Teluk Bahang Dam

I took these photos last Saturday evening. We stopped by at the Teluk Bahang Dam for a while before continuing our journey to Balik Pulau.

The scenic and beautiful Teluk Bahang Dam, opened in 1999. Teluk Bahang Dam has the capacity of 19.24 billion litres.

Since 2002, the Penang International Dragon Boat Festival (PIDBF) has been staged in Teluk Bahang Dam. The dam, located 1.2km from the seas off the northern coast of Penang Island, offers an ideal racing environment with scenic views of the hills and coastline. I am wondering whether unker would enjoy himself kayaking in this dam?

Cockles / Kerang

Few days ago I wrote a post on clams. I bought cockles/kerang together with the clams that afternoon from the Batu Lanchang afternoon market. I like seafood - shrimp, lobster, crabs, shellfish, calamari, fish etc etc... Cockle is one of my favourites (especially when eating Lok Lok).

Looking at this picture reminds me of the Shell Petrol Logo. Thinking about petrol reminds me of the recent petrol price hike etc etc.. Mmmmm... Let's not go astray. Back to the main topic, talking about cockles.

Shell Logo courtesy of http://perso.wanadoo.fr

Cockles from different angle.

I thought the cockles were death initially when I took the photo. Who knows... as I mentioned earlier on in my other post, not only the clams became alive, the cockles too..

Papa Cockle started to open his mouth; showing me his smooth "tongue" (still can't resist calling the "foot" as tongue..). I guess all the cockles were sleeping (or dreaming? initially) and now they had wake up after the sweet dream..

Mama Cockle was more gentle and lady like. She only opened her mouth slightly :)

Baby Cockle halfway opening his mouth. Trying to communicate with his other cockle brothers/sisters or cockle friends? or ... was he yawning ???

I like this photo the most. This uncle Cockle opening his mouth big big and protruding his tongue out. Can even see the saliva drops .. Yucks!!

Uncle Cockle closed his mouth but still with the tongue protruding out. This uncle cockle had big tongue. (Macroglossia?)

Side note : Cockles are hermaphroditic and can reproduce very fast. Consumption of raw or partially cooked cockles has been linked to Hepatitis A, so watch out !!

10 Top Trivia Tips about .. Me ??

I get this from Day Dreamer's blog. I found it hilarious so I give it a try.. I like to try out new things. Hahahha.. I couldn't help but laugh at the findings... What a joke :P

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Chen!

1. The first toy product ever advertised on television was Mr Chen Head.
2. Chen, from the movie of the same name, had green blood.
3. Chen kept at the window will keep vampires at bay.
4. It's bad luck to whistle near Chen.
5. Chen can jump up to sixteen times her own height!
6. The risk of being struck by Chen is one occurence every 9,300 years!
7. Chen will always turn right when leaving a cave!
8. Research indicates that Chen will be attracted to people who have recently eaten bananas!
9. Originally, Chen could not fly!
10. Scientists believe that Chen began billions of years ago as an enormous ball of dust and gas!

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

Do check out "who" or "what" you are (yeah.. basically, "you" can be anything..), and don't forget to share with me your findings. Sharing is caring, right?

Laksa Janggus, Balik Pulau

While driving along Kampung Perlis in Balik Pulau, we noticed the Laksa Janggus stall (Malay Laksa). There were a large congregation of cars outside the stall. So, I guess the laksa must be good. Everything is "self service" inside this laksa stall in the kampung/village, so, their business must be good. The "Layan Diri" (self service) signboards are seen everywhere inside the premise.

The laksa comes in two servings - normal serving and small serving. The normal servings is RM 1.80 per bowl (Cheap affordable, right?) whilst the small bowl costs RM 1.00 (for kids). One can opt just for the laksa soup only (sold at RM 1.00). Take-away is available as well.

Peaceful village. I like the scene of coconut trees along the road. Looks very 'kampung' :)

Laksa Janggus.

