HOPe & Fun 2.0 Charity Carnival day at Dewan MPHTJ Bukit Beruang - 19 Aug 2023 [DONE]

Seems that these are difficult times indeed - there seem to be quite a few charity events lately. Just a month after the Fund-raising Carnival at my old high school (St David High School), today there was the HOPe & Fun 2.0 Charity Carnival organized by the Agapecare Society of Melaka, held at the Dewan MPHTJ Bukit Beruang.

H.O.P.e. by the way it is written, stands for "Help Other People event", and is the 2nd such event organized by the Agapecare Society, hence the 2.0. The first fund-raiser was held way, way, way back in 2006! Almost 20 years ago! 😲

My family and I have a habit of going early, so we arrived roughly half an hour after the official start of the event at 10am. Public Service Announcement - even though it was a Saturday, currently free "weekend" parking was only given on Monday's and Tuesday's. That's right - for Saturday and Sunday, you still need to pay for parking either using the scratch coupons or SVP Smart Parking app (which seems to work reasonably well). There were parking bays in the hall area, however, they were reserved for the volunteers, so we parked outside along the row of shops nearby. Wanted to stay for up to 2 hours though (foreshadowing what was coming), things didn't quite go exactly as planned.

There were a couple of food trucks open for business just outside the Dewan MPHTJ Bukit Beruang - the one that caught our attention was the one from Cowrasa - selling milk, yogurt and ice cream! 😋

Going into the hall, noted a counter from Oriental hospital offering free basic health check and an assortment of pre-loved (fancy way of saying used / 2nd hand) clothes, books and other stuff for sale. Just like the recent carnival at St David, all transactions were via coupon / voucher, which we had also bought earlier to avoid wasting time in the queue. Even the stuff for sale AND food trucks were accepting only coupons as payment. Notably there was no queue today, so looks like many other people also followed suit. There were some tables and benches set up in the hall where we could sit down to eat. A few row of chairs were also arranged in front of the raised stage, where there were some dance and song performances by students and also senior citizens. The old folk were quite good, playing renditions of classic "oldies" like "young ones" by Cliff Richards as well as lagu keronchong melayu & baba nyonya on their guitars, ukulele, tambourine and beatbox.

The stalls outside boasted a small but highly varied selection of food and drinks, cookies, even one selling fresh satay. There were also some games booths and one selling potted plants as well. There was more space to stand under the tents, so was not so congested, though the crowd was not as large as the one at the St David event. Again, I was in "full emersion mode" so did not take any photos - need to kick back into blogger mode if I'm going to be writing posts such as this in the future.... 😅

First round of food (I purposely did not eat breakfast at home so that I could maximize food intake here) for me was some Nasi Lemak from Jasin, Siew Pau, fruit tarts. As we had time, walked around some more, and bumped into my ex-high school mate and ex-colleague. One hour into our arrival, the sky darkened, and it started drizzling. As time went on, it got heavier until it became a downpour. Fortunately, there was ample space in the hall for everyone to seek refuge from the unforgiving weather. We just found ourselves a bench near the stage and continued to watch some of the performances.

One thing to note - this hall was set up for badminton, so the lighting was arranged to evenly light up the center of the hall where the courts were. The stage was, however, practically unlit, so this did serious injustice to the performers, who were literally singing and dancing in the dark. Not sure if it was because the organizers did not turn on the stage lights, or just that there were none to begin with....

A quick time check - our 2 hours were up but there was no sign of the rain abating. It did ease off, though was still not possible for us to make it back to our car (lesson learned for future outings - do bring umbrella). So, with the last of our coupons, we bought a sizeable haul of milk and ice cream from the Cowrasa food court. Ice cream had to be consumed on the spot, and so happened by the time we finished, the rain had become a drizzle and we had our chance to leave after passing our unspent coupons off to someone.

Well, all in all, for a good cause, and although organized by Agapecare Society, there were no religious elements in this event so all were welcome to join and participate. If there were one thing I feel they could have improved - it was on the publicity. If it weren't for the fact that I knew someone from the organizing team, I would never have known about this event. A pity as all in all was a good effort and successful charity / fund-raiser in my humble opinion. Also a chance for us to give back to society and enjoy some quality family time together! 😀

 

Dinner at Handmade Signature, Melaka

It's been some time since I've gone out around Melaka looking for something special for dinner. So happens that a friendly colleague from Ipoh was in town, so decided to re-visit Handmade Signature.

It was a Wednesday, so usually there were less people going out to town to dinner. Then again, because of that, there were some restaurants and cafes that chose not to open, thus having dinner outside took a combination of planning, searching and a little bit of bloomin' luck to pull through.

From the outside, it was easy to miss at first. In fact, that's exactly what happened to me, so I had to circle around for another pass and drive SLOWLY the second time just to be sure I didn't miss it again.

For whatever reason, did not make any booking for this occasion, so just drove there straight after work. Fortunately, we arrived early, so we could secure a nice table (later as the evening progressed, the place did start to get a little packed, so it was good that we were ahead of the crowd).

Having a look at the menu, decided to go for something I believe I had never tried before. Short description on the menu was "Salmon" and the full text read "Pan seared salmon served with sautéed baby romaine and honey baked ham; king oyster mushroom, cauliflower purée and balsamic reduction".

When the dish finally arrived, was somewhat not surprised to find it was smaller than I had hoped for. Fortunately, we also ordered a pizza to share between us. Otherwise, would still be hungry.

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A post shared by Marvin Chong (@marvin.chong)

The plate above was a regular sized plate, so you can imagine why I feel the food-to-plate size ratio is approaching fine-dining proportions. Not sure if this has always been the same, but next time I'm here, will try something else other than the "main course" part of the menu....

Handmade signature was still a good choice for those special group events such as birthday parties and other celebrations. Just be aware of what you're ordering and be prepared to pay more for sufficient food unless you have a group of light eaters.... 😅

Fund-raising Carnival at St David High School Melaka - 22 Jul 2023 [DONE]

There's a phrase in Malay, "Seperti Kacang Melupakan Kulit", which literally means, like a peanut forgetting its shell. In the context of my secondary school education, proud to say this does not apply! 

