Ramadhan Is Here!

Yes, it's here! Today's the second day of the holy month and everything's going A-OK so far. What did I have for buka yesterday? Well, have a look...


OK, OK, there was other stuff as well, I admit, but that's not the point of this entry, really.

What I really want to write about is how all the LAME jokes would pop up during this time, and how some people STILL think it's funny or relevant.

You know what I'm talking about lah: "Puasa ke? Mulut bau kari je. Hahaha", "Ha, buat apa dalam toilet, pekena roti canai ke? Hahaha", "Amacam, dah lunch ke? Hahaha". Hahaha kepala hotak kau...

Seriously, is it funny at all? Are we supposed to defend ourselves? But the most laughable bit is that the culprits are not 8-year-old children, but grownups who're still not tired of annoying others in the lamest possible way.

OK lah, before I say anything further that would take some of my pahala away, just wanna say that should YOU feel the need to say such things to ME, you will simply be met with a big fat PFFFTTTTTT...

Selamat Berpuasa!

The Men's Health & Shape Night Run 2011: A Personal Best!

The last run before Ramadhan was a pretty cool one (unintentional rhyming there, I can assure you). And it was also my first night run, so I was really looking forward to it.

Having ran the Putrajaya Fun Run a couple of months back, I had no problems finding the exact location on Saturday. Parking was ample, but it was even better for me with a VIP pass. Ahem.


And even though Putrajaya's no strange town to me, I was quite awestruck by the lit-up buildings around Precinct 3.





Picked up my race kit, then it was time to warm up!



It was great to see that the organisers had also thought about family needs and, apart from sponsor booths, also had a bouncy castle and clowns to keep the young ones entertained.


I don't have the official figures, but there must have been about 4,000 runners at least, who also brought along their friends and family. So it was quite meriah lah.

As usual, I started from the back of the pack for the 5km run. Yup, I've not learned my lesson and again, I had to maneuver through the "powerwalkers" and slow coaches for a good few hundred metres.



The first km was OK, but the humidity was quite punishing and I was already drenched by this point!

The water station was at halfway point, after which I had a bit of a problem. I tweeted "pancit", but really it was my tummy tightening up. You see, I broke a rule of running earlier by eating less than 2 hours before the event started. But I couldn't help it lah, had an early lunch, and so I just had to stop by The Loaf before heading to Putrajaya.

So yes, it affected my run, but having started rather well, I was confident of a good time.


And turned out, that was the case! I stopped my iPod at 36mins 11secs. A personal best indeed! Didn't see that coming since I barely trained after the Feel Good Run. So, yay me! :)


The goodie bag was also pretty good, much better than the ones I've received so far. But sorry, no pics...

Overall, a good run and congrats to Men's Health and Shape for a well-organised event.


Up next for me: The Siemens 10km Run in September... Tapi kita puasa dulu! :)

Negaraku Terhebat!

At the National Stadium Bukit Jalil on Thursday, 85,000 people sang the national anthem. What an awesome moment...

Food, Glorious Food!: July 2011 Edition (Ben's General Food Store, Brisik, Bali Thai, etc)

OK I know, Ramadhan is just around the corner, so tak baiklah nak cerita about food right? But the thing is, I've skipped this "Food, Glorious Food" post last time around, so just bear with me now lah. Haha.

In fact, a couple of these places, we actually went to the month before, so I do apologise for the lack of details. I'm not an elephant who remembers everything lah, for God's sake.

Anyway, the first place to highlight is this Indonesian restaurant Brisik at Jaya One. It's not our first time there, so we kinda knew what to expect.


Being an Indonesian joint, naturally we had to order... salmon with pasta! Haha. Well, it's what the little one wanted. And what she wants, she gets...

As for the rest of us, we ordered a couple of set meals. And no, I can't remember what they're called, but ask the waiter and he'll tell you what the more popular sets are. There are different sets with lamb, chicken, fish etc. And each one comes with ulam, sambal, tempe and tauhu. What I remember tho, is that they're worth our money, really...


Next up is another one in the chain of Ben's awesome joints: Ben's General Food Store at Bangsar Village I. Let me tell you right off the bat, that I love, love, love the food here. Nothing too fancy schmancy, but perfect for our Sunday makan-makan. And here's one definite MUST-TRY: the banoffee drink.

Seriously, as I took a sip of the banoffee, I felt like I was drinking a glass of awesomeness. I felt like it was unfair for Ben's to have something so delicious. It is THAT good. I can assure you.

We also ordered a couple of other stuff that was simple, yet satisfying: the meatball pizza, and the garlic bread. Best, best, best.



OK, now on to the international front with a couple of places we went to in Singapore.

The first is Bali Thai at Suntec City. I've been to this place before with some colleagues a few months back and was suitably impressed by the food and ambience. And it didn't disappoint me this time around as well.

I remembered that the appetizer platter was really good and so we just had to order it. The combo of satay, fish cake, rice cracker and samosa was the perfect starter. Everything's fresh and good, just like the first time.