As I was hungry and anxious about how this laksa tasted like, so I just simply shoot one picture. Sorry for the poor picture quality :) The taste... "lemak" taste, not bad.. The laksa soup was not hot enough. It will definitely taste nicer/better if the soup is pipping hot.

Ais Kacang, a delicious concoction..

A Fruitful Afternoon

This afternoon after my church service, I joined two of my hospital nurses for community work and healthcare screening for a group of orphans in the orphans home. There are few volunteers from other private hospitals and clinics joining the programme as well. The healthcare screening is held by volunteers two to three times a year for each orphan homes.

I participate in the healthcare charity work previously for adult. This is the first time I go for healthcare screening in orphans home. Not all the children there are orphans, some are from broken famillies. Quite a number are orang asli or native's children. The children there are very cheerful and their age range from 3 years plus to young teenagers. The children in this orphan home are very well taken care of. I heard the care takers telling me one of the children (orang asli) whom I happened to see, ate sands initially when he just came. He is very malnourished and underweight initially with bloating stomach and prolapsed anus. He looks very small for his age with stunted growth. Following deworming, there are so many ascaris worms in his body that the worms started climbing out from his mouth and nostril cavities/nose etc. Not a nice scene to look at (I mean the worms). But thank God he is now well taken care of... If he continued on staying with his family, he might had succumbed..

Toward the end of the session, all the children (around 50 of them altogether) came to shake our hands and said "Thank You" to us as a gesture of appreciation. This is indeed something very touching and very rewarding. A sincere smile, a sincere gesture of appreciation and a simple thank you from their heart really are something very meaningful to me :) I hope to see them again soon. I will participate more frequent in the volunteer healthcare works in the future.

Sunset @ Balik Pulau Hilltop

We went to Balik Pulau this evening. Driving along the coastal road to Teluk Bahang & Balik Pulau. Passing by the beautiful beaches, forests, several durian farms, villages, Teluk Bahang Dam etc etc. Took several photos on the way as there are lots of scenic views along the road. Had Laksa Janggus in Balik Pulau on the way back. We came back home using another route, passing over a small hill. Stopped by at the hilltop for the scenic view of sunset before driving back home via Paya Terubong and Air Itam route. Will update with more photos in the next few days.

Scenic view of sunset on the hilltop in Balik Pulau.

Pac Man

Anyone still remember Pac Man? One of the popular video games we used to play during the old days.. During those days, pac man is a simple yet addictive game. This is one of the games that I used to play in the late 80's. Well, we don't have many choices of games at those days.

I still remember myself playing the Pac Man game during my secondary school days. I played the game on the computers in my secondary school, using the IBM PC with green coloured monochrome monitors. The game were saved inside those 5 & 1/4 inches floppy diskette (I guess this 5 & 1/4 diskette was obsolete and no longer available). It was hard to control the movements using the keyboard. For those who wants to recall back those days, u can play the games online at this website.

The player guides the Pac Man about the maze (with joystick or buttons on keyboard) and scores point by munching up Dots in the his path. There are 4 Ghost Monsters, namely Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde. These ghost monsters will chase after pac man, rying to capture and deflate him. The pac man can counter attack by eating the big, Power Capsule that enables him to overpower the monsters for additional scores. After all the dots are gobbled up, the screen is cleared and the pac man continues for another round/level. Each round features a special Fruit Target in the maze. If eaten, the player will earn bonus point.

3D Picture of Pac Man (Courtesy of Xensei.com)

Have a look at this hilarious video clip from YouTube, featuring the real life Pac Man and the Ghost Monster..

Ocean Liner QE2 (Queen Elizabeth 2)

The famous Transatlantic Ocean Liner, Queen Elizabeth 2 or commonly known as QE2 was in town, I mean in Penang on 22 March 2006. My hubby told me the news in the late afternoon. The Ocean Liner arrived in Penang yesterday morning (from Singapore) and will depart later at night (on the same day) to Phuket. We went to the site after work (I won't let go the chance to take photos since we won't get to see QE2 very frequently).

