Sunway Club by Night

Malaysian Ringgit Coins

Image: The Malaysian ringgit (plural: ringgit; currency code MYR; formerly the Malaysian dollar) is the currency of Malaysia. It is divided into 100 sen (cents). The ringgit is issued by the Bank Negara Malaysia.

I am planning to collect different kinds of coins from different countries. It would be lovely to show off some coins. But I think it would be lovelier if I could collect gold coins too. I think gold price can be quite expensive alright but can be good to use as an investment. I think it is the best option for investment for now. Gold prices are fixed. Gold designs change every time, though. I have different designs from Gold Coins Gain.

Why invest in gold? If we look back at our world history, during the early civilization, gold (and silver too) had a vital role in commercial industry. They used it to trade other products. Back then, the price of gold went by the weight. Gold is indeed precious. You can collect it as a memoir or investment. If you're thinking on buying gold though you have to check out gold buying guide from Gold Coin Gains to know how to choose spot gold.

Baba-Nyonya

Last week, we went to Melaka to do some children's program. Melaka is the historical city of Malaysia. It is a 2-hour drive away from where we live. After the kids' program, our hosts took us to a Nyonya restaurant that served (of course) Nyonya food (on the image above). It was good to be able to taste the different side of Malaysian cuisine. Thanks to our hosts.

Peranakan and Baba-Nyonya (Chinese: 峇峇娘惹; pinyin: Bābā Niángrě; Hokkien: Bā-bā Niû-liá) are terms used for the descendants of late 15th and 16th century Chinese immigrants to the Nusantara region during the Colonial era. It applies especially to the ethnic Chinese populations of the British Straits Settlements of Malaya and the Dutch-controlled island of Java and other locations, who have adopted partially or in full Nusantara customs to be somewhat assimilated into the local communities. (source: wikipedia.org)

Tuition Classes

Sorry, the photo is a bit messy but this is where the hubs does his tutoring classes. I have never seen any other place that urges students to take tuition classes than in Malaysia. Every student (read my lips: EVERY) student does have tuition classes. My husband teaches tuition, and he teaches Algebra or any other Mathematics subject. But my husband is away most of the time so he doesn't have a lot of students. Right now, he has one, which is a friend's daughter, who also doesn't mind having make up classes every now and then.

I think for some others who feel it's inconvenient to wait for the tuition teacher, especially if you need to improve your Algebra 1, please check out TutorVista. They do tutoring 24/7. They offer a tutoring package of US$99.90 per month. It is online so it is available whenever and wherever you want it. It is good to get Algebra 1 help any time we want it, isn't it.

Of course, for those taking Algebra 2 and want some Algebra 2 answers, you may get that kind of tutoring services too. This is just one of the reasons I love about internet and high technology. You can do just about any thing at your own comfort and convenience.

And oh, by the way, TutorVista provides free demo for first time user. That would be of help so you don't get confused and end up being frustrated. All the best to you, Mathematicians!

International Lantern Festival

International Lantern Festival in Hatyai, Thailand.

We had a chance to visit friends in Thailand for Chinese New Year last month. We visited a few places. One of them was this lantern festival. It was an awesome night with colorful lanterns that represented each country.

Black Pepper Crab

I've been missing seafood we usually get at Southseas Subang Restaurant. One night, hubby brought some crabs home, with ingredients and a recipe from his mom. We cooked it together. I served it with wine, with candlelights on. Extra romantic. Sans the kids. That's even more romantic.

Rump Steak

One of those pub grubs that I truly enjoyed: 21-day aged rump steak, medium rare. Got it from one of the pubs in Portobello, Notting Hill, London... courtesy of our friend, Fiona.

For more yummy food, head over to:

Tea, Anyone?

I am so in the mood for posting food photos. This time, let me take you to one of Malaysia's tradition: tea time. Malaysia has probably adapted this tradition from the British people. Tea time can vary from serving it with sandwiches or tarts. You can even serve it with cakes, cookies, or any other pastries. People enjoy it in between main meals. And of course, if you have a good tableware, it would make it much more special. :D

I don't have a perfect set of dining ware, but I have a good one I use which I bought second hand from e-bay during my crazy e-bay days. Anyways, if you're looking for a good and cute flatware, may it be gourmet flatware, stainless steel flatware, or any kind of flatware that you wanna use for that special moment with family or friends, just visit Pfaltzgraff. They have such cute and sweet designs. I gawked at the designs for a moment.

No wonder it Pfaltzgraff products made it to Food News.

Bayswater Road

Beyond Subang Jaya: Bayswater Road, London

Parallel to this road is the famous Hyde Park where the Kensington Gardens is located. It is such a huge park. I have posted that it was autumn when we were in London. When we walked into the park, little did we know that the park was one Royal Park during Queen Victoria's Reign. It was awesome to discover another beautiful and historical places in London.

Bayswater is a kind of a high end area. But we were able to stay in a budget hostel for 12€ per night, breakfast included. That was really a good deal. We enjoyed London in a limited budget.

St. Katherine Docks

Beyond Subang Jaya: This is still part of my series for my London photos. St Katharine Docks, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, were one of the commercial docks serving London, on the north side of the river Thames just east (downstream) of the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. They were part of the Port of London, in the area now known as the Docklands, and are now a popular housing and leisure complex. We found this by accident when we visited the Tower Bridge (famously known as the London Bridge) and the London Tower. Hubby and I were just exploring. It was good then as we have discovered more historical places.

I love discovering places. It was so awesome that last year, we were able to go to many places for a holiday. Now I am wishing to go for Canary Island Holidays. At Late Deals, you can actually acquire holiday packages for late deals. Last year, when we went for holidays in different places, it was either autumn or winter. This time, if given a chance, I would opt for tropical vacation. Like what I said, I wish to go to Canary. It has a sub-tropical climate, astounding scenery and they have beautiful beaches as well.

