What to do when your shoes are wet in the office?

This afternoon I had my lunch at a nearby food stall. When T and I were half way eating our bakmi goreng (fried noodle), the sky turned dark in a sudden. A few minutes later, it was raining cats and dogs!! 

OMG! We had no umbrella at that time!! When we finished lunch, the rain was still very heavy and it didn't seem to be getting slower. We stood in front of the stall and looked for a 'water boy' (kids who rent you their umbrellas during rainy days). We thought of renting an umbrella from one of the kids. However, the demand was higher than the supply and we couldn't get any umbrella.

Luckily, the stall owner offered his umbrella to us. He sent his staff to follow us back to the office and we returned the umbrella to him upon reaching our destination. On the way back, we walked pass tonnes of potholes on the road! On top of that, the passing-by vehicles were splashing water onto the pedestrian pathway. Even though T and I were sharing a huge umbrella, we still got wet, especially my leg.

I even stepped into a puddle of water and got my shoes totally wet! *Sniff* I thought this pair of shoes might be a total loss! I was thinking of shoes shopping already. :p

When I reached the office, I immediately wiped myself dry. I was trying to wipe my shoes also, but it was just too wet. Guess what happened after that...

That was what happened

Hahaha! I put my shoes in front of the fan! I fanned it from 1pm to 5pm. In between, I also changed the position of the shoes so that it can get dry from all angles. Hahaha!! During that 4 hours, one of my colleagues, W was kind enough to lend me her slippers.

W's 'fishy' slippers and my wet high heels

Her slippers were way too cute!! I was so shy to wear it to the toilet. Hahaha! Bottom line, it really works when you are drying your wet shoes under the fan for a couple of hours! My shoes are now dry and wearable. So, next time if you have the same problem, why not try out this way?

*Cheers*

Balinese crispy duck @ Dirty Duck Diner (Bebek Bengkil), Jakarta

Last week T invited me to join him and his friends for lunch in Menteng, Jakarta. His friend, M recommended a restaurant that serves great Balinese crispy duck (a.k.a. bebek bengkil). We wasn't sure the exact location of the restaurant and we thought the cab driver should be able to get us there.

On the next day, we took a cab to Menteng. The first cab driver had no clue where exactly Bebek Bengil was located! We got down from the first cab and took another cab. I told the second cab driver that the place is near Plaza Menteng (that was one of the landmark I saw in google map). The driver nodded his head and fetched us to Menteng.

About 10-15 minutes later, he stopped the cab in front of Plaza Menteng. He told us that he had no idea where was Bebek Bengkil. Gosh! We got stuck and we had no choice but to get down from the cab. We asked one of the shopkeepers nearby and she knew which restaurant we were looking for! Thank god!

She pointed to the left hand side and told us to walk down the road. I asked if it is walking distance (Bisa jalan ke tempat itu, ke?). She answered 'Yes!' (Bisa!) and nodded her head confidently. So, we thought it might be near. Then, she added 'lumayan jugak!'. T and I thought she was commenting the food in Bebek Bengil was quite pricey. Well, we thanked her for the direction. After 15 minutes of walk, we still do not see the restaurant! We even dropped by a few shops for directions but they do not seems to know where is the restaurant. 

Later, M sent an sms to inform us the full address of restaurant. The restaurant was at No.132, and we were right in front of No. 31!! The numbers were not even close!! Not only that, we were not even on the correct street! We started to feel panic and asked for more directions. 

This time, I asked for the particular street instead of the name of the restaurant. The lady knew the street and pointed its way. Then, I asked if its far (jauh?). She nodded her head and said 'lumayan..'... GOSH! T and I were speechless! We finally understood what was the meaning of 'lumayan'... it meant very far!!

Isshh! We were tired and sweaty after the long walk. So, we decided to take a cab to the restaurant. Finally, we managed to get to the restaurant after the misunderstandings due to language barrier.

There were 2 monuments at the entrance of Dirty Duck Diner

And pond with tortoises and fishes in the middle of restaurant =)

 Another view of the restaurant

I told M and MW about how we misunderstood the word 'lumayan'. They laughed out loud!! Hahah! I got to really brush up my Bahasa Indonesia. Or else, more of these may happen in the future. LOL!

For the restaurant, there were two sections - indoor and outdoor. Since the weather looked great, we preferred the outdoor seat. We were sitting under a 'pondok' (small hut). Looked cool huh?

M was distributing food to his daughter

My bebek bengil - the signature meal, came with vegetable and special chili sauce (not in the picture)

The crispy duck was simply great! Although I am not a fan of duck meat, I enjoyed this crispy duck very much! On top of that, the portion of food was pretty generous. I was stuffed even before I could finish up my rice.

