What a trip to attend MOSC 2011
MOSC 2011 officially starts on the 4th of July 2011, Monday. I wanted to be up in Penang earlier to spend the weekend there, and hopefully catch up with tons and tons of work.
I first have to send XiaoHei to my parents place in Klang, together with her food, litter sand etc. By the time I pick up Mats near the Curve, it was already 9.30 am and quite impossible to attend the Northern Writer's conference at 10.30 am. Good enough excuse to stop by at Pun Chun's at Bidor for the yummilicious duck drumstick noodle, wu kok and siew pau.
Next its up to Ipoh, where we see a group of hooligans with T-shirts protesting against the upcoming Bersih rally on 9th July. Its on;y in Malaysia that there are demonstrations against a demonstration. The best thing of all is the police is blocking other vehicles who were going about their legitimate business, to allow these people to swarm around in their noisy motorbikes.
Oh well, to each their own. At least Bersih participants are law-obeying Malaysian citizens.
First stop in Ipoh has got to be Fo Shan dim sum. Whilst its glowing spot in the regular Ipoh dim sum connoisseur has dimmed somewhat due to the drop in quality and somewhat poorer service, many visitors in Ipoh still throng Fo Shan. Even during lunch time, there is still quite a decent selection of dim sum. We gladly ordered the usual har kow, char siew pau and a few other items and had a leisurely chat while enjoying Chrysanthemum tea.
After the main meal, one must have .... the dessert! Nothing better than silky smooth tau foo fah and soya drink, served by pretty girls no less. All hot-blooded young males should visit here, though by no means the appearance of the pretty lass are guaranteed all the time ;-)
We are so full that we could not even contemplate trying out the all-famous Ipoh Hor Fun and chicken rice, as well as salted chicken rice. Oh well, there is always another food trip.
Once you have the tummy all filled up, its time to exercise and burn off the extra calories. Off we went to Kek Lok Tong. The caves are just beautifully carved by the forces of nature, and for the religious (superstitious?) by the deities. There is a strong pervading sense of calm and serenity, and ever-present gentle breeze that somehow gently lift away any troubles clouding the mind. Ah, a good rest from the ills of hectic Kuala Lumpur indeed.
We thought those were enough stops and should be heading straight to Penang for an early dinner. That is when the adventure really begins. Traffic was creeping upwards at the North South Expressway after the Ipoh toll, probably due to an accident in front. I was concerned that the steep climb, coupled with air-conditioner is a bit of a stretch for a 7-year old Proton car, and decided to switch off the air-conditioner. It was a case of too little, too late. 10 minutes after enjoying exhaust fumes, there was a strange sound from the bonnet, and smoke started coming out of the car. Jackpot!
Opened up the bonnet and found out the radiator hose was blowned up. Called up Plus assist, and was told to wait and they will contact me. Good thing I didn't just wait, because up till now they still have not contacted me. Called up AAM's Ipoh branch to ask for a tow service in their panel, and luckily I got a gentleman by the name of Gunaa (yep, that's double a) who sent his brother along to help out. Surprisingly for a 20 kilometre tow along a hilly stretch of expressway cost only RM80. Very reasonable price and no cheating desperate customers. Well done!
Unfortunately the same cannot be said of the Chinese mechanic in Kuala Kangsar. Just changing a bigger tube and a smaller one, as well as replacing the gasket cost RM100. I had to borrow money from Mats to pay up. Shame on this opportunist. Guess what, its going to be the last business from me.
Anyway, by 9.00pm we were happily on our way up North again, and reached Penang island around 11.00 pm. Thankfully the stalls at Gurney drive is ever ready to embrace a hungry patron, come rain or shine - it rained quite heavily around 10pm. Had a good meal of assam laksa and Hokkien Char, and finally Mat arrived at his hotel at 1am.
I felt so bad to put Mats through the adventure, and glad that he took it in his stride. Let's hope for milder adventures in the next couple of days ;-)
Our PDRM deserves an Oscar for Creativity (dinmerican.wordpress.com)
Road Trippin' to Penang, Day 1. (sayanora.wordpress.com)
Malaysian Politics take to the streets (dinmerican.wordpress.com)
[In the news] Malaysia arrests 96 persons, including Pinoy, ahead of July 9 rally for electoral reform - Interaksyon.com (hronlineph.wordpress.com)
Amnesty International: Stop Arbitrary Arrests and Detention of BERSIH2.0 Activists (dinmerican.wordpress.com)
Ambiga Sreenevasan stares down sorry UMNO (godsmustardseed.com)
Penang Counselling Course 2011 (tsnra.wordpress.com)
