Lunch 28 Sept 2008

Since i do not need to go to the yard yesterday, i basically rot in the hotel whole day. Only to go out for lunch and dinner. For lunch i went to Capri again. The staff already recognised me n ask if i wan the expensive beer i had yesterday. I straight away say no coz i was thinking of eating something expensive. lol Dun wanna later spend over 100 for a meal. lol But end up i drank hoegarden which is also one of the expensive stuffs... lol

So in the end i ordered, hoegarden, chicken salad, and agio olio pasta.

I saw my client ate this before so i was pretty sure it would be good. The was generous number of chicken and the greens were good. But i prefer the jook's one coz they serve rockett and the seafood were much better.

For mains, i had Agio Olio which is a basic pasta . This one i feel really test a chef whether is they know how to cook good pasta. I remember i was watching a cooking show, one guy went to italy to learn pasta cooking. and i remember specifically the famous chef says a good Agio Olio is preduced with good control of fire over the olive oil. Overheat will burn the oil n spoils the taste. But this one i think its undercook. Coz the olive oil fragrance is not totally out. There is also a unique mint fragrance which reminds me of the mint leaves from the beef noodles in vietnam. But the noodles is pretty nice. Maybe salty ba, lol i like...

Next for dinner i went to Jook's again. Kinda like the place, bascially i like the ambience some more without mosquitos flying around... But actually today i experience a few bugs flying around too. Think my fav restuarant is the Capri restuarant ba. Lesser flys some more they hav a powerful bug killer at one corner. lol.

Oh yesterday also managed to catch half of the F1 race on expn sports channel in the restuarant. But i didnt see till the end. Initially Massa was doint quite well one. But the freak accident in the pit caused him his victory. Then i was thnking maybe Luis Ham or Raikonnen will make it. Only till the morning then i ralised Alonso was first. He was in the 15th position during start leh. Thats something surprising. Anyway i also dun understand the concept of the safety car. How come the car come out, everybody have to follow behind it? not fare loh. Those good engine car will lose out on it loh. Anyway i am not a fan of such event. I always think to spend so much jus to be there to deafen urself and to catch a glimpse of the cars is pretty wasted of money. I prefer to spend it on something useful or even on a special meal, with some nice photos of it so that i can enjoy it always. ;)

Anyway back to my dinner, I tried the ribeye steak this time.

Well i guess the pic doesnt show anything since the night shot is shit... Then again, the day shot also shit. lol. So i had this Ribeye steak. Supposely to be with red wine sauce, but they came with black pepper sauce. With i dun mind, but i jus had it with the lamb the other day so i was more interested to try another flavour. This time i order medium too, i felt it more like medium rare to me. Though it is dark, i can see that there is much pinkish in the meat and a normal steak knife cannot cut it easily... Overall, i dun think i like the steak. The lamb is much better. :)

Well, they serve very nice mushroom soup though. Wait, not the soup, but the garlic bread. Its supre nice. Soft yet crunchy on the outside. With slight garlic fragrance, not too heavy. The soup is creamy n tasty but i would prefer a bigger chunks of mushroom ba. Those tiny "bitsy" really make me wonder if they are mushroom. Not those bron ones on top hor, those are the bread crutons.

Ok then, time to go for my dinner le. Back to the Capri rest. Gonna be my fav rest here. Yeah!!!
EAT EAT EAT

Lunch today!

Went to the yard early morning today to check the seafastenings. Turn out they are done but the tug have not finish their bunkering! They anticipate to finish late tonight, so most probably they will sail the barge at midnight - 2am when the tide is high. Sianz...

Stupid Client, make us come so early to "chor bo", waste our time. So in order to punish them, i decided to eat a lot. lol. So far my meals are at least rm$50. Everyday eat western. Anyway there is nothing much to do here loh. So i eat n eat n eat loh. :P

For lunch today, i return to Jook's for lunch. After a dissappointing steak yesterday, i decide to try the seafood. For starters, i had seafood salad. Which is quite nice. With generous amount of prawns and cuttlefish. Some more they serve rockett with thousand island, my fav!


