Enjoyable Saturday

10:30am at the Singapore custom and they were all late! Raymond, as usual, was running late but seldom heard of Alan being late......he finally arrived, upset with the taxi driver taking a longer route!

Decided to get over to JB first as the traffic was rather bad. Told Raymond we would meet him over at Old Town. We did not wait long...

First stop was to Citibank for Alan to make some transactions..the taxi went round and round the compound....waiting for Alan.....

we were supposed to meet up with Ho at Pelangi Plaza and he came and drove us to our lunch venue. Have been talking about this lunch venue but Alan did not have the address but he remembered how to get there. The venue was at Johore Jaya (not far from Jusco Tebrau) and

the shop name was RESTORAN YOU KEE XO ENTEPRISE -- www.youkeexo.com.my

We order the combination plate (char siew, roast pork, roast duck , and the roast pig (skin)), soup, steamed fish & vege, and tofu. It was a good meal! The drinks were great too! The meal came up to about M$150+ for 4 people! Thanks, Raymond!

After a heavy meal, we went over to Tebrau Mall for some window shopping. Always enjoy walking in this mall...... big supermarket, big bookshop, and many eateries!

On the way to our favourite massage place, we sidetracked and stopped at a dessert place. The place was crowded with customers, on a hot afternoon. The ice kacang had chocolate sauce all over it! While having dessert, I found the new premises of the tea guy! He told me that he would move and I realised that the new place was just opposite the dessert stall!

Finally, its our massage time.... as usual....... I fell asleep, while in pain..........hahahahhaha!

By the time we were done it was already 7pm! Had to go over to get some comics (for Raymond)before we stopped over at Pelangi Plaza for dinner at Season's. The food was average ... I would have preferred eating at Taman Gardens, though. Anyway, Alan treated dinner...so, cannot complain! Hahahaha!

Usually, we would be back over to SG in the early evening, but by the way we were going back, it was after 9pm! The traffic was very smooth (many people must be staying home to watch World Cup!). By the way, I got home, it was almost 11pm.

I am sure both Alan and Raymond have had a good time, amidst all the sarcasm & insults !

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Not A Fulfilling Evening

It has been a long time since I last visit Music Dreamer Cafe with Raymond.

Decided to have dinner at Pu Tien after looking through the set menu. The restaurant was

supposed to be famous but the set menu was a disappointment. Don't believe what you see on the advertisement!

The bamboo prawns were not fresh; the fried fish equally could not make it (我接受不到啰）and the famous bee hoon (the main dish) was a small portion, not even enough for me! The only consolation was the tofu...tasted like tofu!

As the meal was not filling, we decided to try the famous Jia Xiang Sawarak Kuching Kolo Mee next door. We ordered the 金牌noodle with 3 slices of abalone and the 招牌 fish soup. The noodle was delicious but the fish soup was terrible! The fish slices were not fresh, the prawns were overcooked (the soup was not even boiling) and the soup tasted bad! Totally CMI! The manager actually changed the fish slices and soup for me and it was still bad! I am definitely not ordering this dish again!

Finally we proceeded to the ming ge for the evening. The guitarist and the female singer were not there! What a let down!

The place had a new menu and Raymond decided to order waffle (he could still eat!) The lady asked if he wanted ice cream or butter /honey on his waffle and also the flavour. Then , she came back to inform that the ice cream waffles would only start the following month! When the butter/honey waffle came, Raymond thought the chunk of stuff was ice cream but I told him it was butter, a chunk of solid cold butter! The waffles was cold too! I managed to get it heated up but Raymond gave up eating it!

We did have a good time at ming ge. The male singer managed to entertain the night away! All was not lost!

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Miscellaneous 1

A busy week finally ended at 5:30pm on Friday! Met up with Raymond at Vivocity for dinner. Decided to have steamboat dinner at the restaurant behind Daiso. Buffet style.... The spread was ordinary. There was also cooked food. The chicken wings were delicious! By the time we finished , we had lots to eat!

Wanted to settle for desserts at the few dessert outlets but they were crowded. Managed to settle down at Toast Box for a drink instead.