When I first found out about the (then) upcoming fundraising carnival to be held in St David High School, happy to find the responses from my fellow ex-schoolmates in our Whatsapp chat group. To be frank, there were only SOME of us who actively voiced their wish to join, and in the end only SOME actually did turn up (both on time and late).

The link to the event's Facebook page is <HERE> 

I knew traffic would be bad, and available parking extremely limited - nothing changed since those days.... Sort of reminds me of the situation at Infineon on a rainy day.... My family and I arrived shortly before 9am, but by then it was already very crowded, with many students participating in the carnival as well as manning the counters and food stalls. Also on active duty were the teachers, but not from my time as those who had taught us earlier were all retired (yes, I know I'm THAT old already).

As with most events these days, in order to ensure good fund management, all transactions were in the form of cash vouchers that could either be purchased beforehand or during the event itself at the appropriate counter. Very fortunately, I had purchased earlier, as there was a very, very long queue at the counter during that day.

Right inside the entrance, there was a fire truck parked there on display, though it was gone before noon. Possibly some emergency calls.... The assembly area which was open-air during our time, was now fully covered with a high roof. There were several counters there, and highlight on display were the electric vehicles (EV's) from Volvo. 

The school hall where we had several memorable events back in the day (including our stage performances and debates) was used for jumble sales. 

The food stalls were located at the school field. Unfortunately, in order not to damage the track / football area, the 3 rows of food stalls were placed very close to each other, leaving little room for the bustling crowd. We basically could not stop or walk slowly between rows, so I had to resort to multiple passes to identify what they were selling on both sides, and finally zoom in to the stall to buy something. There were limited seating and tables to eat (not everything was easy to eat standing up), so we ended up sitting at the stairs near the vocational classroom block (at least that was I believe they were from last time, not sure if they are still used for the same purpose nowadays).

The students were really going out, to push sales of the food and drinks. I remember my Americano being prepared by a teacher, who somehow was over-enthusiastic when it came to adding sugar.... 😅 

Not sure if it was part of the event, but there were a few students in full cosplay mode - and a few in cross-gender outfits as well. Possibly to promote the face-painting counter, there were a few students going around as well. Seems to be working, as the queue to that counter was even longer than then queue for the vouchers!

The remove class block classrooms were used for games booths, where we could try our skill and luck (mostly luck) to win several small prizes.

It did drizzle lightly, but that did little to dampen the spirits - the crowd was huge and did not thin down towards midday. Our ex-schoolmate group was supposed to gather at 11am, but somehow few came a bit late.

Photos above taken by my friends, credit to them. Somehow this time I did not really take any, as was fully engrossed in the event.

And a short post on the school's Facebook page on the outcome of the event with some photos can be found <HERE>

My family and I had a good time. For my especially to see my alma mater once again, in better shape then when we graduated. Telling some old time stories to my kids about the time when I was their age. Unfortunately, we had to leave after noon, so I did not manage to meet some of my ex-schoolmates who came much later. Overall, was happy to have managed to attend. Congratulations to the organizing committee, teachers and students for making this a successful fund-raising carnival! Looking forward to the next such event!

High Tea @ Avillion Legacy Melaka

Seems that my change in organization was as good enough a reason for old friends to come together. As some friends in particular group were not from the same company as I was, we decided that lunch was not possible due to limited time. Hence, in looking out for a suitable place, my friend Din suggested we try out the High Tea @ Avillion Legacy Melaka. And so we did this fine Saturday afternoon....

The Avillion Legacy Hotel is situated along Jalan Hang Tuah, close to the HSBC bank and opposite the former Soon Seng Plaza / Fajar Shopping Center (should ring a bell for those of you who are familiar with Melaka many years ago). Parking in the multi-level car park of the hotel is free (as of this time of writing), but note that it was a bit dark and narrow (which might challenge those of you with large vehicles). Managed to get a spot on the 2nd level. The restaurant / cafe was on the ground floor, right next to the hotel reception counter. Of course, air-conned as it was fully indoors. High Tea details here or as shown below:

Details as seen on a smartphone screenshot....

Starting from 12pm and ending at 4pm, it seemed more of an extended lunch rather than high tea. We agreed to meet there a 1.30pm, which was nice as it was after the initial crowd and not too late that all the food would be gone. Luckily we made reservations beforehand, as even at that time all tables were full, and it looked like additional tables were set up into the lobby area to cater for everyone. Special promotion rate for this - buy 3, free 1, with special rates for senior citizens and children! No indication on how long this promotion will last, so best to catch it before it's gone....

It was not as large as the Zest Cafe @ Ramada, and the food served was not as varied, however, for less than half of the price, I'm not one to complain. Besides, the usual fruit and dessert counter, the bread counter was basic (one type of bread with a toaster, and one type of bun with butter). They had mushroom and red bean soup close by. The main course counter had butter rice, chicken, asam pari, japanese tofu and mixed cabbage / cauliflower. Special counter for roti john, waffles and pizza. For hot drinks, there was black coffee, tea and teh tarik - the last one to me being a bit sweet for my taste, but that's teh tarik for you. Over at the other end, seems the ice cream was moving quite fast - by the time I was there, there were only strawberry, yam and corn favour left, and 5 empty slots where the other flavours were. Seems that the food here was limited, as they didn't top up once finished. This meant that even though you reserved a seat, there might be nothing left to eat if you got there late. As we sat, ate and caught up on old times, looked like there were still some people coming in after 3pm - hope they weren't disappointed!

I liked the balanced layout - the number of tables, food counters and space did not give me a feeling of congestion, even with the additional tables set up encroaching into the lobby. Place was well lit, and suitable for kids and and also the elderly. The staff was quite attentive - our water glasses were refilled quite promptly and empty plates cleared. I did not manage to try out every dish served. Fortunately, there was no loud background music playing - good if one was trying to strike up a conversation.

