Krispy Kreme - The whole story

Here's a sneak peek at the cafe at Times Square in Kuala Lumpur.


This particular cafe allows customers to see the preparation area through a huge window wall.


Some of the mouth-watering flavours including Hershey's Dark Chocolate and New York Cheesecake!


Hershey's Cookies and Cream goes well with Hot Chocolate, especially right before a night bus ride back to Singapore!

Why?

Why is Krispy Kreme not in Singapore yet? It's been around since 1937!! It's in Indonesia. It's in Malaysia. Why bother opening a dozen other doughnut brand companies? For those of you out there who have sampled Krispy Kreme, you know what I'm saying. Nuff said.

Truly Asia

Facade of St John's with the KL Tower in the background.

I got into Kuala Lumpur yesterday and spent the evening there before heading to Petalling Jaya, or as the locals call it, PJ. I'm here to present mainly a documentary that I've worked on the past eight months for the Christian Brothers of de La Salle to the Penang District Council. This project has taken me to several parts of Sabah, Hong Hong, and Ipoh. There's a possibilty I might visit the Malacca community.

Today's presentation was interrupted in the late morning as the head of the council was invited to the grand opening of an annual conference for mission schools at St John's (near the Cathedral of KL). But it was there where I briefly spoke to Archbishop Murphy Pakiam and documented Prime Minister Najib - an old boy of St John's. The hoard of media people were very aggressive as they shoved me aside just when the PM shook hands with the La Salle Brother. ;OS Ahhhhhhhhh! They probably need the shots more than I for tomorrow's front page of The Star and The New Straits Times!


As close as I could get without being hurt!

Strange Beauty

Last Sunday, while painting a wall at church, right around 4pm, I looked up and there it was... an aurora "light show" lasting probably 10 minutes. It couldn't have been the aurora lights because those happen only at or near the magnetic poles. Maybe it's Aurora Equatoris??

Padre Aloy replied and suggested that it could have been a rainbow circling above the clouds where some water vapour might have been interacting with the sunlight. The closest thing I could find on the internet is "Rainbow Clouds". That is what it is for now... for me... until someone sheds more light on this.

The Making of a Martabak (Indonesian style)

Too bad there's no such thing (yet) as teleportation or a scratch 'n sniff over the internet. My client's brother is actually thinking of setting up shop here in Singapore! Will keep you all posted!! Yum! Yum!

Catharina

From left to right: Uncle Boky, Theresa, Aunt Cheng, I and Liza.

This is my Indonesian crew of actors who is in the documentary tribute that I had just completed. They were all simply wonderful to work with and very accommodating. I wished I had more time to spend with them! The documentary is about the life of an 80-year old lady named Catharina who lived through World War II and the Jakarta Race Riots in '98. She lived in Spain, Brazil and the United States before finally settling back in Jakarta.

Salom!

Apa Ini? (What is this?)

Down below in the busy traffic is a taxi pick-up point opposite of Taman Anggrek. The frequency of passengers and the flow of cabs determined the image I took.

Jak food 3

Fried kwe tiaw and Teh botol. What else can I ask for?


Bakso

There was a little more time to saunter the streets of Jakarta this past trip. More time to walk and go deep into the streets to where the locals consider the food good!

I was introduced to bami (beef noodles) and bakso (beef balls). They make really good light meals - allows you uto eat every 3 hours - especially when on a short trip like this! :P What topped off the expeience was the ambience. Dingy coffee shop, very warm noon sun beating down on zinc roof, gas stoves burning, sound of the chopper boards, customers waiting in line, everyone perspiring except the cooks, stall owners and their assistants scrambling behind the scenes to get their piece of art done... No complaints!

Apa Kabar 2

Ah... back from Jakarta with pictures to show. The project I was sent there for went well and had good reviews!


This is the view of from the apartment I stayed in. It's part of this huge mall + apartments called Taman Anggrek or Orchid Garden. This shot was on taken on a Sunday when the traffic isn't as bad as the rest of the week.

So back to the food. I was introduced to even more of the local treats! Will be posting them throughout the week so stay tuned...

Apa Kabar!

Imagine this. It's 11:45pm, way after closing hours in a mall in Jakarta, Indonesia. I stole a chair from an open-concept Starbucks store and am just right outside of the coffee cafe checking emails and posting this blog. :O)

No pictures yet, but let me tell you that the food's great but the traffic's real bad! 60% of my day is spent on the roads... till I post some pictures...

Salam!

Imaginative's Joke of the Day:

Client: Do you do wedding videos?

Alvin: Yes, I do.

(This was an actually conversation that took place today around noon!)

Old Town, Ipoh

Have been attending retreats the past two weekends. I was mostly there to document the events. Last last weekend's at Ipoh for a La Sallian Encounter.


During the lunch breaks, I would hop over to old town which was only a 15 minute walk away for the centre to sample the local delicacies! And no wonder Ipoh's so famous when it comes to food! Noodles so fine, broth so rich in flavour! And the prices so right! ;p The above shop is where the well known Nam Heong White Coffee first started.

The bus ride on Grassland was an 8 hour journey! Didn't expect it to be so long! Thankfully I had the company of Bro. Nicholas. Be expecting more pictures developing in the darkroom.