Mum has been in hospital every week and was discharged on Friday. Today (Saturday), while I was having lunch at the coffee shop at my place, I saw my aunt (mum's younger sister). She came with some friends to visit my mum. These friends were my mum's childhood friends! They are all in their 70s! I was so touched that they came to spend time with my mum! They talked about their families and also the times when they were young!

Had dinner with Gerald at the hawker centre - Mei Ling Street. Steamboat again! The steamboat was less elaborate than those in the restaurant but not too bad. Bought Gerald the Citron Tea for him to try. Got free dinner! Hahahaha!

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Miscellaneous

Had dinner with Raymond this evening. There was this makan place I found on the web and tried a few times to locate it. Finally, I found where it was.

We order deep fried pig throttle, sambal sweet potato leaves and curry fish head. The dishes were quite delicious. The coffee shop looks rather old and ordinary but the food was good!

What caught my eyes was an elderly lady who was transferring the remaining food in the curry fish head dish that the customer left behind into a bowl and then sat down to have her dinner. At least that's what I saw!

Nobody seemed to bother and no one cares. The lady went on to finish her food as if nothing happened!

I asked Raymond if he would do that and the reply was 'no'.

The incident left me thinking......about how fortunate most of us are.....


---------------- Sawbear Travel -------------------

I Miss You....

My Dear

I miss you very much....

I miss our time together.......

I miss having you here.......

I miss being by your side......

I miss making you feel loved

I love you.


------------ Sawbear Travel -------------

J.B. Again

12 June
Was to meet up with Raymond at Kranji MRT at 11am. Was running late and actually received an sms from him saying 'YOU'RE LATE!' I was 5 mins late. Did not expect him to be early/on time!

At the station, we were surprised to see a very long queue for bus 170. Even for the Smiley Bus, there was a queue! Usually there's lots of the smiley buses but we waited for quite a while before we saw one.

At the immigration/custom, it was quite smooth..did not look very crowded. The shock came when we went to catch the bus. The queue was very long and there was lots and lots of people! I have never seen such crowd!

We managed to squeeze ourselves into the queues.... and into the bus after waited for quite a while. The jam is usually at the F1 track and as usually, the traffic was bad......

We finally arrived at the JB immigration/custom. Clearance was very fast, surprisingly. Anyway, we started waiting for bus at about 11:10am and arrived about 1pm.

The 1st thing was lunch and we decided to catch the taxi at the side staircase before CitySquare. I thought it was metered but the driver told me that it was cost M$10 for the trip. I did not want to argue and so I agreed.

Lunch was at the 顺发肉骨茶, our favourite joint. We ordered our favourite dishes and the waiter thought we ordered too much. He was surprised when we finished everything! Never under-estimate the 2 of us! Hahahahaha!

Next on the itinerary was foot reflex/massage at 唐医堂. As usually, I had foot reflex and Raymond had body massage. The session was always very good for me!

Went over to LeisureMall where Raymond managed to stock up on his comics (18 books!) till his next trip. From there, we went back to CitySquare where we settled down for early dinner at the Mong Kok Char Chan Teng. The drinks were great! I had 2 orders of the same drink! Don't bother about the food, though.

Clearing JB side was quite fast...there was a short jam on the F1 track (surprising) but we were soon back on Singapore soil. The immigration/custom at Singapore side was very crowded. I cleared very fast but poor Raymond took a long time to clear.

It was a good trip and I enjoyed myself. We took a longer time than usual for clearance but being the school holiday period, I guess it's expected.


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Time Flies

7th June was the Birth date of 2 friends.....

Kevin has been my pen-pal since 1982. Yes, my pen-pal! Kevin has a twin sister was the pen pal of susie, my classmate and I had the opportunity to be introduced to Kevin. Kevin lives in New Zealand with his wife and children in Ashburton.

Many years back, I was bringing a tour group to New Zealand and due to bad weather, we could not get to Mount Cook. Having some time to kill, I decided to bring the group to Kevin's farm. That was the 1st time I finally met up with him.

