Day +768 : Happy birthday to Adriel!

I am fine today.

We celebrated Adriel’s 4 year old birthday this evening.

This was the third Adriel's birthday that I celebrated post bone marrow transplant. When she was celebrating her two year old birthday, I was just discharged after bone marrow transplant, and was still living in isolation. So I didn’t really join her birthday. However, I managed to plan and participate her three year old birthday :-)

Her previous two birthdays were mentioned in my blog Day +38 and Day +402 : Happy birthday, Adriel.

I am very grateful that I am healthy enough to celebrate her birthday, and I also treat this as a tremendous blessing from God :-)

The cake - chosen by Adriel
Mee Sua (长寿面) with egg & Foochow red wine :-)

Singing happy birthday song
Adriel with her birthday present - again, chosen by herself
Aaron enjoying the cake

Aaron also got a gift - a collateral blessing :-)
See you next post :-)

Day +767 : Letter to MAS again :-)

I am fine today.

Richard pursued the issue further with the following reply. The mail was sent to MAS yesterday :-)

You don't have to worry he is too angry with MAS or would like to "fight" with them. He is just a little naughty.

Hi, XXX,

Thanks for your email. However, you have not answered my questions. I see your reply as a standard document that can be forwarded to answer general complaints about flight delays.

There is no problem for me to accept flight delay due to unexpected circumstances. It is also my understanding that no airlines could guarantee punctuality of their flights as there are causes beyond human control.

What I am deeply unsatisfied is the quality of the meal that you extended to passengers who are affected by flight delay. I believe unlike the flight delay, your management is able to fully control the quality of meal given to the passengers. So I need to stress again that my complaint is toward the thing that can be fully controlled by your management.

Many passengers including me were very disappointed after getting informed by KFC staff that MAS meal voucher was only eligible for a soft drink and 6 pieces of nuggets only. You should be aware that the people who effort to travel with Malaysia Airline are not the "Kampung Cat" that can be fed with whatever meal. You should let the customer who are tolerating the inconveniences arise due to the flight delay to choose very basic and reasonable meal. We are asking for 2 pieces of fried chicken which is based on the low cost standard that I received from othe airlines before. Please don't treat us as passengers from low cost airlines because we pay you more and expected your company – Malaysia Airlines – to offer better quality to its customer.

My company had chosen Malaysia Airlines ("Deluxe Airlines") for me to travel to Kota Kinabalu just for a single reason: Excellent service regardless the cost. The cost that we paid was more than double the low cost airlines'. We spent RM 912 for the airfare from KL to Kota Kinabalu. In fact, we don't mind to pay extra RM 30 – making the total fare RM 942 (about 3.3% extra) - to get quality service that only can be provided by a "Deluxe Airlines" in Malaysia. With this extra RM 30, you can offer at least a basic KFC meal with 2 pieces of fried chickens.

Now my questions:

1. Why the meal voucher given is not comparable to that of the low cost airlines?
2. The cost of 2 pieces chicken set will lead Malaysia Airlines loosing profit? If this should be the case, the low cost airline should bankrupt before you. You should not cut expenses by diminishing the passengers' welfare. You can do whatever to generate more profit but it is a very wrong approach to cut down the passenger benefit.
3. Why not charging a little bit more to the airfare since we can afford to take it? We don't want be treated like "Kampung Cat".
4. Recently I also realized that "hot meal" that used to be served by MAS was now only available in low cost airlines, but not Malaysia Airlines. This is really a bad thing to the passenger, why? If you can't provide this level service – serving passengers with hot meal - please seek help from Royal Brunei Airlines or Singapore Airlines, and invite them to joint our domestic route so that we can at least choose what we want.

I really hope that you can answer my question.

Thank you.

See you next post :-)

Day +766 : Reply from MAS

I am fine today.

I would like to share with you the reply from MAS after receiving complaint from Richard regarding the below than expectation meal that I mentioned yesterday.

Dear Mr Ting

MH2617 19 MARCH 2008 KOTA KINABALU - KUALA LUMPUR

This has reference to our telephone conversation sometime in the middle of last month with regards to your traveling experience on the above flight. Your thoughts and concerns are important to us in our effort to maintain high level of service.

