This morning I was in Melaka with my better half and eldest daughter, spending 3 nights and the long weekend. At last, after a month of renovation works, the house finally looks okay except for the curtain railings in my Mom's room and the flooring in my second daughter's room. Gemuk a.k.a. Mr Lai the contractor ( who is my cousin actually ) promised to finish all works ( even the pile of broken concrete, sand and cement in front of the house had disappeared ) by the end of the week. That was comforting to know, at least I won't be receiving calls from my wife ordering me to order Mr Lai to do this and do that ! I will get some peace now. It was a good closure for 2012 at the home front. However, not to my delight, Gemuk said that the budget for all the works has escalated another RM13,000 ! That was the downside for 2012. I promised Mr Lai, I will settle it because he is a nice guy.
After the usual goodbyes to my wife, mom and second daughter ( she was half asleep at mid-day due to her night duty at the hospital the previous night ), I got into the "tank" around 1pm and leisurely made my way to Kuala Lumpur to join the rat race again. I did some ( maybe a little ) spring cleaning of the KL apartment where I got the "slave" to sweep the floor and arranging ( piling is a better word ) some foodstuff into the fridge and ordered the eldest daughter to clear the cat's litter. That's that. And I called my second son ( Wan ) to meet up for supper at NZ Restaurant around 9 pm so that I can give him some winter clothing for his upcoming trip to Korea ( I understand later that he and wife intend to ski....). NZ Restaurant is a mamak joint close to our rented condo which we occupied about 2 years ago. So, more or less my intention was also to visit the place after this while. I figured that this would give me an opportunity to see whether there are changes in that area, which is the other side of town from where I am currently having a bed space in Kelang Lama.
Interestingly, Jalan Genting Kelang has transformed. The stretch of road along Genting Kelang is busy with people and cars. I can see restaurants and shops brightly lit up and neon lights and people lining the streets and crossing the road dangerously. It's insane to notice the number of vehicles being parked haphazardly. Just too many cars around. It was reported that Kuala Lumpur and the Federal Territory has some 5 million registered vehicles and in December 2012 alone, we have close to 32,000 new vehicles being registered.
At NZ Restaurant, the soup I ordered looks like dish water, the noodles I ordered is too bland, the teh tarik was not "pulled" to the desired level. Even Wan, agreed to my remarks. No more NZ food for me, that's for sure.
I hope that tomorrow at the office, things will be better. Happy New Year !
