Review: Squids Bar and Restaurant

On the penultimate day of my travel I decided to treat myself to a proper good meal. For 6 days I've existed on Subway sandwiches and hastily cooked pasta meals in hostel kitchens, so enough is enough!

My phone's Ovi Maps GPS application has a Trip Advisor utility that combines tourism reviews with the address, so it can suggest and show me nearby places. Under restaurants it recommended Salt as the #1 place to eat, based on user ratings. So I eagerly made my way there:

I stood near the entrance and inspected the menu posted. No one came to ask me if I wanted a table, so I just walked in and plopped down at a table in the al fresco area overseeing the marina. It could have been a pretty peaceful sight if not for the 5 or 6 kids playing roughly while their parents socialize, uninterrupted by the ruckus.

But the thing that broke the camel's back was being ignored. Passing waiters did not bother to hand me a menu or serve. After 5 minutes I got up and just walked out. I instead dined at the eatery across Salt - Squids Bar and Restaurant. What a great choice!

Continue reading my review of Squids after the jump.

This is Scandalous!

Since when did Malaysia represent a mild curry sauce while Singapore is hot? This is grounds for WAR!

(Yeo's is a Singaporean company, right?)

Lebuh Carnavon Duck Rice

After my negative reviews on a Taiping food court last Friday, I'm afraid today's review won't be equally kind.

There are a few famous Duck Rice stalls in Penang, and this is undoubtedly one of the top. I last had this many years ago and decided to pay a re-visit for the purpose of this blog. Unfortunately we didn't even get to eat it so this is more of a rant post.

The problem is that they do not have a good system of tracking orders. Furthermore the coffee shop operator claims that they are unwilling to hire extra hands. Hence you have a husband who does the butchering and a wife who takes and serves orders to the roughly 30 hungry customers.

What could possibly go wrong?

Take away customers eyeing their lunch hungrily

We arrived at 12.45pm to a packed place, but we found a small table at the far end of the coffee shop. It was actually located along the outside corridor, and so was not highly visible. And as it turned out, "out of sight, out of mind" was the motto that the wife operates on.

We were prepared for a longer than usual wait, but when customers who came much later were served before us, it's really hard not to get hot around the collar. Two reminders went unheeded, and after 30 minutes we stormed out of the place.

Look at how many ducks they'll sell in a day!

All the wife needed to do was to write down orders as it came in to avoid this problem, but success breeds failures in this case. As they will always have overwhelming support, they do not have the economic incentive to improve their process. One or two pissed customers will hardly hit their bottom line!

At any rate, if you would like to try this, I recommend going at 11.30am. I won't be returning here anytime soon.

It is located at the corner of Lebuh Carnavon and Jalan Cheong Fatt Tze

How to get there:

View Larger Map Get Directions 

Restoran Taman Tasik, Taiping

Hey, who knew my flogging* would go regional! We stopped here for lunch on the way back from Kathina at SBS. Alas this will not be a kind review. In fact I have purposely removed the maps and coordinates in the hope that you would get lost finding this place, thus ending up someplace nicer.

This is not an attack on all Taiping food - I know there are fantastic places to eat. I just doubt this is one of them. Feel free to direct me to where I can get great Taiping hawker fare in the comments.

Very close to the iconic Taiping Lake Gardens, this food court is fairly large. There were 4 carfuls of us and I didn't hear anyone praising the food. Let me do a quick run down of what we had:

If you see this, move along.

Hokkien Mee - salty

Pan Mee - decent

Wan Tan Mee - salty

Bak Kut Teh - soup was unremarkable and yam rice was not fragrant

Koay Teow Th'ng - best among what we had but still average

I didn't manage to take photos of the chicken rice, but it was rated unfavourably too.

Where are the great Taiping food guys? I know it has something more to offer than kaya kok and heong pneah.

* flogging (v.): Food-blogging

Upheaval

The attrition rate at my company has been horrendous since mid-2010. Good people are trickling out on a regular basis. It was actually a deluge, but thanks to a $$$ intervention, management slowed it down to a trickle.

But an outflow’s an outflow, and other companies are paying better. Plus, humans can’t be stuck doing the same thing their whole lives so it definitely presents an interesting change to their lives.

The worst part of this whole deal is that company management has been unwilling to get into a salary war. Experienced engineers are replaced with interns. Or contract workers with no loyalty to the company. Or no one at all (which adds to the burden of those who are left behind).