Please pardon the pic, coz the i780 really lousy. But the presentation not bad hor? :)

This s the fish n chip that i ordered. Funny thing is they served in a bag initially. I think they roast it after frying to make it crispy ba.
Not that bad. they dun use the stale dory fish singapore use most of the time. Since its a beach resort, i expect there is quite fresh fishes around. And this one is not that fishy. The crust is dry and crispy, so as the fries. Should check the method next time. :)

Lunch and Dinner

Well, for a start, I am in Lumut now. In the state of Perak, Malaysia. Took a plane on friday morning, 8am flight to penang before i took another 3hrs cab ride to this place.
Lumut is a small town where mostly people come here to go to Pangkok island to relax. I guess its more or less like sentosa in singapore but with the activities of Langkawi ba. (Personally, my last Langkawi trip was beach, sand, sleep, eat place, no offence if u had a more enjoyable trip there.) The thing is, there is only one street with shops. Yes ONE... left and right the streets is convenience shops, and lotsa shops selling its local delicacies. Which i assume is seafood. But those drieds ones. Like dried ikan billies, salted fish, dried fish, satay fish etc... Nothing interests me. They also have a 7-11 and luckily KFC. lol.

Oh beside these, they also have three nice restuarant. They rest is those malay kopi tiams, and i nvr been inside so i got no comments on those. The name is Capri (serves italian n western stuffs), Jooks (Western) and Rockafellas (Western). Yesterday i had lunch at Capri with my client. Which i had a carbonara n Henekien there. The Carbo is the dry n eggy type. The taste is alright. That night, which is yesterday night la. *Machiam very long ago like tat* I went Jooks for dinner. Was walking around to find Rockfellas coz friend says it better. Walked to the end of the street and still cannot find, so i might as well go to Jooks loh. Oh, did i mention before coming out for dinner, which is around 7, i had a plate of nasi goreng and watermelon juice. I order the nasi goreng thinking that i will be having mee goreng. lol Weel, the nasi goreng came with three chicken satays which is tasteless, but the fried rice was ok ba.

Back to my dinner, i had lamb rack there with two beers. lol Been drinking alot, like expats. lol. Anyway, the lamb was nice. the ambience was ok, though it was pretty dark. Ordered medium well and it came pretty close to it. its supposed to be cooked over charcoal, which explains the wait too. Didnt take photos coz i trying to be discreet doing it, and i didnt bring my N95 so have to make do with my I780...

Morning breakfast was lousy, LOUSY... They have "sticky" nasi lemak, which i wondered where is the lemak?!? the cordiments were hard, n tasteless. There is fried kway teow which i feels taste better. But the best food there is actually... the cornflakes... At least it is not those "lao hong" type. lol

Lunch was much more enjoyable. Had steak n onion soup at Capri. See picture below.


The onion soup was quite lousy. Some more they toasted a bread with chees but put it inside the soup, making it soggy. Lotsa oinons, but no onion taste. Then again, how does onion taste like?


The steak is much better. Though i asked for medium, they serve more to the medium well side. But the taste is not tat bad. Thre presentation is also not tat bad too. Though i find the meat a bit small... lol End up i went to get KFC before i return to the hotel n rest.

Dinner i went to Rockfellas, expecting quite a crowd since its sat evening. At 1830, i was the very first person in the restuarant. Some more the rest is located at one ulu corner of the streets, which explains y i couldnt find it initially. As the interiot looks dark, like any other bars, so i took the seats near the outside. Which was soooo wrong... I start to see flies flying around n disturbing me. After ordering, i already got a few bites on my forehead and legs. Thinking that it would be quite weird to shift seats to inside, so i tried to act ignorant to the bites. Untill the soup came. (see below) I actually ordered a tom yam soup and its house special, rocka beef steak. and a bottle of heni again. lol

The tom yam soup was alright, pretty sour and spicy. Not that bad for a local restuarant.

