Entry @ 08.09.2026

Yesterday was the first day I went back to work after the short break, but the students were not there. They were at home since school was temporarily shut due to the haze. But for the teachers, we were to go to school unless the API was 500 points and above. We were to teach the students online from school. My only challenge for that was the internet access. 

My school had internet access. However, the router was located far away from where I sat in the staffroom. So I could not normally use the school wifi from my desk.  So to remedy that, I decided to teach from the classroom which was just above the computer room. I knew I could access the school wifi from there. 

The classroom, of course, was not air-conditioned. And to minimise my exposure to the polluted air, I closed all the windows and doors, and turned on all the fans. There were unfortunately ventilation panels along the walls, so of course the polluted air could still flow in. I was only thankful that the API yesterday was in the 170-180 range - still unhealthy. 

My gear - Macbook, airpods, cold water and a portable fan for a 2-hour class .... 

It took a lot of time to get ready my gear and my books and to set up in the classroom. But the worst was the slow connection. I could not even get into the online classroom at first. Then the students said I was lagging. Sigh. So in the end, I used my own telco line to carry out my lesson. It was more stable and the speed was acceptable. Thankfully, I managed to fill the 2 hours with work. To engage the students, I called their names consistently. I was glad that they were co-operative. 

Today, I did not bother to go the classroom anymore. It was a chore to carry my books and my gear to the classroom block. Plus, today's API was higher in the 220s range, so I did not want to be exposed. And worst of all, the school wifi was not reliable. So I had my online lesson from my desk.

The canteen had limited options too - there was food, one-portion dishes that were cooked when ordered. But the taste was not so yum .... so my colleagues brought their own food to share today. I ate some after my class just now. 

Rice with chicken curry, cabbage, sardine, and sambal 

There was also keropok ikan tahai one of my colleagues bought from Lawas, and biskut jerebu ... heh ... what a name ... 

It was powdery and sweet and artificially-flavoured ... heh ... 

Last Saturday, Mom and I went for breakfast with our immediate neighbour. Mom wanted to eat at 龟蜜Turtle Bee Cafe here ... she had eaten once before with her sisters and liked the food here. At 7.40 am, the place was already packed. The proprietors were Foochows from Sri Aman, so they served authentic Foochow dishes. 

Stirfried Zao Cai Fen Gan, RM10

Zao Cai Fen Gan in soup, RM10 

Tomato Kueh Tiaw, RM10

Mom liked the tomato kueh tiaw. The sauce was indeed flavourful but on the sweeter side. I enjoyed both the Zao Cai noodles, both soup and dry. Oh dear, I'd have difficulty choosing between ordering the wet or the dry version the next time I'm here. All the dishes had a lot of ingredients like meat, fish cakes and veges in it. 

Entry @ 04.09.2026

This holiday, I stayed indoors most of the time since the haze situation was rather serious. There was one day when the index climbed up to 406! Today, it is in the 310-320 range. 

At home, I keep my doors and windows shut. The air-conditioners and fans have to be turned on for circulation. I refrained from eating out as well, unless the eatery was air-conditioned. When needed, I took out food and ate at home. I also avoided the holiday crowd at the malls. So what did I do? I cleaned the house, serviced the cars, watched short dramas, and basically spent time relaxing. 

This morning, L and I visited our former colleague at her new workplace, where she was now the principal. Heh. We spent some time catching up, she brought us around her school for a tour, and then we went for lunch. 

We went to Village Culture Cafe at Pine Square. 

Kopi C

Ginger Scallion Fish Slice 

Fried Chicken with Butter Sauce 

Mixed Veges with Garlic Sauce

The food was all great, and with 2 rice, we paid RM39.80. I thought it was quite reasonably priced. No wonder the place was packed with the lunch crowd. 

After lunch, I picked up my parcel from a convenience store near my house. I'd seen that two shops away, there was a dessert shop called Fuyoh. I had wanted to try the desserts there ... 

Fruity Snow Ice, RM8.90

Well, I liked the milky shaved snow ice, but I did not like the canned fruits they used for this dessert. 

There were so many students inside the shop. They weren't eating or drinking. They were just killing time there. All of them were on their phones or playing games on tablets. I figured there was a tuition class upstairs, and these students probably hanged out there at the dessert shop before or after their classes. 

Tomorrow, we will find out whether school would still be off next week. It would probably be, except for the Fifth and Sixth Formers. Since I am teaching the Sixth Formers,  I would most probably be going back to work physically. It is also what I prefer.

Entry @ 26.08.2026

On Thursday evening, I drove to Ah Tou Seafood for dinner but it was closed since the chef was not feeling well. Too bad since I had so much wanted to eat there. So not knowing where to go next, I ended up at BBQ King which was just down the road. We were rather early and the crowd had not appeared yet. That was good since it meant that we did not have to wait too long. 

