Dreams and changes

A Brother's Love - My first liver transplant

2011-09-04T00:49:00.000-07:00

The first time I met Mr E in National University Hospital was on the day before he would take the biggest risk of his life. I was struck by this friendly and cheerful giant. At over 180m tall and more than 100 kg, he clearly towered over me, the unsuspecting tiny surgical registrar. I noticed how much he engaged himself in the conversation as my consultant surgeon explained to him again about the entire procedure, never mincing a single word on how things could go triumphantly right..or even tragically wrong.

He is one of the healthiest person in the room and we have to be absolutely certain that it. After all, we have subjected him to almost every single laboratory tests and imaging modalities available in this medical centre on a young person who would never need it under normal circumstances. However, Mr E is not a normal person..in fact, he puts all of us to shame for doing something remarkable for his brother. He is giving up more than 70% of his liver although he absolutely doesn’t need to do so. All for the love of his youngest brother, Mr A who could die if he doesn’t get a liver soon.

What drives a person to this kind of sacrifice? As I prepared myself mentally and physically for the exciting yet arduous task of a living donor liver transplantation on a beautiful quiet Saturday morning in NUH, I asked myself whether I could have done the same for my siblings or loved ones. Why are doctors willing to help be part of this big risk? Why are we not saving more lives this way? Why?

No choice. There is simply no choice for people like E and his brother. I can only think of these 2 words. Between life and death, they decide to seek life. They travelled all the way from Middle East to Singapore in order to seek the best that liver surgeons, hepatologist, radiologist immunologist, etc could offer.

If only more people step up and say, “I am willing to be an organ donor shall I perish and I am suitable to be one” or “Please doctor, my loved one may be dying, but I want his death to be life for many others”. In dying, we can find life but why are people so unwilling to do so. As many of us search for answers and dwindle on longer and longer based on indecisiveness and fear, courageous people like Mr E and many others embark on this path less travelled – living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). A path fraught with legal red-tapes, financial constraints, personal sacrifices and even death for both donor and recipient. It's never a path taken lightly or without due consideration.

Organ transplantation is not new in this region. In fact, Human Organ Transplant Act (HOTA) has been around for at least 2 decades in Singapore but the numbers of transplantation has been dwindling abysmally over the years. The amount of liver transplants done in this country this year is woeful and augurs poorly for the future. We have less than 10 cadaveric transplantation cases countrywide this year, which was the bread and butter of transplantation surgery.

As a result, most of the transplants had been the extremely high risk LDLT. This is in comparison to some other Asian centres, like Korea and Japan where it can be an average of 350 cases per hospital per year. This means that there is at least one transplant going on in the operating theatres each day, every single year in these hospitals.

The saddest part for me is that many people hesitate to donate organs of their dying loved ones due to many reasons. My head spins when I hear of many creative, incredulous reasons why a person in intensive care cannot donate their organ. There are no logical, moral, religious and logistics reasons not to donate organs in this country. My summary of all the excuses so far are captured in 2 adjectives: unwillingness and ignorance.

Every case of transplantation is an exciting journey upon itself but not every transplantation stories have happy endings. They almost never receive the publicity or fanfare they deserve. During my first experience with a liver transplant surgery, my heart was beating in joy and humility for what I was about to experience – it’s literally sharing the gift of life from one person to another. In my little mind, it was one of the best, jaw-dropping, awe-inducing demonstration of surgical knowledge, dexterity & skills, inter-disciplinary teamwork, medical camaraderie and top-notched, dedicated support staff.

This act enables someone who was constantly ill and dying and transforms them into a real human again. They will no longer be dependent on machines and doctors for long term. Although each recipient may face an armamentarium of medicine in the beginning, they will soon be weaned down to one or two maintenance medications and minimal follow-ups with doctors.

What are the highest achievements of a civilization? What is the marker of a successful, egalitarian society? It’s when we stop looking inward and start to look at the common good. It’s when we see our struggling, suffering comrades and in love, extend a helping hand. We must continue to support the transplantation program in this country before it becomes a dying art, a fossil, a relic of past glory.

As of today, Mr A is still resting in intensive care while Mr E is carefully nursed in another high dependency unit. We pray that these 2 young people will recover soon and return heroically to their country within 1 or 2 months.

Highlights from the land down under Part 2 : Urban landscapes

2011-07-29T23:38:00.000-07:00

So, back to Sydney (I know I have been pretty inconsistent with blogging but hey, with accumulated sleep of 30hours over the past 1 week, I have been really busy).

Walking around in Sydney was very effortless and enjoyable. There are interesting sights and good food everywhere.

The sun was out in full force despite being the height of winter. Just a simple cardigan sufficed. There are lots of sporty Australians running around in shorts and light tops.

And of course I took plenty of pictures around the Sydney Opera House area. Pretty ain't it? There is a cool cafe/bistro within the compound while shows/musicals/performances are held weekly.

Time for some cardio sessions in Sydney? It took me a few tries to perfect this star-jump!

The Opera House from across the bay. This is from the bridge side. This is NOT taken with the proper lens (as I only travelled with one all-purpose lens).

This is the Rocks area - the most historical area in Sydney whereby the first few hardy English people first landed and established a 'convict' colony. Plenty of shops, cafes, museums and visitor centres to keep you occupied while the weekend markets are well-known for offering extremely good bargains.

Dusk at observatory hill. Notice the sunlight piercing through the clouds. Perfect 'romantic' moment for the couple there? However, on closer glance...it was actually 2 guys/buddies having a chat about life!

Another view of the Harbour Bridge from Observatory Hill. Nightfall arrived around 430-5pm during winter, thus limiting the hours that we could walk about. Anyway, time for dinner!

to be continued....

Highlights from the land down under Part 1

2011-07-17T02:37:00.000-07:00

Prelude..

Despite my delusion that I'm actually a celebrated travel-photojournalist, I've only been to 2 continents my entire life. Asia and Europe. When the opportunity to hop down under for a meeting in Australia, I was ~~ecstatic~~ ~~excited~~ lost for word. I've long wondered about life in the Southern Hemisphere - winter in July, gazing at the Southern cross, seeing a kangaroo/koala/platypus/Australian in their natural habitat and catching a glimpse of the famous Outback. The list goes on.

So, the moment I stepped onto the Qantas flight, I was very happy just because there is a skycam. It's so interesting seeing the plane I'm on departing and landing. It helps having a running commentary about 'flying' from the person next to you. Cool...

Winter is surprisingly mild in Sydney...according to my irritatingly-immune-to-cold-weather friend R, who walked around wearing a T-shirt while I was shivering my light jacket. I think it was the cold, biting wind which I couldn't adjust to...living in the eternal sauna-like Malaysia/Singapore almost my entire life. However, I began to love the cold after a while, especially after a warm meal.

Talking about meals - food in Sydney is superb. Aside from the fast food @ Oporto on the first night (yeah, we were THAT tired to notice), each meal in this exciting city seem to be really good. Dinner @ Mazzaro, courtesy of our sponsors gave us an early inkling of what to expect in the following few days. It was yummy!

My main course was this pan-fried salmon with crackling skin ( I don't know how they made this impossibly-crunchy dish) that reminded me of the best roast suckling pig back home. Dessert was a trio of ice-cream and I poached some of poached pear from my neighbour. Finally, I'm living my Masterchef Australia dream. Hooray!

What best to accompany such gluttonous dinner/wine session but a quintessential jaunt down Elizabeth Street to the nearby Sydney Harbour area. Weather was superb as we gape at the pretty bridge and the Opera House. Nice...

to be continued

House @ Dempsey

2011-06-26T00:48:00.000-07:00

After church service today, SW and I decided to go to Dempsey since her parents are in town. Having a friend who can drive really improves my quality of life (of course, I think I should consider getting some wheels myself, but nonetheless, still waiting for prices of stuff to drop). She suggested House as PS cafe was packed to the brim.

It was a sunny and relaxing Sunday - having a few hours of rest while oncall helped my mood as well.

It is a pleasant cafe right next to a secondary jungle, which I heard belonged to a certain Malaysian royalty, therefore undeveloped.

We ordered different kinds of food - pasta, pizza, fish and burgers. I remembered that the food was quite good. I wasn't disappointed.

My pasta - which is the chef's favourite - called Bay Prawn Cappellini was gorgeous. I loved the fresh prawns, fresh taste of leek and also the birds eye chilli scattered sparingly. The other dish ordered by my friends were good too. I enjoyed the truffle-infused fries and also the thin-crust pizza (so thin, it was like pappadam!). SO will I come again? Definitely. Anyway, today's outing marked the first time I ventured out with a 'heritage' camera handed down to me. I kinda like the pictures compared to my usual digital camera. Can't wait to try it out in Sydney soon!

What happened to me?

2011-06-08T05:31:00.001-07:00

Someone asked me: did you stop blogging completely? I think yes, for the past 6 months...because of various reasons. Mainly, lack of motivation and heavy inertia. Life on this island is so hectic and draining...to the point that I lost interest in most things I love, including running, church-related activities, studying and even relationships. I felt like I just couldn't go on as before. It was just humdrum daily grind of work and facing the four walls at my rented HDB room. Quite dismal eh?

Then recently, something clicked..I don't know whether my neurotransmitters began firing at full cylinders again, or I actually bounced back from 'adjustment' disorder...I began running and singing/playing guitar without stressing about it. I even regained my confidence in operating and taking charge in the theatre.

Although I am still as confused as ever about relationships, my optimism has returned and I hope one day I will find the 'one'..in the meantime, smile and c'est la vie! looking forward to a return to blogging and more posts & pictures ahead :-)

Happy New Year - a note on my only true vacation of 2010

2011-01-01T01:09:00.000-08:00

Life's been crazy lately...with so much of things to settle at work and travelling to do, finally I have a day for myself here in Sg. As it's raining cats and dogs outside, I guess it's time to do some spring cleaning, hatch up some new year's resolutions and blog!

December was also the month I took a genuine break - my only real vacation this entire year packed with unusual events. Hopped on a short flight to Manila for a surgical conference, only to realize that we haven't registered and ended up doing everything else besides attending conference! One thing stood out : our previous fellows a.k.a Manila hosts - they are amazingly helpful, affable and hospitable.

Since my return from Manila and boracay, I've been heaping praises upon the beaches of the Visayas islands. It was an accidental vacation, squeezed in just because we wanted to visit the Philippines General Hospital smack in the middle of Ermita (apparently, a 'scarlet' district during the days of G.I Joes). Thus the highlight of the Manila segment of the trip was to visit the trauma unit in one of the busiest hospitals in Manila.

Conditions were harsh as we saw how the trauma patients were treated. I was simply amazed at how the doctors keep their spirits up. Emerging from the hospital, I was very glad that even the smaller hospitals that I have worked in back in Malaysia wasn't like that.

Stark contrasts abound in this metropolis - the differences between Makati or Bonifacio compared to Ermita, Manila City, etc astounded me at all levels. Its like two different countries. Traffic is of course locked in this ever-present congestion as it takes 1 hour to travel from one end of the city to the other. The least we could do is to visit the most historic part of the city - the Intramuros, Rizal Park, Manila Cathedral and San Augustin Cathedral. The whole area is very different from the rest of the urban crawl. It's actually quite charming and Spanish-looking.

Anyhow, it was of great relief that I landed in Boracay after the hustle and bustle of city life. Now Boracay is and remain to be the crown jewel of vacation islands in Visayas. Being only 50minutes away from Manila or Cebu City by flight, it's very accessible. I bumped into tourists from all over the world - mostly from Taiwan and Korea, though.

Favourite pastimes on the island with the longest stretch of beach imaginable (I couldn't reach the end of the beach on foot) include diving, snorkelling, sailing, fishing, lazing, people-gazing, eating, shopping, eating :-) Or just soaking in the warm shallow clear waters and admiring the brilliant sunset.

This is me during the island-hopping day - exploring the many sea caves on the crystal cove island. I enjoyed the day tremendously as we zipped from one island to another on a tiny catamaran powered by the strong sea-winds. Eco-friendly and very cool :-)

On the small island opposite Boracay island, there were interesting stony structures, reminiscent of those I saw in Ireland years ago.

Thats the 'best' sunset I could get out of the mostly cloudy days here. I guess rainy season ain't so kind to us after all. We had alternating good and bad weather on this island as compared to non-stop blazing sunshine during the dry season in the middle of the year.

We landed on the part of the island near Shangri-La Hotel, almost on the private beach owned by the hotel. It seemed very picturesque, but this part of the island is quite deserted.

One of the many restaurants on the white beach. It was totally packed with all sorts of business - mainly restaurants, massage services, manicure/pedicure/spa, souvenirs stalls, etc. Tourism is indeed alive and kicking on this island.

Will I come again? Yes, I will. With a much bigger group and during better weather of course. Boracay is beautiful!

Out of the middle of the jungle

2010-11-28T00:58:00.000-08:00

Growing up and staying in a place your whole life doesn't mean you know all about it, esp since you've been away for the past 3 years. I found a little piece of rustic charm of Indochina in KL, situated in a place quietly and discreetly tucked away in the corner of Ampang, called Tamarind Springs.

I came here for my belated birthday celebration...thoroughly enjoyed it. The food was delicious (and do expect hefty price tags) but most importantly, the ambience was unique, befitting of special occassions.

Starters consist of a variety of fish cakes, rice-rolls (Vietnamese popiah), prawns and savoury little spoons of mixed vegetable. Cue the cameras flashing away on the big platter of aromatic & tasty delicacies. Quite a good start to the meal ahead.

We've decided on a meal of 'seafood'. My favourite is the soft-shell crab in coconut curry...it was neither spicy nor overpowering, just yummy & crunchy. How I wish portions were bigger as there were only 4 little crabs for the two of us (remember, this ain't Sri Lankan crabs)...at least we had more to come.

The next 2 dish were typical Thai fare - mixed vegetable in fish sauce and grilled salmon with spinach in savoury sauce. Nothing much to shout about, but at least these are healthy alternatives to typical fried and super-spicy Chinese food.

Dessert was different from the theme of the night, as we ordered from Il Tempio, the Italian restaurant on the floor below. When the tiramisu and durian cheesecake arrived, I would say that the tiramisu was forgettable although the durian cheesecake was quite unique.

The entire place was fully booked but you could see (from the pic below) that it's far from full. Ambience was perfect but I would say that it's pricey and the place was inaccessible to anyone without a car. Anyhow, this is still a pretty unforgettable and magical-looking place.

Gooood week

2010-11-07T00:35:00.000-07:00

Wow…what an inspiring week! The whole week represent a series of events that threw big spanners in my descent towards mediocre spirit and lackluster, demotivated living. I’m back to my hype-whatever, motivated and optimistic self all thanks to the following events….

Since I begin to blog enthusiastically again, guess I am back to being CPD again. I always feel better towards the end of the year, especially as thanksgiving,my birthday, Christmas and new year approach. Maybe the end of the year bonus helps (HAHA, I wish)

So, started the week in a new posting – adult cardiac surgery work means a lot of excitement and long hours in the OT. ..some of the things I LURVE most in practicing medicine. The other perks are of course, numerous, i.e getting medicine whenever I want, knowing when to stop and also to start running, wearing the amorphous, monochromatic ‘pyjamas’ in the workplace (a.k.a scrubs) and the list goes on. But I digress.

Anyway, spent some time cutting up, uh, I mean operating on people and literally giving them a new life is really fascinating. When we put people on bypass machine, we are inducing death. Modern-Lazarus- work per se is not everyone’s cup of tea. Every case involves extremely long hours and super steep, unforgiving learning curve. Guess there are pros and cons to everything in life, ain’t it?

Other than spending time in the OT, of course I see patients in the clinic. For the first time since medical school, I actually learnt lots while sitting in with the chief himself. Never knew I could work and learn in a fun way before.

The biggest inspiration of the year came in the form of an emergency case that only the most courageous team will think of going in. I mean, the patient has already seen the light at the end of the tunnel once. That being said, we still bit the bullet, went ahead with a life-saving decision and with everyone’s full consent and knowledge, gave the family a final hope, with the only possible effort.

Although the patient has passed on a few days later, this experience left an indelible mark on my life – something clicked in the jigsaw puzzle and I rediscovered the meaning of why I am here. It’s to do our best under fire, even when all hope is gone. God gave us the skills and talents, it’s up to us whether we are good stewards, whether we leave a legacy behind, should we perish. Incredible enlightenment.

Then, I read this book called ‘BORN TO RUN’ by Christopher McDougall. I recommend it to any runners and anyone wanting to change their life. It was such an empowering and exciting tome. The Tarahumara people are downright wonderful that I felt like picking up a backpack and joining them for a year or two. I will no longer look at running the same way again. We are truly bio-designed to run…our feet are wonderful engineering feat that propels us at long distances….extremely long distances. So much so that I started running again the past few days 

If there is one book that any runner is born to read, its BORN TO RUN...the book that triggered the wildly-popular barefoot running craze nowadays and the extreme ultra-distance runners like my dear fren, AYPS. (Unsponsored Promotion, courtesy of the National Library Board of Singapore)

After feeling really inspired mentally, professionally and physically, the final icing on the cake is the spiritual blessing that I encountered today as we celebrated Thanksgiving – a massive gathering of a family of 5000 people at our Paya Lebar complex.

Pastor reminded us of our role and existence in Singapore – to be leaders, to go where no one has gone before, to create a model when there aren’t any. This is what we call strategic leadership. Other than a power-packed sermon, we had a performance and a free dinner for the massive crowd. Logistics were impeccable as everyone was stuffed, happy and comfortable.

The lesson of the week : Reading can be a dangerous activity - it can change the way you live, forever :-)

Transformed! Part 1

2010-09-27T00:33:00.000-07:00

I'm home and already I miss the happy, friendly people, the delicious bryani of Hyderabad and the van-rides everyday:-P.....Seriously speaking, I have never been so grateful for everything in my life. How can I begin to describe the things I have witnessed in India, the heart-breaking testimonies of the orphans and the slums dwellers there? It ain't how Hollywood painted it to be, in case you begin to visualize Slumdog Millionaire (although it is a very good movie, nothing beat the real life experience). This is faith in motion, reaching out to the needy and giving what we can to those with open hearts.

There are no pictures, except for those in my mind, and no proper words to describe how I felt when I first saw the squalid dwelling tents that these people inhabit. No sanitation, no proper electricity, no walls, no doors, no beds, no kitchens...I couldn't believe it at first that families actually fight for survival on a daily basis in such a condition. After an initial few hours of denial, I accepted what I see before me. God removed the sense of hopelessness that filled my heart in the beginning,and gradually I see the fighting spirit and the hunger for self-actualization, love and medical care among these people.

