Hoong Tho, Ipoh

Let me tell you a story. A story that I've told to anybody who would listen.

About 6 years ago, give or take a couple of years, I found myself in Penang with my family. On the day that we were to leave back to KL, I woke up at about 5 am with severe pain in my tummy (the umbilical region, for those who want to know more). It was as if I needed to go to the toilet, but that did not relieve it at all.

That morning, the plan was for my dad to take my brother and me out to the beach, while waiting for my mum to attend the final conference event for the day, then leave in the afternoon. I was nearly doubled up in pain by then (no, I don't remember the pain going to my RIF, if that's of any interest at all), but the decision was to get back to KL first before going to the hospital, rather than go to the hospital in Penang. So my dad brought my brother to the beach, my mum attended her event, and my grandma stayed with me in the hotel room. I remember being on the floor, curled up into a ball, and trying to drink 100 plus.

We left Penang sometime before noon, about 10 plus am. I was sitting in the back seat, trying to lie down, but with my brother and grandma there as well, it was difficult.

All I was trying to do was to tahan and wait it out till we get to KL.

At noon, my dad declared that he was hungry. And we turned off into Ipoh, and drove to this place called Hoong Tho, where I struggled to sit on the chair, watching my family feast on Wat Dan Hor and Fried Wantan.

That was 6 years ago.

Ever since then, I've decided that I'll go back to this Hoong Tho to eat the War Dan Hor and Fried Wantan. Drive all the way there if I have to. By myself, if I have to! The years flew by, and nothing ever did happen.

Even the times that I did have the opportunity to go there, I was dissuaded one way or the other. "The place not so nice already." "Now very dirty." "Got other nicer place, we go those la!" Bla bla bla.

So this last week, I decided that I'd drive there by myself for a daytrip, and maybe meet 2 of my friends there, and drag them to Hoong Tho. Eat then come back. A bit of a waste of a long drive, I know.

The daytrip happened yesterday. Got one other friend who happened to be in KL to go along as well. Upon reaching the 2nd friend's place to pick her up, her mum said "Hoong Tho?! Why want to go there?! So dirty."

Bleh.

I insisted we go anyway.

After 6 years, finally. And the verdict? Not so nice. KL can get better. Fried wantan was better than the Wat Dan Hor, but also, nothing spectacular.

Proceeded to another shop a few doors away and had 2 bowls of noodles shared between the 4 of us, and even then, we did not finish the noodles.

And that was all we did with respects to food, this Ipoh trip.

Since they wanted to play mahjong before we left, that was what we did. I had to be taught how to play it though. I now realise its just like any other boardgame.

That's me. Apparently, my friends had some issues with regards to how I arranged my tiles.

I thought it wasn't too bad. And no, I did not actually win this hand. I did however, win the next one. Yes, I really did!

We left after that and I had to drive home in the heavy, pouring rain.

Oh, and the conclusion of my tummy pain story? We eventually reached KL, and I was feeling slightly better by then already. Went to Hospital Selayang, got some bloods taken, decided it wasn't worth doing whatever it was they wanted to originally do to me (I wasn't told), and went off to have some dinner somewhere in Selayang. I think it was some Double Boiled Special Chicken Soup. I was feeling well enough to eat already, and recovered thereafter. No similar pain has recurred again since.

J Cafe

Recently, I had quite a few opportunities to visit J Cafe, which was supposed to be a pretty good Japanese place. However, the place always seemed to be closed whenever I decided to go. Once it was closed for the summer holidays, another time it was closed because it was a Sunday, the third time, it was Easter, and thus closed, and lastly, it was also closed on a Monday!

Useless!

Anyway, I finally outthought the restaurant and went on a Tuesday instead (It was actually because Sushi Ten is closed all the way till April 17th (useless!). Thankfully it isn't permanently closed though, like Donna Monya. I seem to be very unfortunate in this sense. Any restaurant that I like always shuts down. First Donna Monya, then Ganbaria). This trip to the restaurant also coincided with Weishen's (it doesn't really matter who he is; if you know him, well and good, if you don't, then there's no point in me explaining who he is either) visit to Melbourne together with his girlfriend Leekeng.

