VCR

Every end of the year I have leave that must be cleared lest it be forfeited. Employees are only allowed to carry forward 20 days of annual leave to the following year. Yes, I have that much annual leave. Hehe. KH and I took a day off on Monday to spend the time together. Joining the rush hour crowd, we boarded the LRT to Hang Tuah station. Made our way to VCR Cafe because of its early opening hours. At first I was a bit confused by the directions from Google Maps but I finally understood the convoluted route after experiencing it firsthand. Amazing that Google Maps can properly map pedestrian walkways and crossings. Just a short walk and we arrived at the cafe. At that hour, there were people already comfortably ensconced at their tables, sipping coffee. KH and I moved upstairs to share a big breakfast. For MYR34, one gets slice of bread with two eggs (mine were poached to perfection), two yummy sausages, tomatoes on the vine, sauteed mushrooms, stewed beans and beef bacon (turkey ham is an option too). Coffee was quite good too. The place seems quite perfect for smokers with al fresco seating and an open air rooftop area. The owners seem to have adopted a bunch of stray cats and housed them in a cage at the entrance.







Made our way to The Pavilion after that. No good movies to watch. It was either "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2" or "Keeper of Darkness". We chose the Cantonese ghost movie. Not a great movie, but not a bad movie either. Nothing ritualistic, just some straight-forward ghost catching. The hero has a shock of white hair and a whole body of protective tattoos, but doesn't serve any purpose in the plot. Emerged from the cinema quite famished. Ate at TGIF because for some reason, HSBC gave me a whole booklet of December vouchers to use. Was quite surprised by the service I got from the Pinoy waiters:
Waiter: So you'll be having the xxx and yyy.
Moi: Correct.
Waiter: Drinks?
Moi: (before I could answer...)
Waiter: No drinks right? (walked off)
LOL. Well, he did guess correctly. Based on experience?



Loitered at Times Bookstore then checked out the RM3,000,000.00 Swarovski Christmas tree at the concourse. Amazing what strands of crystals and high-powered LED lights can do. Bathe the shoppers shopping rays. Here and there one still sees the animatronics from past years. A lighted skeleton of Santa's sleigh was moved outdoors. Spiked our blood sugar levels at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf with a couple of Christmas drinks. Our server looked as though he was going cold turkey after a month of gorging on chocolate-peppermint lattes. Next up, KH went to shop for trail shoes which is an activity he enjoys a lot. I just trudge along and roll my eyes. Whatever the case, it was nice to spend the day in each other's company. No rush, no disturbances.