 I was relaxed after lunch

T was even more relaxed!

This restaurant was also recommended by a travel magazine recently

Finally, here's the address of the restaurant...

*Cheers*

Tea time @ Kopi Luwak Cafe, Grand Indonesia

Wednesday was a public holiday too in Indonesia. T and I took a break from work and checked out places around Jakarta. We went to Grand Indonesia, one of the most famous shopping mall in Central Jakarta. 

We took the opportunity to shop around. T grabbed himself 2 big bags of discounted branded clothes from a closing down sales. Most of them were on 70-80% off!! However, too bad that I didn't see anything that caught my eyes.

After that, we marched into Sport Warehouse as we saw the 'SALES UP TO 70%' signage!! We couldn't resist to spend some time checking it out! We bought ourselves a pair of half-priced New Balance shoes! It was such a great deal! And I doubt I could get the same pair of shoes in KL with this incredible price. =)

We felt tired after that and dropped by a coffee house - Kopi Luwak Cafe. This coffee house serves the Indonesia most famous coffee, which is Luwak coffee.

Interior of the coffee house, where a lot of coffee bags were placed at the roof as decorations

According to Wikipedia, "Kopi luwak, or civet coffee, is coffee made from the beans of coffee berries which have been eaten by the Asian Palm Civet and other related civets, then passed through its digestive tract. A civet eats the berries for their fleshy pulp. In its stomach, proteolytic enzymes seep into the beans, making shorter peptides and more free amino acids. Passing through a civet's intestines the beans are then defecated, keeping their shape. After gathering, thorough washing, sun drying, light roasting and brewing, these beans yield an aromatic coffee with much less bitterness, widely noted as the most expensive coffee in the world."

T decided to try out the special cup of Luwak coffee (IDR90,000; approximately RM30), while I ordered for a glass of ice-blended avocado coffee (IDR30,000; approximately RM10). When the drinks came, we were rather surprised. The waitress brought a thermos, a cup, sugar and a pack of coffee sachet (looked like the 3-in-1 coffee sachet). Then, she cut open the sachet and let us smelt the aroma of luwak coffee beans. After that, she poured the coffee powder into the cup, added hot water (from the thermos), stirred and covered the cup with a lid. She told T to wait for another 2 minutes before drinking the world's most expensive Luwak coffee.

Luwak coffee was presented to us in this manner

T snapped a picture of me with his precious coffee while waiting for the 2 minutes

And this is my ice-blended avocado coffee

That was my first time trying out the ice-blended avocado coffee. I thought it is something new and special. However, I found its taste was just so-so. I do prefer ice-blended avocado drink with chocolate more than this. *yummers!!* =)
 

*Cheers*

Great Italian food in Jakarta

Last week, my bosses and I had lunch in Caffe D' Angelo, an Italian Restaurant located in The East Mall, Jakarta. Mdm W recommended that their food was great. Hence, we gave it a try. 

When we entered the restaurant, we found that the ambiance and the designs of the restaurant were nice. Besides, there was a section with wine racks and it was full with wine bottles! Cool!

I had a piece of thin crust pizza and a plate of lagsane. The pizza was so crispy and cheesy!! And the lagsane was very cheesy too! I am a cheese lover. So, the cheesy Italian food can really delight me. Heheh! The food portion was very generous and I couldn't finish it. =( But it was really good!

The delicious lagsane *Yummers!!!*

I also ordered a cup of hot chocolate. Guess what... The drink was so thick! I had to 'eat' my hot chocolate with my spoon instead of drinking it from the cup. It was just like some melted chocolate in a cup. Hahah! I think it should be listed in the dessert menu instead of the drinks menu. Or probably I need some strawberry or marshmallow to go with the chocolate.

This is my cup of hot chocolate

I enjoyed my meal very much!! If I have chance to visit this restaurant again, I would try their cabonara spaghetti too!! Overall, Caffe D' Angelo serves great Italian food =)

*Cheers*

An 'oinky' birthday celebration with a bunch of good friends

Notice: This post is a non-halal post

I only get to return to my home-sweet-home (KL) every fortnightly. So, my bunch of uni good friends celebrated my birthday on the weekend I came back to KL. They brought me to El Cerdo for some juicy German roasted suckling pig.

El Cerdo is located at Changkat Bukit Bintang, which is a very happening hang-out place in KL. However, parking is an issue here. =( After a few rounds of circling around the area, A decided to leave his car with the car jockey. This had saved us the hassle of walking far too!