It ain’t a pretty sight, and it won’t get better anytime soon.

Replacing BodyJam Classes

I'll be replacing BodyJam classes at Fitness First Island Plaza on 26 June (3.20pm) and 27 June (11.05am).

Update (10 Aug): I'll be replacing at FFIP 13 Aug (9.30pm), and 15 Aug (11.05am). Also FS 14 Aug (11.30am) where I'll be team teaching with Pauline.

Update: I replaced FFIP Jam class on 29 Aug, so that makes it 3 classes for August 2010. I know - it's pathetic I'm using Blogger to keep track of this.

Update: Replacing Alan's Sunday class again for 5th and 12th Sept at FF

I'm writing this down more for my own future reminder because Fitness First Malaysia has a pretty backwards system for paying their instructors. They're my employer so I'll refrain from commenting publicly, but if they would just spend a few cents printing payslips, it'll save so much trouble for everyone.

As a side gripe: In Penang, there are too many instructors with too few timetable slots. But on the bright side, we have slightly less drama and politics and backstabbing compared to Kay Elle.

Facebook Withdrawal Symptom

I'm currently somewhere in Hunan Province, China on a holiday. Managed to get internet connection in my hotel room via Dad's netbook, but I couldn't find a working web proxy to access Facebook! SneakMe.net which worked while I was working in Beijing, is sadly out of operation here.

Must... read... status updates.... ugh.

Thank You, Enjoy Your Meal

Last night I visited a food court and ordered Chicken Chop from the Western Food stall. After the lady served the food and collected the RM7, she said, "Thank you, enjoy your meal."

I was literally stunned for a second! It's just so rare from a hawker stall, heck, even *any* stall for that matter. Goes to show how rare pleasantries are in our culture.

(Unless you're a foreign tourist.)

Hair Length

I heard an interesting 'factoid' being quoted frequently when I was getting my hair done at the hairdresser's.

"Men's hair always grow faster than women's."

Huh, I didn't know! Could it be true? Is there something in our DNA that determines hair growth?

The answer, simply, is that they were looking at the wrong number. Instead of looking at absolutes, they looked at relativity. And it's true - human brains are qualitative, not quantitative. So we say things like, "My house is bigger than yours", but rarely "My house is 200 square feet larger than yours".

Assume hair growth for both males and females is 3cm per month. On a guy with 3cm of hair, it would look like his hair has doubled in length within a month. But for a girl with 30cm hair, it would only appear that her hair has changed 10%, a slight change to the casual observer. So it's only natural for our flawed brains to perceive men's hair as growing faster than women's.

-------------------

Thank you, I just saved you 60 minutes of watching Mythbusters.

Knock You Down

I just love love love this song from Keri Hilson, Ne-Yo, and Kanye West! It's so hopeful, optimistic, and it really gives me hope that love is still possible. Somebody, knock me down!

"Sometimes love comes around,
When it knocks you down, just get back up!"

Phone SMS Usability

When looking for a new phone, my father will only insist on Nokia phones. "Superior usability," he says. I know a lot of people who are reluctant to switch away from Nokia because they really do interfaces quite well. But my Motorola phone has a little usability trick that is so effective I'm surprised I don't see it in Nokia phones.

My phone (Motorola ROKR E2) keeps a list of 5 Most Messaged numbers. So after I type my SMS, it's very likely my recipient is already at the top of the list. That's way more convenient that searching through the entire list for your friend's name, or (like what I did with my Nokia last time) append a special character in front of their names so it will appear first.

What can your non-Nokia phone do that Nokia should learn?

Tired

(This post reads like a cluttered mess because that's what my mind is at the moment)

Last night I had one of my rare emo moments.

I was practicing BodyJam in front of the mirror and as usual I video-ed myself. My thoughts during the session:

• Why can't I feel the bounce in my feet?
• Dammit, where's the twist in the body?
• Argh, I keep forgetting to lock my arms!
• Where are the hips? Twist it, twist it, twist it! Bigger! More hips!
• Remember to walk on your toes in Latin!
• I'm starting to cue like a droning robot again
• Oh, I will cringe when I see these armlines in the video later
• Point your toes dammit! Point them!
• I need to drop down lower, bend my knees more, get my butt close to the floor...
• Sigh... my weak center of gravity is killing my turns
• Ah... I'm already panting so much when I'm only halfway through!
• I'm supposed to jump - why do I feel I'm just hopping?

