davidlian visits: Lookout Point - feat. Group Samuel

Two weeks ago, our church youth group (SAMUEL! Yeah!) went for an outing at this place called Lookout point. Snuggled somewhere off the road between Ulu Langat and Ampang, Lookout Point boasts an eco-resort, a couple of restaurants of varying quality, and a fantastic view of the city.

Just thought I'd share a couple of pics from our visit and point out yet another great "secret place" in Malaysia that many people still don't know about. Wondering if tourists are brought here on their buses?


As you can see, we were somewhere between the outskirts of Ampang and the road to Ulu Langat.


Ignore my poser friend, check out the view of the city. :)


The view at night is breathtaking. Really good.


My youth group - Samuel. Striking a pose.


We settled down to have some food at the cheapest joint there. I ordered Kam Heong fried rice.


Which I promptly regretted when I saw Yee Ling's Portuguese rice. More meat!


Of course, no one could beat Jonathan's Western Cuisine.


The nice, resortie-ish food complex. Got many restaurants to try.


The guys fooling around. Check out the boy-band album cover expressions.


Not to be out-done, the girls demanded a picture too.


And we all went home with some very full stomachs. Don't start the rumour, this isn't my stomach.

If you're looking for a place to go for a nice visit our outing, check out Lookout Point. Seriously. We went there for the first time and surprised ourselves with how much fun we had. Of course, you could join us anytime we have an outing or event again - we have these sort of things every Saturday (that's why I'm always busy every weekend, guys). Just drop me a line if you want to come along.

PS. If you're thinking of going to Lookout Point, I'd warn you to beware of the jam that starts at 8:30 p.m. or so when many, many couples come up to have a romantic dinner and view of the city. As the access road is single laned, you'll have hard time going down. But don't let that deter you anyway.

Bad, bad service at expensive restaurant *geram*

So we decided to go out for lunch today to celebrate a colleague's confirmation. We settled on one of them none-too-cheap restaurants over at Gardens, Midvalley and were all hyped up for a sumptious meal. After all, as you can see from the pic below, it promised "Hospitality with a Heart."



Turns out to be another fanciful tagline that means nothing because the whole experience quickly turned into a highly stressful one, leaving me to walk away wondering: "Why are we paying so much money for so mundane food (which you can get from a hawker stall by the way) if not for good service (which is still charged at 10% service charge)?

Instead, we had a couple of immigrant workers (read: cheap labour) serving us and getting us off the wrong foot by messing up our order. Despite repeated attempts to communicate, they just didn't get it.

First, it was the wrong drink.

Then, they refused to cancel an order of rice (beats me why?) until we "insisted" quite "firmly."

The food came slow. The bill came slower. And our dessert, well... let's just say when I peered over after waiting for 15 minutes, I saw one worker scolding another worker for forgetting to "process" the order.

The best part of the whole experience? Well, my colleage ordered a takeaway of his drink. Mind you, this was a new order for a new drink, just that he wanted it packed for takeaway. Guess what he got?



His RM 8.00 Lemongrass mixed with syrup water was packed in a plastic bag a la mamak stall. What? From a high-end restaurant, I expect better. *shakes head*

Well, I'm sorry to say this but, is the restaurant business so difficult that you need to overcharge AND cut corners by hiring cheap labour who can't speak the language whilst saving money by giving us plastic bags for takeaway?

*shakes head*

The Obligatory Valentines Post

I love Lydia a lot and in this, our 7th year together, we get to celebrate our Valentines Day in a simple way for the first time as a married couple.

Just to share a picture of us eating at Carl's Jr:



And... not to forget, the best Valentine's gift ever (for now):



Just a quick short post to say "Thanks dear, love you forever!" Always will.

Thoughts on India

About 10 days ago I was in India for a company offsite which I returned from with a "Delhi Belly". Thought I'd get back and straight up to posting about India, but because of recurring lethargy and the sheer amount of work that had piled up whilst I was gone meant it was delayed until now. But good stuff is always worth the wait, right?

I think it's been said before that Delhi's a land of extremes, but I don't think you'd ever realise how extreme it is until you've set foot there. From landing in the Delhi International Airport, the bus ride to the hotel was perhap's the best was to tell the story: Stately old Buicks driving right next to sleek BMWs. Dirt roads giving way to tar-covered highways. Shanty towns neighbouring modern complexes.