We entered the restaurant and found piggy's pictures and figurines were placed every where! Even their menu has a picture of 2 cute piggies too!!

The menu was hiding behind our Hoegaarden

And many other piggies were kept in the rack behind our table... Oink oink oink...

When the sweet couple - KH and AL arrived, we started to order our dinner. A helped in making the orders as that was already his third time having dinner in this restaurant. He ordered a Spanish ham platter as the appetizer. Followed with a "One plate of 4 different mini sausages" - 1. Farmer; 2. Thuringer; 3. German Pepper; and 4. Spicy Lyonner Saussage. The sausages were so good!! So as the soup, salad and pork ribs! Yummers!! =)

Our final dish was a roasted suckling pig! Aww... Half of the piggy came to our table on a wooden chopping board. We were wondering how to eat it. *(>_<)*

Highlights of the night - The roasted sucking pig

Then, a waiter approached us and asked for a volunteer to chop the piggy into pieces. I had the honor to be the butcher of the night. Hahah!! Guess what? I had to chop it with a plate!! Well, the waiter gave me a lesson on how to chop the piggy.

"Hold the plate like this..." and bla bla bla...

I was ready to chop it!! (The waiter was standing next to me to make sure that I was chopping with the correct way)

According to Mr Waiter, that was one of the traditions from German whereby 1 person had to chop the pig with a plate. Then, put all the bad things/ luck onto the plate before breaking the plate. In return, this person will be granted a wish.

I 'gathered' all my friends' bad stuffs onto the plate and tried to break the plate

However, the plate wasn't break at my first try!! OMG... Maybe I didn't put enough bad stuffs onto the plate. Or, I was just too gentle to the plate. Hahaha! Mr Waiter granted me a second chance to break the plate. This round, I put more strengths in throwing the plate into the wooden basket!

Voila!! The plate was finally broke

Mr Waiter took the roasted pig back into the kitchen and got the professionals to chop the piggy into pieces. Btw, my bf commented that Mr Waiter is quite good looking a.k.a handsome. LOL!

After we had finished eaten the piggy, a group of waiters/ waitresses came out with desserts and a creative birthday song!! "Happy birthday to you, Oink Oink... Happy birthday to you, oink Oink oiNk!!!"... The song was just so cute and oinky!!

I even got a little piggy from the restaurant as birthday pressie!

Mr Waiter informed that this little piggy will bring me luck for only 1 year. So, I got to come back next year to 'renew the contract'. LOL! That was a really good marketing gimmick!!

Special thanks to A, JC, YM, KH and AL for making my birthday so memorable =)

Overall, the food and ambiance of the restaurant were great. *Thumbs up* However, I enjoyed most with the presence of my bunch of good friends who shared laughter and joys with me.

*Cheers*

Pre-birthday celebration @ Look Out Point

Few weeks ago, I had a pre-birthday celebration with A at the Look Out Point, Ulu Langat. We got the idea of going to the Look Out Point after reading SL's post in September. I thought this may be a great place where you can see KL's night view. =)

A googled and did some simple researches of the place. He found the address and we drove up the hill with the directions given by his GPS. The GPS came in very handy when we need to go to an unfamiliar place. Probably I need to get one for myself too! Hehe!

When we arrived at the Look Out Point, we saw a few restaurants were operating next to each other. There were 1. Look Out Point, 2. The Heaven, 3. Gasoline, 4. The Panorama Restaurant and the last restaurant was under renovation. That was our first time came to this place. So, we had no idea about which is the best restaurant. 

In the end, we chose Look Out Point Restaurant because the waiter was friendly. On top of that, we saw more tables were occupied with customers in the restaurant. Then, we got ourselves a table and started to check out the menu.

 

This is the cover page of the menu

This restaurant also serves local food, like fried rice and fried noodles besides the western meals. After we had finished studied the menu, we were trying to call the waiter/ waitress to take our orders. But...

 

"Please press for service" and the button??

Where was the dumb button?!?! Hahhaah!!! We couldn't find the button!! In the end, we got to wave at the waiter. I was wondering if their customers stole the button as souvenir? LOL!!

 I posed in the picture while waiting for our food to arrive. You can see the sky was still bright from the background of the photo =)

 KL view in the evening... versus

 KL view at night, which is more colourful!! I like the lights!!

 Our dinner had arrived...

 

My grilled dory fish with mushroom sauce

His chicken Maryland with sausage

Well, I won't say the food was great. It was just average. However, I did enjoy the cool air and night view of Kuala Lumpur. *(^_^)*

 

*Cheers*

Language barrier lead to laughter XD

Last week, I went to Carrefour, Ambassador Mall with T for some grocery shopping. I was surprised that the hypermarket had made a major rearrangement on all its products/ sections. The customers were forced to walk through the electronic and household items department before we can reach other sections. =( That was pretty inconvenient to us.