As we played with the orphans and children in the slums, I could sense the love and light of Christ permeates through their lives. So many abandoned and lonely little children began to emerge from their former shells and blossomed into sweet, well-behaved and loving kids.

The cute munchkins have no Internet, television, Toys R Us...just donated clothes, simple food and each other. Yet, with their beaming smile and huge, intelligent eyes, they welcomed us as we sang songs of praise together, played games, learned various skills and acted Bible stories together. When we as temporary sojourners in their lives prayed for them, I could sense the covering of God's protection and grace upon their lives.

Some of the children told me that they want to be medical doctor, software engineer, artists as they gave me huge hugs. What I hope for is that the children could sense the love we have for them although we could only spend a few days with them. I hope that they will grow up strong and healthy, that they could achieve their dreams for I see so much potential and hope in each of them.

When we were at the medical camps, again there is this powerful atmosphere that swept across the village as we set up camp. The first camp was in this hot, dry village that seemed so remote. The 2 local doctors told us that this is the first time the organization has gone into this village. I was overwhelmed, not with the amount of patients...hehe, I felt like a mini-celebrity for the day :-) but with the reception and how much of honour and gratitude the villagers accorded to us. I saw all the women who needed medical attention while my colleagues saw the men. As the village is very far away from the nearest hospital, I am not sure whether they can go for further investigation but we gave our best and referred some to further care.

At the same time, the rest of my team-mates were busy doing a lot of things...playing with the children in the courtyard in front us on our verandah, under the bright sun and deep blue sky. Some of us were speaking to the villagers, praying and releasing blessing upon the villagers who came to us. When we left at sunset, although many of us were sunburnt and exhausted (all of us dozed off in the long, bumpy and warm journey back to Hyderabad) awashed with the afterglow of a precious and soul-enriching experience.

The next medical camp was an equally amazing experience as we saw patients in the city slums, under the shelter of a half-finished building (a.k.a. construction site). The spectrum of patients were different but the crowd came despite heavy rain and strong winds. We saw more babies and mothers this time as the adult men seemed to be out working. After the strong heat of the first camp, indeed the cool weather was a huge blessing to us as we see patients after patients non-stop.

To be continued.....

Lookin' forward

2010-09-19T07:13:00.000-07:00

Heya...been a while since we last chatted. Well, it's been a crazy month for me as I fully had this baptism of fire in my new department. The good news is: I'm leavin on a jetplane. Up, up and away! I'm going to the ancient land of (drum-rolls please)....INDIA!

What's more, I am going with a team of like-minded people who are really making a difference in our community and in other communities beyond our shores. The past few months has been very demanding as we trained and prepared for this trip amidst all our work, family, social commitments even as we pray that we'll fully shine for Christ in all that we do.

No pics yet, as I intend to post up lotsa pictures from this trip in 1-2 weeks' time. So, in the meantime, do pray for us as we go do some good. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!

An oasis of peace in the Orchard

2010-08-29T01:59:00.000-07:00

Hi...I'm back! After weeks of crazy activities, I can finally blog about something which means I have a day off. Phew, a hectic start to a very interesting posting.

This time I choose to blog about a beautiful place in the middle of Orchard...smack in the centre of the O road (mid point) at the rooftop of Orchard Central, there is this Vietnamese place called Nuoc.

Nuoc is one of those upmarket Vietnamese joints that people take their dates on, to impress some clients or just to chill out. Ambience is absolutely superb and tranquil, although I bet it'll look very different at night as you gaze across the skyline.

We were the first people to arrive, thus it appeared really exclusive initially. However, groups of diners trickled in as we began eating. Being situated at the rooftop, it's not in the middle of pedestrian traffic, thus it takes very discerning diners to search and locate this place.

My favourite dish is the appetizer, which is the deep fried vietnamese chicken spring rolls. The spring rolls has this amazingly thin and crispy skin and this dish was accompanied with some fresh and fragrant fish sauce. I'm very picky when it comes to fried food as I often get bad throat from eating food fried in poor-quality recycled oil, but not a trace of that from the spring rolls offered here. Quite a good start, eh?

My next favourite dish is this tantalizing scrumptious chicken that was sauteed with lotsa lemongrass, ginger and onions. M said that this is her favourite dish. I think it went very well with the perfectly cooked fluffy white rice.

The vegetable stew, on the other hand, it's a hit and miss thing. It can be considered a hit because it's so healthy and simple, but a miss because the dish doesn't justify the price. Hardly any skills needed, although the portion is relatively big.

We ended the meal with a yam, coconut milk and glutinous rice dessert that really makes you feel like dozing off straight away. It's so high-carb and high loaded in simple sugar that I could only take 2 spoonfuls. I've never liked any desserts so I shall not comment on it.

What's the major plus point? Ambience and location. I love the garden and the decor. The service is superb and the people helping us were very attentive and prompt. As for the food, I think the standard of food is upper average and the cost, well, it's Orchard Road, I guess this is what I expected (which is on the high-ish range). I think I will come again, but not on a regular basis...just to experience this place at night. In the meantime, I think the bosses should expand on the menu and offer a bigger selection.

Warning: Extreme Gluttony ahead!

2010-08-08T07:45:00.000-07:00

Do not read this post with an empty stomach…you’ll be heading to the fridge in a very short while. In my quest for good food near and far, I’ve ‘researched’ on 2 restaurants : Sushi Tei in Holland and Ivins, a Peranakan place in Upper Thomson Road.

I wonder if I should really write about the omnipresent Japanese franchise stores (the ranks of Sakae Sushi, Sushi Kin, etc) but I’ve been to ST only twice and I liked the fuss-free food so far.

My theme of the day was raw food, a.k.a sashimi and I wasn’t disappointed. I had salmon with tapioca, followed by a platter of sushi and more sashimi. However, not long after that, I remembered this idea of mercury poisoning and how we are supposed to avoid most seafood, especially oily fish and shellfish.

So, my days with salmon, cod, halibut, haddock are (almost) over. Although I think grouper and pomfret are supposed to be ok..time to find out more. Anyhow, low level of mercury in our body is not too bad…until unless u find that you have poor memory in what we call ‘mercury fog’. That’s when we have to take action and go for massive reduction of all possible mercury-contaminated foodstuff.

In the meantime, time to sample more goodies as we head to Upper Thomson Road for some big-time, authentic Peranakan food. Aside from the must-have Ayam Buah Keluak, we had a lot of other goodies.

By the way, if you are not from this part of the world, you must try this buah keluak thingy. The hard, somehow ugly fruit with black shells belies the most ‘meaty’ and flavoursome fruit ever, to the point that we use skewers to force the soft ‘innards’ out of the fruit, after we gobbled up the chicken and the accompanying gravy.

The prawns are ok..at least they were fresh. The gravy is tasty but pales in comparison to the other dish.On the other hand, I love the fried, stuffed tofu. I have this fixation for soft snow-white tofu. Apparently, it’s the secret why some Japanese women never have menopausal symptoms and it’s good for the skin. But I digress. Back to the aromatic world of Peranakan cuisine.

If you want to know more about Peranakan cuisine, there are actually lotsa books about the Baba and Nyonya culture. The longest lineage of Peranakan people are found in Malacca, followed by Penang and Singapore. Do you know why they are different from the rest of the races in Malaysian and Singapore?

Their origins dated back to the era of the great Malaccan sultanate when some Chinese people that accompanied Princess Hang Li Poh settled in Malacca...so, these people from China are here the longest, among the many dialects, some of them marrying the local Malays and adopting their culture. That’s why most Nyonya wear traditional Malay sarongs and speak only Malay, although they look like Chinese. They prefer to populate the Straits Settlement and at one time, they were the richest and most influential overseas Chinese around. Alright, history lesson's over!

Therefore, the Peranakan food a.k.a Nyonya food is a type of fusion culinary experience…spicy Malay mixed with Chinese ingredients. Like the tofu and vege amidst the rendangs and the curries. I’ve always liked Nyonya cooking.

Oh, back to food in front of me in real-time. I really relished the experience in this place…loved the meatballs and bamboo soup soup, beef rendang, ayam buah keluak and tofu while as usual, I really don’t fancy the extremely soft vegetable boiled for hours..reminding of the another famous ‘national’ dish – boiled cabbage. I realized that we didn’t order the babi pongteh…next time then.

So, what’s the shiok-o-meter of Ivins? Will I come again? I would say, I give it a 7/10. And I will definitely come again. Proof: the long queue outside the restaurant as we left the place. Boy, we are glad that we are early :-)

As for ST, I give it a 6/10 and I will go again as it’s near enough and the food is actually better than a lot of other Japanese chain store,i.e mass-produced eateries found in Singapore and Malaysia.

However, discovered that running is better after good food. Ran with extra vigour today (maybe it's my regenerated body, mind and spirit). That' how I know that I am back to my usual self again.

So, what's up for the rest of this long National Day weekend? More work in store as the A & E is running at full strength while a lot of clinics are closed. The saving grace is that most people are out of town, thus we could actually have a proper lunch break alas. Hallelujah!

So, looking forward to more post from me in the near future? You betcha! Hang on for more pictures of good food from this CPD :-) Travel safely wherever you go and...

Take care!

By the way, dinner courtesy of M and her ever-hospitable and welcoming family members. I am indeed blessed to know them!

My degeneration

2010-08-07T05:57:00.000-07:00

I've fallen down this dark, slippery slope of...non-running. Oh goodness, I didn't run for 2 weeks and it's scary. To think I have 2 races coming up in 1 month's time. Aaaah!

It all began on the crazy week last month when I had to fly back KL to and fro, my sister came and then my good friend came. Since they all took turns coming one by one, I was busy the entire week, bringing them around.

We consumed some tried and tested delicacies but there were some interesting discoveries as well.

For once, I discovered that the Merlion looks really small compared to pictures. And the Marina bay area is really clean and atmospheric at night, especially when we cannot see the dust and exhaust fumes from the nearby vehicles :-P

Another discovery: I didn't know that there was a pasar malam at Bugis, highly reminiscent of Petaling Street in KL, albeit sanitized and quieter. And without the ladies of the night! Or their 'managers'! And without the ubiquitous fake Rolexes and Tag Heuers. :-)

We stumbled upon this food stall that was packed with people but we couldn't read the signboard. Because it was all in Mandarin..and this two completely Chinese girls cannot really read Mandarin...sigh....The food looked yummy though. WW and I decided to give it a try (feeling very adventurous that night). After all, we could speak the language therefore, nothing stopping us from ordering something we are completely clueless about.

For less than $5 a person, we both gotten very good deals. We each have this little 'basin' of noodles and condiments from a lot of ingredients that we can choose from. It's like d-i-y noodles. The best part was the chicken-based broth.

It was spicy, but not to the point of tongue-numbing. There is this deepy meaty and savoury taste to it, reminding me of the original soup-noodles I have tasted in Yunnan, China. It's a toned down, Singaporeanized version of Szechuan food. And we adored it!

On the same night, we decided to pay Butter Factory a visit. Now to those non-happening people out there, basically BF is THE night-spot to go to nowadays. The crowd was suspiciously young-looking, barely old enough to tie shoe-laces type.

I kinda regret bringing WW, my guest from KL, waiting in the line. We spent 40 bloody minutes (pardon my explicit language!) waiting in a long, snaking queue trying to get into a small place. I figured out it was hopeless.

Guess who was the first one to give up? Me! Yeah, probably I feel my age catching up as I see many nubile young creatures with the smallest amount of fabric, tottering on high-heels getting in the fastest way possible (via the VIP line) while we were standing on guard. I mean, people waited longer to see me in the hospital.

I had enough. Being extremely dehydrated and marginally grumpy, we decided a few good (and feel-good) drinks at the nearby watering hole (i.e Speakeasy). I love my 'white rabbit' drink, although God knows what they put in there in view of the dark bar. It's eons better than waiting in the line in this humid, hot island.

My gals didn't give up. They wanted to head to CQ, (not the custom quarantine offices) but deep inside, I was getting a bit reluctant bcoz I was the only one about to work at 9am the next day.

As we bundled ourselves into the taxi, I have a feeling that things are about to get really complicated. I wanted to go out with my friends but I don't want to be dead during working hours. I deal with life and death situations after all.

When it boils down to common sense vs fun quotient, I guess I'm already struck by the early signs of ageing. When we reach CQ, I told them I really need to go back home to sleep. Therefore, there goes my night of partying.

Anyway, as a compensation, I promised them that we will definitely go out when my 'treatment' is over...which is in 2 months' time. Yay!

So, to end the story, I still need to motivate myself to run. Therefore, I had this good cheese platter and the Purple plate at this place called 2 a.m dessert bar near my house. Oh, by the way, this is a few days after...when I have gotten enough beauty sleep.

You may ask, what's so special about this place? Other than the laidback atmosphere and the extremely small servings (they must be specializing in the molecular gastronomy thingy), I didn't find the menu extremely appealing. At least the music is good!

Will I come again? Just like BF, I'll probably visit this place only if I have no other choice. Sorry to those BF and DB fans out there! Once bitten, twice shy :-D

A night at the museum

2010-08-01T19:25:00.000-07:00

People don't go to museums much nowadays. It's really a waste because museums are treasure troves of culture, knowledge and history, recording important events, things, art, etc for the future generation.

Thoroughly enjoyed myself at a recent event at the Singapore National Museum and Singapore Art Museum. The entire Bras Basah area was packed with human sardines as everything is free. Now Singaporeans love their free stuff, don't they? There was this funny " World Slowest SMS Message" in front of the art museum where ppl SMS in their message and the living billboards will broadcast the message. Realllly slllloooowwww stuffff....

I was infinitely more interested in something fast and furious. Headed to the kickboxing ring in hope of viewing some 'Ong Bak' style action. On the way, encountered this weird graffiti which I don't understand.

Ong Bak or not..I feel like a real lobak waiting for a few scrawny kids going up on this stage doing the muay thai. Not much to shout about, neither was there any blood and gore. Really exemplified the 'cleanliness' this island is so famous about.

Gave up on the free performances as it was really hot and humid (yes, although I grew up in this weather, I have a right to complain on my own blog k?) I find the aerial acrobat quite interesting but it was near the ending so we walked on to this colonial building...the Singapore National Museum.

Very well lighted up indeed. I wish the museums in KL are this cool...

Nice right? I think the museum looks really classy at night. I like the antenna
dish which forms the backdrop the last performance for the night.

It wasn't that packed inside as most people are outside watching the shows. We went into the galleries and it was quite fun. Saw a lot of different clothes from various generations in the past, old movies, art posters,etc.

There was free screening of P Ramlee movies, fashion shows of the 60s and 70s, etc. The whole place was really atmospheric. I found old gramophones, records, photographs of really retro glammed-up movie stars and even magazine covers like Vogue!

There was even an old bicycle, which depicted the old ice cream hawker that goes house to house in the seventies and eighties. Reminded me when I was very very young (like under 5 year old). After that, the ice cream vendor used motorcycles and this thing was phased out.

Our last stop was the Singaporean food section, which displayed a lot of spices and food from the past. I thought there was free food but unfortunately, everything was plastic! What happened to good old Asian hospitality? Hehehe...

I went home feeling very satisfied with my day, chalking up another museum in my list of places to visit in Singapore. Now onto the Zoo, the Barrage and other parks!

Tale of the missing blogger

2010-07-19T19:56:00.000-07:00

I haven't gone MIA..reali. It's seems unlikely that I would abandon my D & C but I can't help it.

This is my second week without a PC. life's a bit sucky but Iphone is a real saver.

Still wavering between sth I want & sth I need. To splurge or not to?

In de meantime, collected lots of pics for my upcoming posts but till I grab hold of a computer, i shall be hibernating..

Boardwalks, wildlife and the death of a runner

2010-06-27T06:04:00.001-07:00

Running in the heart of Singapore does not mean running in the Central Business District amidst all the gorgeous people going to work or choking in the exhaust fumes, although I have heard of gung-ho diehard runners who happened to be workaholics doing that (hhhm, sounds like a familiar description of someone…)

As for me running in the heart of this island means encircling the series of reservoir that fed millions of Singaporeans for years (until Newater came along)…yup, the MacRitchie, Peirce, Bedok reservoir then reaching to Bukit Timah Trail and also the Northern areas…runs that could stretch from central to north, west and east. I feel it’s one of the most beautiful running trails in Singapore.

I guess I didn’t prepare well for the run. I mean, running treadmill is very different from running the real deal. Being surrounded by thick canopy of tropical trees and shrubs, it’s akin to being zapped to the prehistoric past. Of course I don’t expect dinosaur trudging through, but we managed to catch a glimpse of two of some wildlife in the short time we were there.

The MacRitchie Reservoir is quite popular and well-maintained. Although not as packed as the East Coast Park, I feel that it’s a lot more rugged and less flashy. It’s like Tennessee vs California. Totally different class of parks…almost like comparing apples to oranges.

The moment I arrived, I glanced at the sky and thank God for the awesome weather. It was 5-ish and it rained in the morning. The cloudy sky lowered the temperature as we entered the park and decided on which trail to explore.

Being the only girl, I was given the choice and of course I am a sensible person. I mean, running 5km indoor is almost like running 2.5km outdoors. Therefore, I choose the shorter Lornie Trail, which will take us 3km to and 3km from the starting point. 6 km will be just nice (fingers-crossed)

After about 5 minutes, I cursed myself. Aaargh, why am I doing this? My turquoise Zoot shoes is in the process of destruction. It’s not made for muddy jungle trail. It’s made for cosmopolitan running. Aside from the fear of getting a concussion and losing my precious neurons, I was also not used to the heat and humidity….what the heck! Yeah, I know I am born and bred in the tropics, but that doesn’t mean I train in the jungle. I work out in sterile gym conditions okay.

I pushed myself on as SC zoomed on ahead while J accompanied me. I have a feeling that J hasn’t ran for a long time as well. I’m glad someone is of my pace. Running up and downhills on rocky and muddy paths is definitely not my forte.

I’m glad we pushed on. We were rewarded with the boardwalk paths which is IMHO, the best part of the trail. A couple of guys were joyfully fishing and throwing the fish back into the lake and I managed to catch some pics with the fish before they go back into their habitat. It was huge!!

We also found some colourful red-breasted birds, terrapins and of course, monkeys. When the trail ended, I think SC wanted to carry on to the other side but I was wary of spoiling my shoes and also worried of slowing him down. Therefore, I decided to turn back. The two gentlemen complied and we ran back.

The way back was very beautiful. As the sun was setting, the lake seemed so surreal and serene. The best thing was that the boardwalks were built on the water so we could see the trees by the shoreline as well as the aquatic plants in the clear water.