Ahhhhh... when was the last time I laid down on a beach with sunglasses on and engrossed myself with a good book? I want it again, so badly. So I hope before the year ends I can go for another tropical holidays. And of course, with my whole family this time. I so want my kids to go with us again for our tropical holidays. I am pretty sure they will enjoy it coz they love playing in the sand and water.

Baja California, Mexico

This time, let me take you guys to Mexico. When we were in San Diego, California, our friends told us that you can drive to Mexico in 20 minutes. The next day, we went to Tijuana, had fish taco and drove to the Pacific Ocean coastal area. We drove to this place where they shot some of the scenes in Titanic.



Titanic Trivia -

20th Century Fox acquired 40 acres of waterfront south of Playas de Rosarito in Mexico and started building a brand new studio in May 31 1996. A 17 million gallon tank was built for the exterior of the reconstructed ship, providing 270 degrees of ocean view. The ship was built to full scale but production design removed redundant sections on the superstructure and the forward well deck so that it would fit the tank. The remaining sections were filled in digitally. The lifeboats and funnels were shrunk by 10%. While the boat deck and the A-deck were full working sets, the rest of the ship was steel plating. Contained within that was a 50 foot lifting platform for the ship to tilt during the sinking sequences, whilst towering above that was a 162 feet tall tower crane on 600 feet of railtrack. This was used as a construction, lighting and camera platform.

All the scenes where there is an exterior sunset shot were filmed at the set in the Baja California, Mexico set. (source: imbd.com)

Chicken Adobo from TGI Friday's

So this is another version of chicken adobo. It's definitely not a Filipino style chicken adobo. When we went to TGI Friday's in Subang Parade with a friend, I saw this in the menu list - a new item, chicken adobo. I had a strong urge to try, thinking it was a chicken adobo Filipino style. But I was rather baffled when this came. It's a chicken adobo southwestern style/Spanish style. It's worth a try though. At least I now know there are different types of chicken adobo.

Autumn

I know it's not autumn season anymore. In fact, in places where there are 4 seasons, it's going towards spring already. I just posted this as a memory of me in an autumn season while in London. Truly loved it.

The photo was taken at Kensington Gardens. It used to be the Royalty Gardens. It's where Queen Victoria's palace was... And later, Princess Diana lived in the Palace in the area. Beautiful London.

Our Holidays in the UK

(Image: me in front of Westminster Abbey)

I just watched Sherlock Holmes and I was reminded of our holidays in the UK last year. It was very memorable for me for a few reasons: 1. It was my first time to set foot in Europe. 2. It was my first time to experience an autumn season. 3. It was a holiday for me and the hubby sans the kids.

We did a bit of tour. We went with a group of people with a tour guide first and the next day, we went on a tour on our own, explored London with just an oyster card, a map and places-to-see list I searched from the internet.

The internet has helped a lot in giving more information about the place, the best time to visit, food to eat, people's cultures, etc. And if you have that last minute holidays... you can surf the net where to go, hotel packages, etc. At Last Deals, they will surely take you to a lot of information regarding late holidays.

I and my husband make sure that we have enough time to prepare for our holidays... but sometimes, we can't avoid it but end up having last minute decisions. We had a sort of a last minute preparations for our holiday in the UK. If you are like us, information hub like Last Deals can surely help us get to our holiday destination, on time.

Universal Studios

Universal Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. We did a Universal Studios tour and saw Wisteria Lane. I saw how the cars were blown up in Fast and Fury. Norman Bates was showing off how he murdered the lady... and was coming towards us with the knife in hand. It was scary. Sharks suddenly appear from the water as we crossed the river. I think it was from the movie Jaws. And of course, they were showing how fire was made up in the movie Backdraft. All these and more when you do the tour.

General Admission: US$69.00

With discount coupon: US$ 59.00

Hollywood's Walk of Fame

One of the things we did while in LA was tour around. Went to Hollywood and Highlands mall. Outside the mall was where the famous "Walk of Fame" was. Keanu Reeve's was the nearest. So I asked the hubs to take a photo. I took a photo of him and Sandra Bullock's star.

C 300

(image: the car my grand aunt drives in LA. She's so cool.)

Here's a trivia I discovered when in the US. The plate numbers are all at the back. When we were in Atlanta and our friend lent us her car, we left the car in the parking lot outside Northpoint point. When we came out from the mall and looked for the car, we were looking for it by it's type, color and plate number. It took us awhile to locate the car. That's when we discovered that the plate numbers are only in front of the car and never at the back. LOL.

Another trivia: If you're in Dallas area and looking for Dallas auto repair shop, check out RepairPal first. They have a list of repair shops available in the area and if you contact them, they will give you independent and unbiased repair estimates. Of course, if you have Chevrolet Silverado and you want a good brake job for your car, just check them out. I have read that it's easy, accurate and best of all, FREE. Now who doesn't want free things, right? So go ahead... wherever you are located. Just fill in your zip code and voila! Listings in that area will come out. Then you have a choice.

Hmmm... now I wonder which shop my grand aunt sends her car to for repair. I hope she's doing a good decision coz nowadays, it's so hard to trust to send your car to the repair shops.

Cameron Highlands

On the way to Cameron Highlands, we spotted this great waterfall. Lata Iskandar.

Lata Iskandar is a series of waterfalls that you'll encounter about 15 km after Tapah along the trunk road to Cameron Highlands. While not directly within the Cameron Highlands, this waterfall is the most well known in the area due to its sheer size and magnificent drop. This majestic waterfall cascades for 25-meters down into a series of rock pools. Over the years, the landscape has changed somewhat due to erosion and the force of the waters hitting the rocks. (source: cameronhighland.net)