Addicted!!

I remembered about 3 years back I entered a training and it requires the participants to switch off (yes, I do mean switch off) their mobile during the 5 days training. (Of course, re-switching on the phone during breaks and after the training hours are allowed). Yet, I found myself very reluctant to switch it off. I do not often get calls via my mobile. And I have taken my days off from work for the training (it doesn’t matter much if my colleagues unable to get me during the training.) I’ve plan my work well before taking the leaves. And there weren’t anything special happening during that period of time. Still I am reluctant to switch the mobile off. And I felt terribly uncomfortable to switch it off! And this exercise told me that I am addicted to mobile phones. I am a slave of the technology!

During that training, I found that many more people faced the same addiction as I am. Some are even addicted to the extend that they simply couldn’t switch it off at all. They quietly turn to silent and vibrate mode.

It is true that we cannot survive turning the phone off for few hours a day? Imagine the time we are without our mobile. Life goes on. Yeah, maybe once awhile when we need to make calls and the public phones were not working (due to vandalism. What a shame!)

I got my mobile during my college time. A pre-paid phone sponsored by my brother. I tagged my brother’s car to go home most of the days. Usually he made calls to me when he arrived outside my college gate or informed me about late pickups. And majority of the time, I didn’t pickup his call or I picked it up after few times of calls and worse, I forgot to turn it on or it is in silent mode. He used to scold me because I didn’t pickup the calls. And complains about wasting money to sponsor me the phone :P

I recalled one evening I sitting at the canteen area, reading on the book. Suddenly I heard my brother voice, angrily asking, “Where is your phone?” I looked at him, I knew must have missed his call again. Feeling guilty, I quickly dig into my bag and found the phone. I took a look on the phone. Yikes! 8 missed calls!! No wonder he is angry. He told me he started to make his first call ½ earlier. And I just didn’t realize it at all.

And I continue to miss out calls to my mobile even after I graduated from college and into working world. Now that I rarely left my mobile 3 metres away from me. Switching on my phone the first time I wake up. Plus, overly sensitive to mobile ringing tones. I categorized myself as the paranoid mobile user. Sometimes, when I go shopping (or where in places that is noisy) and I heard tones my mobile ringing. I would quickly press my hand to my bag where my mobile place, sensing whether any vibrate on my mobile. Checking and make sure I didn’t miss any calls. Oh no! I’m a slave of the technology which supposed to bring convenient to me. How can this happen?

Many people say that mobile phones are intruding into their privacy. People can find them anywhere, anytime as long as you hold you mobile, especially with the roaming and locater (like friend finder function) technology available cheaply. Yet, in what position we are to blame? We as the users are not responsible over the usage. We become overly addicted and relying on the technology. Yes, no more slaving to my mobile phone! Be a master of the technology. Be responsible and a smart user of the technology.

Kopitiam, Coffee, Toast & Kaya

Looking for a place to yum cha (have tea)? Or simply want to have some local snacks to munch on? Personally, I like to go this particular café as the foods and the ambiance are both satisfactory.

This café is call K3K (桂三記) located at Damansara Perdana. It is originated from Kuala Lipis (but they never mentioned of having outlet in Kuala Lipis).


This is a photo taken from the inside of the café. Nostalgic and homely decorations.

What’s good? My recommendations are their K3K coffee drinks (I don’t drink coffee, but many friends who like coffee give thumb up for their coffee.), toast, nasi lemak and kaya.

I like their toast. Yummy! Especially those with serve with their specially made kaya. Shown in photo is the K3K super 3 in 1 toast, where inside they put the kaya, jam and peanut butter. Toast til golden brown, crunchy, sweet. Each toast is cut into bite size.

Their yau char kuai (油條) also very nice. It is unlike the normal yau char kuai we can get outside. It is less oily, smaller in size and they serve it with kaya. You can either dip with kaya or their coffee.

This one is the curry puff, but it is not a normal curry puff. It is a Giant curry puff that is 8 inches long. You can share it with 2 to 4 person. RM 3.30 per piece.

They also have many type of kuih that goes with coffee and tea. Like the “ang ku”, roti kok, “man tou bao”, cream crackers, home made ketupat, etc.

This is one of their special drinks. The milk cincau – Cincau in evaporated milk and some gula Melaka (I suppose). If you don’t like less sweet, don’t stir too much as the sugarly content is at the bottom of the glass. The cincau is finely cut, so it is each to suck with your straw.

If you want to have something more filling, they also have the nasi lemak, penghulu fried chicken + rice (quite nice, I tried this before), tom yam, spahagetti and so on.

Branches: Subang Jaya, Klang
Type: Café, halal
My rating: 3 stars (out of 5 stars)

Introductory to Malaysia Foods

One of the great attractions while traveling in Malaysia is food. Local cuisines are divided into many types. Food preparations are creative as a result of the multi racial and cultural legacy.