Mom and I normally ordered more than we could finish. So it was customary for me to bring containers with me when I dine out, so that I could bring home the leftovers. 

Kokokam, cold vs hot 

Pork skewers, RM2.50 per stick

I ordered this because Mom liked it; the meat was well-grilled and not too hard. As for me, I did not find the marinade for the skewers to be that great. 

Coconut prawn, RM42

There were 6 pieces of prawns in the small serving, the gravy was thick and a tad sweet - it's nice to dip the deep-fried bun in the gravy or to eat with rice. 

Midin belacan, RM20 

The portion was reasonably big; tasted alright 

Oyster pancake, RM35

This was a huge piece of pancake, very crispy so it was like eating savoury crackers; the oyster themselves were coated with batter and deep-fried separately - this is a different take to the dish ....

The next day, on Friday, I did not go to work. School closed due to the highly-polluted air. The API was in the 190s. Since there was an option for us to work from home, I preferred that since I had high speed Internet at home which afforded me a steadier online meeting with my students. From early morning, I tried out some of the features of the Google Classroom. It had been years since I last taught an online class - the last being the Covid-19 days back in 2021. 

So I felt a little nervous about the whole thing. After I decided on the skill to teach, I roughly planned the activities and tested out the platform. Then I went upstairs to my room - I needed a confined space away from distractions so that I could focus on the students only. At 10.35 am, I started the meeting online, and the students came in one by one. And once everyone was in, I started the lesson. Students being students, were all reluctant to turn on their cameras ... so to ensure that everyone was still hidden behind their screens, I resorted to calling their names as often as I could. I must commend them since all of them actually participated and also turned in the work I assigned to them. At 11.45 am, I ended the class punctually. I was glad that my class was co-operative and turned in the work assigned to them. 

After class, I made myself a cup of Omachi instant noodles I bought from Danang .... I wanted to finish up my supply of instant noodles before they expired; I hadn't bought instant noodles for a long time already .... but somehow, there were still some left in my pantry .... 

During the weekend, Fourth Aunt and I went to Matta Fair, at BCCK. I had not been for a long time .... 

We spent sometime there. Fourth Aunt was interested in a Cruise to Guangzhou or a package to Phu Quoc. But finally, we settled for a tour to Chaoshan, China with Good Times Travel. Fourth Aunt has started worrying about the trip .... lol .... she was an avid traveller until she fell down in 2016 and broke her knee. Ever since then, she had not traveled and claimed that she was already out of touch with traveling. She had already wanted to pack her bags .... lol ... the trip would be in December. Heh. 

After Matta Fair, we headed to Ice Moment at TT3 for a dessert. Fourth Aunt and I shared a black sesame dessert .... 

Black Sesame Shaved Ice, RM16.90

And then I rushed to join my friends for dinner at Stutong - a Chinese food stall which was quite popular! Portions were huge here and the prices were reasonable .... 

Bittergourd with egg

The bittergourd was a bit raw and hard, but we finished the dish anyway .... 

Garlic scapes with pork belly 

Fried chicken with dried chilli

Dongbei Chicken Stew 

I had the pork version before at this shop, and I think I prefer the chicken version which I find tastier

Yesterday, I processed a lot of durians .... from my Fifth Aunt's orchard at Pasir Pandak. Apparently, there was no market since there was a lot of supply in town. And so instead of selling the durians, Fifth Aunt just gave them away. I did not go to the orchard but my Mom did. Mom brought back 11 pieces of small durians. Some were good, some were a bit too ripe, but all had to be opened and frozen. We normally kept them in the freezer and ate bit by bit over a period of time. Much as I would like to eat more, I could not because the fruits were very heaty.  

So I try my best to pry open the thorny fruits - luckily many of them were already a bit gapped so it made it easier for me. It did not stop my fingers from getting a bit scrapped though. Mom and I managed to store the fruits in about 5 Tupperwares and froze them in the freezer. Luckily, we have 3 refrigerators at home. 

This morning, I woke up with my throat slightly sore - from the durians! Sigh .... At school, my Malay colleagues surprised us by bringing us Nasi Kak Vogue. It was rice served with fried chicken and curry gravy. There was white rice, mackerel curry with okra, chicken curry gravy with veggies, fried chicken chunks, raw cucumber, sambal belacan and also tempoyak ikan bilis. The tempoyak was nice - with a light hint of durian flavour. 

Nasi Kak Vogue cooked by my colleague

My colleague L said that originally the name was Khao Mok - which was a Thai dish. In Kelantan which was near Thailand, the name was pronounced as Kak Vogue and hence the name. Anyway, I like this homecooked version better than the one sold at a famous shop here in town. :) 

Entry @ 20.08.2028

I find that I get angry and annoyed very often these days. A lot of things can trigger it. And last Sunday, even breakfast angered me. I went to Fu Lok Noodle House at TT3 and ordered a cup of coffee and a kaya toast. 

