Meifongpolitan

Reminiscing

2011-09-13T09:31:00.001-07:00

I have a memory like a sieve it seems. Today I returned to have a look at my previous, rather juvenile-like entries in retrospect now for the first time in about 2 years. What a lot has happened since! I have moved cities, changed jobs, and discovered a new hobby. Facebook has much to answer for I think. It is the new blog. Much more immediate and far-reaching compared to the humble old-fashioned blog.

Hmm

My Litmann II will do fine

2009-11-24T14:17:00.000-08:00

By God's grace, it looks like I won't have to buy a new stethoscope or an ophthalmoscope after all! I should probably invest in a dermatoscope instead...

Wanted: A Cardio III stethoscope

2009-10-27T17:51:00.000-07:00

My inability to hear diastolic murmurs through my trusty Classic Littmann 2 has never been so painfully obvious as in the last 2 months, since I started practicing for PACES. This has never bothered me before as diastolic murmurs are expected to be difficult to hear in most patients anyway. And, if one was suspected, echos are easy enough to order. In fact, one would be expected to order an echo.

My current concern is, should I bother getting a more canggih, professional looking stethoscope for my upcoming clinical exams? At a recent course in London, I was advised to bin my Litmann II, which has been with me since my student days. If I did purchase a new one, there would be the temporary excitement of a new toy which would last perhaps all of 2 days. Perhaps I would be able to pick up the odd new aortic regurgitation in a patient with Type A aortic dissection. It might make a 2% difference in my chances of passing. On the other hand, the examiners might expect me to be able to pick up a grade I mitral stenosis murmur with a fancier instrument, whereas if I stuck with my Litmann II, I might be forgiven for missing it. There is also the issue of parting with approximately 130 quid for an upgrade, which I am reluctant to do as I do not foresee having to use a stethoscope on a regular basis beyond the next 2 years if all goes to plan.

The Morton Medical website sure has a mind boggling array of choices, from the most basic single lumen type to the electronic stethoscopes which will even hint strongly at the diagnosis, not much clinical acumen required.

Would anyone care to donate a Cardio III stethoscope? Perhaps one of you who have crossed over to the dark side, err I mean surgery. Or even loan it to me for a few months, just until the exams are over lol.

Now my other dilemmas are, should I get a Snellen chart? Or an ophthalmoscope? The cost benefit analysis continues...

I'll be home for CNY (to the tune of I'll be home for Christmas)

2009-10-25T12:56:00.001-07:00

I finally managed to get my leave approved for next year. It seemed to take forever as the consultant went on holiday, and then after he returned, he still had to run it by the other senior members of staff. My leave was granted on the condition that I make myself available to work both Christmas and New Year..:( Oh well, you win some, you lose some. I booked my flights that very same day - it put a smile on my face going into work that night. I haven't been home for two years! I can't wait to get on that flight. But first I have to study for PACES - I don't like.

Three months seems like such a long time to wait. Meanwhile I will have to plan carefully what to do every precious day I'm in Malaysia.

The wonders of Google Map

2009-09-15T14:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my sister called me in a panic. She had just returned from a trip to London and was trying to make her way back to the peripheral hospital that she is currently attached to. Walking back from the train station in the dark in unfamiliar territory is just not the same as in broad daylight. What do you know, she took the wrong turning. 15 minutes of her walking down a deserted, lonely road later, my phone rang. I was tucked up in bed about to fall asleep.

' Ah Fong ah', she said. 'I don't recognise this road! I'm going up a hill so I must be heading towards the hospital, but can you double check for me?' I woke up immediately. My head was filled with imaginary situations of my sister being waylaid by neds. I switched on my laptop immediately, willing my computer to start up faster.

Me: 'Tell me the name of the road that you're on'

My sis: 'Benochy Road. I recognise this name. I'm sure it leads to the hospital'

Lo and behold, Murphy's Law again reigned supreme. Benochy Road was to all extents and purposes almost like a ring road around Fife. I rolled my eyes. She'd gone away from the hospital, not towards it. I managed to direct her back to her accommodation . It took about half an hour. Once, she exclaimed in surprise when an enthusiastic night runner suddenly popped up in front of her.

Me: 'Hey can you please stop taking late trains back to your accommodation? I remember the last time you visited me in Glasgow, you wanted to take the 10pm train back. You crazy ah? It's so dangerous if you walk alone from the train station to your place. Especially if you're not familiar with the roads.'

My sis: ......

Thank God for Google Maps.

First cook up

2009-08-13T17:10:00.000-07:00

First proper meal cooked in my new flat:

Cantaloupe melon, proscuitto, wild rocket and parmigiano reggiano

Beef rendang, basmati rice and stir fried beans

a good Korean beer and a view

Ahh..good food, good company, and good conversation. What more could one ask for?

Moving

2009-07-20T08:54:00.000-07:00

I said goodbye today to the cosy flat that I had called home for the past year. It had had its fair share of problems including:

a perpetually blocked loo (luckily the other one worked),
a mouldy ceiling for about 6 weeks when there was a leak from the flat above,
another leak which ruined some of my shoe boxes (fortunately the shoes stayed dry)
a couple of months when the boiler just would not give out hot water,
and the temperamental broadband

However, it was still home and I will miss:

sinking into the cushy sofa when I come home home from work,
the strong shower jet ( my current one is more like a stream),
the amazing king-sized bed which never gave me any back problems (All my uni accommodation beds have caused me grief),
the residential parking (parking was spacious there whereas my current one requires some degree of manouvering skills -which I lack- in order to fit into a tiny rectangle and not reverse into a column at the same time),
looking out of the window at passers by ( it's a ground floor flat, so quite good for people watching),
and the quietness of the area (my current flat is near two major hospitals, which makes for a lot of ambulance sirens)

Perhaps one thing I should have done before leaving is to try out the jacuzzi in the bath at least once! Baths are just not my thing, though. Showering is much cleaner and quicker.

Conquering car illiteracy, almost

2009-06-28T10:24:00.000-07:00

I took the plunge yesterday and bought a car!

In the space of 2 months, I went from being car illiterate to now being semi-illiterate. If someone had said then that I would now be able to identify the make of a car by looking at the symbol on the front I would have laughed out loud. I'd been in my flatmate's car dozens of times and all I knew was that she drove a Honda, without paying any attention to the finer details like the size of its engine, or the make of the car. The fact that it was red made a better impression on me than anything else. You're probably rolling your eyes thinking ' typical female' now.

I decided on buying a Honda after hearing about its legendary reliability and relative affordability. The initial decision was between a Jazz or a Civic. Both the Jazz and the older Civic are fairly boring looking cars, but then I discovered the new British Civic circa 2006-. The space age looks and functionality of its dashboard as well as roomy boot space cemented the decision for me. It also has a red start button to start the engine as opposed to the conventional turn in the lock. How cool is that? Toyota also makes reliable cars, but being a typical female, I opted for the stylish Civic compared to an Agyo or Yaris.

I bombarded my instructor with questions as we did the usual drill of roundabouts, junctions, manouvres and emergency stops. What did PAS stand for? Power assisted steering. What size engine would be suitable for my needs? What was an immobiliser? Did all cars have trackers? What're the pros and cons of buying a diesel/petrol car? What was the difference between buying from a franchised dealer/ non-franchised dealer or a private seller?