In short summary and conclusion, all in all, no complains from my side. Reasonably priced with a comfortable environment too. Recommend to give it a try if you're in Melaka over the weekend, but be sure to call and make reservations first!

Hiking through the Bukit Beruang trail

My ~2 hour hike, as captured by Google Fit running on my venerable Xiaomi

Been busy at work in the past couple of weeks, so once again, my blogging momentum hits yet another speedbump. Doesn't mean I spend ALL available time while awake at the office though. On this fine Sunday morning, I and my colleague, L, decided to go for a hike through the famous Bukit Beruang (aka Bear Hill).

We met up at the start of the trail (GPS co-ordinates : 2.242120,102.280092), which was in the housing estate of Taman Dahlia. Depending on your normal routine, 8am may be either early or late. Either way, there were already many people there, as there was a distinct lack of parking near the foot of the hill. Ended up parking some 200 meters or so away (at least I get an effective brisk walk as a warm-up exercise).

I've been up and down the asphalt road all the way up to the Telekom station on many occasions, but there was more to Bukit Beruang than just the "easy trail". Today, we planned to go "offroad" through the forest trail would take us through a round to the other side of the hill (effectively, to Taman Muzaffar Shah, Air Keroh) and back to our starting point.

As this was my 2nd time through, I knew roughly what to expect. Traveling light without a backpack, I just had my wallet, handphone and camera. Several parts of the trail required the use of your hands to hold on to the support ropes and make-shift rails, I only carried what could fit into my pockets. Bringing along more gear would be an overkill, IMHO. So no DSLR or even mirrorless - just my Olympus TG4 (my ruggedized solution for the outdoors).

A helpful signboard with emergency contact numbers and a trail map.

Don't get me wrong, even though the hillside trail was relatively easy, compared to, say, Gunung Datuk, one should not be over confident and underestimate the effort. Going after rain (where the ground gets wet, muddy and slippery) or late evening where light and visibility falls is not recommended. Good shoes are a must - a pair of running shoes with good soles will do.

Well, fortunately, it was a bright sunny morning, and there were plenty of trees that provided cover. With L leading the way, we took the offroad path to the left of the asphalt trail up to the Telekom station. From there on, we took off to the right side of the Telekom station and followed the mountain bike trail all the way down to Taman Muzaffar Shah. We took a walk through the housing estate and re-entered the hiking trail at the side of the the water tower. Eventually, going all the way round and ending up back at the Telekom station. At that point in time, we decided not to over-exert (as this was already a step above our usual daily routine, and the next day was a working day), so we took the asphalt road back down to the foot of the hill. We spent around 2 hours there, and according to my phone we traversed around 4.9km. Mind you, this is from my phone which spent most of the time in my pocket, so understandably, accuracy with a dedicated GPS tracker would be much better.

Zoom up of the Bukit Beruang Trail Map

There were many fellow hikers there that morning, so we were never alone by ourselves for longer than 5 minutes. Still, for safety reasons, one should always come with at least one other person, and exit before it gets dark. The trail was not too difficult, though elderly folks and shorter kids may find it hard to reach and hold on to the ropes and side rails at a few points. For some strange reason, there were no mosquitoes (not sure if it was because it was morning).

As our hiking plan was rather ad hoc, it was just me and L today. Hope we could round up more colleagues of similar interest for the next hiking adventure! Any one of you reading this, please step forward and approach me. :)

If you ask me, I highly recommend you give it a try. All you need is to be in general good shape (otherwise, you may want to build yourself up at Bukit Serindit first).

Smurfs : The Lost Village - IFX Movie Day

It was the Melaka Historical City day last Saturday. A fine weekend with family and friends (who work at the same Great Place as I do) at the GSC Aeon Bandaraya Melaka, for another Movie Day organized by the IFX executive recreation club, Club81. This time round, the movie of choice - Smurfs : The Lost Village.

As mentioned in my previous post (http://marvinchong.blogspot.com/2017/04/beauty-beast-outing-to-gsc-aeon.html), originally I had in plan to watch the slightly-controversial-awhile-ago Beauty and the Beast. With the rest of the movies offered being somewhat unsuitable for kids, this was basically the only feasible choice left. I try to keep the rest of this post spoiler-free.... :)

Where Beauty and the Beast was a live-action remake of the cartoon, Smurfs : The Lost Village is a fully animated show. Seems to be a reboot of the movie series, as the earlier 2 movies from Sony Entertainment Pictures was a live-action + CGI combo. While there was no practical way to make a Smurf any other way than through CGI, I found that in the previous 2 movies, the lead antagonist portrayed by actor Hank Azaria did not port well into real-life. So, the decision to revert back to a "real" cartoon is IMHO all for the better.

Now, this being the company movie day, it's always necessary to register early to get a good seat. This is the reason for the large crowd of people outside the entrance of Aeon Bandaraya Melaka well before the official opening time of 10am. The only other time you'll see this is during the occasional J-card member  day sale. To be honest, not many chose to watch this show, so in the end the cinema hall appeared to be only 80% full.

After registering, there was enough time for breakfast before the show started at 11am (another advantage to coming early). We sat down at Hailam Kopitiam on the ground floor (opposite Old Town white coffee) and basically went with the breakfast sets as we expected that to be the fastest option, given that we had 5 adults and 5 children at the table. Well, that's true for the most part, with the exception of the half-boiled eggs which came with some of the selected sets. How late, you might ask? Well, let's just say, our decision to split the group and collect the complimentary popcorn / drinks while the others finished breakfast was a wise decision, as we just barely made it in as the pre-show ads were about to end.

For the company movie day, there did not seem to be a differentiation in tickets - all of them were "adult tickets" and priced accordingly. Cost is as follows:-

Adult ticket:
Ticket price - RM11.07
GST (6%) - 0.66
Entertainment tax (25% of ticket price before GST) - RM2.77
Total - RM14.50

This was for the normal ticket, which was RM1.50 cheaper than one with enhanced Dolby Atmos.

