SA bits 30 - Durban SA Part 2

We went to Uncle Taylor's house on Saturday evening and we had this awesome fried pork with chillies and vegetables/herbs. Uncle Taylor held a prayer on the same morning and slaughtered a fully grown pig. He cooked 3 different styles with the meat; fried with greens (chillies, vege and herbs), fried with chilli powder and herbs & lastly with tomato chutney. That's also my order of preference of the 3 dishes he made. Burppp...

The awesome-ness is out of this world! Pork fried with chilli,vege and herbs.

Davis warming up the food for us.

Davis and sons (Rowan, left and Ryan,right). The last time I saw Ryan he was not even 1 year old. Now he's already able to talk and dance!

Uncle Taylor dancing with Ryan!

The next morning we went to the beach! Water was c-o-l-d.




Couple of the year award, AKVK! Like tamileh movie la...

The one getting all the precious attention from everyone around him, Hareshan.

Castles in the sand.

I left Durban with Uncle at 5 in the evening and reached Joburg at midnight. All in all it was a good weekend!

SA bits 29 - Durban SA Part 1

After weeks of very odd working hours, our project finally came to a close (sort of). Before we move forward to the next project, I thought I'd take this opportunity to have a short break by visiting Akash. We drove down to his place in Durban (about 6-7 hours drive from Johannesburg) after work and the journey took 8 hours with multiple stops in between to freshen up and stretch our legs.

Durban has the busiest port in Africa (which means it's coastal and has beaches nearby, woohoo!)and it has subtropical climate almost similar to M'sia but is not as humid with average high of 25ºC and average low of 17º. Being the 3rd most populous city in SA, it has a very big Indian community. It is also the city with the largest Asian community in SA with 20% Asians.

We visited Gateway shopping center which was just across the road from where Akash stayed. Gateway is a h-u-g-e shopping center in Durban, suprisingly I also just found out today that it's the largest in Africa. It's h-u-g-e, and the environment reminds me of Mid Valley Megamall. A one-stop center of entertainment. This is what I saw during our short visit...


I thought this was all the squirting fountain could do until...

it shot up 3 storeys high, inside a shopping complex.

The entertainment section of the mall. When further explored there's actually a rock climbing wall.



At the base of the rock climbing structure was a swing for kids, except this is not like any normal swing. The kids are harnessed, and belayed over 2 storeys and literally swung. They look like they're only 4 or 5 years old and they are already this adventurous!
The next thing that caught my attention was this. Following pictures almost explains it all.





Here's a shot of Akash's serviced apartment complex, a new and comfy place for a couple (single bedroom place). It's only about 10 minutes from the beach.




Thanks for accomodating me, says Jansen shamelessly ;P

KL bits 3 - Congrats Khai Fuy & Suzen!

After going out for about a hundred years, they finally decided to get married :P...
Congratulations to my dear friend Khai Fuy & Suzen, I believe everyone wishes the both of you the best of everything as you embark on this new journey of life.


CK and myself were lucky enough to get a free room in the hotel where the wedding dinner was held (courtesy of the the newly wed couple ;),thanks Apek & Suzen). He didn't waste much time choosing his bed, and Eugene crashed with us that night too so that makes 3 of us. You'd be surprised at what kind of noises one can make when they are fast asleep :P

We were kind of delegated a small task during the wedding dinner, to ensure that the slideshow ran smoothly (with music) when queued as the emcee (Anand) introduced them. They were slides of the wedding album and also of their younger years up to marriage (going as far back to baby pics, as usual).

Some random pics throughout the event. I think I had forgotten that I had a camera with me, which explains why there's only a handful of shots :P I still have lots to learn about using a camera indoor as well...

Main table deco

Apek & Suzen with the thank you speech

Table #1

The auspicious Table #18 for 1Academy gang

Chow time

Emcee Anand

Panorama shot

With Suzen, Apek busy layaning the rest of the crowd. A few suspects missing from the pic as well, you know who you are and see you in 2010!

Concert by Apek's Alor Setar gang for the bride and groom

"Stop filling my glass!", said Karen

The joker in CK and myself was highligted when both of us bought new blazers for the dinner as we were informed that there would be an influx of AirAsia stewardess :P .. so we finally made up our minds on which to buy only to realise as we were dressing up for the dinner that we both had the same color blazer, with almost the same design! I swear if we had taken a pic standing next to each other, we would be labeled Brown 1 & Brown 2.

Anyway, cheers to Khai Fuy & Suzen and here's to the next hundred years!

KL bits 2 - The 2 naughty ones....

Boey 姐姐 and Chloe 妹妹..

KL bits 1 - Went home briefly and I enjoyed myself so much...

If I could only stay back longer...

...all for a better tomorrow but I'll see you again in 2010!

SA bits 28 - VW Chico, our third ride in SA

Remember my earlier post of getting the rental car and how stuck we were with a green Piccanto? Well we had to trade that in because of some problems with the car and we got a TATA Indica (which I have no pictures of) as replacement. And then we found out that there is a cheaper package offered by AVIS. And this is much nicer...






Now, can someone help me buy 3D please?

SA bits 27 - Braai 2

We had another braai last Saturday with Akash visiting from Durban, and celebrating my housemates wife last day in SA. She also just received news that she was the top scorer of an exam she sat for last week. Congrats and thanks Mohana, for the lovely food served during your stay. Please do consider coming back hahahaha...

Uncle Roy doing his thing

Aunty, Rowan, Mohana & Dorai

The 2 naughty ones


We had leftover lamb so Akash made lamb curry for dinner, and I made vegetables. Under the watchful eyes of the pro of course.