Recordings of Life: November 2007

First-Timer Guinea Pig

Last year, I got to know of this money making 'scheme' that involves no hard work, nothing illegal and might even be fun.

How's this for making money, all you have to do is stay overnight at a certain place, eat, sleep and let some docs check up on you from time to time. The whole remaining time you are allowed to spend as you like, online-ing, reading magazines, PS2 game console available, mahjong sets for you and your friends, all that and they PAY you, around RM300 for 48 hours!

This certain place is no other than a hospital teehee.

Basically, your work is to become a guinea pig. You have to take some pills, sleep there and have your blood drawn from time to time. Pills in question are safe to be consumed. The whole objective of this BE (Bio-equivalent) study is to assist in the research of generic pharmaceutical cures.

I received a call from Info Kinetics to undergo a study for Ketoconazole, a drug to treat fungal infections. I decided to give this a try, as I would not mind earning some cash.

I checked into Pantai Hospital close to 9pm. Once there, the research staff took my BP, weight etc and showed me to my room for the night. It's kinda small, 3 beds in a room. That night, I couldn't sleep at all, pillow was too hard, bed was too stiff.

In the middle of the night, one of the girls who I am sharing the room with suddenly woke with a start and started shrieking,"Mak! Tak pakai baju!" -__-

As I couldn't really sleep, I was up even before the morning call is sounded. Get this: at 4:45am. Weirdly I did not feel that sleepy, just tired with a buggy crick in my neck. Showered, luckily hospital has warm water and dressed. While I was combing my hair beside my bed, another one of the guinea pig, she's called DIYANA and she has curly unmanageable hair with weird skin, wanted to borrow my comb!!!!!

T__T

Generally, I don't really like sharing personal belongings, what more with strangers. Then she had this pimply face sumore.... I was pretty pai seh to not agree to lend her my comb, so I just said ok, and stuff the comb back into my duffel bag, with the handle just slightly peeking out, hoping that she won't be able to see it and if she asks me, then I could innocently say, oh it was there what, you din see meh?

BUT NO!!!!! She bloody took it! *grumble grumble grumble* And the horror doesn't end there! Later, as we were having tubes inserted into our arms, Diyana was right beside me, and I could hear the docs telling the nurses (about Diyana) that she has bad skin, flaky skin on her arms!!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

Making a mental note to dump the comb, a sudden too-late-idea came to me, shoulda told her I had dandruff myself! Hmmph.

Tube poking through skin:

You will have to have the thing in your arm for the whole day~12 hours. It's kinda uncomfortable, but you get used to it.

Then here comes the dramatic moment:

As I mentioned, I did not get enough sleep the night before. The same could not be said for the night before last night. I slept too much then, and throughout the whole of yesterday.

In short, I was feeling lethargic, lack of sleep and hunger pangs (we were supposed to fast from 10pm night till 11 morning).

After the tube was inserted, I grabbed a magazine and plonked onto a chair and started browsing. Slowly, I felt my heartbeat grew faster and faster. Then, I was feeling particularly nauseous and a sudden urge to vomit. I took a few deep breaths, telling myself to calm down. But it got worse, and then I can only see darkness, although I am still very much aware that my eyes are open. I feebly life an arm and called for a staff passing by, and later I can feel a number of hands bringing me to the ward bed.

Sigh. I call this bo su chui su.

The doctor said it could have been me feeling nervous and as I wasn't feeling good, they called me off the study. And then there I was, lying on the bed, this time REALLY sick.

Since I was called off the study, this very nice doctor, Kenneth was his name brought me oat and biscuits (yay!). After being hungry for so long, this was most delicious.

My breakfast in bed T_T

Pretty much slept the whole morning and lunch was surprisingly good:

Bread for the female!!!

Lol, kidding, that was just a piece of the whole lunch. We had:

Fish in bean sauce, stir-fried broccoli and cauliflower, cabbage soup and green apple!

Hmm... so much for being a professional guinea-pig...

Palace d'India

Mom's idea to try this place out. Had to walk a LONG way. Weird enough, there was only about 3 tables occupied during that day, Sunday. They probably get a larger crowd at night? Anyway I think it's probably due to their location. The restaurant is somewhere at the end of the mall, at one of the less-frequented sections.