My instructor was kind enough to accompany me to the nearest Honda dealer to check cars out. I'd decided on a 1.4L petrol engine which would both be cheap to insure and to run. A low insurance group is significantly more important for someone with a new driving license as insurance costs are usually most expensive in the first year. An insurance quote of anything less than 1000 pounds for the first year would be considered cheap. Unfortunately, it turned out that 1.4L Civics were thin on the ground. Most tend to be 1.8 or 2.2L. There was only a black version available which was actually a decent car with a low mileage and in very good condition. The only problem was the colour. I felt that black was boring. I'd have plumped for red, silver or dark blue over black anytime.

Most people that I asked seemed to think that black was a good colour, though, and that it would be easier to resell compared to, canary yellow, for instance. A quick look at news articles outlining the highest selling colours established silver and black as the colours most buyers would opt for. There could be a bias though, as companies buying fleet cars are also more likely to opt for black. White seemed to be especially popular in the Far East, like Japan for instance.

I checked the dealer website again just before I went in to seal the deal. A new 1.4L in grey had arrived. There was also a silver available in a dealership across in Edinburgh. Unfortunately the latter was in the process of being sold when I phoned to arrange a test drive.
CY happened to be on MSN at the time so I started chatting to him about car colours. Both he and CH thought that black would be better than grey. He suggested that I put a poll up on my blog but I figured it would be pretty useless since the traffic on my blog is not the heaviest. I also needed a car pretty soonish. HS panned black in favour of grey. A couple of other friends thought black was fine and were surprised that colour mattered so much to me.

1.4L in Cosmic Grey Pearl

The 1.4L in Nighthawk Black Pearl

Which do you think looks better? There are also the following colours, which were only available in 1.8L or above:

Bluish silver metallic. I personally quite like this colour. It gives an air of tranquillity

Milano Red. Striking, isn't it? This is a head-turner, for sure.

Alabaster Silver Metallic. Very practical as dust doesn't show up as much.

Royal Blue Pearl

Let's just hope now it doesn't get vandalised in the grounds of Monklands Hospital.....

License to drive

2009-06-25T05:27:00.001-07:00

I passed my driving test today!! Thanks to my driving instructor who I get along quite well with. I had to change instructors as the first one I took my first 2 lessons with pointed out all sorts of things that were wrong with my driving in a not so nice way and then said I would need about 40 1 hour lessons before I was ready for the test. After saying this, he then said he was fully booked for the next 2 months!! Grr.. I did not have the time or the money for 40 lessons! I looked for another instructor on the internet and managed to find my current one who had plenty of experience, was more patient, gave constructive criticism instead of destructive criticism and also charged less! Or maybe I just like him more because he felt that I should be able to take the test after less than 20 hours of driving..hehe

I passed the Malaysian driving test about 10 yrs ago and have rarely driven in the last 7 years that I've been in the UK mainly because public transportation here is so reliable and also because I'd never had to commute to work. My workplaces have usually been within walking distance.

But starting in Aug this year it would be preferable to have a car as my new workplace is about 20 miles away from where I stay which means I would either have to commute by train or grow up and start driving! Unfortunately the Malaysian driving license cannot be converted into a UK license unlike some other countries like Singapore for instance. The test here is also stricter with different manouvres. So I had to take lessons to get to know the roads as well as get used to being behind a wheel again.

Thank God the weather was fair without being overly bright today. My examiner seemed content to allow me to concentrate on the road rather than distracting me with chatting as some examiners are wont to do. And luckily, the roundabouts were all clear!! I have a fear of roundabouts. Cars coming around don't usually signal accurately so I tend to slow down and wait until the roundabout is clear before emerging which is not what they want to see on the test. He made me pull over about 4 times which made me nervous as each time I thought he'd say 'that's enough, we should swap seats' which would be a sign that i'd failed!

So now it's time to buy a car, which unfortunately will be a major expenditure.

Losing things

2009-06-07T05:02:00.000-07:00

I invariably lose belongings when I go on trips. I'm a klutz that way.

For instance, on my way back to New York from Boston two years ago, I managed to misplace an entire carrier bag. Items inside - my prescription glasses, one Boston cream pie, one pretty purple tank top, my mobile phone charger and one change of underwear. I hope whoever took it enjoyed the cream pie. I certainly did not have a chance to buy another pie. I also had to get my glasses replaced at a hefty USD price. I had to haggle with a street seller for a dubious looking replacement phone charger but it was worth it at less than one-fourth the price I would have to pay in a shop.

In Washington DC, I left a white scarf behind on the subway. Luckily I managed to get a new one for only 5 usd.

In Brisbane back in 2004, I was almost mugged on the train as I had engrossed myself in a book and left my shoulder bag on the seat next to me. A six-foot tall white man grabbed it and rushed out the train doors at one of the stops. Things got a bit messy therafter. I had to sprint for over 100m to retrieve it and knew for the first time what it meant to be charged with adrenaline.

During my recent trip to London I lost my favourite cocktail ring set with green stones.

And last but not least, when my sister and I were trapped on the Eiffel Tower for 2 hours due to heavy rain, someone took my umbrella!! It was only worth 1 GBP and I can understand the attraction of an umbrella under those circumstances but boy was I annoyed. Fortunately the weather never deteriorated beyond a drizzle thereafter.

Genuine request for help?

2009-05-25T16:53:00.000-07:00

I have yet to upload my pics from a recent trip to London and Paris but I just wanted to share a rather bizarre thing that happened to me in Paris.

It was the last day of the trip and I was window shopping in Galleries Lafayette on blvd Haussmann. After walking around the food department which was probably the most fascinating department there (it was comparable to the one in Harrods and Selfridges - we had oohed and aahed at the pretty cakes and gasped at caviar being sold at 100euro per 50g), I'd left my sister to rest her weary feet somewhere and proceeded to walk around the cosmetic and accessories floor alone.

A couple of Chinese women had walked up to me as I moved away from a glass window display. One of them asked me in Mandarin " Do you speak Mandarin?" When I answered that I could speak it a little, she then asked me to help them buy 2 Louis Vuitton wallets, of a particular model. She showed pictures of the model to me. I was curious. Why did they need so many of the same type of wallet? Could they not buy LV goods in China? Apparently this was a model that was only sold in Europe and they had been asked by friends to buy these wallets. However, the LV sales policy limited each person to a maximum purchase quantity of two items if they were of the same model. These women had already bought 2 wallets each but wanted another 2.

I was surprised. Were they members of a cult where part of the uniform was to own this particular model of a wallet? Could they be part of a counterfeiting organisation and were buying these as prototypes? Were they telling the truth or was this a scam? These thoughts ran through my mind.

They smiled and the first woman pressed fourteen crisp 50 euro bills into my hand. Put this into your purse or handbag, she said.
I felt uneasy as these women were strangers to me, but was too polite to refuse. It seemed harmless enough. I decided to do what they had asked. I could not see how it could be a scam and they were probably genuinely buying these for their friends.

The second woman then said to me. "Pretend interest in other items first. Don't ask to see this model straightaway otherwise they will be suspicious and will refuse the sale. We will wait for you here" They then stood in a corner out of the line of sight of the LV shop assistants but where they could still watch me. It was this last remark and the fact that they were hiding that finally swung my decision. I took a few half hearted steps towards the boutique, then turned back.

I could see the surprise on the face of the second woman as I said quickly in Mandarin " I'm sorry but I don't have a good feeling about doing this. Here's your money back". Her face fell but she took the bills and said that it was fine if I could not go through with it. I quickly walked away without looking back. My face felt hot. I located my sister and left immediately. She too, could not decide if the women had been telling the truth.

