Break Free with DiGi @ Ecoba, Damansara Perdana

It's been quite sometime since I last attended a blogger event organised by Nuffnang, partly because of my hectic work schedule as well as the laziness in me. Just 3 days earlier I got to know that my company will be having an event with Nuffnang. So I tried my luck by contacting the marketing guys who were really friendly(well everyone in DiGi is extremely friendly, this include myself of cause) in handling 2 invites to me and my guest. Thanks Mark Darren & Richie Khaw.

Introducing Ecoba, Restaurant & Bistro

Anyway the event is called Break Free With DiGi, an event organised for blogger to introduce DiGi's newly launch Smart Plan which is suppose to free the Internet feature from being stuck in your mobile phone. Held at Ecoba @ Damansara Perdana, one of the most happening chill out place in PJ, the venue seems to be the perfect place for parties as its strategically located within the golden triangle of Petaling Jaya, comes with ample parking space, affordable food and beverages and cosy interior.

The Entrance

Did I just mentioned that the food and beverages were affordable?? Dont get me wrong, all everything for the night is free, what I meant was the menu looks affordable for KL Standard. Nevertheless since DiGi's throwing the party for blogger, there were free flow of F&B served including beers.

Registration Counter

Just like any other event, goody bags were given to every bloggers(nothing much to shout about the freebies though as I've tons of it in my office locker and in my car).

Wrist Bands are given to those above 18 and non-malays.

In order to control the crowd, wrist bands were given to those above 18 and non-malays only so that the waiter know who they should serve those booze.

Goody bags!!!!

There were lots of games throughout the night where attractive prizes were given away. Several units of BlackBerry and Smart Phones were given to the winners courtesy of DiGi. Unfortunately I'm an employees thus I cant try my luck in winning those cool gadgets.

Ecoba's Interior

From my observation, most of those who attended the event were fresh faces and there were lot more Malay Bloggers this time around which is a good thing i guess as it blend well with DiGi's aspiration in gaining market share in the malay segment.

Sad to say, there were any top blogger at the event, probably because there were no arrangement to invite them, besides, RelayKL @ Bukit Jalil, Hennesy Artistry @ Zouk KL, Khalil Fong Timeless Concert @ Genting and several other parties were all happening at the same time.

On the bright side, I've one of the top food blogger with me as my guest for the night, she is non other than Sue Lynn aka BangsarBabe.

Sue Lynn & myself

As usual, Timothy Tiah was at the event as Nuffnang was hired to help co-organise the event. Ever since I knew him more than 2 years back when he started Nuffnang, Tim is known to be a very hands on entrepreneur who doesn't mind getting his hands dirty together with his staffs aka nuffies.

Timothy Tiah

There was a mock giant BlackBerry Bold 9700 on display at the entrance of Ecoba, one where people can step inside to take photos just like what I did:

Myself

I fail as an actor as my facial expression look kinda fake in this photo, was suppose to act miserable behind those iron bars.

Sue Lynn

Her acting skills is worse than mine, guess she is the only person that would smile while being behind those iron bars, or maybe she still dreaming of the Miss Malaysia Pageant.

The best actor of all time have got to be my friend Mr Chan, the owner of SwitchBox, an event company that has been working with DiGi on various events for the past 7 years. Switchbox is co-organising this event with Nuffnang.

Chan with his Oscar Award winning expression.

It was certainly a good initiative by DiGi in trying to blend in the local bloggers scene, will be looking forward for more of such event from DiGi.

3 Days in Advance

Sometime, I really have to salute my friends for being so... so.... so.. informative. About 2 weeks back I was told that Chilis will open its new outlet on the 21st @ Empire Gallery. Over dinner just now, I was messaging Jane and Allie over BlackBerry Messenger and we decided to drop by Chilis since for light drinks at about 10pm.

So right after dinner, I picked both of them from Hartamas and Subang Jaya before heading over to Chilis @ Empire Gallery. To my horror surprise, we saw the following scene:

Taa..daa.. Opening on 26th May 2010.

Now who is that smart alec who told me that its opening on 21st May? Apparently she was with me just now when we see this banner hanging. So we end up at Little Bally Cafe. That's how my weekend just ended.

Uncle Chua's Birthday Bash

Over the weekend, my colleague Uncle Chua throw a birthday party at Zeta Bar @ KL Hilton. With a marketing guy like him being at the driver's seat organising a birthday party, one can be sure that there will be plenty of booze. If my memory did not fail me, I arrived at about a quarter past 10 and the total bill is already RM4K to RM5K plus. Wonder how is the final bill at the end of the day.

Adrian & Keith (not sure what's with the expression though)

Finger Food

As you can see in the picture, there are much variety in term of finger food, probably because Uncle Chua decides to spend most of it on drink cause I've tried better finger food at Zeta Bar. Anyay the sushi with thin slice of salmon was good, I didn't even know there were salmon (for some reason I usually don't take salmon).

