Monthly B'day Celebration @ the Office

How will i not gain weight?

With the monthly b'day celebration and the good food around, not only i m being fed well but instead gain extra pounds...

 it has been 3 years and i hardly failed to join the company's monthly b'day celebration organized by the HR...

well...for the sake of.....ahemmmm...

F.O.O.D

and

some socializing

 the usual ones will have some finger food and fried stuffs, but apparently we are also celebrating the opening of our newly renovated cafeteria...hence, a much more varieties to the spread

see this roti canai??

looks tempting...

 and the colourful dessert...consists of puddings, jellies and cakes

 but i did not touch even a single piece of it...was too full!

 here's my plate of everyting...

curry chicken, fried vermicelli, roti canai, fried wonton, and fried crabstick

yummielicious!

I just want my BED!!!

Have u ever felt so tired but staring at the comfy bed with fluffy pillows...u wish u can lie on them but...

end up, u did not manage to even sit on it...coz u have to leave...

 for work :-(

 and not oni that...u wish u could hav more time sipping ur tea and enjoy the good food in the hotel cafeteria...

but again...u gotta rush somewhere...

to WORK :-(

 and finally after submitting the "work"...u wish u can go back to the hotel and stick to the bed...forever

but no...u r stuck here

 and spent ur time havin' short nap on the benches and tables in a rundown foodcourt...waiting for another session of "some-people-verifying-ur-work"

 well..by the time u reached hotel...it was time to check-out :-(

and u cried out loud (in ur heart) that u want ur bed so much!

so...u paid like USD230 for the room that u did not manage to even rest ur head on the couch...

and u felt asleep at the hotel lobby while waiting for ur shuttle that transport u to the airport...

and only to be waken up by ur boss...

yea, he had a HARD time trying to wake u up...at least  he knows u worked too HARD the days before submission :-)

Mum's B'day

Nothing "hoo-ha" about the b'day...except that it is a weekday and therefore i bought some cakes...from the neighbourhood bakery shop.

 yea...me cheapskate..bought those cheapo cakes...just a 'formality'...though we dun fancy havin' cakes during b'day

 and to play around with the cake-cutting...haha!

Bon Appetit!

Dim Sum @ Foo Yuan Restaurant

Dim Sum is probably one of my fav brunch...coz of the variety that it has to offer

Took one day off and brought my mum to hav dim sum...

We ordered

shrimp "chee cheong fun"

 shrimp dumpling ("har gao")

 fried carrot cake

 and a few more varieties of "siu mai"

 and all tastes good...or mayb i was hungry

bill came up to MYR27 (~USD9)

which was worth it considered the quality of the dim sum that was served...

Bon Appetit!

Santoor Restaurant, Dhaka, Bangladesh

During my working trip in Dhaka, our local partner treated us a meal @ a 5-star restaurant, named Santoor...

it was 10pm (local time) by then.

and it was still open.

so, u can imagine how late the bangladeshi had their dinner...

and if converted into 'my biological local time'...it is supposed to be the time for me to zZZZzzz and enjoy my dream.

but anyhow...i was indeed in a dreamy mode during then...too much of staying up late and lacking sleep for days 

 so...what's their specialty?

indeed i dunno...

mayb briyani rice...masala mutton, masala chicken, or masala whatever...

or perhaps garlic naan...anyway...i was just too tired to enjoy the meal...it all tastes the same to my taste bud...

