Trip to Hat Yai

I made a trip to Hat Yai back in July earlier this year. Hat Yai is a city in southern Thailand near the Malaysian border. The flight from Kuala Lumpur took around 1 hour and 15 minutes and this is a popular spot for many Malaysians staying near the northern region.

The main purpose of the trip was to take time off my busy schedule and enjoy the weekend there while looking out for good food. There is a lot of tasty stuff there and I think I gained a few pounds before I got back to Kuala Lumpur.

There is lots of street food and I think these are some of the common stalls that you will come across. The fried chicken is something that is unforgettable as I have been eating them since young. It's great to be able to find them again! Yummy ... !

The Thai Mango Sticky Rice Pudding or commonly known as Khao Niaow Ma Muang in Thai is a Thai classic dessert. The sticky rice with freshly cut mango together with coconut sauce is just too delicious to resist!

While walking around the morning market, I found one stall selling BBQ pork. The aroma from the BBQ was too much to resist. It is definitely a MUST TRY if you encounter them. Looking at the pictures still bring back good memories of the BBQ pork and the wonderful taste of it!

Pad Thai is a stir-fried rice noodle dish commonly served as a street food and at casual local eateries in Thailand. Though plain looking, this dish is delicious with rice noodles, stir-fried egg, fish sauce, garlic, vegetables and chicken. This has become my favourite Thai dish and it's something that I don't miss whenever I am in Thailand.

Pineapple fried rice needs no further introduction as it's another common dish served by food restaurants. The fragrant friend rice served with cashew nuts, chicken cubes, pineapple with some fish sauce is definitely another dish you have to taste when you are in Thailand!

And there you go the highlights of all the great food for the last trip to Hat Yai! Looking forward to another delicious treat in Thailand soon.

The Gunners

I believe if you are in South East Asia, the words for EPL is pretty familiar and even more common if you are guy that likes to watch football. English Premier League or in short known as EPL beholds the football league in UK. As the time difference is about right in Malaysia, we get to watch the live football matches every Saturday and Sunday.

My favourite English team is Arsenal. I've been watching them play for the past 15 years at least. The famous players of my era like Thierry Henry, Marc Overmars, Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pirès and Patrick Vieira will always be in my mind. The way the team played together and the days they won the league and cup trophies will always be remembered!

Arsenal or more commonly known as "The Gunners" is a North London club and has been playing in top flight football since 1919. I believe there's a lot of history for this club and if you wish to know more, you can get all the information from wikipedia.

Let's talk about the current season as everything is about NOW and not the PAST! Arsene Wenger managed to recruit Alexis Sanchez. Sanchez was impressive during the World Cup in June 2014 in Brazil. I believe this playmaker cum forward should be able to drive Arsenal to greater heights. So far his performance in the Premier League has been pretty okay. He has one assist in the EPL but has yet to score. I believe he is still trying to settle down in a new league and I'm confident he'll be doing well this season.

Bacary Sagna moved to Manchester City last summer and Arsenal was without the reliable right back. Fortunately for the club, they managed to sign Mathieu Debuchy to cover for the vacant right back post. Like any new signings, they should be given a little bit of time to settle in and get used to the tactics that are deployed by the manager.

It's another crunching weekend where Arsenal will take on Leicester City on Sunday. Lying 5th in the championship table with 4 points from 2 games seems okay for now but it's always important to grab as many points as you can. The premier league is for 10 months and anything can happen within this time frame. This is definitely a good test for the manager's tactics and the players mental and physical ability as they have to demonstrate week in and week out on their strengths and pitch performance. Good luck to Arsenal and I hope to see them winning their away match!

What's your phone?

With new smartphones model launching every now and then, what's your pick on your next smartphone? I used to have that vision that I'll be owning the Samsung Galaxy S5 but then these days, I am more in the Xiaomi MI4. 

The following table of comparison of smartphones were taken from oizoioi.com.my.

For me, the Xiaomi MI4 seems to be at par with Samsung Galaxy S5 with some key features that distinctly beat the competitor. To be fair, Xiaomi MI4 has just been launched in China while the Samsung Galaxy S5 has been launched since early this year. The many months in between will obviously allow the competitor to review your phone and come out with something more powerful in terms of the phone specifications.

Oppo Find 7 was launched back in June and that phone comes with two features that I really like. The large screen of 5.5-inch ultra-sharp Quad HD display (2560×1440 pixels, 538ppi) and the VOOC rapid charging technology that is 400% faster than normal charging. For me, the battery life of the phone is the utmost importance. Another point to note is that while most smartphones and tablets have an Amp rating of 1–2 Amps with regards to their chargers, which means that 2 Amps is the maximum current the device will draw. The Oppo Find 7 and Find 7A on the other hand, are able to receive much higher current, and on the VOOC charger itself, you’ll see that it can output 4.5 Amps – more than double the typical amperage. This is another factor in providing the huge boost that we get in battery charging times.

I'm still going for the Xiaomi MI4 when it launches in Malaysia. I guess it should be available before Christmas this year. Maybe I'll get my wife to get me that for this year's Christmas present! That's called wishful thinking. The official price has yet to be announced in Malaysia but I'm guessing it should be around RM1,088 to RM1,288. Let's hope Xiaomi is able to keep the price low at RM1,088 and I guess we will know pretty soon!

It's a long weekend for you folks in Malaysia with the nation celebrating its 57th year of independence. Have a good weekend and Happy Merdeka!

How To Pass Time?

These days with smartphones, you definitely have a game or two to keep yourself occupied for a while or de-stress after a long day! One of my favourite pass time is Mahjong 3P.  Mahjong is a popular game in South East Asia. For more information on how to play, you can refer to wikipedia for the complete set of rules and regulation. Click here to view it now!