Local cuisine can be mainly divided into Malay, Chinese, Indian, Nyonya and Portuguese food. And each type of the local cuisine has many sub-categories depending on the cooking variations. For example, in Malay cuisine, it has Kelantanese, Johorean style, etc. For Chinese food it can be sub-categorised as cooking with Teow Chew influence, Penang style, Hakka cuisine, Hokkien cuisine and many more.

Recent years, the fusion food trend is getting more popular. These fusion food restaurants / cafés offer local and international food. It offers better variations to the increasingly demanding food taste of the Malaysian.

For food lover, I strongly recommend that you to visit Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Malacca and Johor for your food adventure. Each state has different reasons why it worth your gastronomy urges to visit.

Penang food is ever popular. No matter which part of Malaysia you are visiting, it is common that you’ll find Penangese foods around. Of course, nothing is better than having the Penang food in Penang itself. No matter whether you like spicy foods, local snacks or dessert, you’ll find that Penang just has the right type of foods to satisfy your needs. Those categorized as the top most delicious and celebrated foods include the Penang laksa, Har Mee (Prawn noodle), Rojak Penang (a type of local fruit salad) and Chendol (cold dessert drinks). There are simply too many great foods available in Penang, you gotta try it out yourself and tell me your dining experience.

If you do not have enough time to visit all the places in Malaysia to taste the foods, Kuala Lumpur (KL) is the place to be. Being the capital of Malaysia, KL is resided by people from all other states of Malaysia. Thus, best foods from their hometown are brought to KL. That’s why KL is a where all the good foods gathers. And no matter what time of the day, good food is always just around the corner. Johor is another state where famous delicacies around Malaysia meet.

Unique Nyonya and Portuguese foods are famous in the historical and cultural rich Malacca. Baba and Nyonya, the Peranakan (Strait Born Chinese) cooking is famous for the various usage and blend of spices. Their foods are mostly spicy hot and full of aromatic scent. Nyonya kuih (pastries) are also famous delicacies in Malacca. Similar to the Peranakan cookings, Portuguese cuisine is another must try dishes in Malacca. Their famous dishes include the Devil Curry (cook with beef or chicken), Garing-garing (a type of fried snack) and cucumber & pineapple salad.

If you are less adventure about foods and would like to have something you are more familiar with? No worries, in the gastronomy heaven like Malaysia, you can find almost any type of eating outlets. Thai, Korean, Japanese, Western, Middle Eastern and Vietnamese food and dining outlets are common in Malaysia, especially in the city areas. Not quite satisfied yet? You can also opt for fast food. Here, we have local fast food chain, western fast food chain, Korean fast food, etc. From burgers, wafers, pizzas, sandwiches, sushi, fish and chips to fried chicken. Fast food outlets are widely available. Some of these fast food outlets even operate on a 24/7 basis.
Regarding the place to dine, one can choose to dine at five star hotels, restaurants, fast food chains, cafés, food courts, hawker centres, food kiosks / stands to road side stalls. The price is relatively affordable. Enjoying the local authentic food and dining experience is a must during visit to Malaysia. I’ll write more about foods that you shouldn’t missed out during your visit to Malaysia in other write-ups.

Another unique dining experience you shouldn’t miss is to dine at a mamak outlet. Mamak actually means Indian Muslim. Here, people refer the stalls man by the Indian Muslim selling halal Indian and Malay fusion foods as Mamak. Going to Mamak is part of the Malaysian culture. The food is delicious, affordable and acceptable by all races of Malaysia. Thus, Malaysian chooses Mamak as the hang out place. We can just order a drink (teh tarik, teh limau, limau ice, milo shake, kopi) and chit chat with friends. The friendly Mamak will always welcome you. You can sit and chat as long as you wish to. If you are hungry, they have the roti canai (grill fried pancake), nasi kandar (rice with various dishes to choose from), nasi goreng (fried rice, Mamak style of course) and much more to choose from. Although nowadays there are generally 2 types of Mamak store. One is the most common road side Mamak food stalls, another is the modern Mamak restaurant. Most Malaysian refer going for a tea (usually to hang out and chit chat) as “yum cha”. So don’t forget to “yum cha” at Mamak.

Trend of “yum cha” is getting more popular in recent years. Kopitiam (meaning coffee shop) type of café is mushrooming in Malaysia. Usually, these café offer a fusion of local cuisines, good ambiance and wi-fi (wireless internet) facilities. The operation hours of these outlets mostly are extended to 10pm or 11pm. And that’s a just glimpse about food in Malaysia. Malaysia is a country that full of great foods. A must go place for food lover / adventure. I am sure the interesting potpourri of foods in Malaysia will give many surprises and satisfaction to your taste bud!