Although I did only 6km today, I felt quite pleased with a pretty neat and awesome discovery in this island. This new-found treasure is nearly as good as the shopping bargains all around the city and the hunt for most ‘shiok’ food. Would I come again? Definitely! With better shoes and much improved stamina. All thanks to SC and also to JL!

On a separate note, my condolences to the family and friends of Mr Lim WJ, who passed away in the 10km run during the Standard Chartered KL Marathon today. During the 8th km of the race, it was noted that he was sitting down by the roadside, then was observed to have a 'seizure' and collapsed. Few doctors running in the race attempted CPR while waiting for the emergency medical services. The boy died in HKL. May he rest in peace..

Do I know how to eat sushi?

2010-06-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

Apparently not.

I have been eating it the wrong way all this time. Ever since I first encountered sushi in 1994, it was love at first sight. But I have been doing it wrong for some long.. You guys should have told me!

The right way, according to the wise Jedi masters of Itacho Sushi @ Ion Orchard, is to eat by dippin it upside down onto the soy sauce and with the sashimi part facing down & plop the whole thing, en masse, into your mouth. Other than risking having your meal falling all over the table, the other risk is of course trusting that the chef put just enough wasabi and not too much. Otherwise, make sure your dining partner knows how to do the Heimlich and you have 'wasabi overdose' covered in your insurance.

Itacho is such a wonderfully affordable restaurant, offering delectable pieces of fresh seafood atop springy bundles of rice. I cannot believe that I haven't discovered this place earlier. I must have walked past this nondescript restaurant more than 10 times in the past 1 year!

Sushi @ less than $1-2 per piece at the grand altar of commercialism! It's almost sacrilege. I love the paradox of it..I mean, 3 doors away, they are selling a pair of shoe @ $1000-2000 and here we are, gobbling food going at hawker's price.

Standards are definitely very high and I vow to come again. Some popular items like tuna sashimi sushi was gone by the time we started eating @ 6pm. We had sea eel, dorsal fish (or is it fish dorsum?), smoked salmon, ebi, scallops, crabsticks,more fresh fish and crabstick salad and total bill was less than 50. Holy macaroni! I've had paid more in Holland V for a meal of pizza (which is not even half as good...grumble, grumble) smothered in 3 times the amount of oil and less than half the amount of seafood.

Anyhow, remember Itacho the next time you decide to pay the gothic monolith...errrm, I mean, Ion Orchard a visit. Highly recommended..oishi!

Wheels and Meals

2010-06-13T00:39:00.000-07:00

As far as weekends go, this weekend seem to be one of the most productive and satisfactory. It’s not like I ran a significant amount (running program hit a snag, but I’m sure I’ll catch up next week, errr, hopefully) but I’ve gotten very well-fed and had a fair amount of exertion, sunshine and Vitamin D. All for the sake of preventing osteoporosis!

Friday night was a quiet night compared to the majority of people around the world. I got home from a tiring shift and switched on the telly to the blaring sound of the vuvuzela. With the eyes of the whole world focused on 22 adult men kicking a ball around, I was cleaning up my room, reading my long-neglected books, ironing my clothes, etc to the hypnotic sound of the commentator droning on and on about the game. At least there were 2 goals scored that match, but I am rather glad that I didn’t subscribe to the overpriced cable plan. I wasn’t THAT interested.

Waking up early on Saturday was tougher than I imagine. Given a choice I would rather laze about the whole weekend as the hot sun blazed over-head. However, I was being quite ambitious and decided to attempt cycling around the East Coast Park in the daytime

Then I discovered that everyone is running Singaporean/Malaysian time (i.e. later than me) and even the shops open at 910am or so. Time to gobble up some McMuffins! We sauntered towards the rentals and I was amazed at the lack of people…it was so different! I love it when it’s practically empty. I guess the majority of Asians want their lily-white complexion thus no one would go soak up sun purposefully.

All the better for me then. The guys and I pedaled up and down the pathways along the beach as YY began her lessons…apparently, her childhood skipped her by and she is now learning how to ride a bicycle. The uncle at the shop was helping her so we decided to go to the jetty and let her learn without pressure.

The jetty was also empty. Obviously, no one will be fishing at that time of the day bcoz even the fishie will shy away. Quickly cycled back to see how YY is doing and another friend has arrived. He took on the task on tutoring her how to ride and the gang decided to go for another jaunt towards Fort Road.

During my last round, I discovered this really pretty flower that looks like an underwater creature. Wonder what do you call it? Anyway, I snapped plenty of pictures of it and hopefully someone will identify it.

Lunch was at this Prawn Noodle place @ Beach Road. The only pic I managed to take was of the back of the shop because I was so hungry. The food disappeared before I remembered my camera. I think my career as a food blogger is somehow dubious, especially when I’m ravenous. Well, we can’t take pics of everything in life right?

After church on Sunday, M suggested this Thai foor @ Purvis Street. We agreed because I wanna give Thai food (in Singapore) another chance.

I’m glad we went. It was yummylicious! Every single dish was well-cooked and my personal favourite was the Mango salad. I think this place deserves a second or third visit. The salad was crunchy with lotsa anchovies while the tom yam was just nice.

The decor reminded me of those nyonya places in Malacca. Very brightly-coloured with flowers hanging at every corners. It was a cheerful place befitting of a nice restful Sunday.

We came from Trinity @ Adam to the place and got a seat promptly. Service was good enough.

My favourite for the day...Mango salad. Portion is a bit small but price was justifiable.

Tom yum soup. Lotsa seafood. Love it as well..

Vegetable. Well-cooked.

A very good desert..jelly in coconut. I snitched some from M and I think it's good too. In short, I highly-recommend this place and it has restored my faith in good and cheap Thai food in Singapore.

To burn some calories and ease digestion...a short walk around Raffles Hotel on the way to the MRT station. I really like this weekend. Too bad I have to go to work now!

A day without plans & some shots of gluttony @ Dan Ryan's Chicago Grill

2010-06-05T21:33:00.000-07:00

Sunday..I've gotten myself a Sunday off! It's been months since I've gotten a blissful Sunday off. Now, what have I done so far? Woke up early to cloudy skies, ran to the bus stop before the rain started and caught a bus to Trinity, worshipped the Lord with gusto in church, listened to an impactful sermon, ran in the gushing torrents of tropical downpour while waiting for a cab to come, cleaned up my room and watered my plants while contemplating what to do with the rest of my day.

I guess I can indulge in a bit of blogging while waiting for inspiration..I searched through my folders of pictures and somethings clicked. Aha, I'll talk about American food. A few Sundays ago I went to this joint for a friend's early birthday lunch and had a carnivorous feast. I mean, the menu @ Dan Ryan's Grill even mentioned : WARNING, WE SERVE AMERICAN PORTIONS! Pwoaaah, a bit scared d....

Thus I almost panicked. I mean, I am a small eater (and picky) who likes to try out new places but I cannot handle big portions. I meant to share my food but ended ordering half a rack of ribs for myself due to some 'encouragements' from the friendly staff and my ever-motivating friends. Friends through 'thick and thin' huh?

The meat was preceded by the Clam chowder soup which was extremely thick, creamy and packed with clams. Definitely worth the price of the Mother's Day set although I know I was filling up half my stomach's capacity by then.

While waiting for my main course, AT's steak came and it was huge. Quite juicy too. I stole a bit of it and decided that it's really scrumptious.

Then M got a big shock. This gargantuan platter of breakfast goodies came and we all gaped. I knew for sure that she ain't gonna finish this generous portion of pancakes, toast, eggs, sausages, bacons and ham.

Then my ribs came and it was as expected. Big, but something that I can handle if I'm allowed to 'donate' part of it to someone else. A very satisfying meal but made me realized that I am overdoing the road to recovery and one of my friends remarked that I looked like I have put on weight.

Shucks, this small frame is really unforgiving. It's so obvious even if I put on a mere 0.5 to 1 kg. Time to cut down on the eating (maybe part of the blame goes to the ice-cream fiesta during the Sundown weekend) and run like mad. Can't wait to start my 2-months training program, beginning from tomorrow. Armed with new funky Zoot shoes, I hope I'll be disciplined enough to stick to the program!!

Sundown 2010 - My Diary

2010-05-30T18:23:00.000-07:00

Adidas Sundown 2010…what an experience! The first race I registered for I DIDN’T run even though I was at the arena. I was sort of hyped up for it thinking that I could actually run half the race before hitch-hiking an ambulance back.

6.45pm: Until I was stuck in this everlasting queue. For 2 solid hours. I was eating Superdog while waiting, eavesdropping on people’s conversation while day turned into night and still the line was moving very slowly.

My dinner before the 'race'

8pm: There were rumours that the roads are already closed. As I was near the front of the line, I sort of persevered and waited for the bus.

The queue started when it was daytime

815pm: Then I heard loud arguments at the front. Some runners were persuading the bus drivers to continue. Apparently, the drivers needed a break because they were driving since 430pm. That concept is new to me because I have always carried on working for my patients even if I don’t have a break. I have worked 12 solid hours without a break, with maybe a small bun in between. It’s a total lack of efficiency with a twinge of incompetency. Logistics must be horrible for the organizer but I am frankly surprised at the breakdown in organization this year. Last year, I got the bus after 10 mins wait so this is a real surprise.

The race that a lot of people didn't make it to

830pm: Someone pleaded with them and finally the deadlock was broken. They will drive the last 2 buses to the place and drop us 3km from the circuit and 7km from the starting point. We all agreed, although it was almost 15 minutes to the starting time. Better late than ever…

Look, ma, I'm doing the Singaporean National Hobby: Queuing up

855pm: On the way, I realized that I was still in my jeans. My racing attire was in my friend’s car. Had to strategize and pick up my things, followed by a quick change and probably starting the race. It began to seem really impossible. I asked my friend SC to quickly start his race. Regretted not taking the day off…shouldn’t have taken the shift at A & E. If I followed PS and SC to the arena @ 5pm…sigh…

Day turned into night: Watching my life go by in technicolour

915pm: Got down the bus and began to walk/run in my jeans and handbag. Realized I look quite ridiculous so decided to walk. Began to see the racing route after a while and saw the leading runners. Had a twinge of envy at their speed.

The first few batch of 21km runner zooming past as I make my way

930pm: Nearing the starting line. No more runners seen. The route is completely deserted. Only us, the latecomers from the bus stand @ Pasir Ris MRT seem to be trudging our way to the Changi Exhibition Centre. A beautiful and quiet night with the full moon in sight.

The first turning point and the last batch of runners before emptiness came

945pm: Reached the starting point and changed so that it’s not so hot. Had a bit of chest pain but completely ruled out running. Sat down and watched the ‘Spirit of the Marathon’ What a cool show!

emptiness, except the group of us latecomers

1015pm: The first runner crossed the finishing line in terrific form.

11-ish: SC came back and we waited for PS. And waited and waited.

Movie under the stars

12-ish: BC arrived. And waited.

1-ish: Decided to call Mohan. To our surprise, PS and him have completed the first loop more than 1 hour ago and is 9km passed the starting point. We hopped on the car and chased after them. The Amazing Race has begun. Man, that girl is fast!!

2-ish: Reached ECP. Walked into McD looking for my ultramarathoner friend. She is not there. Called Mohan again. He said she is approaching Fort Road. Jumped into the car and went ahead to Carls’ Junior.

Marathoners waiting for the start @ midnight

3-ish: Waited in front of Carl’s Junior and handed Counterpain to runners. It was like a picnic with BC eating a huge burger in front of the runners. Chatted with the helpful volunteers and dished out medical advice to injured runners, although I have nothing to help them with. Saw the guy who ran the ultramarathon backward. He is amazing.

The 21km winner is approaching

330pm: Bumped into Mohan. He’s the life of the race. Completely woke everyone up with his honk. Still no sight of our friend.

The ultramarathon winner came by

345pm: Yay! PS passed by. She stopped and we handed her drinks. Forgot to take a pic of her. Haze is with her and they both looked good. Everyone is ecstatic. I am so proud of my buddy. She is looking good. I think I’ll win my bet. Haha…

4pm: Reached my bed. Went to deep sleep immediately

The place we had a 'picnic' while waiting

9am: Woke up to the sound of PS coming back. My victorious ultramarathoner friend is back. She looks happy but exhausted. Hurray! Confirmed I won a dinner..she did it in 13:44.

The guy who did it running backward

So, after this hour to hour analysis of my Saturday night and Sunday morning, what do you think of Sundown? I have a feeling that I’ll do the marathon eventually, but when will I be ready? A bit disappointed that the only run I did was the run to the starting line but the truth of the matter is, I wasn’t prepared anyway.

Ok, time to go shop for new running shoes and the compression tights. The GSS is on!

Remind me why am I doing this?

2010-05-28T18:06:00.000-07:00

"You gain strength, courage, & confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face..Do the thing you think you
CANNOT do." ELEANOR ROOSEVELT.

So, can I complete the race tonight? This is the biggest question I'm facing this week.

If I don't think about my evening shift tomoro, I think I might be able to do it. Ok la, like wat p.s said in her blog, I think die trying is not bad.

In case I stop you & started snapping picture, don't be alarmed k? It's my mission apparently. Ogling hotties & taking pics wif them.

In the event I waved at u from de back of de rescue van, I know thr is no glory but at least I tried wif 3/4 of my lungs...

C ya!!

Sawadee-kaa @ Golden Mile

2010-05-26T08:02:00.000-07:00

A friend, SC suggested Diandin Leluk for good Thai food. I was having high expectations and too bad, I think Pak Abu at good ol' 6^th College in UM probably had the same standard of food (or even better). Maybe I was spoilt with the good Southern Thai food available at RM4 or 5 dollars there and so everything seem over-priced and below par in this place.

Anyhow, it’s still better than some run-of-the-mile, really expensive Thai food like Thai E---- found in high-end shopping complexes. This place is at least unpretentious with ok taste. The tom yum gong is spicy and packs a good kick but the mango kerabu salad sucks. Big time. Something is wrong with the salad. I don’t recommend it and will not take it next time.

The vege and meat with basil was good while pandan chicken was awesome. I don’t think anyone can go wrong with pandan chicken. So, I guess it was a 50-50 experience. The dessert, strangely to a non-dessert person like me, was actually uniquely good. In essence, the chicken and tom yam plus the dessert was good but the rest of the meal was forgettable.

So does this mean that we can’t really find authentic good food at a cheap price as a country attains developed status? In my 6 months experience of eating out thus far, I really think so. All the good food here seem to cost us at least $30 per person and to me, that’s like slitting our throat in broad daylight.

Maybe it’s unfair because I’m staying in the so-called ‘expatriates’ enclave but I really feel good food should be available at affordable prices everywhere. Trust me, I’ve been scouring websites like hungrygowhere, ieatishootipost, etc but again, the taste and price of the food suggested is not comparable to ordinary food I taste in KL, Ipoh or Penang.

The saving grace is that service is prompt and there are plenty of tables both inside and outside the restaurant. At least we don't have to wait around much and that's a good thing because there are lotsa places in town that we have to wait forever for food to arrive.

Note to self: Don’t have high expectations lor. Stop complaining because each one of us have unique ‘tastebuds’ and be grateful for the God-given food. Surely one day, I will be able to find yummy & cheap food in Singapore. One day.

By the way, my customary pose with food to wrap up today's extremely 'truthful' entry. Hope you guys luck in discovering more good food in Singapore and beyond...and please do drop me a line if you find a gem nearby. Ciao!

A healthy meal..Korean BBQ @ Holland V

2010-05-24T07:08:00.000-07:00

My latest obsession : Korean food. There's a new place in Holland called Hansang Family Restaurant and I've been familiarizing myself with the food. I've visited the place 3 times in 4 months!

I don't want to be long-winded so contrary to my usual style, I am gonna post up pictures and be lazy for once. Hhhmm..maybe type in one or two lines. The vege in basket depicted above is used to wrapped the barbequed meat.

That's the friendly staff preparing our BBQ charcoal.

KJ's apple alcoholic drink. I didn't taste it because I'm not supposed to drink while on medications. The bottle is so cute...

Sweet potato vermicelli. I really enjoyed the consistency.

That is our kimchi-steamboat accompaniment. Looks so yummy right?

And the main dish : barbequed pork and beef. With a bit of onion and mushroom in it. I thought it's a nice place because they are still having very good deals. I wonder if I'll return when the promotions end. Food's good but it's on the costly side....

Big event : DONE!

2010-05-08T04:06:00.000-07:00

Phew! What a hot, tiring day…woke up early in the morning with a big mission in the horizon. It’s movin’ day. I’ve designated this day to be the day I’m changing habitat, thus I packed up all my earthly belongings, drenched in copious amount of sweat early in the morning while awaiting the time my reinforcement arrives.

My 'Entourage’ came in 2 pretty, petite packages : M & S. M even arrived in a skirt! She really impressed me & proved to me that we can never tell how much a person can carry until they actually prove it in real time. Of course, athletic-looking S can carry stuff but the sight of 3 of us ‘small’ girls chugging my things up and down Holland seem to be pretty amusing.

In the end, I gave up the struggle of going uphill with a various luggages, boxes and bags & hailed a cab. I cajoled two cabbies in driving a measly distance down the hill because I am a pathetic mover! Anyhow, the 3 of us made it across the within 1.5hours with all my belongings and I settled in happily. Never knew that 3 girls without a car can move so ‘efficiently’ and fast. Hopefully, I don’t have to move again because I am already beginning to hoard things. I went to IKEA right after the move and acquired more stuff again. What’s new right? Shopping is almost the national sport.

I know, I know…I already had meatballs yesterday but today I’m on fishie diet. I had the salmon (in case the ash cloud blow up again, better have salmon before they stop the next shipment!!) while the rest gorged on meatballs, pancakes and chicken wings.

Felt that I’ve accomplished much today despite not going in to work. I haven’t carried heavy stuff since I started coughing and this move involving strength and some tactical skills is another milestone in recovery. I mean, it’s great not to have any pain or shortness of breath at all. Awesome!!

Back to work

2010-04-30T21:44:00.000-07:00

Back to work, back to people seeing me with this toothy grin..posing with food and eating with gusto again. Busy and happy week for me as I walk around with minimal breathlessness and chest pain.

This is Japanese buffet & Raku, Greenwood avenue. I love their pitan/wasabi tofu as well as the sashimi, sushi, tempura, soup...everything kept on coming. Great meal with thanks to my bosses for bringing the whole team out!

