will i am's delayed diary

12th anniversary. Mamak. Guess where next year. :P

As promised, here are the cuties that I spied during the Petaling Street Lunar New Year Festival 2019 . There should be a little something for everyone. First is Tsundere Tim who works at Cafe ETC just beside Petaling Street Heritage House. Angsty twink in overs-ized T, any takers? Second is Two-Faced Tom , one of the offical photographers for the event. Hopefully he is a faithful hunk and not a two-timing player! Look at those guns! Not talking about the lens ya! Lastly some random cuties posing for a photograph in front of the Guandi Temple. Take your pick. Itadakimasu !

Even before my Colombo trip , I was feeling unwell. A lingering illness deep inside my torso that couldn't quite manifest. Like an annoying piece of meat stuck between your teeth, that you can feel with the tip of your tongue, but can't quite dislodge. Couldn't take it anymore, so I decided to see the TCM practitioner at Happy Garden after mum's trip to the wet market. After a long wait, it was finally my turn. Her diagnosis after feeling pulse and sticking a tongue depressor down my throat : heat and wind. She diagnosed me three doses herbal soup with complicated cooking instructions. And while I was taking the herbal soups, I had certain dietary restrictions. In general, eat pork ( yay! ), and avoid white vegetables. A truly nasty concoction with a whole lot of dregs which I had to swallow as well. Once I was done, it was time for lunch. Mum and I ate at Wonton and Pho, just a short walk away from the TCM. Between us, we had a banh mi , and a plate of wantan noo...

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 ...

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...

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...

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...