KL - 29 Sept SATURDAY!!!

Today is Saturday. Though its weekend but many of us are upset. WITH?

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Well, most of the Singapore Team are going back today except the 4 of us leftover. *boo hoo*

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For myself & another 1 of those leftover, we are more upset as we were the first to arrive & branded the last to leave... misery!

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As miserable as it can be, will be, going to be.... LIFE GOES ON!!!!!! We can still enjoy food & polluted air.. no problem! *evil* I had my breakfast at our own cafe in the store. This half-portion of toasted bread left for me by my manager was actually quite yummy! Its raisin-bread toasted & lightly-buttered. Well, how can this small little-something fill my big & bulky tummy? Greedy me ordered another fruit tart.. *evil grin*

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After all the munching, its time to work.. the air-con was driving my head & nose crazy. I decided to stay in the room & check & clear my piling emails. Didn't think I could do alot out on the sales floor with runny nose & aching body.
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After a short while, lunch time arrived! Yippee! We decided to go down to the basement of the Pavilion again & check out the new restaurant Madam Kwan. According to the locals, this is a must-try place.

It was quite a big restaurant at the basement of the Pavilion. They were also filled with people though its their first day of opening. I heard they are famous for their Nasi Lemak so we all ordered that!
it was delicious. But to me the only thing special was the curry chicken. Very smooth with generous coconut & the chicken was also tender & not tough. WELL, since its a must-try & we did!
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After Madam Kwan we all strolled the mall abit. WE have been here since opening yet we have not really spend the time to walk around the mall. After a few shopping & buying, we had sinfully ice-cream at Milk Lane; another themed restaurant specialising in Waffles & Sundaes.


As usual i ordered my all-time favourite - BANANA SPLIT!!!!!! What i liked about this place was the fact that they gave you all the sauces for you on your table to add to your waffles or ice-cream.. As artificial as most of the sauces were, I thought it was cool as you could have as many flavours of sauces as you'd like on your creation.
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They also used soft ice cream for most of their sundae creations. I didn't quite like the idea as soft ice-cream melts & soaked up the waffles. I prefer 'hard' ice cream.. they offer you Movenpick ice cream should you decided not to have soft ice cream... all of course with additional charges! but its a COOL FUN & HAPPY place!



I decided to eat light & soupy food for dinner just in case i may get too sick to head on home.
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After sending some of them off in their cabs to the airport *unfair*, we tidied our feelings & emotions & had dinner at Jalan Alor. I ordered 'Lo Xu Fan - Soup'. Though an innocent & simple order, it was delicious.
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I could not help but to wonder why the food in KL are so yummy. I could not recall there was even one meal that upset me on this trip.. Every meal was a great & memorable one.
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When we got back to the apartment at 11pm. I was feeling so miserable thinking that the other 2 colleagues are leaving tomorrow night after the store close. They are going to drive back immediately. My flight was scheduled on 1 Oct which means another 1 more day to go.. At this point I could not take it anymore. I called Singapore Air up vigorously with my pre-paid card. I just want to get myself a flight home tomorrow no matter how late the flight could be. BUT in vain. No one was there to answer my call though it was supposed to be a 24 hr line.
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Upset BUT desperate. I went to seek the nice people at the Somerset Apartment's Front Desk for help. I told them my preferred timing for the flight. keeping my fingers crossed. If they could not get me a flight home. I'd still head on to the airport & put myself on every d*mn waiting list just to go home. I have had it!
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I just want to GO HOME! let me go home... find me a way home......
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KL - 28 Sept

What day is it today? Sigh, ever since we have been here, we could no longer remember 'what day is it today'! Everyday is the same, feels the same, starts the same way & ends the same way.
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So hang on, let me check what day it is today.. 28 Sept... alright, GOT IT. It's a Friday.
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Woke up slightly later today as my colleague & me are not really rushing to anywhere. We went down to the poolside for breakfast at 10am. Simple food to fill the empty stomach.. or perhaps.. empty souls.

