a bit of nostalgia here and there

it has been a while since i last read a good book and i am glad that last week i did find one. (finished the book in less than a week) and to make it even better, it is by a malaysian. woohoo!! malaysian pride.

this is the book: the garden of evening mists by tan twan eng, a man asian prize winner and shortlist for booker prize as well.

i had wanted to buy this book for a while after reading its synopsis somewhere but only finally got to buying it last month, after he won the man asian prize. kinokuniya even has a special cover out for the book, but i did not buy that more beautiful cover since it is more expensive than the copy above ;)

this is a book that really evoked many layers of emotions....well at least in me. i liken reading this book to peeling the skin of an onion, layer by layer. every layer will bring out different emotions and nostalgic memories in me. it made me thought of grandma most of all; the mention of japanese occupation, and the hardship of the people under the torturous treatment. also, the mention of tattoo made me think of grandma's reaction when she saw mine and i finally understood why she gave such a big disapproval.

the art of making japanese gardens made me think of my trip to the beautiful gardens and temples in kyoto and made me appreciate what i saw more. how i wish i had actually read the book before my trip to japan.

i have passed the book to uncle who has brought it back to australia to read. my brother is not interested in this kind of story hence i pass the book to someone who wants to know the story. hopefully he will be curious few months later when it is his turn to bring back the book to malaysia.
this book is really a good buy. make it a gift to someone you know who loves a good story or an avid reader. you don't really need to know malaysian history to understand the story although there are a smattering of malay and cantonese words thrown here and there. it does make me want to visit cameron highlands and feel the  mist and coolness of the mountain air. in short, get this book!!!

uncle has left after dropping here for 5 days to visit granpa. and when uncle is back, there is always a craving for certain malaysian food. he got his daily fix of roti canai. he also went to take away his favourite hokkien noodles. and i also went with him for satay and breakfast.

the new satay shop is really a good find. luckily the one we usually went to was not opened, so i was forced to think of another place to go. hence, we reached the one next to the new old town kopitiam shop. the satay was really good, big and succulent. one stick is only rm0.80 for both chicken and beef. the peanut sauce was good too. this is definitely the place to go for satay in tg malim.

this was the breakfast uncle and i had at old town kopitiam this morning. i wanted to bring him to one of the traditional chinese kopitiams here for our kaya and butter toast and half boiled egg, too bad it was not opened. hence, we reached old town and i was surprised to see them open at 8am already.
it was a satisfying breakfast as i had been craving for half boiled egg too. kakakakka.......

then in the afternoon, i went down to kl sports medicine centre for my second injection of hyalgan.

did a little physio and then it was time to ice the knee. uncle waited outside while i had my treatment.
huhuhuhu......bye bye $$$$ again. the next follow up appointment is in four months' time....so hopefully the knee would have healed by then. it must!!!!!

after that, we went to 1 utama for dinner. met another uncle and aunt there and had meatball noodles. it was not bad. and finally, i could head home. haha......i did not have to go to the airport to send uncle to catch his flight back! the other uncle volunteered to do so. bless them.  the traffic was quite bad heading south and it was bumper to bumper even in the highway.

reached home at eight plus and had to start packing for my own flight the next day. aargghh.......in my mind, there were only biscuits. i am bringing so many packets!!!! i hope there will be no problem at the custom over there. gosh, fingers crossed.

see, i did not even bother to take out the packets of biscuits from the box. am going to check in the whole box with my suitcase.

yawn.....past midnight. time to sleep.