As for the movie itself, without giving too much away, I can say that all the "mandatory" Smurf elements are there - Smurfs individual behavior / characteristics according to their names (which makes you wonder how one would name a new-born Smurf), Gargamel + Azrael  as the complementary pair of villains. As one might guess for shows of this type, there's a fair amount of songs and singing, though none of the tunes stick to your head like those typically found in Disney movies (yes, you know I'm comparing to THAT recent show again).

Well, in the end, I see my kids were entertained. The U-rated family show was watchable for me (not quite the death-by-boredom experience that I feared).

Club81 Day Trip to Sunway Lagoon (Mar 2017)

Cap picked up from the souvenir shop at Sunway Lagoon

It's the start of the week-long school break. An excellent time for the friendly Infineon Melaka executive recreation club (Club81) to organize a family day trip to the Sunway Lagoon Theme Park.

Now, the Sunway Lagoon Theme Park's operating hours were from 10.00am to 6.00pm. Thus, in order to get to our destination early enough to allow us to make the most of the opening hours, the plan was to assemble at the Infineon main guard house at 7.00am to board the buses. Yes, I'm sure we could have planned to assemble earlier at 6.00am to avoid the shift change crowd, but such a plan would likely be challenging, especially since there were many families with kids (including us).

As per the plan, the buses would thus depart at 7.30am. Unfortunately, this time slot coincided with the change of shift - hence we had to wait for the factory buses to leave before our buses could enter the bus park. That didn't set us back too far, so with a mild recovery plan and smooth traffic, we managed to reach our destination as planned!😁

While in the bus, we were informed that absolutely NO food and drinks were allowed to be taken in from the outside. Officially, this was to avoid litigation against the park management in case of food-related ailments. Of course, we pretty much figured out the most likely TRUE reason behind this... (especially since food prices inside were hiked - a 500ml bottle of water is sold for RM4.50). However, at the entrance, we were told that bringing in water (which is apparently not classified as a "drink") was OK. Can anyone out there clarify this point? But alas, we left all our water in the bus, so through the entire day, we ended up spending RM18 on water.😞

As we were in a group, the buses dropped us off at the Surf Beach Entrance, which was next to the Sunway Lagoon Hotel. There was ample space there for the organizing committee to set up a counter for ticket collection and even a group photo.

Our package granted us access to all rides in the park save for a few (which we needed to pay per ride if we were interested). Namely, the Bungy Jump, Go-kart and something called G-force - all of which were in the Extreme park section. From the nature of such rides, I would personally get on them even if I were PAID to ride! 😁

Well, once into the park, we decided to indulge in the wet activities first, as there's a chance the rides would be closed in case of heavy rain. The entire park was built around a large body of water, half of which was shallow for good old family fun, while the other half was for boating. First order of the day, get a locker as it was not allowed / possible to bring bags on board many of the rides. A single locker was RM22 and the larger luggage locker was RM43. The good thing was that they were for multiple entry, so once you've got yourself a locker, its yours to use for the whole day. This meant that the lockers were rather limited, though, so in our case we had to walk to the other side of the park to get an available luggage locker. The lockers were keyless. After registering a locker, it's tied to the barcoded wrist tag. There's a scanner for each bank of lockers, which intelligently pops open the right locker upon scanning. The wrist tag was waterproof and quite durable to withstand the rigours of the theme park, without fading. Though, it did take me several attempt to align my wrist to the scanner.

The wrist band also served as an electronic wallet, so one could practically load up some currency into the wrist band, and leave all the stuff in the locker. A good system, as you can imagine, someone would have to sit out on the fun to keep a hold of all the stuff if there wasn't such a system in place. The refunding can be done at the entrance / exit - the shop is INSIDE the park, so be sure not to go out first before getting your refund. Of course, cash is always acceptable. This made it possible for us to wander the park in our swimming attire (yes, at least here everyone was doing it, so it didn't feel out of place).

At this time, the latest park map is as below. You can get the latest map at their website : https://sunwaylagoon.com/park-map/

Many of the rides were height limited, so for those with kids, need to pay particular attention to the minimum requirement. Once your kids are above 1.2m, then every thing's open game...!😃

Most of the wet rides required us to carry tubes up to the starting position of the ride. The tubes were in shape of a figure "8" and thus required us to go in twos. We settled for kid in front, adult at the back. There was only one ride, the Jungle Fury, which needed a group a exactly 4 - no more, no less. This one had everybody sitting in a large round raft (which sort of resembles an inflatable baby pool). Due to the lack of experience, for this ride I sat at the "front" and was facing backwards all the way down. Not sure if it's less scary or more scary this way...?

As we were going to be very much "interactive", I did not bring any camera with me, so our memories are found only in our minds and not in a memory card.... Besides, I did not have any suitable gear that could withstand bring exposed to the elements on a typical day at a water theme park.

Well, towards noon, we had our lunch at the in-house Burger King shop, which was quite small with just a few tables for patrons. After that's it's back to more fun. There was an attraction called the 5D Waterplex, which was basically a first-person view 3D movie with movable seat platform and fan / water spray / lighting effects in sync with the movie. 3D glasses were provided which just managed to fit over my glasses, so it was watchable. The movement was mild - no need for any seatbelts or safety restraints. My opinion, though, was that the screen was too small and too far away, so it was not a very immersive experience, compared to, say, the Singapore Omnimax Theater.

At roughly 4pm, it started to drizzle, then increased to a full blown downpour. We were lucky to have covered all the main activities by then, so we spent the time getting showered and changed back to regular clothes, and stopping by the Souvenir Shop to make the best of the complementary coupons given as part of our package. As the park closed at 6.00pm, we made it to the exit earlier to avoid the potential crowd at the refund counter. By that time, the rain had receded back to a light drizzle.

