Chch-Queenstown-Auckland

Bersarang sikit belog nii.

Tak sempat nak hapdet.

Boleh tahan jugak dengan aktiviti kelija-cum-jenjalan minggu lepas sampai terlupa belog nii.

*****

Minggu lepas aku outstation lagi.

Kali ni ker Cold and Blustery New Zealand. Macam dalam Winnie the Pooh tuu laa kot.

With Maam. Best tawww. Ada exhibition-presentation dan acara melawat kilang. Aku kira jadi macam spokeperson for some products laa. All this while, Ah Ken, dengan Ravin ajer yang ke NZ. Bagi can, haku laa pulak...

Last Thursday, we touched down Christchurch from Singkapor. Earlier when we booked our flight, we ordered MOML. (Moslem Meal), The way they spell Moslem tuu aku rasa macam tak syiok jer.

Aku dah agak dah, kalau order MOML, sure dapat nasik Hinndia. Kalau dapat macam Horijinal Kayu macam kat Kota Damansara tuu boleh laa tahan... Ini tak.

Anyway,

Biryani, Biryani, Biryani. Ada ikan masak kari.

Ditambah dengan Papadom goreng, Lama-lama boleh mereng..

Anyhow, the flight was OK. Sempat laa layan Satu Brad Pitt, Satu Liam Neeson dan beberapa joke tak senonoh Chris Rock. Sampai sengal bont*t laa dudok sepuloh jam. Ha haaa

Ntah hapa ker ntah, luggage aku dengan Maam delayed hari tuu. The next day, there was no Flight from Singkapor. The luggage only arrived the next next day. Aku dengan Maam hapa lagi. Shopppping. With a Capital asssss... Dah berumor skit nii shopping is no fun. Letih laaa.

But,

I got myself one nice belt.

An original NZ shoe. Hapa ker nama McIntyre. With deep mocha brown kalerr

Indon Made shirt with a pseudo cuff link.

and 5 pieces China Made for expensive NZ market, underwear.

The bill came up to be NZD 350 ++.

Maam punya, aku tak tauu...

Aku harap boleh claim laa from Insurance Co...

One thing leads to another.

Sepatutnya tadi, aku dah ondeway to Xiamen untuk mesyuarat Perkakas-suis-luar-tingkat untuk 5 hari. Maam ikot sekali. Since, sekarang nii cuti skolah, Anne pun aku hang-kot sekali..

Elok ajer aku plan apa nak buat bila meeting tuu habis, Hari Jemahat lepas, aku dapat e-mail dari Hollow-wei. Meeting cancel. Dengg..

Hollow-wei tak dapat masuk China. He's from land of American Idol. Chinesische Regierung requests any American Citizen to be quaratined for 7 days in his/her workplace. And that's not acceptable to him. Todelli...(Pipaspeak)

Yang parahnya aku.

Aku dah beli tiket yang ter-paling-tak-mahal untuk Maam dengan Anne.
Tak boleh transfer.
Tak boleh tukar tarikh.
Tak boleh tukar nama.
Luggage pun 15 kg.

Yang paling suwe* sekali, No Refund !. Keine Rückerstattung !

In this case, we decided, we went ahead with the planned plan. Maam and Anne're still going. I pujuk-rayu-ed my Swiss Co. colleague in Xiamen to book the Hotel, and also did our own tour booking.

So, Maam and Anne are not gonna be around for 5 days. Am I suppose to be sad or happy ?

*****

I just got an e-mail from Hollow-wei a moment ago. The meeting is being re-placed. This time it's gonna be in Dalmine.

And Dalmine is near Milan.

Now, I'm excited. A Bit.

Pipa pulak nak ikot$ kali niii....

One of the parks in front of the Marco Polo

civic, chinese version

Hanoi's Traffic

I thought HCM City (Saigon) traffic was bad..

Hanoi was worse.

Dengan beribu-ribu motorsikal merata tempat, bertentangan arah, berlawanan arus, atas kerb, atas perjalan kaki, tanpa arah. Hmmmphh ! Sampaikan aku nak jemberang jalan pun aku ajak, my colleague, Huong skali. (Do you that Huong is pronounced as Herng!, with terperanjat intonation, always. Kalau intonation salah jadi mender lain pulak. Hmmm. Cemana la bini dia nak panggil dia tidor ? Herng ! Herng !!..)