My appetite came back after submitted my work...haha!

and during my trip home (still in the airport), i chanced upon a restaurant named "Spices"

well, that is probably the-one-and-only-restaurant @ Hazrat Shahjalal international airport

was already sick of those local dishes & spices (well, i mean their famous briyani and masala) i opted for something totally opposite in taste or "homely"...such as western or mayb oriental (or close to it)

so, here's one mushroom cream soup that i ordered, but it tastes...very weird and localized!

 and the fried rice...despite looking very "oriental" and hoping it to be someting of "oriental taste", but turned out that it was over-peppered with their spices...

well...thinking that "one could never go wrong with fried rice..."

but it proved me wrong this time :-(



Sarina Hotel, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Reached Dhaka @ almost midnite (or 1am plus in KL)...

soon enuff, the hotel shuttle fetched us to the hotel for late check-in

 was very tired coz i hav been in the office since morning and by night i was in Dhaka, with my boss and another sales manager...Such a long day!

 thankfully, it doesn't take long for the check-in as we hav booked our rooms earlier...

 and not just that, i'd say the services in this so-called 5-star hotel is superb...at least compared to the other well-known hotel that i stayed in other countries...

the only spoiler would be the "almost rotten fruits" in the room ~~~

other than that, the facilities are okay...not as posh as Sheraton, Four Point, Marriott, Radisson...but still it is a boutique hotel

 they hav snack bar...but turns out that most of the items came from M'sia

 mini fridge as usual with beers, drinks and juice

 and a safety box hidden inside the closet

 the washroom cum toilet was a bit dim...as the tiles were in black

why on earth do they choose black tiles??!

 it looks scary especially when u r stayin' alone and wanting to go to toilet in the wee hour in the morning...

but anyhow it isn't scary enuff for me....

overall, pretty standard features...

well...the bed was comfortable but i woke up too early at 5:30am the next day thinking i m late for a meeting...

only to realize that the sun rises quite early in Dhaka...it looks as bright as 8:30am in KL when it is only 5 someting there!

The hustle & bustle of Dhaka city

Don't be fooled by the serenity of the hotel lobby

 This doesn't depict the real Dhaka...coz once u step out of the hotel...it is a totally different world

 a chaotic and densed place

 that u could regret of being there

 bcoz of the foul-smelled air...dusty roads...

 and noise pollution

 it jammed everywhere...but it was "hartal" (strike) during the time when i was there...hence roads were mostly cleared...but still u won't escape the evening jam when the strike was over

 everywhere u'll see "tuk-tuk" as their main public transportation...sort of their local taxi
btw, it is dangerous to ride on such vehicle which has no safety features...and at a crowded Dhaka streets where u can get squeezed or "banged" by bigger vehicles.
due to it's "tricycle-like", this vehicle isn't stable and can't go fast

 trishaw, mini jeep, tuk-tuk....the 3 famous public transportation by the locals, for the locals

 again every junction was a chaos...in such a "harmonious" way...well, at least their locals can live with it....

 and not to mention that their street cables are just as messy as their traffic!

 trishaw...waiting for potential customers...

and one common sight of a street in the middle of the city...
Well...i was told by their local that a 'storm' is reaching towards the southern part from Bay of Bengal...
but anyhow...i left the day before...
 and back home, i saw the news of cyclone Mahasen wrecking the southern coast...oh, gosh!



Me....a frequent flyer?

Almost...

though i wish to...

But what's with the "frequent flyer" status in my ticket??

anyhow, i enjoyed being in exotic places that no one would prefer goin....or at least the last choice in their holiday list

well...places like Bangladesh?! hahaha!

anyway, i wasn't there for holiday...

in fact the ground officer looks doubtful with my visa letter when checking-in my entry @ the airport. Well, is it that hard to get into this country? Or do i look suspicious/harmful to that country?!

that's weird...

Been on-and-off to Dhaka for like 2 weeks in a row...sounds like marathon, but thankfully i wasn't alone...

imagine like Wed & Thurs u were there, came back on Fri then fell sick till Sunday...and Monday gotta travel back there again...oh my!

 so, here it goes...the following Monday...i m more well prepared after the first encounter with Dhaka (expect the worse from their dusty streets and foul-smelled air)

Indeed it was an "Amazing Race"...not bcoz of the tight travelling schedule but the deadline of tender submission...

and i'm glad i made it...*physically & mentally