.....times of refreshing.....

I'm back to work again after been away for almost 2 weeks, thanks to my carried forward of 12 days of last year's annual leaves. Like every year, I do felt some blues after the CNY holidays. Well, it's not so much of CNY but rather the thought of the going back to work with the workload waiting for me to act on it and the end of the holiday season. This also prompted me to write my previous post entitled 'Post CNY blues'. I hope I can get over the blues as soon as I started work. :)

Btw, I think CNY atmosphere nowadays is not as great as in the past. Sadly, the 'mood' doesn't seems to be there or was it just me? Well, I thought about it and maybe the following might give me a better a CNY next year:

 - Home entertainment : Stock up more entertaining DVDs (or blu-ray discs) for the festive season. Since the tv programmes on either the RTMs, TV tiga, NTV 7 and 8 channel are so crappy unless you have Astro WLT, maybe it's not a bad idea after all as most of the shopping malls will be closed at least for the first two days. Getting some CNY videos is a good idea too!

- Know your relatives and visit them : I was taken aback when I can't even recognised some of my younger relatives. They have so grown up now! I guess I may not know who they are if we happened to pass by each other at the shopping malls. Maybe it's time to get in touch with them and facebook is a good option. This is better than just 'angpow' exchanges between your cousins and uncles and make the conversations more interesting during visits.

Continued the CNY traditions : Waking up early and dress up in new clothes. Wishing your elderly Gong Xi Fa Cai. Have a vegetarian meal on the first day of CNY. And, maybe it will be great if we can followed the rites (or pantang) of CNY like not washing your hair on the first day, sweeping the floor, cursing ..etc.

Fireworks - Well, it will be great if the authorities can set aside some designated places for fireworks. The ambience is solely missing without fireworks.

One of the better place to enjoy a great cup of white coffee is no other than Wan Nam Kopitiam in Ipoh. This eatery has existed in Ipoh for a very long time, probably before I existed. However, they have moved to a new, modernised and better location  in Ipoh and I never failed to patronise the eatery whenever I returned back to my hometown.

Well, CNY is almost over and I'm sure lots of the folks are preparing to leave their kampung and back to work. This is one of the most 'sian' or depressing period as the holidays season, starting from  Christmas (or even Hari Raya Haji) is over. We are back to reality, back to life and work.:(

Some of us probably need some time to get over the holidays blues and I thought these opinions of mine might help :

1. Continue to celebrate - Do not stop the celebration even when you back to work, at least for the first week. Indulge yourself in having a sumptuous meal, a massage, go for a movie or shop around. Make yourself 'feel' you're still very much in the festive mood.

2. Slow down at work - Do not jump at full throttle in work but slow down a bit. Leave work early but focus on the more important tasks at hand. Leave the menial tasks at some later time. This may helps to reduce some post holiday blues. Just slow down....


3. Work on your goals - Probably it's time to work on the goals that we have planned for,  so that we can look forward to the rest of the year.It's also makes us feel motivated.

4. Plan for the next holiday, be it a short or long vacation. Afterall, this year has a lot of long weekends as most of the holidays falls on Fridays or Mondays. This will certainly helps to chase away some blues.

To those who are driving home, have a safe trip and good weekend!

Like any typical Chinese, I always look forward to this time of the year, since the day I understand what CNY is. :)  I will be traveling on the traffic congested roads with my family from JB to Ipoh and to avoid the jam, I took longer leaves this year and start my journey earlier.
I thought it's fun to reflect back on the past CNYs. CNY has different meaning in different stages of my life. Here goes-

Childhood - Tis the season to look forward for firecrackers! It's not so much on angpows as these will likely be 'kept' by the parents.haha...  I remember I started savings a portion of my daily pocket money early, so that the amount will be enough to buy lots of firecrackers. And, during the late 70s and early 80s, firecrackers were darn cheap. I can get those 'fountain' firecrackers or a few 'moon travelers' from 20cents onwards.

Teens - This will be the time to collect as many angpows as possible and I always look forward to CNY visits. It's also a time to hang out with my buddies and visiting their homes. The later teen years will be more on planning to visit some pretty young thing's home and it's a hell of a plan which usually didn't materialize. LOL . And, of course, I do enjoyed shopping around for nice clothes, get a good haircut and watching CNY movies with friends.

Adult - During college years, CNY is merely a time to rest and break, as well as hanging out with old school friends. CNY are usually short as I needed to return back to the college, while my family were still celebrating it. And when started work, CNY is all about spending money for dunno-wat. I usually travel to visit my college buddies and have a good time staying in a 5 star resort and have beers. And, of course,not forgetting to buy hampers and stay overnights at my wifey's (then girlfriend) place and hang around with her family members. :)

Now - Tis the time to send my kids back to visit their grandparents and let them bond with them and their cousins. It's also a time to shop for their tiny clothes and well, there's really lots of shopping to do! It's about catching up with my old buddies and relatives back home. Basically, it's a time to get together !

I quite like to go for an afternoon coffee at Tea Garden whenever I'm in Taman Nusa Bestari. Situated nearby Sutera Mall, this modern kopitiam, with its nostalgic settings, is quite a popular hangout with JB folks. I understand they have three branches, another two in Taman Johor Jaya and Jusco Bukit Indah.
And, not forgetting my cup of kopi - RM1.60.

These are true stories...

Encounter #1 -
I was queing to pick up some dishes at an economical rice stall, ran by a chinese national family. They have a 4 year old kid who loves to run around and also, helps collecting empty cans drinks from the tables. Well, as I moved my arms to get the fork and spoon, I accidentally but not forcefully hit that kid, who was behind me. And, you know what.... he whacked his entire arm at my abdomen!! I was laughing when I see a small , young kid attacking me. And, later when I offered my empty can of drink to him for collection, he make up a gun sign to point at me. All my colleagues were laughing too!

Encounter # 2 -
I was shopping with my kid at the toy department. My kid was sitting comfortably on the shopping trolley cart and since it's the toy department, he wanted to get down from the trolley to check out the toys. Thus, I carried him down and without my knowledge, one 8 to 9 year old malay kid dashed by and my kid's slipper hits his head while I was lowering him down. He scolded me in malay and then ran away.I can't make up what he said..LOL

Encounter # 3-
I was at a clinic. There were three chairs with two chairs at the left and right having toys on top of it. I guess the toys belongs to the clinic and some kids were playing with it . I sat on the empty chair in between the two chairs with toys. Suddenly, a 5 year old kid came out and start scolding at me. I have to shift to another chair behind... *sigh*..

Kids nowadays...are really 'garang'.....

This is becoming one of my favourite restaurants to dine in. Let's Eat is an HK style restaurant, similar to those 'char chan teng' that you find everywhere but I especially likes to come over here , probably I'm shopping nearby at Tesco or Giant, the nice food and affordable price, strong WiFi connection and a clean environment.

Shredded Pork Vegetable Shanghai Noodle - RM6.90. A healthy and delicious bowl of soupy noodle with shredded pork meat. I love the salty soup which was enhanced by the pieces of salty vegetables.
'Ying Yong' (tea mixed with coffee - HK Style) - RM5.80. My favourite beverages and always ordered it whenever i'm in a HK restaurant.

Let's Eat Restaurant is located at 23, Jalan Molek 2/3, Taman Molek 81100 JB. Tel - 607-3522023