Arrived at Chennai!

Just landed at Chennai (formerly known as Madras), safe and sound. First time in Indian soil.

Did a reading on Chennai in Wikipedia before i came .. and surprisingly, the name, Chennai, was originated from the British, who named it "Chennapatnam ", before been gradually shortened to Chennai. It's former name Madras, was a Portugis name. Surprise, surprise; i have always thought Madras was a British name, and it was renamed to it's traditional Indian name of Chennai.

Upon landed at Chennai international airport, my first experience, which is quite different from the rest of the place i've visited, is the immigration. There's not different lane for local, or foreigners. The only have a different lane for Diplomats/disable/infant traveling parties. The queue at the immigration counters is long, but the clearance was a breeze; no questions asked as to the purpose of the visit.

While waiting one of our colleague, who happened to came from Chennai, to get us a van; we were greeted with the sound of car honking everywhere. I think while standing there for some 15 minutes or so, i have heard more honking than i've in Penang for over a couple of months. Not to mention if to compare to California; it will be a life-time worth of honking. ;)
After awhile on the van, we came to realize that the road user 'communicate' through honking. I figure that .. one honk means "look out .. i'm coming, please try to get out of my way." ... double honking means "get out of my way ... ". multiple/continuous honking means "darn it, this is my road! Get Lost!". It's indeed an experience. :) I have heard that driving in Jakarta, you need to put one palm on the steering wheel, another on the honk; i guess i can witness this first-time in Chennai. :)

Another thing is that, i cannot figure out how the traffic is flowing. At one point i was wondering to myself " is the driver driving in the opposite direction of the traffic?!" .. cos the driver should always be nearer to the central divider of the road .. and ... he's NOT!!. Oh well .. after some distance, i realize some of the Tut-tut car also driving in the opposite direction (or the road is a two way road, without divider)... so .. i guess this is the 'norm'.

At times, i can't wonder how the folks can survive the stress of driving here, not to mention you have to be very alert; they can squeeze between the tightest spot, and zig-zag through the traffic; you can see more overtaking here than in any F1 races. With the way the folks are driving here, i wonder why we are not seeing india producing quality F1 or Indy car drivers; maybe if they put a honk in F1 cars, we can see a different domination in the F1 circuits.

Nevertheless, we manage to reach our hotel after 30 minutes of go-kart-like commute.
The Asiana Hotel is quite nice; at least my first impression, i would give it a thumbs-up.

Here's a picture i took coming out from the arrival hall at the airport:

Nice food at Macedoine Dinning (QBM)

After receiving an email about a restaurant at the Penang's Queensbay Mall (QBM), i decided to try it out with a couple of my lunch mates. It's called Macedoine Dinning.

It's located just at the corner by the mall's north entrance (Opposite HSBC), and by the side of TGIF. Since it's just by a corner, it doesn't looks too impressive and have only a couple of tables, but do not let this diminutive appearance deceive you.

The menu is not too overwhelming. For the set meals, there are about 6-8 entrée to choose from. All set meals are served with soup and drink of the day, and are priced either RM13.99 or RM14.99 depending on your entrée.

Starting off with the soup, it's so-so only. I have had much better mushroom soup.

I ordered the Mix Grill (chicken, lamb and a sausage) set lunch. It's a good portion, and what can i say .. it's meat, just what i want it. :) ... although the lamb is a little bit chewy, but the taste is ok, sautéed with plenty of onions.
The Chicken Chop looks more appetizing though, and the food presentation is commendable. Definitely not something you expect from a corner of a mall.

The Fish entree also looks mouth-watering.



The place is filled up by 12:30 noon though.
In term of the taste, i would say it's still behind TGIF and Chili's. But with such a price, i think it's a very reasonable place to dine in; and watch shoppers coming and going.

For a place named after a salad, i can't recall seeing salad on it's menu though. :D

Rating
Food & beverage: 7/10.
Ambiance: 3/10. (can't expect much from the corner of a mall entrance).
Price: 7/10 (been reasonable, approx RM15 -RM20 / person).
Service: 5/10 (nothing special).
Food presentation: 8/10 (for a Deli by the corner of a mall entrance).

American Idol: Andrew Lloyd Webber Nite!!

Andrew Lloyd Webber! My fav composer of all time! ... with songs like Phantom of the Opera, Music of the Night, All i Ask of you, Memory, and the many wonderful songs from Evita ... in my book, Andrew Lloyd Webber certainly deserved the accolade as the best composer! :)

So, it's entertaining to have the American Idol contestants chunking out musical hits, rather than pop, rock.