Another farewell dinner at Penang Place, International Business Park situated in the western part of the island. The buffet was Malaysian food (or rather Penang food). I guess it was ok compared to the actual Penang food. At least the assam laksa was nice. The rojak was surprisingly good, too.

Most of these people will be going to another department. Kinda hope they enjoyed and learned from this posting. Turn-out was very encouraging..almost 40 of us there.

Never knew that waking up early is so tough! After 3 weeks of waking up without an alarm jarring me from my blissful sleep, I'm back to the productive work-force. Being the last week for most of my MOs & HOs also proved to be a fun, poignant week as we had a series of farewell lunches and dinners as described above. It's downright gluttony but augur well for my weight as I'm back to my usual weight, which a good sign according to my physician. CXR looks just the same so I'm not entirely pleased with myself but I'm already doing everything I could to get better. Ah well, let's just wait and see.

I ran after a bus yesterday and although was a bit breathless at the end of the sprint, it wasn't too bad. Of course it was a far cry from the days of 21km but I'm sure that the road to full recovery awaits

Do I wanna go home? (Update on Day 5 post-discharge)

2010-04-14T06:54:00.000-07:00

Yes & No. YES, because it's much more comfortable being at home but also NO, because there are a lot of buried skeletons in the closet back in KL (psss...I know I'm in the exact profession whereby I might have literally kept sets of skeleton for my Anatomy classes, but this is really just a metaphor). After years of inactivity and indifference, I've decided that I need to face the ghosts of the past. My recent illness released a new courage and energy in me, so much so that I'll bite the bullet and bravely do the right thing by next week.

Sometimes I wonder why writing is so therapeutic...because this is one gift that defies time, space & physical capabilities. Something written 2000 years ago can be relevant in today's post-modern age while something written yesterday can be so 'out'. Upon being inspired by a recent Pulitzer prize winner, I've finally decided to do some serious writing & concentrate upon a much bigger piece in the next few weeks, while continuing to churn out a blog article 2 to 3 times a week.

Yesterday I went back to the hospital....er, no, I'm not mad, I didn't go to work (how I wish I could), but to run some errands. Even reviewed my own case and all the investigation results (ssshhh...don't tell my doctors k?) I discover that I really miss a productive, responsible adult life. I'm not destined to lounge about at home. I hardly can stand watching television/movie/youtube for long, therefore this entire MC thingy is getting slightly tedious & intolerable.

I wake up each morning when the sun is up (sharp at 645am) despite not setting any alarm clock. Sometimes, I am amazed at how we are such conditioned beings...it's like Pavlov's dog all over again. To me, staying at home attempting to rest is like watching paint dry. Annoyingly so. Thank God for the double Is : Internet & Iphone!

Along the process, I've gotten myself some financial education via the Internet and decided that the world of investing is very intriguing and inviting. Yet I know that this new 'interest' can be a double-edged sword...it can build or kill. Various thought processes whirled about in my mind as I muse on the possibilities of joining the bandwagon of financially-savvy investors.

Anyhow, think I'll need to garner more skills and emotional control before i could fully plunge in. Not only that, this period of time is possibly the only free time I'll have in this entire year, so I was wondering if I could really spare time in this arena. So, let's just wait & see for new development in the multi-faceted world of CPD!

Being a patient (Day 3 at home)

2010-04-11T22:03:00.000-07:00

This is a difficult blog to post up. Why? I've never been a real patient in my life and the whole incident seemed surreal until I began pinching myself and telling myself that the past week was real. I find it quite tough having fully-sanctioned rest for more than 2 weeks. I have never taken M.C my entire life. Even my viral infections, chicken pox, etc have all been during school holidays. I couldn't recall any.....

This is me, one week ago. I was coughing like mad and treating myself with antibiotics, thinking that I have a common respiratory tract infection. Unknowingly, I've gotten effusion in my pleural cavity, with the effusion volume being that of a big Coke bottle (1.3L) and some kind of medical mystery that is slowly being solved with time and a lot of investigations.

My first actual lunch at Thai Express. Don't worry, I had the most non-spicy Thai food ever but it was great finishing my entire meal. It was a liberation, something like baby steps to complete recovery. Food tasted great...it was like I have never tasted Thai food before. I think everything is good compared to, ugh, hospital food.

This is when I am a bit dishevelled after a sleep, devoid of all make-up and hair spray. I don't think i really lost that much of weight right? Guess I have to make sure I eat plenty of nutritious balanced meal the next week to gain back what was lost. The biggest question in my mind is : when will I resume my normal, productive life? When can I start running? Smile...

Firstly, the residual effusion has be to re-absorbed. That'll take 2-4 weeks. Then I need to start with walking before running full-time. I have a feeling that I will not be able to run the half marathon during Sundown Ultramarathon in the end of May, unless like Pui San, I am a case of sports-miracle.

Secondly, I need to be able to walk around without a hint of shortness of breath or cough. The cough will be there as long as the effusion is there. Not only that, I need to make sure that I don't have the much-feared side-effects of EHRZ medications : hepatotoxicity. Checking my eyes in the mirror each night for signs of jaundice. Besides, I still need to go back see my physician and ask a few questions before I go back to 100% normal.

In the meanwhile, I am stuck at this desk everyday. Checking my mails for hours, listening to music, blogging, writing, reading and looking at magazines. Oh, I love gerbera daisies. They are so friendly, cheerful and sweet. It makes me very happy just gazing at these soft pink beauties. One day, I would like to grow them in my garden (non-existential for now) so that they can bloom for me everyday. Cut flowers are quite sad, right? Their lifespan is so short. I love living creatures better :-)

The Most Important Patient in my life

2010-04-10T03:04:00.000-07:00

What happens when the doctor falls ill? I’ve never asked myself this question until I was in hospital for an illness in the past 1 week. Being so fit and healthy my entire life, it was a big surprise to me and everyone around me that I was having such a serious medical problem.

It was life-threatening and thoroughly unexpected. Being ill for a week, I initially thought I was having a mild infection until I listened to my own lungs and ordered my chest X-ray. I was immediately admitted by the physicians and a procedure was done for me.

Being in the hospital for 4 days had been an emotional roller-coaster. I kept on asking myself, asking God : Why me? Why this problem when I am so young? What is the reason? Why do I deserve this when I have always done my best in treating patients and saving lives and doing good? Is it worth working so hard my life but getting this ill?

I went through an entire spectrum of emotions: denial, anger, depression, bargaining and acceptance. Everything that Elizabeth Kubler-Ross described in her human psychology book on hearing bad news. In retrospect, it wasn’t totally bad news but to me, at that moment of weakness, I really crumbled. The strength in me went out and I burst into tears. In the deepest valley of my emotions, I drew joy and assurance from God. Good friends came and counseled me. Mostly, I prayed and worshipped the Lord, seeking answers and peace.

Finally I found the inner joy and peace. The Spirit of God enveloped me so thoroughly that within 1 day of feeling in the dumps, I was back to my usual self. Optimism, happiness and pure faith flowed in me. I started smiling at my friends. I was thankful and amazed by the huge amount of visitors…I was being visited almost non-stop daily. Doctors and nurses don’t adhere to visiting hours and they all came in, cheering me up and showing me how much they care. Friends from church dropped by and prayed, bringing with them beautiful flowers and tiny gifts that really touched my heart.

Most of the time, I wasn’t tired or breathless. In fact, after my procedure, my cough reduced drastically and my fever settled. Although my diagnosis is still elusive (mine a case of medical connundrum worthy of the attentions of Dr Gregory House), I was being treated in one of the best facilities in Asia.

The medical and nursing staff that attend to me have been professional and the best that I’ve encountered. My investigation results came out very early and conveyed to me almost immediately. I know my hospital bills will be substantial, but judging from the level of care, I know that I was in the right place.

As I now recover at home with a small, residual problem and a lot of antibiotics, I still do not have most of the answers. In fact, I am not even sure of my own diagnosis. The biggest lesson I learnt is to slow down and to de-stress. I need to re-evaluate the way I work, my extreme dedication and lack of rest played a role in reduced immunity, thus I fell ill.

Recognizing that God has ordained this rest and this entire episode. Everything that happened has a reason in God’s big picture, I no longer strive for answers or live in negative emotions. Instead, I choose to focus on His goodness, mercy and love, to look at the bright side of things and to be happy so that I could recover fast. I wish to contribute to society as soon as I can. So, in order to do so, I need to be fully healthy again.

For I know that I am the most important patient to myself.

A brush with the Moghuls on the other side of the River...

2010-04-03T07:23:00.000-07:00

Procrastination is the thief of time. Yeah, I know that. I was supposed to post this up before A left Singapore and guess what? She is already in the heart of Europe, enjoying chocolates and spring water and ski-slopes while I went home and came back to this island after a few days of recuperation in rainy KL.

Back to the Moghuls, recently found an interesting exhibition @ ACM. The nearest I’ve gotten to India…is not to the neighbouring Roti Prata shop. It’s my recent short trip to the Asian Civilization Museum with my dear German fren, A. We’ve decided to give the ACM a short visit and voila! It was free admission day.

I would say it was quite enjoyable for a museum. I mean, most of the stuff I’ve read before in my history books (Sejarah Tingkatan 1-5) but everything is ‘Klingon’ to A. Besides becoming a semi-interpreter, I acted as the museum guide-cum-activity manager for a bit.

Firstly, we saw the special exhibition on Moghul dynasty. The Moghul empire was once the richest empire in the East and held magnificent collections of jewels, lands, paintings, carpets, castles, fortresses etc. The displays depicted many jewelry made during the halcyon days of the empire and I was wondering whether these are actually replicas or real gems. I mean, there will surely be more armed guards around if these are real right?

Next, we took pictures with animals. Err, I mean, with an albino snake. We missed the picture-session with a pony (for the kids) but caught the snake in time. Not only that, there were nice sections on Chinese and Southeast Asian culture while the Singaporean Story was pretty cool too.

What’s even more fun was the free dancing showcase at the foyer. The dancers were very energetic and skillful as they twirled, tapped and swung about in almost 15 minutes of non-stop action.

The day ended with a free ice-cream courtesy of the museum and some photo-taking along the Singaporean River. Total cost: MRT fare of less than SGD2.00. Fun quotient: Not bad at all. Knowledge gained: Priceless. Would I come again: Yup, as soon as there is a new exhibition!

P.S: Japanese food @ Liang Court is really good. First, I tried Tam Po Po. Then I was at Botejyu. Both served really good food. Worth a try!

Old soul, young heart : A blog created during Earth Hour 2010

2010-03-27T06:11:00.000-07:00

Before I forget : Happy Earth Hour 2010! Just a short reminder that we're all part of planet Earth and let's do our part in making this world a happier, greener place :-)

Getting on to the blogging business. Ever wonder how I come up with my blog titles? It's usually during the funniest hours of the day, you know, when I am climbing the stairs to my humble abode, or while waiting for the MRT or while brushing my teeth. Inspiration comes from the unlikeliest places. Btw, this typing in the dark is very interesting and amusing, not to mention, very cooling too hehehe

The past few years in medicine has aged my soul a lot. Of course I'd like to think that I've remained as cute, young-looking and young-at-heart as ever (Forever 21 perhaps? hahaha) but the crux of the story is that...we've truly seen a lot as we deal with all types of human beings throughout our practice.

Abandonment of the elderly, neglect of babies and children, abuse, betrayal, depravity, tragedy, downright misfortune, hunger, extreme obesity, demanding and needy people, humour, pure joy, hope, gratitude...we are indeed bystanders and witnesses to the most pivotal moment of many lives. This year marks a decade in medicine for me (since I've entered medical school) and yet I've not lost the passion for this vocation. In fact, I love my job more and more each day, as time goes by. I look forward to work each morning for I count it an honour and blessing to directly influence the health and wellbeing of many people.

Of course there are times where I regret making certain decisions but I choose to stand by my conscience and maintain that I've always tried my best. I recognize that my best might not be enough in certain situations. At times, I needed help from somebody and I'm glad I did. This gladdens and humbles my heart, knowing that patient care is of my utmost priority.

Therefore I thank God that amidst all the good and bad, He is there shining His light upon my life. As Good Friday and Easter Sunday approaches, I was blessed with sermons on forgiveness and redemption, based on the festivals of Atonement and Passover. Redemption and restoration came in joyful, enlightening waves as I became more and more patient in understanding that ground-breaking events in my life will definitely unfold in miraculous timing. Along the way, I cross my fingers and pray that my type A personality is being melted away as I develop hitherto unknown character traits (patience, fortitude, moderation and gentleness).

So, even as my soul ages because of external circumstances, I know that continuous inner healing, flowing from the fountain of everlasting peace, will replenish this young heart. Have a good (and dark) night :-)

Global Appreciation Week

2010-03-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

Recently, I discovered that I was blessed with an inordinate amount of time on my own, bringing back flashbacks of my teenage days (it was not THAT long ago). The extrovert somehow became slightly introverted. So, what do I do in lieu of a social life in Singapore? I read, read and read. I think I might have gobbled up at least 5-6 books this month alone due to my insatiable hunger for good non-fiction and fiction books alike.

Although this post is mostly about my life last week, it is also interspersed with tales of my 3D adventure in Wonderland, a new good friend and intermittent indulgement in my comfort food (Japanese cuisine).

First stop: Germany. Now, many of us may not realize it but NUH seems to house a big number of German and Spanish students lately. Besides being tall, beautiful, polite and intelligent, the German girls are extremely nice and talented. So, being free and bored, I’ve decided to act as mini-tourist guide to my new friends occasionally. One of the highlight last week was watching Alice in Wonderland with AG, GL and a few nice Filipino nurses from NUH.

I love the show! The ensemble cast is awesome and the whole cinematography so well-designed. AG and I were late (ran all the way from City Hall to Marina Square squeezing past the throng of crowd heading towards the IT fair at Suntec) for about 10 mins on a day that I almost became agoraphobic. By gosh, the amount of people in this area is beyond description! The quiet, dark cinema is indeed a huge relief as we got lost in Wonderland. Tim Burton and Johnny Depp rock!

Next stop : Japan. Once show’s over, I was pretty ravenous. I am glad that AG is so super-keen on Jap food. We tried the Ministry of Food at Marina Square and I absolutely loved their many, many choices of set dinners. My set has salmon, unagi and tofu while AG ordered shabu shabu. D, R and G also enjoyed their set meals immensely.

In between waiting for food, we were again sucked into the whole of iPhone. Once fallen into the wonderful world of Singapore’s National Phone, most people seemed to be pretty hooked, including yours truly. I loved it when I could check my mail on the go, read free books and search for medical info anytime, anywhere. I love my little gadget J

Final stop: United States of America. The best part of the week was spending time 'dissecting' the mind of my favourite author. In case you wonder who was my role model while I was growing up, the person I quote the most would be : Dr Benjamin Carson, paediatric neurosurgeon at John Hopkins. When I was 15, I read his book : Think Big, followed by Gifted Hands a year after that. These two books changed my life completely and inspired me to become a surgeon. I went into medical student with two strong convictions in my heart: surgeon and missionary doctor.

A few weeks ago, I purchased Outlier by Malcolm Gladwell followed by Take the Risk by Benjamin Carson. From the first book, I realized that the greatest people are not only born at the right place, right time and in the right circumstances, but to add to that, greatness also comes with extremely hard work, talent and dedication. From the second book, I understood how determination, prayer and intelligent risk-taking come into play. Dr BC used the B/WA approach to life, even in the field of neurosurgery and this simple yet powerful technique fascinated me a lot.

Upon reaching the last chapter of this lovingly-crafted, honest, succinct and absorbing masterpiece, I was imbued with a sense of hope, empowerment and encouragement. I know God loves me so much and that I am here for a chronos time : to be a trailblazer, to open up a path for others in my situation/origin to follow.

We must be willing to take calculated risks after analyzing the best/worst outcomes of each decision. Currently, I no longer consider each challenge as a setback but instead with God with me, I’d turn it into victorious, learning opportunities. Therefore, I’ve decided to harness the adventurous, enthusiastic spirit in me and would not hesitate in embarking on the unbeaten trail. Oh, I can’t wait for the next step in this exciting journey towards fulfilling my vision!

The Apple craze rages on

2010-03-05T17:20:00.000-08:00

I've been back in Sing for 2 weeks and it has been non-stop action. There is just no lack of activity in this place. Seriously, aside from one good restful Sunday, I've been clocking in on average 5-6 hours of sleep per day. Panda-eye syndrome aside, my current mantra is : when things hit rock bottom, the only way is up so boing, boing, boing....

Most importantly, I've made my biggest splurge this year, just 3 months into 2010. It's not like I'm a shopaholic right (wink, wink)...been justifying to myself that my previous phone is more than 3 year-old and in short, I succumbed to 'peer pressure'...yup, I've gotten myself an iPhone 3GS from the Singtel roadshow in my hospital. More facebooking, msn-ing, twitter-ing and blogging huh?

I can tell u that these Apple apps are truly addictive. I don't know what they put into those tiny, cutesy software programs but once we downloaded a few of the adorable games, we just crave for more. At least I'm still way too busy thus I don't reali spend hours nursing my favourite gadget. Yet.

The funniest thing is that I keep on telling myself that I need to run/jog/swim again but this whole month of February has been.....uh...uninspiring (sports-wise). I keep on promising myself that I MUST run (tomorrow), that the weather is too hot (today) and the books I've hoarded are way too tempting, literally begging me to read them (right now). Heatwave or not, life goes on so I SHALL find a way to run. Soon. Yeah.

I might have gotten a tan...

2010-02-22T06:01:00.000-08:00

Now that CNY is almost over, I can declare to myself that this is possibly the hottest CNY in living memory, all thanks to el Nino and the Pacific Ocean and global warming et al. Hiding indoors or in shopping mall (with air-cond on full-blasting mode) seem to be no respite from the sun. Glad I didn't get a heatstroke!

Instead, I think I've gotten a tan but not in California (how i wish!!). No beach in sight. The closest I got to Malibu/San Francisco/LA was California Pizza Kitchen, fondly known as CPK. With no car and the hot tropical sun beating down relentlessly upon me as I flail about KL with the LRT, my two good legs and occassional car services, I think I've enough sun exposure to last me the next 1 month. It's not like I go home to be a hermit right? So, off we go to visit people and gain some cookies-induced weight, la la la

Back to the actual story, I was in CPK for an important event...I know, eating is always important to all Malaysians (in fact, I feel that we create events/festivals/birthdays/anniversaries just so we can have a good pig-out sometimes!) but it was really, sincerely a family event.

First off, salad. Waldorf classical apple and walnut salad. Lifted me up and made me feel so happy and slim, ready to conquer the next few dish with gusto. I mean, they really put good stuff in this salad. Not to be missed..esp if you like balsamic vinaigrette.