We had roughly 2 hours to go till the arrival of our buses, so we walked over to the Sunway Pyramid shopping mall and walked about, taking our dinner there before returning to the Surf Beach Entrance pick up point by 7.30pm. I'd not been to Sunway Pyramid since my college days (which was many, many, many years ago). Glad to see that the ice skating rink is still there, and perhaps someday we could give it a try. Initial reaction from my family is that no one was willing to do so, though, so perhaps this plan would take some time to implement.

We boarded our bus and started the journey home as soon as the last passenger in our bus finally returned (late, but before 8pm). There was a concern that traffic would be heavy. However, the traffic was relatively smooth, even with an unfortunate accident on the North-South highway, so we arrived back at Infineon before 10pm. That was good, as we did not get caught up in the change of shift at 11pm.

Well, in the end, we were tired but happy the way this trip turned out. In spite of the poor weather in the later half of the day, we had managed to make the best of today and really enjoyed ourselves. It was a good event made possible by the organizing committee of Club81 - and to them I offer my sincere gratitude! 🙌

Haha, I just realized that while we brought sunblock, didn't actually remember to put it on. Hence, in the next few days, don't be surprised if you see me with a nasty (and painful) case of sunburn. Keeping fingers crossed and hope for the best!

Farewell to Elene

Parting is such sweet sorrow, especially for those of us who have been working together for many, many years. And so it turns out that the next in a long line of farewells is none other that our old friend, Elene Tan.

Personally, I've known Elene for over 10 years now, way back in the days when the "pioneer group" of Vishay were all young and restless. Ahem, we're all still young today (at least I believe so) - just that we were younger way back then. Since then, many of us have already become fathers and mothers, but the Gen X spirit is still burning strongly in our hearts.

L to R : "Auntie" Chong SC, Elene (VIP Queen for the night), Sussan from Singapore, VSM-ex-VSM-VSM Chea Thin, "Pinky" Foo (if I understand correctly from Low CL)

Elene was initially in the production planning group, but somewhere in the years gone by made a successful transition to the logistics team. Always on top of the situation, managing things as they happen, and not waiting for something to happen, working with her sure dropped the difficulty level down a couple of notches.

A few of us banded together for a night together at the i-Tango family karaoke, conveniently located at the 2nd floor of the Bukit Beruang Bazaar opposite the gym. I had no idea there was a karaoke there in the first place, but we're most fortunate to have Chong Sew Chu in our group, as she is very "in" when it comes to this genre of socializing....

The VIP room was fitted with 3 screens and was large enough to accommodate our group of 20+ pax. I'm not one with "golden ears", so I can only say that the sound system was not lacking in any particular way. There was 1 wired microphone provided, along with 3~4 wireless ones. Throughout the night, there appeared to be some minor technical challenges with the microphone, mostly coming from weak batteries / dropped connections.

As for the karaoke system itself, the interface was at least orderly and user-friendly and the song list appeared to be quite extensive. Did not really look into it in detail, as my main intention that night was to see Elene off, and not to practice singing. Overall, I do rate the experience more positive relative to the one we had at Mybox karaoke last year.

Though there were many of us from the original pioneer group, like Chong SC, Tan HC, Low CL just to name a few, there were also some "new guys" like Ang CK, Lim CN and Goh YF, and even Sussan from Vishay Singapore, which just goes to show that our team spirit extends across all boundaries.

Ultimately, people come and people go, for various reasons, sometimes unique to the individual. As I understand it, Elene exits the world of semiconductor manufacturing - in fact, leaving entirely the workforce, to focus on family.

Must be the effect of haze getting in their eyes....

Farewell to Mr Moey

It was the eve of May, Labour Day. A fitting date for our farewell dinner in honour of one of Vishay Semiconductor Malaysia's "founding fathers" - Mr Moey Sam Fook.

Mr Moey had been with Vishay since 2002, heading the Finance / Costing departments (which I always manage to mix up, sometimes even today), literally keeping a watchful eye on every penny that goes in and out of Vishay's pocket.

Besides his "real job", Mr Moey has also proven himself as a natural orator and radiates confidence, as anyone who has attended events with Mr Moey as the faciliator / host / MC can agree. With a small but diverse team of individuals in VSM, it was no easy task keeping the people all working together as a team, and feeling great while doing so. Call it the soft skill or art as you may, team building sessions conducted by Mr Moey were far more effective that the typical generic offerings of the garden-variety consultant (with the possible exception of Dr Lawrence Walter Ng, perhaps).

In my years working with Mr Moey, I've had the opportunity to come to know him as a friend and fatherly figure. In the recent years, I thank him for introducing me to great "spiritual software" that is the work of Don Miguel Ruiz - The Four Agreements.

The most memorable piece of advice that I got from Mr Moey was "If you believe that something is yours, just reach out and grab it!". Which has since brought me far in my life, inspired to go all out and work for what I truly believed I deserved. Thanks a count-less many times for this - Mr Moey!

So today, though I was late to arrive (as those who are close to me can already guess, due to work - why else?), my thoughtful friend reserved some tasty dishes for me so that I did not have to dine on only the standard servings of rice and noodles.

It was nice to see everyone get together for this occasion outside of working time - a true depiction of the closeness or "kam cheng"-ness of our circle of friends. Set for the occasion, I had my trusty DSLR with me to capture some memorable photos.

As our event drew to a close, we all bid our fond farewells and best wishes to Mr Moey as he enters a new and well-deserved phase of life called "semi-retirement", going back to his family somewhere in the region of Subang Jaya. I bid good night to a dear friend, with hopes for a happy and healthy life ahead!


Photos:

An evening with friends @ Restoran Ayoob, Batu Berendam

There are those who shun work, as working life has it's rough edges and nerve-wrecking moments. Especially for those who work in a semiconductor manufacturing facility running 24-hours round the clock.

Outside of the factory walls, after office hours are over, I'm fortunate to have a close circle of friends, who have instilled in their hearts at least one of the four of Don Miguel Ruiz's famous Four Agreements - don't take things personally.