By the time we reached the destination (we stopped at the Esplanade, Penang) it was 6:15 pm in the late evening and the sky was dark and cloudy.. Looked like it was going to rain any minutes. Thank God it only started raining almost half an hour later, so I still had time to play around with the camera take photo.

The Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) was the flagship of the Cunard Line for over 30 years. QE2 is one of the last great Transatlantic liners. At 70,327 tons and 963 feet long (294 m), 105 feet wide, 32 feet draft with a maximum speed of 32.5 knots she is also one of the largest and fastest passenger vessels afloat.

The QE2 was built by the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders in the John Brown Shipyard in Clydebank, Scotland. She was launched on 20 September 1967 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. QE2 made her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City on 2 May 1969.

The photos didn't turn out well cos of the weather. Haha, shouldn't complain so much, at least I still manage to take several shots before the heavy downpour :P

Anyone noticed the red coloured Britain Flag on top of the mast ?

Several lifeboats hanging on the Ocean Liner. Judging from the numbers of windows seen on the Ocean Liner, anyone want to guess how many passengers can this cruise carry? She can carries up to 1791 passengers !

The small white thing in this picture is the small ferry - carrying passengers to and fro to the nearby Swenttenham Pier (cruise terminal).

Sweet Indian couple enjoying the nice view. I didn't notice this is the 8888th photos I took with my Minolta Dimage Z2 digital camera till I upload the picture to blogger. What a prosperous number..

For those who are interested, more facts and pictures of Queen Elizabeth 2 are available in the Liner website by Rob (including pictures and facilities on board) or QE2 experience website.

Clam / baby Lala

Last Saturday, I went to the afternoon market and bought some fresh foodstuff back home (including the clams/baby lala, cockles/kerang etc.). Since the clam looks "cute", I thought of taking some photos prior to cooking.

But who knows... after taking few snapshots, I noticed something.. These clams became alive.. Nope, should be.. they were still alive !!! Cos, most of the time I bought these stuff back home, they were already "dead" .. Not only the clams were still allive, the cockles were still alive as well. I will post the cockles picture next time.

Since I saw them in action, so I won't let go the chance and took several shots... Using the clams as model for photography.

Mr Clam protruding his "tongue"
(should be his foot, but I love to call that as tongue, cos it indeed looks like tongue )

Mr Clam's "tongue" is very long and huge (in comparison to his size).

Mr Clam retract back his tongue.
Tired liao I presume? or Dehydrated cos too dry ...

This one was Miss Clam protruding her little tongue.

At the end, those clams still end up in the kuali/wok. What an happy ending - Food are meant to be eaten, right?

I took few video shots of the clams too and included one here.

Baby Clam in Action

What Should I Major In?

Your Scholastic Strength Is Deep Thinking

You aren't afraid to delve head first into a difficult subject, with mastery as your goal. You are talented at adapting, motivating others, managing resources, and analyzing risk. You should major in: Philosophy Music Theology Art History Foreign language

What Should You Major In?

How come nothing is mentioned about Medicine?? This put me into deep thought.. I started pondering for quite a while regarding the fields that I should major in... (since they mentioned My Scholastic Strength Is Deep Thinking!!). At the end I will twist and turn some facts to adapt them into my field after careful and thorough deep thinking...

Philosophy? Remembering the famous Hippocrates oath and few other popular precepts such as Primum Non Nocere in Latin phrase which means - "First do no harm".

Music? mmm.. the Cardiac Monitor, Pulse Oxymeter etc always give lots of weird noice (annoying noise at times.. especially the beep beep or tit tit sound). The annoying alarms from various ventilators, infusion pumps etc etc. Auscultation of heart murmur from patients with CRHD or valvular heart disease etc.. or the coarse crackles or crepitus or wheezing on auscultation of the lungs - can all these be consider as music as well? Not the pleasant music but the annoying music.

