Ushering another new year - 2008 !

It's the end of 2007 and time again to forget the past and usher the new year. We all gathered at Rodney's place this time. As with christmas last week, no more bang bang party for us, just small gathering. Food was aplently. David's wife Christine brought her homemade pizza - very good effort. Freemen came with Chris, his girlfriend. This time we also indulged in a bit of pre-chinese new year festivities i.e. gambling! It was sheer fun and I'm sure we'll gather again in another month's time for the real festivities! Till then........." HAPPY NEW YEAR "

Christmas Eve 2007

This Christmas eve we all gathered at Gary's place for a BBQ party. As most of us now have our own little family, the house party was a refreshing change from the usual commercial bang bang party we used to go to. It was a joyous evening where good friends gathered and we all enjoyed each other's company amidst the festive spirit. Closer to midnight we had our gift exchange and we wished each other a wonderful christmas hoping that somewhere out there Santa hears our wishes!
" MERRY CHRISTMAS "

To Highlands with Love, Oct 2007

October is special. It's the month, Chloe and I first met. And on 22 October 2007, we celebrated our 2nd Anniversary of our First Meeting ! In celebration, we made a quickie escapade to Cameron Highlands. The cool crisp air at Cameron Highlands was refreshing. We stayed at the majestic Lakehouse, an old English style mansion that sits atop a hill overlooking the "Lake" (it's actually a dam)! After checking-in, we drove towards Tanah Rata and Brinchang where we visited the vegetable and strawberries farm along the way. On the way back, we stopped at Smokehouse for a few pics. After a long day cruising up and down the highlands, we returned to our "mansion" for the night, for a romantic candlelight dinner. After dinner, we returned to our room where Chloe was to be surprised by a bed filled with red roses and I presented to her a bouquet of white lilies and white roses! She was ecstatic! Love you dear !

Oh! it's the Interactive Digital Billboard !

I was at the Mid Valley Gardens shopping mall about 3 weeks ago and guess what? I saw a plasma display being used as an interactive directory - this was the same idea we had proposed to several mall owners about 7 years ago. It is not something new. We knew, because we pioneered the idea but unfortunately it did not see the light of the day during our time. Just say, we were too early! How sad! We saw it coming but yet it wasn't fully understood then.

The Festival of the Nine Emperors, Oct 2007

On the first nine days of the ninth month of the Chinese calendar, there is this orthodox Chinese festival called the "Kow Wong Yeh" or literally known as "Festival of the Nine Emperors", which is celebrated predominantly by the Hokkiens and Cantonese. So, to give offerings to the nine emperors, we went to this famous Nine Emperor temple in Ampang New Village. It's always crowded here during this time. This is my second visit to the nine emperor's temple. I was here last year to accompany my wife (then girlfriend) to pray for blessings and repay the nine emperor's "loan". Since everything had went smoothly the year before, we braved the smoke and went through the same ritual this year, praying for blessings of good health, wealth and happiness.

At the Festival of Nine Emperors, it is a culture to seek out a loan from the divine for some heavenly windfall. So, we went to the nine emperor's banker to ask for a loan. Queue was short. Service was fast. And we were given a loan on the spot. No prior approval or credit checking was required. But there is a catch, the interest rate is very high (as we could expect from any non-banking institutions), the interest is minimum 200% per annum! So, if you guys see me strike it rich next year, you knowlah where to get a loan to proposperity!

Mr. CLAYPOT

There is this place in Cheras, that serves very good claypot chicken rice. How we know it's good? Well, it's always packed with diners and many people in Cheras knows about its famous claypot chicken rice. If the picture isn't yummy enough, go head to Taman Desa Aman, it's located on the single storey shophouses right next to the apartments. Once you enter the road, it's at the end corner lot and you will not miss it. Go try it yourself. By the way, it also serve very good teochew porridge, I was told.

Mr. Claypot
19, 21-Block C, Desa Aman 2,
Taman Desa Aman
(Next to the Desa Aman Food Court/Cheras Kelana Jaya Seafood Restaurant)
Tel : 012-6800729

11.30am-10.30pm

Yours SINCERE-ly, Pavilion

Welcome to the birth of the youngest and most trendy Sincere store todate. Located at the Pavilion KL, the newest landmark shopping destination in Bukit Bintang, Sincere Pavilion adopts the thematic design style of our Vivo City store in Singapore. It is also the largest Sincere store ever, covering about 3,400 sq ft over two floors.

We opened for business on 5 Oct 2007, after much delay. Many of our neighboring tenants remained under renovation. We are still waiting for them to open and enliven the area. For now, traffic remains sparse but we did managed to attract many curious first timer customer. Let's hope this is a good start to another successful Sincere store!

Aunty Tham Legendary Hakka Yong Tau Foo!

