Instead of being indulged in buying plenty of new cloths, shoes, and *ahem, handbags to greet Chinese New Year, I have decided to get myself something that lasts a bit longer: my very first automatic watch, the Seiko SKX781, affectionately dubbed the Orange Monster.
For the uninitiated, automatic watches do not run on battery. Instead, they harness the kinetic energy from the wearer’s movements to wind a spring that powers the watch. There is no battery and no electronic parts, this thing will practically survive a nuclear war. To some, only an automatic is considered a real watch, others are electronic gadgets that keeps time.
wine tasting session
I’ve always dread changing watch batteries (I have 3 watches that needs new battery as of now), the previous watch I bought was the beautiful and more civilized Citizen Nighthawk with Eco-Drive, a solar-powered contraption that still needs a battery that never needs to be changed. From full power, the Orange Monster will lasts about 42 hours without wearing before it stops, the Citizen, on the other hand, have a 6 month power reserve.
Orange Monster spotted in the wild
The Orange Monster is a dive watch and thus rated at 200M water resistance. It has beautiful bezel that clicks in a very sure and purposeful way to the counter clockwise direction. The screw-on crown is positioned at 4 o’clock to minimize hindrance to wrist movement especially while diving. I got the watch with bracelet instead of rubber strap as it matches the watch very well with the half matte and half polished finishing. The bracelet even has a quick extension for wearing over wet suit.
Industrialized Monster
One of the most important thing about a dive watch is it’s visibility underwater. Doxa was the company that did a research and found that an orange dial serves best in this condition, and this watch uses the bright orange dial for the same purpose. The Orange Monster also spots one of the brightest lume of anything that I came across. It simply screams at you in darkness.
Orange Monster’s beautiful and very bright lume
For those who are interested, there is a very lengthy and excellent review on the movement of this watch at thePurists where this watch is dissembled and every minute detail explained. The 7s26 movement used in this watch includes day and date function that comes handy for people like me who sometimes tend to forget what day it is. The second hand moves at about 4 beats per second, I like the smoothness of an automatic over the 1 jump per second for digital watches when it comes to the motion.
The Orange Monster is a lot of watch for the price, a great value and certainly something I will keep for many years to come. It’s my first “Real” watch after all. 
My flickr Orange Monster set has a few more pictures on this baby.
I met up with Terence (the guy who always over order food) a couple weeks ago for lunch. We originally decided to have the excellent Char Siu at Aman Suria, but the place was not open and so we went for the next best thing, the famous chicken rice at Yat Yeh Hing kopitiam, Kelana Jaya.
glorious chicken (pics with N82)
This place is usually quite packed during lunch time, it might even take a while for you to find an empty table. The good thing is, once you made your order, you can help yourself with unlimited servings of soup while waiting for the main dishes to be served. We usually helped ourselves with the chili sauce too.
Terence enjoying his lunch
For the two of us, we ordered something like half a steamed chicken, a plate of bean sprouts, and some chicken intestines. Of course, we had a couple bowls of soup (ABC with chicken legs) too. The chicken were pretty chunky and juicy, and the soup really delicious, the intestine however, is a bit of an acquired taste.
To many, the chili sauce at a chicken rice place is just as important as the meat itself. If you are one of these people, this stall certainly does not disappoint. The chili sauce is fragrant and makes perfect compliment to the meat, especially with some mashed ginger providing added level of sophistication.
chili sauce, bean sprouts, soup, and chicken intestine
The meal costs about RM 15 for the two of us. A satisfying meal that provides pretty decent value for money. The chicken rice stall only opens for lunch.
Yat Yeh Hing kopitiam is just a couple blocks past Kelana Jaya LRT station
Address:
33, Jalan SS 4D/2,
People’s Park,
47301 Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.112802, 101.599245
Tel:012-629 4807
Today is the 9th day of Chinese New Year, traditionally the day Hokkien people worships Jade Emperor of Heaven “Tian Kung” (天公). I did hear quite a bit of fireworks as midnight struck even though the government has imposed a complete ban on such celebration.
The pictures I am posting here are of “Tian Hou Temple”, a place that might not be related at all to today’s occasion. But anyhow…
Pagoda with 8 sided roof
We went to the temple for some photography a week before Chinese New Year hoping to get some shots of the beautifully lit decorative lanterns, but luck was not on our side as it seems that conservation of electricity was the priority of the night. I only managed about a dozen different shots before the temple closed at around 10:30pm.
3-tiered roof with guardian dragons
You can read more about this place at Thean Hou Temple wiki entry.
pillar
You can find a few more pictures in my flickr set.
Happy Valentine’s day everyone, and no, the blog title isn’t exactly a spelling mistake. I just want to tell you a story that you might completely be uninterested, but I am going to tell you anyhow.
It all started at a little over 2 years ago after I posted an entry about a small Thai restaurant called iThai (used to be near Atria but has relocated to Millenium Court at PJ since). The 8th comment on the post said
Looks inviting! I wana go but then am not familiar with the road =(
So I added this Valz on my MSN list via the email from the comment link and offered to take her out to iThai. It’s all very corny I know, but amazingly, she agreed!
We did go to iThai, and numerous other eating places from then on. She first appeared in my blog on the Momo Japanese Restaurant post (4th collage, 3rd picture with the “good” sign). She’s a beautiful girl (hot chick maa) with a sense of humor and an equal love for good food (except a lot pickier).
The rest, well, like they say, is history.
Happy Valentine’s day my Valentina aka Hot Chick. This is the 2nd of many to come.
ze Hot Chick
This place at SS2 probably sells one of the bigger chicken curry puffs this side of Klang Valley. If you like your curry puff big, fresh, and tasting just nice, this stall called HOMI is the place to go.
freshly fried curry puffs
For the uninitiated, curry puff is our traditional Malay pie originated from this region. It consists of fillings wrapped by a deep fried pastry shell. Traditionally chicken curry with generous amount of potato were the de facto ingredient, but these days you can find many puffs filled with everything from sardine to durian.
big and handsomely filled!
At this particular stall, the curry puff is made the traditional way, except in a very generous size. For RM 1.20 each, it gives pretty good value, and of course, tastes pretty good too! The shell has a slight buttery taste to it and the curry is thick and juicy. However, the best thing is that business is so good and hence you’ll always get freshly fried curry puff. Warm curry puff is so much better!
Homi is located at Sun Hin Loong kopitiam, opposite KFC
The stall operates in the afternoon. Situated at SS2 Sun Hin Loong kopitiam, it is only across the road from SS2 Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet.
Address:
Intersection of SS 2/62 and SS 2/67
GPS: 3.119498, 101.621819