Syesha Mercado. As the first contestant to sing, i believe she set the stage perfectly for a night of musical songs. With her powerful voice, best suited for such songs! Most animated of the night!

Jason Castro. During the early season, i thought he has a different personality, and good vocal. But now, i think he has kinda fizzle out. His rendition of Memory certainly did no justice to the song, nor to Sarah Brightman or Elaine Paige!

Brooke White. She's way too nervous, until she forgot the lyrics going into just the 2nd or 3rd phrase of the song! The bang has to start all over again. After that .. you can see her trembling and feel very uncomfortable through out the song. Did her best to salvage the situation, i think she did ok on Evita's "You Must Love Me". Beautiful song, beautiful singer as well. A little bit emotional, nearly burst into tears in the end. ;)

David Archuleta. Arguably the most consistent of the bunch! He's just so comfortable and natural in singing any songs! Fantastic vocal, strong & controlled voice. I'm not agreeing with Simon that this is David's weaker performance. Until now, he's still my pick as the eventuate winner! :)

Carly Smithson. I was disappointed when she was advised by Andrew to sing "Jesus Christ Superstar" instead of "All I Ask of You", cos "All I Ask of You" is one of my favourite songs! Nevertheless, she gave a lively performance of the song Superstar. Voted as the bottom 3 a couple of times, this song will keep her in the competition.

David Cook. Marvelous song, marvelous performance! He did splendidly in some of the high notes, control his voice wonderfully. I could be bias here as "Music of the Night" is one of my all time favourite! :D

My take: Jason and Brooke will be the bottom two, although i hope the votes will keep Brooke in for another round, as she's just unfortunately too nervous and emotional tonight. She deserve another chance, while Jason was terrible with Memory. How ironic, "Memory" is the word that might kick these two contestant out.

Nerve-breaking experience .. as a driver.

It took me a while to post this (well .. 22 days later to be exact), but i couldn't help it but to share with you .. this unusually nerve-breaking experience ..... as the driver of the video-camera man of a Wedding!!!

The date is March 30, 2008.
The start-point is Gurney, and the destination is Paya Terubong.
The happy couple is Alex and AiWah

So, you might ask .. what's so nerve-breaking about been a driver of the video-man? Well .. it would be fine .... other than .... half of his body is out of my rear-seat window ... filming away .... for most of the journey from Gurney to Paya Terubong! Two of his hands are on his camera ... (yes, he has only two hands .... so ... he's NOT holding anything to my car!!!!)

And been in Penang, two things which make it even more "fear-factor": potholes & motorcyclists.
Trying to avoid potholes are like trying to avoid sand getting into your shoes on a beach. I have to slow down to a mere 10kmph when i'm near to a pothole (if i can't avoid it). definitely don't want to throw the video-man out of my car.. yet. ;)

As for the motorcylists, they are not too obvious that there's a person poking out of my car's rear-seat window! ... there are a couple of occasions where some motorcyclists were just inches away from the video-man!!

When we reached the destination for the wedding gate-crashing .... i'm just happy .. and most relieved that the video-man is still in one-piece! (not only his video-camera in one-piece, but most importantly .. he himself!) ... hey .. i wouldn't want to be charged with man-slaughter. :P

Well .. luckily .. i've a front passenger with me (Bea from Germany) to share the thrill .. and the nervous moment with me. She was saying .. she has never experience anything like this before! ... well .. not in Germany anyway ..... but this is Penang! :)

Nevertheless, the wedding was a beautiful one!
Alex and Ai Wah ... congratulations! .. and wishing you both eternal love and a blissful union! :)

p/s: althought there are some interesting stories about the best-man as well ... but i've been barred from revealing those juicy stories. ;)

Hi ... first blogging ....

Hi all .... although blogging has been around for a long time .. but i never seems to have the time in the last few years to try this in-thing, or life-style .. ,although IRC was basically the craze that i was very much into in the early to mid-90s; at the time, Windows 3.11 workgroup was basically the most 'advance' OS at that time ... ICQ was still in the infant ... there's no Blog (obviously) . ... i was using a 'powerful' 286-AT machine to sqeeze around internet at 14.4kbps, and a 20GB Harddisk is considered a luxury, basically all software can still be executed from a 5- 1/4 inch drive.

So .. and here i am .. almost the end of a new decade ..... trying out the "not-so-new" internet-craze... Blogging.