Next, came the Jamaican Jerk pizza. It's not meant to be disrespectful k? I mean, the jerk is really from Jamaica. Get it? Apparently, the chicken is jerked (a somehow-Caribbean cooking style but ended up in a pizza joint) and this creation was awesome. The sweet tangy chicken, savoury slabs of turkey bacon mixed with thicky gooey Mozarella cheese almost made me swoon in joy. Don't forget a thick blanket of Parmesan cheese and chilli flakes for that extra ooomph. The rest of the menu featured a good mix of quintessential Italian pizzas with funny quirky toppings that will guarantee repeated patronage. Not bad for my almost-neighbourhood mall, huh? The 'almost-neighbourhood' mall that was once-upon-a-time the tallest building in the world.

The reason why I took two pics of the next dish was that I think I fell in love with the mushroom ravioli. The cream sauce was just the right blend of heady, rich cream and spices. My bro (clearly more food-savvy than me) ordered extra helpings of mushroom and I agreed that it made a biigggg difference. Each package was stuffed with more mushrooms and other 'unmentionables'...I think maybe some chicken meat and spices perhaps? More funghi for me, anytime!

IMHO, the entire meal was quite reasonable...around RM40 per person. I mean, the place being so strategic and easily assessible (transportation will probably cost like RM2 on the LRT) would also mean that some people do have meals here on a weekly basis and so it's not a big hoo-hah right? Wrong! After all, I've been living in the vicinity for ages (ok la, 20 years) and this is my 2nd or 3rd time here. So people do go long-sighted sometimes...

My 'lucrative' trip (also known as the CNY-delayed-gratification trip) also involves a lot of other awesome meals...and I cannot possibly describe it all. I guess the chronicles of the crispy ducks, assorted balls, springy chicken and so on will have to wait another day as I flew back to the bustling cosmopolis armed with a new running aid (which I intend to use tomorrow). Can't wait to test drive my new gadget :-P

Anyway, my lively weekend jaunt has officially ended as I'm now back in Sin City, oops, I mean Sing City for more food-, sports- and fun-related adventures. Till the next edition from the CPD, please save up some Mandarin oranges for me k? I think I might need to join the orange-throwing ceremony thingy in 5 days' time...see you by the River! Hehehe....

Chronicles of a migrant worker on New Year

2010-02-16T05:29:00.000-08:00

I knew that Chinese New Year/Lunar New Year coincided with Valentine’s Day this year. Somehow, subconsciously, that didn’t register in my mind until the day came and I was on my way to work. WTF (pardon my French)…I’m working on a double public holiday. How depressive, right?

Actually, it was a good on-call day for me. One of the only few times that I didn’t go in OT at all. Somehow, I have to confess that I was still nursing a big GD headache and dizziness that I attributed and strongly blamed the Bacardi for. I think it was God’s way of telling me : I’m not made for heavy-duty ethanol intake.

I mean, the Friday night before was total mayhem. You know, the last night in Vegas kinda craziness. We danced the whole night away while being sloshed (although I have to admit I was sleepy half the time). The consequence was a whole day of tiredness, sleepiness and lethargy.

When I went for reunion dinner, I was still a bit dizzy and unsociable. I felt quite bad for not being able to chit-chat with M’s parentals but what’s a girl gotta do when her head is doing an Apache helicopter tribute. I was really glad I could at least eat something. Of course, I felt like pinching myself silly for not able to enjoy the absolutely scrumptious spread in front of me. Yee sang, sushi, steamboat, soft tender meat, wonderful soup…it was all so tantalizing to my stunned taste buds. Sigh....

Then, on Sunday, it hit me. I’m actually working on Chi-Vas (Chinese New Year-Valentines) day. Although it wasn’t very busy, I was not up to 100% super-hyperactive, crazy can-do-everything surgical registrar self. Instead, I was sluggish, lost appetite and hid in my room most of the time. Chi-vas day came and went with just one trauma case and no admissions to the surgical ward. A new record perhaps?

I thank God that on Monday, I left the hospital in one sober piece, although still in deep regrets over my excess consumption of you-know-what and the annoying minor dizziness. I slept through most of Monday, again wondering when am I gonna get my cerebellar functions back.

It was only today that I’m back to around 95% of my normal self. I could eat as usual and spent more time sitting than lying flat. In fact, I strongly suspect that my prolonged recovery is a combination of physical and psychosomatic manifestation.

I have to admit that I may be slightly depressed over the recent events in my life. Career challenges, being away from home for the festive season, relationship issues (or rather, the lack of it) and adjusting to a new way of life has taken a toll on my fast-forwarded life. I guess I need to hit the pause button and really rejuvenate in somewhere pretty and isolated with just me, myself, a backpack and a book. Any suggestions, please do email me k?

And when you are serious about ice-cream....

2010-02-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

I remember the days when the only ice-cream that you could find were the 20 cents ais-krim potong. If you are really lucky during your birthdays and special events, we may get the 1 dollar Cornetto cone. Nowadays, the making and selling of ice-cream, gelato, frozen yoghurt, icy dessert, etc is a huge multi-million industry, found all across the globe, in many different guise and size.

Actually, this is a confession of how I succumbed to the delightful goodies found not far from my humble home in a popular expatriate enclave. On one fateful day, a group of girls had dinner near my house and decided that something seemed incomplete without some dessert to end a good meal. Our makan radar picked up good signals from a place called Cold Rock and we quickly head to this 'creamery'. I am still wondering about the history of this shop as I ask this question : why is this called a creamery when there are no cows or grass in sight?

If you have been following this blog (thank you for being such faithful 'follower', you are really one in a million), you would have noticed that I've always been a non-dessert person. However, the ice-cream here is really sinfully good.

I guess it all boils down to choosing the right flavour, ahem, ahem. The cheesecake and fruit yoghurt combination caught my fancy and I added some blueberries in it. The verdict: I enjoyed the end product tremendously.

Basically, there are many stores selling similar ice-cream all across Singapore. However, I feel that besides marvelous cream, this shop is one of the best around.

I like it when they put fruits in the ice-cream and keep them in bigger pieces. Not only that, the mixture of savoury cheesecake, mixed with sweetish yoghurt and the sharp tang of blueberries perfectly balanced out the flavours.

An additional fun factor: we can thoroughly indulge ourselves with fully loaded carbs like candies, marshmallows, mints, chocolates by adding these stuff in our final product.

So how do I feel after a session at Cold Rock? It trully rocks!

A different season altogether

2010-02-09T07:43:00.000-08:00

There is always a first time for everything. First day of school, first day of exams back in Primary 1, first time wearing a skirt, first kiss, etc, etc. Last week was my first week working in 2 departments simultaneously and you could say that I feel strangely 'schizoid'. It's like having 2 personalities in the same person....on one hand, I am an A & E MO and on the other hand, I am a GS registrar.

Looking back, it's not that tough...just very delicate and intricate, like Queen Anne's lace. Being in this really efficient country and hospital really helps the process, because we can arrange my multiple rosters way ahead thus minimalizing my pain. Not only that, the A&E people have this cool software that arrange doctors' roster the fairest and most random way possible, thus no one will complain against a statistically proven program. Feels so high-tech huh?

The problem is that I cannot do my regular work-outs because my schedule is so packed, I felt as if I am wearing Scarlet O'Hara's 18inch-corset all the time (not that I can fit into it!). On one hand, I'm still gobbling up my meals regularly but the strange thing is this intermittent, mild fatigue that I'm not used to. Each time people ask me how am I...I'm still feeling this baseline tiredness (not in-sync with my character at all, right?) I guess I have to watch out for signs of burning out....

That's why I am looking forward to a weekend of pure sleep and chilling out at home, something that's so simple, yet so elusive for the past 1 month. I still have 12 more days to go before I can go vege out. Anyhow, this CNY is gonna be the most unique CNY celebration in my life as for the first time ever, I am spending it away from KL and my nuclear family. In fact, day 1 will be spent in the hospital while most shops will be closed; so praying that I will get good supply of food throughout the entire season! So, if any of you are dropping by hospitals during this season, please remember to feed the doctors, nurses and healthcare staff k?

OSI 2010 Part 2: Cebuano Culinary Wonders

2010-02-05T06:58:00.000-08:00

What’s travel without food? In fact, what’s life without food? Eating well is one of life’s greatest joy. People groups and different culture around the world express their heritage through good food and to me, last month’s trip to Cebu Island was truly memorable. Why? I love Cebuano food!

It’s actually a gastronomic melting pot, comprising of Filipino, Malay, Chinese and a few other minority groups’ style of cooking. What I remember most:

Mangoes
The mangoes here are so sinfully sweet that I felt diabetic just by looking at it. I am addicted to the mangoes here. Can someone please grow me a Filipino mango tree here in Singapore/Malaysia?

Seafood
Well, this is a no-brainer. After all, Cebu is an island surrounded by very clean, deep ocean and so of course we were spoilt crazy by fresh seafood. I could still remember the savoury clams, huge crabs and giant prawns. This is one time I didn't care about iodine overdose!

Turon
So what’s up with fried banana fritters? Nothing if you are used to the ones they sell in school canteens but this is one special fried banana. The soft sweet banana is coated with the popiah-skin and dipped in a teriyaki-like sauce. Sounds like fusion food, numero uno. Finger-licking good.

Halo-halo
I nicknamed this : ais kacang, turbo version. Pimped up and very impressive. I love the way the tapioca ice-cream (purple thing) , vanilla (white thing) and various fruits combined to create a wild explosion of tastes in your mouth. Aaaah…

Other fruits
This is one of the example of what a fruity wonderland Philippines is. Didn't have a chance to sample the extremely gigantic durians in Mindanao (because I wasn't there, duh!) but the other fruits like jackfruit, etc was equally cheap, huge and yummylicious! Btw, the tree was found outside my hotel room ok? Dun play, play...

And the highlight of it all....Lechan
This legendary food has taken the limelight in many international tv shows, i.e. mentioned by Anthony Bourdain, et al. The most special thing about this dish is the crunchy skin and soft, tender meat. Apparently, Cebu is well known for this dish. Initially, I was a bit apprehensive on sampling this cholesterol-laden, coronary artery bomb but upon tasting one bite, there is no turning back. However, I exercised some moderation but still, wow, this is good stuff.

Anyhow, I know that I will blog again about food in Cebu so I’ll keep this post short and the photographs speak for themselves. Till the next inspiration comes along, au revoir!

Operation Share International 2010: Bringing the gift of healing to the nations Part 1

2010-01-31T02:32:00.000-08:00

As I gazed into the merry, beautiful eyes of the little girl in front of me, I cannot help but feel elated. A deep sense of fulfillment descended upon me as I sensed the gratitude and happiness emanating from the girl’s mother and the impish 6 year-old patient. I’ve just operated on the girl’s hernia and she was about to hop onto her mother’s old, rundown motorbike (without any helmets).

“Sakit?” I enquired. “Olak, olak….” She smiled and they rode off in the sunset.

This is just one scene out of many in my days in Sogod, Cebu. People streamed in and out of the tiny district hospital, seeking help as the doctors and nurses worked non-stop in few makeshift theatres. Some were sitting down as we removed the lumps while others were sedated or put under anaesthesia in 2 little rooms shared by 4 operating teams.

I consider it pure joy and absolute blessing to be able to work with the wonderful, selfless surgeons and surgical residents from CBUH (Cebu Doctors University Hospital) and the group of volunteers from Singapore various hospitals (namely 8 surgeons, registrars and MOs from NUH and 2 doctors from SGH and AH respectively)

When we arrived in Cebu City in the early, pre-dawn hours of Tuesday morning, Dr A Yu and Dr H Chua from CBUH sacrificed their precious sleep in order to ‘deliver’ us safely to a pension house for some much-needed rest. When we woke up, we met a few other surgeons in Ayala Centre for an extremely sumptuous lunch at Laguna Beach Café.

A short sight-seeing tour around the heart of Cebu City marked the very good beginning to a wonderful trip. Each day, we were fed with delicious Cebuano delicacies and housed in the amazing Alegre Beach Resort, 5 minutes away from the Sogod Hospital.

This exceptional resort is the fine epitome of Filipino hospitality and grace..we don’t deserve of such a favour and yet we are here, housed in one of the most beautiful seaside resort in Cebu. Each classy room has soft beds, big couch and world-class bathroom.

Not only that, I was so fortunate to meet KLL, a beautiful young surgical trainee from Adelaide. This girl blessed with exquisite skin and a cheerful, humble disposition is a fellow KLite. The talented new roommate is also a photography enthusiast and loves God and His children. No wonder we clicked so well….

Anyway, the first day was quite eventful as I discovered that we could take out lumps with only 3 or 4 instruments…a blade (without blade holder), artery/clamp, needle holder and a pair of scissors (and when its not necessary sharp, we made do with the blade!). Giving the patients LA was actually breeze-free as the tough Cebuanos didn’t even bat their eyelids as we tackled large lumps with just 10 or 20cc of lignocaine. Amazing people! Working non-stop, we operated on 5-10 patients per session per surgeon in the minor OT.

At the same time, many other teams were working hard in removing big uterine or ovarian masses, thyroids and hernia in the major OT. I joined them when the minor OT became way too hot and unbearable in the late afternoon and discovered that the major OT was almost equally as hot.

Sweat trickled down my scrubs as we operated with table lamps and head lights. Light was inadequate, equipments were at times lacking but we know that we must work under whatever circumstance, pushing our endurance and skills to the limits. Yet I applaud the nurses, nursing assistants, anaesthetist and triage doctors. They are the unsung heroes for supporting and aiding us all the way. Without them, without the wonderful human spirit of love and giving, we couldn’t have done all these operations in extreme circumstances. Bravo and well done!

Furthermore, this experience of a lifetime, my baptism of fire in mission marked a few first times for me. I did a herniotomy without any diathermy, 2 thyroidectomies (with guidance from the consultants) with minimal equipments and a few lumps in children without GA (just LA). Of course people might baulk at the lack of sterility and warm temperature, but I seriously applaud the mission organizer for organizing this wonderful experience. Bringing surgery to the underprivileged in Sogod involves marvelous logistics, impeccable skills and people with humble, willing spirit.

Most importantly, I am sure that this exchange of skills, cultural experience and knowledge between the surgeons from Singapore and Philippines will culminate in better ties and regional co-operation in the future. As I observed the wonderful, skillful hands of the surgeons I’ve met here, I realized that I couldn’t be more thankful for the opportunities given to me in Malaysia, Singapore and Philippines.

In each country, I’ve found precious, priceless ‘gems’ in my journey in surgery. For example in Cebu, I am truly amazed by the beautiful parotid operations, the precise anatomical hernia repairs, the exquisite cleft lip repair under LA. It was indeed medical textbook came alive.

Although the whole trip ended so quickly, I know that I will see Cebu again. For the warm, friendly souls I’ve met and the grateful patients have truly touched my heart. Even as I walked down the warm ward on the last day, checking on all the patients that we operated on, I knew that this is the first of many more surgical missionary work that I will do in the future. For much is given to us, much shall be released to the nations….

Therefore, a big thanks to all the people I've met the past 1 week. I look forward to many more wonderful missionary work in the future as my promise to God when I first entered medical school came into fruition...

P.S. : I've uploaded a few more pictures that displayed here in my fb album and I'm sure that many more pictures will appear as more than 8 dslr cameras appeared in the tiny Sogod hospital. Seriously, I've never seen so many doctors interested in photography before. Astounding!

Carnivorous creatures sighted in PS cafe

2010-01-24T04:40:00.000-08:00

If you happen to walk down Orchard Road on any given day, the last thing you would expect is a quiet restaurant with few people and hardly any signs of traffic. Of course, some might suggest that we could go explore the Dempsey area (which is near the Orchard area). I concur that Dempsey is indeed hip, secluded and gentle on the soul but that’s an easy answer and I shall blog about that area on another day. This time round, the focus is on PS cafe @ OR, as I’ve found another place which is smack in the middle of Orchard Road by a chance coincidence and it was truly a hidden gem.

Saturday after worship service is usually the night for elaborate dinners with some serious social networking in mind. However, the usual suspects are not around, i.e. most of my gang seem to be M.I.A except for my big sis, M. So we set off from Paya Lebar in search of good food in Singapore.

Initially, M and I had this serious craving for ribs (errr, the non-halal type). I’ve always wanted to try Tony Roma’s on this island and thus, off to Orchard Road we go. However, the moment we arrived…this hugely popular eatery was jam-packed with homo sapiens.

Urgh! Hungry…famished…can’t wait..and I don’t wanna be a sardine. Then M had a bright idea…she suggested this place tucked in a corner of a posh mall called Palais Renaissance. It’s a place where all the rich (and presumably, slightly desperate) housewives do their monthly shopping in branded goods. I was only interested in food (and the possible sightings of cougars are entirely incidental although highly-anticipated!)

The ambience was superb and almost cinematic. There is soothing classical music being piped in as we ordered our food, almost as if it we were in a movie. I was half-expecting some glamourous Hollywood actresses of the 1920s and 1930s walking in amidst the rattan chairs and white furniture. The crowd is strangely young, with bountiful displays of youthful long legs and plunging necklines. Being in jeans and my usual shopping top, I felt slightly underdressed but it’s good to be low-profile once in a while.

Being hungry and carnivorous, we ordered the porcine wonder that we craved for. As I'm always so mindful of our bowel ‘well-being’, we soothed our conscience with a big helping of Caesar’s salad and the signature chicken soup.

Firstly, service was prompt and top-notch. When the salad arrived, I haven’t even finish reading the first page of Sunday Times. I loved the Caesar’s salad. The croutons were bursting with onion/garlic-mixed goodness and the bacon bits were crunchy and fresh. There were huge chunks of cheese scattered liberally on juicy, sweet lettuce.

Even the soup was gratifying and yummy. It was lovingly made with robust chicken broth, free from MSG with generous pieces of chicken and cute alphabet pasta in it.

When it came to the main course, I was quite pleased with the ribs, with meat succulent and literally melting off the ribs. I think the portion was just nice although M feels that it could be bigger (after all, most of us are accustomed to Tony Roma’s giant ribs but that is frank gluttony and we shall not fall into deadly, calories-laden temptations!)

After this long, leisurely dinner, I decided that this is definitely one of my top ten list of 'Places that I’ll visit again in Singapore', especially on special occasions. The drawback is of course the cost, about $30-40 per person but I think the meal was scrumptious and the ambience superb. Guess it's really, really for that 'special' occasion once in a blue moon lor.

