will i am's delayed diary

Sunday was a busy day for me because there was a pre-sales presentation that I had to prepare for a potential client in the Philippines. And my CEO kept rearranging things, so I had a fun time reworking the slide deck. Had a quick lunch at Coffee Sprex after mass. The guy sitting at the far end of the restaurant was pretty attractive, but I couldn't capture it well with my spy photography ( especially with my mum sitting next to me ). Wolfed down the food, and then rushed over to Semenyih ( sooooooo far ) to see my brand new nephew on my mother's side. The kid was pretty cute. Looks much like his father. While at my cousin's place, I still had to fire up my laptop for work. Ugh. Luckily we did not have to stay for long, and the changes I made were accepted. Managed to salvage whatever was left of my Sunday with a hearty dinner.

The celebration continued the next day Xenri , near the Elken HQ at Old Klang Road. Can't remember the last time I dined there. But I do remember that I had a birthday bash there with the BFF. We were brought to a section of the restaurant that had a no-shoe policy. Lockers were prepared, but no indoor slippers. I disliked it because it required sitting on the floor. Leceh . And it had a water feature with no barriers whatsoever. A mystery as to why they seat so many families with children there. Many a kid must have swam with the koi. For after-dinner cake and coffee, we made a move to the nearby Le Pont . Little Monster made the selection, so it was all chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate. Big Monster bumped into several of his schoolmates, and judging from their behaviour, Big Monster didn't deserve the title 'Monster'. His friends were more qualified. Got a shock of my life when they started crawling under the bread cabinets in the bakery, and a wait...

I was kinda stumped about the venue to celebrate Little Monster and mum's birthday. When it came to the kid, Western is a de facto choice. The go-to-person for Western food is definitely Janvier. From the several choices that he gave me, I chose Checkers at Bukit Damansara because they serve pork. Oink oink! Dinner was arranged on Friday night. Very casual restaurant hidden in a residential area. Most of the customers seem to be regulars with wine on their tables. The menu wasn't big, but the owner Mr. Tan curated it well. The grilled pork belly slices with chutney was delicious and oh-so-sinful. Big Monster ordered the pasta with meat sauce and he wasn't disappointed. The waitress also convinced us to order a special, the Lord of the Ribs, a full rack of pork ribs. Perfect for carnivores. Felt that we had too much pork, so we also got the Jamaican jerk chicken with grilled plantain ( pisang tanduk for the uninitiated, and it was great! ). Kids also loved the pizza. M...

A new shop opened right opposite my church on the LDP-- Restoran SK Sabah Pork Noodles . The shop specializes in sang nyuk noodles like the shop I visited in Kuchai Lama . First things first, I dislike the cramped interior of the shop where there's no proper space to manoeuver between the tables. Secondly, it's reall stuffy in there. And most importantly, the taste is average at best. Made a trip to Jalan Jalan Japan again. Mum wanted to see if they had any 'new' stock. For me, the only interesting thing there was the fact that it was the last day of the DKSH warehouse sale. Great deals on Old Town White Coffee and toilet paper. There were also some freebies because they wanted to clear as much of their stock as possible. KH also turned up at Subang SkyPark to have coffee with me at Old Town White Coffee . Normally it's quite difficult to catch up with him. Election fever had finally reached my neighbourhood with a Pakatan Harapan ceramah at the commerci...

Our flight out was in the afternoon, so we had some time in the morning to do some sightseeing. A local partner mentioned that we can catch the tail-end of Sakura season in Qingdao, so we decided to make a trip to Zhongshan Park although it was drizzling. So different from the several days we spent cooped up indoors. The irony of it. From the hotel we walked to Renminhuitang Metro Station. The Metro staff actually stand at the entrance yelling warnings about the wet floor, and hand out plastic bags for umbrellas. Down in the station, passengers and bags need to go through security screening. Interesting to note that their restrooms are actually on the platform! The park was just a short walk away from Zhongshangongyuan Metro Station, but when we arrived, the drizzle had intensified. Much to our disappointment, the cherry blossoms along the so-called Sakura Road had mostly ended up on the ground. The rain had killed whatever was leftover. Many a plan was dashed by the sudden d...

On the last day of the conference, my GM did his presentation. Pretty interesting because it was the first time I ever heard him do a business pitch in putonghua , and I must say that its better than his English! Everything was wrapped up, and they closed with a dialogue with the customers regarding products that had caught their interest. So that was it. My only purpose there was to smile, nod my head, and 'look pretty'. Zzz. We had some time to kill before dinner, so we had a little walk outside. Walked along Taiping Road, going as close as possible to the Chinese Naval Museum to get a better look at the submarine. Walked past some heritage houses and the Tianhou Temple which had a giant sculpture of Chinese cabbage at the entrance. Also had a look at the People's Hall which tries to emulate its grander twin in Beijing. There was also a small park with some colourful blossoms, and vendors selling seashell crafts, and roasted sweet potatoes. On our way back, we stu...

Finally it was showtime. The event was held at the function hall in the basement of the hotel. The tables were arranged in a very "meeting style". The hosts sat at one end, while we sat with their customers at the other end, facing each other. In the middle ( at the far end ) were the senior management of our hosts. Very surprised that the CTO is actually a woman. Something rare. The whole event was set up purely for the benefit of their customers who numbered less than 8 persons. One by one our local partners got up to give very impressive presentations. I noticed that they could really weave stories naturally and talk and talk and talk non-stop. All in putonghua of course. These were the same people who worked late setting up the venue, managing the logistics, and entertaining the guests. Talk about efficient multitasking. Hot tea was served along the course of the day. One Singaporean colleague was Indian, so he needed a translator to assist him. Whereas the other Singa...

The room they gave me had a pretty decent ocean view. From the window, I could see tourists thronging the rocky beach right in front of my hotel. Further out was Xiao Qiangdao island, a restricted military area until 1987. On the left, I could see a decommissioned nuclear submarine that's a part of the Qingdao Naval Museum. On the right was Zhanqiao Pier, an unofficial symbol of the city. The pavilion at the end of Zhanqiao pier is featured on the logo of the famous Tsingtao Beer. The room was spacious, with a work table that came with the most complete set of stationery that I ever saw. Which hotel provides scissors, ruler, gel pen, magnifying glass, and paper clips? On the coffee table was a teapot with a jar of tea leaves and chrysanthemum flowers. The breakfast spread at the hotel was pretty decent. A whole lot of porridge -- some like it white, some like it black, some like millet, some like barley. Also some Western choices for the angmoh . No activity was planned for t...