I have been having runny tummy too, therefore having a simple toast of peanut butter jelly was somehow comforting & somewhat indulging!
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I got to Pavilion at 10:30am. Greeted some customers, talked to some staff & time slipped by like the sand. It is TIME for lunch again.
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We decided to try out some of the new food outlets at the basement of the Pavilion. We found this interesting place called the Laksa Shack.













As the name of the shop suggested; they specialise in Laksa!
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We decided to try different Laksa.. there were many varieties like Johor Laksa, Sarawak Laksa, Assam Laksa(their specialty), Singapore Laksa & many many more.
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We ordered, (see pic of laksa) from top then bottom left to right.

Top: Assam Laksa
Bottom Left: Johor Laksa
Bottom Right: Sarawak Laksa
I am not sure how the others tasted BUT mine was the Johor Laksa. It looked like Mee Rebus. It tasted like Bee Rebus mixed with a little curry & alot of lime! It was sour BUT appetizing!
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I was & am never the Laksa person, but I would't say that i dislike what I ordered. It was alright.
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The Sarawak Laksa looked like noodles soaked in muddy gravy! From the first look all of us 'eeek' at it. But apparently it tasted great. I also witnessed other tables requesting for more gravy for their Sarawak Laksa.. must be yummy. I didn't try it.

But it was a cutiee specialty Laksa shop to me. I also loved the glass cup they used to serve me my comforting Milo-O.


Since now it nearing the dates for all our return to Singapore, many of us are kinda tired.. so.. *guilty* we took longer breaks than usual. Hehe. After our wonderful laksa spread of lunch, we went over to have doughnuts & coffee...

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The shop name is J-Co. With similarity to Singapore, there were also long queues though not as intimidating.

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I only ordered for myself a coffee as I somehow thought that if I were to down a doughnut, I would lose my voice the next day.

It has quite a nice ambience. But no matter how nice or peaceful the interior may be.. the crowd disrupted it.

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After the evil long break, i decided to get myself a haircut. Been feeling down & unglam, sick & not groomed for days. So i checked out our very own salon. I got my new haircut at only RM 33... cool ya?! It was not bad except I felt the stylist took a really long time. If i were to be in a hurry, I could blow. BUT overall was a good experience. No complaints. Next few days or so some of other colleagues went for haircuts too.. see attached pic. *hee hee*

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We had our dinner that day at the Station Kopi-Tiam again as some other colleagues passed through KL & came visit.
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The day ended pretty early.
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I remembered I was back in my room packing at about 11pm. Went to bed at 12mn after trying hard to squeeze all my things into my luggage..
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KL - 27 Sept

Today a few of us supposed to meet at the apartment lobby at 8am & we were supposed to reach Bandar Sunway, another of our store under renovation & shifting of location, to help out. Though we all have different roles to play, the objectives were the same - to finish what we had to do so that the store can be open for business.
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Scratchy throat, runny nose & the stubborn body aches that just wouldn't go away. That's how it has been for some of us still struggling to 'survive' here.
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Uncle picked us up at 8:15am from the Somerset Apartment. We were at Sunway by 9:15am. We all had breakfast.
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Yeah.. traditional simple breakfast that was not so sinful. It was also my 2nd or 3rd time eating half-boiled eggs.. eeeky.. *Oops*
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In this country, everything is not as efficient as how we had expected it to be.. seriously. We finished our breakfast & supposed to start doing our things.. ALAS the contractors couldn't hand the site over to us. SO, we had to kill a few hours before we could start. In my heart I was thinking .. "Da*n.. I could have catch a few more hours of sleep that I am so lack of!"
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Well, we had no choice. We were dismissed for a few hours. It was as long as 5 hours. I felt my time were wasted. Very, extremely wasted. We really could have, all of us, slept in later, take a good shower, freshen up before we actually made our way there BUT due to the inefficiency of these people OR perhaps, the inability to keep to such schedule, created such scenario. We all adjourned to a coffee joint.
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It was 12pm & we decided to move on for lunch since we had practically nothing to do in the mall! We all went to Kim Gary.I ordered Black Pepper Pork Slices with Rice. I needed rice & I was craving for rice!! I was hungry & tired & sleepy.. as if I was not everyday.. *sigh* I also felt frustrations flooding my mind.
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When we were eventually ready to start packing, it was 4pm. & I really felt unwell. The dust & air was horrendous. All these added on to my sore throat & runny nose.. GOSH..