You can see a grand old shopping complex like KLCC surrounded with armed guards situated right opposite a very,very poor settlement. By opposite, I mean, right across the road!


Traffic in india. Notice the all-kinds-of-transport.

And the traffic. If you thought Malaysian roads were hazardous (a generalisation, perhaps) then Delhi roads would be enough to make you mad. For starters:
1. Everyone drives as if they are in some terrible hurry trying to rush a relative to the hospital.
2. Drivers believe in the optimisation of space, thus cars are driving as close as they can to each other and every obscure angle, nook and cranny is filled with a part of someone elses car - e.g. the front right corner of the car's nose.
3. Nobody waits at roundabouts. It's a game of who dares wins.
4. Honk please! Seriously! Almost every car has that at its back end. The streets are filled with loud honking.


We stayed in a plush hotel. The Intercontinental Eros. It's a world of difference from what's outside the Hotel. That's my colleague Corina in the picture.


Meet Ashish, my room mate. He's smart and very intelligent. He also taught me how to dance like a Bollywood superstar.

The water's supposed to be unfit for drinking, but after talking to my Indian colleagues, i think it isn't as bad as people make it out to be. Tap water is drinkable if you boil or filter it first - gee...that's just like Malaysia. The food, though... wow...if you thought the Indian food in Malaysia was spicy...wait till you check out what Delhi food is like! I must've had so much Tandoori that my stomach was flaming and paining by the time it was time to go home. And, I noticed (at the hotel at least) the eating utensils provided are usually fork and knife - even if you're eating rice. I had to request for a spoon on more than one occassion.


The Bahai Temple is one of the picturesque landmarks. You have to keep silent in the temple.

If you're thinking of visiting Delhi for the sights, then expect a very authentic historical and spiritual journey. In Delhi alone, I think I counted four or five spiritual sites including the Bahai Temple (one of Six around the world), a Muslim Spinarret and temples to other Indo religions.


The marketplaces are colourful. We went to this place called Janpath market on the second night.


Semi-precious stones are some of the best buys in India.


The streets of Delhi town. It's really a colourful place, full of culture and a unique ethnic identity you don't find in Malaysia.


America's most famous export has special burgers in India. Like the Chicken Aloo burger.

The shopping was quite the experience too and tourists should normally look out for cloth items (clothing, bags etc.) or semi-precious stones. I think I spent more than RM 300 on semi-precious stones for my mom and Lydia. But you have to bargain (goes without saying). I think a good benchmark is to get at least 50% off and be prepared to walk away. I'm told the bargaining threshholds for locals and foreigners are different, so if you're a foreigner, expect that you'll still be paying more than a local for what you buy.

Just to conclude this post, my regret was we didn't get to see the Taj Mahal on this trip as there weren't enough people signing up for the trip. Maybe one day I'll make another trip: Back to India!

There be Giants (Milk Teas) / Ernie & Yvonne's Birthday Sneaky Tricks

I don't know if the other pseudo Hong-Kong food places already do this but you know, you can get a free Giant Milk Tea @ Wong Kok in Leisure Mall, Cheras. It's really big, like this:


Look at the SIZE of that thing!

All you have to do to get that Giant Milk Tea is get your buddies to spend RM 30.00 minimum on food and drinks then show those kind people working at Wong Kok your IC and that your birthday is actually on that day and they'll cart it out for you.

So anyway, Ernie's birthday is on the 7th of Jan and Yvonne's birthday was on the 8th of Jan. Someone (suspect it's Ernest himself) came up with the sneaky plan to get TWO Giant Milk Teas by doing this:

We went to Wong Kok at 11 pm to celebrate Ernest and Yvonne's birthday. Waitress served us. We budgeted carefully and spend just enough to get that one Giant Milk Tea and then requested for cups for everyone else - so free drinks for most people.

Then, the punchline: at the stroke of 12 midnight, we buzzed the waiter again and ordered some more food - this time, more than RM 30 again. And, we proudly presented Yvonne's IC so that
we could get a SECOND Giant Milk Tea. The waiter stared incredulously at the card for a couple of minutes before Ernest had to quip in - "it's real."

To Wong Kok's merit, they delivered the SECOND Giant Milk Tea without too much fuss after Yvonne signed the book confirming she's actually having her birthday on that day. Though, I'd pay to know what they were saying inside the kitchen... :)


Giant Milk Tea makes for great drinking games too!