By the way, I’m not pleased with how the pictures turned out. It was captured on my phone. I still have not found my camera charger. Darn…I think it’s gathering cobwebs in another country!

Yearning for the 'gastronomic team'

2010-01-19T02:15:00.001-08:00

I think its the season for me to resume blogging about food. The last time I talked about makan was during Christmas before everything went serious, contemplative and slightly morose this month.

However, the limiting factor in my food-blog experience is finding the right gang of people to go eat with. You know, a group of foodies that I can call up anytime. I guess it's difficult here because everyone is staying so far apart from each other and most of us are stuck at work until way past dinner-time. So different from tiny Ipoh hor?

Moreover, I feel that without a car, I'm stuck with bus No. 11. Thus this 'adventurous' eater is now resorting to places I could reach easily, i.e good accessibility. Suddenly, I miss my silver Myvi zooming in and out of traffic and the ease of picking up my friends from their homes for dinner. Having to deal with logistics everyday is not-so-fun, you see.

In the meantime, I'm still looking out for the G-team members in the Singapore chapter :-) So until the time I could go explore more gastronomical wonders, I think I'll have to stick to eateries around my little HDB habitat lor

Eventful week and a peaceful spot

2010-01-14T05:55:00.000-08:00

Today sort of wrapped up an eventful week that started from last Wednesday. Surprise, surprise...a week seem to start on a mid-weekday for me as events seemed to happen in fast forward mode.

First the interview that fared so differently from my expectations. Then, new outlook and plans for the entire year as I shape up for the 'battle' ahead. Shortly after that, my church became the first church in Malaysia to be intentionally torched down. Our blood, sweat and tears really went up in flames, due to some Molotov cocktail and evil, devilish intent.

1 day after that, for the first time ever, I fell down while running.

Yup, the ever careful girl who always run with caution (yeah, i know, i'm slow) decided to wear specs while running. Being blessed with the typical 'Oriental' nose, my specs tend to slide down on my lack-of-a-nasal-bridge, especially when I was perspiring. So guess what? I mis-stepped, couldn't see properly, tripped on a tile on the uneven ground and fell in motion. Of course I protected my face and head! As a result, suffered some abrasions to limbs and ego bruising, but that's about it :-) I think I'll stick to running in the gym for now until I get stronger again.

Nevertheless, I was so busy that I didn't tend to any of my injuries. Instead, I end up staying in the hospital for a few nights in a row as there were trauma cases at night to attend to and I was oncall in between. Setting up temporarily in my window-less room, the days and nights merged into one and I felt almost institutionalized. Thank God that yesterday I found a very peaceful, shady corner in the hospital that I could get some fresh air while reading. It was by a koi fish pond, complete with sound of trickling water, lotsa green plants and cooling breeze. I think I shall upload picture of my 'secret reading spot' the next post and let u guys decide whether I should find a better hang-out place. In the meantime, let me indulge in the 'luxury' of my own bed and desk for the first time this week....

A Prayer for my beloved church, Metro Tabernacle

2010-01-08T21:51:00.000-08:00

Lord, today I pray for my church and for the people of Malaysia. It was a dark day when a church, my church was burnt down but surely hope and love will prevail. Although forgiveness is difficult, we sought with all our heart that justice be done peacefully and with love and grace. We forgive those who trespasses against us. Abba, Father, we know not why this is happening to your people but I know surely, there is a reason for this season of never-before-seen challenges.

Most importantly, we know that our earthly belongings and our church structure is just an external shell. A church is made out of people, not a physical building. Although our physical structure is destroyed, our spirit, love and sense of community-giving and Christian love shall never cease.

Lord God, we are thankful that our Senior Pastor, associate pastors and their families are safe and protected by your grace. I am thankful and grateful that the attacks didn't happen during daytime when my family (brother and father) and my sisters and brothers-in-Christ are in church attending worship service. Surely, if it happens on a usual Sunday, many would have perished in the fire as the only exit from the main halls were on the ground floor where the firebombs were thrown in.

Lord, although I am ashamed of the government and the lacklustre investigations into the root cause of the issue, I know that one day, strong, moral leadership with bright intelligent leaders will come back and bring about a renaissance to the state of affairs of Malaysia. The current state of governance is sadly below par and abysmal. We need better explanations and swift, fair actions against the perpetrators and a good solution to a problem started by the Home Ministry a few years ago.

Dear Jesus, there is hatred and violence being stirred up in the minority. These are the same minority who holds the potential of great infamy. These are 'people' who belongs to fanatic, emotional and easily-swayed category of semi-human. I call these semi-human,as they are driven by personal anger, irrationality and lack of self-control. Violence begets more violence. Destruction reaps eternal damnation. I know that we, your children in the light, shall not resort to hate and destruction but will pray for those who persecutes us..exactly like how the Lord Jesus loved his executors.

In the end, I pray for my church and the body of Christ...to be an example of love, peace, tolerance and to stand for all that is good in this world. The forces of good shall prevail over evil! Amen.

P.S: Do check out my senior pastor's reply to the current events on http://sivinkit.net/2010/01/09/response-from-rev-ong-sek-leang-senior-pastor-of-metro-tabernacle-church/

Like phoenix arising from the ashes

2010-01-07T22:04:00.000-08:00

Even the strongest, most optimistic person could hit bad patches in life and felt unbelievably disappointed and disheartened. That was me a few days ago.

I guess, every new day is a better day as I recover from the shock of an unexpected decision from the training committee. I know that there are rules and regulations governing all professional bodies, especially in a tightly-regimented country, but I was caught off-balance at the finality. 9 months of delay is not very long...a small blip in the course of eternity. However, for me personally, the deep anguish was due to the fact that I have high expectations upon myself and I set very high standards for my personal goals and dreams. I thought I could enter into advanced training sooner rather than later.

Yet I'm reminded gently by much-wiser counsellors that time is not a benchmark of excellence. I also consoled myself that the events that occured is not because of my mistakes or because I made a wrong decision in the first place. Furthermore, the surgeon who graduated the fastest doesn't mean that he/she is the best. I thank God that I am reminded to be humble and grateful for the chance to be here and to receive solace and counsel from such wonderful seniors.

Not only that, a lot of people prayed for me, before and after the news. I know it's due to the power of prayer and love that I am able to recover back to my usual rejoicing and cheerful self today, with just a tinge of sadness at leaving this team (and department) for a short while.

In the meantime, I think I have outlined in my heart, a battle plan in the next few months to further improve in my training as a researcher and also a surgeon. This energy and new determination unleashed in me a new force unlike before, as I vow to do the best in wherever I'm posted. I'll not let anyone down, especially myself. With the Lord as my guide, witness and protector, I know that this challenge in life shall make me a stronger person and spur greater spiritual and personal growth....

The derailed train goes back on track

2010-01-01T05:45:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, a new friend asked me : “How did you celebrate New Year’s day the past few years?” That seemingly-innocuous question actually triggered this post and a whole day of retrospection. I tried to recall my past few years and I don’t remember any significant celebrations except for 2 particular New Year Eve events, 2 years in a row. Now to add to that, I discovered that this is the third celebration that’ll go down memory lane.

Let me explain. The first time I ushered in new year with a group of friends was in 2000, the year of Y2K. It was the only time that I stayed awake the entire morning of 1st Jan, wandering the streets of KL and Bukit Bintang with a group of friends from school. The massive crowd in front of the huge Swatch watch was incredible as we ushered in the 3rd millennium. That was the first time I discover that people actually celebrate New Year in public squares and huge outdoor parties…one of my first few rites of passage into adulthood, perhaps? It was memorable to a young girl, after all....

The following year, I went for my first watchnight service in memory. It was the year I gave testimony in front of the entire church spontaneously (it was in the days when Metro Tab was pretty small and we could do a lot of things on spunk, spontaneity and sheer courage alone). I was telling about how I got into the medical school that I want, the most highly-demanded medical school for post-STPM students in Malaysia. The audience chuckled when I said I’ve only got 4As 1B for STPM…Those were the days when fewer people score straight As. Guess this person with high expectations upon oneself was quite a perfectionist and a nerd to boot!

After that, I think my life went a bit out-of-sync. I guess when we achieve a big milestone in our lives, we begin to rest on our laurels. The drive and expectation to success was further dampened and diluted when my mom passed away. She was the one who inspired me to be the most outstanding among my peers and after her passing, at times I settled for less. I rather fade into the crowd, albeit an ‘highly-intellectual’ crowd. Nevertheless, I hung on to the God amidst the crazy workload and fluctuating social life. There were indeed some dramatic peaks and challenging troughs in life after graduation.

It was only recently, when I reviewed a decade of my life, that I realized that I’ve fallen short of the initial idealism and calling 10 years ago. The service last night was monumental for I am reminded that I could be released to be a blessing to others, for I am truly blessed in so many aspects. 6 weeks into living in this dynamic city, I’ve met many charismatic, brilliant, driven and God-fearing friends that I know that God wants me to go back on track again, towards reaching my original 'destination'.

Anyhow, for me, the first half of 2010 will be the ground-breaking months. Firstly, it will be the time whereby I know for sure whether I could achieve my immediate goal, my initial aim for coming to this country. Secondly, I look forward to a life of great impact to people groups and nations in channeling my skills to help in underdeveloped areas of the world. Of course, there are other secondary goals too, but at this present moment, I shall pray and prepare myself for the days to come as this derailed little ‘CPD train’ go back on track again…

The wanderer wonders

2009-12-26T22:56:00.000-08:00

Another lazy, uneventful afternoon on a weekend in my humble HDB abode after a few days of ‘debauchery’ back in KL. My version of debauchery, albeit mild, involves partaking a lot of Japanese food, baking in the glow of LED tv on hot afternoons, lounging around with my massive secret stash of pillows and going on mini-shopping spree whenever, wherever I fancy it to be.

The best thing about Christmas is always going home. This year, Christmas heralds an entirely new beginning for me as I joined the Malaysian Chinese diaspora and wandered out of my comfort zone. Of course I didn’t wander very far (5 hours by bus, 45 mins by flight) but it’s interesting living in another urban condition and then come home to familiar grounds, only to find that KL has changed.

This time round, I went to a Japanese restaurant in Desa Sri Hartamas area and enjoyed some of the best sushi rolls I’ve tasted. Both the unagi rolls and Berjaya rolls were wonderful, yummylicious goodies. I tried the salmon steak lunch set, which is slightly oily (I’m very picky when it comes to unhealthy elements) but my friends had the sashimi and sushi sets, which were quite nice as well.

After a leisurely lunch at Aoyama @ Hartamas (as described above), we stopped by the awesome Cats Whiskers for my contribution to the Malaysian economy. Put a bit of restraint on myself as I shopped in Sunway Pyramid and 1utama the day before (I love mall-hopping, window-shopping and people-watching).

Thereafter, I proceed to visit another mall...Tropicana City Mall as some people mentioned that this new place is quite empty, with good bargains. I was surprised to find people thronging the mall on Boxing Day and good quality Christmas gifts on sale. Now I know where to find presents next year if I am around that area. Not bad at all.

After the fun of Christmas, today I find it tough going back to my HDB habitat. Years of living in a terrace house in crowded Wangsa Maju, driving a car wherever I want and eating street-food (probably strengthened my gut in the process) has taught me a different set of urban survival skills.

Over here, I have to learn how to depend on public transportation and how to enjoy sanitized hawkers' fare, amidst a lot of other skills.When I arrived on this island, realized that while getting taxi is easy, lugging my worldly possessions around on my two feet is not-so-easy. I guess banishing the ghosts of homesickness involve a lot of courage, plenty of networking power and running! Yeah, time to go run outside!!!

P.S: Praying for a peaceful, blessed New Year filled with goodness, love and excitement as we welcome the second decade of the 3rd millenium in 1 week's time.

Once in a blue moon...

2009-12-17T03:11:00.000-08:00

Today I got home early. By early, I mean I actually saw some sunlight on the way home. I'm no longer a 'vampiric creature' living in the shadows of the hospital!! Hehehe...It's been 1 month since I've started here, but I felt a sense of belonging like nowhere else. The welcome that I felt has not worn out, nor my initial enthusiasm diminished. In fact, I felt quite motivated after a prayer session with a sister from Trinity last night. The spiritual climate here is so warm and encouraging; so much so that I'm motivated again : maybe it's time to get involved in some ministry soon? Now that's a happy thought!

I was reminded that I could do all things through Him who strengthened me, and that I could shine brightly for Christ in my workplace and personal life. Of course, there are difficult decisions that I will have to make along the way, but as long as I make my choices out of love and in the Holy Spirit, I know that God is with me and approves of what I am doing.

Anyhow, I had a moderately busy call (which reminded me of Ipoh Hospital) and I was very surprised at myself : I was drop-dead tired after 36hours in the hospital and that's unusual. In retrospect, I guess I haven't had a busy call for the past 2 months and I lost the usual 'call stamina'. Gone were the days when I could actually stay up until midnite after a night of oncall. I fell asleep in the bus and crawled onto my bed the moment I reached home. It really reminded me of my first call in HKL and Ipoh, respectively...but then again, I usually go home bone-tired after my calls in KL and Ipoh so it felt quite deja-vu..

Not only that,in the middle of my call, I had a big scare regarding some administrative problem from a particular Malaysian hospital. Finally settled my problems with the admin staff (after recovering from a really worried state) after my dad's intervention and a few costly phone calls. The final word is that I'm absolutely grateful; plus ever so glad and happy that I don't have to deal with some of these government hospitals ever again!!! Phew!

Endorphin addicts unite!!

2009-12-06T04:27:00.000-08:00

When I said I wanted to run a half-marathon by the end of 2009, I thought it was N.A.T.O. After all, I was so busy with exams, travel, new workplace, new home that I hardly have enough time for myself, what more to train for a run. I sort of gave up on that mission.

I was mistaken. Apparently, as long as the mind is ready, our human body will adapt! I think I am much too kiasu anyway!!! It didn’t take much convincing from PS and CS to get my ass off my comfort zone and therefore, I decided to run this year’s Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon, last minute. It was a 21km run. I didn't train. As in 2 days before the actual run. Let’s not go into the technicalities of how I managed to run, but technically, I didn’t bandit ok? Anyway, we have to grab opportunities when they come right? It's called grabbing the bulls by the balls, uhmmm, i mean by the horns!! haha

After an inspiring worship service @ Trinity on Saturday (armed with lotsa good wishes and prayers), I fell asleep and woke up this morning feeling like a lark…erm, maybe I was a bit grumpy as it was 5am on a Sunday morning but in retrospect, it was darn worth all the effort.

Upon reaching the Esplanade area, I quickly connected with Emmy, the person who is most likely to run my pace as it was her first halfie too. The crazy runners have already started running the full marathon! We dilly-dallied and reached the starting point 10 minutes later than the gun but who cares? With the Championchip Timing System, everyone’s race is timed individually.

Also met Sher Lyn, Mr Chong (Bernard's dad) and sister, Ai-Lynn for the first time. Altogether,there are 3 of us running the 21km for the first time ever. Emmy, Johan and I. Couldn't find J at the starting point though. Nevertheless, it was nice running with the girls. I'm always in races with PS but that girl is so fast that I could never run her pace. It's nice that I have company for once!!

Initially, I kept up with Em for the first 10km. I think we were doing quite a good pace. Suddenly, my right knee hurt like crazy but I was telling myself that the pain is not there. Then I slowed down for a run-walk system while convincing myself that the pain is unreal. I can tell you that mental strength is probably more important than physical strength at that point, especially when I ‘embraced’ the pain and ran without a limp as bravely as I could. I literally ignored the pain and concentrated on the run and my ipod. Em zoomed on ahead.

By 14km and a drinking station with bananas, I caught up with Em again. The amazing banana entered my system and acted like firepower…I could actually speed up and resumed running like the first 5 km. However, EM’s calves started giving her trouble and she fell back.

Even though I was on my own from that point onwards, I know that if I passed the 15km psychological barrier, I could run all the way to the finishing point. Although my pace isn’t good, I carried on, took pictures, answered SMS and gazed at the awesome view (both human and non-human)

I was very tired and in severe pain by the 19km mark but the entire sea of runners seemed so pumped up as we approached Padang that I was hyped up enough to finish with a big smile on my face. I glanced up at the clock and was pleased with my timing. Sub-3hour! Maybe around 2hr55mins for my first 21km race? I know it’s not much as the running gang average timing is about 2hours for 21km but in my universe of crawlers and outliers, I’m just so glad that I finished despite not training.

How about the rest of the day? Remember the knee pain? Well, it haunted me with a vengeance as I limped around town. After a wonderful lunch @ Café Cartel, I slept on the MRT and almost missed my BV MRT station. Nevertheless, I reached home in one piece and vegetate upon my bed until dinnertime.

My conclusion for the day : No pain, no gain. I'm in cloud 9 bcoz of my respectable timing k? Let me live in my glorious fantasy world for awhile! Anyhow, I would probably limp like crazy at work tomorrow (it’s not my first time walking around with pain in my hospital anyway! Remember Ipoh?) but I actually preferred a 21km to a 10km run. Now, when’s my next race again?

P.S : Actual shots taken while running are still stuck in my mobile. It will take a while.

What's up, Henderson?

2009-11-28T04:17:00.000-08:00

Being at home is a state of mind and as I’m one person who keeps on moving to new towns, I need to adapt to new environment quickly. This is one of the rare weekends that I didn’t go home to KL and amazingly + quickly, I’ve found a lot of places to explore and got acquainted to plenty of new friends and met up with a few old friends, too.

One of the best things about facebook is that I’ve reconnected with so many of my old pals and yesterday I met up with J, someone I’ve not seen for 10 years! After 1 decade, obviously there are plenty of things to catch up on but I didn’t expect that the meeting included an impromptu hike across the Southern Ridge of Singapore, that is from Mount Faber across to Henderson Wave, Hilltop and finally Kent Ridge Park.

Apparently, there is a trail called Marang trail near the Harbourfront MRT station opposite Vivocity. Unlike the massive crowd at Vivocity, I could actually enjoy being with nature without being suffocated by people. There was hardly anyone out there enjoying nature post-rain…tsk,tsk,tsk. This is the start of an almost 9km hike if we choose to complete it all the way to NUS.

The funniest thing is that I was ‘hiking’ with my jeans, dressy top, handbag and crocs platform. This clueless klutz is definitely not dressed for the occasion. I’ve always forgotten that casual is ok in this country and bare legs are the norm, not the exception. Well despite the inappropriate costume, I still enjoyed the hike and the beautiful view along the way…thank God for brilliantly cool weather!