Wore a mask to stay alive. I am a few more days away from GOING HOME & I want to be able to go home & not get sick & hospitalised in this city! .

I couldn't take it. Felt really sick by 6pm. It was difficult to breathe & I felt as if the dust had choked up my lungs. I also had runny tummy & felt really miserable. I had to call for uncle to pick me up at 7:30pm. In a way, as always, I felt really bad the rest are stil working. They actually stayed on untill 11:30pm that night. I was thinking I would not be able to work even if I had stayed on.

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I went back to rest. SORRY FOLKS!

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SICK...

i feel really sick. I do not know if it is due to the dust, dirt & the environment we had to endure OR because I didn't recover from my sickness few days ago. I feel giddy just now when I was in, yet another new store helping to pack some stocks.
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Today we went to Sunway. yet another dusty site under renovation & shifting.
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I felt like my world was spinning. I quickly call uncle to pick me up at 7:30pm & send me back to Somerset. The rest are still at Sunway as well as another team operating in the Pavilion.
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& we were told we had to extend our stay for 1 or 2 days. It was saddening. I thought I could hop on the plane & fly on home just 3 days away BUT now.. its another 24 hours or even 48 hours to endure.. DUH...
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Will write again. Am tired & feeling that fever coming up..
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KL - 26 Sept

This morning I had training in the office again. I got up at 6:45am & uncle picked me up at 8:15am.
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My training ends around 12pm & uncle picked me up at 1pm. By the time I was in the cab on my way back to our store in Pavilion, I was famished. I was whining & complaining all the way.
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A colleague recommended the cafe within the Parkson in Pavilion. For those of you whom are not very familiar with Malaysia; Parkson is a departmental store just like Isetan or Metro in Singapore. I do not know if Parkson is homegrown though.
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Parkson took up a huge area within the Pavilion. They had at least 3 to 4 storeys. The cafe within it is called 'Zang Toi'. I heard it is the name of a person. I had to share the pictures because I really feel the interior design & concept was really soothing & beautiful.

It has a stark contrast colors of Black & WHite & a cool modern victorian concept.

Somewhere in the departmental store sits this fabulously-styled cafe. It was indeed oasis in the desert. Even the Teapots & cups were so pretty & carefully-selected to match.
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I ordered a Nasi Lemak because I was so hungry & could use some carbo-filled rice to satisfy that hunger. It was yummy.
By the time we finished lunch, it was 4:30pm. Yes, we had a really late lunch.
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That evening, we had wanted to go back early as most of us are half-dead from the trip & the hours worked. We went back to the apartment & my colleague made us HOME-COOKED food with the greedy purchase of food for steamboat the night before.
We had steamboat with the leftover food. It was delicious as all of us really needed hot & soupy food. We've been dining out al the time & what beats a good & simple homecooked meal.
Our colleague also cooked us stir-fried chicken with chili & stir-fried tau-pok. SIMPLE & NICE!
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I went back to my own apartment at 11:30pm & jumped into bed at 12mn.

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KL - 25 Sept - Mid Autumn Night

We were initially told we could all be off work to rest for the whole day. But well, in KL, nothing is certain. However, I had to conduct a few trainings today, 1 in the office & another one in Gardens: a new shopping mall yet to open.
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So I got up at 6:45am. Left with taxi uncle at 8:30am & went to the office.
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At 1pm, Uncle picked me up & sent me to the Gardens.
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When I was over at Gardens & saw the familiar dust, noises, workers, masks... I felt a sense of Dejavu. Lucky me I need not be involved in the set up for this store. I also thought to myself - Why open so many huge malls? Gardens is located right beside MidValley Mega Mall.
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I heard the mall was to be officially open on the 26 Sept, which is tomorrow. But when I was there I had a shock. Personally I doubt the possibility BUT of course I could never be sure. Our store is ready however.
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Uncle picked me up at 4:30pm & sent me to Pavilion. At Pavilion, a few of us went supermaket-ing. We bought fresh vegetables & food to prepare for steamboat dinner tonight at our manager's unit in the Somerset Apartment.
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We figured: It's Zhong Qiu Jie, we should be spending the evening with our families & since all of us are away from home, we shall make the homely feeling right where we are.
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Here are the pics:


The whole SIngapore Team here in KL, all from different departments got together to whip up a fun-filled evening.