We note with concern when you have experienced the poor flight delay handling at Kota Kinabalu International Airport. As you may be aware, the flight was retimed due to mechanical problem with the aircraft and hence a need to rectify it in the interest of passengers' safety before it could take-off to the air.

On behalf of Malaysia Airlines, we regret that our handling of the flight retiming was below your expectation, especially, the lack of coordination and communication from our staff.

Every time a prolong and crippling delay of our flight is experienced, we incur additional expenses like hotel accommodation, meals and ground transport for affected passengers and notwithstanding the fact that we incur additional man hours to handle such situation. We certainly would like to avoid facing flight delays if at all possible.

Rest assured, in line with our ongoing exercise at repositioning the airline in key areas of service delivery, we are initiating various measures to improve to be able to serve our customers better.

Mr Thing, thank you once again for communicating with us and we apologise for any
inconvenience experienced.

Yours sincerely,
for Malaysia Airlines

See you next post :-)

Day +765 : AirAsia = Fried Chicken, but MAS = Chicken Nugget only

I am fine today.

I am going back to Sarawak to attend my wife’s step sister wedding dinner on 7th September. My wife couldn’t make it as she needs to work on the following day. So I will be going back with my mother-in-law this time.

We will be flying back to Sibu on 5th September and back to KL on 8th September. I managed to purchase cheap AirAsia tickets – RM29 per trip, and together with all extra charges, the total cost for the trip for one person is RM221. But I need to pay RM21 only as I got an E-Gift Voucher worth RM200.

The E-Gift Voucher was issuedto my nieces by AirAsia due to delay of a flight from Sibu to KL. AirAsia will compensate their passengers with a RM200 voucher for flights that are delayed more than three hours. They are committed to attain higher level of services, which we didn’t see in MAS. If MAS flight is delayed, no compensation will be given at all :-(

Richard travelled very frequently due to the nature of his work as a sales person. On one occasion, his MAS flight was delayed and it just happened that the delay span across the dinner time. As usual, MAS issued him meal voucher.

But when he went to claim his meal at KFC, he was told that he could have chicken nuggets only, not the fried chicken. In contrast, AirAsia meal voucher issued under such circumstances will allow passengers to have fried chicken.

Richard wrote to MAS complaining about this but the reply from them doesn’t answer the question – whey a low cost airline couldn't provide something better than “high cost” airline? Their answer is – delay is unavoidable :-( Out of topic! (答非所问).

Comparing the two airlines from a gluttonous person’s perspective: AirAsia = Fried Chicken, but MAS = Chicken Nugget only :-)

Goes AirAsia, unless you have too much money to spend :-)

See you next post :-)

Day +764 : Congratulation! Ming Hui

I am fine today.

Ming Hui with his parents My nephew Ming Hui graduated from University of Malaya with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Mathematics today. He likes Mathematics very much and will be continuing his studying in Mathematics at the same university through a master course.

Apart from Mathematics, he likes to drink (喝茶) very much; not drinking alcohol but coffee and tea. And drinking with someone is what he enjoys but it is very difficult for him to always find a partner to drink with him as he needs to drink a few times a day :-( So he has to resort to “enticing”, “persuading”, “begging”, “threatening” and “forcing” people to drink with him:-)

If you need someone to drink with you, don’t forget Ming Hui :-)

May God bless his study and all his future undertakings.

See you next post :-)

Day +763 : A dinner with my eldest sister and family

I am fine today.

My eldest sister and my brother-in-low visited us this evening. They came here from Kuching to attend their second son’s graduation ceremony at University of Malay tomorrow.