After couldnt enduring all the bites, i made an excuse that i wanna get a better view of the tv inside. n the beef steak was served. The white stuff u see on top of the beef is actually chicken bits. Over here, the steak is more then medium well. *I ordered medium as usual* After i was about half way thru, i was gushing my food down my throat. Coz i cant stand the bites anymore... and want to get the hell out of the place, asap. So u can say i totally dun enjoy the steak. It is also the most expensive of the lot. Definately not coming back, Next Jooks, steak for lunch and maybe pizza for dinner at Capri. :)

Oh did i say y i eating all these stuffs? Coz my client pay. lol so jus eat my fill loh. Although i dun know if they will pay for my beers, if not i jus pay myself loh. :P

Names of the Peranakan food

Josh pointed to me the names of the food i posted the other time.

The pork rib one is - Babi Sio (The one i dun like :P, and its coriander not tamarind)
The other pork one - Babi Ponteh (The one i says i like. Sweet sweet one)
The chicken one called - Ayam Buah Keluak and the black nut belong to this dish. Not the pork one. lol

Oh beside that we also ate their desserts,

here is the pic!

We had the Pulau Hitam, Chendol and the Caramel sago.

Although i am not lover of Pulau Hitam but when ever i eat one, i will get quite hook to it. Even the NS pulau hitam i also like! lol

The chendol was a bit too sweet as usual for all chendol and the caramel sago was good but i dun fancy the sagos so... not so bad loh

More updates coming up. :)

Vivo food continue

Continue the previous posts,


This is the last one. Pork ribs with taminrand, I guess the spelling is wrong. Anyway, i totally dun like this dish. The sauce is very "sandy" due to the taminrand. The taste is also very unique. Not salty nor sweet. The taminrand gives a very "spicey" taste.

Defintaly not going to order the next time. Lol

This is the black nut, i think from the pork dish. This make the dish special. According to sean, the seed of the nut is digged out and grinded to powered form. After cooking and giving out its flavour, then it is packed into the nut again n served. Dun like it too, but the pork is nice. :)

Peranakan Food at VIVO

Went out with Sean and we chance upon this restuarant which looks interesting. Sean, being a "Baba", lol, wanted to tried it. So we ordered a few dishes with the help of sean, He bascially picked out a few famous "baba" dishes .


This restuarant is called NYONYA & BABA peranakan Cuisines. Jus opp HSBC bank in vivo.

Actually i dun remember then name of the food liao. But this first dish was very refreshing and zesty. The limey taste makes the dish very appetising. Although i am not a fan of limey stuffs but when its, salty stuffs, i think it really makes the dish tasty.

Next we had the "Chap Chai" - Mixed vegetables. The common type, i guessed most people know how to cook it. U do not need to be Noya to cook them, even josh knows how to cook. lol. But it was nice, the vegs were very "rotten", lol, meaning very soft la... a slight sweetness in it to makes it better.

Next came the pork in sweet sauce. Jus realised that they all look brownish. But this one is nice too. Forgot the name as usual but as far as i remember, its quite a unique baba dish. All i remember is that its sweet n we cleared the dish, even the sauces. lol

oh there is actually another two pics

stay tuned!

Back dates :)

Sorry guys that my previous posts were all words, Coa the network on the barge is shit. Those post took me almost 2-3hrs to post u know. lol

Anyway, something tat i wrote the day before:

13th Sept 2008
------------------------------
By the time u all read this, most prob I would be on shore at Vung Tau or better still, back at home le. Hurray!

All this gruesome days offshore have finally came to an end. Actually, I shouldn't really say gruesome. Coz I perpetually was having a holiday. We came off from standby to weather down to mechanical down. All in all for about 7 days. So all these days, apart from the daily meetings and other impromptu meetings that I need to sit in to give comments, I was bascially playing games, surfing the net and... Eating. Lol.