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Initially we had wanted to get lanterns & such but were shot down by some saying there were no space for us to light them.. sigh.. SPOILER.. *grins*
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We prepared Steamboat using the rice-cooker that the apartment provided, we prepared Pasta, we ordered takeaways of BBQ Chicken Wings, Satays, Grilled Sambal Stingray from Jalan Alor nearby. We didn't intentionally blur off the pictures.. WELL excuse me I am handicapped with no camera this trip... I have been struggling with using my handphone camera to snap pictures SO QUIT COMMENTING!

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Many in the team are also down with flu & lethargy. Well, we all worked non-stop since we arrived here. We have put up with dust, dirt, noises, mosquitoes & sleepless shifts. We had to endure the on-going renovations. We even sent one staff from the other department back to Sinagapore as he was badly affected by the situation that stirred up from Tuberculosis from years ago. That is HOW BAD the dust really are!
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As for me, I am recovering. No fever.
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Well, we also had ice-cream & moon cake of course for the night. How can I do without moon cakes? Yummy to the thought of it.

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Just when all the talking & eating were going on.. it started to pour. There were thunders rolling from faraway.. BUT the view outside of the apartment was spectacular!

I stepped out onto the balcony, wow.. it was beautiful. Suddenly the city became engulfed in the softness of rain & breeze. What was left standing bright & tall was the Petronas Twin Towers (Suria KLCC). Breathtaking.

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You can't help but to wonder if this rain was called in for us to miss our loved one at homes.

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KL - 24 Sept

For a first-timer at a Service Apartment, I wow-ed at the facilities, setup, design, convenience, as well as the security of the place as compared to the apartment I first stayed in near Times Square. (the apartment which housed many eerie paintings of women, which I emailed to most of you in the beginning).
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I woke up at 6:45am.
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Somerset Service Apartment do serve daily breakfast, though not at par with luxury hotels. But I guessed those whom are actually staying at Somerset are on business trips. Everyone seems to be rushing everyday, that including ourselves.
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I managed to find 15mins to have breakfast at Somerset poolside today. Though the spread was not fantastic, I was contented with my toast, baked beans & sausages with no exception, MY COFFEE! At least, at the very least the coffee was decent. I heard they were serving oriental breakfast on the day my colleague went down to have hers BUT well, mine was a simple western spread. I didn't even see eggs i thought. BUT as I knew I was not in a five-star hotel, I didn't feel any part of it was insufficient.
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Taxi uncle came for me at 8:15am & I zoomed to the office.
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I rushed my work a little & taxi uncle came again at 12pm. I rushed back to the apartment at Times Square to collect the rest of my things & I moved into Somerset Apartment. We figured since most of us staying at Somerset are those helping out at the store at Pavilion, might as well move in & we'll be able to walk to & from Pavilion everyday in case of a traffic jam.
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Since I have moved over to Somerset Service Apartment, I will definitely be making full use of the facilities as well as comfort.

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At 2pm I met a colleague over at KL Plaza for a quick lunch. Again, I ordered for myself Sweet & Sour Fish with Rice. Nice sour tangy sauce to perk me up for the day. I also ordered a mango juice.. hehe. I enjoyed my lunch.
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We had dinner at Ramen Mental again that night so I didn't take any pictures. During dinner, our GM stressed us yet again with Sales Figures! Sigh...
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We went back to the store after dinner & left for Somerset about 11pm.
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4 of us stopped by again at the RELISH bar to have ice-cream. We ordered a single scoop each. Well, guessed we all just wanna chill out abit.
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Went to bed at 2am.

