Thursday, February 23, 2012

The Tom Morris Trophy Championship @ RSGC

This is a knock-out competition based on a partnership best-ball matchplay game. Pakdokter ( handicap 24) partnered pakTgAzman (handicap 24) and was matched against the pair of RSGC President, Tan Sri Anwar Mohd Nor ( handicap 10) and and ex-RSGC Captain, Mr Eddie Soo ( handicap 19). Mr Eddie Soo was down with a fever and could not come on the agreed match day, so, Tan Sri Anwar was left to play alone against pakdokter's pair.
pakTgAzman was in his usual 'bullish' mood - and he had also just bought a new Taylor Made driver which he said was very forgiving and giving him a longer drive distance. And he did not disappoint. He matched Tan Sri in most of the holes, taking advantage of the 14 strokes we got from the President by virtue of the difference in our handicaps. At one stage we went 4 up through the first 5 holes in the 1st Nine but the steady and consistent Tan Sri came back and even out the match at the 8th hole. Pakdokter, who had been a passenger all this while came in at the 9th hole and took the point to go 1-up into the 2nd Nine.
Pakdokter's game took off in the 2nd Nine. After a double-bogey at the 10th, pakdokter took the 11th with a par and the 12th with a bogey to go 3-up. Tan Sri Anwar took the 13th with a par where pakdokter's pair only managed to double-bogey to go back 2-down. Pakdokter matched Tan Sri at the next par-3 with a par to stay 2-up and took the next long par-5 with a bogey. Tan Sri hit his 3rd shot into the lake and conceded that indexed-hole to go 3-down. Pakdokter sealed the game with a par at the next par-4 to win by 4 and 3. Pakdokter hit a splendid tee-off on the next par-3 hole and nearly missed a birdie. Pakdokter ended the 2nd Nine with a remarkable score of 3-under.
pakTgAzman did not play as well in the 2nd Nine but he had actually carried the game for our pair in the 1st Nine.
Tna Sri scored 42/43, pakTgAzman 49/52 and pakdokter 58/45.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Laura Fygi @ the MPO

Tuesday,21st February 2012
What a show.
Jazz singer - Laura Fygi - did not disappoint when she performed at the KLCC's Concert Hall to a sold-out concert today. She was backed by a big band made up of some members of the MPO ( Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra) and pianist Micheal Veerapen.
Laura Fygi is half Egyptian and half European and is now based in Holland. She sang many of the old jazz standards with some Barzillian and Latin numbers to boot. She was a 'complete' entertainer with a great stage presence.
She would also be in the line-up at the Java Jazz Festival 2012 in Jakarta next week.




Hong Kong 5 : Dinner @ Riva and Jazz @ the Rooftop of the Excelsior

Pakdokter's Conference on Saturday ended at around 5.30 and the organisers had given dinner to the delegates at the famous Hong Kong SeaFood Market. Pakdokter was not in the mood to go to the dinner and chose to crawl up to Park Lane's Riva at its rooftop for dinner again.
The 'fusion' neuveua-cuisine dishes were delicious.
After the dinner, we walked down to the Excelsior Hotel where pakdokter had earlier discovered that it has a rooftop Wine and Jazz Bar with a fantastic view of the island and Kowloon. We had drinks and tit-bits while being entertained by a pop group rather than a jazz band.



green pea soup
salmon sashimis
breast of duck
fillet of sea bream..
the pictures above and below were taken
from the rooftop of the Excelsior



Hong Kong 4: Walking the Streets around the Causeway Bay

With some time to kill pakdokter ventured deeper up the Causeway Bay and came across another upmarket mall called "The Lee Gardens". It was just another set of Louis Vitton, Gucci, Prada etc etc outlets. The only level pakdokter spent a bit of time was at the top floor of section 2 of the mall which was occupied by several gol shops. Again, despite of a 30% discount sale, prices in Hong Kong were still more than what pakdokter would pay for the same article in Kuala Lumpur.



the street from the pedestrian bridge
connecting Lee Gardens 1 to Lee Gardens 2


one narrow street lined by Petaling Street types stalls...
above and below were view of
residential blocks seen from pakdokter's hotel room

Hong Kong 3: The Times Square

Saturday, 18th February 2012

Pakdokter's meetings were to take place in the afternoon - so after a late breakfast, we walked up to the nearby Times Square, a huge upmarket shopping mall which looked very much like the Berjaya Times Square in Kuala Lumpur.
Pakdokter did not find anything to buy except at the Page One Bookshop where pakdokter picked up 3 novels which were shortlisted for the Man Asia Literary Prize 2011. Books seemed more expensive here in Hong Kong than in Kuala Lumpur.



the front of the HK Times Square
the front of the Times Square with its 'hats' decoration


the mall must be about 10 storeys tall





Hong Kong 2 : Causeway Bay by Night

Pakdokter spent almost the whole afternoon at the waterfront and by the time we walked back to our Park lane Hotel, it was already dark. We decided to just have our dinner at the hotel's rooftop restaurant, the Riva. Serenaded by a pianist, the restaurant offered a good range of western dishes. The restaurant also offered a panoramic view of the island and of Kowloon.


