Mini Gathering With Friends (15.12.2013)

Went down to Miri yesterday morning to meet up with Patrick, KinG and Ing. We were all supposed to be in Miri together for Elsey’s wedding but Elsey postponed her wedding approximately one week before the actual date. Patrick had bought his return ticket back to Miri for her wedding quite some time ago. He had no choice but to fly back since he is coming home to celebrate his birthday as well, which is exactly on Christmas day.

KinG had to go down to Miri because he had another wedding to attend on the night before. Ing lives in Miri so the postponing of the wedding dinner doesn’t affect her much. I booked a room with Meritz Hotel via Agoda last month. I never expected a postpone to happen, so I booked the room in advance. I did not realize that I signed up for a non-refundable or amendable deal until when I was being told Elsey postponed her wedding. I planned to cancel my room reservation and requested for a refund with USD15 charge on processing fee. But when I was about to cancel via Agoda, the website prompted out the message that my room is non-refundable or amendable.

So, that was why I was in Miri for the night yesterday. The main reason why I insisted on going down Miri yesterday despite the wedding was off was because I had several few online purchases which I had them shipped over to Ing’s workplace and I had Patrick to get me several stuffs from Singapore as well. Needed to meet them so that I could get my stuffs. I am not saying that I met up with them solely for the collection of my purchases.

This post will be quite full of pictures whereby you get to see quite a few of my friends. Reviews on cafe/food and my second review on Meritz Hotel will be up very shortly.

Arrived Miri super early yesterday because I did not drive to Miri on my own. I was supposed to go with KinG but he had to be in Miri on Saturday and I couldn’t take leave on Saturday. So, I went down on my own by “personal taxi” service. LOL! And the driver picked me up from my home super early, like 3:50a.m. in the morning. I only get to sleep for two hours before I had to wake up to get ready and another one hour during the car ride down to Miri.

Requested for an early check-in at Meritz Hotel but the receptionist told me that they were fully booked yesterday evening and the earliest check-in would be the designated time. So, I left my backpack with the concierge and headed over to Starbucks Coffees. But unfortunately, Starbucks Coffees is not open until 8:00a.m. in the morning. So, I ended up at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (CBTL) for my morning coffee.

There were three private buses from Brunei parked outside Bintang Megamall when I arrived at Meritz Hotel. So, I had expected that I wouldn’t be able to check-in early even before I asked.

Caramel Latte | RM12.50 & Chicken Pie | RM7.00

KinG called for my whereabouts when I was in the midst of my breakfast. He wanted to have breakfast together but I told him that I am meeting up with Ing for breakfast and he could join us if he doesn’t mind. Ing picked me up from Meritz Hotel around 9:00a.m. in the morning and we headed straight to Grand Palace Hotel for Dim Sum breakfast at Han Palace Restaurant.

This was how much Ing ordered for the three of us. Dim Sum is never my favorite food in the world but I let Ing decide where to have for breakfast since she purposely woke up early in the morning just to meet up with me when she could have slept in till late. The food was horrible in my opinion. Some of them were too salty. Quite a lot said the Dim Sum served at Han Palace Restaurant were good but I personally preferred the ones served in Brunei. I only had a bit before stopped eating altogether.

The three of us headed to 1st Avenue Hair Studio after breakfast because Ing and I longed for a hair wash (not that we don’t wash our hair at home). But I loved the massage during a hair wash session. So, KinG ended up waiting for the both of us to be done with hair wash since we used Ing’s car to go to the salon.

Met up with Patrick for lunch at Surf & Turf. But unfortunately, it wasn’t open yesterday and neither it was today. So, we drove back into the city again and had lunch at 8 Lotus Cafe instead. The cafe was extremely crowded when we arrived because it was during lunch hour but we managed to grab a table at the back of the cafe. The entirely cafe was quite dimly lit with blue lighting, hence making all the pictures we took looked blue in color.

Lunch companions – KinG & Patrick.

Ing and I separated after we were done with our hair wash and only met up during dinner time later in the evening. I am going to upload some of the food pictures (in actual fact, most of them actually), but no comment or opinion on the food will be written here. So, wait till my food review. LOL!

Wheat Grass Milk | RM2.80 & Honey Lemon | RM2.80

Sweet & Sour Chicken Rice | RM6.80

Lemon Chicken Rice | RM6.80

Thai Chicken Chop Rice | RM6.80

Headed straight to ZenQ Desserts for desserts albeit we just finished our lunch. Lucky for us, it was easy to find parking space and the cafe wasn’t crowded so we were able to grab a table inside the cafe itself.

Mango Sago | RM6.90

ZenQ Grass Jelly | RM4.90

ZenQ Signature | RM7.50

The three of us headed back to Bintang Megamall after desserts at ZenQ Desserts because the guys wanted to catch a movie. I went back to Meritz Hotel for check-in but I was being told that my room wasn’t ready yet. The standard check-in hour is 2:00p.m. in the afternoon and it was 4:00p.m. in the afternoon when I asked for check-in. The receptionist apologetically told me that they were completely booked yesterday evening and the housekeepers were still cleaning the room.