That's her, sitting right there with her Bento box. Not Weishen, of course, but Leekeng.

And that's Weishen.

And this is my Ebi Ten Bento, which cost me $18.50. How was it, you might ask? Slightly pricey, way better than average, although not spectacular, but definitely satisfying.

USJ 20 Dim Sum

Last Sunday, a couple of us got together and had dim sum in USJ 20.

We had basic stuff.


Some scallop dim sum.


Fu Zhuk Prawn Rolls.


Char Siew Pao.


Siew Mai.


Egg Tarts.


Pork Ribs.


Fried Prawn Dim Sum.


Yet more deep fried prawn in something.


No idea what this is. Not prawn again, I hope.


And finally, Har Kau, more prawn lah.

Just a comment about Dim Sum. In Australia, the act of going out to eat Dim Sum is called Yum Cha (which literally translates to 'drink tea'). I suppose its called that way because people sit there and drink chinese tea and chat, while eating bits of Dim Sum. In Malaysia, we don't call it 'Yum Cha', as I think our main purpose is to go and eat, not to drink tea. The moniker 'Yum Cha' is reserved for the act of going out to any restaurant or stalls just to have a chat and drink (non-alcoholic drinks).

Ok that's it.

Bye bye.

Jiamean's Birthday at TGIF Sunway Pyramid

Its been a long time since I've put up pictures of people so I'll put some up today.

Yesterday we celebrated Jiamean's birthday at TGIFs at Sunway Pyramid, and it was quite good catching up with some people that I haven't seen for over a year.


That's the birthday girl, Jiamean, with Shingyee who organised the whole thing.


Xinyu and Kityan, both of whom I haven't seen in well over a year.




And Yufoong. Weishen and Yufoong I see quite often. Ha.


And Rockee and Shizhou, both of whom seem very preoccupied.


And finally the World Famous Mushroom Swiss Burger that was recommended by Jon Sum.

After the meal, in the tradition of TGIF birthdays, the staff of TGIF came and sang Jiamean a song, but unfortunately I did not take any pictures of that.

In the end, some of us ended up going to Mongkok in SS2 and played 'Bang!' until 1.30am. Till now, I'm still surprised at the number of people that I've introduced to the game that actually, really, like it.

Happy days.

This was then:


Even the camera quality is really bad. Haha. Yufoong, me, Weishen, Ivan. Best friends from 5 Alpha. Oops. Sorry. I forgot. 5 Azam.

And this is now:


We met up yesterday night and I'm glad to say that 3 years on, we are still able to laugh at each other like we did before.

Unfortunately, we only get to meet once (or maybe twice) before going our separate ways again. The different vacation periods are hard on friends studying all over the globe. What to do..

Eat More Chili's

A Bowl of Beef Queso, a funny name for a dish, but nevertheless that's what it says on the menu.





It may not look like much, but I was dying in the end. Couldn't even bring myself to munch on the popcorn that I bought.

On a different note, for anyone who has watched The Curse of the Golden Flower, can you tell me why is it that the emperor wanted to poison his wife? It seems to me that if the emperor didn't poison his wife, then there wouldn't be a show. So not explaining the 'why' in the show makes it seem very empty to me. Like no substancelah the show.

My phone was paid the ultimate compliment when I brought it out to snap this photo:



"Aiyo, why you bring your camera wan.." -Wuan Zhu.

The custard cake that she made, with the Cadbury ice cream was divine. The sweets are fake though ;p.

It was Shealtiel's birthday dinner the other night, and I met up with some friends, some of which that I still keep in touch with relatively regularly, and others that I haven't met since Form 5, which was about 4 years ago! People like Vern Lynn, Victor, and Ooi Keong. Good to know that everyone is doing their own thing in their own ways and eventually becoming the good and respectable people that they are.















We drove down to Teluk Gong to have dinner at the Coconut Flower Seafood Restaurant.







See that fish? I polished nearly the whole thing myself because everyone else was too busy with the crabs ;p

And then we adjourned to Svenson's in Subang Parade to chill and have ice cream.














Some of Ooi Keong's pictures are awesome.









































Food Watch: Dinner was great and went down well. The ice cream afterwards was a good finisher to round off the night.