After my session ended, a wave of disappointment washed over. Was that all I could do? After more than 1 year of BodyJam, and 1 year before that of general aerobics, I'm left wanting more. I don't expect perfection, but everytime I review myself I'm so upset. And the feedback I get reflects that.

I usually get two types of feedback. Members of my class usually praise me. They'll say I'm good, I move well, etc. One even proclaimed loyalty, saying she'll never miss my class no matter what. They're good to hear, and I appreciate them, but they're just members, y'know?

On the other hand, I have rarely received true compliments from colleagues or other instructors. We have higher expectations of each other, and we can spot many more things than ordinary members can. And so, I know, whether they say it out loud or keep it in their hearts, I know their opinion of me is, "Meh... he's just ok nia."

At the heart of the matter is the issue of instructor clearance. In certain health clubs, every new instructor has to be mentored by a head teacher, who will 'clear' that trainee instructor upon satisfying certain criteria.

And 1 year on, I still haven't been cleared. Is that a failure on my part or my mentor's? No joke, I'm tempted to blame my mentor for holding out the clearance, but I know in my heart that it's mostly my own failings. Looking at my own video, I feel such a discontentment that it borders on disgust. No wonder I can't get cleared - even such a simple acknowledgement by peers is out of my grasp.

And I'm tired. I'm really, really exhausted. I've been travelling so far on an empty tank I'm amazed at my own perseverance sometimes. Or is it actually foolishness?

I want to be great. I want to be a good role model for *other* instructors, not just to the members. But I'm thinking maybe I'll never be good enough. I only started enjoying dance less than 3 years ago, and I have no basic dance training to fuel my technique. So I feel like I'm a paralympic runner sometimes. No one expects a paralympic runner to outrun an Olympic runner. Maybe I shouldn't expect a weak instructor like myself to outdo my peers?

Adding to my current frustrations, I had hoped that coming to Beijing will give me much needed time to improve my dancing. This is my opportunity to come here and then go back as a better instructor. But from last night, it's clear I haven't moved an inch from my spot.

I'm sick. And I'm tired.

There's a difference between being too hard on myself, and just being frank. I'm not going to delude myself into thinking I'm already good enough. And 'good' will be far too much of a compliment to give!

So, after all this ranting, now what? Now I keep going on. Am I giving up? No. Am I dispirited? Yes. But I know, though I'm moving at a snail's pace, I will get there. I must! This is my passion. Though it may not manifest on stage, and others can't see it, I know the flame is in my heart, and it burns brighter everytime someone tries to throw water on it.

My theme song for the moment is Hairspray's "Come So Far (Got So Far To Go)":

Come So Far (Got So Far To Go) - Queen Latifah, Nikki Blonsky, Zac Efron And Elijah Kelly

Abso-freaking-lutely Hot

Last Wednesday, the temperature in Beijing touched a high of 40 degrees Celsius.

I'll give you a moment to imagine that.

Imagine standing in front of an oven and feeling the heat wave sting your face. That's how the wind felt like. So although the low humidity makes our perception of hotness lower, the sheer intensity of the sun literally burns my skin in prolonged exposures. Have I also mentioned that the sun rises before 5am and only sets after 8pm? hot Hot HOT!

On the bright side, I've got a good tan.

Observations on Hospitality

2 things:

1. I saw an old man struggle to climb up the bus (the step is about 1 foot off the ground). The female bus driver immediately got out of her seat to assist the elderly man.
2. At the subway, I witnessed a little girl of around 8 or 9 get separated from her mother because the mum was rushing for the train, and the doors closed before daughter could get in. She started bawling her eyes out as the train pulled away from the station. A bystander quickly went to comfort her, and almost immediately a subway warden walked over to escort the little girl to the office.

Malaysians are known for their hospitality. I have never seen those two event play out in Malaysia before. Hmm.... I wonder indeed.



(On the other hand, I was at Ikea on Sunday and I saw a father asking his young son to pee at a corner of the restaurant because the son couldn't hold it much longer. He scolded off the Ikea staff who asked him to go to the toilet instead. So yes, the boy actually left a puddle of pee right inside Ikea while the poor staff had to mop it up afterwards. The outrageous part is - Ikea's toilet was barely 20 meters away. Major -_-" moment!)

Banana in Beijing Episodes 2, 3, 4

Thanks to the Great Firewall of China, I have not been able to update my blog easily. So just to remind you that the latest 3 episodes of my vlog (and all future episodes) is up on my Vimeo page.