Later that evening in London, I relayed this story to the friend that I was staying with. She said that their request could well be genuine as LV goods were usually more expensive in China although she wasn't sure if the model was really not available there. Even if they had lied and the wallets had not been for their friends they might have wanted to sell them in China for a small profit due to the price difference.

No matter what their purpose, I feel better having walked away. I suppose I shall never know the true story.

Has anyone else come across such a scenario before? What do you think?

A cosy birthday

2009-01-24T18:14:00.000-08:00

My flatmate shares the same birthday as Robert Burns, the Scottish bard. We opted for a Malaysian dinner as opposed to haggis and nips. It was an extremely satisfying meal. You may remember an earlier post about Rumours, the Malaysian restaurant on Bath St, Glasgow. I have since returned several times to try the noodle/rice dishes and found that they were actually very authentic. I therefore highly recommend their Hainan chicken rice, salted fish and chicken fried rice and nasi lemak.

After dinner, we moved on to the Loft in Ashton Lane for drinks and chat. We managed to find a cosy corner table and ensconced ourselves there. Their fruity cocktails were light enough that they did not overwhelm what scanty reserves of alcohol dehydrogenase we had. I recommend their Tequila sunrise.

At midnight, we serenaded a blushing A with a birthday song. Then we retired to our cosy flat for birthday cake and coffee. Peckham's chocolate 'loving spoon' stood up to our expectations. It was decadently chocolatey and was amazing with coffee.

The birthday girl, the devoted friends and the chocolate 'loving spoon cake'

Looks like another one of us is older (and wiser, I hope).
Happy Birthday, A!

Sushiya

2009-01-12T16:38:00.001-08:00

This is my favourite Japanese restaurant in Scotland. It's a tiny restaurant on Dalry Road, off Haymarket in Edinburgh which could maybe fit 20 people if stretched.I do not doubt that it is probably owned by Chinese as opposed to genuine Japanese but the food tastes great!

I've tried several Japanese places in Glasgow, each grander and bigger than wee Sushiya but I would miss the latter as soon as I tasted my order. I've only tasted better sushi/sashimi in New York.

An university junior had recently returned to Edinburgh following an extended holiday in Malaysia (envy envy). It was great to see her again after 6 months, curls notwithstanding.
Btw, I stole these pictures from her camera :)

The 'can't wait to eat, what's with the camera shots' looks

yumm.. on the left is dragon roll with king prawn on the inside, and topped with avocado and crab roe! On the right is my favourite dish - the soft shell crab roll with soft shell crab on the inside and crab roe topping.

I still remember a friend (you know who you are) coming to eat at Sushiya and telling us about the cruelty that crabs were subjected to in order to obtain the soft shelled specimens. Following a rather lengthy explanation, she then proceeded to order soft shell crab. My jaw did not hit the floor, but it was close!

The power of words

2009-01-01T17:18:00.000-08:00

New year was a cosy affair as I had the flu and LL seemed to have caught it too. Oops! Apart from going out for dinner (calamari, roast pork and tofu at a favourite Chinese restaurant), we didn't really feel like venturing out into the freezing streets of Edinburgh. We watched a couple of movies and then decided to challenge our brain cells with Scrabble!! After a few competitive games, LL became fascinated by the new words that we were learning. We then tried to come up with high-scoring words with the aid of a Scrabble dictionary. Here is the evidence of our temporary infatuation with Scrabble:

Beautiful, don't you think?

We are now much better acquainted with many two and three letter words that we never knew existed such as ae, ar, er, es, oi, fez, zed, etc..

Berlin Part 2

2009-01-01T06:40:00.000-08:00

I did not want to wake up when the alarm clock went off at 6am on Day 3. However, I dragged myself out of bed eventually to continue our exploration of Berlin.

The Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin

After breakfast, we hopped onto a bus to get to the first stop of the day - the Charlottenburg Palace. Charlottenburg is the heart of the former West Berlin and the palace is actually the reason for the whole city to be built. It was originally built in 1699 by Elector Frederick III for his wife Sophie Charlotte.

In the courtyard of the palace

The gardens at the back of the palace and a beautiful fountain

More of the baroque garden.

I also saw a fox in one of the bushes. He was quite cute!

Sachsenhausen (Houses of the Saxons)

Then we had to rush to get on to the train to Oranienburg, a quiet suburb which became one of the first places to house a Nazi concentration camp, one of the few on German soil.

The main entrance to the camp and the fence surrounding it

The prisoners were used by the Nazi army to try out new footwear for the army. They were made to march for hours under the sun on various surfaces in order to choose the most durable footwear for the army soldiers.

Where new footwear was tried out by the camp inmates

Most of the prisoners were Jews but there were also political prisoners such as Communists, gypsies, homosexuals and foreign nationals.

2 barracks which housed Jewish prisoners

Their living conditions were atrocious. They had to share tiny beds and bathrooms. Take for example the washing rooms shown below. Only several minutes were allowed for 400 prisoners to wash at these fountains every morning. Some ended up being trampled by their fellow inmates during the rush to leave the room on time when the time for washing was up.

2 fountains to 400 prisoners!!

3 prisoners had to fit into each of these bunkbeds, measuring 70cm wide each

The camp grounds were quite huge, and there was this wall which had lots of photographs and explanation of the events that occurred in the camp as well as famous inmates.

Wall depicting the events that occurred in the camp

Although this camp is not quite as big as the Auschwitz camp in Poland, the Germans had also built a crematorium here for the mass incineration of prisoners who were first killed by gassing with Zyklon B in fake shower rooms. 100,000 people died in this camp. The prisoners would first be led to the crematorium, having been told that they needed to shower. After their clothes had been taken off, they would be crammed into a room with fake shower heads which actually emitted deadly gas and not water. The dead bodies would then be burnt. The ashes were cast into a nearby canal.

The entry to one of the gas chambers and crematorium...creepy

One of the crematoriums where the Jews were led to their death

Gruesome, isn't it? We then moved on to see the barracks where the political prisoners were held. Their living conditions were relatively more luxurious than the Jewish barracks but they were at real risk of being executed at any time.

Political prisoners had roomier accomodation but could still be executed at a whim

There were tall posts from which prisoners could be hung, leading to bone dislocation and a slow death.

Posts where prisoners were suspended from

After the Nazis were defeated in 1945, the Red Army took over the camp and turned the camp into Special Camp No. 7, interning Nazis and killing 12,000 of them before the camp was finally closed in 1950.
A memorial was erected to remember all the people that had died at the camp.

The memorial to all the people who died

I was surprised that I still managed to eat my lunch after all that depressing revelation of what human beings could do to one another.

The Markisches Museum

Next stop, the Markisches Museum. This rather annoyingly was closed when my sister and I arrived. So we just took pictures with the huge statue outside..:)

Gosh he's a tall lad

The Television Tower
We took the tram back to the city centre and saw the Television Tower which is 365 m high. Apparently the height was chosen so that every school child would have no difficulty remembering it.

The television tower

The Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral)
This is the biggest cathedral in Berlin with a huge green dome which can be seen for miles around. It was built between 1894-1905. It was damaged during the second World War but was then reconstructed into a simplified form of the original.

Berliner Dom

We then went to visit some of the museums on Museum Island before heading back to the hotel. It had been a tiring but enjoyable trip. Our flight back to London was early the next morning and before we knew it we were back in the UK, wishing that we could have had a few more days in Berlin!!