By tml morning, we should have reach Vung Tau already. Due to a problem with our main working crane, we have to go shore to repair it. For me, who had planned a heli ride out on the 15th, it is good news. Most prob I will leave the barge on sun morning to Ho Chi Min to get a plane back home. Provided there is a tic out. *fingers cross*

Finally, I can live civilized again. Working offshore for 20 days is quite boring. Then again, I remember I had previous experiences working out of civilisation. :) it is but, chicken feet to the previous time. What ever it is, it is always good to be home...

14th Sept 2008 (That is jus before i got into this hotel. A gruesome ride from Vung Tau to Ho Chi Minh City.... 3hrs...)
------------------------------------
Finally on my way back home. Currently on a car with three other Vietnamese stranger, sending me to my hotel in Ho Chi Min. I wonder why do they need three to send me. I dun think it is necessary to change driver, or is it for "lookout" so that the 1st driver wont get into trouble. Then again, the other two is asleep now. Der... Then I wonder again if I am in the wrong car... T_T.

This driver drives like a gangster man... The good think is, I would be able to reach my hotel sooner then expected, which is about 3 hrs... (another 2.5hrs to go), but then will I survive the ride... Best of all, the traffic Vietnam is terrible. They dun have traffic lights at all junctions. And there is an awful amount of round about which are potential hazards to me. Besides that, more then half of the vehicles on the road are motorcyclist, abliet the occasional cow I see on the road. The funny thing is, this perticular driver likes to signals and high beam on the vehicles in front who are too slow. Der... Its 4pm here with a bright sun due west of us, and I seriously think the driver infront cannot see the beam. Further more, he like to high beam at lorries and trucks too. I wonder if those vehicles got rear mirrow or not. :)

Anyway, I am getting drowsy now, oh shit... One truck almost smashed to my side of the car... Maybe I should put on seat belts...

Rising waves...

Weather getting choppy these days.

Wat i can see outside, is this SMIT BELAIT (our AHT for the moment) pitching up n down beside us. The pitching is at least 2m as i can see from the bow. Real rough weather here. Luckily on this barge its relatively steady. We can only feel slight rolls and sways. But this is definately not good for my job. Currently we are on standby coz there is another vsl working on our job site. But i guessed this weather is also causing their work to slow down and at the same time creating more "down time" for us...

On the other hand, more "down time" is not tat bad. Coz i guessed i can complete my game or warcraft 3 again! lol Some more "Bao Chi Bao Zhu". Can save lotsa $$$ *_*

Anyway, i did my survey on SMIT BELAIT yesterday. Luckily the weather was good then. But the thing is there might be a change in that AHT again... Yes again, coz initially i am suppose to survey another vessel "BRITOIL 29" one. But luckily i delayed one day to do the survey and the vessel jus sailed off the next day. lol.

So far i dun think i will be returning home any time soon. Guessed i will need another week or so before i get a chance to get off this ship.

Sad that i didnt get any chance to celebrate CF's Bdae. Oh its still not too late. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CF!

Suppose to organise a dinner gathering for her with the gang one but guessed everyone was busy n the dinner was cancelled. But i am very sure we will have a good dinner together when i return! :)

Aiyah... getting very blur here with all the sways and rolls...

Maybe blog again another time...

Ciao

Ship hopping, DSV

Currently on board another vessel, it's a DSV (Diving Support Vessel), "EMERALD SEA", an Ulstien 756, DP2 vessel.

This is the vessel that caused my delay flight back to SGP. Because of some poor planning, we have to shift away from our current position and make way for them to do their work. I presume at the coz to them. lol.

Also because of that i have to hop over to survey their work so that my client's chains are undisturbed in the seabed.

