Of course GOHtk bloglah!

Malaysia lost to Jamaica by 2 goals. The Reggae Boyz, coached by Bora Milutinovic who led China to world cup finals in 2002 scored 2 quick goals in the ending phase of first half, through Christopher Harvey (44th min) and Wolry Wolfe (45th min).

Malaysia didn’t show much urgency in the 1st half. Only after the change for Mohd Safee Sali and then Mohd Fadzli Saari as well as Mohd Ivan Yusof changed the game dramatically for Malaysia after the break.

The lapse in concentration by the backline problem still exists.

Hairuddin Omar

More work need to be done by the national coach before playing against China in 10th Jul.

Akmal Rizal tapped in a pass from Eddy Helmi at the dying seconds of the friendly match against UAE to give Malaysia a consolation goal.

Just hope that he can recover fast from his right knee injury.

The origin or story of marble goby fish 顺壳鱼 can be found here.

The steamed marble goby fish 顺壳鱼 we ordered yesterday night. Picture (Copyright) Garumon

Thanks to Jieyu for organising yesterday night net gathering! It was good to have old friends (Garumon, Huanzhang, Jieyu and XiaoKang) and new friends (::J::, money, snowmuncher and rabbit_pink) chatting happy and having a really good time at the coffee shop, besides a simple dinner.

We spent about $10 per person for a six-course dinner. Marble goby fish 顺壳鱼 is the main one, of courselah. Claypot tauhu 沙煲豆腐, vegetable, egg foo young 芙蓉蛋, seaweed soup 紫菜汤 and yam ring 佛钵飘香.

The next lap left 7 of us to drink tea. I had 钓鱼 (chinese tea), which becomes my daily drink nowadays. The gathering ended at about 11pm.

When is the next one? Very soon, probably this Friday.

“Ei, which Wantan Mee tastes the best?“, I asked my colleague S during lunch time on one afternoon.

“As far as I know, Koon Kee 冠记云吞面 at Jalan Petaling (opposite Popular book shop) is one of the good one. The noodles are self made, particularly the Char Siew, which I enjoyed the most.” I mumbled to S.

Koon Kee 冠记云吞面 @ Jalan Petaling, KL. Picture (Copyright) Howard Tu

S replied, “Oh, there’s a wantan mee at Katong. They make their own noodle and their chilli sauce, probably the best.”

Me and CS followed S’s family to Katong on one Saturday evening to try out his recommendation.

Yes, Eng’s noodles are slightly thicker than the usual one, cook to the right texture and best accompanied with their self-made chilli sauce. I finished my plate within 8 minutes. Whew!

Eng’s Wantan Mee 荣高云吞面 @ Dunman Road Food Centre

The waiting time can be quite long. You might want to call them in advance to place your order before arriving at the food center. The price is economic at S$2 per plate, a dollar more if you want extra Wantans.

Eng’s Wantan Mee 荣高云吞面
#02-19 Dunman Road Food Centre
Singapore 439188
Tel: 96497798
Business Hours: 5.00 pm to 11.00 pm / sold out (whichever earlier)
Off Days: Wednesday

Thanks for the recommendation, S! I will make my next visit to Eng’s 荣高 very soon.

Doing nothing during the bus trip to Taman Bukit Indah, Johor Bahru (JB) last Friday (22 Jun). So I jotted down the bus fare table (display on the bus, approved by government agency in charge of transportation) for Causeway Link CW3, plying between Bandaraya (JB), Tmn Bukit Indah, CIQ, 2nd link and Jurong East (Singapore). Bus fare in RM.

However, actual fare collected by the bus company (Handal Indah) is slightly higher than the one fixed by the government agency. For example, a trip from Pejabat Pos to Taman Bukit Indah costs RM2.30, 25 sen higher than the rate stated in the fare table.

Are they allowed to do so?

Akmal injured! Guess is quite serious. The national team suffered a massive blow to their Asian Cup preparation.

He was injured while playing for Selangor in FA Cup semi-final second leg match against Kedah on 23 June. He clashed with Kedah keeper Mohd Helmi Eliza Elias during the ending period of 1st half and got his right knee injury.

I hope he can recover in time after receiving treatment and able to play for the national team.

Guilin Mifen 桂林米粉
One particularly well known rice vermicelli of slightly thicker variety, is called Guilin Mifen (桂林米粉). This kind of thin noodles are made from rice, originating from the Guilin, China.

Yangshuo 阳朔
A small town in Guilin, Guangxi Province, China, and the seat of Yangshuo County. Surrounded by towering karst peaks, is a popular backpackers place.

Guilin Mifen factory in Yangshuo

How we travel
Ferry, taksi, ferry, bus, Opelet or Angkutan (4-wheeled small urban minibus, seating 7 to 10 passengers).