Credit crunch new year

2009-01-01T05:21:00.001-08:00

If you thought 2008 was bad, 2009 is going to be worse..is what many economists are warning.

I thought 'how true!' as I stood on Calton Hill in Edinburgh on Hogmanay night with my friends watching the fireworks display. Traditionally the new year is welcomed in Edinburgh with a lavish display of multicoloured fireworks from 4 sites surrounding the new town. However, last night's affair was muted, only lasting for 2 minutes and I only saw fireworks bursting into the sky from Princes St Gardens and Arthurs Seat.

It was really good weather, despite the fact that the mercury was indicating minus 7 degrees Celcius. It wasn't windy and it was not raining for once as it had wont to be for the last 6 Hogmanays. The skies were clear. Hogmanay celebrations had been cancelled twice in the last 6 years due to bad weather, which is historically significant in itself.

So here's my New Year message. Hope you have a fun year despite the credit crunch and long may your new year resolution last, if you have one, that is.

Happy New Year everyone!

Berlin Part 1

2008-10-25T17:11:00.000-07:00

The clocks are turning back today and although we are only in the middle of autumn, I cannot but dread the approaching winter. It certainly feels like we are in a deep freeze at present. Yet another umbrella of mine was sacrificed to the greedy winds today!

On days like this, one must think of warmer times .

In July this year, I was in London visiting my sister and managed to persuade her to join me in a short trip to Berlin. It was originally intended to be for 4 days, and three nights. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, we arrived 12 hours later than intended. As a result I was really grumpy by the time we made it to the airport in Berlin late at night.

Berlin Schonefield airport

Never had I been more grateful that our hotel was easily accessible once we entered the city from the airport.

Statue of a horsed rider in the lobby

Inviting room!!

We immediately laid our heads down to sleep, after a long day of travelling and disappointment that we'd missed a whole day of sightseeing. Thus ended Day 1.

Day 2 dawned bright and sunny, despite dire predictions of heavy showers by the weather forecast. We set out to see Berlin, armed with an umbrella, just in case.

Reichstag

First stop: The German parliament building, also known as the Reichstag.

Ah, the sun!! and a long queue:(

It was a good three quarters of an hour before we were allowed in. There's quite an interesting story behind the current building. Completed in 1894, the original was damaged by fire in 1933. A Dutchman was found guilty of arson, but there are suspicions that the Nazi army may have had a hand in it. During the battle of Berlin in 1945, it became a target for bombing due to its symbolic significance. Finally in 1956, it was decided that the Reichstag building should be restored. Unfortunately the original cupola was irreversibly damaged and a new glass dome was built in its place. The capital had moved to Bonn, another German city, during the Cold War and it was only in 1991 after Germany had reunited that the parliament moved back into the Reichstag in Berlin.

Inside the glass dome of the Reichstag. Can you see my reflection?

The people behind me are having a look down at the parliament in session. This in itself is symbolic as it reminds the ministers that the people are above them. They were chosen by the people and they should serve their best interests.

Currywurst

As we walked away from the Reichstag and its interesting legacy, we passed by this stall selling Currywurst. Currywurst is essentially a sausage coated with ketchup and curry powder, and served with a roll. It is almost like a national institution in Germany. We could not resist, and were soon sitting on a bench nearby sampling this.

Trust me this tastes quite good!

Brandenburg Gate

2nd stop: the Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor)

Beautiful Pariser Platz with the Brandenburg Gate immediately adjoining it in the background.

This grand former city gate was commisioned by King Frederick William II of Prussia and is the only remaining gate of a series which led into Berlin and towards the palace of the Prussian kings. It was built in 1791. On top of the gate is a chariot drawn by four horses driven by Victoria, the Roman goddess of victory. The gate was modelled after the Propylaea, the gateway to the Acropolis in Greece. When Napolean defeated the Prussians in 1806, he took the chariot to Paris. It was restored to Berlin after the defeat of Napolean in 1814. The gate was used by the East and West Berliners to travel to the other region. The Berlin Wall was erected in 1961, and traffic through the gate ceased. Finally, in 1989, the West German Chancellor walked through the gate to be greeted by the East German Prime Minister as a symbol of the reunification of Germany.

Ampelmannchen

My sister pointed this out to me first, that the red and green men on the traffic lights looked different to what we were used to. I initially passed this off as a regional thing but later realised that there was a significance to these cute lights. Ampelmannchen is the name of the person on the traffic lights. The ampelmannchen prior to reunification of East and West Germany were different in each, the main distinction being that the figure in the East wore a hat. Following reunification, the traffic lights needed to be standardised. Initially the plans were to adopt the West German design for the whole of Germany. This raised protests and a movement to preserve the Ampelmannchen of the East driven mainly by nostalgia. This movement suceeded, and West Germany has since adopted the figure with the hat. This Ampelmannchen is now a character in a teaching video for people learning how to drive.

Crossing the road at Pariser Platz - Isn't the Ampelmannchen cute?

Go, Stop

Memorial of the Murdered Jews of Europe

It was now almost 1pm, and the skies were dark with the promise of rain. Thank goodness for an umbrella! My sister and I joined a tour, which promised to show us the historical sights.

Memorial to the Jews - the greyness of the stone slabs echoes that of the skies.

The memorial was completed in 2005 to remember the Jews who died during the Holocaust. This is not a cemetery, but the many stone slabs made me think of tombs.

Adolf Hitler's Death

Next was the actual area where Hitler died. He had a bunker underneath the ground shown in the picture below where he hid out in the final days. The story goes that he married Eva Braun the day before taking his own life and that of hers. Eva died from cyanide poisoning and Hitler shot himself in the temple. To avoid a potential Nazi shrine to the remains of the Fuehrer, his remains were cremated and the ashes thrown into the Elbe river.

Would you have guessed that this nondescript area used to be Hitler's headquarters?

The marks of war

Our now subdued group moved on at the bidding of the tour guide and we saw this:

Gunshot marks on the building wall

Many buildings in Berlin still bear marks from World War II, and this is just one example.

The Berlin Wall

The famous (or infamous) Berlin Wall separated East from West Germany and came to symbolise the Iron Curtain between East and West Europe. It stood for 28 years and 136 people are documented to have died in an attempt to cross the wall into the West, shot by East Germany guards. In 1989, the East German Minister of Propaganda accidentally announced that East Berliners who had obtained proper permission would be allowed to cross the Wall into West Berlin effective immediately, when the actual date of effect was supposed to be the next day. The guards at the border checks had not been informed of this. Thousands of East Berliners who heard the announcement live on television descended on the border crossings. The guards were caught by surprise as none of them had been briefed on what to do and which people could be let through. The sheer volume of people overwhelmed the crossings and the guards were left helpless. Soon after, the Berlin Wall was dismantled in most places. Only strips here and there remain now.

Part of the Berlin Wall which still stands

Checkpoint Charlie

This is possibly the most touristy spot in Berlin. It has been romanticised and incorporated into many spy books and movies depicting the Cold War. Charlie stands for C in the NATO phonetic alphabet. There are also checkpoints Alpha and Bravo, but Charlie remains the most famous. It was a crossing point between East and West Berlin during the Cold War.

On one side of the memorial is the picture of a young Russian soldier, on the other, a young American soldier. Both were stationed in Berlin in the 1990s.