Yummy, yummy! Hakka Yong Tau Foo, the Aunty Tham version is one of my favorite food. It is very time consuming, so Aunty Tham don't make it everyday. Based on a family recipe inherited from our forefathers, it is still made in the traditional way. The meat paste itself consist of 10 different ingredients! Stuffed into chilies, brinjals, bean curd, or simply flatten like in fish cake, they are first deep fried before being stewed. It taste delicious and I'm learning to make it so that I can cook it whenever I crave for it!

Year of Jackie!

Jackie Cheung was in town on 14 September 2007 for the Malaysia leg of his world tour and we were there! The concert was scheduled to start at 8:30pm but due to heavy traffic to Bukit Jalil, we were late and only reached the stadium at about 8:45pm. From the outside, we already heard the roars of the concert goers. The concert had started on time! We rushed in as it begun to rain. Once inside the stadium, it was very chaotic as everyone was moving about looking for their seats. Jackie was already there on stage singing! Finally, we found our "VIP" seats, easily 30-40 rows from the stage. Though we were far, we sat there to enjoy the concert from afar. Songs after songs, Jackie wow the crowd, from his evergreen songs, to his current songs, to his favorite songs, to his plays; he sang them all with passion. The show was supposed to end about 11:00pm when the concert goers refused to leave, and chanted, "ENCORE! JACKIE! JACKIE!........". Hearing the chants of his fans, Jackie finally emerged and sang for another hour. After performing for close to 3 1/2 hours, the concert finally ended at about 12 midnight. We later found out there were more than 30,000 people attended the concert that night!

Merdeka in JB

We traveled down south during the long Merdeka weekend to visit my sister's family who just moved into her new house in JB. Spent most of our time indoors as JB is well known for those notorious horror stories. Instead, took the opportunity to relax, play with my nephew and eat. We also managed to visit the Jusco Tebrau Shopping Centre, the latest and most happening mall in JB at the moment. It was crowded with people on the Saturday afternoon. Since, the whole family was there, we had an early Lantern Festival celebration and ate moon cakes.

Hello...........Gwen !

Chloe and me were at the Gwen Stefani concert last Tuesday, 21 August 2007, courtesy of JeanRichard, the edgy Swiss watch brand. While I have heard of her name before, I wasn't really a fan of hers. Her music of which I had a taste of that night was interesting but way advanced for my liking. Nevetheless, her energetic performance and the excellent dancers certainly made it an interesting show for all of us. What was suprising was we saw many celebrities and notable people (ie. Datuk & Datins) going for the concert as we queued to enter the hall. That surprises me as I didn't knew she was so popular, with the young and the old. Also, apparently she had a Malaysian connection - her father in-law is a Malaysian !

Sarang Heyo ! - Day 2

Day 2 started off with an off site breakfast where buffet were served. It was to be another tiring day for us as we headed to Chungu Lake for a boat ride. The scenery was nothing spectacular, Vietnam's Halong Bay was better. Furthermore it was drizzling. An hour later, we moved on to Suwon to visit the old fortress city of Hwasong. From Suwon we proceeded to Everland, Korea's version of Disneyland! Just as we were to enter the themepark, it started to rain heavily. However, there was no turning back, and we went through the guided tour in the rain.

We ended the day around 6:00pm when we arrived at our destination - Danyang Hotel. Another shabu-shabu dinner awaited us at the hotel restaurant. We were soon to be shocked when we checked into our hotel room, an empty room with no bed! Never in my whole life have I stayed in a hotel with no bed. We panicked and searched for help only to realized that the floor mat was our accommodation for the night! As we were too tired, we slept right through to the next morning while it rained heavily outside.

Anyong Haseyo ! Day 1

" Anyong Haseyo ! ", greeted us, as we walked into the Incheon International Airport of the land of kimchi. We finally arrived in South Korea, tired and restless at 09:00. There was a long queue that day and it took us almost 1.5 hours to clear immigration and collect our luggage. From the airport, we arrived at the Yeongjong Ferry Port where we took the Wolmido seagull cruise to the mainland. Along the way,we stopped by the old Chinatown of Incheon. A few picture moments later, we proceeded to the War Memorial Park. Our stomachs grumbling, we couldn't wait to have our first taste of Korean food. Soon, we reached our lunch destination, where we were treated to our first real meal for the day after the long flight - Korean Ginseng Chicken ! After lunch, the guide brought us to "Antique Street" - a tourist souvenier place. About 6:00pm, we finally reached our hotel. The Co-op Residence was near to Dongdaemun shopping area, where many of the city's fashion and accessories wholesale outlets are located. Excited, we had a quickie dinner next door and immediately wasted no time and went shopping around the Dongdaemun area. Our conquest ended around 12:00 midnight, and we were totally wrecked!

A Stilla make-over !

Today we were at the 1 Utama new wing where Chloe and Pauline were having their free make-up sessions with a complimentary photo shoot, courtesy of Stilla. Held at the 1Utama new wing, the Stilla event attracted quite a crowd of eager ladies waiting for their make-over sessions. The make-up session was fast and soon it was Chloe's turn to be photographed. Since that day we both wore matching white outfits, we thought, " why not have our portraits together ". That was a wise decision. We love the results. Everyone who saw the pics commented, "hey, nice wedding pics, but how come so simple one, no gowns, no coat meh ?" Cost - RM250. Location - 1U concourse make-shift studio. Clothes - our own. Make-up - free, courtesy of Stilla (no make-up for him).

