herbal roast duck

most people have heard about herbal roast duck or "yao cai ya". some may even have tried this dish locally or in malaysia. everyone have their favorite place for it, exactly like katong laksa. plenty of self-proclaimed "original katong laksa" but which is the real stuff? which is the best? had herbal roast duck today and this place might just be the original one.

9 stalls in malaysia, 5 in JB alone. restoran hoppy, established since 1988, seems to be a big name in the herbal roast duck business. they proclaimed to be the "first and original chinese herbal roast duck in malaysia".

their herbal roast duck has thick "tang kui" flavour with some other chinese herbs i cannot place. overall, i would give it 4 stars out of 5. if anyone keen to try, contact me for directions. or better still, ask me along and buy me some!!!

also posted some pics of the gang that went.



(top to bottom: derrick & gene, steve & lynne)

friday nite balaclava

its suppose to be a dinner/drinks date with an old friend from uni. lynne. however it turned out very much different. along came gene, kid, priscilla. & ah giam. junie & serene later joined the mix. result; hell of a crowd at balaclava. being the social one had to try to merge the different groups of people to hang together. apparently i overrated socialising skills. neglected junie & serene for a good part of the night. will have to do better next time. overall good nite, but can do better.

p.s. its great to catch up with Lynn. gotta do it again some time

ndi

ndi is my friend and im writing this post all about him. im not gonna blog about how great or !@#$% the guy is but on his wackiness before he started the SDC job recently.

topic one: gym
ndi is obsess with goin to gym. some of our conversations involves him askin me advise on getting bigger. weird cos im not exactly a well-sculptured super being. in fact, my BMI only 20.3, barely normal. so excuse me for wondering why ndi wanted to become my Padawan apprentice.

topic two: cradle snatcher
i observed that ndi has got an interest in younglings. the women girls he dated and told me about were all like under-20s. my first thoughts were "arrgghh ive befriend a child molester???" went ahead and questioned him on this fetish to which he smoothly offered an explanation. he dates "early twenties" women is to fit his young and immature heart / image. im still skeptical with the response...

topic three: m.l.
i've previously revealed to ndi that i kindda fancy this girl, m.l. whom i gotta know via friendster. he asked me for the name and the reaction was almost immediate.

ndi: "do you know that she has a blog?
ndi: "her friend romeo seems to like her as well
ndi: "do you know that romeo's as tall as you?"
ndi: "do you know that she like canto pop?" especially twins
ndi: "i think her friend felicia is more jute"
on and on and on.....

ndi being the good friend actually went reading her blog for inside scoop. not enough, he even reads the friends blog as well. nevermind that he doesn't know the girl, wat amazes me is the completeness of his "research". its like watching tom cruise performs covert ops in MI.... well almost. till now, i still got a barrage of information from ndi. it makes me wonder.. "who's more interested in knowing the girl?" hmmm

go dive & be happy

recently wrote something to appease a fren who's troubled n unhappy. its something ive tried before n got spat in the face by gene & kid. they describe my work as "corny" or something along that line.

i think this friend appreciates the effort. she then suggested that i post it up on my blog. i know the guys are gonna laugh at me for bloggin this but what the heck, might as well make my fren happier:

go dive & be happy
spent the last few hours pondering,
what can i write to stop her thoughts from wandering

its gotta be something merry, witty and cool.
something that'll drive away her blues
what shall i write to make it much better,
than those long, boring encouragement letters

then a sudden thought came to mind,
so i wrote this silly little poem of mine
its nothing fantastic or sought after,
but one i hope can make her burst out in laughter.

i'll finish it off by saying this
"GO DIVE & BE HAPPY!!"
and come on! tell me! you are pleased.

10 things i hate about myself

dear steve,

i have decided to pen down 10 things i hate about u. its everything personal, so go ask around if you think this is subjective and untrue.

1. aloof
2. car wrecker
3. doesn't give others the attention they deserve
4. lacks commitment
5. poor drinker. 1+ bottles of beer n im sleepy
6. spend too much $$$ on diving
7. treated friends for granted
8. unprofessional at work. i.e. go for haircut during office hrs
9. described as a BIG meanie
10. worried about others opinon of me

i encourage all friends and family to comment on their disgust and send in the hate mail.

sincerely
steve

zombie concoction

im in a zombie-like state these days.

the effects
1. your vocab shrunk to less than a page long
2. you conversation skill becomes gibberish
3. you keep slapping yourself to keep awake
4. u forgot how to blog

if "zombied" is to your liking, i have posted the ingredients to achieve this state-of-mind. induldge in the followin.