The Twin Towers

The final stop of the tour was at Gendarmenmarkt, a square which is bounded on one side by the Deutscher Dom (German Cathedral) and the Franzosischer Dom (French Cathedral) on the opposite side, both of which look remarkably similar and are thus known as the Twin Towers. They flank the Konzerthaus which houses the Berlin Orchestra.

Gendarmenmarkt

Berliner Dom

On our way back to the hotel we passed by this massive structure. Known as the Berliner Dom, this is the largest cathedral in Berlin and is visible for miles all around.

The Berliner Dom

I love trying out local food and was keen to sample some German fare for dinner. However, my sister persuaded me to go for sushi instead. No regrets here. We found a really nice sushi place recommended in an eating guide which was serving yummy uramaki for half-price.

Our stomachs placated, we returned to our hotel. This is probably the best one I've stayed in so far for a visit to an European city. It's located steps away from a central underground station which makes for easy travelling around.

The Markisches Museum Underground entrance

Not to mention the cushyliciousness of the beds!

And so ends Day 2.

Tribeca

2008-08-15T12:06:00.001-07:00

Tribeca is a neighbourhood in New York, which is an abbreviation for Triangle Below Canal Street.

But that's not what I'm talking about here.

Bev had recommended a 'great place for breakfast' on Dumbarton Road namely a cafe called Tribeca. After the most brutal set of nights in my experience (I had no time to sit down, or go to the loo let alone eat) I decided yesterday that I deserved a treat. Ajeet had also been on nights at the same time as me, so upon my urging, we met up for a relaxing breakfast in Tribeca.

The interior looked much the same as many other cafes. But as soon as I clapped my eyes on the menu, I had a good feeling about the quality of the food. It took us quite some time to decide. Ajeet went for a lighter option as usual, and I went for a heavy meal, as I usually do.

They had coffees such as cafe bonbon and cafe leche leche. Sound cute, don't they? Apparently these are sourced from Spain and have condensed milk in them. We decided not to be too adventurous so I went for tea and Ajeet had a moderately exotic chai tea latte.

Ajeet's slurpilicious looking chai tea latte. It tasted amazing btw.

My rather boring looking tea in comparison. I just love the huge cups which is difficult to appreciate from the pics.

I asked for a Meat Lover's omelette ( I am an intractable carnivore) which was originally to have Cumberland sausage, parma ham and German salami in it, but I asked for the salami to be replaced with olives instead, which they obligingly did.

Close up of the omelette - the other three quarters look the same :)

I was absolutely stuffed at the end of it. I have no doubt that Tribeca will be seeing a lot of me in the future.
After that, we had a leisurely walk home. It was a change not to be rushing home to sleep!

Kelvingrove Park

2008-08-15T11:49:00.000-07:00

It's rare to see the sun out in full force in Scotland, but the 27 of July was such a day! It was actually comparable to Malaysia, I kid you not. Ajeet was still sorting out the mountain of clothes in her room but we decided that it would be a pity to stay indoors.

So we ventured out into Kelvingrove Park, one of the many green lungs in Glasgow. We jogged for about 30min to 3 quarters of an hour. Actually, I lie. It was more like Ajeet went running for 30min to 3/4 of an hour and I made a pretense of doing the same but actually just stopped every few minutes to walk, enjoying the view and also watching the many different types of people that were out soaking in the sunshine.

While Ajeet was busy getting her cardio quota, I snapped the following pics:

A lovely drive for motorists cutting through Kelvingrove Park

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum strongly silhouetted by the sunshine

The river running through the park

It's too far away to see, but these are skateboarders practising their stunts

It was a great day. Wish we have more of those before summer passes.

Chinatown in Edinburgh

2008-08-15T11:21:00.000-07:00

Some of you will know that my sister recently moved and it was a horrendous experience for her and her flatmates! It's always amazing how much junk one accumulates within a few months of staying in a new place. Maybe you're the rare sensible person that doesn't though. If so, I take off my hat to you.

I visited my sister for the first time in her new flat two weekends ago. My sister was glad to see me mainly because I could remove items which belonged to me, thus cutting down on the clutter in her room! She told me that for dinner she, Ivy and Jacintha were going to go to Chinatown. I was like '' What? Edinburgh where got Chinatown?'' There are Chinatowns in London, Glasgow, Manchester etc, but not Edinburgh.

But I was mistaken. Indeed there was a Chinatown and it was only a few blocks away from where my sister lived. It was actually a Chinese restaurant as you might have guessed already. Since I rarely frequented that part of town, it was new to me. But apparently it was in the List, which is the guide to eating and drinking in Edinburgh. So it must be good, I thought.

Expectations high, we sat down and this is what we had:

Prawn crackers to start.

Steamed white fish fillets

Salt and pepper calamari - my favourite dish usually, but this was not as good as I'd hoped.

Tofu with mixed vegetables, which was not bad

I hope my sister and her flatmates manage to sort out their flat soon, and with it their stress levels! For clutter builds stress, right :)

Hello my blog!

2008-08-15T10:59:00.000-07:00

I have not visited or updated you for ages. I'm real sorry!

Indeed, I have not had a chance to post since 20 July, when I returned from London. The last few weeks have been a blur of being on call first during the week, and then the weekend. And I have just come off my first set of nights as an FY2.

I rather sheepishly had to beg for sick leave to see my dentist twice. I had been having an annoying toothache for 2 months, but it wasn't giving me enough pain that it qualified for an emergency appointment. Plus, my rota did not come out in time for me to make a routine appointment with the dentist, and she did not work on Saturdays, which would have been helpful. About 2 weeks, ago, things finally came to a head. My tooth was giving me so much pain that I could not sleep. So the next day, I called my dentist, and she asked me to come in straightaway. As part of the process, she injected my gum with local anaesthetic which I usually shrink away from. This time I actually welcomed it. The instant relief that it brought was unbelievable!

Initially I worried over whether my oral hygiene had been lacking and had been prepared to forswore saccharides in all forms to prevent this happening in the future. But when the dentist reassured me that there was nothing I could have done to prevent this particular incident from happening, my good intentions immediately flew out of the window.

In any case, look after your teeth well as it will save you many a pretty penny in dental fees as well as preserve that attractive smile!

Moving and Kokuryo!

2008-07-11T15:43:00.001-07:00

It was Friday the 11th. Moving day and I was all psyched up for it. Not quite so prepared though. I'd not finished packing yet despite trying my bestest to put aside time to pack before toppling into bed each morning after work. Luckily, WP who was helping me move was quite flexible in terms of when he could do it that day so I had a few hours to finish packing. By 11.30am, I gave him a call and he came over. I was both relieved and surprised when we actually managed to load all my stuff into his car! I had thought that we might have to split it into two carloads. So we set off for Glasgow.

Less than 1 hr later, we arrived. Here are some photos of the flat before I messed it up with my stuff!

Sitting room view 1

Sitting room view 2

Bedroom view 1

Same bedroom view 2

It was past one in the afternoon, so we just piled my luggage into the flat higgledy-piggledy and then left for lunch at Kokuryo on Argyle St. Kokuryo is definitely one of the plus points of living in Glasgow I have to say! I love Korean food and this is the only Korean restaurant in Scotland. Well, they are supposedly about to open a branch in Edinburgh soon, so Edinburgh Korean food lovers, you can rejoice!