My sister knows that I am very gluttonous, so she brought the following foods for me :-)

Butter bread - stuffing made of butter mixed with milk powder. Couldn't find it here. Siow Mai or steamed pork dumplings. She brought 200 pieces here :-)
Delicious Sarawak's yam A group photo before the dinner. Front row from left : Ngu Ming Hui (my sister's 2nd son), my sister, brother-in-law, Richard & his wife. Back : Ngu Soon Hui (my sister's eldest son), my wife and me
Now the dishes :-)

Fried sweet potatoes leaves

Fried cabbage with dried shrimps
Bean curd
Steam fish
Bakuh Teh
Another type of Bakuh Teh - with bone
After the dinner, we went for a durian feast. My brother-in-law likes to eat durian very much but it is very hard to get durian as good as D24 in Sarawak. So he came here at the right time since it is the durian season now. Did I eat? Yes, a few pieces. I was having fever the day after I ate durian last time and thus someone suspected that durian was the culprit. I told my wife I got to experiment it again; if I catch fever tomorrow then we say that the problem is “reproducible” and I will be more convinced that durian might be the cause; else it was just a coincidence that I had fever after eating durian.

The delicious durian The restaurant that we had dinner. Richard said this one is the best in this area :-) Just in case you want to dine here, the address is 1, Jalan Kenari 19A, Bandar Puchong Jaya.
See you next post :-)

Day +762 : “It’s a pity that my wife is not here.”

I am fine today.

I met an Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) patient who was in his 100+ days post bone marrow transplant at UH yesterday.

Before the bone marrow transplant, he was treated in a private hospital in Melaka. The doctor there said that they didn’t know how to treat him anymore after a year of treatment. They referred him to Dr. Alan Teh in Subang Jaya Medical Centre for further treatment. He did a bone marrow transplant in UH subsequently.

He seemed to be very unhappy about his diet.

“Do you control your food?” he asked.

“No. Anything edible, I eat,” I said, “Unless something which I can’t really bear such as chili.”

“You eat yam?”

“Yes.”

“Pepper?”

“Yes.”

“Chicken?”

“Yes.”

“Duck?”

“Yes.”

“Glutinous rice?”

“Yes.”

I told him I eat prawn, crab, durian…

He was remarkably amazed when he heard that I still eat so many “poisonous” foods.

“You must have a good and understanding wife,” he said.

“Yes. She never controls what I eat.”

He said his wife control his food so tightly that he almost got nothing to eat :-( Due to lack of appetite and the tight control, his weight dropped from 71kg to 61kg and during the last follow-up, his weight further dropped to 58kg.

“It’s a pity that my wife is not here,” he sighed.

I believe he wished his wife to be here listening to what I said so that she won't control his food so much.

See you next post :-)

Day +761 : Follow-up

My Blood Count Today: - Readings in square bracket [] are result from previous test.

Red Blood Count (HB) = 145[138] (Normal 130-180)
Platelet = 191[205] (Normal 150-450)
White Blood Count (WBC) = 6.8[8.1] (Normal 4 - 11)
Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC) = 3.34[4.20] (Normal 1.5 - 8.0)
ALT = 37[44] (Normal 30 – 65)
AST = 32[21] (Normal 15-37)
GGT = 55[102] (Normal 15-85)

I am fine today.

I went to UH at 6:15am this morning for the nurse to draw blood for blood count, liver and kidney function test for the afternoon appointment. The traffic was very smooth and it took me only 15 minutes to reach there. I got a queue number 12 :-)

I was back to office at 8:30am, attending the company monthly meeting and presentation, then reached UH before 2:00pm. I miss the company lunch today :-(

Post bone marrow transplant patients would normally come one or two hours earlier to allow the nurse to draw blood for appointment at 2:00pm. I did this once but the liver function test result was not ready when I saw the doctor; presumably it takes more time to complete the liver function test. Since then, I decided to take the trouble to go to the hospital twice, just to make sure that all tests result are ready when I see the doctor, so that all necessary adjustment on medication can be done all at once. Anyway, my house is not too far away from the hospital.

I am very glad to score a “beautiful” blood test result today; every readings fall within the normal range.

Doctor also studied the lung CT scan that was performed on 9th July. Though there was something happening (Unfortunately I can’t understand the report and don’t have a copy of it) to the left lung, doctor said the lung looks quite normal, and thus I don’t have to worry so much about it.

The daily Prednisolon (steroid) dosage is further reduced from 20mg (4 tablets) to 10mg (2 tablets) :-)

My next follow-up will be one and half month later.

See you next post :-)

Day +760 : What a public security!

I am fine today.

