The Things I Did in Malaysia in February 2008

1. Collect Ang Pow

Enough said.

2. Eat

Eating is such a luxury. When I die and go up to heaven, I will personally ask God to abolish the the fact that eating will cause weight gain. Then I can eat and eat til my hearts' content without worrying over nasty things like calories and fat.

But wait! If that is the case, then everyone will be super thin and even all the fat girls will become pretty which causes more competition for me.

OK.

So I will ask God to ensure I do not put on weight even in heaven or my next life, and that the deal is exclusive to me only, and Only Me.

Back to food in Malaysia.
With Chinese New Year on the cards, one can never underestimate the intelligence of chinese dishes.
Coming from a very cheena family (and proud of it), the 2nd day of CNY is when we go vegetarian.
Apparently, in Hong Kong, vegetarians are not fully vegetarians. Because there are oysters in their 'vegetarian' dish. Once again with my very Chinese roots, I was taught by my father from the age I can talk that everything in the dish represents a 'good wish'. Mushrooms, 苳菇 in chinese, represents 东成西就, because the 'dong' character sounds the same in both. The oysters, 蠔, represents 好事发财. The hair looking thingy, 发菜, is simple enough meaning 发财. And there are LOADS more of stuff inside, each which represents a good blessing. Too bad if you cannot read or understand the chinese characters, but there is no other way to explain it. So, I can literally ramble of all the types of chinese blessings til the cows come home and you can be assured of a very blessed, plenty of money, luck and prosperity year ahead of you should you be lucky enough to cross my road during CNY.

In Malaysia, the 'Lou Sang' is regarded as the Must Have dish for CNY. For the uninformed, in Hong Kong, there is no such thing. Even if there is, the HK version is to take the separate ingredients into your own bowl and mix it yourself.
But since I am half Malaysian and I do fully embrace my roots, I had 'Lou Sang' about 10 times in the span of 3 weeks. I like this dish, I really do. If you've not had it, then you do not know what you are missing.

Of course, when it comes to chinese fine dining, we go for the bigger the better, the rarer the better, the more expensive the better. And CNY really is the best time to show off all the things that you can afford to eat to your friends.

Abalone and goose feet. Divine.

Buddha Jump Over the Wall. I am not 100% sure what is inside either. But sure as heck taste amazing.

Malaysia is also famous for its local delights, bragging culinary wonders from every race/culture/thing, and being the greedy pig, I mean, dainty eater that I am, I tried as much as I could, in the short 3 weeks.

My greatest feats include:
1.
Eating all of the above plus a bowl of Fish Paste Noodle within the timing of 10 am to 3.30 pm. And dinner later at night too.

2.Downing all of the above in one night. Well, more like within the span of 2 hours. Wanted to squeeze in Roti Tissue too but I thought those were really the limit.

Constantly keeping in mind the calories.

I also paid a visit to Kampachi, the famous Japanese restaurant in Equatorial Hotel, where you have to make a booking 3 months in advance before you can get a place in its famed and celebrated Sunday Buffet.
Well, that was what I was told. Don't blame me if you went there yesterday and sampled the food without the 3 month waiting list.
Anyway, since having the correct contacts works all the time in this world, we were guaranteed a place by the manager of the restaurant whom is the relative of a friend.




Well, the spread was fabby and taste-wise was also fantastica. I am no expert in the field of Japanese food dining but tis' not bad, really. Especially that beef sukiyaki above.
*ascends to 7th heaven of delight*

Ok, I know talk so much about food, sibeh boring liao, but I really must talk about this new dish I tried:

Chilli Pan Mee.

Tucked into a side road parallel to Jalan Raja Chulan in KL, just down from KLGH, is a typical old-time type char chan teng lies 'Restaurant Kin Kin'. Sparse, quiet and with words written on the tiled wall with a marker pen that praises its food to the skies, (I kid you not, something along the lines of 'noodles so divine they make you hit orgasm' - beh paiseh ppl) Uncle and Aunty Kin Kin ONLY sells Pan Meen for RM 5 a bowl. Kon Lou only. ONLY 1 dish in the whole dodgy restaurant. You are then supposed to add 'Kin Kin's Amazing-Super-One-of-A-Kind-Everything-Else-is-Cetak-Rompak CHILLI!!' to your Pan Meen and mix it all up before shoveling the noodles into your mouth.

In true honesty, the chilli was kind of normal. I am sure I've tasted it somewhere before, but the combination of the whole dish with the runny egg yolk is rather special. Highly recommended if you are a hard core Pan Meen lover who also like spice, or if you are adventurous and like discovering new, untapped dishes.

3. Visit all the new shopping complexes
a) Pavillion

All done up for CNY.