At the top of Marang trail is the touristy Mount Faber and Faber Point. We arrived to see groups of Chinese tourists snapping pictures of sunset. Talking about sunset, I think yesterday’s sunset was quite beautiful..I’ve never seen the sun being so red. I bet it’s because of the pollution but nonetheless, it was an amazingly vibrant red yolk!

Not only that, we managed to catch glimpses of hummingbirds and large bees hovering over the flowers and trees atop this famous mountain. There is another Merlion at Faber Point but I didn’t bother to take picture with the white stature as the landmark was packed with human beings flocking all around it.

The best part of the walk/hike was Henderson Wave. It’s such a cool bridge! Earlier in the afternoon, I thought I saw something unique hanging above my head while I was in the bus heading towards Harbourfront. I didn’t know that it was the highest pedestrian bridge in Singapore and made from tropical timber.

The structure was lighted up very beautifully at night and I snapped pictures until my batteries died on me. What a cool hang-out place after a long run! Apparently, the whole park stretches to Kent Ridge (near my hospital) but the gang was too hungry and moody to complete the whole routh. Anyhow, I’m hyped up to try the entire route later this week….

Thus being extremely famished after a happy hike, we decided to stop prematurely (we could have continued to the hilltop walk and HortPark and Alexandra Arch) because of a collective craving for meatballs. Yup, we gravitated to the famous Swedish meatballs at Ikea, braved the long queue and gobbled up the little wonderful goodies with yummy sauce. Not only that, I’ve finally gotten my curtains! A happy ending to an unexpectedly marvelous day indeed…

1 week and still sober :-)

2009-11-23T03:19:00.000-08:00

Today's officially the second week of work here and I love it. Of course I'm still settling down to my new room and I've just met a small proportion of Singaporeans (and Malaysians working here) but I'm glad that I made a decision to wander out of my comfort zone.

I guess the most surprising thing is the way my new bosses helped me to acclimatize to this new habitat. They have been absolutely wonderful, helpful and crazy fun. Most importantly, food's not too bad and I've discovered that Mr Bean (a certain running friend's favourite stall) is available in the hospital (along with a lot of yummy Chinese food). Another brilliant place which I've ranked very highly is Bar Bar Black Sheep while The Soup restaurant is pretty awesome too...I love their ginger chicken. hopefully I shall blog about all these places soon :-)

Going to work in the early morning entails taking a bus ride past 5 bus stops (hospital's about 10mins away from my place) while all the happening watering holes are 500m away from my block of flats. The funniest thing is that I wake up at the crack of dawn because I don't even have curtains! I intend to do something about that in the near future...yeah, maybe in this year perhaps?

Not sure whether things will change when I start oncall and work becomes busy...today i've a brush with heavy activities at the clinic and I love the productivity. In fact, I'm totally cool with tagging unofficially. I suspect that I'm actually in love with my work. Or I'm slightly 'sick'..hahaha

The biggest bummer is that I've not found my running feet yet. The rhythm for outdoor sports and adventure is a bit stunted for now. Sadly, swam only once last week although there is a gym in the hospital. Nearest public pool is 5 mins walk from my house. Probably will go explore either the gym or the pool tomorrow eh? Or check out the parks near this area. In the meantime, excuse me, I've got to check out one whole island.....

How not to neglect a blog

2009-11-13T18:04:00.000-08:00

I need to recap the week, desperately. It went by without me knowing...as if I was on 'fast forward' when I should be on 'play' button.

Truthfully when I went on holiday, I thought I would be bumming around for 2 weeks. One phone call this Monday and it sent me scrambling to pack my stuff, meet friends for farewell meals and zoom down the Peninsular to S'pore for a few days of...paperwork?

Chasing paperwork on my two feet and a highly-efficient public transportation is akin to a sanitized version Amazing Race Asia. I've no idea about directions in Singapore and depended on mostly MRT location maps, friendly passersby and occassional google maps. And it worked.

However, in my zeal for earning carbon credit and going green...I've forgotten how bloody hot it is to walk around in a tropical country, especially since I ain't a schoolgirl anymore. Not only that, I've tried my darnedest to save money as I will be living on malaysian ringgit until pay day comes (and as for when...God knows!) so I was staying in a backpacker's hostel in Serangoon Road. It came highly-recommended but was shitty for me. I stayed in a 6-person dorm and the air-cond sucks (very warm) and the room has no windows. I guess it doesn't pay off to be a cheapskate! Serves me right eh?

My saving grace was the Singaporean efficiency and workaholism. Most of the staff stays on in the office during lunchtime and also way past 6 pm. I guess some people (like yours truly) would do anything to avoid overcrowding, thus they spend longer hours at their workplace. Whatever it is, babes, I manage to settle everything within 1.5 days (which is sth quite laudable) and left my dungeon, er i mean, dorm to the much younger, hipper backpackers. This CPD is home for the weekend, spending time with my creature comforts and heaping in the yummy Malaysian food. Till the war resumes again next week, I hope that I will not neglect this blog too much!

A KL girl talks on her b-day

2009-11-07T22:21:00.000-08:00

I think I didn’t blog on my birthday last year because I was away in Singapore and China. This year, I was almost out-of-the-country again but my paperwork got in the way thus CPD is still here. Anyhow, all’s well that ends well as I’m about to start working proper soon and who's complaining when bumming around in KL can be good too (hehehe)

On the subject of birthday….IMHO it’s nice to spend birthdays at home and with family and friends. I’m not sure whether I’ll be in KL for the next few birthdays but this one is truly memorable and satisfying. The people that matters either contacted me or met up with me the past few days and the upcoming week. I’ve been to wonderful restaurants, visited interesting spots and had meaningful and engaging conversations with people I’ve not connected with for years.

KL could be both enjoyable and unforgettable once we actually have time to discover its various sights and wonders. Sadly this KL girl has rarely taken time out to savour the art of living as a young professional in KL. The last time I worked here, circa 2005, I was a fresh-out-of-med-school junior doctor, tired, inexperienced and overworked beyond my imagination. That’s why I’ve never contemplated coming back KL for work. However, coming back for leisure and pleasure is an entirely different story

The past few months have been a revelation as I enjoy the best of both Ipoh and KL. Well, more of Ipoh but I do make it a point to come back to KL as often as possible. I’m not sure whether I’ll be back to my hometown as often as before, but I guess it’s time to relax and enjoy life back at home before I go on the fast lane again.

P.S. : Contrary to what you see on my little tiramisu birthday cake, I ain't 12 or 21 or 30. I wish I'm forever 21 though hahaha....

Leavin'

2009-11-02T23:03:00.000-08:00

Another chapter of my life beckons as I pack up my bags and leave. After spending almost 1 year here, I find it very difficult to say my farewell. Yet I look forward to one of the biggest challenge in my life. It will be different living in one of the most globalized city in the world.

I feel like the character in Carrie Underwood’s song, singing Jesus Takes the Wheel. She said goodbye to her family and her small hometown as she embarked on new life at the Big Apple. I know I ain’t going to New York and my hometown is not Ipoh…but the feelings are similar. (haha)

Anyhow, I’ll miss PS and Michelle a lot. They are my gorgeous and bubbly housemates who stood by me over the years since I met them in 2006. Girls..I’ll miss the easygoing company, the scrumptious meals, the long chats and ‘counselling’ sessions, the numerous outdoor activities we enjoy together (I never knew I could be so sporty until I've met PS) and the mad shopping sprees! Anyhow, I sure hope I’ll see them again down South…..

Yeah, yeah I know I shouldn't sound so final as I’ll be in Malaysia for the next 2 weeks but I bet it’s not gonna be the same anymore. As I drive out of Ipoh by myself for the very last time tomorrow, I just wanna say : ‘Au revoir ma cherie’ to all of you who knew me in Ipoh….

Late one night...

2009-10-28T08:33:00.000-07:00

Sitting here alone in my room in Ipoh late one night..One cold, rainy and sentimental night. With easy-going, preselected music blaring from my speakers, the cold light emanating from my laptop and pleasant aroma wafting from my burner, memories came flowing back as I prepare for my impending exodus. The search for the promise has only just begun.

I recall the first time I came to Ipoh. I just finished housemanship and I was placed in the quarters near the labour room. Life was not-so-simple back then and even right now, I know I am still in search for the right answers and for that sense of belonging. I made good friends and enjoyed the food here but just when I thought I could settle down in Ipoh, I was thrown to Teluk Intan. Without much fanfare or drama, I resigned to my fate in a small town and left quietly. Hardly anybody in the hospital noticed. After spending 2 years of my life in the hinterlands, I was back in this picturesque and calm city.

This time round, things are a bit different. Somehow, my stay here started uneventfully but about to end with a big bang. Life always throw surprises at us. The month of October has turned out to be the most blissful, enjoyable, entertaining, fulfilling month in 2009 as I wrap up my stint as a medical officer here. No matter how difficult it is to say goodbye, I am preparing myself for the eventual farewell as my last day approaches.

I guess many people will question my decision. Leaving a comfortable place I love dearly is not easy but I need to fight for my dreams. At the end of the day, I know that God will lead me through the uncertain times ahead as I call upon Him to give me courage, grace and peace to start anew. Please pray for me as I strengthen my heart, mind and soul for a new beginning...

There's something about A'shore

2009-10-21T06:52:00.000-07:00

My last few weeks in Ipoh are all about discovering new eating joints and testing my taste buds. If there’s a place that deserved repeated visits, it must be darn good.

I’ve been to this place A’shore for 3 times thus far and each time, we found something nice that we adore.

Somehow, this place is always packed with frequent customers and we have joined their ranks in becoming fans, too. In fact, we've caught many colleagues from the general hospital having their meals here...I guess it's conveniently close to our habitat after all

It was tucked in a quiet row of old colonial town-houses on the road linking majeedia mamak shop and Koh Samui restaurant..you know, the old greentown area near Cowan Street.

Firstly, we tasted the famous fried kai-lan. The funny thing is that when kai-lan is fried this way, it resembled sea-weed. There is no bitterness or oiliness to this amazing dish, which is healthy and tasty.

Then we tried the steamed fish which was mediocre to say the least. At least it was fresh. On the other hand, the butter-milk chicken was great. The creamy, savoury gravy complimented the crispy chicken very well.

Anyway, the next time I was there..it got even better. The tofu looked cute and tasted great. The sauce is filled with egg-y goodness and the filling has this little dot of salted egg yolk (which I really like).

Surprisingly, we ordered something very traditional as recommended and was pleased with a little pot of filled with appetizing braised vinegar pork trotter. It was just the right mix of sourness and sweetness. Ah, the right balance really counts.

So I've come to realized that there are plenty of good food in Ipoh I've yet to unearth. Hopefully my dear housemates will carry on the tradition of discovering more good eateries and bring me to more new places in the near future.

I wonder....

2009-10-17T01:48:00.000-07:00

I feel most creative, introspective and 'vulnerable' when I’m post-call. The tiredness after a few tiring nights in the hospital occassionally unleashes some inner machinery in the limbic systems that lead to a lot of outpourings of emotions. Everything seem to be extra melodramatic, nostalgic and….gasp, emotional.

Being someone who takes pride in mind over heart, rationality over emotions, I tend to detach myself from emotions. Yet emotions are what make us human. The most mind-boggling thing, to me…is the emotions that come with choices we make in life. So, does it mean that I am most human after my oncalls? Interesting huh?

Nowadays, as I’m preparing to leave a very comfortable surrounding, I mused a lot. I wonder what if I’ve never make the decision to move down south. I wonder if I’ve never make the decision to become a surgeon one day. I wonder if I never make the decision to leave KL. I wonder if I fight to stay on the HKL after housemanship. I wonder if I leave Malaysia for UK a few years ago.

In short, I wonder about so many things, about the people in my life, about the life that could have been. Most of all, I wonder what it would have been if my mother is still alive. I guess no matter where she is right now, I know that whatever choices I make in life, she will be proud of me. So I guess it's time to soldier and stop second-guessing myself!

Sensational first-hand account of a disaster in Ipoh....

2009-10-04T07:55:00.000-07:00

Nosy CPD woke up early one Saturday and went to work as usual (before 730am). Just as she was about to enter the operating theatre complex on 3rd floor (which by the way, faces Fair Park and the blue-domed mosque),one of her colleagues motioned frantically and pointed towards a pile of cement and rubble.

"Hey, fren...look at that collapsed building," she said.

" What?"

Catastrophe struck in Ipoh!

Apparently, a row of old shophouses at Fair Park area (I bet it dated back to the days of Yap Ah Loy and Co) collapsed around 945pm on Friday night (2nd October). Immediate theories surfaced on how the recent Sumatran earthquake could have shaken the foundations of the building or how the heavy rains have loosened the old structures

My friend who was involved directly in the incident, JT, had a different tale.

" You know la, friend, they have been trying to demolish the building for years. It was a drug addict lair and an eyesore. Being right next to the main road and frequently flooded, most of the shops have been deserted for ages. It was bound to collapse sooner or later ler. They already cordoned off the buildings past few weeks and the roof and back was taken down for some time d"

As for his near-death experience....

"Aiyoh. It was more painful for my car la..it has left-sided hemiparesis now (damage on one side of the body causing paralysis). I mean, I could move it but poor thing...body almost crumpled leh. I felt the impact in front of me. I mean, 5 seconds, I could have been buried under all that cement and old bricks. I could see the buried cars and some people were screaming and crying...."

As JT was a casualty MO heading to work on Friday night, I asked him about any immediate concerns on disaster management.

"Har? What? Of course I have to get myself away from all the asbestos first lar! Then I called up the people at A & E telling them I can't get to work on time and then I have to continue my work some more....Then I discovered that 2 young men were sent directly to the mortuary while another guy survived."

Quite a sensational from a sleepy little city huh?

Pictures were taken from my handphone camera while driving past the scene of carnage. Shaky images courtesy of the Ah Beng-modified car behind ours.The blame is on him because he honked at my friend's slow driving and therefore I have to take the shot on the move. Aaargh!

Being a seasonal paparazzi

2009-10-02T06:39:00.000-07:00

Ermmm...ah...errr....Sounds familiar? CPD was caught off-guard/off-balance today...was called to give an impromptu speech in front of the entire department during the departmental meeting. Quite a disarming move and something that I should have prepared for. Nevertheless, I was in a nostalgic and poignant mode but failed to impart what I felt in my heart. That's the tricky part about public speaking...spontaneous speech is not everyone's forte although I never had problems with speaking in front of any audience. It's just that I ain't no Obama wannabe. Wish I could give something rousing, heart-rending and impassioned...oh never mind, it's a Friday afternoon and everyone is gearing to go home or go back for Mid-Autumn's festival.

The next few weeks will be sort of a dragged-out, prolonged farewell as I turn into a self-proclaimed photojournalist covering events unfolding in Ipoh and KL. In order words, a kaypoh chee or a paparazzi in making. Armed with my trusted compact camera, I'll try to capture it all (just like a tourist). I found out from today's experience that it's very tough capturing portraiture of people on camera...no wonder I prefer taking pictures of inanimate objects and scenery.

At the same time, I'm cracking my head thinking of the best way to hold a party in Ipoh. I have tonnes of ideas in KL but when it comes to this city, I'm clueless/helpless/hopeless. Any ideas?

What happened @ Yam-yam?

2009-09-29T06:29:00.000-07:00

It's not easy getting days off from clinic. What's even more difficult is getting the whole surgical gang out for dinner on a working Monday. Our regular workload and patient flow is pretty heavy but with the recent influx of medical officers in the department, life can be good when it comes to sampling Ipoh's gastronomical delights.

In conjunction with our colorectal workshop, we were fortunate enough to get 2 full days of seeing interesting cases courtesy of Prof Charles and Miss Chan. Although we see a lot of bowel-related cases in normal general surgery, there are also some high-level cases and procedures which are rare and technically-demanding. So, I was very glad that we all had a chance to be immersed in the 'gut' for a few days

After hours of playing with the gut, we need to fill up our guts too and what better place than somewhere extremely near to the hospital (so near, we could actually walk there but being Malaysian...who walk when we have cars!)

We decided on Yam-yam, a Nyonya-Chinese fusion restaurant at Old Greentown. It was surprisingly packed that Monday night and I've forgotten how food taste like in this place. I remembered it was previously unremarkable. I guess I could be prejudiced because the last time I came to this place, I was still a little houseman in 2006, living on my meagre salary.

There were 18 semi-hungry people (we were well-fed throughout the entire day) waiting for food amidst the crowd. It came sooner than expected as everyone was in a good mood (courtesy of some 'sponsors')

The omelette was alright although very small for 8 people (each table). On the other hand, the pandan chicken was tasty, very fragrant and well-marinated. I guess no one could go wrong with this dish.

The tofu was quite good while the tomyam was ok. At least, the entire dining experience was very pleasant as we catch up with each other.

So, what's CPD's verdict again?

IMHO, Yam-yam is not as unremarkable as I remembered it to be. The price is reasonable and the place has an authentic, old-world charm to it. Food is quite good, especially for a big party of 4 or more people. What's more importantly, the location is excellent for those of us in town.

Witnessing an accident first hand and musing on defensive medicine

2009-09-27T00:17:00.000-07:00

Being a healthcare personnel has its shares of ups and downs, perks and quirks, joy and sorrow. We are often silent witnesses to some of the most tumultous events in a person's life. Trauma, birth, death, cancer, severe illness, recovery..these are all parts of the circle of life that we encounter daily.

For example, we were travelling for dinner while oncall during the Raya period. You can say that we are having a very good call if we are able to go out for makan at normal times. Anyway, we were following an old Roadways bus near an intersection in the Greentown area when a blue Viva shoot out of the intersection. BANG! I heard a loud sound and there was a collision right in front of us.

We immediately parked our car near Dave's Diner, jumped down the parking lot (I was glad I was wearing trousers and could run around anywhere!) and checked on the passengers of the small car. Apparently, a young girl was the 'unlucky' driver with her boyfriend sitting next to her. We checked on her briefly and although the car was totally wrecked (it looked bad), the direct impact was on the back seat behind the girl thus she was spared from any bodily harms. We let the paramedics do their work and continued on with our dinner.

Anyway, the incident made me wonder about emergency services. Although all 3 of us in the car was fully trained for emergency procedures as we are surgical registrars and medical officers, we would not be able to do anything if there were serious injuries outside the hospital. We do not have any medical supplies, oxygen tanks, splints or even bandages in the car. In fact, I don't even carry any resuscitation tools with me at all times.