There are only 3 of Palace d'India in Malaysia. One in KL, and 2 more in Penang (Tanjung Tokong and Queensbay Mall).

In isolation

The decor there is kinda cute although certain areas seem to be empty; and they sell clothes too at the entrance. I suppose some other means to earn profit is needed as not many people frequent the restaurant. Mom said that the decor in the Tanjung Tokong branch is much much nicer and elaborate. Haven't been there myself, I can't comment.

My Mango Lassi

The darned Mango Lassi costs RM7 per glass! All three of us had a glass, meaning drinks alone already cost RM21! However, prices for other dishes are not that expensive, just the drinks, but they are certainly very good and sweet.

Appetisers up first, served:

Pappadam with Mint Sauce

Then the rest, we ordered:

Tandoori Chicken

Veggie Makhanwala

Andra Fish Curry

The waiter told us that the fish curry is one of the spicy dishes, but I was disappointed! However, the curry is so omglicious, thick gravy and all, with a burst of exotic spices. Oh... I ate with my fingers... highly satisfying =)

Yeah, baby

Don't be deceived by the small bowls of rice. They look like they are only enough for 1, but that darned thing can actually fit in rice enough for two! Two bowls there stuffed me dad, me mom and me.

Now you see them, now you don't

Dad entered himself in a Sudoku competition by MSIG, supposedly the second largest insurance company in Malaysia. He's really quite good at the puzzles and taught me a number of tricks to solve them too. Anyway, mom and I had confidence that dad could walk away with something.

Alas! Dad seems to be pretty nervous about the whole thing and was able to complete the puzzle in 10 minutes. There were 2 batches in his category, with dad in the 2nd one and none in his batch seems to be able to complete the puzzle too. Apparently, the puzzle is too hard for them too hehehhe, but there were about six in the first batch who were able to complete the puzzle. Naturally, the puzzles for the two batches were different, to avoid leakage. So, it is very much possible that the first puzzle was slightly easier than the first batch.

Oh well, at least I had fun shopping around while waiting for dad's turn at the puzzle! Bought a pair of shoes with polka dots.

Dragon-i

Wow, yeah, Grandma has multiple birthdays. But this time we were treated by Sien Ee from Kulim. Mom suggested bringing Grandma over to Dragon-i Restaurant, Queensbay Mall since Grandma has never tried the stuff here before. The restaurant serves oriental cuisines, and has fabulous Chinese-y interior design, complete with terracotta warriors!

Some of their specialties would be xiao long pao and this belly pork thingie with pau. The restaurant has this open concept kitchen where you can see the chefs at work, making the la mian (noodles) and also the famed xiao long pao.

Getting into the restaurant itself also normally requires a long wait. There is almost always a long queue outside the restaurant, to the point that they have to come up with this numbering system like those available in banks and post offices to know that your table is ready. Luckily for us, there wasn't a queue at the time (was already around 4pm) and the staff got us a table immediately.

Mom and Tua Ee again

Some people just never figure out how to get their picture taken properly

See the lanterns up there? I think they're really cute. Must have them in my future house.

Grandma again!

My drink: Winter melon with sea coconut and red dates. Tastes so-so

I've forgotten what this dish is called, but it's one of my favourites. It's la mian with minced meat, simple but tastes good.

I have also forgotten what this dish is called. It kinda tastes like claypot rice, but I believe they steamed the dish. Has rice, meat, Chinese sausages, shiitake mushrooms and kailan vegetables.

Ha! this is spicy la mian, also one of my favourites. The spicy soup is not exactly that spicy and it does not taste like what it looks (am I being confusing?), it's kinda like what you get with kimchi, but I think this tastes better. Also served with minced meat.

Xiao long Bao

This is also another of my favourites!! To eat this, you have to bite off the top of the bao and suck the soup inside. Eating the whole thing without doing so will result in the bao skin being tearing off with the soup sprinkling all over your front.

Deep Fried Red Bean Pancake

If there is something that I have to complain about this restaurant, it will be this: they actually served our dessert with the main courses, instead of after. It kinda makes you feel like they are quickly serving everything to your table, so you will quickly gobble on everything and quickly pay them and quickly get outta there.