I normally go for spicy dishes but I decided to try the bulgogi this time. WP ordered an omelette for a starter, claiming it was amazing. After helping myself to about half of his omelette, I agreed! I offered him my rice cakes instead, although they were probably poor compensation. The bulgogi was full in flavour but having to wrap it in lettuce made for messy eating. I think the bibimbap still rules!

Side dishes

Tteokbokki - Spicy rice cakes

Korean omelette with spicy dip

Bulgogi (above) served with lettuce and ssamjang (below)

Miso soup

Dolsot bibimbap

All work and no sleep makes for a very tired me, unfortunately. WP kindly gave me a lift to Falkirk where I took the train back to Edinburgh. My train to London the following day would be from Edinburgh. I slept all the way on the train and also as soon as I got into my sister's flat. zZZ

Independence day, not

2008-07-11T15:36:00.001-07:00

What comes to your mind when the 4th of July rolls around? Independence Day in the US accompanied by fireworks, I'm sure. But that's not what I'm talking about. The 4th of July is more than that to one of my friends in particular. It is none other than the day she was born!

So, to mark that day, those of us who could make it decided to meet for a meal at Iglu on Jamaica St in Edinburgh. Karen's choice. In fact, I wasn't even sure what we would be doing until I finished work on the day and got her text. HS kindly gave me a lift to Edinburgh and we found the place with the help of Googlemap on my trusty Tocco! :P

View from our table

HS and Karen

Me and Lai Ling

Karen and I

Jill and HS

Fishcakes with a high fish: potato ratio

Selection of Scottish meats

Purplelicous blueberry cheescake baked by....Peckhams!

Cake-cutting , but the cake was pre-cut!

All pics above taken with the Tocco camera btw. I forgot to take pics of the mains, sorry. The food was great however, trust me.

Beanscene on Argyle St

2008-07-11T15:29:00.000-07:00

Dear reader, you may soon notice a spate of retrospective uploads on this blog ! That will be me trying to catch up after having been on nights and holiday.

On the 2nd of July, I rushed up to Glasgow after work to officially sign the lease for the flat. Afterwards, Ajeet and I met up with CW to have dinner at Kokuryo followed by coffee at the Beanscene on Argyle St. The mocha and Blegian waffles there are great btw. I'd just got a new Samsung Tocco and was eager to try out the camera on it. Hence:

The interior of the Beanscene

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum opposite Beanscene

I also took pics of Ajeet and I but we both look exhausted so I shall refrain from uploading them to avoid offending your sensibilities :) The camera is not that amazing despite supposedly being 5 megapixels. I hereby admit this after comparing pics of the Kelvingrove Art Gallery with Ajeet and CW who both have the Nokia N95. So if you're looking for a cameraphone, get a Sony Ericsson cybershot I say. I still love my Tocco though..

Nocturnality

2008-07-06T20:27:00.001-07:00

Is there such a word? I think so.

I am currently on nights - my third to be exact. I think there might be light at the end of the tunnel yet.

Several things were doing my head in on my first night. I had been woken up at 10am the same day, and not managed to return to sleep since. Also, there was the problem of when and how best I should move to Glasgow among several other things. I'd also booked flights to Berlin for next week, but had not been bothered to book accommodation and had been imagining myself wandering homeless around the city.As a result, by the time 10pm rolled around, I had a good-going migraine and was finding it a challenge to function at higher level. I managed to fall asleep sitting down and only woke up with a nurse practically shouting my name. At 9am, as soon as I reached my room, I toppled in bed and was away in snoozeland for 9 and a half hours.

The second night was much better. I'd managed to do some research on accommodation in Berlin and I was feeling less sleepy. I also managed to watch the first and last five minutes of a Mexican movie.

Tonight I feel like I've actually accomplished something of value after not managing to pick up on simple things which made me feel like a first class idiot in front of my SHO.

I booked somewhere to stay for next week and it actually looks nice!! I am looking forward to this. I think I've also managed to formulate a better idea of when I'm going to move. All I have to do now is to pack.

Currently important dates in my diary:

Moving D-day 11 July

Leaving for London 12 July

Berlin 15-18 July

London again 18-20 July

Good Auld Reekie 20 July +/- Glasgow

What's your favourite Malaysian food?

2008-07-01T14:15:00.000-07:00

A colleague of mine recently went for a 2 week holiday in Malaysia. She'd asked me for a list of food to try. Below is part of the email that I sent to her:

-------------Start of excerpt---------------

Rice (Nasi) dishes:
Nasi lemak (coconut flavoured rice with a spicy sambal or chilli paste made from anchovies, and usually served with egg - either hard boiled or fried,cucumber and chicken curry. Not to be missed.
Nasi biryani
Nasi kunyit - turmeric rice, don't let this stain your clothes!
Bubur ( rice congee, great when eaten with yau char kway/fried dough sticks)
Claypot chicken rice ( rice cooked in a claypot with chicken, salted fish, and soy sauce)

Noodles (Mee/Fun):
Char Kueh Teow ( not to be missed! Stir fried broad noodles flavoured with dark and soy sauce, egg and cockles and served with a spicy belacan dip)
Chee Cheong Fun ( Chinese steamed noodles served with various sauces and fish cake)
Yee Meen (pre-fried noodles served with an eggy sauce)
Asam Laksa ( A noodle dish in a sour fishy soup with tamarind and cucumber)
Kari Laksa ( A noodle dish in a reddish, curry soup base)
Wanton Mee ( Noodles - can be served dry or in soup, with prawn or pork dumplings)

Seafood (Makanan Laut) in general is amazing - I love salt and pepper squid/calamari.
Fried catfish served with chilli is also great.
Ikan bakar (literally meaning burnt fish, can be found at some stalls. This is served with a squeeze of lime and a spicy dip. Stingray is usually the sea creature of choice for this style of cooking.)
Shark's fin soup is a delicacy you will find in Chinese restaurants.
Keropok lekor ( Savoury fried fish cake eaten with a chilli sauce)

Meat dishes (usually eaten accompanied with rice):
Ayam masak merah - A Malay way of cooking chicken in a red sauce, usually accompanied by peas
Kari - multiple variations of this occur
Rendang - beef/chicken cooked in a coconut stew

Roti Canai - An Indian flaky pancake served with curries. I absolutely love this.
There can be many variations of Roti (bread), like Roti telur (with egg), roti tisu (sweet and light, also very big!),

Dessert:
Kuih is a Malay term for cake. If something is named beginning with kuih - it generally will be dessert!
Onde onde ( small green balls made of rice flour, coated with freshly grated coconut and filled with gula Melaka - a special brown sugar).
Tau Foo Fah - Soybean Curd served with warm, sweet syrup.
Ais kacang - 'nutty ice' - sweet corn, red beans and jelly topped with shaved ice, syrups and condensed milk.
Bubur cha-cha - yam and sweet potato cubes in coconut milk and sago.

Drinks (Minuman):
Cendol - Amazingly fragrant drink made of starchy green jelly (the cendol), gula Melaka, and coconut milk. Not to be missed!
Bubble Milk Tea/Pearl Milk Tea - I like the yam/taro flavoured version of this. The bubble/pearls are gummy balls made from tapioca and are usually black in colour. Not to be missed!
Teh tarik - 'pulled tea' - a national favourite. Try to watch the process of making this!