No doubt that you can get addicted to this game. It's pretty simple to play and the best part is there is NOTHING TO LOSE! You get free coins daily through the spin so it's okay to lose. I used to play with my friends and I had to learn the hard way. Got to pay tuition fees to really learn and understand the game.

Attached above is my best WIN so far! It's definitely not easy as when you level up, the players are really good and won't let you win that easily. I'm now stuck at some level as it's really tough but it's all in the game!

If you really like to play mahjong, you should definitely download this game and give it a go! I've recommended this game to a few friends and they are enjoying it for sure! So if you have some time, go download it! Look for Mahjong 3P from the Play Store for android users. I believe the name should be similar for the Apple store too. Good luck and have lots of fun!

The Craze About mi Power Banks

Since day 1 when Xiaomi was able to sell their mobile phones to all the Malaysian, it has been a HIT and it's still one HOT product till today! No matter how many mobile phones and power banks that they make available on each Tuesday, all these devices are sold out within the next few minutes.

The Mi Power Bank is indeed very pretty with the sleek aluminium casing. The large capacity of the power bank allows you to charge your mobile phones at least for 2 to 2.5 times. I have been charging my Samsung Galaxy S3 for close to 3 times with no issues. For more details on the power bank, you can check them out here

Mi Power Banks have always been selling like hot cakes. Fortunately, I have 10 units of the 10400 mAh power bank and I wish to sell it off for RM50 per piece. Each and every power bank purchased will be given a free skin like the colours available below.

If you are keen, I am able to do COD for places like KL, PJ, Subang and Shah Alam. PM me for more details.

Call Up for Blood Donation

This is the first time I received a call from the Blood Bank asking me to donate blood. Normally I would be the one trying to arrange a time and date to donate. Fortunately I was on leave on Monday so I had the chance to help an elderly man who needed 4 packs of blood for an operation on Tuesday. So off I went to the well known Subang Jaya Medical Centre which is now known as Sime Darby Medical Centre.

Upon reaching the hospital, I went up to the 5th floor and walked straight in the Blood Bank. I was the only one at the counter at that time. The nurse was happy to know that she called me earlier and I could donate blood on that day itself. I had to fill up the form to agree that I'm healthy and fit to donate blood without any sicknesses and so forth. Then she performed a check to ensure that there is enough iron in my blood. My finger tip was pricked to extract some blood for this test. It's not painful but at times the puncture at the sensitive fingertip might be annoying. I passed that test easily and I was asked to walk into the room to  select which bed I would like to rest upon before the blood donation began.

A very helpful nurse talked me through the process before I donated blood. As this is not my first time, I was nodding away to acknowledge her advise and thoughtfulness. She checked my blood pressure and it was very good. If I remember correctly, it was 120/80 which is great! I joked that I never had such good blood pressure when I'm working! Haha. There was an injection that stings a bit before the whole blood donation process began. If you are afraid of blood or big needles, you shouldn't be staring at the nurse when she does her job!

After like 4 minutes, I was done donating blood. I guess my blood pressure is good thus I filled up the bag with blood pretty fast! Every blood donor will have a small red booklet. This booklet will keep track of how many times you have donated blood. I believe all donors will be happy to see that this little red booklet has been updated. Not bad for reaching 23!

I was treated to a cup of Milo and some biscuits. The nurse was very nice and gave me a piece of paper to read on what I shouldn't do after donating blood. I still remember my friends and I went to play football right after donating blood. I guess we were still young then and no one had any problems thankfully!

There's a lot of reasons why people don't donate blood as there's lots of myths around. Donating blood saves lives for sure and I'm happy that I'm given the opportunity to help another person! I definitely felt good and I sincerely hope the man had a successful operation! 

AM Riser

Woke up late this morning and I was rushing to work. It started to drizzle a bit when I was about to reach Damansara. So happen I stopped near the Shell petrol station and I saw the KFC outlet. Decided to have my breakfast there too while waiting for the rain to go away.

The morning breakfast set by KFC is yummy! I choose to have hot Milo instead of the orange juice. It was a cold morning already so I didn't need the big cup of icy orange juice. Even though the burger was a bit small for my size, it was good enough to last me till lunch time.

It's now time for lunch. Posting food makes me hungry. Gotta go .... time to get more food! Have a good Monday you all!

Coconut Shake

Earlier today it was one HOT day! I was driving around Subang and I remembered about this stall in USJ4 which sells coconut shake. The first time I had coconut shake was in Klebang, Malacca. After tasted that coconut shake, I have always wanted to go back for more. Thankfully I was introduced to this place by a good friend of mine. 

You will be able to see a few vans at the junction of USJ4. AR Coconut Shake is on the right hand side of the road. You will definitely be able to see the van as it's the first one on the right. Ordered yourself a coconut shake and the first taste of it will be very refreshing! In such a HOT weather, a nice cool drink will definitely make your day! You can add more vanilla ice-cream to make your coconut shake creamier! So if you are near USJ4, come over and grab yourself a cup of coconut shake! 

Slurp slurp! I finished mine in 5 minutes! Too yummy for sure! 

My First Post

Blogging used to be popular and it is still popular. I am not the typical guy that blogs a lot but these days I do see the benefit of having a blog and maintaining it seriously. Let's just hope the seriousness continues.

These days a lot of people are very into Xiaomi products. From mobile phones to the accessories, there is always a demand for it. I do have some products which might suit you. Do have a look at them and hopefully you enjoy what you see! Hoping to establish a good business relationship with you! 

Stay tuned for more good stuff!