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

I was driving back from Kluang to JB on a dark evening at around 7pm+. It was slightly rainy and I decided to pull away from the traffic at one of the rest stops for a bio break. I could feel the breezy wind and light scatter rain while walking to the gents.

After I am done with my job, I slowly walked back to my car. While walking, I was curious with what I saw, a big white cloth standing alone by one of the pondoks (huts) around. I kept looking at the 'thing' and the white figure doesn't seems to move. It just stayed there .... motionless. It was quiet on a Saturday evening at the stop and I thought let's not bother about it, whether it's really those things or not.

I drove back and reached home safely. While taking my shower, I noticed a big bruise on my arm. I was wondering how this blue-black came along as I don't feel anything before and no pain too. I don't think it was caused by resting my arm on the side of whatever in my car. Then, chills sent down to my spines! I heard of what my parents or elders said about those things which pinch you until blue-black when you are alseep. Could it be that white thing which pinched me ??

hahaha..... relaxs folks! This is a case of I scared my ownself! I later realised the bruise was caused by my badminton racket where I accidentally hit my arm while smashing few days ago, though I didn't realise I was blue-black already. LOL ... And  the white thingy, well, later it did move, where it kneel down and up. It's actually someone performing prayers at one of those designated huts at the stop. :P

Have a good week, folks!

I was not feeling so good few days ago and it's been raining non-stop in JB. In fact, I felt asthmatic and cold. Find it difficult to breath and my runny nose still keeps going. I thought I;m gonna take a day MC the next day till I had dinner.


For the rest of the day, I didn't really have any 'hot' food. I had bread for breakfast, chicken rice for lunch and bread again for tea. Seeing that we don't have any preferences for dinner on a cold , windy night ... we opted for a Fish Head Soup Steamboat. Together with some dishes like beancurd tofu and slice ginger chicken, I almost 'recover' instantly after consuming. The breathing difficulties cools away and I never felt so good again!

This led me to think that it's probably the cold weather and it's mind over matters on my 'illness'. And, having freshly boiled soup and fresh cooked food are definitely good for a body which is recovering from flu. Eat nutritious  but healthy food and drink lots of soup will do good for the body, and of course the soul. Now, I know why chicken soup is good for the soul...haha.

Have a good mid-week!

My leaves starting from tuesday night till today have finally finished and I gotta go back to work tomorrow... *sian* Anyway, didn't really go anywhere except staying at home to rest, blog, shop and eat.


I read a lot of blogs on mountain climbing and hiking and really feel tempted to try it out. However, I didn't manage to locate a club for beginners. Will keep on trying and preferably, try out easier paths first. Well, I was surprised the tallest mountain in South East Asia which is Mount Kinabalu is one of the easiest to hike. No experiences required...!


 I was glued to the TV for Asian Games which was shown live both on RTM and Channel 5 especially badminton. It was so exciting watching the semi-finals between Chong Wei and Chen Jin as well as the doubles final yesterday which Malaysia lost by a narrow margin.



I'm also recovering from my flu and cough which I got it last week and still got a little phlegm in my lungs. Sometimes it's quite difficult to breathe and I needed to take an expectorant to help get the phlegm out. *sigh* I need to take more Vit C!
 That's for the updates folks! Have a good week.


 

I was driving out yesterday on a clear sunny skies, less traffic and good road conditions. I was surprise to see a lorry fell on its side and occupied one of the two opposite lanes which slowed down the traffic on the other direction. While I pity the driver and the passengers and hope nobody got hurt, I was puzzle on how the lorry can get into that situation, under bright clear skies and almost no traffic. Small wonder this is likely due to human error.


Sometimes I wonder why folks likes to be aggressive while on the road. Cutting lanes on a non-designated road which creates a two lanes into four lanes of traffic, tailgating, speeding for no reasons, overtaking aggressively, double parking, talking on the handphone while driving, no signalling while turning and etc are what we saw on the roads everyday. Are they stressed out, didn't study or forgot the highway codes, inculcate the bad habits over the years, arrogance, tired and etc ?


Some accidents on the road are really unnecessary and if the drivers practise good etiquette and habits on the road, stayed out of stress, patience and humble, I'm sure besides savings their lives and limbs, it also create a pleasant driving experience for other road users. And like any other tasks, we always need a cool head when we attempt it. So, what's more with driving?

I decided to take two days leaves from work since Wednesday is a holiday and I don't feel like going back to JB on a Tuesday night and returned back to Singapore the next night. Thus, I take this opportunity to rest and spend more time with family.

