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Ayubowan III : Ciao Colombo

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The meetings continued for another two days. More meals at Burger King and Chinese Dragon Cafe. So close to the famous Ministry of Crab, but pigs would fly before my bosses would treat us to a meal there. On the second last day, my CEO arrived and we had a lunch meeting with him at the posh Cinnamon Grand Hotel along Galle Road. The 5-star hotel is popular among tourists and business travelers, and is connected to the Crescat Boulevard Mall. For the same reasons, it was the target of suicide bombers during the Easter attack of 2019. My CEO asked my GM to decide on a lunch venue, and he seriously considered the Crescat Mall food court. In my mind, I was slapping my forehead repeatedly. Thank goodness my CEO vetoed that idea and we headed to Chutneys , an Indian restaurant in the hotel. On the way there, we passed by a posh wedding banquet held at a large dais beside the lobby. Huge gap between the rich and the poor. The thali set that I chose was delicious. During our last

Ayubowan II : Work, Work, Work

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Since no breakfast was provided, we had to find our own. The nearest option was Burger King. The man behind the counter was another example Sri Lanka's excellent service standard. Orders were piling up, but he couldn't properly help the kitchen staff. Even picking up the bacon from the fryer was obviously a challenge for him. By the time my order was done, he just blankly stared at it. A simple breakfast bun with scrambled eggs. From the hotel, we took either Uber or PickMe to our reseller's office. Since the managers will just wait to be ushered into the ride, I had to settle all the bookings. Thank goodness for the hunky surfer dude at the lobby who kept my mood up. Noticed that the Suzuki WagonR is the most popular choice among ride-hailing drivers. A small, squarish vehicle that can can't seat more than three passengers. In order to fill up the proposal, we were holed up in the conference room the whole day with another partner from France. A truly draining ex

Ayubowan I : Coming to Colombo

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The last time I was in Colombo was during the third quarter of 2017. A quickie. That initiative ended as quickly as it started. And in 2019, I find myself back there for a government RFP and a to build a relationship with a Sri Lankan reseller. Followed a bunch of new colleagues who joined us in 2019. They were no strangers to Sri Lanka as they had a project there a few years back. Flew there with Sri Lankan Airlines where the air crew greet everyone with "ayubowan", which is a greeting of long life. I got a seat near the emergency exit with super leg room. Bandaranaike International Airport was a little different from what I remembered as the renovations had been completed. First order of business was to get a local SIM card at the arrival hall. Then we wasted some time trying to secure an airport transfer because they couldn't get us a big enough van. Our lodging was at Fairway Colombo, a small business hotel located at a narrow street behind the Dutch Hospit

Peppa's Year

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As it got closer to the Lunar New Year, more interesting things popped up in the morning market at OUG. Some new and innovative product releases for 2019. On top of the usual peach-shaped buns for the altar, I saw technicolour huat kueh this year, stacked up into mutant Christmas trees. And being the most popular foreign pig in China, Peppa also joins in the festivities. Spotted plushies of Peppa wearing traditional Chinese costumes, and also Peppa Pig CNY T-shirts. In the afternoon, I went to get my hair cut, while mum spent some time with her buddies at the DAP Seputeh service center. My stylist put some white gooey stuff in my hair (nothing remotely related to "There's Something About Mary") that turned it temporarily ash grey. Kinda cool. That night mum organized a Japanese dinner Jyuraku , SS15. She invited SK, LifeBook and Bless. The house salad was an excellent choice for a faux lou sang . SK did most of the ordering because she's a regular. Good food

MRT Celebrities : Black Sephiroth

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I had bumped into Black Sephiroth several times now. Always spotted on the MRT, in between Merdeka and Bandar Utama station, and also always in black. Either its Goth or he works for a cosmetics counter. I dunno. Several teenagers beside me quipped, "He must be going for that anime main character look". Yes, Sephiroth's black twin.

Friday Paktor

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KH brought me out on a Friday night date at Sri Petaling. As expected, it was bustling, but we managed to wade through the nightmarish traffic and find our cafe~ CRP 45 . Weird name right? The cafe is actually named after health program called Cell Renewal Program in 45 Days. Trust the Entertainer App to recommend all sorts of places that we otherwise would not try. The place was pretty empty when we arrived, just one other couple was there. We had the chicken chop, and the siew yuk pizza. KH chatted up the nice boys behind the counter and discovered that the bosses were closing down the cafe business in the coming month. Guess our visit was timely. Then it was off to find something sweet at Dessert Bar by Stanley Choong . Also my first time there. The Opera cake was very pretty and had a layer of caramelized salted nuts. Many layers of enjoyment and textures. The guy behind the counter was very friendly, and I was guessing the guy in the kitchen was Stanley. Haha. He didn'

Prep for Pig

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At the morning market, the effects of the upcoming Lunar Chinese New Year were palpable. A buzz was in the air. Wallets and purses were loosened for a semi-restrained shopping frenzy. Many new stalls popped up to sell seasonal products, e.g. biscuits, snacks, new year cakes, decorations, etc. Heck, even Tulip luncheon meat opened a promotional counter. In the afternoon, SK organized a dim sum lunch at Grand Harbour, Da Men Mall. Joining us for the free lunch was Apollo and my mum. It was my first time at Da Men Mall, a very much food-first mall like Starling Mall. The restaurant was located at the highest floor where occupancy was the lowest. Huge swathes of retail space were left in the dark. Dim sum was pretty good over there. Recommended items are : wu kok (excellent crispy skin), scallop mai (crispy 'nest' on the outside, juicy inside), char siew roll (delicious char siew), pork ribs, red yeast shrimp roll (good combination of textures), and crab meat omelette (a

Lunch Date 2019

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KH had been working very hard fighting for his success in the Nu Skin platform, so we hadn't been seeing very much of each other. So when he took me out for lunch on Friday, I was truly happy that we could spend some time together. Sharing a simple plate of wantan noodles and a bowl of dumplings is as good as dining at a fancy restaurant. After noodles at Restoran K. Intan , we had coffee at Cafe Tujoh located at the same row. It was a great place to chill, drink coffee, and enjoy each other's company.

Instant Family

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KH got free tickets to "Instant Family" from a friend. It stars Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne ( you might remember her from "Bridesmaids" and The "Neighbors" ) as a couple who embark on a journey to adopt children. A pretty good watch on the roller-coaster ride of foster parenting. Some things may have been glossed over ( it's a movie after all ), but its funny and heart-warming. Persist till the end when you truly care. For the first time ever, I ate at Tut's , a place serving Egyptian fusion cuisine at One Utama. Can't say if its authentic, but the taste is pretty decent. Ate a mini okra stew with meat that was quite good. Never seen the likes of those mini okras in Malaysia. Very cute, like little nubs. While dining there, I actually saw the Food Panda delivery guy with no hands . Just a few days back I saw a post about him pop up on my FB timeline. Pretty amazing how he can ride.   

Pig Me Up

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On the first day of 2019, I woke up at 1:30 PM! Been a LONG, LONG, LONG time since I slept in that late. I would have slept longer if mum didn't knock on my door! Typical question from KH, "Why piggy so much?". Haha. Freshened up and went out to AEON Equine for brunch at  Old Town White Coffee . A simple meal of tuna sandwich and white coffee. Business was brisk. Dinner was with The Tribe at  Fika Fika Cafe . We ordered so much food! And in the end, we had a giant Christmas meat platter! Overdose! A amazing way to kick-start the Year of the Pig.