High street brands, including Juicy Couture as a very black and pink shop, Pavillion is the next KLCC. Not that I mind, it is fun having people open doors for you when you walk into Gucci, point at this bag or another and have it brought down, ooh and ahh very meaningfully over its intricate design and material, give a deep nod of understanding and hand it back to the salesgirl while leaving behind an extremely palpable aura of 'I-am-definitely-returning-to-buy-it-but-let-me-just-pop-into-the-loo' feel . Of course, walk out with all dignity of holding back that bursting bladder while secretly wiping your shoes at the soft Italian made carpet and farting just as the door closes.
Repeat at Prada.

In Pavillion, they also have this bakery called 'The Loaf' which is listed as ex PM Mahathir's fav bakery.
Drinks are at reasonable prices, cheaper than Starbucks even, but woe be to all buyers of their bakery products as with the exorbitant price you pay, you're better off eating 10 bowls of Kin Kin's Chilli Pan Mee.
But PM like ma, what to do.
Exploitation.

b) Gardens in Mid Valley
Ok, another place alike Pavillion and KLCC which houses all the huge, over the top brands. What is wrong with KL? Just a few years ago, we opened our first ever LV and then suddenly every other brand comes rushing to the Malaysian shores.
I do not blame them though, almost every girl I see on the street carries a branded bag, from Coach to LV to Gucci to Dior etc etc.
I'm trying to anticipate when Anya Hindmarch is going to be a mega hit here like how Coach was back when I was in college.

Oh, and I must also comment on the mushrooming of donut stores. Dunkin Donuts not enough is it? We now have J and C Donuts, San Africa Donuts, Apple Banana Donut, Boys and Girls Donuts, Pig and Cow Donuts, and a hundred others of really POSH sounding donut bakeries all over KL, with queues that can rival the event of Coach suddenly deciding to give out its bags for free. Not that the latter will ever happen but yes, there is a revolution of donuts in KL since I left my homeland in June last year. I am now waiting for Krispy Kremes of London to make a debut in KL and laugh my ass off as everyone rushes to sink their teeth into the famed donuts of British soil.

I have yet to go to Sunway Pyramid 2 which I will when I return again in June this year.

4. Experience a proper and full blown thunderstorm.

Nothing more satisfying than the pitter patter sound of raindrops as they hammer down onto the pavement. Together with the rumbling of thunder and whipping gale, thunderstorms beats the miserable showers in UK anytime.
Oh, to think back of the days when I was caught in the rain while walking back from school.

5. Nail Art
Having done Psychiatry before this, I allowed my nails to grow long as no use of percussion was needed.
Therefore, upon returning to Malaysia with absolutely nothing to do, one would naturally look for entertainment and I found it in the form of nail art.

Self done on my very own nails, 3 full weeks of nail bliss without medical school intefering meant I could walk about with multi-coloured, candy-striped, jewel-adorned fingernails without having to act nor look professional for the benefit of my patients. Female doctors like girly stuff too, you know.


6. And the best for last, Jay Chou's World Concert Tour 2008.
All hail the king of Mandopop, Jay Chou. A 3 hour concert compromising of all his famous songs and also guest performance by Nan Quan Mama (his proteges), Jay Chou's stellar concert was a sold out with over 20,000 fans screaming and rocking to his music.
Yes, RM 398 poorer and I was standing on my plastic chair jumping up and down like a monkey. Quite sane compared to the guy in front and behind me which were bobbing like clowns with lopsided star struck grins plastered over their faces, all in credit of Jay's wonderful music.
His most memorable songs were 听妈妈的话 where Chow Yun Fatt was featured on the screens waving and nodding to the beat, and even Jacky Cheung singing the chorus. (If you remember, the lyrics of the song includes both artistes names)
Jay Chou also rose on a moving platform playing a crystal piano while serenading the crowd. So yau yeng right!!! On top of that, there was this brief but mind blowing clash of piano playing as Nan Quan Mama's Yu Hao played against Jay Chou with music from Maxim's Bumble Bee.

Pyrotechnics accentuated the performances and there was even a dance routine by 3 guys wearing, guess what!? Kilts! Dancing the Scottish way! However, they forgot to remove their underwear. (Oi, wanna be Scottish, do properly la! 做戏做全套!)
*Sigh, reconnecting with my 4 years of Scottish exposure.*

Basically, needless to say, Jay Chou is one of the most talented and BEST of the BEST singers around. And of course, looking so cool and yau yeng also helps. A LOT.

An advice for not so good looking guys out there : Just learn how to pull off the cool look and your glam factor raises by a million points. I promise.

Sigh, I love my parents and Home.