First day aku sampai, terperanjat beghok jugak aku dengan traffic nii. Sampaikan berdetup-detup pening kepala aku. Aku ingat, for sure, ada yang mati kena langgar, ada yang kena gilis,.or at least, teksi yang aku naik tuu tuu kemek ker, kena himpit dengan lori. Tapi, takdork pun..Bbudak sekolah main jalan-jalan jaywalking ajer.

A room with a view


Tapikan, bila dah last day tuu kat sini dan kepala dah aejah sikit, aku macam suka pulak. Tengokkan kelam-trafik-kabut-hirok-pikuk dari dalam teksi Chevy Spark Comel ber-aircond. Nyaman..




I'll definitely be back.




This is what huru hara is all about..




















Tell me please, how am I gonna cross the road ?

Crossing School Children - HCMC

Banyoknyer laa mutor kat Ho Chi Minh City niii.
Atas Jalan.
Tepi Jalan.
Arah bertentangan.
Celah kereta.
Atas five-foot-walk-way.
Sebelah pintu kereta.
Tepi kedai.
On incoming traffic. Bak kata ~ Merata-ratalaa.

(Motorcycles here are just like electric current. It'll flow through the least resistive path.)

Rasa macam nak kena ttercalar kereta ajer. Tak pulak accident. Tapi, bila lama sikit dah dok kat sini, semuanya nampak in order. Tengah elok aku enjoy all traffik jam tuu, tiba2 dalam kesesakan tengahari nii, ada pulak siren polis kuat. Tiba2 ada polis tarik tali merentang jalan. Aku ingat habis ler. Sapa ler pulak kena saman ker haper..

Rupa2nya ada bbudak sekolah melintas jalan..

Beijing - Part Two , "Kun-Kun".

This was overdue days ago.

*****

Nama English orang Beijing Chinese nii kenkadang pelik. Nama yang tak pernah aku dengar. Macam Oasis, Efdlinger, Jarsoya, Road, Salulu, Laref, Skyer and Flora. The weirdest one so far is Pussy.

Touring agent aku kali ni nama dia Rose. The heard Beijing-er pronunciation is Ro-ser. Dialah yang bawak kami segroup merata-rate dari Great Wall (entry point Ba-da-ling, pronunciation pat-ta-ling street) sampai ker Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and tiring shopping (kwan memang dork ghrok2 part nyopping nih).

At Forbidden City, she tried to explain her very possible best with her Beijing-er Engrish on the details of the City, Gardens, Artifacts, Architechture, pepatungs, pavement, fengshui and colours. Hapa-hapalah..

Not to forget about the Emperors, his many concubines and the Eunuchs. According to my customer, in ancient China, the khunsas are called "Kun-Kun"s. While listening attentively on the details of the eunuchs, one of our customers is excitedly wanting to know how the emperor made a normal man an Eunuch.

Haiyoo..! Teruja betul mamat Macau nii..

Where’s do they cut ?
Is sit just the balls ?
What about the shaft / or rod ? (I'm sorry, rods & shaft are normal words in our industry. Rotating rods, interphase shafts, interconnecting rods and shafts, etc.)

Was it the whole thing ?
How do they cut ?

By slitting with scissor ?

Or was it knife ? Mebbe a Machete ?
Swiss knife ? No ?

Haiyooooo.. Tak sensor lansong mala'un nii.

Ro-ser explained it carefully. Adding that, every year they have a period when they inspect the Eunuchs' shafts and rods, to see wether it grows again. (Entah betol ker tidak, aku pun tak tahu).

If it does, then they’ll re-cut.

Then come soalan cepumas from our colleague from Macau.
“Do they cut it when it is hard or soft.?“
Everybody was so quite, concentrating on the Macau-nese question.
Ro-ser just stood there, terkedu..

Then came help from one of our Hongkie colleague. With his thick Hongkie Engrish
“Harro Jen, you cannot ask her that question.. Ro-ser is still wirgen..”

Everybody was stunned. I think they had too much of free flow Tsingtao, during the lunch..

Summer Palace lake.

Bridge @ Summer Palace

Beijing - Part One - Eating Orgy

Dalam beberapa hari singkat aku kat Beijing, pada pendapat (sontot) aku, ada dua budaya berlaga. Budaya orang China dari China. Budaya Melayu (or semi Melayu) dari Malaysia.