Since I was so free, I thought I better start on my financial planning. I have been reading books on this subject and the first basic thing to do is to work out your budget for expenses and income monthly for the whole year. After working it out, deduct the income and expenses and the balance is ideally 0 or positive surplus. Of course, there may be more expenditure for a particular month but these extra can be offset in the other months. For the entire budget for the year, see if the balance is 0 or more. If it's in the minus sign, then perhaps adjustment should be done to the expenses. Do include a monthly savings to the plan. Once the plan is done, compare your actual expenditure and income with this budget plan and stay discipline in keeping close to your plan.

After working  out a draft, I was shock with my expenses and I almost got an anxiety attack, especially my wifey spelling out all the expenses. No wonder I didn't really save a lot! Well, staying in two places - JB and Singapore has incurred lots of expenses on me. Well, since I'm a bit stressed out, I needed a cool head to further work on it to see how to reduce the deficit, find ways to increase my income. I decided to relax to stay cool(see my previous two posting..hahaha.., it works). I still needed time to further improve the plan. Thus, no need to press the panic button yet. And, as in my previous post, the Lord will provides!


Well, I got a good eye-opener on my financial situation today as well as reinforced that blogging is therapeutic. My two previous posts reminded me to relax and the Lord will take care of everything. It helps me a bit just now. LOL

Have a good weekend!

Few days ago while reading others blogs, I came across a posting on Mount Korbu, which is the second highest peak in Peninsula Malaysia and it's located nearby Ipoh (Ulu Kinta). In fact, the mountain can be seen easily from the city area of Ipoh and on a clear day, it looks simply majestic together with other hills and mountains nearby at the Titiwangsa range.

Mount Korbu as seen from the NE highway, towards the direction to Ipoh

I was fascinated by the pictures posted on several blogs in the journeys of  the hikers and climbers especially the waterfalls, flora and fauna, views of Ipoh city from the peak, the rare insects and settlements of orang asli (aborigines). After reading these blogs, how I wished I could also scaled up the mountain and enjoy taking photographs along the way. haha...dream on!



When I was a kid growing up in Ipoh, I always took a long stare at this mount where it's visible from where I stayed as well as from my school. What fascinate this little mind was the shape of the mountain where it look like a volcano to me. :)

Mount Korbu as seen from Tambun

Definitely, I'm not ready for mountain climbing. So far in my life, I had only hiked up to the top of Kledang hill and Maxwell hill in Taiping during my teen years and those are very easy terrain - tar roads. The last hiking that I did was around the Bukit Timah area in Singapore few years back with my company.

Kledang Hill

 
I discussed with my wifey to check out some short hiking trips at the mountains like Fraser's Hills or Cameron Highlands. Get into a group of hikers and with the help of an experience hikers, we can hike around the cool mountainside for a few hours before returning back to the hotel. This will be a pleasant way to spend our vacations, rather than the usual city life routine- eat, sleep, shop. Well, let's wait a few more years until my kids are bigger or I can round-up some friends for the trip. LOL

hiking in Fraser's Hills.... I love it!!

 Have a good weekend, folks and time for me to take an afternoon nap and ....dream first...

*phew* ...I have been busy lately, can't really find time to blog during weeknights. Glad it's a long weekend and manage to go around makan and reading others' blogs! Nothing special on my weekend, just rest and relax at home besides living the city life - eat, shop and sleep. :)

I was again at Taman Sutera, which boasts the most eateries in JB where new makan places appeared like mushrooms and new ones are still being opened. I find this eatery, Moonlight Cafe, quite nice, they sold a variety of pastries while serving lots of local and western food in their menu. The ambiance is also cozy and relaxing.


Here are some of the buns we ordered - looks normal but very soft!

Onion Pizza - RM2.20

Multigrain bread - RM2.50

Chicken Fish Flake - RM2.20

I think their nasi lemak is one of the better ones around. Again, it looks ordinary but the rice is very fragrant!

Nasi Lemak - RM4.20

Seeing that I'm not too hungry and on a diet, I go for the typical Nissin noodle with chicken sausage. This is a so-so only, probably you can't really do much with instant noodles..LOL Anyway, their sausage is quite big.

Nissin Noodles soup with sausage - RM7.90.

And, of course, I can't live without a cuppa of coffee, love their cappuccino! A nice cup of java to relax on a long weekend!


Moonlight Cafe is located at 77, Jalan Sutera 8/3, Taman Sutera Utama, 81300 Skudai, JB.