Fruits(Buah):
Durian (a really thorny exterior with soft creamy yellow flesh, you'll either love it or hate it)
Mangosteens ( small, round, purple on the outside with creamy white flesh. Tradition has it that this should be eaten alongside durian as mangosteen has cooling properties, while durian is heaty)
Cempedak ( Cempedak goreng is the fried battered version, which I prefer to the raw fruit actually, as the frying brings out the flavour)
Mangoes (the yellow ones)
Longan (literally Dragon Eyes - small sweet fruit about the size of cherries, but with brown skin which peels off to reveal translucent flesh and black stones. I can devour bunches of these)
Rambutan ( unique fruit that I've not seen outside of South East Asia. Hairy red fruit with sweet white flesh, about the size of a golf ball each)
Rojak ( literally means all mixed up - various fruits are cut up and mixed with a sweet black sauce)

Seasonal: Zhong (Chinese dumplings made out of 'pulut' or glutinous rice, during the Dumpling Festival, which is kinda now - wrapped in large green leaves - they can be savoury or sweet)

Miscellanous:
Dim Sum - including Pao (buns with all sorts of fillings) are a must!! This is a great way to have breakfast.
Popiah - spring rolls , can be fried or steamed. Great for a snacka
Yong Tau Foo - Various veggies eg aubergines, chillies, bittergourd, even tofu are stuffed with fish paste.

-------------end of excerpt-------------

It occurred to me as I was composing the email that it would come in really handy for the next time I go home, just to make sure I don't miss out on anything!! I remember beating myself up about not having roti canai after returning from a trip home once.

What would you have included on this list?

Monday blues

2008-06-30T12:44:00.000-07:00

You have been warned - this is a moaney entry!

This week I finally parted with team Respiratory which I'd been with for 3 months and joined Cardio. For 4 days! I'm slightly regretting switching already. It's always an ominous sign when the ward round lasts beyond noon. Today's finished at 3.30pm. We must have seen about 30 people. Oh well, it's only for 4 days, and then I go onto nights.

The upside of nights is that I generally get a week off afterwards. The downside is I never manage to get leave at the same time as my friends. What's the point of getting leave if there's no one to go away with? Or not knowing until a few weeks in advance at the earliest? This job kinda sucks that way. My ex-flatmate has been trying to get leave in September so that she can be a bridesmaid at her best friend's wedding. She still has no clue if she'll be able to get leave or not. An FY2 at my hospital had wanted to get married in January, but was unable to obtain leave for this. Can you believe it!!

My new landlady in Glasgow called today. Apparently the flat should be ready for moving into sometime this week. If you don't know already, we decided to go with the flat that we'd reserved earlier. I'm looking forward to it! My little pink room in Falkirk will be missed, however. It's been my little place to come home to for the last year.

Links update!

2008-06-29T17:27:00.000-07:00

I finally managed to motivate myself to edit my links section... The perceptive person might have noticed this already, but I've added links to some of my friends' blogs. Most of them are people who were my classmates in secondary school between Form 1- Form 5 or even earlier possibly.
I have to thank Yin Hoon aka Granny for being the deciding influence to start blogging. When she visited Edinburgh, she started a blog detailing her travels, which I started following religiously, to ensure she wasn't carrying tales about me bullying her:) Just kidding. I wouldn't have been bothered before this, and none of the friends that I hang out with in uni blog, not in my innermost circle, anyway. Good for you that you've decided to carry on in ''A new chapter''! Other people I have to thank would be Mei Yee aka The Witch, who was one of my dearest friends in school and remains so to this day. I am guilty of being a bad correspondent and I found reading her blog enabled me to look at her life through her eyes. Not to mention Bamboo, and Boon Chew. I have to say, blogging is a great way for ppl to catch up on what's been happening in the lives of friends who are a great distance away. Old classmates, if you know of mutual acquaintances who blog, tell me ok?
When I manage to motivate myself again, I'll search for more friends who blog and add them too. I definitely know a few of those..but it's late on Sunday night and I need my beauty sleep.

Is that wedding bells I hear?

2008-06-29T14:49:00.000-07:00

It was turning out to be just another weekend in Edinburgh...the usual dreary rain that made me glad that I was ensconced in my sister's cosy flat..my sister feeding me with all sorts of leftovers from the week ( I have to say I would rather she feed me than not, though:)) and the usual phonecalls that I never had time to make during the week.

I was feeling slightly isolated because my phone, being a Samsung, was dying on me and because I had neglected to bring my charger from Falkirk, I had been sensible and switched it off, only turning it on once in a while to check or send messages.

Today, I turned on my phone and found a text from a close friend who had been on holiday with her boyfriend and just returned.. She had news for me, she said. Immediately (it's a woman's sixth sense) I thought - He's proposed! and texted her back asking if it was true.
An hour later I turned up on her doorstep..and had to hear all about it of course..Now that I think about it, I didn't actually get into the details of what time of the day it was, or if it was rain or shine, etc.. tsk tsk. Don't roll your eyes, this is important stuff!!

In any case, she is now an engaged woman, promised to someone...how grown up! I am feeling positively adolescent in comparison.

If you are reading this, I am supremely happy for you, my dear.

And please wear the proof of your engagement lah, woman, unless you don't want anyone to know about this!!

Flat Hunting Frenzy with a ?satisfying conclusion

2008-06-19T14:38:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe but there are only about 7 weeks left to the end of FY1. On the 6th of August, the familiar migration of doctors to their new posts takes place. It's also the time of the year when you probably do not want to be admitted to hospital! New doctors, fresh out of medical school and still wet behind the ears, embark on their medical careers and I honestly believe that complications, morbidity and mortality are higher then.

In any case, I will be moving to Glasgow and starting work in the West End. With that in mind, I spent the whole of last weekend trawling through the websites of various letting agencies, spent my lunch breaks for the whole of last week on the phone to property agents trying to arrange suitable viewing times, and travelled to Glasgow straight after work everyday in search of the perfect flat. What I learnt was that the majority of property agents will only show flats on Mon-Fri between 9-5pm which can be extremely inconvenient as I work the same hours they do, if not longer. The weather was not the most accommodating either as it rained everyday this last week. Ajeet my flatmate insisted on wearing slippers to view flats so that she wouldn't have to have soaked shoes. :)

There were the disappointing moments such as when an amazing two bedroom flat on Benalder St had been snapped up by the time I called the agency advertising it. There were also eyebrow raising and 'let's get out of here feeling' moments when we saw ancient flats with ancient delapidated furniture which cost the same in rental as other significantly more desirable flats. I've never been familiar with Glasgow, but I learnt a lot about the geography of the West End in the last week just from the hours spent on Google Map!!

11 viewings and many coffees later, Ajeet and I finally narrowed down our choices to a cosy flat a stone's throw away from a major rail/underground/bus exchange and also a supermarket!! Imagine being able to walk in slippers to the shop around the corner to get some milk or eggs. It should also be only a 15 minute walk for me to my workplace. There were 2 other flats that we were seriously considering as well, but one didn't have a wardrobe (built in wardrobes are essential for a girl!!) and the other had two bathrooms, but only one with a shower and that was in the master bedroom. If any property developers are reading this, my advice would be to have the shower in the communal bathroom, and to have built in wardrobes in all bedrooms and to have mixed taps as well..I never understood why hot and cold water taps have to be separate.

We've put in a reserve on the flat mentioned above, but we'll keep looking to see if any better ones come up in the next two weeks. I am determined to have a really nice home for FY2!! Can't wait to move, really.