For your own sanity, I recommend viewing only 1 episode per day. The sheer boredom of some of the episodes might make your brain want to crawl out from your cranium - so you've been warned!

BTW, there will not be a fresh episode this week, and probably the next. I have nothing worthy to vlog about - and I'd rather skip a skip instead of posting something empty!

Comments are always warmly received!

First They Came...

Do we want this to happen to Malaysia?

They came first for the Communist,
and I didn't speak up
because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up
because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up
because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up
because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me,
and by that time
no one was left to speak up.

- Martin Niemoeller

Speak out and be heard! Don't let it happen here.

Find out more: 'First they came' on Wikipedia

Open and Close

No, this is not Katy Perry's next hit song.

As one door closes, another opens. As far as 2009 is going, many doors are closing. I hope I can see the doors that are opening.

Will I make it through in time?

Cracks Widen

My company recently announced that 2700, or about 19%, of its Electronic Measurements Group will be laid off. I'm one of those potentially affected.

Details are thin at the moment, but we'll know more in less than 2 weeks. Meanwhile though, morale is low and uncertainty is high. I hate waiting for the death row list to be finalized. In a previous 'restructuring' exercise, the severance package was pretty tempting so I'm actually OK if I get picked.

I would go so far as to say that I would prefer to be laid off with a generous package than to stay on, because the situation is bleak. Who wants to stay in a company and wait for the next cost-cutting measure as is bound to happen next quarter? It started with the 10% pay cut end of 2008, then the closure of under-performing divisions, then the restructuring of support groups, and then this. Bad news! Month by month. Don't we all deserve some good news?

I'm Officially Boycotting 2009

At the turn of this Year of the Ox, I read several forecasts by Feng Shui masters and Chinese Zodiac experts that 2009 will be a tough and challenging year for me.

Wow, I had no idea just how bad things will get.

I'm not even going to indulge the year by recounting all the mishaps that I've encountered, barely past March. From small to big, 2009 seems bent on taking its toll on me, and you know what? It's working.

So I'm officially boycotting 2009. I'm gonna block it from my mind and keep happy thoughts. Decades from now I'll make sure I subconsciously repress it. I don't mind recalling 2007 or 2008 in my golden years, but 2009 will be inconspicuously missing. I'll see how 2010 behaves before passing judgement on it though.

Damn it!!

They Say...

At a gathering last night, some of the things they said...

"You should go do pushups"
"You need to eat more. Keep eating!"
"Go work on your shoulders, back, and chest"
"So-and-so said you'll look really good if you just bulk up a bit more"

All the while I just smiled, nodded, and kept quiet. Did they bother to ask what I WANTED? Did they ask if I was HAPPY right where I am now? I wished they asked that before launching into their Fitness Tip of the Night.

Now, I know that they mean well and their intentions are good, but I can't help but wonder - are they merely projecting their own insecurities onto me? All around, I see people obsessed with their weight (too fat/too thin), their love life (he loves me/he loves me not), their face (my acne is killing me), and their habits (i like smoking, so what). Has anyone bothered to ask me what's my obsession before giving (mis)guidance for my life?

When I was very young I was skinny. Then I got fat in school. In old photos I looked like I had an unhealthy tendency to store huge wads of cotton wool in my mouth. And now, somehow, I'm thin again. Frankly I've never felt better in my life. I may be thin, and I may not be well-muscled, but fuck I am damn satisfied.

My internal stats are good and I know I'm not suffering from elevated health risks as a result of obesity. I know I'm not anorexic (I don't eat something and feel disgusted with myself). I know I DON'T look in the mirror and keep telling myself to get thinner. This is just how my body is responding and I'm fine with it.

However (and this is the part where I turn my back on what I just wrote), I am a group fitness instructor. Think about it: someone who espouses fitness on the stage for gym members to emulate.

Fitness + Vanity = Not a good combination.

So, I'll give this weight gaining thing a try. I'm not looking forward to stuffing myself silly... and then forcing another mouthful just to be sure. Not looking forward to all the dead animal protein I'll be taking in. Not looking forward to all the stress that eating meat will put on my body (sorry, my liver!). Not looking forward to calculating calories and then drowning myself in milk/whey protein at night because I didn't eat enough that day.

Mamma mia, here we go again! Serves me right for choosing to join a vanity fair. Children, be warned.