To be honest, I was not very sure where exactly that was, so luckily I happened to look left when I was trying to look right - and just managed to make the left turn off the main road. Good thing no cars or motorcycles were near me - otherwise I'd have to drive onwards and U-turn somewhere in front.

I was "highly engaged" at office today, so just lost track of time, resulting in my arrival some ten minutes after the official starting time of 8.00 pm *sharp*. It was still relatively early, so there was a lot of available parking spaces. My friends were already there - joining together four separate tables to accommodate everyone.

Kam and Florence were there with their two sons at the far end of the table, with Kua, Amelia, Lim KS and Chong Wee Kiong seated along the opposite length of the table. On "my side" were Tan SH and wife, and Lo Chea Thin as well. Our group of friends go back a long way to a time when Infineon was Siemens, when there was still the OJV department. Still keeping in touch although some have already left Vishay for Sunpower, Texas Instruments (formerly knows as National Semiconductor) and Infineon.

It's not possible to have a single group discussion with such a large crowd, so there were several "chat rooms" discussion different topics (different languages too). So, it's somewhat like channel surfing where I occasionally switch to a different group and join in the discussion. I find it's a good mental exercise to be able to do this seamlessly.... :)

Kam and Florence were the first to leave, not a surprise as they had their two sons with them. We had some some more friends joining too (arriving later than me, so I wasn't the last). Jenny See, Heng and Chong FC with his wife Sim BL kept the headcount balanced after Kam and family left.

I found out that Chong FC was going on a trip to ascend Gunung Kinabalu next month - unfortunately he did not tell me earlier, as I'm still keen on going there. Have yet to see for myself what lies beyond Laban Rata - failed the last time, just like the attempt before....

We were there for some time - it was not very hot that day, and the volume of the TV was not so high as to impede our conversations. Something that I strongly emphasize when choosing a place to sit down with friends. By the end of the session, I had consumed 1 roti kosong, 1 roti telur, 1 cheese naan, 1 kopi-o kosong, 1 teh-o and 1 teh tarik. All for the price of RM8.70. Expensive or cheap, you decide....

Coincidentally, patronizing Ayoob too was a senior colleague (former big boss) who I refer to as "Uncle Terry" (our friend know who I'm talking about). Also saw Yeo EK there too. The world is really small - at least when everyone is still in Melaka. After my friends decided to call it a night and head for home, I hopped over to the next table for "second round" of catching up on times since we all went our separate ways.

Time moves quickly in the company of old friends, so it wasn't until someone realized it was already midnight that we finally decided to call it a night (for me, the second time).

Today's gathering was a good one, as usual, as it was always good to see friends together outside of work (though sometimes in large companies, this doesn't always happen). Apart from Heng, Kua and Chong FC trying to figure out how to check whether it was high tide or low tide (all set for going fishing next), none of us were glued to our phone / tablet. Chea Thin did share a video clip of some of our other friends dancing to a "quite famous Korean song". It's the one like riding a horse, so you can probably guess what song I'm talking about...!

I'm always happy to meet up with my friends and not only keep in contact in cyberspace. Hope we can keep ourselves together as we have done throughout these years - from single and young to family and... still young (just not as young as before)! :)

Lunch with Yan and Jue on a quiet afternoon

It's the 4th day of Chinese / Lunar New Year. Though the office today was notably more populated than it was yesterday, it was still relatively quiet, with the majority of the ethnic Chinese staff away on planned vacation for the entire week. I was able to to make a lunch-time appointment with my good friends and colleague / ex-colleague Jue and Yan.

Actually, there'd be a larger group, if it weren't for the fact that practically everyone was still out of office and virtually unreachable.

The original plan was to meet up at "Nasi Ayam Gemas" just outside the Tesco at Cheng, which was a short drive away from Vishay. Unfortunately, seems like they were very much in the spirit of Chinese New Year - closed! Well, behind every good plan is a plan B, so after about 2 seconds of careful deliberation, Yan suggested we fall back to Secret Recipe which was in Tesco itself. As there were no other proposals from either me or Jue, so Secret Recipe it was. For those who have never heard of it, Secret Recipe is an Asian food franchise with over 280 outlets to date (according to their About page on web site : http://www.secretrecipe.com.my). To me, they're more famous for their large assortment of cheese cakes. Great tasting, but with a high calorie count, so with just the three of us, neither of us actually ordered any cheese cakes (since working in a semiconductor manufacturing plant is essentially an office
job with low physical demands). I was keen to try something different, so I ordered a Stewed Aussie Beef Steak. Sure there were some asian dishes on the menu too, but no point coming to secret recipe to eat curry mee or fried rice, right? Plus, it wasn't a lot more expensive compared to the other stuff.

We weren't alone in eating out (as opposed to eating in the cafeteria back at the factory, which usually served very limited food, especially during holiday seasons when the number of potential patrons are not working). At the next table were Lye Yin and Blosson from HR (plus one other lady who's name unfortunately eludes my frail memory at this time). On our way out, also there to pack some cheese cakes were Deva and Kumar. Talk about it being a small, small world....

Well, lunch was over, just in time as the bright sunny sky had a complete make-over and was slightly drizzling in fact. It's great to sit down with friends once in awhile over a meal to break the monotony of an otherwise routine and clockwork-like life.

An evening out with friends at the Mybox Karaoke, Taman Merdeka Permai

Tomorrow was a working day for practically everyone, except for those of us working in companies that have an additional planned shut-down. Thus, this extra long weekend is as good a reason for an outing with friends.