8.4.2005 - Harbour Front to Batam Center

Pre
Two years ago (2003), Harbour Front was known as World Trade Centre (WTC). That time, ferry from Singapore docked at Batu Ampar but now change to Batam Center (BC). Batam is never the same again, I suspect.

11:03 am
Reached Harbour Front Cruise Center and brought a one way Penguin ferry ticket to BC at 11:40 am for S$21 (including S$5 passenger departure fees), two-way costs $S27. Later H told me that Wavemaster ticket is only S$19 one way.

11:23 - 11:40 am
Boarded the ferry. Waiting…

11:40 am - 12:46 pm
It took about an hour to reach Batam Center from Singapore. Met my friend H, he was waiting for me at the ferry terminal.

12:46 - 1:27 pm
Reached Telaga Punggur ferry terminal. It is a small ferry terminal managed by PT. Indotri Terminal Batam, which serves 2 destinations on Bintan. Tanjung Uban is the main one, Tanjung Pinang is another one. Got the ticket to Tanjung Uban at 2 pm for Rp. 18.000 and paid a terminal service charge of Rp. 3.500. While waiting for boat to depart, sipping Milo at the canteen. Saw quite a lot of locals boarding and alighting from the speed-boat (bum-boat type).

2:00 - 2:15 pm
A real local ferry experience. Bum speed boat cruised the bluish water and reach Tanjung Uban terminal. During the journey, chatted with a local in the midst of the loud engine sound of speed boat, he told me that he works seven day a week except Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays (about a week). Saw a Japanese middle-aged man with a local girl on the same boat.

2:15 - 2:54 pm
Walked around the Tanjung Uban town, known as km. 90 by the locals as it is located at the end of 90 km road from the capital of Bintan, Tanjung Pinang (so km. 0, I guess). Passed by wooden house built on water. Further down, small houses with quite a number of suraus (prayer room) and mosques scattered in between them, all link by narrow streets and alleys of character. The town landmark is a “Deklarasi Kemerdekaan” statue. Changed S$ to Rupiah at money changer for quite good rate, (1S$ : Rp. 5.700). Found a mini bus departing for Tanjung Pinang at a simple bus terminal. After a round of negotiation, we settled the fare for Rp. 10.000 per person.

2:54 - 5:52 pm
The mini bus didn’t start until 3:13 pm. The final destination is Batu Tujuh (km. 7) terminal on the outskirt of Tanjung Pinang town. Bear in mind, bus departures are irregular and infrequent. Along the way the bus passed through Lagoi (4:27pm) and Bintan Beach International Resort. There’s a junction at the km. 25 that leads to the fishing village of Kawal (where the red arrow points in the map) and another one at km. 10, to Kijang.

5:52 - 6:10 pm
Angkutan to Ramayana shopping center.

Rest of the day
Checked into Hotel Kartika then went to Jalan Potong Lembu for dinner. The hawkers and coffee shops here serve good and nice food. Wet kway Teow costs Rp. 10.000, otak Rp. 800, can drink Rp. 4.000, sliced fruit Rp. 1.000 each.

9.4.2005 - Tanjung Pinang to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal

Arrived at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal about 2:22 pm.

We lost by 2 goals. I predicted for a draw but the defensive errors certainly cost too much to our national team. Perhaps I am over-optimistic.

UAE found the net from their first attempt at goal in the 8th min and added another 2 goals in the 52nd and 67th min to make a comfortable lead 3 - 0.

Mohd Ivan Yusoff

National team only goal scored by Akmal Rizal tapped in a pass from Eddy Helmi at the dying seconds of the match.

Akmal Rizal

The national team play standard is still not up to the asian level although we beat Cambodia few days ago by half dozen goals.

Problems lie with our defenders and lack of concentration. Several bad passes were made. There are still many areas which Norizan need to work on to hope for a “better performance” or at least a “respectable outing”.

Work harder, play a good football against Jamaica on 28th Jun. That’s all.

Long awaiting international friendly finally here.

Malaysia lost their 3 tour matches without scoring a single goal in Australia last month.

Finally the lads under guidance of Norizan scored 6 goals when played against Cambodia 2 days ago. A relief to the goal drought?

Malaysia goal scorers are: Rosdi Talib, Mohd Ivan Yusoff, Hairuddin Omar, Eddy Helmi (2 goals) and Aidil Zafuan.

The most worrying thing is Malaysia can’t score a single goal when playing in next month AFC Asian Cup at their home turf.

Are our forward pair of Akmal Rizal and Mohd Safee Sali and forward/midfielder partnership between Indra Putra and Hairuddin Omar ready on the field?

What’s your prediction for tomorrow match? I go for a draw.