Eat in Kuala Lumpur: Sek Yuen Restoran, Jalan Pudu

View Larger Map

Sek Yuen Restoran

315 Jalan Pudu, 

55100 Kuala Lumpur, 

Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ‎ 

Phone:+60 3-9222 0903 ‎

It supposed to be a marathon trip but became a makan trip. The Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur Marathon got postponed to 29 Sep 2013 because of potential haze hazard. Fortunately, the haze was gone by the time we were there and unfortunately the air was cleared and good for the marathon.

This eating place was suggested by one of the running friend and we decided to head out there or dinner.

This place is famous and searching the name on the web will show you many bloggers blogged about it:

http://www.bangsarbabe.com/2012/02/sek-yuen-restoran-in-jalan-pudu.html

http://www.vkeong.com/2011/04/sek-yuen-restaurant-revisit-jalan-pudu-kl/

http://cher-ry.blogspot.sg/2012/06/sek-yuen-restaurant-jalan-pudu.html

http://www.ivyaiwei.com/2013/02/sek-yuen-pudu-kl/

http://babeinthecitykl.blogspot.sg/2012/01/review-reunion-lunch-at-sek-yuen.html

 Very conveniently located, it was just a few steps away from Pudu LRT station. Turned left after exiting the gate and you will be on Jalan Sarawak which is the back lanes of the shop houses. Head left and walk a few steps, you will see firewood piles up by the wall. Head out the lanes beside the firewood and there you are at the restaurant.

To the left is the old non-aircon restaurant and on the right is the air-con restaurant. We decided the old fashioned non aircon place.

If you do not know cantonese, better go to the blogs above and try to save the photo of the dishes you want to order and show them to the staff there because the staff only speaks cantonese and some a little bit of basic chinese.

We went there at 5.30pm and the restaurant is very quiet and empty and so we will have full attention by the staff. The place was quickly filled up at 6.30pm.

Pot of hot tea. Nice of them to serve with a pot of ice for those we want the tea to cool down faster:

The restaurant is empty and the staff are still relaxing before the crowd comes in:

Only one other table is occupied. Love the old traditional setting:

The famous "pi pa duck" which even one of the eating mate who do not eat duck love it. 

The lettuce is used for wrapping the stired fried shark fin, crab meat with egg called "kwai fa chi":

This is how you eat "kwai fa chi":

Cannot remember what is this called but is a cold dish. Steam White chicken with jelly fish and wasabi. Very unique dish, The chicken meat is tender and smooth and the wasabi taste matches well.

We also ordered a place of vegetable and prawns. Prawns are OK:

At 6.30pm, the restaurant is fully filled!

Total Bill came up to be only RM$166 for 6 Pax

Peppermint OS Four: How to install in a pre-installed Windows 8 Laptop without losing your Windows 8

Peppermint OS 4 is the OS I going to install on my Windows 8 laptop but I do not want to lose my Windows which is pre-installed with my Laptop.
Microsoft enabled UEFI bootup for Windows 8 and this has caused problems for most Linux user who want to dual boot their Linux with Windows . After several months, the Linux community has found the solution to this. Most of the major distros especially Ubuntu has enabled their installation to support UEFI but additional step to do boot-repair may still be needed depending on the hardware.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI

As for me, I tried installing Peppermint OS 4 in UEFI mode and did boot-repair but did not get the dual boot I wanted. After trial and error, I managed to go to the BIOS and switch the boot mode to Legacy, install my peppermint OS 4 and able to bootup in Peppermint OS 4. After installing Peppermint OS 4, I went back to BIOS and switch the boot mode back to UFI, I will be booting up in my Windows 8. So although I am unable to get dual boot working for Windows 8 and Peppermint OS 4, I am able switch between my Windows 8 and Peppermint OS 4 by switching the boot mode in my BIOS.

Here is what I did to install my Peppermint OS 4:
1. Get Peppermint OS Four from http://peppermintos.com/
2. Create a LiveUSB of the Peppermint OS 4. I did my using a 1GB USB thumbdrive. Refer http://peppermintos.com/guide/downloading/  (using UNetbootin) or to http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows (using PenDriveLinux)
3. Go to BIOS and switch the boot mode to Legacy.
4. Go to BIOS and make sure "boot from USB" is the first priority in the boot sequence.
5. Reboot using your LiveUSB and load into Peppermint OS 4 by selecting  “Try Peppermint OS Live”
6. You will get into the Peppermint OS 4 desktop. Double clicking the “Install Peppermint” icon on the desktop.

The rest of the installation can be found at this very good review of Peppermint OS 4: http://mylinuxexplore.blogspot.sg/2013/06/peppermint-os-four-review-linux-mint-of.html

After I got my Peppermint OS 4 installed, the first thing I did is to go to system tools> software updates to get my software updated.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I do encounter issues and they are as follows:
1) No Sound output - There is no sound output from laptop in-built speaker. The solution is here:
    http://peppermintos.net/viewtopic.php?p=31476#p31476
 
    Create a new file called .asoundrc and add the following in the file:

   pcm.!default {
   type hw
   card 1
   }
   ctl.!default {
   type hw   card 1
   }


2) No display output to TV thru HDMI - After plugging in HDMI, there is no output to HDMI. Display output need to be control under Preferences> Monitor

3) No Sound output to TV thru HDMI - HDMI audio output for Radeon is disabled by default for Linux Kernel 3.8. Read http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTM1MTM.
   To enable it, do the followings:
   a)  sudo edit etc/default/grub

   b) Then change the line:
           GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
       to
           GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="radeon.audio=1"

     c) sudo update-grub

   d) Reboot
    e) Use Pulse Audio Control to control the sound output

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I went ahead to install other softwares;
1) Pulse Audio - Install pulseaudio for better sound control (especially for HDMI sound output to work):   http://peppermintos.net/viewtopic.php?p=36921#p36921

   sudo apt-get install pulseaudio   
   sudo apt-get install pulseaudio-utils pavucontrol



2) VIM - simple but powerful text file writer (Software manager)
3) Cairo-dock - Desktop dock customization (Software manager)
4) Conky -  lightweight system monitor (Software manager).
 