Then the tomyam came, and boy, what a heavenly bowl of sour and spicy goodness it was! Truth was, we were STARVING when we walked in, so even a piece of stick would have tasted delicious, but the tomyam was actually REALLY good.


We also ordered the honey chicken and some vege, but nothing could beat the tomyam. So yes, I'd definitely recommend this place if you're looking for a good halal Thai place down south.

Meanwhile, near our hotel was this nice little cafe called Canele Patisserie Chocolaterie (yeah, try saying that without fumbling!). And we only had one thing there: MACARONS!

We ordered six and were so impressed that we took home another 12. Enuff said, right?

And finally, another Indonesian joint, this time at The Heeren, called Desa Kartika.

We actually walked in after we couldn't find anything else to eat, so expectations weren't so high. But it was a not-bad experience, really (although the service staff could have smiled a bit more, I mean, nak jadi macam Malaysia ke?)

We started off with the good 'ol gado-gado. Nice.


Then we had some beef rendang, which was quite good, not too spicy with the meat being nice and tender.


And also the ayam masak lemak; which was a bit too subtle though.


So that concludes this edition of "Food, Glorious Food!" and on that note, I just wanna wish everyone a very blessed Ramadhan!

Malaysia 1 Singapore 1 : The End Of A Dream

So in the end, we simply weren't good enough and got knocked out of the pre-World Cup campaign by arch rivals Singapore, 6-4 on aggregate. But we did go down fighting; fans and players alike.

I arrived at the National Stadium, Bukit Jalil at around 6.30pm and it was a relatively smooth journey for me, as I knew a couple of tricks and shortcuts. But I did have to wait around for a bit as I waited for my MHI colleagues to arrive. It was then that a couple of bus drivers said hello to me and informed me that they had ferried some Singapore fans from down south for the game. 9 buses full of them, in fact.

Around 7.30pm, my MHI posse arrived, and the scene outside the stadium was terribly exciting, with thousands of fans clad in either the blue or yellow of Harimau Malaya.


But we were completely blown away by what we saw INSIDE the stadium. 85,000 people were at hand, and all (well, save for the 300 or so Singaporeans) were behind our boys 100%. The atmosphere was simply electric!



Not only most were wearing the jersey, they came prepared with banners, confetti, headbands, wigs, vuvuzelas, etc, to lift the players' spirits and basically burst the noise level. We were no exception!


When the Malaysian players came out to warm-up, all hell broke loose. It was simply defeaning! Equally loud were the boos for the Lions. People were also chanting "Lo-ser, lo-ser", which was pretty dodgy and unoriginal in my mind though. Haha.


But the highlight of the pre-game must be the singing of "Negaraku" by 85,000 people. I had goosebumps and had to hold back tears. Will upload the video in the next post.

To be honest though, I had a bad feeling right after this about our team. We weren't about to walk on to the pitch and be HANDED a 2-0 win. There were still question marks about our defence, and I wasn't sure if the big crowd would be 100% a motivating factor or a pressure inducer.

When the game finally started, we looked nervous and true enough, the defence was sloppy. Without captain Safiq Rahim who was red-carded in the first leg, the midfield had no anchor and creativity. And if it weren't for goalkeeper Khairul Fahmi, we would have been a couple of goals down by halftime. Meanwhile upfront, Safee Sali had too much to do all by himself and only managed to suss out one clear chance.

But at halftime, I thought we'd still make it if we scored one quick goal. The crowd was very restless indeed. And everyone was talking about the shaky defence.


Restlessness then turned into pure joy when Safee slotted in the ball beautifully in the 57th minute. The place went berserk! The noise was out of this world as thousands celebrated the much-awaited goal. Giler ah!


With that, we were in for a grandstand finish. Score another one and we'd go through on goal difference. Was this our destiny?

Unfortunately, the defence failed to hold ground, and Singapore scored in the 71st minute through one of their "naturalised" players, Jia Yi. This time, the silence was defeaning in the stadium. And it knocked the wind out of our Harimau Malaya, really.

But something even more upsetting happened after that. The Singapore players decided to ditch the spirit of sportsmanship and basically dived and faked injury at every opportunity. This stopped the game every few minutes and disrupted Malaysia's tempo.

Really, I thought it was totally uncalled for, and it reminded me why I hated the Lions when they were part of the Malaysia Cup all those years back. To sum it up: memang macam sial.

And with that as well, part of the angry crowd turned unruly and started hurling stuff on to the pitch. A sad sight, nevertheless.


The game ended 1-1 and we we out of the pre-World Cup. The goals never really did come and the defence didn't deliver. BUT, everyone could see that the players DID play their heart out, despite the shortcomings. And for that, you have my RESPECT Harimau Malaya!

And instead of remembering the heartache, I'd like to leave you with this video, shot right after we scored that goal... (please don't mind the angle)