There were some rooms which were available for check-in at that point of time but they were all on the smoking floors but I requested for a non-smoking floor. I told the receptionist nicely that I was in need of a shower and asked if he could asks around if there’s any room in the non-smoking floor which is ready. And I was being presented with a room card key after a phone call away. Hahaha … xD

Temporary home for yesterday evening.

That was not a tattoo my on my leg but a stain on the mirror glass!

Met up with the guys after I had freshened up and went to watch Firestorm together. Gosh! The movie was all about bloodshed. It’s not the type of movie that I’ll watch. I had never watched the trailer before going to the movie so I did not know what the storyline is until I was watching it myself. KinG only told me that it’s starred by Andy Lau and no more further information about the movie.

Ing came to Bintang Megamall to meet me for dinner since she wanted to do some bra shopping at Parkson. She joined us for dinner at Station One Leisure Cafe and it was one awful dinner which I had by far. Not awful in terms of the companionship but the food quality. Full details would be covered in the review later on.

Watermelon Juice | RM6.30

Hot Fudge Sundae | RM7.30

Chocolate Milk Shake | RM7.90

Tempura Squid Ring | RM11.90

Chicken Galore Wings | RM11.90

Hawaiian Pizza | RM19.90

Ing

Ing & Patrick

If you are wondering if there’s something wrong with Patrick’s eyes, they are perfectly fine. It’s my camera problem. He was wearing this glass lenses spectacle and there was a bit reflection when exposed to the light of my camera.

We took self-shots when KinG was in the washroom and that was why he wasn’t in the picture.

Our group picture before we all went separate ways after the dinner. It was a good shot but blurry as it was taken with Patrick’s iPhone 5. Should have used my camera instead but I was afraid that the waiter doesn’t know how to “focus” and the picture might turn blurry as well. Gosh! Our dining table looked so messy.

This sums up my entire Miri trip yesterday. Skincare haul entry will come in another day. Ciao~

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Reunion Gathering

I just had a reunion gathering with a bunch of college mates few days ago. It was supposed to be a reunion gathering of 7 people but one of us cannot make it. So, it’s only 6 in the end. The last reunion gathering that we had was three years ago at a restaurant called Double Star around Pelita area.

Three years later, we had another reunion gathering with different attendees at Sea Village Seafood Restaurant. Our dinner started at 6:00p.m. Alan, Andrea and I were the first to arrive, followed by Patrick, Elsey and Ing. I think our table caught too much attention from the other diners. We must be very loud coz we received stares from other diners occasionally throughout the entire dinner.

I was looking back at the group picture that we all took three years ago. I was comparing both pictures. Time sure does flies fast and we have all grown to be working professionals!

Here’s a picture of us three years ago taken when we were all happy bunch of fresh graduates,

and three years later!

I think none of us have changed drastically. Ing still has the same fringe, Andrea with the same hair but slightly longer and slim as usual. Hahaha … Enough with the comparisons. It was fun catching up with them. At least, we know what is going on with their lives. We should have this kind of gathering at least once in a year.

We ordered a table full of food. The dinner was on Andrea. Alan claimed that the food served at Sea Village Seafood Restaurant were good but I think they were just average.

1. Stir Fried Deer Meat with Ginger & Onions

I liked this the most. The meat was juicy and tender. Not dry at all. And it was perfectly marinated. Thumbs up!

2. Stir Fried Midin with Red Wine

Hmm … The taste of red wine is just minimal and I think my mom can cook this better!

3. Bitter gourds with 3 Eggs

I don’t usually eat bitter gourds but surprisingly, I find this quite nice. But I did not have a lot of it. Just minimal. It’s cooked with normal eggs, salted eggs and century eggs. I liked the combination of these three eggs.

4. Stir Fried “Ma Li Cai” with Eggs

I don’t really like this and I think it could have been better. Most people would usually “twist” these “Ma Li Cai” with both hands before they were being cooked. But I think they were under “twisted”.

5. Fried Squids

Alan claimed that the Fried Squid at Sea Village Seafood Restaurant are good. But I think the flour batter were not done properly and the batter was a little bit soggy when you put them into your mouth. In short, they were not fried to perfection. But the combination of salad cream with the fried squids was good and I would say that the squids were pretty fresh too.

6. Sizzling Pan Japanese Bean Curd

Hahaha … I know this picture was badly taken. Anyways, can’t judge this coz I did not have any of it. Seriously, I am pretty fed up of Japanese Bean Curds. I usually have it like once in a week at work. Japanese Bean Curd is supposed to be a nice dish but it’s not something that you would want to eat everyday.

7. Black Pepper Crab

Crab is not something that I like to eat coz it’s time consuming and the eating gesture doesn’t look good at all! I think the chef put too much black pepper coz it was pretty spicy. Ended up both Elsey and Alan finished the whole thing off.

The total bill is RM105, considerably cheap due to the exchange currency. Our gathering ended at around 8:00p.m. coz Elsey has some youth club that she needed to attend.