The Booze

The drinks you see is just the beginning of the party. We They had several more bottle as the night goes by and we end up having at least 4 friends piss drunk, some of which we have to carry them to the car with a wheel chair. Those who plan to throw a drinking party @ Zeta Bar, don't worry they provide free wheel chair service if you or your friends ever get piss drunk.

DiGi's 5th CEO Farewell

Yesterday DiGi Telecommunication organised a farewell party for its 5th CEO who will be leaving the company. It's my second time attending an event like this one after joining them for close to 3 years, with the first being the farewell for Morten Lundal who left DiGi Telecommunication to join Vodafone.

If you ask me, DiGi is indeed a very fun and unique company to work with, as it provides its employees the flexibility to virtually work from anywhere without a permanent desk. It's HQ is also design to emulate Google's Campus. You may read more in my previous post on D'House.

Oh ya, announcing his departure in a very short and simple email, Johan says that his heart would always remain yellow. This got the organising team to quickly come up with the theme for the party. Everyone was ask to dress in black and sticker with yellow heart were given to everyone. Reason is pretty simply, everyone has to stick the yellow heart sticker on their clothes.

Everyone actually put their work aside to bid farewell to Johan

If you have not been to D'House here you will get a sneak peak of how D'House, DiGi's pride and HQ looks like.

The audience being entertain by a group of employees on stage.

The crowd at level 2, laughing to the Johan's remark.

Johan with his big yellow heart in the centre reacting to the crowds from above.


The inquiry Board.

A group of 4 senior mangement were ask to put on an act as the inquiry board, throwing a list of question on Johan, such as the various thing he likes in DiGi, Malaysia, the people, the things he will miss and lots of crazy questions.

Albern Murthy, Moharmustaqeem Mohammed, Stefan Carlsson, Christian Schutt and Johan


Johan sharing about his plans after leaving DiGi


Johan's 2 lovely boy were also present at the farewell party.


One last photo of DiGi's Management Team and Johan's Family.

For those who have work closely with him over the past 2 year, it will definitely be tough to accept the fact that he is finally leaving, but one have to accept the fact that we are all employees and in the corporate world, people come and go.

Worse Mother's Day, Thanks to Ah Yat Abalone Forum

Almost 2 years after my first visit to Ah Yat Abalone Forum, thank to one of my client, I've been telling my family how good the food was and they have been tempted to try it out ever since. So over the weekend during Mother's Day celebration, I decide to give them a treat, which turn out rather disappointing. Here's why:

The Restaurant @ PJ

First dish was the steam tiger prawn, which everyone feels that it was a tad too salty.

It looks good on the picture though.

Next we had the shark fin soup. This is a real disappointment as its really salty.

The roast pork was just okay, and that probably everyone is very hungry as it took them almost an hour to serve the first 3 dish. Well the restaurant isn't even full house in the first place and its Mother's Day, so I really don't know what is wrong with their service.

Mix Vegetables was the total opposite. It's plain.......

Then we had the signature dish, The Abalone. This one is really salty to the max. If I were to rate it from a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the most salty, I would rate it 12.

The fish wasn't any better as my father complains that the fish isn't fresh. Being brought up in a small fishing village, my dad is very particular when it comes to seafood.

Longevity noodles, or should I call it plain noodle because apart from the soy source, there isn't any other ingredient. Even the maggie goreng that I cook from the instant noodle pack taste much better.

Then we had the longivity peach bun. It's dry and hard, they probably kept it in the cold storage for a long time.

Lastly they serve the read bean soup which was so sweet, they could have kill us with diabetes.

My parents normally don't complain about food, especially when they don't have to pay anything for it. But this time, they just cant keep it to them self.

Guess how much the bill turn out to be?

It's a whooping RM600++ for a 9 course meal that taste worse than my regular mamak store. And they have the worse service I've experience till date. I don't care if you are short of staff, if you are charging me that kind of money for a 5 person meal, make sure you maintain a certain standard in term of the food preparation as well as service.

This would be my first and last time paying for a meal at Ah Yat Abalone Forum. If the owner is reading this, or if you happen to know the owner. Please inform him/her that their restaurant has just ruin my family's mother.

Free Japanese Dinner from Genting

I'm not a regular gambler, in fact I don't event gamble during Chinese New Year when all my family and relatives are busy gambling away. However something struck my last week and I ended up in Genting Highland with 2 of my good friends.

It all started with a budget of RM300, I played Russian Roulette in which I initially double up my capital before losing it all 2 hours later.

Not satisfied with the end result and armed with strong determination to take back what I've lost, I took another RM200 from my wallet and ended up winning a total of RM700.

Look at my winning. RM500 chip, woohoO

Well the winning may not be big but the satisfaction I got from it was priceless. Called 2 of my other good friends right after that and we went for a nice Japanese dinner @ Hartamas.