There are many karaoke enthusiasts in our circle of friends. Contrary to common belief, you don't have to be a great singer to participate in this karaoke activity, though you may have to be a good listener.... :)

Soo busy selecting songs to sing, while Amelia and Desmond belt out the tunes

Karaoke is quite popular in the East, most probably we have the Japanese to thank (or to frown at) for this invention. It's basically a sound system where your selected song is played, often without the lead vocals, which is then your duty to sing out instead. Nowadays, there are many shop houses being converted to karaoke establishments (one such other place is Crazy Mike at Bukit Beruang). The sound-proofed rooms are often small, with a seating capacity of typically 4-6 people (though sometimes there are larger rooms for bigger group function). The latest in multimedia technology is often employed, as the owners bid to outdo the competition and attract loyal customers. You'll find no less than an LCD/LED TV, touch-screen song selection systems and availability of light refreshments and drinks to complement the sound system. Of course, membership buys you better rates and promotions, to further encourage returning customers.

A typical small cozy karaoke room, where your group can sing to your hearts' content

Back to our planned outing. We planned to meet up at 8.00pm at My Box, Taman Merdeka Permai. It's not on the current version of Google Maps, but you can check out the My Box website for further details, including a rough map to the location. This time, our company was made up of Soo WF (surprised me that she was into this activity), Chea Thin, Amelia, Desmond, and Ms Lai (new material planner, taking over from Chong SL who left Vishay earlier this year in May). It was unfortunate that Steven (who was on business trip overseas) and Chong SC (out station on holiday), our regular group members, could not join today.

It's not quite possible to write details of our karaoke activity in a blog post, without being overly verbose, so to summarize the experience of this evening, in my humble opinion:-

1. A cup of hot Milo and a cup of hot Nescafe 3-in-1 are virtually indistinguishable in dim lighting.

So we learned today, as I ended up drinking that which was not ordered by me, and vice versa with respect to Soo.

2. Remember, they charge by the hour.

So, don't go in and pay first if you're all alone and not wiling to start singing. To maximize the time, either make sure everyone is really punctual or wait outside until the group is assembled before entering.

3. Touch-screens are better than the older system (look up song number in the hardcopy file and key in the song number), but the system is a bit unresponsive. Also, the songs were not organized a user-friendly manner, so flipping through pages one by one of a total >900 available was quite tiring. The listings weren't in any particular order, so English, Chinese, Malay groups and singers were all lumped together. The search function wasn't too useful too. Lastly, since it is a touch screen - **Remember to wash your hands after use!!!**

Guess what drink is on the table (not the Coke) - Milo or Nescafe 3-in-1? In the background, Soo still working on the Star Trek - like panel (unfortunately, high tech but let down by the disorganized song list)

I brought along my DSLR (P&S would have been useless), and in the confines of the dark room, I had mounted on a 10-20mm ultra-wide zoom (which is why you see heavily distortion). Staying off the flash for natural lighting requires a high ISO setting, which is evident in the noise seen in the photos, even after shrinking for publishing on the web. A good thing though is that using such a wide lens is very forgiving in terms of focusing, since the depth of field is huge. This is the *other* approach to photography, using wide angle lenses for that "in your face" perspective. This makes you feel like part of the action, as opposed to using a fast telephoto zoom for "sniper duty", which was what I did in the recent musical event at Heng Ann Association.

Well, in the end, we all had a great time together. Good to be happy and friends not only in the office, but outside the office as well. A big thank you to Chea Thin for pulling everyone together for this event. Already, plans are in the works for yet another outing coming up at the end of the month, but that is another story for a blog post yet to come.... :)

Everyone here and accounted for, except perhaps myself (you can just see the reflection of my shadow on the left side, in the mirror). Well, the cameraman is usually behind the camera, after all....

A musical night at Heng Ann Association

It's a rarity that I attend events like these, but this one's in support of my old friend, Tee Sie Yen. To be frank, up to today, I'm not really sure of what the details of this event. It's somewhat encrypted:

I'm not one of those who can read the above without assistance from my translator....

 Nonetheless, going too were Chong FC and Sim, as well as Goh KK. At least I wouldn't be along that night. The event was organized on 11 September 2012, which was a Tuesday. Now getting to a function outside of the company on a working day at 7.00pm was always a bit of a challenge to me, partly because of my usually working hours (which extend way past the official 5.15pm company requirement) as well as the increased density of traffic at that time (main contributing factors being people leaving for home, and the 7.00pm change of shift for many factories). Well, just for that day, I was OK to make an exception.

So, I arrived on the scene straight from work at 7.00pm. I knew as Heng Ann Association, parking was limited. Either you came very, very early to get a parking spot, or park far, far away (parking illegally on the road side and obstructing traffic is against my core principles and ethics, so I won't go for that option). Of course, in this part of the world, coming early to park first in places like these will almost certainly mean you will go back last, because someone will surely come fashionably late and double park, boxing your car in. So, I decided to park my car in a well lit area roughly 200 meters down the road. A little bit of exercise didn't hurt. I was alone after all....

A bit of an advisory note while were on this topic. Regardless of where you park your car, do not leave anything of value inside. Not even something that might appear to be of value, like a bag in the back seat. These days, times seem to be bad, so there's a risk of someone breaking into your car even if you're in a well lit area with many passersby. So, I brought my company-issued laptop along for the show.

The hall was not very large, so the distances between tables was quite limited. There was just enough room for the waiters to serve food for dinner. Luckily there was something to eat, as I failed to register this when I was told about the event. A minor communication issue that turned out for the better, not that I'm complaining.

As there were only 4 of us, we shared the table #12 with a another group, which appeared to be all from the same family. The event started eventually, and it was genuinely entertaining to watch the singers, most of them appear to be above 40 years, belt out Chinese tunes. I'm far from an expert when it comes to this subject, but Sim told me these songs were from the era of previous generation (not surprisingly). They say life begins at 40, so you can really see the splendid results of hard work and preparation that the performers must have put into the show. No doubt many hours of rehearsals have been put in, and I am thankful to have been present to see the results.

From a photographer's perspective, as I was just a casual guest and not officially covering the event, I wasn't going to be moving around much. Plus, the lack of space between table didn't exactly help, as I don't want to be avoiding the waiters and bumping into other seated guests. So, I just had a single telephoto zoom lens used for the entire event. This meant that I could take reasonable detailed photos of the on-stage activities from where I was seated (roughly three quarters of the way to the back of the hall) just by standing up briefly to fire off a shot. Not so ideal, but an acceptable compromise given the constraints in place. At that range, a flash would have been useless, I had to rely on using high ISO coupled with F-stop of 1/2.8 to minimize motion blur.

