Archive for January, 2008
Thats what everyone appears to be doing during the last two weeks of the year. The shopping malls were packed… like sardines. The gift shops were packed. The toy shops were packed. The book shops were packed. And the eateries were packed from all these shoppers.
Then in no time at all, the clothing department, shoe department and supermarkets will be packed again with shoppers preparing for Chinese New Year. From Hari Raya to Deepavali to Hari Raya Haji to Christmas to New Year and then Chinese New Year……..
Isn’t it fun to be a retailer in Malaysia, a multicultural country with multi celebrations? They must be laughing all the way to the bank! And I’m crying all the way from the bank.
Located somewhere on the top floors of The Gardens, Mid Valley, you will find the upmarket or the high class Gurney Drive. At first I thought that it was a food court selling Penang Hawker food but no, actually its a restaurant with a Menu but the layout looks like a food court with different hawkers peddaling their food stuff.
You don’t go to the individual stalls to order your food but rather, you order what you want from a Menu. Sorry, I didn’t bring my camera on that day but the gist of it is……. EVERYTHING ALSO COSTS RM15 OR SO!
For dinner for our little family or two adults and two kiddoes, we ordered Sar Hor Fun (how to translate this ah?), Ark Tui Mee Suah (Duck Soup Vermicilli), Satay (One Dozen) and Prawn Omellette (For the kids actually but it turned out spicy and the waitress did not have the foresight to inform us that it would be). And warm water all round. (Cos’ we were too full for dessert since we had to wallop the spicy stuff ourselves. And we were too kiamsiap to pay for more than water. Lol! Again the waitress did not have the foresight to let us know whether our order was too much or too little since we kept on asking her whether it would be sufficient as we did not know the portions). The meal came up to a whopping RM70 plus.
My verdict? Ok, food and ambience was not too bad but no, I am not going to pay RM15 for a plate of hawker food no matter how you package it. It just doesn’t seem right.
I went to Carrefour to do some shopping during the weekend and was amused to see the speed at which Christmas is being taken over or replaced by Chinese New Year. All things Christmas has disappeared in place of the coming Chinese New Year (which isn’t really far away at all, being just one more month to go). So its…..
- Goodbye Jingle Bells, Hello Dong Dong Chiang
- Goodbye Green, Hello Red
- Goodbye Christmas trees, Hello Cherry Blossoms
- Goodbye Christmas Turkeys, Hello Lap Cheong
- Goodbye Christmas Log Cakes, Hello Yee Sang
- Goodbye Silver Bells, Hello Red Lanterns
Yup! If you go shopping soon, you will be seeing all of the above at the shopping malls. Soon, it will be time to shop for New Year clothes, F&N orange, Mandarin oranges, Bak Kua (Barbequed Pork) etc. All this shopping is going to put a BIG, BIG dent in our pockets!
15 minutes before 12.00am we drove out just to drive around. After pumping petrol, we saw many cars parked at the side of the road in anticipation and so we did that too. And then at midnight, the sky lit up in a wondrous display of fireworks for 15 whole minutes. Lovely, simply lovely.
The “crowd” who had gathered were mostly parents with little kids in pyjamas and we all oohed and ahhed. My girl sat on her daddy’s shoulders and shouted “Happy New Year” to everyone. Haha. Very nice. No need to pay and no traffic jam. We were reaaal lucky. What a way to welcome the New Year.
The next day, as according to our own family tradition we got the kids party packs then took photos of them blowing the noisy horns wearing party hats and masks. We do this on the 1st of January every year so we can compare how they have grown.
Its a nice start to the New Year but what will 2008 hold for us? I don’t know yet but I hope to work hard on making it a good year.
Thank you to everyone who dropped by with their New Year greetings. Cheers! 
