Meeting old friends in the new year

Another obvious sign that you are reaching the veteran phase of your life is when close friends of your age-group start to marry off their kids. You get invited to their wedding receptions and then start to ponder on when you would be holding such receptions for your own children.

We were in Kuala Lumpur on the 1st of January, to attend the wedding reception of the daughter of a close friend. The reception was held at the newly-built Dewan Serbaguna Taman Tasik Ampang Hilir, just off Jalan Ampang. Tasik Ampang Hilir used to be an anomaly of sorts some time ago. The lake, which I presume to be an old mining pool like many others in and around the Klang Valley, is located in an area bordering Ampang/KL. On one side of the lake, you find upmarket dwellings that include expensive bungalows and residence of foreign ambassadors. On another side, there used to be crammed squatter houses that were visible to traffic plying the MRR2.

The squatters have since been relocated and the lake surroundings were developed into a scenic public recreational park by Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur. The park is now becoming popular venue among Ampang and Pandan residents as place to jog, picnic and in this case, hold wedding receptions.

Groom and Bride

The beauty of attending such receptions is the opportunity to meet old friends that we have not met for years. This time was no different. There was a sort of small gathering of ex-colleagues who all used to work in an organisation in Johor. All of us left the organisation many years ago to pursue separate career paths. But the close friendship still remain.

Old comrades... literally. L to R : Khushairi Hashim, Fadzullah Hassan (father of the bride), Fadhil Isma a.k.a. Oldstock, Hj. Azman Kassim.

Two old couples smiling for the camera. These friends of ours are parents to the young lady who underwent surgery to correct the scoliosis condition that I wrote about here -> Mending a deformed backbone.

Translation skills

This first post of the new year is so late in coming...

An uncle of mine passed away on Sunday morning so we had to rush to Singapore. We just got back from KL the night before.

I was thinking of writing something about the sad occasion but perhaps on a later day. For now, just a simple post about some signs I saw on my travels.

Pic 1 : Bbeteng Restaurant at Taman Tamaddun Islam in KT

Pic 2 : Menu at Bbeteng

Pic 3 : Notice at Jusco Setiawangsa

The first photo is the entrance of Bbeteng Restaurant at the new Taman Tamaddun Islam in Kuala Terengganu, where the Crystal Mosque is located. Nothing interesting in this pic except for the banner proclaiming a special `Menu Musim Bah' that was on offer. It is an introduction to the next photo which shows the restaurant menu... where Keropok Lekor is translated as `Deep fried fish farce'. Hmmm....

The third photo is a notice at Jusco Setiawangsa in Kuala Lumpur, placed in front of the Christmas tree display. The Malay part of the sign sounds okay... but I cringe when I read the English translation.

Update 06.01.10 : Perhaps I should clarify a bit on this post to avoid misunderstanding. It is not my intention to make fun of the mistakes or to show that I have a better command of English. Rather, I am hoping that those who do such translation work to take a bit more care in what they do. If you are translating something that would be read by thousands of people, then please make the effort to do it correctly. If you are not sure about your translation, get help from people who can check your work. And that, I believe, is not a difficult thing to do.

Terengganu trip... in pictures

I have a special affinity for the east-coast of Peninsular Malaysia. I spent my upper secondary school years at a boarding school in Kuantan. During my working years very much later, I was based in Dungun, Terengganu for two years, to handle a construction project.

Whenever possible, I would try to spend my holiday time there. This time around, the trip has a double purpose because we accompanied a rombongan pertunangan of our nephew who got engaged to a sweet lass from Kuantan.

The engagement ceremony was on the day after Christmas. We then took off to Kuala Terengganu the following day. It was quite a satisfying holiday. KT was surprisingly basked in sunshine the whole time we were there. I would like to describe more about our trip but time is a bit short (office stuff has caught up with me). I'll just let pictures do the talking...

Muzium Negeri Terengganu

Masjid Kristal as viewed from the other side of the river

The newly-built Bazar Warisan, less popular than the old Kedai Payang across the road

The latest batik designs on sale

Tasty serunding daging bought from a stall in Pasar Payang

Resort on Pulau Duyong, where the rich Monsoon Cuppers stay

Pok Long's stall at Kg. Ketapang is equipped with the latest in Information & Communication Technology

Enjoying tea-time with the tasty udang, sotong and ikan celup tepung

The latest tourist attraction in KT, a must-visit site for engineers

Pantai Teluk Lipat in Dungun

The filling in the satar and otak-otak at Che Wan's stall in Kuala Kemaman has become `ciput'. The ones sold at Tg. Lumpur in Kuantan are better.

Pantai Teluk Mak Nik in Kemaman... otherwise glamourously translated as Monica Bay

And this signboard confirms it...

Happy New Year to all friends and readers. May 2010 be filled with joy and prosperity. See you all next year.

Dinner in Kuantan

Just a brief update on our east coast trip. We are in Kuantan since Friday and plan to drive up to Kuala Trengganu later this afternoon.

It has been seafood dinners for the past two evenings. The first was at Restoran Timur that I got to know of through a Facebook contact. Last night we had dinner at the popular New Horizon Garden Restaurant that I first read in mamasita's blog.

The following are some pics. Full story after we get back...

Oldstock and his 2nd son at Restoran Timur

We had steamed fish, squids in dried chilli and butter prawns

Cousins, at the entrance of New Horizon Garden

Thai-style deep-fried fish as part of a 6 dish package

Selamat Hari Natal

I once asked my lecturer at Aston College in Wrexham, how he celebrates his Christmas. Nothing much, he said. Just a nice Christmas dinner with family and some friends then maybe sit around the fireplace and enjoy booze and small talk. Christmas nowadays is too hyped-up, too commercialised. People talk more of Santa Claus than of Jesus Christ...

That's almost 30 years ago. I guess if he says the same thing today, he'd probably still be right. Well... whatever it is, I'm going to enjoy my break and do a bit of east-coast traveling. Merry Christmas to all friends and readers who celebrate this occasion. Stay cool, keep warm and take care.