Coffee, RM4.50 and kaya toast RM4.50

I was shocked because there was just one slice of bread served. One slice, cut into 2 to spread the kaya and butter, and then toasted. I was angry because it looked pathetic. And I paid RM4.50 for that miserable slice of toast. I would never ever order it again, but the worse thin was, it had spoiled my mood on a beautiful Sunday morning. I vowed never to order the toast here again.

Claypot noodles, RM11 

The claypot noodles used to be RM10. Now it was RM11. That's a whopping 10% increase. But at least the noodles were tasty and had a lot of ingredients in it. My mom always enjoyed it, and that was why I always brought her here for the noodles. Just don't order the toast ever again. 

On Monday, my colleague A cooked beef ribs curry and brought some to school .... 

She even brought rice so that we could eat the curry with it ... 

Beef curry and rice

I tried some, and found the homecooked curry to be very good; the meat was so tender that it fell off the bones. The spices were also well-balanced, very tasty indeed. Campur-campur, she said, when we queried about the brand of curry powder she used. Heh ... my colleagues were very generous and loved to share food. 

My colleague A peeling jackfruit or nangka from another colleague L's backyard .... 

The entire staffroom was perfumed with the sweet heady smell of the jackfruit. Luckily most people did not mind the strong smell. 

Fresh and juicy nangka ....

 

On Monday after work, we went back to Cafe Cafe. It was because after our meal the other day, we got a 50% off voucher. So we had to make use of this opportunity. We invited 5 retirees from our school - C, T, M, N and L. It was great fun to catch up with the retirees from time to time. The last makan session was in June, so it had been two months since we met up. 

Some drinks we ordered .... 

Apple juice, RM14.90 & Red Devil, RM18.90 - a concoction of beetroot, apple, carrot and ginger

Pineapple Passion Smoothie, RM19.90

We ordered some food to share. Funnily, the restaurant ran out of chicken, so we could not order anything with chicken ... except satay .... 

Potato Tuna Salad, RM22.90 

Madurese Chicken Satay, RM18.90

Claypot Kueh Tiaw with Beef, RM28.90

Fettuccine Alfredo with Grilled Norwegian Salmon, RM28.90

Thai-style Pineapple Fried Rice, RM28.90

Chao Chai Big Beehoon Soup with Prawns, RM48.90

The food and drinks here were alright. The portions were really huge. But the best thing was that everything was half priced! So we paid only RM20 per pax, and we got to enjoy an expensive drink and a lot of food. Heh .... I skipped dinner that night. 

The next morning, I could not resist eating kolo meehoon .... 

Kolo Meehoon, RM5

I think Mui Chin's kolo meehoon is one of the best in town - the secret ingredient is the chopped dongcai that gave extra umami to the noodles .... 

That day, we had to run 'elections' in school. The event was scheduled nationwide in all Form 6 secondary schools to select student representatives for the Form 6 students' council. This was already the second year for the elections to be held. This year, I think I appreciated the process a bit more, and I could understand how it would serve as a platform for students to understand the democratic processes and leadership development. These students had not voted before although some of them had reached the eligible voting age. 

So we tried to simulate the real voting process by setting up the polling centre, appointing polling clerks amongst the teachers, preparing the ballot papers, a ballot box, and so on. The students were told to show their ICs for verification purposes before they proceeded to check the ballot paper. We also counted the votes on the spot and announced the results straightaway. 

Durian from Fifth Aunt's orchard ... 

When I got home that day, I found out that Fifth Aunt had sent over some durians from her orchard .... I think there were just ordinary durian kampung, but it was yummy regardless ... 

On Wednesday morning, my newly-appointed superior bought us .... 

Taka Buttermilk Cheese Cake 

I think it was my first time eating this cake, and found it to be quite nice. The texture was soft and light, slightly salty and quite fragrant. 

She was so glad that the voting process went ok, and thought she wanted to reward us with cake. Heh. Then another colleague announced that she wanted to bring laksa the next day since both the students from her form class got elected. 'Mak YB', she called herself. Lol .... 

And she really brought laksa today .... 

Laska

Raya cakes from A's freezer ... lol ... 

Fried rice 

Not sure who brought the fried rice ... hmn .... 

Well, today is also my birthday. I don't like to be celebrated, perhaps because I do not like attention. So I did not tell my staffroom about it. If you know, you know. If you don't, I won't tell. So my friends who know about it will send me well-wishes via text messages. I truly thank them for remembering. Mom and I will just got our for a meal tonight. 

As I am typing now, school is officially closed this afternoon with immediate effect, and tomorrow also. Classrooms are moved online due to the haze. Darn. I don't like the hassle of online classes. Moreover, the instruction for us to work from school or work from home is not released yet. I would not want to wfs because there is no internet at school. Anyway, we continue to wait for further instructions ...