Exhausted from the long week, I slept the whole train journey from Glasgow Queen Street to Edinburgh Waverley yesterday, waking up at the end to discover an old granny sitting next to me. I looked up and only then noticed a sign on the wall saying 'Please give up these seats for the elderly and disabled'. How embarassing!

A taste of Edinburgh

2008-06-06T02:37:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was a whirlwind of events, or so it seemed.

Both my sisters were in Edinburgh, so we decided to go to the Botanic Gardens on Saturday to feed the squirrels. Unfortunately, it was such a blazingly warm day (lovely for us humans in cold Scotland, but not very pleasant to these bushy tailed creatures) that none of them were to be seen outside of their holes in the ground or wherever it is that they live. And after having gone to three supermarkets before managing to find monkey nuts to feed them with!! It was slightly disappointing despite the pretty rhododendrons in bloom :( A few hours later though, when it was slightly cooler we finally saw a few of these mammals scampering about. Some of them came up to take nuts from our hands!! I went home mollified.

Later that night, I met up with Hui Ping and Pei Pei (who I'd not seen in 6 years) at City Restaurant (if you're in Edinburgh, you should probably head to this place to try all the artery- clogging Scottish fare of fish and chips and fried candy bars.) We attempted a drive up to Calton Hill (home to Edinburgh's Disgrace, a giant elephant on top of the hill which was never completed due to insufficient funds) but it was 11pm, and the road leading up was closed after 9pm. We would have parked the car and walked, but there were a group of young 'uns at the foot of the hill who looked dodgy, so we canned the idea.

Sunday heralded the arrival of grey skies. The Taste Festival was being held in the Meadows this particular weekend. FYI, the Meadows is a huge green lung in the middle of the city of Edinburgh (or maybe slightly southwest). It has the most amazing cherry blossoms in spring and is used by people of all ages for frisbee games, jogging, running, rugby practice, tennis and is also one of the venues for shows during the Edinburgh Festival in August. The Taste Festival is a new thing that was first put on last year. There would be loads of top restaurants in Edinburgh participating and lots of lovely food samples to be had. I had been salivating at the thought of going to the Taste Festival this year for weeks now, and was determined to enjoy it come rain or shine. So we bravely set out while it was still dry - look at this pic taken before the onslaught...

but soon after we were drenched!!

Check out the lovely cocktails:

Talented chefs in action:

Marinated wild Scottish salmon, sour cream, orange and dill oil, avruga:

Scrumptious looking selection:

Gosh I'm getting hungry now..will edit this post at a later time...

Last day of idleness

2008-05-21T08:42:00.001-07:00

This morning I was woken up at 9.30am by the housekeeper knocking on my door. She hadn't seen me since Monday when I had told her that I was having the runs and needed more loo roll and was understandably concerned about my well-being. Was I alright (which I interpreted as meaning, are you still alive?) and when I replied in the affirmative, asked if I would like a cup of tea, to which I politely declined. When she had gone away, I noticed that she had slipped a note under my door which read: 'Hope you're OK, haven't seen you since Monday.' How sweet! Btw, this is for the benefit of those of you who have to live in crappy hospital accommodation - the accommodation that I stay in has ensuite bathroom facilities, its own TV and a cleaner who leaves fresh towels, sheets and vacuums the room. Boy am I pampered. And no, the housekeeper does not read me bedtime stories. That would be seriously creepy.

What a luxury to have 2 weekdays off when I work according to a rota that has in the past year allocated me to work Christmas Day, New Year and Easter! Chinese New Year too, although I suppose that doesn't really count as a public holiday in this country. My friend in Newcastle, Hui Ping had been trying to get me to go away with her for a long weekend as May 26th would be a bank holiday. My response to that was that I had had no idea such a holiday existed as I do not unfortunately, work in a bank.

So you can probably tell by now that perhaps my recent bout of diarrhoea and vomiting was indeed a blessing in disguise as I have had the time to :

1) do one load of laundry
2) upload 4 photo albums onto Facebook
3) reply to my little sister's extremely long recent email
4) max out my Vodafone minutes
5) start this blog
6) get reacquainted with the features of MSN messenger

The list just goes on. And Shawn, that does not mean that I must have been super bored or that I am boring.

In any case, yesterday I was doodling on my notepad when I received a phonecall from a friend asking if I would like to go out for dinner in Glasgow. What a treat on a weekday! Usually I just cook for myself or subject myself to the whims of the canteen chefs.

There's a new Malaysian restaurant in Glasgow, just opened within the last month I believe. It's named Rumours Kopitiam. I do not have any pictures, unfortunately. It's right smack in the city centre. I went a la carte with two others. We tried the spicy fried soft shell crab, claypot tofu with some seafood and meat, belacan-fried kangkung and stir-fried coffee chicken. The crab was probably the best I think, but the rest were fairly predictable and the coffee chicken was too sweet for me. The portions were also small for the price. The remaining two in our party ordered individual noodle dishes, kind of mamak style. Looking at what they had, I came away with the conclusion that the individual noodle/rice dishes there were probably ok, but I have had better a la carte elsewhere.

We then went to watch a movie. I watched Ironman, which had been recommended to me by Sue Yin. It was action-packed and I was not disappointed! I didn't realise the lead actor was Robert Downey Jr until the closing credits though. I've liked him in all the movies I've ever seen him in, which is why I'm still kicking myself that I didn't recognise him. This is probably why people successfully manage to disguise themselves by having long hair and a beard I suppose. I still remember how I managed to watch Andy Lau act as an obese lovelorn twain in a HK movie for 2 hours without realising it was him until he'd shed all his weight at the end.

Tomorrow I return to work...sigh:(

The perils of working in a Scottish hospital

2008-05-20T18:30:00.000-07:00

Bear in mind dear readers, that the list below is not exhaustive:

1. Diarrhoea
2. Vomiting
3. Diarrhoea and vomiting
4. Needlestick injury
5. Cheese scone addiction

I have had for some time now, number 5. Some people cannot even imagine cheese scones (see pic below) being a valid food item. I can assure you they are very much so. Spread some butter on one, and it melts in your mouth. I, on the other hand, do not understand the popularity of fruit scones.

Well, I have to admit I succumbed to number 3 yesterday. One of the wards in my hospital had been closed for diarrhoea and vomiting. Now before you start shaking your heads, I did wash my hands after visiting that ward!! Unfortunately, the bug must have been incredibly robust for I began experiencing abdominal pangs on Sunday and on Monday could not move from my bed for all the peristaltic movements that were going on in my gut. My friend texted me later on to inform me that another ward had to be closed down that day. Needless to say, I could not go into work. But the upside of this was that I got today and tomorrow off!! Occupational health decrees that I cannae go into work for 48 hours after my last symptom has passed.

A new era

2008-05-20T18:13:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the birth of my first ever blog! A realisation dawned on me recently that this would be a great way to keep friends and family alike up to date with the chronicles of my life. I get great enjoyment from reading my friends' blogs and learning what shenanigans they have been up to that way. So why not return the favour?
Why the title Meifongpolitan? It took ages to come up with this name. There was the dilemma of whether it would be too narcissistic to have my own name incorporated into it or would something random like 'Miod Malina' or 'Strawberry Cheesecake' or 'Cheese Scone' be better. You might be able to tell by now that I'm slightly obsessed with food. In any case, here it is - politan means to do with a city and if you think about this blog being a virtual city that I'm creating filled with pieces of me, there you have it . Doesn't really make sense, does it? Not to me, anyway, but take it as you like!