Theology? I can't think of anything to relate this with medicine yet.. Skip this part first..

Art? Imaging the human anatomy - human body is a beautiful piece of art. How about intepreting the X Rays, ECG, Echo, CT scan, PET scan, renal scan, bone scan, cardiac scan, HIDA scan, MRI etc.. This is considered as art also, right?

History? We always dig into great details when taking history from patient - past medical history, past surgical history, social history, family history etc etc.. I like history(digging into great details is part of my job) , hahaha...

Foreign Language? Medical terminology can also be known as foreign language to others cos we are using lots of terminology which are jargons to layman or non medical personnel. Eg. Acute cholecystitis, Hashimoto thyroiditis, tendinitis, osteosarcoma etc is something very common to me but foreign to others.

See? I can justify and manipulate the meaning of the findings and the end result is - I'm destined to be involved in medical field !!!

Sarikei Time Capsule

Introducing Sarikei/泗里街 (again) - my beloved hometown. Sarikei (泗里街) is a small town in Sarawak, previously known as the 6th division. Sarikei is also known as "The Town of Swallows". This is the place where I spent my entire childhood, where I have my primary and secondary education and the place where I spent more than 2 decades of my life.. Although I'm now residing and working in other place far away from home, Sarikei will always remain in my mind.

My cousin, Daniel has recently starts a blog - Sarikei Time Capsule, introducing Sarikei in greater details (history, scenery, heritage, festivals, food, people etc). Throughout blogging, I manage to get to know quite a number of Sarikei bloggers, although most of them are currently studying/working/residing in other part of the world. For those Sarikei folks abroad/those who are interested to know more about Sarikei/those who wants to have a glimpse on my beloved hometown, do visit his blog for greater details of Sarikei town.

Side note : It is recommended to visit Sarikei Time Capsule with Internet Explorer (IE) browser since the template/display is "distorted" with Firefox browser.

Persimmon (柿子)

Nowadays I see persimmons (柿子) come in different sizes. The normal size persimmons and the "mini"-sized persimmons. The mini ones look cute, and resemble tomato from afar. I think the taste is similar to the normal-sized persimmons (never buy or tasted the small ones yet). The colour varies from light yellow orange to dark red orange. The prices over here varies with supplies and stocks in the market.

The raw persimmons are hard, crunchy and not so tasty. The ripe ones are very soft and sweet, and... the juice might dribble all over when one takes a bite on it. I like eating the half ripe or partially-ripe persimmons ~ firm, crunchy and semi-sweet . What is your preference?

Dried persimmons is available in the market. Handy (and healthy?) snacks. I have written a post on persimmon farm few months ago during my previous visit to Cameron Highlands. Pictures of the persimmon trees are available in the previous post.

Yeah, persimmon is also known as Sharon Fruit or Kaki (If I'm not mistaken, Kaki = Japanese name for persimmon). I think persimmon is known as "Pisang Kaki" in Malay language. (But.. Pisang = banana and Kaki = leg. Mmmm.... I can't see the resemblance.. Wonder how the name derived..)

Jackfruit/nangka (波罗蜜)

Any jackfruit/nangka/波罗蜜 lover here? Jackfruit chips is available in the market. Crunchy and nice. But I prefer the fresh fruit :) The young fruit can be used for cooking. Yeah, besides banana, jackfruit can be added into Bubur Cha Cha as well.

Wrong Number

I remember the "semi-retired" Jellyfish wrote about a similar post few months back. I guess many of us experienced similar things (wrong number) many times in our lives.

Most of them are just the "friendly and harmless" Wrong Number. I won't mind as long as the wrong number don't came in the middle of the night. Imagine waking up in the middle of the night receiving a phone called which happened to be wrong number? That's definitely not a pleasant experience, right?

I experienced this "wrong number" episodes several times at my workplace as well. Cos the phone number in my room is similar to the Cardiology Clinic. Just one digit difference.