the ingredients
1. breathe compressed air for a week
2. mix boomin music and mean games in a club
3. add the usual 8 hours of your day job. stir well
4. finished concoction off with a topping of unhealthy converstion

sex on the reef

after, much soul-searching, i decided to confess my sins. i peeped at a couple having sex on the reef. yes i know, im disgusting. armed with my trusty oly, i dived down to the ML House Reef at dusk, get into a first-class seat and peeping at this fiesty, colorful female. believed that she's on viagara or something cos she hunts and skirts ard for the opposite sex. once spotted her target, our sex-crazed female flirted shameless with the male. at the stroke of sunset, she started doing it with the male right in front of my eyes!! camera flashes like fireworks on the reef but the couple infront of me continued their act without any inhibitations. later that evening, samy told me that what we witness occurs every dawn & dusk, 365 days a year!! im shocked!! these mandarins are really
horny!!

sangihe pics

i've uploaded some pics from my recent dive trip to flickr. i really hope that my photography skills do justice to portray the beauty of the sangihe island group. below's a teaser..

fear factor

13th may 05, 05:50am. the sun is just peaking in the horizon. the waves crashes against the starboard of the seranade. i jumped into the water and begin my decent. the ocean was dead silent as if foreboarding the danger that awaits. the only sound came from my breathing and our guide's slow drumming of a glass bottle on his air cylinder.

suddenly he pointed to the blue. i surged forward hoping to catch a view of what we made this dive for. gradually, the massive "hammer" shaped head came into view. its sphyrna mokarran, a great hammerhead shark.

this monster of a shark is at least 3 metres in length, a metre wide. it swam to about 5 metres away before darting back into the blue. its as if im looking at death in the eye. the shark could easily tore us apart for venturing into his/her domain. im both in awe and fear (mostly) of the power and beauty of this hammerhead shark.

p.s. yes i admit it. im afraid, very afraid when it swam closer and closer towards us.

finally its the 7th

finally!! finally!! after more than 6 months on the surface, gasping like a landed fish, its time for me to head back into my beloved ocean. tomorrow will be the 3rd time i head out on a liveaboard trip!! muahahaha!!

feeling abit bit nostalgia, i decided to put up pics of the previous liveaboard cruise i've been on.




(top to bottom: serenade, le mahe & nimrod explorer)

part II: SML

after receiving all-round praises n pats on the back (dreaming again)for speak my language, I have no choice but to come up with the part II in order to appease my friends and fans. special thanks to gene, mr. tan n da rest for all their contributions. enjoy!!

lost in new york (sometimes its lost in thailand)
phrase. it's just a phrase
q: "where has gene gone to for past 2 mths?"
a: "i dunno. think he lost in new york / thailand"

chengs mor
verb. from the dialect hokkien meaning arrogant
"tell kev buy new car dun be chengs mor!!"

chupz
noun. girlfriend. also used for hang out with opposite sex frequently.
"ask kid to bring his chupz" OR
"dude, better tell ndi not to chupz around"

have a good one
phrase. used by steve to mean "goodbye" / "have a good day"
gene: "i have dinner appointment, zaos"
steve: "ok, have a good one"

do a kevin
phase. laments the lack originality.
q: "dude, i just bought a black honda city!!"
a: "wa kaos...why of all cars your wanna do a kevin???"

thoughts (i really need to put up some pics to brighten it up)

surf stop @ the look of love (something i've read today)

one missed call

went through damien's collection of dvds as i feel like watchin one today. korean horror or hollywood's block buster?? decided on "one missed call" since mike mentioned that its not bad. note that whenever watching horror, we should always 1.lock our rm doors, 2. shut the windows & 3.draw the curtains. oh ya..4.turn off the lights too. trust me, the atmostphere is better this way

i expect a scare feast...something to turn my adrenaline up, give my heart a workout or at least make me sweat a little. but it failed, miserably. almost died of boredom!! basically a rip-off from another movie. in this instance, its not a video tape but a cell phone missed call. no plot, no suspense, no long-hair girl crawling out of tv. utter crap =(

in the wake of this pathetic movie experience, i decided to list down my all-time favorites for aspiring script writers to use as reference.

all-time favorite horror movies that scares the shit out of me:
1. the eye (20 mins is all it takes)
2. shutter (very close 2nd. plot, scares, twist.....classic)
3. the ring

so what about u? name me yours. come on!!

surf stop @ fat fingers (something i've read today)