     Setup:
    Create a new file called .conkyrc in your home directory and add the codes in this link           http://blog.lxde.org/?p=684.
    Add "@conky" to  /etc/xdg/lxsession/Peppermint/autostart

    The above is for default basic conky setup.
    To install more cool themes, skip the setup steps above and use conky manager:
    http://teejeetech.blogspot.sg/p/conky-manager.html
 
    sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:teejee2008/ppa
  sudo apt-get update 
  sudo apt-get install conky-manager 

    Install more cool themes with the deluxe theme pack:
    http://teejeetech.blogspot.sg/2013/07/deluxe-conky-theme-pack.html

5) Gimp - Photoshop alternative (Software manager)
6) VLC - Powerful Media player (Software manager)
7) libreOffice - Office Suite (Software manager)
    Added OOo2gd extension which allows import/export from google doc account:
    http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/smb-technologist/connect-libreoffice-with-your-google-docs-account-by-using-ooo2gd/

8) XnviewMP - Powerful multimedia player and organizer. Download the Debian Package for easier installation:  http://www.xnview.com/en/xnviewmp/#downloads

9) Cheeze - Photo taking software with your webcam. Can be used to test whether your webcam is working.

10) Cryptkeeper - To create encryted folder to protect my important documents with a password (Need Lxpanel)

11) ntpfs & mtp-tools - For connection to android phone

My current desktop:

New Gadget: Sony Vaio E 11136CGB

I am without a personal computer ever since I sold away my 2 years ago. I have been using the laptop that my company provided. After 2 years of looking around, I finally decided to get this which fit most of my needs:

Comes with a free cheap plastic wireless mouse and a free soft case

Running an AMD dual core with integrated ATI Radeon Graphics which is more powerful than the Intel GMA

Inside the box:

The laptop itself...

The keyboard is a nice touch. The matt finish does not leave fingerprints

The right sie with mic, earphone, USB 2.0, Card Reader, full ethernet port 

the left side with USB 3.0, USB 2.0, HDMI, VGA and power inlet

The bottom which the battery is removable and a cover which access to HDD and memory

Powerup Running Windows 8

So What do you do after you got your new windows 8 laptop?
1. Register Your laptop Warranty
2. Register your Microsoft Windows 8
3. Make a Recovery Media. You can use either a USB thumbdrive or DVD. I used 16G USB thumbdrive to be sufficient. This recovery media will recovery your windows to original factory state if there is a unrecoverable system crash and there is also tool to repair the bootup crash.
http://winsupersite.com/article/windows8/windows-8-tip-create-recovery-media-144098

4. Do Software Updates. Especially for Windows Updates. I also did updates for my Vaio Software
5. Install all the softwares that you need. I have installed the followings:
    a. VLC - Video Player
    b. XnView - Photo Organizer
    c. Gimp - PhotoShop alternative for image processing

6. Make a Recovery Image of your Current Windows 8 for refreshing your laptop to the current state (including the software you have installed). Save the image to your internal HDD and make a copy as backup to the external copy in case there is a HDD crash. The size of image depends on the software and updates your have installed. My image is 32Gb.
More details at
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/window-on-windows/create-a-custom-recovery-image-for-windows-8s-refresh-your-pc-tool/7413


However, Window 8 is not the OS that I am going to use so after doing all the above steps, I went on the install the OS I wanted:

Reboot using LiveUSB for Peppermint 4 OS

More details on Peppermint OS 4 in the next post......stay tuned

Trail Running Singapore July 2013 Run - Green Corridor Run from Kranji to Bukit Timah

http://www.facebook.com/TrailRunningSingapore

Trail Running Singapore conducted their monthly Run on 06 July 2013. The Route covers the Green Corridor from Kranji to Butkit Timah former train Station. The Green Corridor used to be the KTM rail way from Woodland to Tanjong Pagar.

The full route, photo and details can be found at the following link:

 http://rnkpr.com/a3dtnm6

Here are some of the Photos taken:

The 2 signs at the start point

The route is green basically

At Ten Mile Junction which we need to detour to the shopping mall for toilet break

one of the few road crossing

along one of the green route

The railway remains at this bridge over Bukit Tomah Road beside The Rail Mail

Another part of the railway remains that runs above the road to Bukit Timah Hill visitor Centre

The route runs behind Rifle Range Road which is beside the Mayfair Private Estate

Another remains of the railway track across the bridge beside King George

Our Run ends here at the Former Bukit Timah Train Station

The sign that marks our end point

Not enough of running......I continued to run to MR...details at

http://rnkpr.com/a3du2c1