Among the wrong number thingy, one of the most hilarious one is ...
This happened not only once but few times already.. Receiving few phone calls to my house phone by different callers at different times and different hours of the day, but for the same intention ~ wanting to buy cooking gas !!!

Wah.... Since when I started selling cooking gas ???? My new profession? kekkeke...

**Updated..
Belows are the experience of my dear friends/bloggers which I compiled from the comments..

• Wong - Taxi Driver.
• Selba - Electric Company? Wow... Don't play-play mess up with her, or else she will cut off your electric supply, kekeke.. Just kidding :)
• Winn - commented about rude callers. So I suggested to her to ask her dear Lucas (the rabbit who thinks he is a dog) to answer the phone instead.
• Cynthia - selling 4D? Wow .. Anyway, buying numbers are not my cup of tea :P
• Sharl612 - Pizza Hut? Any special delivery or special offer if we buy pizza from u?
• Nurul - The Managing Director :) Congrats ... ekkee
• CooknEngr - Forever u will get the "wrong number" message from his answering machine if u call him :D
  

Ice cream potong

The red beans and coconut milk (santan) ice cream potong.

This is one of the popular products from King's ~ the ais krim potong. Written there on the box Remembering The Good Old Days. I quote what is written there : In the good old days, children waited eagerly for the ice cream man to come on his bicycle, with delicious homemade "Potong" ice cream. At the sound of his bell, they would run and gather around the ice cream man. With beaming faces, the children watches the ice cream man prepare this unique ice cream, waiting for the ice cream to be ready for savouring. Ice cream had never tasted so good...

Does that sound familiar? The red beans and coconut milk ice cream is one of the delicious and popular traditional ice cream. Wonder how many of us have experienced those days? What is your favourite ice cream flavour?

Btw, I have no shares in King's ice cream :P

My "Pathetic" Moon Picture

Yesterday night evening, our "beloved" Mr Moon came out to greet us early.. I guess there is something wrong with Mr Moon's alarm clock?

7:00 pm

7:30 pm

9:00 pm

Don't worry.. There are no werewolves around :) Which one is your favourite?

side note: Talking about the moon reminds me of moon face - a feature (round face) commonly seen in Cushing's Syndrome.

China : Dujiangyan (都江堰)

The Dujiangyan Irrigation System (都江堰) is one of the oldest irrigation systems still in operation. The 2000+ years old (yeah, 2000+ years old!!) irrigation system that still works today. This is a historical irrigation system constructed around 256 BC by governor Li Bing (李冰) in the Qin dysnasty. In order to build this irrigation system, it was necessary to cut a path through the mountains on the bank of the Minjiang River. The Dujiangyan Irrigation System was put on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000.

Bird's eye view of the Dujiangyan Irrigation Project from the balcony in Qinyan Tower (秦堰楼).

Misty day. 朦朦胧胧的风景才是最吸引人的风景 ？
Another bird's eye view of the Dujiangyan Irrigation Project from different angle.

View from the ancient Song Mao Road.

The Anlan Suspension Bridge (安澜桥) with the length of 261 metres. It was formerly known as the Fuqi Bridge (夫妻桥 or Husband and Wife Bridge).

The suspension bridge is very shaky when a number of us walked on the bridge at the same time. It was a bit scary initially cos of the shaking, but soon I'm used to it and can walk in fast pace across the 261 metres bridge.

View from the Anlan Cable Suspension Bridge, overlooking the raging water of the Min River.

凉 面 or Cold noodle? That is one of the popular hawker food in Dujiangyan. The noodle is indeed cold. Not my cup of tea. I still prefer noodle in hot soup ..

Roadside souveneir stall on the other side of the Anlan bridge.

The Erwang Temple (二 王庙 or two kings' temple), located near the Dujiangyan Irrigation Project. It was built as a tribute to Li Bing and his son.