After we placed all the food and drinks into our trolley, T wanted to get himself a pair of new slippers too. Due to the confused relocation of products, I approached one of the staff and asked for directions. "Excuse me, bisa tanya mana section untuk slipper?" (May I know where is the slipper section?). She looked at me with a smile and question marks all over her head. Okay... Maybe she didn't understand my half past six Bahasa Indonesia. I repeated "Selipar? Kasut"?? (Slipper? Shoes?) Then, she put both her hands together and put them next to her head. She asked if I was asking for 'sleep'... Probably she thought I was hunting for a pillow. Hahaha!!!

This is so funny!! I was scratching my head and pointed at my heels. I told her, 'No.. No... Selipar... Kasut"... Finally, she understood. "Ohhh!! untuk tapak kaki, yea? Sandal?"... I nodded my head and she walked us to the right section. I should have mention 'sandal' in the first place. Hahahahha!!!

Now I know why I should pick up my Bahasa Indonesia. :) 

*Cheers*

Highlights of Our Lives booklet from R

I received this lovely booklet from my friend over the weekend.

 This is the front cover of the booklet

There is a welcome note on the first page

R actually 'stole' our pictures from Facebook and compiled them into her "Highlights of Our Lives". The little booklet consists of our outing photos as well as some motivational quotes. One of the nice quotes is "Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact - William James".

This is just so sweet!! I'm starting to miss my uni days... Miss you, R...

*Cheers*

Another flight delay with the World Best Low Cost Airline

I flew back from Jakarta with AirAxxx on last Friday. As usual, my colleagues and I reached the airport around 5pm to catch the 7pm flight. When I was paying my airport tax at the self check-in counter, the officer confidently told me that there would be NO delay for this flight. I was happily thanking him for the great news. I thought I can get home by mid night. =)

After I settled with all the custom procedures, I continued with my works in a cafe. At 6.15pm, my colleague reminded us that its time for boarding. We quickly packed our laptops and proceeded to the boarding lounge. The guys walked so fast and left me behind... =( You cant blame me for being so slow as I was walking with high heels and carried the heaviest laptop!! There was once I weighted my laptop + adapter in the bag. It was 4kg!!! What an antique dinosaur laptop!!

I was holding my passport and boarding pass while working in the airport

At the boarding lounge, we were informed that our flight would be delayed for 1 hour!! OMG!! Passengers like us were cursing... "AGAIN?!?!??!" Well, we have no choice but to wait for the pilots to bring us home. 

Since my boss was rushing me to submit the work, I got to continue working on it in the boarding lounge. Roughly half an hour later, an officer officially announced that the delay of flight was due to some technical issue. Yea right, there's technical issue every week? However, we were luckier this week as all passengers were given a packet of rice and mineral water as compensation. Woohoo... I was so hungry at that time. The meals came to me just in time to cure my hungry tummy.

We finally boarded the plane at 10 minutes past 8 in the evening. I was not sure if it was raining outside because the flight was so bumpy. I felt the flight was flying high and low at the beginning. To be honest, I was a bit worried and tried to sleep.

After some time, the plane was much more stable and the air stewardesses started to distribute meals to all the passengers who pre-booked their meals online. I got my chicken rice combo (chicken rice with a 100ml mineral water). Since I was still full after eaten the free meal at the boarding lounge, I gave away my chicken rice to the American-British man who sat next to me. It is better to be given away than let it end up into the dustbin.

I had a little chat with him and found out that he is a Hong Kong resident who fly between KL, Jakarta and Hong Kong frequently. However, that was the second time he flew with this airline. Later, he asked for a bottle of mineral water from the air stewardess. When the air stewardess handed him the bottle of water, she said 'three Ringgit, please' softly. Probably the guy didn't hear and he felt curious why she was still standing there looking at him. He asked her in a curious tone. 'Do I need to pay?'.... I was like... 'duhhh....' Hahahah!!! Guess what, he took out one stack of 50 Ringgit to pay his 3 Ringgit drinks. Emmm....

Anyway, he was a nice guy who kept me accompanied during the 2-hour flight. We finally reached LCCT at 11.10pm. Subsequently, I got home around 12.40pm. What a loooong day and this will be repeated in 2 weeks time. Wish me luck.