Kalau orang China China disini, mereka kerap akan menyajikan seberapa banyak dishes seboleh- semungkin kepada pelanggan mereka. Lagi banyak lauk-pauk-mauk yang mereka pesan, lagi bagusla , pada pandangan mereka. Lagi banyak LPM yang tidak habis, lagi gembira la mereka.

Tapi, pada orang Melayu (or semi-melayu) Malaysia macam aku nii, aku rasa laa, lagi licin aku sapu dishes yang mereka hidangkan, lagi bagus. (Bolehkaa ini macam ?) Pada aku, licin tuu bermakna, makanannya enak. Really appreciate the dishes being served. OK dak gitu ?

Masaalah sekarang nii pulak, lagi licin aku sapu, lagi banyak orang China China nii order. . Aiseymann, this is a loose-loose situation.

Hari yang terakhir aku kat sini, aku beritahu Willie, our Beijing-er colleague,

“Yo Willie !

You must make a promise not to order as many dishes as before. You're one Great Host !, but I'm gaining few kilos already.. that's baaad man..”

Willie, being a glo-bo-locally travelled salesman he is, agree. Tapi, aku tengokkan dia order untuk dia seniri, still macam pulun habis-habisan. We went to an upscale Iranian Restaurant. He had One huge plate of Palao, One big plate of salad, and a pinggan dara or hummus, with several Arab Breads

Mebbe, he's like me, a decade back. Bila customer datang Malaysia ajer, mula la aku heret diaorang (at that time) to Kelana Seafood. Ordered like there's no tommorow.

This time, no more laa. Kwan Dok ghorkk..

******

I hope y'all won't get sick looking at these .jpgs. yaa.


I do.


******

Pan-fried pecans (or was it almonds ?) with fresh sprout. Not too crunchy, yet not too lembek. Smoooth

Mixed Salad and nuts, served as an appertizer with sweet kicap. Macam Kicap Habhal cap kipas Udang.

Broasted chicken in mint sweet and sour sauce. Amek ser-cebis ajer buat rasa.

Timun laut in clear soup. The non muslim customers were served with Pumpkin soup with Lentil. Apparently, some on the Hongkie Customers said they'd rather be muslims getting this soup. Kuat btol men-teke-daghah ma-laun tuu..

Litely Boiled & Peeled seawater prawns. Boleh laaa. Kena jaga sket. Gout tuuu.

Halal Lamb version of Peking Duck, in a bun. Not in a paper thin damp tortillas. Best Bang. Yang ini Sedap mendongak ke Langit.

Look at the cute luscious Burger !!

Scallop with watercress and Shandong nuts. Look at the flower motifs. Tengok seketika untuk menikmati carikan bunga ituu.

On the right, is panfried Daun bunga Matahari. Cruncheeeeh.

Look at the Spread. It's meant for 3. Okay laa make it 3 and a half. The other half is my portion.

Haiyoo,. membazir betol.

This is interesting..

From the left, shrimp with Lemon Grass stick. Put inside schnafglas, topped with extra virgin olive oil, & mashed spinach.

In the middle, wasabe jelly.

On the right hand, vacuum-chilled susu tepong. Yes, you heard me rite. SUSU TEPONG !!

Take out the shrimp from the glass, the mashed spinach and olive oil will stick on the shrimp.

Once the wasabi jelly hit the nose, take mouthful of this chilled susu tepong.

Aged mushrooms with udang kering. The udang kering looks like bacon bits. Yuck !

Siakap goreng tepong masam manis. I have no clue what-so-ever, how they made the tepong look like durian ?

Crunchy Lotus flower in coconut milk.. Ni sedap. Simple.

Escargot in cheesy creme. Ubat Gout No 1. !

Baked Baby Lobster with Garlic, peppercorn and kuchai. Ubat Gout No 2 !

Slightly baked scallop with Shrimp paste. Sunggoh kenyal dan yummeeh. Take a-bite and you can feel the scallop melanton balek. Ubat Gout 3 !!!

Sweet aged mushroom with Kicap. Another simple yet satisfying dish.

Salmon Pizza for the first nite appetizer.

Me with Bassam Al-Jub*ri from Saudi.

Look ! Halal Lamb in a cute Bun ala Peking Duck.