Hotel Excelsior in front of our hotel
Kowloon by night from the Riva Restaurant @ Park Lane Hotel
?the Victoria Park on Hong Kong Island
rows of restaurants on the ground level
of these residential blocks in Causeway Bay
and many shops and boutiques also on ground level
of residential blocks

Hong Kong 1: A Weekend Business Meeting

Friday, 17th February 2012

Pakdokter had to make a weekend trip to Hong Kong for a regional psychiatric meeting on the invitation of one of the main pharmaceutical company from France which has developed a new anti-depressant for the world market. Having used this drug in pakdokter's practice and having participated in its early stage trial when it was first introduced in Malaysia about a year ago - pakdokter gratefully accepted this trip which was fully sponsored by the company.
Participants came from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea - countries where the novel drug have been used by the doctors. The expert speakers came from France, Spain and Canada while lead researchers from Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore presented the outcomes of the clinical trials in the respective countries.
The Malaysia Airline flight came in into Hong Kong at around noon and we had the rest of the day free. We were housed at the Park Lane Hotel in the Causeway Bay area of the island. In previous trips pakdokter had stayed in the Kowloon area mostly and thus took this opportunity to explore this part of Hong Kong.
Pakdokter remembers the Causeway bay as an area of street bazaars and stalls - not much different like our Chinatown. But of late this area has seen a lot of development. The ground level of many of the residential blocks have become upmarket boutiques and restaurants and many shopping malls have sprouted up in the area.
Pakdokter walked along the streets parallel to the waterfront. The showrooms facing the road along the waterfront were mostly of upmarket motor-cars - the Bentleys, Rolls Royce, Ferraris, Porcshes etc. The inner street was mostly of shops and showrooms of marbles, tiles, baths, pipes, mirrors and everything else that a house-builder would require.
We walked on to the HK Convention Centre where the HK International Jewellery Fair 2012 was being held. This was a huge fair with a world-wide participants. Many countries like Italy, Turkey etc had one exhibition hall to itself.










Kowloon seen from HK waterfront
a HK Ferry connecting Kowloon to the HK Island
the HK Convention Centre
a tram in Hong Kong

Monday, February 13, 2012

The Staroba February Medal @ Tasik Puteri Golf Course






12th February 2012

The Staroba Calendar for 2012 started with its 1st Monthly Medal played at the Tasik Puteri Golf Course in Rawang. Pakdokter, for some reason, had developed form and swing, since the outings in Jakarta the past week or so and continued to play well. At the game in Rawang, pakdokter even surprised himself with a very commendable performance of 40/48 to come out overall winner ever in the Staroba games. Hopefully, this year pakdokter will finally achieve the objective of having the handicap reduced to a shameless 20 or 18.......




Yuzer, Md Nor Ismail and Harmain
Mihdzor and Zulkifli Rauf
Norahim MD, Zahazudin and Yuzer
pakdokter's flight of batch 64-71
Md Nor Ismail, pakdokter, Mihdzor and Harmain


RESULTS
(bogey-play)
1. Dr Fadzil Man (24) +6
2. Abd Latip Mustafa (18) +5
3. Saifuddin (11) +5
4. Syed Sofi (14) +5
5. Zulkifli Rauf (19) +4
6. Idzham Wahid (15) +4
7. Ismail Raji (12) +4
8. Riszuan Yusof (12) +4
9. Mohd Roslan Chik (13) +3
10. Kamalul Azam (16) +1
11. Adnan Abd Ghani (24) 0
12. Azharuddin Akasah (10) 0
13. Salehuddin Hisham (13) -1
14. Shaber Razali (20) -2
15. Asri Hasan (24) -2
16. Dr A Halim (21) -2
17. Wan Zain (14) -2
18. Arham Salam ( 22) -2
19. Zaher Zainul (15) -3
20. Zahazuddin Noordin (24) -3
21. Sani Hashim (15) -3
22. Hasmal Hasan ( 16) -4
23. Ismail Hassan ( 14) -4
24. Sulaiman Samat (12) -4
25. Yuzer Yusof (17) -4
26. Ibrahim Karim (10) -6
27. Mihdzor Hilal ( 20) -7
28. Abd Rahman Din (21) -7
29. Mohd Noor Ismail (16) -8
30. Abd Hamid Shafie ( 24) -10
31. Harmain Zaidi (24) -11