*Cheers*

Beautiful purple flowers

I love these pretty little purple flowers :-)

*Cheers*

Flying with Air Asia

On 090910 (Hari Raya Eve), I took Air Asia flight from Jakarta to Kuala Lumpur again. As usual, my bosses and I arrived early at the airport, paid our airport tax at the counter, and proceeded to the custom counter for passport stamping and documents verifications. There were long queue at the foreigner counters. =/

 

When its time, we showed our passports and boarding passes to the Air Asia personnel and proceeded to the boarding lounge. At the entrance, the ground staff tore half of my boarding pass and returned the passenger copy to me. Later, I found out that they took the wrong portion! They kept the portion with the airport tax receipt sticker on it. That was supposed to be the passenger copy and I need that receipt to claim my travel expenses from company.

I immediately approached the officer and told them about the mistake. However, the guy officer continued to check other passengers' boarding passes, while the lady officer looked at my boarding pass for 2 seconds and ignored me. She did not say a single word to me! I was like... Did she hear what am I saying? Or does she understand English? *curious*

Then, I saw the other half of my boarding pass was still lying on the table. I quickly pointed at it and asked if I can exchange the boarding pass. To my surprised, the lady officer scolded me with an angry tone! She said 'Duduk sana standby, nanti saya bagi!!' (Sit there and standby, later I give it to you). Gosh!!! What kind of service is this? She is a bad attitude ground staff. =(

After a while, another Air Asia male staff sent me a new sticker with apologies. Well, I have accepted his apologies with smile. At least his service is much better than the fierce lady. Good job!

I did self check-in and this is my boarding pass with the airport tax receipt sticker

I got an opportunity to sit on the first row and my seat number was 1E. *(^_^)* There was a middle-age Malaysian man on my left and an Indonesian girl on my right. The man was reading a book throughout the 2 hours journey, while the girl was enjoying the view outside the window next to her.

During this trip, I saw the wall panel right in front of me was full with words and signatures. Check out the pictures below.

The wall panel in front of my seat (upper area)

The wall panel in front of my seat (lower area)

Although I have no idea who is this Dato', I think he did enjoyed flying with AirAsia. Who knows he might have gotten some special VIP treatments from Air Asia. =)

*Cheers*

Tangkuban Perahu Trip @ Bandung

This post has been delayed for almost 1 month. Now, I finally found some time to update my blog. This is how I utilise my 1 week of annual leaves. Yea, I'm on leave!!! Wooohoooo~~~ =)

On 17 August, it was Indonesia's Independence Day and we got 1 day of public holiday. So, my colleagues and I took this opportunity to explore other parts of Indonesia. D drove me and 3 other colleagues to Bandung again! This round, we visited Tangkuban Perahu.  

Tangkuban Perahu is an active volcano 30 km north of the city of Bandung, the provincial capital of West Java, Indonesia (Wikipedia, 2010). According to Wikipedia, this stratovolcano is on the island of Java and last erupted in 1983. It was 27 years ago, which is way before I was born.

We saw this board at the entrance of Tangkuban Perahu. In fact, I was too busy enjoying the scenery and didn't bother to read it =p

It is one of the popular tourist attraction in Bandung, besides Kawah Putih and Ciwidey strawberry farms. Tourists can either hike or ride to the edge of the crater to view the hot water springs up-close. We chose to drive up the hill to save our energy. Hahaha!! XD See, there were a lot of other visitors drove up too!

There were packed with a lot of visitors' vehicles!!

D told me that the name of Tangkuban Perahu translates roughly to an "upturned boat" in Sundanese. There is also a legend behind this mountain, but I have forgotten it. You can see the "upturned boat" from the picture below. =)

M and I snapped a beautiful picture at the edge of the crater

D, M and I were enjoying the view of the beautiful hot water springs... =)

There were a lot of stalls selling stuffs like t-shirts, batik, toys, eggs, corns, and other local souvenirs...

B left us and climbed up the hill alone. So, H, M and I were waiting for his return...

Later, we met 3 bikers who rode their mountain bikes up to this volcano hill. They were snapping pictures with their bicycles near the crater. Then, we made friends and helped each other to snap group pictures. We also got their permissions to snap pictures with their bicycles.

I posed with a biker's mountain bike, and you can see the other biker was posing with his bike at the background of this picture. Hahahah!

M also posed with the bike in a creative way!! Wooo.... Strong woman!!

In the end, we snapped a group picture with the 3 bikers =)

Even though it was a short day-trip to Bandung, we did enjoy the crater and a little bit of shopping at Rumah Mode after that. *(^-^)v*

However, we couldn't buy our bakso (meat balls) from Bakso & Sosis as it was closed. =( Probably they were closed due to public holiday or Ramadan month. Ishhh... I miss their yummy meat ballssssss!!!!

*Cheers*