Back to the event. At that range, even from looking at my photos on the back of the camera, it was very hard for us to figure out which one of the performers was my friend, Tee. Chong FC joked that in performances like these, everyone was elaborately dressed and with full make-up, so you'd be hard pressed to recognize anyone just the same.

Well, in the end, I did manage to meet up with her briefly, so I at least one of our guesses was correct! :)

A good exposure to public events, and a good photographic opportunity (I fear my photographic equipment has been idling away in the dry box for far too long).

Looking the part and sounding it too, these performers really went the extra mile to put on a wonderful show that night!

The entire cast of the show lined up on stage, in front of a captivated audience.

Retro look - I wonder if people really did get dressed up like this way back in the 60's and 70's?

Must bring back fond memories of youth for both the performers and the senior members of the audience....

The Nyonya/Kebaya outfit is synonymous with the local cultural heritage, and still looks fabulous when worn today.

Not to be left out, these Men in Black (and white) belt out a couple of tunes of their own.

A solo performer on stage showcasing her vocal talents to the crowd.

Red polka-dots are back in fashion, but the gentleman by the side looks "plain" in contrast.

The pink ladies - where'd they manage to get all the matching outfits?

Finally confirmed that is my friend, Tee Sie Yen, in yellow on the left. 

Buka Puasa at Bayview Hotel, Melaka

It's the month of Ramadhan once again, when our Muslim brothers and sisters observe fasting for the duration of this holy month. And so throughout the entire month, there are many restaurants and eateries with special offers for dinner to break fast with family / friends.

As Hari Raya was just around the corner, everyone was busy, but still we managed to find some time to go out together for this auspicious time of the year. This year, we chose to meet at the Bayview Hotel in Melaka town. As it turned out, there was a 10% discount offer (which some of our Facebook-savvy friends quickly discovered). Actually, we only decided on the venue less than 1 day beforehand - that's a sample of our just-in-time modus operandi for you....! :)

I arrived on the scene at ~7.00pm, as the actual time for breaking fast today was 7.22pm. Not so good to arrive late and leave everyone waiting, especially those who have been fasting. Just as I arrived, and was just about to step into the elevator, there was a sudden power trip. The hallways went dark, lit only by the emergency lighting. Hotel staff wasted no time to restore power, which came up again shortly. Lucky I was not inside the elevator when that happened, though it was not clear to me if anyone was indeed trapped inside during this brief episode.

I met up with our group at the restaurant on the 4th floor, where they were already prepared to break fast. It was good to sit down with Azuddin (and wife), Yan, Masitah, Desmond, Lay Peng, Asri and Chiang (a testament to our multi-racial culture in Malaysia). Unfortunately, Nurbayah could not make it, so we'll have to catch her some other day. I'll not comment much on the food, as for me, the most important aspect was to have to opportunity to sit down together with friends in a comfortable environment, free from the nerve-wrecking issues of daily office work.

Interesting enough, there was a brief power trip again while we were dining - I'm not sure if this was localized to the hotel, or if the surrounding buildings were similarly affected.

We ate and talked, and generally had a good time, and it was only in the end that we realized that we were the only ones left in the restaurant (all the other tables were empty - everyone else had left).

Well, another successful happy outing - let's all wait and see where's we have our next group gathering.

BBQ at Chong FC and Sim BL

It was a Friday, then end of a long week at work. Just as I was about to shut down my company-issued laptop and call it a day, I received an invitation to a BBQ, organized by the Chong FC and Sim BL at their home.

Coming straight from the office, I was much out of place wearing my working attire, while everyone else was dressed casually. Fortunately, it was a cool night, so I did not have to suffer like a snowman in the middle of summer.

Yum, yum - so many choices - which one to pick first...?

A round table discussion without a round table, and for some, without a chair

Plus, to be honest, it was a pot-luck dinner, which I felt a little uncomfortable attending empty-handed. Nonetheless, I was happy to be invited as a guest, and to meet up with many old friends, some of whom I had not seen for years.

One of whom I speak was Swee Heng, who left Vishay two years ago to join another nearby semiconductor manufacturer. He came with his family, and I will surely remember his son, who was so tired he slept through the entire BBQ!

Also present was Lim KS, who also left Vishay quite recently, to join a solar panel manufacturer also in the vicinity of Melaka.

Note too the presence of Chea Thin, who left way back in 2008, but decided to return some years later to rejoin the team. She's in the picture below sitting next to Amelia, all listening attentively while Chong Wee Kiong tells his tale. We're just missing the campfire and guitar.... :)

Chong Wee Kiong captures the attention of the group with an intriguing tale, while in the background, another forum takes place

The majority of the crowd was the Vishay Sensor / IRDC team. Ironically, as of late, I was joining more of the activities organized by them, instead of the Optocoupler / SSR team - perhaps it's because the former group was made up of many pioneers who were in since the acquisition by Vishay....(?)

By the way, in case anyone was wondering up to now, these photos were taken on a iPhone 4 (not 4S), where they were touched up and resized too before uploading here via my laptop. Sorry if they appear rather grainy and over-saturated (even going beyond the extremes of Ken Rockwell). Photography skills a bit rusty - have to brush up a bit after a long span of laying dormant....

It was definitely good to have the opportunity for all of us to meet up outside the office. It just goes to show that whatever differences or challenges faced at work, off the corporate battlefield, we are all friends. Considering the fact the people practically spend most of their waking hours each day at work, it's no wonder that the general work and social environment at the workplace has a great influence on our feeling tone.

Well, always great to see friends, and I eagerly look forward to our next event, most likely, the Mid-Autumn / Moon Cake Festival that marks the middle of the eighth lunar month.