On the other hand, I have recently heard of the Good Samaritan principles in the practice of medicine. Basically, if a doctor decide to help a person in need outside the hospital (let's say in a medical emergency on an airplane, in a boat, by the roadside, etc), we are equally liable to any untowards event in case of death, permanent disability, etc happening to the injured person. In short, we could be sued for malpractice despite the lack of diagnostic and treatment tools. Moreover, medical malpractice insurance may or may not cover the doctor, as the person in need did not deliberately seek our help in the first place; i.e. the person in need is technically not a patient as he/she did not solicit us.

Now this puts a lot of us in a dilemma isn't it? As a fellow human being, we would normally offer help and being medically-trained, everyone would expect that a doctor is the best person to assist a person in distress. However, there is this hand-tying, law-suit happy society nowadays that would not hesitate to persecute anyone that could be blamed in the event of an unhappy ending. I guess this will again reinforce on the practice of defensive medicine....

How about me? Would I help a person in need? I guess I need to be wise in offering help as the ultimate tenet is : FIRST, DO NO HARM. Whatever it is, we must remove ourselves and the person in need from danger and then, intelligently & calmly assess the situation. After all, we cannot be a 'hero' and try to perform some 'miracles' without back-up personnel and the proper tools and facilities!!

Discovering new eating joints: Teppanyaki @ Takeyama

2009-09-21T07:12:00.000-07:00

Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir dan Batin and...it's time to talk about the good stuff in life again : Food. A girl's gotta eat amidst depressive days of non-stop oncalls and a sure bet in finding yummy food will be in the 'Bangsar of Ipoh' @ Ipoh Garden East (IGE).

Thus in the middle of the long weekend & balik-kampung season, yours truly has decided to satisfy the crave for Japanese food. Apparently, a new joint has opened in IGE area and it's called Takeyama. The demand for Jap food in Ipoh never ceases to amaze me considering the small size of the city and population. I wonder why...

The interiors are quite simple and small. We expected a bigger seating area yet as you can see from the pic, the cooking area took up a huge part of the restaurant. The menu is extensive but without pictures, thus depriving us of the all-important visual input in selecting the food. For some mysterious unknown reasons, all 3 of us decided for teppanyaki spontaneously although there are many other choices of sushi, sashimi, dons, udon, ramen, etc....

KCCS had the seafood teppanyaki and it was really small, especially for a guy. The taste is ok but he was disappointed with the portion. It has scallops, prawns, fish and squids (sounded a lot on the menu) but the actual fact is that it's sadly too little for him.

As for me, I ordered the squid and duck combination. Being an atypical person, I like to think and make decisions out of the box so I choose sth rather odd. It's not often that we find duck teppanyaki. Surprisingly, it tasted great and the portion is very satisfying (to me lar). I'm not a big eater and so it was filling enough but I think this dish is too small compared to typical teppanyaki. I love the lightly sauteed vegetable with little salt and pepper. It's a refreshing change from the usual highly-salted, thirst-inducing teppanyaki in shopping malls.

One thing very certain about the place. The friendly waiters and waitresses were very smiley and attentive but the food took ages to arrive. We waited almost 45 mins for simple teppanyaki dish despite only 3 other tables of customers at the same time. I assume that the restaurant is too new to cope with the amount of orders. Anyhow, the chawanmushi is excellent...very very smooth and soft eggs (and again, the portion is minuscule!)

The only large portion of the day goes to JT, who ordered the mixed meat teppanyaki. As you can see, the entire plate is packed with all types of meat (chicken, lamb, duck)...but there was a missing non-halal component. JT was very pleased with his food. I tried the lamb..it was delicious.

As for location, IMHO, this place is quite accessible, diagonally opposite Sky Corner and 777. Being relatively new to the scene, I would say that it should improve over time (faster cooking time, prettier menu, bigger portions). The pricing is ok and with the green tea free-flowing, anyone could spend long hours in this place, yakking away.

Oops, guess it's time to go prepare for another oncall again tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Courage, don't desert me and an interesting township

2009-09-12T05:56:00.000-07:00

Busy, busy, busy. 3 weeks in a row in Ipoh and having lotsa of busy calls means that I really miss home (KL). I mean, a girl gotta rest amidst all the eventful activities in the wards and theatre. One of my laporotomy cases last week involved running and pushing the patient’s bed to the operation theatre (along with 4 other doctors and 2 nurses) while he was vomiting blood profusely. 1 day after the operation, he was soon extubated so it can be said that we managed to save him in the nick of time but he is still not out of the woods. Still it was quite a hectic week and I’m very glad for a weekend away from hospital as I go home for some R & R.

I received more news from down south. We are only young once…if I don’t explore and push the limits of my capabilities now, when can I ever try to discover new frontiers again? Of course I always have a twinge of guilt and occassionally, there is this fear of the unknown when it comes to this matter. However, I think there are times when we have to choose a different path and leave our comfort zone. I guess 1 year of preparation is good enough and I shall no longer hesitate or procrastinate on this matter. God shall be my fortress, my strong provider and tower of refuge…

Anyhow, time for more food reviews and gallivating around KL!!

I’ve not visited desa parkcity before despite seeing the place more than 50 times from the PLUS highway. Of course I know about the prices of houses here but I’ve not heard of any places to ‘makan’ within this township before. Now I know better.

Anyway, we dropped by the Waterfront @ desa parkcity and it was a nice, chill-out place. The weather did us a big favour by raining just before that and thus the cool weather really enhances the country-living feel to the entire township.

The small mall has a few entrances and many eateries despite its size. We decided on Ketam Village Steamboat as it was a rainy day and steamboat is always welcomed on a rainy afternoon. The ingredients were simple and quite fresh. Price is mid-range for quite a big meal. What I like most is the view of the serene lake from the restaurant. Not only that, finding parking was a breeze compared to other big malls on weekends (no way we could even go near 1-u, the Curve, Ikano or Midvalley!)

As I spy Rakuzen and another Korean restaurant within the same premise, I have a 'feeling' that I might be going to the Waterfront again, before long :-)

Warning..do not read this on an empty stomach :-P

2009-09-06T21:05:00.000-07:00

Not going to New Foh San while staying in Ipoh is like not going to Ion Orchard Road if you are staying in Singapore. It's a must-visit place if you wanna experience the best of Ipoh dim sum (apparently). I'm not a big fan of the cholesterol and sodium bombs they served in very small portions but I'm not gonna leave Ipoh without trying the new and revamped Foh San.

Right off, they are all out to impress all the foodies with an Art Deco-inspired and colourful foyer a.k.a payment counter right at the entrance. The whole place is clean and pretty cool. Thankfully, we reached the place before 730 am and thus were spared from the looooooong queue waiting to be seated once you arrive after 8 am. Take it from me...I had my fair share of coming here, rounding the tables and leaving the place without partaking anything. So, a word of reminder : WAKE UP EARLY IF YOU ARE HEADING HERE...

The staircase leading to a bigger makan area upstairs is pretty grand and slightly pretentious for a restaurant. There are gigantic banners featuring poetry in stylish Chinese calligraphy, which I couldn't understand (due to my 30% grasp of written Mandarin and partial 'banana'-hood). Anyway, I was there for the food, not for the literature and thus headed straight for a good table and started ordering pronto.

The Chinese tea was very fragrant and I do adore all forms of tea, be it English or Chinese. The teapot and teacups are cute and so Sino.

There are many types of pau and we tried the Char Siew Pau..which is ok. I'm not a big fan of char siew as I preferred other types of pau. The fillings are quite little but the 'pastry' is soft and fluffy.

I love the fried rice cake here. Yummy..the tiny bits of egg and dried prawns with lightly fried and not-so-oily rice cakes are perfect accompaniments to the steamed dumplings.

Fried brinjals, on the other hand, is a mild disappointment as I much preferred the other version at Ming Court. I think it would be better if the skin is crispier.

Then comes the classic dish of all time : siu mai. This typical dim sum is found throughout the whole of Malaysia and it's not that difficult to make. However, the ones at Foh San are just mediocre. Maybe I shouldn't come with high expectations.

I think this is the spinach dumpling (due to the green 'skin') and it's slightly cold so that tepid temperature reduced the quality. The taste was ok though...

Har kao (Prawn Dumpling) is another quintessential dim sum and at least Foh San did it justice by packing a lot of juicy prawn and meat into the cute white package. I think this was quite good too.

I would give the woo kok (fried yam ball) a second chance next time. It's not oily (which is a good thing) but not hot and aromatic enough. There is something amiss in the stuffing (not enough of spices, perhaps?) but the coating of fluffy yam was nice. Therefore, it's a 50-50 thingy and it could improve with time..

So, what can I say about the food in New Foh San? I'm sure many of you have tried dim sum at FS over the years. Although this restaurant has been 'repackaged' since it has moved to a larger premise in a new location, the food is similar to the old location except slightly more expensive. It has it's fair share of hits and misses and you have to try it for yourself to be the judge. After all, you cannot say that you have tried the famous Ipoh dim sum if you have not tried the food at Foh San and its nearest competitor, Ming Court. We foresee the making of a real dim sum war in the near future!!

Talking about Cafe Takahashi

2009-09-04T07:46:00.000-07:00

As mentioned earlier, there are very few shopping centres in Perak and needless to say, one of the most popular hang-out place is Kinta City. Come weekends and this place is more crowded than Shinjuku. Of course CPD is quite a regular at this mall and recently, the Ipoh makan gang noticed a spanking new restaurant near the cinema end. Thus, we couldn't resist but try the food there.

I'm quite pleased as it has somehow magically transported me to KL. The ambience and decor is bright, cheerful, airy and reminded me of 1-u. The menu is reminiscent of Pasta Zanmai (another favourite of mine) but with food half the price.

It's still new and being tucked away at a corner, we could find a table easily. I foresee that this place is about to be very packed once word got round about the quality of food and service.

Anyway, CF and I eagerly scanned the menu as both of us are ravenous. The menu was tastefully done and everything looked scrumptious.

I picked the chicken cutlet and mushroom spaghetti. Being Jap-Italian fusion, I actually
enjoyed the 'marriage' of my two favourite cuisine. The sauce was delicious and the chicken just nice.

CF ordered the chicken katsu curry and it was yummy too. The curry is typical Jap style (which is really not spicy at all) while the chicken is the same as mine.

And being girls, how can we forget desserts? There is always room for dessert! Anyhow, we ordered the strawberry cheesecake and I didn't really like it. The layer of strawberry on top of the cake is chewy and the cake overall doesn't resemble what they display on the menu. Maybe we will have better luck with ice-cream and pudding next time.

In short, I'm very glad that Cafe T came to town. Now I can have my Jap-Italian fusion food anytime I'm in Ipoh.

Countdown to another chapter Part 1 : Fighting mental battles

2009-08-31T05:09:00.000-07:00

Today we celebrated 52 years of nationhood amidst H1N1, temple controversies, another hike in petrol prices, TBH premature and unjustified death and many other X-Files. For me personally, it's a day filled with sleeping, eating, sleeping and Internet just because I'm post-call. Life is mundane and sedated in Ipoh, especially without my chirpy housemates.

typical a day in Ipoh : walks/runs in parks ringed by limestone hills, eating and sleeping

Back-to-back call, to me, is like the black hole of medicine. It's something that has always been there but we try our darnedest to avoid. Once sucked into it, there is no escape. It's 2 and a half days of being stuck in the hospital...day, nite, day, nite, day...almost 50 hours of staying alert and attending to all types of problems in the wards, OT and emergency department. It's something Malaysian surgeons are used to (with some centres having their surgeons being oncall the entire week..GASP!) and trainees trying to acclimatize to it ASAP, as much as possible.

the saving grace of many KLites working in Ipoh and the only major shopping centre in Perak

It was a long weekend and being off calls for many weeks, of course I'm the first choice of being oncall. Initially, I thought it would be fine doing back-to-back as I'm sure that my energy level is up to it. After all, I've done 15 EOD calls before in HKL (EOD is another medical lingo created to confuse many ppl not in medicine..it means every other day) and weekends are supposedly cool days. However, I didn't figure in other confounding factors : the mental and emotional aspect. The key word is that the last time I did 15 EOD calls, it was in KL when I was back at home and back in my comfort zone. Now, it's an entirely different ballgame altogether.

An undispensable tool and something I'm very grateful for : HF Electrosurgery tools

Like what my fren PS say, the mental part has a lot to do with how we face challenges. Our mentality and fighting spirit could determine the hits or the misses. Initially, I felt kinda left out on Saturday as I missed the departmental party/KL's open house. Then I felt worse because my sister came to visit me in Ipoh and I could only meet up with her for half hour before I went back to hospital to settle some problems. So, I hardly had time for anyone, socially. The zenith of disappointment was when I realize I am oncall again next weekend (another back-to-back) on a similarly long weekends, while most people are with their families and loved ones as I run up and down the hospital corridors and wards.

In the end, as I'm typing this post, I began to reach a EUREKA moment...The consolation is that I should treat this as an early training ground, as minor sacrifices that I have to make in order to achieve my dreams. If I am not tough enough for it,if I am not strong enough to fight for it, not brave enough to encounter challenges, not enterprising enough to discover new terrain and not resilient enough to fight mental and emotional battles.....then I have no right to claim my dreams in the future.

After all, if we do not fight for what we believe in, what we hold on to be true, what we aim for in the future, then what's the point of having dreams in the first place?

My first part in musing about life in Malaysia before I cross the fence where grass is not necessarily but hopefully (with fingers crossed), greener.

Let's Go Prego

2009-08-28T06:41:00.000-07:00

It's not often that I get to eat really classy, gourmet-type of food. However, we had a chance to go dine at a fine-dining place in Westin Hotel, Bukit Bintang. Yup, we were in Prego!

From the moment we entered, there was a lot of expensive-looking good wine and liquor on display. With tasteful lighting and modernistic decor, suddenly I felt underdressed. Thank goodness it was only lunch.

As customary, we were greeted by a cute-looking waiter and a bottle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Why? Just like in any other authentic Italian restaurant, we are 'encouraged' to chew on their home-made bread while waiting for our appetizers to come.

Looking around us (while waiting), it's easy to be completely at ease and at peace. The whole place is so warm and airy..with giant windows and bright sunlight streaming in while the busy traffic bustled about outside, it's almost like another world.

Fashionable ladies and happy tourists walked past us as strong wind rustled the trees along Jalan Bkt Bintang. As the little yellow petals fluttered by, I feel transported to somewhere else...like a small cafe in Rome or Paris. A truly idyllic afternoon huh?

Anyhow, food came quicker than we thought and the theme of the day was : TOMATO AND CHEESE

Both our appetizers featured juicy, sundried tomatoes and tasty gooey cheese. Mine has rockets, feta cheese, figs and tomatoes and I loved its freshness. The salty cheese is the perfect foil to the sweet figs.

Main meal was...not much different. I expected a nice pizza..but Calzone was more like a giant curry puff with 'Italianized' fillings. Of course the salami in it was brilliant but I felt I made a wrong choice. There was a lot of tomato in it so much so that at the end of the meal, I was bursting with tomato goodness from the whole experience.

Anyway, the servings were HUGE. I packed my food and ate half of it for breakfast the next morning. To give them credit, the calzone actually tasted good even the next day. BK had some sort of grilled chicken with a tomato-based sauce. I thought it was a better dish compared to mine. I reminded myself : Thou shalt not covet....

So my verdict : Prego is definitely the place to go when you are in town accompanied with a gigantic craving for good Italian food AND with a thick, well-padded wallet.

P.S: The meal was 'partially-sponsored' (but not by the restaurant)...so I kinda hope that someday, I will be a food blogger par excellence and someone in the food industry will actually sponsor me. I promise to run more to burn off the extra goodies!

I know it's a eventful day when....

2009-08-27T06:40:00.001-07:00

..I had a good, non-halal breakfast on a working day. Ipoh dim sum rocks!

..a car exploded in front of me while I was crossing the road! We heard a loud sound and apparently, smoke was coming out from one guy's car. Guess what happened?

..some guys fought in front of the hospital : throwing punches and pushing each other around. It was like a Bollywood movie!

..walked around in the rain without an umbrella but didn't get wet at all. Creative utilization of BHT!

..workday ended respectfully on time!

..and despite all that : I didn't take any pics. Aaaaahh!

Wish i could bum more...

2009-08-21T23:31:00.001-07:00

My roomies and I decided to go to Perhentian after my exams and in retrospect,it was a brilliant idea. I haven't gone on vacation in months and needed to refresh my almost-nonexistential diving skills while the gals wanna take up open water diving course.

After extensive on-line research (Thanks PS!), we found out that there are two ways to get to Perhentian from Singapore...either by a 10 hour bus ride or a 12 hour train ride. Being girls, we decided on the more 'leisurely on the bum' and 'romantic' train ride and endured an extremely long and jolting ride across the whole Peninsular (from the South to the North via the East Coast) cutting across the heart of Taman Negara.

Our mission was to dive, soak up the sun, eat, sleep and snorkel. We managed to do all that and even more. Discovered that we are the only Asians on the island. Trekked across Pulau Perhentian Kecil to Long Beach. Found out that the nightspots on the island is quite happening. Stumbled upon a secluded 'personal' beach. Ate food twice as expensive as KL but half as nice.

One word of warning though..the speedboat ride to and fro the island is a force to be reckoned with. It's like a 25 mins roller-coaster ride on a good day (with high waves, strong winds and a half-mad driver). We bunked in cheaply at D'Ayumni Resort and Hostel, which is a small place tucked in between Tuna Bay Restaurant and Resort (high class) and New Cocohut Resort (middle-ranged)...when we checked in, realized that we have a roomate from Netherlands who got so sun-burned on D1 in Perhentian that he spent the entire holidays indoors. So, reminder from the medical community : WEAR SUNBLOCK!!

Aside from people-watching on land (more like feasting our eyes upon the sun-kissed, hot bods of young guys and gals), I was quite disappointed with the marine life in shallower waters when we were snorkelling. Although this island is still better than most (Redang and Tioman, for example), I think the fragile ecosystem is unable to sustain the onslaught of tourism any longer. So sad...

Of course tourism brings in money and development to many parts of the country, but at what cost? I'm not sure whether the corals and marine creatures will ever return to this part of the country again. It sounds like the West coast all over again. That's why, I occassionally feels guilty when I dive/snorkel. I feel like I'm bringing more trouble to the stressed ecology.

Anyhow, this is a beautiful place and we should try our best to leave behind only footprints and take only pictures. On my way home (the plane was delayed half hour..as usual lar), I noticed from the air the surreal and awe-inspiring landscape. So my Merdeka Day wish for this year is that we shall care more for the enviroment and do our parts in eco-friendliness.

Anyway, I am just so glad that I'm no longer stressed :-) Do look forward to more blogs from yours truly....