It was mid-day yesterday while i was having my lunch, my client told me this and i have to packed my bag n be here a day or two to do this job. It was is such a rush that i have to rush down my food and pack up to go. Only to reach this vessel and found out that there have not been any firm grounds onwat they are gonna do n hence we were send back... It was right before dinner that my client popped by my office and told me, i am activated again... WTF... Thats y i am back here one this vessel.

There is quite a bit of communication breakdown offshore that the insturction that we recieved from this vessel is not the same as the ones recieved from my client. Hence, there were the dilly dally herer n there and end up we completed the job at 5am this morning.

Now i dun know whether i have to stay here longer or not... I do not have a full set of sleeping gears and i am walking around with my socks, coz i nvr excepted it to be so long...

On the other side, the ship is better build over here. The accomodation block was newly erected, hence most of the stuffs, like bed n table and such, are newer. the food is also great! The mess is more elaborated and with more "ang mo" stuffs. Maybe coz there are lotsa "ang mos" on board. Food wised i can only comment about last night supper that i had, which is... great! Selfservice style, means u get wat u wan. There was breaded chicken breast, stew beef and PIG TROTTERS!!! Wah... its almost like local stuffs, only that they already took away the bones and there is only meat n fats. lol Nice stuff, maybe i will check if the lunch is as good. :P

So far for now, i most prob will stay here for at least another meal.

Cheers!

Details on SMIT BORNEO

Well, while i wait for my company network server to connect, (Which takes about 1-2 mins for every actions tat i did), i shall write more about my "tour" here.

First of all, it is quite a good barge to stay in. Though the look of it on the out side is pretty messy, on the inside, which is the accomodation block, its pretty cosy.

Lucky for me, there is an unused offical, big enough for me and my friend, Mr Praset from ABS, to work in. Though most of the time we are outside surveying or on the bridge checking the ROV tv. (ROV-Remote operating vehicle). The bridge is pretty big, good enought to house at least 10 people walking around at one time. Airconditioned and have a great view of wat is going on outside. And best of all, there is internet connection here. Hence, we spend most of our time there. If not we will have to go to the receation room where there is internet access too but usually lotsa people will be here. The receation room also have a TV room, like a small theatre with 16sofa seats but the think is, the TV is a 29" flat screen... so small...

Anyway, my room is sufficiently spaced. Enough for WF to walk thru without his belly touching the bed or wardrobe. lol. There are two double decked beds, facing back to back. and jus opp it is four small wardrobe. Even smaller then our BMTC ones.

The galley is a huge place, there are two dining areas. Dun know if it seperated for people of different status on board. But i usually dine with my client and his client and the ABS surveyor, and usually i see the riggers or staffs dining at both areas, so nothing special ba.

Food wise, as i have mentioned before, is a very good spread of local n western food. Food like curry chicken, huge bbq pork ribs, beef with veges, fish fillet. We even have spaggatti today! Whereas breakfast there is the usual bacon, sausages, pancakes, and beehoon n mee. Hey, think i hav already mentioned them before. :)

Thats about it.

Work wise, i am only involved in the installation of the piles, and my clients equipments n materials. Currently we are piling 9legs into the seabed and they will all be used to hook up to a vessel which stores the oil and gas drilled from uder the seabed. I will only be involved in the first set of piling which is the first three legs. So far we hav successfully piled the three legs and are laying the chains. We had lotsa prob with the ROV as we depends a lot on it and they tends to breakdown every two, three days. So work was dragged a bit. Some more there will be another installation which will occupy our work area and we will have to make way for them which means standby time for us. Some more our AHT (Anchor Handling Tug) had a winch failure and there will be another AHT deployed from Batam to here which takes another 3days. For this new AHT, i will need to conduct a suitability survey before we can use them.

I think most prob i will be able to return home after that. But i still have to return for the hook-up and the installations of the risers, which is two huge hoses.

Hopefully no hick-ups till then!

Got to go home and eat buffet with my friend, have lotsa drinks, go arcade with the gang n to play marjong!!! lol