian technician Amanda Kloski, who works at Arbuckle Veterinarian Clinic, has been surprised by some of the phone calls and e-mails the clinic has received. She said one man travelled from Arkansas to the clinic in Sulphur, south of Oklahoma City, offering to take Wall-E off her hands and breed him.

'It's been crazy,' Ms Kloski said on Wednesday.

Since that incident, Wall-E has been going home with a designated individual each night, rather than staying at the clinic. Also, plans are to have Wall-E neutered before he is sent to a new home. -- AP

A dream so emotion-affecting

Today will be my tenth day in SMC. I didn't realise I actually miss Chi people until I see this picture that Melissa posted on my Facebook wall.

Mel and I

She's an Indonesian Chinese I got to know during my early spa days. Miss her so, so much! Hope she is doing well.

***

I had a dream about Crystle. Funny that I didn't even think about her and she popped up in my dream. She was again in the house and everyone seemed to be forgetting the fact that she was supposed to be missing. It was as though she had been there all along. And in the dream, I asked mom what happened to the Elles and she said another friend already adopted them. I was so sad to hear about this because I still had not seen them and now they were gone.

I was glad it was just a dream. Not glad that Crystle is still missing but I am glad that the Elles are still safe and sound at home. I don't want anything bad to happen to them.

Will be cooking on my own for lunch. This time it will be half-boiled eggs and crackers. Yum yum!

Great friends, great food

Last night was another busy night but not as busy as Monday night. I have gotten used to the work routine at SMC and now it has become more bearable. It's been a week since I start working there.

No picture in today's post. Had a great supper (consisting of soup and dumplings otherwise known as 水饺 or Chinese Ravioli) with friends after work in the back kitchen. All the tiredness we experienced seemed to vanish in that moment of fellowship. Thanks Justin for the dumplings. They were delicious. :)

Time to prepare for work now. Today will be less busy. Heh!

Thank you God for all the wonderful days that I have. :)

Yet, another great Sunday.

Besides having to be alert and learn to find work to do all the time, I love my current department very much. My working hours seem to be shorten by half when I work there. An hour feels like minutes. And the people there are friendly too.

Last night was not busy but because we were understaffed, things were a little bit messy. But we managed to pull through and wrap up everything in success.

Oh yea, a couple of pictures from the pastry kitchen.


Bon Voyage cake for one of the leaving guests.


I think this cake belongs to Ferringhi Grill.

While on the way to the bus stop yesterday morning, I saw a couple of monkeys carrying some garbage in their hands.

They were very scared of me. Good monkeys minding their own monkey business. Hehehe.

Right after that, I saw another monkey grabbing a plastic bag joining the duo.

During service, Pastor Isaac mentioned about the lies we tell ourselves that there are certain areas in our lives which God cannot help us with. That is a lie. Every single area of our lives are God-created so He shall take control and we must not act by ourselves.

Walked over to Burma road and tried the prawn noodles. Quite delicious. RM3.50.


My supper prepared by the noodle chef. It's a huge portion and I took a long time to finish it.

He also gave me a bowl of soup with a big, fat mushroom and a piece of black chicken in it. Ate the mushroom, threw the black chicken away. :P

Today will be busy because it's Buy One Free One Day!

Calmness in the midst of chaos

My heart goes out to every affected Japanese in the tsunami.

Here's a video of a supermarket when the earthquake took place.



I salute them for their calmness in the midst of chaos.

Good guests are like gems

So yesterday was a busy day, not at SMC but at the lobby lounge. It's Diner Dash in real life. Everyone wanted to order and have their food served fast. If only we have individual chefs for each and every guest, of course, this can be done.

The happiest thing happened was a couple wrote a good comment about me in the Customer Delight Card. I was overjoyed and thanked them for their kindness and they even wished me all the best in my training. It's not an every day event that I get to meet guests like these.

I don't know why I couldn't upload pictures from Flickr but I will keep trying. There are just so many photos I would like to share.

My new working schedule from tomorrow onwards.

14 Mar (Mon): 3-11pm
15 Mar (Tue): 3-11pm
16 Mar (Wed): 3-11pm
17 Mar (Thu): 3-11pm
18 Mar (Fri): OFF DAY!!
19 Mar (Sat): 7-3pm
20 Mar (Sun): 7-3pm

The next time I shift back to afternoon shift, I will go back to Ipoh. Definitely. :D

E Wa Pet Kennel

Mom has discovered a home stay for the Elles when we go for holidays!

Check the website out!

I am sure Elsa and Elly will not be traumatised by having to be home alone after this as they get to run about and get to know new friends during the home stay. I feel so happy for them. No more troubling neighbours and friends to feed them while we are in outstation.

Tried to post some pictures here but I think Flickr is encountering some problem. Never mind. Will try again when I come back tonight.

I wonder if it will be busy tonight. It's another seafood buffet night like yesterday. Hope I don't meet guests as fussy and unreasonable as yesterday. Happy working to everyone who dreads work and think of people who don't' have a job to complain about. :D

Have a great day!

SMC ain't no busy!

What I had for lunch yesterday.


Some fish curry gravy, vegetables and chicken. RM4. It was delicious.

It has been the third day at SMC. So far, so good. I love the working environment in the sense that I do not have to sweat like I used to at Chi, The Spa. And the uniform is so comfy! It feels like pajamas. That is how comfortable it is!

These few nights have not been very busy and I thank God for non-busy hours! With less guests, we can do turnover sooner for breakfast and I won't be missing the van.

Went out to the Garden Wing lobby lounge to help serve drinks to guests today since SMC was not that busy.


The welcome drinks


Lounge area where the guests are being welcomed in prior to check-in.

How could I forget to post this picture during my last day at spa? The five-element oils.


My favourite smell is still the Fire Element. Smells like a sweet perfume to me.

Another 3-11 shift tomorrow. I realise I always have afternoon shifts since my days at spa.