One night in Avillion Port Dickson with OMEGA - July 2007

Omega, the watch brand synonymous with its world famous brand ambassadors from Cindy Crawford, Michelle Wie, Simon Yam to Michael Schumacher - invited us to a one day one night session of Omega hospitality. We were treated to a welcome buffet lunch upon arrival at mid-day. After filling up our stomachs, the main agenda of the trip was unveiled at the main function room where we spent the next 3 hours or so absorbing the wonders of Omega watches, their history, technical innovation and the new Basel 2007 novelties. By 7:30pm, we all headed to the Temasek Beach for our beach side dinner, a well spread of glorious seafood ! Watch salesmen turned singers for the night entertained us as we while away our time. By 11:30pm, I was already so tired that I slept right through like a pig without realizing that a freak thunderstorm just hit PD last night !

29 JUNE 2007 - Happiest day in my life !

29 June 2007 - the happiest day in my life ! It's the day I signed my life away ! On this day, we gathered together with our family members at the Registrar of Marriage at Putrajaya to officially become husband & wife. It was an emotional 20 minutes, filled with joy and happiness, as we sweared to love each other ever after. The day you sign on the dotted line is the day you truly becomes a man, as you are now responsible for the happiness of your other half. We now live our life as one - Mr. & Mrs. Jason Tham ! As it was also my wife's 28th birthday, we adjourned to our celebratory lunch soon after.

Hot summer days in Hanoi - June 2007

We had planned this trip sometime in Jan 2007. It was not exactly a dream location, but what the heck, we got cheap tickets from AirAsia then, and we haven't been to Hanoi. So about a month before the actual departure in May 2007, we did our itinerary planning and accommodation sourcing on the internet. It was a 4 days, 3 nights trip. We picked a rather new hotel in the heart of the Old Quarters - Hanoi Elegance Hotel. The pictures from their website looks good and we have to say the rooms are indeed pretty comfortable. The staff too were excellent and helpful. The weather in Hanoi was very hot and humid. We spent our time mostly walking and shopping in the Old Quarters and also visited some tourists sites. Vietnamese food was generally good but after a few days, you are certainly to miss the variety of taste of Malaysian fare. Shopping was mostly for house decorative items, oil painting, clothing & silk, etc. Taxis are not cheap, walking around is easy if you don't mind sweating. As Halong Bay was supposed to be a must see, we made a day trip there where we boarded a boat to tour some of the islands there. While there, we visited some floating villages and old limestone caves. It was a very tiring 6 hours journey from Hanoi and back.

Geneva, April 2007 - The Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie

We arrived in Geneva on 15 April 2007 by train. It was a 3 hours train ride. As it was a Sunday, all shops were closed. We checked into the Swissotel with spectacular Lake Geneva views. The SIHH watch expo is for trade visitors only and is dominated mostly by Richemont brands eg. Baume & Mercier, IWC, Panerai, Vacheron Constantin, JLC, Mont Blanc etc. As usual, we had back to back meetings from morning to evening. Unlike Basel, we didn't have to take any train, so it was easier and less hectic.

It was also my first time visiting "Watchland", the birthplace of all Franck Muller watches ! We attended the Franck Muller gala dinner featuring a concert by the legendary Tom Jones. We also attended the IWC event featuring the Da Vinci stageplay by Kevin Spacey.

Basel, April 2007 - BASELWORLD 2007

It's that time of the year again, the annual pilgrimage to Basel, in the land of watches - Switzerland ! This time, it's in April. It's also my second trip there. This time, the weather was rather hot. As usual we stayed in Zurich and not in Basel. As usual, everyday we waked up at 6:30am to get ready for breakfast by 7:00am. Get to the train station by 7:30am and board the 8:02am train to Basel. It's an hour ride. By the time we reached Basel, we hopped onto one of the many trams that brought us to the exhibition site. The crowd was tremendous. This time, I knew my way and was easy to navigate through the huge exhibition site to reach my destinations. We visited most of the big brands eg. Patek Philippe, Zenith, Corum, Breitling, Omega, TAG Heuer, Chopard etc.

With back to back appointments from 9:00am onwards, we hardly had time for lunch ! We usually ate whatever we could find inside the brand's booth as there was really no time for us to go for a proper lunch. Anyway, it was no different for me coz I don't really enjoy the food served, it's always beef, venison, fish or duck ! What about pork, chicken, prawns etc, I wondered. After the last appointment at 6:00pm, it's usually dinner with the suppliers till late. Not too late though as we had to catch the 11:00pm train back to Zurich. We stayed 4 days in Basel before moving on to Geneva for our next leg. Basel trip is no fun but sheer work !