Picture from Wikipedia

My niece Nga Ming is studying in Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM).

After the church service this morning, someone dropped her at a bus stop which is a very short distance away from her hostel. While she was walking toward her hostel, two thieves riding a motorcycle robbed her handbag.

This is the first time she has fallen victim to snatch theft. She was very frightened and cried very loud. Someone informed the police and they came to fetch her to police station to lodge a report.

Inside the hand bag were her identity card, driving license, ATM card, bank books and two hand phones. But it is very lucky that she was not hurt physically. May be she let go her handbag easily. Police told her an incident where the victim was seriously injured and was hospitalized for two months.

We still give thank to God for His protection upon my niece, at least physically. We really hope that the government can do more to restore public security and order, not busy playing those disgusting political games.

See you next post :-)

Day +759: The car arrived :-)

I am fine today.

The Perodua that we booked on 22nd July arrives today, earlier than expected.

My wife is very excited to have a new car to drive. She told me that she had some unpleasant experience in the school last week which made her unhappy, but when she thought about this new car, she was happy again :-)

“This is my car!”

Aaron said in excitement when he saw the car.

"Where is my car?"

He asked my wife the first thing he woke up from the afternoon sleep.

“Why you buy a green car? I don’t like the colour!”

A tough question from Adriel which I didn't really know how to answer.

“What colour do you prefer, Adriel?”

“Red.”

I thought she would answer “pink”, but anyway pink is just a lighter version of red.

“Wow! I like it,” Joseph said.

"Not bad," Daniel said.

It looks like most family members are happy about the new car :-)

Front view Side view
Rear view
Front panel
Another view
The dashboard - a very simple one
See you next post :-)

Day +758 : In addition to free lunch, now free juice :-)

I am fine today.

After I was discharged from hospital in June this year, my fourth sister started to provide me free nutritious lunch every working day as I mentioned in my blog entry Day +717 : Free nutritional lunch every working day :-)

Recently, I experienced random tingling sensation (轻微刺痛) all over my body, may be as a result of catching a cold. I noticed many people are having a cold or flu now and in order not to be left behind, I joined the crowd :-)

“Do you drink fruit juice in the morning?” This is the question that I got when I told my sister about this.

“No.”

I told her it is too troublesome to make fruit juice every morning even though I have a maid and a very good juicer – the latest edition of New Life Alpha Juicer.

“Why not I prepare a little bit more juice for you each morning?” she offered.

I gladly accepted the offer and since then, whenever I am out for a walk or jog every working day mornings, I drop by her house at 6:30am to have a cup of fresh nutritious juice :-)

My sister believes in juice very much and I hope that as what she believes, the juice will really make me strong :-)

Last but not least, I should thank God for a caring family and a caring sister :-)

See you next post :-)

Day +757 : Induction cooker

I am fine today.

We planned to purchase an electrical steamboat cooker for a long time. I spoke to my brother Richard about this and he straight away recommended to me the induction cooker.

According to Wikipedia:

“An induction cooker uses induction heating for cooking. A conducting pot is placed above an induction coil for the heating process to take place. This type of cooktop does not work with non-conductive cookware such as glass.

Induction cookers are faster and more energy-efficient than traditional cooktops. Additionally, the stove top does not become dangerously hot; however, skin can still be burned if it comes into contact with the inside of the pot. Also, the induction cooker does not warm the air around it as other cookers do.”

According to the article, the heat transfer efficiency of induction cooker can be as high as 90%, while the Electric and Gas has efficiency rates of less than 50%.

In short, the cooker saves money; another way to combat inflation :-)

I got the induction cooker from Cosway at a price of RM209 with 2 RCs (Redemption Coupons?). The retail price (purchase without RCs) would be RM339. However, if you have 65 RCs, you can get it at RM119 only.

We used it during the steamboat buffet last Saturday. It worked extremely well :-)

If you want to purchase the cooker and need RCs, let me know. I can share some with you, but not 65 as I don’t have that many too :-)

The Cosway brochure about the induction cooker. (Click the picture to get a larger view)
See you next post :-)

Day +756 : Weekend Dim Sum Buffet @ Oriental Spoon (Halal)

I am fine today.