KL - 20 Sept to 23 Sept

The backdating work continues.....
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23 September SUNDAY!
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CONFESSION. I reported sick & could not go to work. I had the privilege to stay in the apartment to rest. With wonderful & caring colleagues, I was sure I would not die! haha. As i was resting half of me was worried about the rest of them slogging out in the stores with daily operations & night-jobs. You can't help but to hope you can be there to lend your support as well. As the heart is willing, the body simply was NOT!
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My wonderful colleague went out to get tuna for us for lunch. She did not have to be in the store as she was in IT dept & she was rushing her share of work from her notebook in the apartment. I remembered my phone rang a couple of times throughout the day BUT i simply could not remember if i had picked them up. She was worried I wouldn't have the appetite to eat & went out to get me chicken porridge for dinner.
SO SWEET OF HER. Thank you SARAH!
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The rest of the colleagues were also caring & nice. They would call me up & asked how I was doing & if I needed to see a doctor etc.. Being away from home & loved ones, gestures like these carry you a long way ahead & simply make your day. Thank you MADDY!
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I surrendered after 3 weeks without rest.
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22 September SATURDAY!

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I was not feeling well. I could not report to work on time. I took a few more hours of rest & only went to the store about 1pm. I stopped by at Starbucks at KL Plaza for my daily dose.

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Met the rest for lunch at the cafe by the atrium in Pavilion where all actions were - like fashion shows!
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I had nice Hot & Sour Sze Chuan Soup & a Chicken Mayo Sandwich. Though the food was ordinary I felt the settings were pretty decent & nice.
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For Dinner, we had a humble "SZE CHAR" in between Imbi & Bukit Bintang. Everything was already tasteless to me at that point.
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I ordered Sliced Fish Hor Fun with Liang Teh.




















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20 September to 21 September
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20th... Today is THE DAY!
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PAVILION & our store was to officially open. We all rose early to meet on site at 8am for final checks & briefing. As all staff are new in this new store, there were alot to follow up. We all did our individual part.
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With all the guiding, rushing, tidying done, it was time for lunch! The Singapore Team was worried & therefore we went to lunch at our very own Cafe within the store.
Our Tuna Melt Sandwich was YUMMY & a must-try. Soft toasted white bread with tuna & lots of mozarella cheese melting on top.. hmmm...
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The LATTE they served deserves compliments. I am never a white coffee person. But their LATTE is really aromatic & nice. MUST TRY! the hot Latte I meant!







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The Singapore Team went out for a short discussion at Haagen Daaz at about 4pm. Hmm.. Ice Cream.. food for the mind! I ordered a single scoop Berries ice Cream with Chocolate & Almond toppings! SINFULLY YUMMY!!!!


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It was my turn to stay in the store for night job today. Watching everyone leaving at 10:30pm while you have to stay behind no matter how tired you are was really tormenting. BUT & HOWEVER, we have to pull through it!
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Out pathetic tummy started 'growling' at about 1am (21 September).... we tried our luck & made a few phone calls as we could not leave the store while there were contractors at work. Lucky US! One colleague came down with these for us!
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The picture which You could see a packet of newspaper-wrapped stuff was my supper for staying for the night job. It was yummy Beef-Hor Fun with Liang Teh (herbal tea). OOOoo, by the way, drinking herbal tea has become a must for everyone here. We tried to stay as healthy as possible but having herbal tea from anywhere & everywhere everyday!














I dozed off intermittently in between. The contractors didn't finish until 7:30am on 21 September By the time they were done, I was half dead - NO KIDDING!
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We figured. Since it was already 8am, might as well we wait for the other team to come in at 9am to brief them.. so my colleague & I dragged our tired little bodies to MacDonald's to grab a coffee & big breakfast at 8am & sat there until 9:30am when the staff started to march in for store opening.
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We stayed on in the store until 1pm (21 Sept).. then we had to be pushed out of the store by fellow colleagues whom were urging us to go back & rest. We reached our apartment at 2pm & slept until 5pm & went back to work. (refer to the post - past few gruelling days)
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After we caught up with 2 hours of sleep we were back in the store at about 5pm. Our nice GM bought us dinner at about 7-ish.

We had nice Dim Sun dinner at Star Hill tonight knowing we were all tired & drained out & also because there was no night-job tonight. Like I mentioned in other posts, Star hill houses wonderful interior decorations, as for the food I would say they were ordinary. We ate heartily at the sight of any food & went back to rest at about 11pm... earliest!

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