Beijing - Part Jeloh

Sebelum aku bertolak, ada juga browse Weather.com.

The weather com forecasted- Beijing – High of 16 degree low of 1 degree. Sunshine. Aku rasa, kalau 16 degree tuu dengan matahari bersinar, it'd be purrfect. Jalan-jalan tak berpeloh. Rasa sejok, dudoklah bawah matahari. Rasa panas, duduk bawah pokok. It's gonna be Very nice.

But, Sampai aje kat BCIA (Beijing Capital International A-port), we were hit cold by “a high of 7 degree, with a low of 1 degree.”

Tuboh kwan belom sempat aejah lagi. Hmm. Tambah pulak, angin menderu-deru rancak menyusup tulang sum-sum. Rasa nak tercabot telinga aku.

Anyway, Beijing is one clean, huge, Modern and Ancient City, but a bit dusty. Agaknya sebelum Beijing Olympics tuu, memang the Chinese Government habis-habisan cleaning up the city. Landscaped roads. Beautiful Parks.

But How dusty is dusty ? Hmmm,. Kalau kat Mesia nii, aku punya Index Kekerapan Perlombongan Bijih (IKPB) sekali seminggu., di Beijing mungkin sampai ke tahap sekali-sehari. Tuu pun, most of the time, aku dok dalam. Indoor. Kalau kat luar, masa di Great Wall, or Forbidden City, masa aku jalan2, mebbe dua kali sehari. Pakai kasut opih, sejam dua dah berdebu dah.

That dusty.

Makan ? No-hal-what-so-ever. Alhamdulillah. There were also 5 important Saudi Customers tagging along. In fact, we were fed waaay too much by our colleague. The food orgy, that’s good for one entry by itself.


eh ? ada kiblat sign in the Hotel. That's how Global this city is.



He he. Swiss Co equipment is everywhere in the Olympic Park..

Gate M

It's Cold outhere..

Giant video screen at The Place

50 / 50 - Part Two, School Holidayy

Sebelum rasa bersalah set in, aku pun bawak semua sekali anak2 aku jenjalan. Destination - Putrajaya.

Naik Bot. Tengok bangunan kerajaan. Makan-makan. Minum-minum. The Usual Happy Family stuff.

Dan semasa ada kat Pjaya tuu,. bawak la jumpa Mak Wan Selampit yang baru transfer ke Putrajaya dari Wisma Pahang. Bbrorok..

*****

Kenapa pulak rasa bersalah ? Takdalaa. Kali nii, cuti sekolah, semua anak2 aku tak pergi mana-mana pun. Cuma,.. ehem,. aku dengan Maam ajer. Like any other good, mithali parent aku tinggalkan kesemua bbudak tuu ngan Bibik, aku cabut ngan Maam ker Makati, Manila

Bussiness Trip maa.

Partially financed by Swiss Co.

Sekali-sekala apa salahnya kaaan.

According to one friend, at brings a whole new meaning Search's Fantasia Bulan Madu.

Buuuulan madu di awan biru

Tiada yang mengganggu

Buuuulan madu di atas pelangi

Hanya kita berdua

Mengecap nekmat cinta

Yang putih tak terbanding

Sesuci embun pagi...

Whoaa, OK dok ?!.. He He.

Anyway, kami kat sana hanya 2 malam. Tak dapat tengok sangat sekitar Manila. Aku sebok ajer dengan Meralco (Phillipines' GLC2). So, takder mender special sangat.

Cuma,

1. Masa arrival tuu. Maam ngan aku rasa macam Rafidah Aziz pulak. There're so many security check points. Nak check in at hotel pun kena go thru sniffing dog. Go thru Security Guards with metal Detectors. Sib tak baik tak kena raba.

Kat All of the Mall Entrance sekitar Makati CBD tuu pun sama jer. Have to go thru the Securities Guards with Metal Detectors. Hmmm,. rasa macam tak selamat ajerr.

2. Bab*.. tu merata-merata kat restoran dia. Bak rebos, bak goreng, bak bakar, bak salai, Chorizo, Por* Chop, Snouts, Bak Belly.. Yuccck ! Malam aku dinner ngan co-workers aku tuu pun selamba ajer dia orang order Bak Goreng with sweet sauce. Chap Chai with Bak.. Letih laa..

Can You see the small Blardy Sniffing Dog ?