I received an email from foodstreet about the above promotion which is too good to be true; of course only if you imagine that you get instant supply of every promised Dim Sum - hot and fresh.

This attractive promotion has been haunting since I received it on 11st July. The promotion is going to end on 10th August. I planned to try it with my wife this weekend. Let me know if you want to join us :-)

However, I am a little bit put off bysome negative comments on Malaysian Food Blog which said that the customers didn't get the foods they wanted, foods are served very slowly, shortage of foods and quality of foods was not up to expection. Oriental Spoon responded that they will improve the situation. I had emailed to Oriental Spoon to ask if they really have done about the situation.

Now the details:

Promotional period: 1 Jul - 10 Aug, 2008 Saturday, Sunday & Public Holidays
Time: 11.30 am – 3.00 pm
Price: RM18.80+ (Adult) RM9.80+ (Child below 10 years old) (Minimum 2 Persons)
Location : 1-2 (1st Floor), Sooka Sentral, Jalan Stesen Sentral 5, 50470 Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 03-2261 3222 Fax: 03-2780 2055 Business Hour: 11.00am – 8.00pm daily

Foods:

蒸點心 STEAMED DIM SUM

• 黑椒羊仔骨 Black Pepper Short Ribs


• 帶子干蒸賣 Steamed 'Siew Mai' with Fresh Scallops


• 過海蝦餃皇 Steamed Prawns Dumpling – 'Har Gau'


• 金醬蒸鳳爪 Steamed Chicken Feet with Homemade Sauce


• 海皇珍珠雞 Steamed Glutinous Rice with Pacific Clam and Chicken


• 雞肉叉燒包 Steamed Chicken Paste Buns


• 菠菜像生包 Steamed Spinach Buns with Sesame Paste


• 腐皮牛肉球 Steamed Beef Balls in Beancurd Skin


• 木魚花蘿蔔糕 Steamed Radish Cake with Bonito Flakes


• 桂花糠蓮藕 Poached Lotus Root with 'Gui Hua' Syrup

煎, 炸點心 FRIED DIM SUM

• 鳳巢竽角 Deep Fried Yam Dumpling


• 家鄉煎貼餃 Potsticker Dumpling


• 家鄉竽頭糕 Pan Fried Yam Cake


• 雞絲炸春卷 Deep Fried Spring Rolls with Chicken Floss

DELICACIES

• 蘿蔔燜牛腩 Stewed Beef with White Radish


• 燒汁茄子 Egg Plant with BBQ Sauce


• 酸辣雲飩 Hot and Sour Wanton


• 順德釀涼瓜 Stuffed Bitter Gourd with Fish Paste


• Stir Fried Seasonal Vegetables with Garlic


• Fried Rice with Silver Fish


• Cantonese Fried Kway Teow

腸粉, 粥 RICE ROLLS AND CONGEE

• 金粟叉燒腸 Steamed Rice Rolls with Minced Chicken and Sweet Corn


• 老火皮蛋雞絲粥 Shredded Chicken and Century Eggs Congee

甜點 DESSERT

• 冬瓜冰肉酥 Puff Pastry with Winter Melon Paste


• 蛋撻 Egg Tart


• 果凍啤梨 Chilled Strawberry Pudding


• Double boiled Water Chestnut with White Fungus

Some pictures (Courtesy of Jason) - looks very attractive and delicious!

Steamed Spinach Buns with Sesame Paste Steamed Siew Mai with Fresh Scallops. This one alone cost RM10 without promotion. So you already "untung" (earn) if you manage to consume baskets of this :-)
Mini Egg Tarts
Yam Puffs
Rice Rolls with Minced Chicken and Sweet Corn
See you next post :-)

Day +755 : Offer expired already?

I am fine today.

I mentioned on my blog Day +749 : I booked a new car :-) that Citibank is offering 0% Interest Easy Payment Plan (EPP) for up to 12 months on down payment for the purchase of Perodua Viva and Nautical. The minimum down payment is RM1,000 and the maximum is RM5,000. In addition to enjoying free interest, the card owner is also entitled to 5X Citibank Rewards Points for Perodua Viva.