There was another trip when the farm stay I was being hosted, turned out to be Kevin's neighbour and I ended up having breakfast at Kevin's place!

It's been 28 years! We are still in contact! Happy Birthday, my friend!

I have known Stanley since 1996 when I joined Ananda Travel. It's been 14 years but since we become better friends, I have made it a point to wish him every year on 7 June. This year is no difference. Happy Birthday!

Met up with Vincent and Terence last night. Nancy and LH could not make it. I have known Vincent since 1993 when he came over to help me. Terence and Nancy were colleagues from Ananda and they believed in me, came over to SAFE and work with me to setup and run the retail travel. We worked very hard during the 1st, almost to the verge of giving up. We did well and the business started with profit even in the 1st year! I owed a lot to these friends!

While chatting, I realised that Vincent is already 40 and Terence is catching up next year! How time flies! When I knew them, they were still in their late 20's! Come to think of it,... I am not getting any younger...... would be 50 in a few years' time! Haiz.......

It was great catching up .... so much to laugh about ..... and would surely be meeting again because Nancy is finally getting married!


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Stephen's Trip

3 June

Finally....he's here! Tiger Airways touched down as scheduled and soon, Stephen was out into the arrival hall. So happy to see him again!

Got home for some rest before meeting up with Raymond, Jim and Derrick for dinner. Met up at City Square and finally decided to eat at Boon Tiong Kee at Balestier Road. We ordered quite a few dishes, such as the famous chicken. We even got Bak Kut Teh from the shop next door! The best part of the dinner was the appetizer. We had char siew for appetizer and it was so delicious that we had 5 plates! Yum yum!

Dinner must come with dessert and we decided to go to Udders for ice cream. We had Mao Shan Wang, bailey's and mango sherbet....the durian ice cream was heavenly!

4 June

Decided to travel into JB for the day. Took the train ride to Kranji and then by bus to immigration. The traffic was rather smooth , just a short jam over at Johore side, as usual. The first thing to do with to change some money and then lunch, the famous Bak Kut Teh place near The Store. We had to wait quite a while and Stephen actually fell asleep, in the hot weather! The food was delicious, just the shop was too hot for him to enjoy the meal!

Next stop .... foot reflex! Other than the occasional pains, Stephen finally dozed off during the session. For me, I always dozed off! The session was really good!

Then, it's back to City Square. Managed to get a present for Wong, had something to eat and drink at The Old Town before travelling back to Singapore.

Got back and Stephen suggested to eat in. Had to go to NTUC and get some stuff. Cooked up fried bee hoon and accidentally set fire.....ended up with the kitchen on smoke! The consolation was there was no complaint! Hahahaha!

Then to Chinatown to try and locate a DVD for Simon. Did not manage to get. Ended up with movie at Tiong Bahru Plaza - The Prince of Persia.

Though it was just simple dinner and home and movie, it was a great evening for us!

5 June

Fish ball noodle for breakfast..... and then stoped over at Alexandra Fire Station., Managed to get permission for us to take a look at the Fire station. My 1st time! Then, off to Chinatown again to see if we could find the DVD. Had simple lunch at the basement of Bugis junction before going over to Iluma for the karaoke at Suitez.

The karaoke session with Derrick, Alan, Raymond and Jim was fun! Everyone had a great time during that few hours!

Dinner was ala carte buffet at Zhou Zhuang, Far East Square. Wong, Tony, Albert, Gerald and Jay came along. We were initially 'irritated' with the waitress by the remarks she passed. During the course of dinner, some of them (playfully) casually passed some sarcastic remarks. The food was average, not fantastic.....however, the Company was great! We had a lot of fun chatting away! By the time we finished, it was 10pm! We knew, because the air-con went off!

6 June

Some packing to do for Stephen.... such a quick trip! We went to Safra and had lunch at the Japanese restaurant, followed by coffee at Ah Kun.

Then off to the airport for his Tiger Airways flight back to Hong Kong. Safe trip!

The few days have been great! Glad to have him here and certainly hope he enjoyed his holidays in Singapore! Till we meet again!

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