This offer is very attractive. So I decided to use the facility up to the maximum - RM5,000 down payment. With this I will save RM194 (RM5,000 x 3.88%) of interest. In addition to this, I will get 25,000 Rewards Points :-)

When I wanted to pay the down payment, the sales agent told me that the offer had already expired on 30th June 2008. But I remembered very well that the offer only expired on 31st August 2008. Without much argument, I convinced her with the Citibank brochure that published the offer.

The sales agent told me that I am her first customer that took up the offer and this is her first time to process such an arrangement; completing a approval form from Citibank, validating by Citibank officer through phone etc.

I discovered the offer accidently. Sometimes, accident can be good :-)

If you are buying Perodua Viva or Perodua Nautical before September, please don’t forget to take up this offer.

See you next post :-)

Day +754 : Ask and you shall receive

I am fine today.

My nephew Chih Yung – my third sister’s (bone marrow donor) eldest son – purchased a Perodua Myvi a few weeks ago. When he heard that I wanted to purchase a Perodua Viva, he advised me to ask for free gifts from the sales agent.

“Can you give me some gifts?” I asked the sales agent.

“Of course can,” replied the sales agent. “What do you want?”

This question is a little bit challenging to me. I really don’t know what I want. What I could remember from my nephew was that he requested for a full tank of petrol and also got a RM300 voucher for car window tinting.

“Window tinting,” I requested.

“Can.” She answered so easily.

“Another request, full tank of petrol,” I make another request.

“This one…” She hesitated a little bit and then picked up a calculator to do some calculation. I believe she was weighting whether she gave too much.

In the end she also agreed.

The car windows tinting will have value of about RM500 and it comes with 5 year warranty.

With this, I must admit that my nephew is smarter than me. I would not ask for anything without his advice.

Please remember to ask for gifts when you order your next car :-)

See you next post :-)

Day +753 : Attending Malaysia Bible Seminary 30th Anniversary Thanksgiving Banquet

I am fine today.

My wife and I attended the Malaysia Bible Seminary(MBS) 30th Anniversary Thanksgiving Banquet (马来西亚圣经神学院30周年纪念感恩宴会) at Centro Grand Imperial Ballroom, Klang tonight.

The organizer booked 124 tables for the event and considering each table could accommodate 10 people, the total participant of the event was well over one thousand.

The council chairman of the MBS is Prof. Dr. Tan Chong Tin(陈忠登教授). He is the head of neurology division in University Malaya Medical Centre or UH, the hospital that treated my Acute Myeloid Leukaemia.

Prof. Dr. Tan he has been serving the seminary faithfully over the past thirty years. During his welcoming address, he said that the initial monthly expenses of the seminary was only RM2000 but now the expenses is increased to RM50,000 per month.

The theme of the anniversary celebration is "Renewed & Moving Forward".
Part of the participants from my church.
A photo with my wife :-)
The restaurant
The menu (Click to have a larger view)
The tidbit
Palace four seasons combination

Shark fin soup
Deep fried sea Garoupa with sweet and sour sauce
Chinese herb chicken
Baked fresh prawn with garlic
Braised mushroom with bean curd and vegetable

Fried glutinous rice
Dessert of the day
Palace style two varieties
The drink - Orange juice. But in order to strike a balance diet, I tried all drinks that were available - Coke, Sprite, Orange juice, Chinese tea :-)
See you next post :-)

Day +752 : A homemade buffet steamboat dinner

I am fine today.

We invited our cell group members to have a homemade buffet steamboat dinner. We didn’t have steamboat at home very often. My wife told me that we had one at home in 2001; also having it together with church members.

In contrast, my brother Richard has steamboat at home quite often. It is their tradition to have steamboat as the Chinese New Year dinner. I got many advices from him on preparing the steamboat soup and other ingredients for the steamboat dinner.

There were about 25 children and adults attending the dinner.

Ingredients
Ingredients - a closer view
Prawns. Quite a big one. Richard brought 2 kg from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. 1 kg cost RM17kg only.
Inductor cooker that I purchased a few days ago.
Table 1
Table 2
My wife, Adriel and Aaron
See you next post :-)